"It seems Father has gifted me my first test, how, fortuitous."
Bloodlust practically radiated from the two women, the holy paladin leveled her blade at the Machine Mother, and likewise did my creation raise her weapon, a Warhammer.
"We shall see, beast."
The two lunged at one another, the blade meeting the hammer's shaft mid-swing before pivoting into a slam of her pummel against the machine woman. Recovering, MM, her new nickname if we lived through this, swung her hammer from below, striking the paladin's side, and knocking the air from her lungs. She followed up with another hammer strike against the increasingly damaged armor, not doing as much damage to the woman herself, but pressuring her armor, nonetheless.
MM had the momentary advantage and likely would have ended the fight, had it not been for a shield that absorbed the heavy swing. Kicking MM away, the invader was once more on the assault, becoming a skillful flurry of long cuts and deep stabs all along MM's body. MM moved her hammer to guard her from a downward swing only for the blade to cut through the solid steel of the shaft. Thankfully she was alright but was now without a weapon. The fight was barely a minute, but it was already reaching the end...
Huff "Seems you've lost your only chance creature; it's a shame your piteous maker chose the wrong tool to guard it."
I could feel rage bubble like oil under her skin, but also a hint of smugness.
"Truly it's a shame your master chose the wrong slave to get killed in the dark."
"Shut your pathetic tongue beast, face it or not, but your maker is ours now!"
... If MM hadn't been wasting her time that is, the wonderful thing about the boss room is if you gave it enough time it could kill damn near anything.
Positions are ready, material primed, and all the little beasties available are ready honey, knock 'em dead!
"I was made to be smooth, and great, and I believe I am, but right now I forgo such elegance for your death. And now that my father is ready, I believe it is time to rip your face off."
The paladin instantly went on the defensive as what seemed like an entire forest of metal bramble ripped out of the ground and slithered across her limbs. She tore them off, at the cost of her left hand, and lunged again for MM, who was standing still as thinner vines covered her wounded body like snakes.
AAWOOOO!
Clockwork wolves intercepted and literally dogpiled her as they gave everything to rip and scratch at the incredible armor. The paladin threw them off with a blast of light, gripping one's jaw and pulling it in half using her leg as leverage, she picked up her fallen sword and hacked the rest into pieces with wild swings. She growled as more machine animals made their way towards her, adjusting her stance to compensate for the lost hand.
It seems her self-control was waning.
She met them halfway as she stabbed into the gear brain of a bear only for several vaguely animal-shaped machines to puncture the leg armor and begin gnawing on her exposed legs. She stomped them with her good foot as she used her upper body to defend against more bramble and large animals. It was small, almost unnoticeable before, but very obvious now, she was losing, and she knew it. Luckily, she seemed to break under the realization while still being swarmed, losing her sword to a flock of hawks and eagles as they dived and clawed for it.
"No, no, no, I can't fail, I won't! Face me beast and fight like a true warrior, I demand it!"
She started wildly punching and tearing with her good arm and leg, showing an amazing level of skill despite the painful loss of limbs.
"My lord my god, please, help your faithful servant!"
Worry filled me as she began to float in the air, an invisible wave of force destroying the majority of creatures and plants sent against her. But instead of some awesome powerup or healing, she began to cry, falling from the air onto her back. She got back up and started scrambling around for something, muttering desperately for him to forgive her. She was fully absorbed in scrounging the floor for something like a madwoman possessed, which she might have been. She hadn't even noticed MM standing behind her with a pair of metal fist weapons. Of course, the desperate paladin did notice after a moment of frantic searching.
Celestial threat retreated.
She stood up with little of her previous grace, no longer certain of anything given her body language, the shivering didn't help either.
"I-I am the lady paladin of K-Kan-"
I'm sure she had lots of titles of great importance, but in the face of my Machine Mother's fists, they were but hollow words. I could feel her fueling every blow with her fury as the once beautiful woman's head was turned into a sticky red paste, were I still human I have no doubt I would be throwing up by now if the toxic fumes hadn't made me beforehand. All I needed to do now was wait for my loot and the rest of the dungeon to fix itself.
...
....
.....?
The hell, where's my special loot, I got some last time!?
The previous enhanced warrior was still connected to Kannor, this particular one has been cut from their source of power.
Fucking hell, the god of control freaks stole my paladin loot.
Note: The paladin's weapon is a separate relic and may be considered 'loot' by the dungeon.
I had to push down my excitement to get something, but mild bursts of kleptomania were for later, right now I needed to keep my head in the game, the fighting wasn't yet done.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
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The humans walked back up the dungeon at a sedate pace while the soldiers dragged the corpse behind them. Without her divine connection, her body was just another corpse to fuel my growth, and not even her armor was worth it since her aura was mostly the reason why it was so tough. I hoped that once they got out, they could shock the rest of them into submission but failing that they were prepared to claim I was about to start a dungeon break. Reaching the surface, they seemed relieved to be outside, all of them looking green around the gills after being in the deeper levels. Must have been the air or something.
