The Dungeon Without a System

Chapter 145

Bruce walked quietly, only half-focusing on his surroundings as he circulated his mana. From the heart, out to the tips of his fingers, toes and the top of his head, then back to his core. Once, it had taken all his attention to do this, and a single disruption would have broken his control entirely. He still couldn't circulate and fight, but while he was just walking to a destination? Easily possible.

He sighed and stopped circulating. He really shouldn't be doing it in the dungeon, after all. Inattention was deadly. Refocusing, he scanned his surroundings. Yup. They were still following that 'hunting trail' they'd found. It wasn't just a path clear of vines or other foliage; it was a genuine dirt path, compacted by thousands of trips. Given it seemed to lead directly to the boss's arena, it was probably established and well-used by the local guilders.

Above, the canopy swayed in the wind, leaves rustling and branches bending. It was easy to forget you were in a dungeon at all, in a place like this. Bruce let his attention return to ground level after reassuring himself that there was nothing up there. Akio led the party along the trail, sword drawn and head on a swivel. Bruce was next, closely followed by Elize and Gobble, with Sophie pulling up the rear.

They walked in silence. Not just to avoid any monsters, but there was a tension in the air they were all sort of avoiding talking about. Bruce thought about breaking it. Still, the decision was taken out of his hands as they passed the final curve and arrived at the tree. It had an incredibly thick trunk, and was growing over a boulder, its roots reaching around and over the rock..

At the base of the boulder was a hole. According to the guide, this was a sloping tunnel that would lead to the boss arena. It was a one-way trip. Either they killed the monster, died, or used their teleport crystals to escape. They gathered around the hole and performed their final equipment checks. Bruce checked the water bladders he carried, making triple sure they were filled and ready to go. Sharing a final nod with Bruce, Akio stepped forward and clambered down into the hole, quickly disappearing into the darkness. Bruce followed.

The slope was much steeper than Bruce had expected, though it was over in only a few seconds. He was spat out mid-way up a wall, and landed gracefully on his feet, eyes already scanning the room. Four pillars supported the roof of the circular arena, with one central, flickering brazier hanging from the ceiling; its teal flames cast strange shadows around the room. In the centre, under the brazier, stood three Children and one Monster. A red and yellow scaled drake-kin, a Kobold Shaman, a Kobold Hunter, and a Chromatic Tiger.

Akio stood between Bruce and the Children, sword drawn and shield raised.

Bruce stood to the side, smoothly catching Sophie and depositing her to the ground in one motion. She didn't even blink, just moved as Elize followed her down the tunnel. Gobble stayed on the surface, as they'd planned.

The four humans stood arranged against the Children and the Monster.

There was a pause.

"Hello, Heroes," The drake-kin started. "I am Mushu, Guardian of the Third Floor. I hope you understand that, though you have a deal with the Creator, I will not be letting you through without a fight."

"We don't expect you to," Akio answered. Bruce was glad he did, since he was stuck on the fact that the Child was named Mushu. The dungeon had to have named him, right?

At some silent signal, the fight was on.

Akio raised his shield, deflecting Mushu's downwards swing, while his sword intercepted the Hunter's. In the next instant, Sophie was there, her twin shortswords forcing the Hunter off Akio. The Tiger stalked around the side and lunged. Sophie dodged by sinking into her own shadow and emerging behind a pillar, taking out the Tiger with a well-practised double-stab into the chest. The Kobold Hunter roared in anger and lashed out with enough strength that Sophie could barely hold him back.

Akio was locked in single combat with Mushu, and Bruce was too busy to continue watching. He pulsed his mana and drew his water from the bladders strapped to his armour. The firebolt sent his way impacted the shield of water he'd formed, boiling some of it away. Bruce grabbed the steam, condensing it back down into the shield. With another thought, the water formed into four tentacles that reached out around his body, each having a small, sharp point of ice.

With a wave, the ice darts launched themselves at the enemy mage, whose conjured fire shield practically sublimated the darts into steam without issue.

But some of the steam was still his. Bruce occupied the Shaman with a constant barrage of darts, keeping their attention focused on defence. Meanwhile, the steam slowly recondensed into a single dart on the roof above the Kobold.

Then he dropped it, but it seems he must have given something away. A glance up at the ice, maybe. The Kobold's eyes flicked up, and they sidestepped, letting the ice shatter against the floor. This time, the Shaman took the initiative. They raised their staff and waved horizontally. The glimmering orange gemstone spewed fire in massive amounts. Bruce ducked behind a pillar, letting the fire pass either side of him. He felt the sweat dripping down his brow from the sheer heat of it. He hissed as the fire licked at his bare arm, leaving a red burn. He smelled smoke as the heat burned the hairs off his skin.

When the fire let up, Bruce didn't waste a moment. Ice was a separate magical element from water, and he could only form it because, at its core, it was still water. He couldn't create magical ice, nor reinforce it like Ice mages could.

