Dungeon Robotics 109

Hey Guys! How'd the weekend go for everyone? I personally have come to a decision. I am going to put my two-week notice in at my day job. My writing obligations are taking almost as much time as my job leaving me with little mental energy at the end of the day. I would much rather be writing than working at a gas station. My books are doing well enough on Amazon that I will be able to pay all my bills and still afford things like Editing and the such for future projects. I can also make this decision due to the support everyone here is giving me. 

So once again. Thank you all for everything!

Chapter 39 (109)

Yuno

“Nero! Why the hell did you drag us down here?! Where the hell are we?!” 

Nero rubbed the back of his head. “Calm down boy. We’re in the Beneath. I didn’t have time and pulled you two with me.”

“Its dark,” Sara whispered. I quickly moved over to her and grabbed her hand. For the most part and a bit to my annoyance, she wasn’t afraid of anything. However, she’d recently started developing a fear to the dark. I couldn’t get a straight answer out of her for why, but I felt it was due to her worrying that she would no longer be able to go into the light.

“Its okay, Sara. I’m here.” I turned back to Nero. “And? Why are we in the Beneath?”

Nero gave a large sigh. “Lady Louella was taken by an old fart. I’m going to take her back.” A large grin formed on his face and he started to laugh as he started to mutter to himself. “She’ll feel grateful for us rescuing her and will reward me. I can do this and that with her.”

“Pervert,” Sara muttered. I nodded at her statement. He was definitely a pervert.

Nero crossed his arms. “Excuse me. I am truly enamored with her beauty.”

“Yes. Yes. So? What are we supposed to do?”

We were currently in a cave of some sort. I could only remember a sphere of stone wrapping around us before we eventually arrived here. There were a few spots of light, but nothing that really gave any hints to our situation. 

“We need to find Glourios’s lair. He’ll need to rebuild his power and army before he can do anything. We need to get the lovely Louella away from him before he gets too powerful.”

“Glourios?” Sara asked.

Nero groaned as he looked around the cavern. He turned back to us after a minute. “Glourios, Sovereign of Fire. The lacky of Tersio. He was vanquished a few millennium ago, but something like that is never truly dead.” 

“Alright.” That was a lot information we would have to circle back to later as I didn’t know anything about any of the names used. “Why would he take Lady Louella?” I asked wondering what a being of such power would want with a mortal. 

“We’re going to have to ask that when we find them. I just know that its not with her best intentions at mind.”

“Fair enough. Lead the way.” I helped Sara up and gestured for Nero to take the lead.

“About that. When I used the spell to get us down here, the shockwaves sort of… pushed us about a bit.”

I crossed my arms in front of me. “Meaning?”

“I don’t actually know where we’re at,” he replied looking off into the distance.

“So, what you’re telling me is that we’re lost?”

“You got it!”

Nero never even saw my fist as it collided with his face. He flew through the cave and impacted the wall. I growled just barely resisting the urge to roar in anger. It was always like this. Nero did whatever he wanted and dragged my sister and me with him. 

“Lay there for a minute! If you weren’t our only led, we would have left you a long time ago.” I cupped my face as the last ten years crossed my mind. “I should have been smarter about that contract.”

“Always read the fine print,” Nero said. He pulled himself out of the hole he made in the wall and dusted himself off. Of course, he was completely unharmed. Even after all these years, I wasn’t sure how powerful he truly was. For instantos during the battle on the surface, he’d used a spell that wiped out thousands of men.

“How are we supposed to find her down here then?”

Nero pointed to his nose. “Time to put your other side to work. Just focus of ash and brimstone. You won’t miss it.”

“You know I hate that.” I sighed knowing I didn’t have too much choice in the matter. I doubted Sara and I could find our own way out of here. I didn’t even know how deep we were in the first place. Nero’s spell had cut off our sight after all.

“You want to stay down here forever?” Nero asked with a smirk.

