Azaria The Doll Dungeon Chapter 15

Sorry for the late post. Work was hell today and I didn't get time on any of my breaks to upload the chapter. 

Chapter 15: Interview with a Dungeon

Lance Teron

The first time I did after I was shown to the room was pass out. I found it was nearly ten hours had passed when I checked my phone. I had to give the little thing some credit. It had lasted over a week. Though, I did have it turned off while in the goblin dungeon. 

I stretched and cracked my neck as I sat up. I didn’t make it to the bed last night so I’d ended up passed out on the floor. Looking down at myself, I decided that was for the best. I was covered in enough filthy to qualify being sent to a dump. My clothes had turned black from all the blood that had been sprayed on them.

I held my hand out then pulled a bottle of water from my storage. I only had a few left but I should be able to resupply soon. It was a ghost town when I was making my way here earlier today. I barely managed to sneak in as the government vehicles pulled in after a wave of energy erupted from Azaria’s dungeon.  

At least I hadn’t seen any of Kyle’s goons, not that I would know they worked for him, around looking for me. I needed to figure out what to do next. I would have to decide that based on my talks with the dungeon here. She seemed… interesting, unlike any other core I’d ever heard about. 

Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t checked my status since before I killed the dungeon boss. I titled my head as I thought why that had skipped my mind. I brought it up with a thought. 

Lance Teron

Age:20

Level: 16

Race: Human

Type: Harvester

Aether: 1160/1160

Skills: Harvest

Harvests:

Scale of the Corrupted Lizard – 50% Poison Resistance

Goblin’s Soul 

Malice Dark Vision Concentrated Breathing Dominate  Black Heart’s Armor Poison Breath Natural Weapon 

Eat Anything  Durable Keen Hearing  Gluttony

Human’s Heart – Chaos

Human’s Lung – Fortitude

Human’s Brain (x2) 

Fire Water

Tunnel Rat Tendon – Scurry (+2)

Lower Mimic Storage Sac – Storage

Achievements:

Trading With Chaos – You achieved something few could claim. While it might appear to be dumb luck, even luck has a place in the universe. Aether gain +1 per hour.

Solo Hunter – You defeated a dungeon on your own. Very few can claim the same. Great achievements deserve great rewards. Aether +1000

I had to study my status for a while to make sure I didn’t miss anything. So much had changed. The fact that I gained two levels from just the boss surprised me. Then I remembered all the goblin females I put to rest. Assuming those counted as monsters, that was where the extra experience was coming from. 

Then there was the thing that he knew he’d find there but was still dreading seeing. The human parts in my status would also be a black mark as to what I did. I could logically understand that it was self-defense but I could have done something to convince them. 

I decided to come back to that, probably with a councilor, later. Looking at it pragmatically, I hoped that the benefits would be worth the cost. I studied Human’s Brain for a few moments but couldn’t really figure out what it was supposed to give me.

I held my hand out and pointed at the wall. “Fire?” A fireball… did not appear. In fact, nothing happened. “A chant then,” I said with a sigh. That would be annoying, but there were times in the Goblin Dungeon that a long distance opener would have been helpful. 

I filed this away for later. There were a few mages sites on the internet. I would have to check the few free sites later. Unfortunately, there wasn’t signal this far into the dungeon.

Next was the fact that all my goblin harvests had been condensed down into a single heading of Goblin’s Soul. I could certainly feel my connection and control over them was a bit more solid then back in the Goblin Dungeon. I looked at my hand that was still held out in front of me. The claws were still there.

“Do I have to collect another soul to increase the stats?” I muttered, dropping my hand to the ground.

Plus, how did this work for the dungeons that multiple types of monsters. It could be that the boss was originally powerful enough to warrant a soul gem and I might find others in large dungeons. Something to study later when I challenge another dungeon. 

My thoughts were interrupted when my keen hearing picked something up through the wall. “Girl! You can’t let humans leave your dungeon! If they learn all your secrets then they’ll easy conquer you! Do you want to turn into a slave for the humans?!” 