But his domain was water. Water mana flowed through his body, and water itself made up 70% of his body. He knew water.

He thrust his palm out, and his water followed, suddenly highly pressurised. It moved too quickly for the Shaman to react and impacted the Kobold's chest. Bruce pulled his fingers into a claw, and the water wrapped around the Child, binding their arms to their chest and their legs together. Robbed of their balance, the Shaman was pushed over by the pressurised stream. Bruce's hand closed fully into a fist.

The water bindings froze. Then, the Shaman exploded in a ball of fire, the ice sublimating immediately. Bruce recollected his water, letting it coat his arms and trail off into two long tentacles. He blushed slightly at the sight of the Kobold, decidedly a she, as the now naked Kobold Shaman stood, a vicious smile on her face.

Looks like things were starting to heat up!

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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The Teens were putting on a hell of a show. I was honestly impressed.

Akio was showing off his hard-won skills against Mushu, who, despite his claim, was going easy on the kid. But even with that allowance, in their battle of morningstar against sword and shield, Mushu was winning. The Drake-kin, even freshly resurrected as he was, had a baseline stronger than Akio was now. Akio had better luck when he switched strategies to dodging, taking advantage of the Drake-kin's larger, heavier weapon to get under or behind his guard with tactical rolls.

Like a true soulsborne protagonist.

Sophie was playing shadow-tag with the Kobold Hunter, and the Kobold's bonded Chromatic Tiger's early elimination certainly didn't help him. He was driven to the edge of rage, and Sophie's tactics kept him there. He was too strong to fight directly, so she kept to the many shadows thrown across the arena, flitting between them without pause. Every now and again, she struck at Mushu when he was off-balance or overly pressuring Akio, then went back to occupying the Hunter.

Bruce was locked in ranged magical combat with the Shaman, the conceptually opposed elements of fire and water, each taking advantage of their element's strengths and their enemy's weaknesses. The flowing multi-state nature of water, against the raw power of fire. It reminded me of that Azula versus Katara fight, honestly. The fire shaman losing her clothes and Bruce's reaction were hilarious. I'll ask my magic item crafters for some enchanted robes for her for the next fight.

However, the fight could only remain in that balanced state for so long. Something had to give.

Surprisingly, it was Akio. He dodged a feint and took a hit right on the shoulder from Mushu's morningstar. He was thrown back with a cry of pain, landing at Elize's feet. Sophie's head snapped in his direction. She stumbled and missed her swing. The Hunter took advantage and scored a cut along her belly with a vengeful smile. She staggered, then sank into her shadow, emerging from the floor near Akio. Bruce only glanced, then tried to move to rejoin his friends. The Shaman disabused him of that notion, raising a wall of fire between them.

Elize stood alone against Mushu and the Kobold Hunter. Akio was down with a dislocated shoulder, knocked out from where his head had smacked the ground. Sophie was bleeding heavily, an arm across her belly. The hidden princess/healer didn't tremble like I would have expected her to. She didn't even flinch. She just tucked her wand into her robes, then raised her hands. Her splayed fingers glowed with green Life mana, though nothing seemed to change outwardly.

The two Children paused, frowning. They shared a look and started to advance towards the three teens at a leisurely walk, weapons raised. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Hunter coughed blood and collapsed, utterly consumed by a coughing fit. Then he died. Mushu's eyes widened, then hardened. His walk turned to a sprint forward, finally remembering that there was a reason I'd told him to always take out the healer first.

The White Mage used their knowledge of the human body to significant effect when healing and keeping their allies in a fight. Still, they could also use that knowledge of the human body to destroy it. Most of the time, they took an oath against violence or were squeamish about killing in some way that kept them from their full potential.

Mushu, too, coughed blood. Mushu, too, collapsed to the ground, blood spilling to the flagstones with each cough.

Mushu, too, died.

With a cold look on her face, Elize regarded the fallen Children. Honestly, props to her. She stayed back and let the others fight first, and only stepped in when her and her friend's lives were truly threatened. She glanced down at the amazed Sophie and the unconscious Akio, and emotion returned to her face. Her eyes widened, and, suddenly panicking, she practically ripped the wand back out of her robes and knelt, knitting Sophie's wound closed with a wave of the stick. Akio's shoulder was relocated quickly, and he was woken up.

Bruce, having seen none of this, was still locked in one-on-one mage combat.

The wall of fire was taking a fair amount of concentration to maintain on the Shaman's side, so Bruce had an advantage there. He could use his complete focus and attention, while the Kobold's attention was split. Water extending his arms into tentacles, Bruce lashed out, leaving shallow scars all over the Kobold's body. Her scales were tough, but not tough enough for his water whips, apparently.

When one whip hit a particularly... delicate place, she cried out in pain and lost her concentration. The wall of fire fell. Behind it, Akio Sophie and Elize stood over the bodies of the other combatants. The Shaman bowed her head and extinguished her fire.

"I surrender," she knelt, arms arranged to protect her decency now that the fight was over.

