Chapter 34 | Jeromy 4

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After a few days of rest, Jeromy and his party departed for the dungeon from Emered. However, not many of the mercenaries got to sleep well last night for today’s life or death mission. They knew their chances well. Knowing the way there, Selina was guiding them to the location which was only a few hours away on horseback.

Following right behind her, Jeromy was thinking over what Prince Shol said the other day. He was trying to figure out which prince was more bothersome. Although Prince Shol was purely a political problem, it was Prince Lue who became clung to him after his meetings with his father and brother.

For whatever reason, he became really interested in Jeromy and insisted he stay in the palace and play with him. He was a cute kid so Jeromy didn’t mind him too much. The prince’s most concerning action was stalking him to Hamei’s workshop. However, if Nolan did bring Grethenia into the fold, he shouldn’t have to worry about what he did or didn’t hear.

The site outside the dungeon was a hillside clearing in the dense Elven Forest in the middle of nowhere. The elven military established a road and an outpost around the dungeon to secure the entrance. This way, the party going inside won’t have to worry about their exit being inaccessible or attacked by monsters. The base was stitched together with tents and walls made from the wood from trees they cut down.

Jeromy inspected their makeshift defenses. He knew elves were never push-overs in battle. This was because elves generally had more mana affinity than humans and were, therefore, more skilled with magic. The elven soldiers were lightly equipped with more bows than rifles and only leather armor.

Although the aramid armor humans used weren’t very good in sword duels, they were able to protect against almost any projectile. An elf’s mastery of magic made up the difference in power and defense through their enchantments and skills.

As the mercenary party dismounted, they quickly stood in formation around the dungeon entrance. For safety, the elven soldiers didn’t set up any tents near the entrance in fear of what was inside. Thus, it seemed the fortress was only guarding a large grassy plain. This was the main reason why the mercenaries were needed.

Only the warriors and mages of the Free Association were equipped to handle high-ranking subjugation missions such as this. The entrance of the dungeon was on the ground, sealed with a giant square slab. Jeromy, Selina, and Patrick walked up to the stone slab and saw an inscription on it.

“Selina, what does it say?” Jeromy asked as he recognized the written language.

“It says…” Selina began but then hesitated, looking bewildered.

“It says?” Jeromy asked again and anticipated the worst.

“Go away. There are no cookies inside,” she said with a sigh. The three looked at each other with the same odd expression.

“Well, the Dungeon Master is an eccentric one,” Jeromy commented as he took something out of his bag.

“Huh? What made you believe the Dungeon Master inscribed this?” Selina asked.

“It’s just a hunch. Let’s get this done.”

Jeromy began to arm the entrance with explosive charges. The reason why Selina questioned who inscribed the slab was that monsters were just monsters. They couldn’t be intelligent because of how their monster cores worked. After four explosives were placed near the corners of the slab, they stepped back and left the detonation to Selina and her bow.

The slab blocking the dungeon was sealed with an enchantment that reinforced it. For a dungeon to have such a high-level enchantment protecting it, whatever it was guarding must be terrifying. Prince Shol said this part of the year held good fortune as the moon Grevin blesses the elves with its light. Hopefully, that fortune was extended to those in the elven territory.

“Flame Burst,” Selina casted her enchantment on her arrow as she drew her bow. The tip of the arrow caught a flame and she shot it upwards. The arrow went towards the sky, keeping its flame, and began its descent. It acted as a countdown for everyone to get down.

As soon as the arrow hit the slab, it exploded and detonated the explosives. The shockwave brought a cloud of dust around the camp and knocked people off their feet. Anyone who didn’t cover their ears must have them ringing.

Total silence fell as the dust settled.

A huge hole remained as the ground around the slab collapsed inward and opened up the entrance to the dungeon below. The silence broke as rifles fired from the elves manning the walls. The explosion drew the monsters in the area to the camp. Jeromy could hear their growls and groans.

The hole was blown straight down into a massive cavern. Jeromy infused his mana into a mana shard and threw it down into the gaping pit. The crystal shined and lite a portion of the cavern. Hearing and seeing it drop down to the ground, Jeromy confirmed that there was no trap triggered by heat, light, or a person’s mana in there.