“Brother?” Sara asked. She hadn’t sounded so serious in quite a while. Her disease pushing her further down the path of insanity. We didn’t have time to deal with all these problems that kept cropping up. We needed to get to Lord Regan and see if he could help her.

“Fine.” I patted Sara’s hand then stepped a bit away. I began channeling my mana through my body focusing on my head. My wolf beastkin features started to grow more pronuncied as my senses increased several fold. In less then ten seconds, my snout had elongated just over a dozen centimeters while my sense of smell was nearly twenty times stronger than a human’s.

I drew in great breaths of air smelling everything that had passed through her for the last several days. In a confined space like this, I could almost view the past with how much information I could gain. With the lack of external forces like wind disrupting the area, I could gain quite a lot from just a few smells. 

It took me a few seconds, but I finally found something. Just a hint of sulfur that had drifted in over the last few hours. Without a mana enhanced nose, I doubt anything would be able to detect the trace amount. 

I pulled a more concentrated breath in, focusing on the source this time. A sense of the layout the sulfur traveled entered my mind. The sulfur had pulled other scents with it allowing me to trace where it came from. When I reached the limits of my ability to trace it back I relaxed my transformation. My body changed back while steam released into the air around me.

I collapsed to the ground as I breathed heavily. Just doing a part of my body took more effort, but I retained much more control over the abilities I gained in the process. Being in tier three, the recoil doesn’t last too long, but I tried not to do a partial transformation unless I knew we were safe. 

I felt a hand rest on my back and looked next to me to see Sara with a worried look. I grinned and gave her a thumbs up. “I got it, but its going to be a few days travel from what I could tell.”

“I knew you had it in you kid!” 

Rens Wanderer

I was walking down the street when I found myself in a whole new place. The transportation did not stop my next two steps and I collided nose-first into a wall. I stepped back, rubbing my nose, and looked around at the room composed completely of smooth metal. 

“Mister Rens. A pleasure to meet you,” a voice said. I looked around and found the source of the voice in what I initially thought was a statue. 

“Yes. I am Rens. I would love to know the name of the one that brought me here,” I replied.

“I am Regan. Some have begun calling me the Machine Father or Father Machine.”

“Ah! The dungeon host! Yes. I have heard quite a bit about you. What can I do for you?” I could tell from the power emanating from just this room that I needed to proceed with caution. Something told me that this being was upset. 

“Answers. I need answers Mister Rens.”

“I will do my utmost to answer,” I replied with a bow.

“Then tell me. I know that you are a High race. Had I known that you were from the Beneath, I would have met you on that first day. A lot of forces are moving down there, and I want to know the politic landscape before I get pulled into another war.”

“I see. Every well.” I explained the situation to him as best I could. 

There were four known city-states that all maintained their own territory. While we had engaged in war the past, no one territory was ever able to push the others enough to cause a change. My city of Fallen Rose was the most powerful, but also the most restricted when it came to the size of our force.

The Dark Elf city of Nefelume and the city of Koraz were currently tied for second place in the power ranking. Their territories bordered each other’s leading to skirmishes every few months. Lastly, the dwarven city Khal Todur was the weakest of the four but was the most essential of the cities. They made all our weapons, after all.

“You believe the terra wave has caused a disruption in this delicate balance?”

I looked up at the Dungeon Host in front of me. I had never known a dungeon to be this involved of the affairs of the world. I couldn’t help but wonder how it came about. 

“Yes. Fallen Rose, for example, suffered quite a large amount of damage. We are the most advanced in magic of the four cities. If even we were hit so hard then I imagine the other cities were as if not more affected. The Dwarves might be the least affected given their connection with terra mana.”

“I understand.” The host waved his hand and a large map of the continent appeared in front of me. He manipulated it to show where we are. “As you’re quite intelligent, I’m sure you can figure out where you emerged from. Tell me.” He moved the map to the west where a large blackened wasteland surrounding a crater laid. “What is under this?”