The teen shared looks, and once again, no words were exchanged.

"We accept your surrender," Akio decreed. "You may leave, though might we ask for the names of you and your fellow Kobold?" There was a moment of silence as the Kobold processed. She bowed slightly, accepting her defeat with grace,

"I am Azu," she answered. "The Kobold Hunter you fought is my brother Ko. He won't be happy to have been bested by children."

Wait, really? Huh. I guess so. Funny how things turn out. Akio nodded and waved her off. The Shaman left her staff on the ground and walked up to a bare section of wall. She gave one last glance over her shoulder, then walked straight through it like it wasn't even there.

Very slick, Azu. Go get some pants on.

The Kobold jumped, then blushed and rushed to her room.' The couple of other Kobolds there, alternate fighters for larger guilder parties, smirked and laughed good-naturedly at her walk of shame,

Meanwhile, back with the teens, Bruce was getting healed. Though he only had light burns, his friends were giving him some good-natured ribbing over the methodology of his victory. The boy wasn't helping with his stuttering and stammering protests.

It was good to see them making progress. Now to see how fast they manage to push through the Ratten. I can't wait to see their reaction to the Fifth.

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Training Grounds, The High Temple, The Holy City

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High Priest Garyson took another calming breath. He was in one of the smaller meeting halls, after having more than a dozen requests to speak with him from the summoned heroes. He let his gaze sweep over the group. They'd acclimated quite well. All were wearing fashion typical of high nobility or armour of the same level, and their hair was styled appropriately. There was also a roughly equal distribution of male and female, ranged and melee, physical and mage.

This was one of the larger groups of heroes they'd summoned. The gods had truly blessed them, though it didn't bode well for the seriousness of the coming conflict.

"-nd while we're on the subject, what happened to those kids that got summoned with us!?" The most vocal of the heroes, a pale-skinned, blond woman named Karen, asked. "You've been keeping them from us! We demand to see them!"

Garyson sighed.

"Akio, Sophie and Bruce are on a training mission to a kind of dungeon known as a Grindstone," Garyson answered, weaving half-truths as easily as he breathed. "There, they will be able to grow their strength at a steady pace. They are too young to be involved with this crusade, and we are hopeful this will keep them out of the conflict."

Garyson almost let out a sigh of relief as the group calmed. It'd been... difficult, managing these heroes. He often wondered if that was why high priests who summoned heroes stepped down after their task was complete.

"Just how necessary is this... crusade?" One of the calmer heroes, a brown-skinned man with a well-trimmed beard and thin glasses, asked. James had a sharpness to his eyes, a trait Garyson often saw in the most intelligent and troublesome people. "We've had history with them on earth, and they don't tend to end well."

"We have writings of the Crusades of Earth," the First Crusader answered for him, the man standing tall and firm beside Garyson's seated form. "For the most part, they were poorly planned, poorly executed invasions of a large coastal desert environment. Many heroes of ages past have shared their wisdom and knowledge freely, and I can assure you that I will not make the same mistakes they did."

"If there are any other concerns?" Garyson followed up immediately, not giving the heroes time to form a rebuttal. "If that is all, I believe you all have training this afternoon. It won't be long before you all leave to join our gathering forces on the East Coast; I implore you to work as hard as you can. You all have incredible potential, and we will need you at your strongest if we are to succeed. Dismissed."

The summoned heroes shuffled out of the meeting room, murmuring and muttering. Still, from what Garyson could gather, his arguments had won them over. Only after the last man left and the door closed did Garyson bring a hand up to rub his eyes and face. He was exhausted already.

"I'm almost glad I won't be able to join you, with these old bones," Garyson stated as Haliet sat down in one of the recently vacated chairs. "Managing these people is exhausting. I feel older by the day."

"I don't think it's that bad," Haliet chuckled. "They just need to be shown the true face of our enemies, and that reluctance of theirs will clear right up."

"I suppose." Garyson acquiesced, without truly agreeing. "Have you heard from the collection team?"

"No, but they should still be on track to reach the island by the end of the month," Haliet answered, frankly. "They'll be able to gather all the inside information we need from our infiltrator, send it back, and if all goes well, they'll stay and attempt a delve or two. We have the records of the dungeon sent to the Guild already, but who knows how much the guildmistress of the island doctored those reports. If even one piece of information is wrong, we'll have proof of their collaboration and her corruption."

Garyson noted how the First Crusaders' fists tightened, his skin paling as he strained.

"Calm yourself, my friend. You'll be able to avenge your squire soon enough."

Garyson sighed as Haliet let the shadows cast by the candlelight hide his features. The man was taking the teenage heroes' defection to the side of the dungeon and its monsters particularly badly. The old man stood with a groan, his joints aching and cracking as he did. "Well, my friend. Let us move on. There was a meeting of the High Council today, was there not? Let us be off."

"Of course, your Holiness," First Crusade Haliet answered, rising with him. Together, they left the meeting room. There was much work to be done.