The last of the monsters attacking the base was cleaned up by the elves and so the mercenary party could finally enter the dungeon. Jeromy chose to send in only fifty mercenaries into the dungeon since a large group of people would likely only hinder the mission. Along with his own men, he picked Patrick’s group too as everyone there was someone he could trust.

Silence fell as the elves watched the men and women of the Association used several nylon ropes to propel themselves down into the cavern. Jeromy could see the feelings of the elven soldiers as he was propelling down.

Whatever the outcome, it was a win-win situation for the elves. Either the Dungeon Master was killed or subdued, and they were freed from the threat—or they die and there would be fewer humans around. In case his party flees, the elves would kill them for deserting their contract. The elves were all waiting obediently for the outcome with passive or aggressive looks. It was elven hospitality at its finest.

Using his magic, he lite torches and passed them among his party. Jeromy and Patrick walked around together to inspect the massive cavern. Jeromy was surprised the place hasn’t become a sinkhole yet. The answer to his question was the stone pillars erected to support the ceiling. They were wide and obstructed an otherwise open area.

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Looking around the cavern he spotted a stone construction in the distance. It seemed to be another door that was leading into the hill. The difference between a regular monster den and a dungeon was that the place was ruled by a Dungeon Master, a unique monster who was able to conjure up other monsters under its control. Monsters built dungeons underground to fuel their masters’ need to create more monsters and kill humans.

“Captain!” Selina alerted him from a distance.

“Do you feel that?” Patrick said.

Jeromy sensed an ambush and unsheathed his sword. His party followed his lead and prepared for the assault. They threw their torches to illuminate the area. The aura in the air changed. He sensed the disturbingly large amount of magic being used in the area.

The ground rumbled and the rocks under the party stirred. A human arm shot up through the ground and grabbed Jeromy’s leg. On reflex, he swung his sword and amputated the arm.

“Below us!” Jeromy said. In fact, they were attacking from all sides. Up above, down below, and to the sides.

An army of the dead.

***

There were simply too many of them. Coming from all directions of the cavern, skeletons clawed their way to the surface with their weapons in hand. The majority of Jeromy’s party was in formation, casting barriers to shield themselves from the barrage of magical bullets and arrows raining on them.

They were holding off the dead heading towards them but there was simply too many. They were too strong. They were no ordinary skeleton monsters. Their bones were enchanted with protective spells that gave them resistance to magic. They tried freezing them, burning them, and burying them but they kept coming. If they were shot or torn apart, the pieces would just re-assemble.

The only way to kill the skeletons was to destroy their crystals but it was impossible to tell where they were relative to their bodies. Even if their crystals were destroyed, another crystal nearby would take over the undead body. At this rate, they would be overwhelmed.

This wasn’t the work of a normal Dungeon Master. This Dungeon Master was clever and powerful with an almost limitless amount of mana. Currently, Jeromy, Patrick, and Selina were separated from the others and were fighting to protect themselves.

“Hold them off!” Jeromy suddenly shouted. Patrick and Selina weren’t sure what their Captain was doing but they followed his order. They were buying him time. Selina only had a limited number of arrows but made great use of them in combat. She was excellent in close-ranged combat. Using her bow as a staff, she shattered the bones of the skeletons and, on her other hand, she had an arrow she could use as a dagger.

She was constantly on the move to retrieve the arrows she shot. She only used magic when necessary, casting only a limited number of enchantments on her arrow would conserve her mana. Patrick kept close to his Captain and protected him with his shield and sword.

Jeromy only had moments to spare. He took out a crystal bullet shell, it was different from an ordinary shell because of its size and apparent crystal gem replacing the bullet. The gem was a deep blue and housed a powerful holy spell. The manpower used to create this single shell would cost a fortune. Now, Jeromy had no choice but to use it.

“Everyone! Shield your eyes!” Jeromy shouted and aimed his revolver upwards. He pressed the trigger and the gem was launched and activated. It didn’t hit anything and exploded mid-air. The powerful light it emitted blinded everyone there. Even for the elven soldiers outside, the light was intense. Nothing seemed to block it, not even solid ground. A few seconds of blinding light and all the skeletons fell to the ground, motionless.