I studied the map for a moment. I held up my hands to use the map the same way he had a moment ago. “May I?” The host nodded. I moved the map back to the valley then further over to where I thought I had emerged from. When a mark appeared from a ruin, I knew for sure that was where I gained access to the surface. After a few more minutes of checking the map, I stood back. 

“Well?”

“I will be honest and say that I can’t be completely sure. The Beneath is composed of dark and winding tunnels. However, I think I can say with confidence that the Ruin of the Seal resides in that area.”

“Ruin of the Seal? Do you have an information on it?”

“Not much. That area is filled with undead. And I’m not talking like the child’s playthings you’re dealing with up here. Even the four cities have been unable to investigate this place.”

“Why would undead be down there? They are only a recent issue for the surface. Every time I get a step closer the path grows a mile longer,” Lord Regan said rubbing his chin as he stared at the map. I waited as I didn’t want to interrupt him. “Wait. Cassin. He might not be a true celestial. This requires investigating.” He turned back to me. “Are any of the cities a threat in the area?”

“No. Everything for quite a way is considered no man’s land.”

“Good. Soon it will be my land,” Lord Regan said. He turned and walked over to a wall. Placing his hand on the surface, the metal surface flowed back like water revealing what reminded me of a workshop, only on the scale of a country. Magic and other techniques of all kinds were being used to make vessels of incredible size. I subconsciously wandered next to him. 

“Amazing. Just what are you?”

“The Father Machine. I will remake this world. I do have one final question for you.”

“Yes?” I couldn’t pull my gaze from the sight in front of me so I didn’t realize that the host’s tone had gone much darker than earlier. It only dawned on me as I blinked a few times. 

“Why do you have a shard of a dungeon core on your staff?”

I snapped to eyes to the Host and saw his frown. I quickly backed up but ran into the wall. “Please. I acquired it many decades ago. My mentor passed it onto me. I meant no disrespect!” The host only looked at me for a moment before he held out his hand. I stared at it for a second before I realized he wanted me to hand over the staff. 

I looked to the staff that had seen me through many tough spots in the past. It was almost a friend. I dreaded parting with it, but I was sure if I didn’t hand it over. I likely would be the one not leaving this space. With a trembling hand that was unbecoming of my position, I handed it over.

The Host grinned. “You had me worried for a second there. I was starting to like you after all. Had you not handed it over, I would have had to kill you.”

He held it out in front of him and magic circles of a complexity even I’d rarely seen formed around the staff. I watched as a ball of light suddenly emerged from the crystal shard at the top of the staff. It wobbled then burst as a fairy appeared floating in the air. 

A male fairy wearing a suit of white armor that was only about forty centimeters appeared. He stretched making his joints pop before he looked around. When he saw the Host, he flew over to him. As he did so, the light appeared to bend and curve towards him.

“I thank you, my Lord. My master would have welcomed the knowledge that you freed me. I will work to make myself valuable to your workings.”

“Think nothing of it. I am sorry that your master’s soul has either already entered the wheel or is in another shard of this core.”

“I can answer that. She has already passed on. Even Dungeon cores do not live forever if their cores are shattered to this degree. She was kept from regenerating many centuries ago.” The Host nodded then the fairy flew over to me. “I have enjoyed journeying with you. You might not have been aware of me, but I was of you. Now that I have returned to a fairy form, I can’t not easily leave the dungeon. I would like you to have the shard as you always have. It will still function that same.”

I looked to the Host and he nodded his approval. I took the staff that floated under the fairy feeling complete again. “What is your name?”

“Glint. That is what my old master called me.”

“I’ll be here for a while Glint, so I hope you wouldn’t mind tell me of your late master.” Glint nodded. 

“I have work to do. If you’ll excuse me,” the host said then waved his hand. I found myself in the exact spot I vanished from earlier. I was so glad I came to the surface.