The voice sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it at first.

“Yes. Yes. I know you don’t want to kill anyone, but…” the same voice reached my ears.

I snapped my fingers as it came back to me. It was the strange unicorn that talked to me when I first came here. He seemed to talking to himself, as I didn’t hear anyone reply.

“Do what you want! Don’t blame me when all your Aether is pulled from you and you’re left a husk!” the voice shouted as it got further away. 

I listened for a moment but didn’t hear anything else. A head suddenly appeared half way up the wall just like a ghost would in the movies. A ghost version of Azaria fully emerged from the wall and floated in the air above me.

“Oh, I can see you,” I said as she looked at me.

“Really? I wonder why?” Azaria said with her arms crossed and a hand on her cheek.

“I can hear you as well.” 

“Well that makes this a lot easier. I was wondering how I was going to talk to you without Starburst. The grumpy unicorn just stormed off.”

I chuckled at the pout she wore while looking in what appeared to be a random direction. “I did hear a one-sided conversation that followed those lines.”

“Forget the old god. I want to hear about the outside!” I had to suck in a breath to stop myself from asking about the first comment. I could tell she was slightly naive but if I brought to her attention I might not leave this dungeon as easily as I hoped to. 

“What exactly do you want to know?” She was asking about the outside but that covered quite a lot of information. While I wasn’t exactly on good terms with my own race, I didn’t exactly want to bring about a genocide if I let something slip that allowed monster to pour out of this dungeon.

“What happened a year ago?” Azaria asked getting right in my face.

“The Aether Shift?” I asked and got a nod. I looked her over then explained the current state of the world, or at least that which I knew. Satellites still allowed the transmission of information across the world, but certain areas have become black zones that humans have little or no access to. We were putting up a good fight in the larger population areas, but it was a fact that Earth would never be the same.

“Sounds like a lot has changed,” Azaria said. She was currently sitting upside down on the ceiling on the room. 

“Changed? Were you here before the Shift?”

Azaria looked like she was about to say something then shook her head. “It’s complicated.”

“Fair enough,” I said deciding not to pry any further.

“I had two parties get defeated in my dungeon. Is that common?” Azaria asked.

“During the beginning days of the Shift, that would have been a good day. We have procedures in place now so that death tolls don’t get too high in one day.” 

“So I shouldn’t expect anyone during the night?”

“Likely not. Some of the less popular dungeons don’t have a government agent that is completely legit, so people might sneak or bribe their way in.”

“Why not go during the day?”

“There is a maximum party count for the dungeon, maximum dungeon dive amount for the individual, and standing death count for the dungeon. These factors will determine how long dungeon entrance is allowed.”

“Sounds annoying,” Azaria said with a pout.

“I admit, it is,” I replied with a laugh.

We discussed a few more things before we got to the topic of how I ended up in my predicatiment. It actually helped to talk about it with her. Not that anything would be solved. 

Azaria suddenly flew down and was only an inch or two from my face. “I have a proposal for you,” she said with a micheveous grin. 

“What?”

“I want you to lure bad people in here. The grumpy old man wants me to kill people. I don’t want to kill without reason, self-defense excluded. This feels like a good comprise given the state of the world.”

“That’s easier said then done. Who would want to go with a guy who’s party always ends up dead?”

“That’s why we don’t always kill them. Lead a party of decent people and if they pass the regular challenges then they are left alone.” 

I thought about her proposal for a long minute. I wasn’t sure how I felt about being a hired hitman. I could see a lot of things that could go wrong. For one, I would need to create a new identity for myself. That was easier said than done now a days. 

“Am I protected during this setup?” I asked.

Azaria suddenly gained a large grin, I wasn’t sure she was even aware she was making it. “Of course not. You fail, you fail. I can’t be unfair.”

“I don’t think that’s how deals work,” I said shaking my head.

She shook her head. “I literally can’t be unfair,” she said with a sigh.