Holy magic or anti-magic was magic used to cancel a spell. Usually, they would have to figure out the magic circle they used, which in combat was impractical. However, given enough mana, it would break through almost anything. Monsters were creatures born from mana. Whatever spell keeping the skeletons alive was gone now and so the dead died again.

Jeromy used their trump card and they didn’t even reach the Dungeon Master yet. It was at this point that Jeromy realized they had no chance against Ventra.

Jeromy and his mercenaries began to make their run across the labyrinth beyond the tall double doors. Room by room and corridor by corridor, they cleared the remaining undead forces with ease.

The Dungeon Master threw all of what they had in the cavern and so they had little left to fend them off. After a while, they came to another set of tall double doors. Jeromy led the charge and split his men into three groups, one with him and two with his two lieutenants. They lit the room with their torches.

As everyone was getting into their positions in the large boss room, the Dungeon Master appeared and roared a cry that resonated throughout the massive underground. Ventra’s dragon roar made everyone unsteady on their feet as they were all hit with a sonic wave. The flames lighting the room went out. Ventra was a massive dragon with a height of twenty meters. It had massive wings attached to its arms and a long tail. It was wrapped around a pole near the ceiling.

Selina and Patrick gave the command for the squads to attack. They all shot their ranged attacks at Ventra but their magic was dispelled with a single flap of its wings. The explosion and freezing spells went off prematurely and hit nothing but air. Ventra flew up a little and created a powerful wind with each flap.

It then dropped down and slammed its body into the ground, creating a quake and hurling debris towards them. There was nothing they could do as Jeromy’s entire party was pressed against the wall after they lost their footing against the powerful wind and as the ground shook. Their barrier was holding as flying rocks slammed into it.

The relentless attacks settled down suddenly. Jeromy checked the state of his men and they weren’t holding up. They looked exhausted. It took a lot of mana just to keep up their barriers and shield spells from breaking against the barrage. Was this mission ever possible? Jeromy then remembered what Prince Shol said the other day during his briefing on this mission.

“Stand down!” Jeromy ran forward to address his party. The mercenaries seemed confused and weren’t sure what to do. Selina repeated the order to her squad and soon everyone followed. Patrick was visibly upset as Jeromy turned to face Ventra as the dust was settling. Jeromy drew his sword as he faced the giant dragon gathering a fireball in its mouth.

“Captain!” Patrick and others screamed at Jeromy to get away as they attempt to intervene. Ventra unleashed its fire on the tiny humans who were pinned to the wall. Jeromy delivered a single slash to the oncoming hell beam and shot his holy magic through the fire towards Ventra’s mouth. His attack connected and the dragon was knocked back with great force. It scrapped the floor with its nails to stop his body from moving backward. The fireball was negated.

“I said stand down!” Jeromy commanded his men again. Patrick did what he was told but didn’t like it. Selina came over to Patrick to reassure him.

“What is the Captain doing?” Patrick was very concerned as the men under him.

“I am also unsure but we need to form up the party to reinforce the barrier,” Selina said. As they did just that in the background, Jeromy slowly walked forward towards the powerful Dungeon Master.

“Ventra! We’re not here to kill you! I want to talk to you!” Jeromy yelled at the monster as if expecting an answer.

Patrick reached his breaking point. “Captain! Are you completely insane?!” He shouted and was almost in tears. Selina and the rest were in shock over the development. Selina didn’t know how to interpret this but learned to trust Jeromy. Were they really expecting a monster to answer back? The dragon took notice as Jeromy gathered and dropped his sword, revolver, and his bag of spell gems to the ground. Jeromy raised his hands as he continued stepping forward.

“I just want to talk,” Jeromy cautiously repeated and approached slowly. Everyone held their breath.

“THEN SPEAK.”

No one believed what they just heard, not even Jeromy. His mercenaries were stunned and were losing strength in their arms as they lowered their weapons. Seeing this, Jeromy needed to stay strong for them.

“Can we have a few minutes alone?”

Selina and Patrick batted their eyes and slowly took everyone out of the grand doors. Before they knew it, the two of them were alone in the giant underground room. A man and a dragon.

“I want you to tell me about the Guardians.”