After reaching the lift they were met by a large group of Nightingale men, seems they were actually concerned about a dungeon break. Leading them was some man I hadn't met yet but obviously was someone important, and as the group descended the lift the man in question met them as they got off. He spoke quietly and carefully to Helvina, I couldn't hear everything they said but what I could was worrying. According to him, and the lack of sound, the fighting had largely ended once the kannorites invaded the fortress, but whether they were shocked or had finished whatever grudge they had, none could tell, the issue was the survivors. From there it was harder to understand what they were saying but I got the idea, that despite their strength being weakened, so was the fortress', and with that understanding being shared by us and them it would make negotiation difficult seeing as we may face a united front of those that didn't want to kill each other.
Briefly, I considered finding Arthur to try and sow some more chaos but that seemed foolish, while I could no longer detect any more paladins on the remains of the camp, I was willing to bet they had something just as nasty, and it was honestly doubtful the trick would work again so soon. After some time, the group returned to the inner halls of the fortress, taking the corpse and the increasingly sickly guards and lady.
"We appreciate the help, but for now ser Edward would ask that you refrain from acting anytime soon, those that remain, and many within our number, are suspicious that you are near rampage."
They were outside so I couldn't use my merchant, but a newly made rat got the job done.
Seeing the act seemed to relieve him, and quickly ordered his men to help the other in. I guess my part was done here then, feels odd to essentially end my part in all this when I could see the immediate troubles the brother would have, assuming Arthur was alive. Still, I had some work to get to and it wouldn't be out of the question to tinker with some robots while the people get things wrapped up. Thankfully MM had the sense to turn out the paladin's body for any goods before they left, the unfortunate part was that there weren't many things that popped out to me.
The bits of armor we recovered were mainly just good steel, nothing I couldn't have made myself, while the rest were tools and items that were more religious in purpose. Perhaps they could be worth something to someone, but in a purely dungeon sense, they held little value to me, perhaps a smidgen of mana could be made from them, the real prize, however, was indeed her blade. A straight sword with an immaculate guard and a razor edge, it both looked and felt like a work of art.
Moonlight Silver Stright Sword (Blessed)
A straight sword made of moonlight silver, an exceptionally rare artificial metal crafted only by holy men and women who take up forge craft.
The metal has superior cleansing abilities and synergizes well with celestial power.
This particular blade has been given a minor blessing.
Its aura gave off the feeling of absolute control and dominance, making me almost regret being incorporeal just so I could hold that blade. But thankfully or not, I wasn't, and even if I was, I had no intentions of becoming some mountain-dwelling caveman obsessed with the weapon. It was a damned amazing thing, several test swings showed it easily cut through the metal trees, and only had minor trouble with the vines, although that might have been MM's strength more than anything. The system offered me three choices for it, apparently in its given state, I couldn't use any more of its power without committing myself to Kannor.
Absorb The Blade:
The system will facilitate the absorption of the item, granting one free of the dungeon's choice, a level five monster, five additional bonus rooms, three medium-level traps, or 500 DP.
Will anger [Kannor]
Subvert The Blade:
Allow the dungeon's unique mana to subsume the blade, replacing the celestial energies within for the dungeon's. This will grant it different abilities and allow the dungeon to form a contract with one consenting individual. This individual will share a connection to the dungeon not unlike that of a paladin.
Will irritate [Kannor]
Will entertain Rex
Will promise to not retaliate.
Return The Blade:
Return the holy blade to [Kannor] who will be forced to uphold [REDACTED] and not interfere with the dungeon and immediate associates.
Will placate [Kannor]
Will promise reparations in the near future.
[Kruul] will appreciate this action.
I get most of that, but why does it say that he will do it, the statement implies he hasn't already but will if I take that option, and why only the bottom two choices? In one he's still annoyed with me and in the other I guess we just absolve ourselves of the situation.
As a celestial, [Kannor] is bound by the [REDACTED] to respect their defeat and will be unable to retaliate within a set period of one thousand years, provided the opponent responds appropriately. Absorbing the blade would constitute an insult and would allow [Kannor] to pursue the dungeon once again. The other two options will restrict [Kannor] as it is your right to keep the blade for yourself or to express the desire for peace by returning a rightfully earned trophy.
So, either he respects what I've done and buggers off, or we keep swiping at each other until one of us budges then, possibly for an entire millennium?
Indeed.
I guess that's good, peace would give me the breathing room to get back to grinding out levels and tinker monsters and help Arthur and Edward solidify their hold on the mountain. The promise of payment for returning the blade wasn't half bad either, the only issue was that I had no idea what kind of goods he would fork out, I doubt anything old and mysterious though. The only thing that bugs me is that a small part of my brain is telling me to keep the heat up, so far, my mana production efficiency has been stellar, and while possibly nerve-wracking, the stuff they send with their people isn't half bad.
I know it would be selfish to continue the fighting, even if there is a pause for each side to pull back and plan, but the potential benefits were a constant in my thoughts. With just this blade, special as it was, I could gain an extra monster, more rooms for one of the levels, traps, or even just some cash. Who knows what else I could get in the future? This brings up the other big problem with keeping things heated, I didn't know if the enemy had anything, and with Arthur's unusually violent behavior as of late, the next attack may not be winnable.
So, the question is before me that would determine my near and far future, what do I do with the sword?