The Dungeon Without a System

Chapter 146

I only stopped force-growing my Sea Monsters when they'd reached the elder stage. I had other preparations to make in the dungeon since counting on the Leviathan, Kraken and Sea Serpent to head off the crusade entirely was folly. I believed they could put a decent dent in it, but I expected that, ultimately, they'd die. If I finished all my other preparations in time, I'd spend however long it took until they arrived, beefing them up.

The sea monsters were just the first layer of defence, though. Every fish, crustacean and invertebrate within a 5-mile radius was mine to control. I monsterized a couple of species in particular, for sabotage purposes. The first I called the Drill-Footed Barnacle. These aggressive molluscs would grow on any surface, using their natural adhesive. After they'd secured themselves, they'd use a drill-like foot to anchor into that surface further, so they cannot be pried off. If that surface just so happened to be wood, such as that found on ships, well, that ship would soon find itself with a few leaks.

I also monsterized a couple of fish species, but didn't do more than dump them full of mana. Whatever they turned into, I'd find out later.

During the crusade, I planned to take every farm animal to the Eleventh for my replica of Atlantis. I'd burn the fields behind me and leave no easy food source for the crusaders. The fish would also avoid any questing hooks, leaving them no recourse but to ship their own food in. Additionally, I planned to cut off the freshwater stream, meaning they'd need to collect and purify their own water or ship it in. On top of all that, my mice, rats, small birds and seagulls would make every effort to spoil any food they did bring; pooping in open water barrels, chewing through sacks, etc.

An army marches on its stomach. Denied local food and water, I expected their logistics to be strained at the very least.

With the surface sorted, I moved on to the first floor: The Starlit Caverns. Honestly, there wasn't much here to change; the Crabs were my most zealous protectors. I made an effort to remove any crab close to evolution and led them down to the Eleventh. There, they could grow naturally and evolve as they wished. When the Crusaders arrived, they'd experience something I hadn't had to do for a long time now: Wave attacks. Wave after wave of Crabs, throwing themselves at the invaders. A week before they arrived, I'd adjust the crab breeding numbers and maturation cycle to make it possible. It'd be a real mana drain, and I wouldn't be able to keep it up indefinitely, but if it killed even one of the summoned heroes or templars, it would be worth it. Even if it didn't, the delay it caused would be.

On the second floor, again, I found no significant notes or changes that would make a noticeable difference. The entrance and exit were fixed, traps on hair triggers, and fish were deadly. The best I could do was, again, adjust the number and strength of the monsters. I'd also bring down newly spawned crabs to roam the Flooded Labrynth, making the above-water areas just as dangerous as the submerged ones.

For the third floor, I started with an evacuation. All the Kobold Tribes were asked to leave and make the trip down to the Twelveth. They could make their homes in the forests and jungles, or the mountains, plains, or anywhere they desired. A breeding population of Chromatic Tigers, Phoenix, and a selection of the insect life accompanied them. Those that remained behind, I increased their litter and egg counts, maturation rate, and base strength. I would make this place the actual Green Hell I'd envisioned. Swarmed with insects of all kinds, at all times. A constant artificial rainfall meant that nothing remained dry. Intermittent animal attacks. The 'Boss' position would be held by a new monster, the Chimeric Tiger. An evolution of the Chromatic Tiger; It would be thrice as large, have three heads, and a snake for a tail, just as the mythical Chimera did. It would be backed up by a duo of monsters. An alternate evolution of the Chromatic Tiger, the Manticore, which would be twice as large, has wings more suited for assisted leaping than flying, and a quilled tail it could use for ranged attacks.

I wasn't fucking around anymore. For now, the Chimeric Tiger and Manticores were residing with Mushu and the Kobolds that fought with him. These Children and the trial guardians would be evacuated closer to the invasion. I was barely able to convince Mushu to leave; He saw the Third as his responsibility. I wanted there to be no possibility that his Respawn Crystal could be destroyed. There, after all, was a non-zero chance that the crusaders would bring someone capable of finding and opening my Children- and Monster-only tunnels.

Speaking of, I collapsed those behind the Children as they evacuated, moulding the rock to be seamless once again.

With all that done, I decided to take a short mental break; creating new monsters was fun and all, but even all-powerful genus loci needed breaks once in a while.

Isid Losat huffed and puffed, catching her breath as she dodged another bolt of fire. With a running leap, she speared the offending unihare on one manablade and beheaded it with the other. Its fluffy head and single horn spun in the air, landing on the ground with an anticlimactic thud.

Isid paused, looking around for any more mana signatures. The long grass that covered the plain at the centre of the floor was saturated with mana and hid the forms of the diminutive unihares with ease. She had to remain constantly on guard, since they only used their mana when it flared enough for her to spot them, and by then, they were already casting some spell.

The sheer diversity of spells these rabbits used was... impressive.

Isid had to admit, when she'd advised her niece to trade a pair of rabbits for questions to the dungeon, she hadn't expected much would come of them. She'd been proven wrong. Oh, how wrong she'd been. Rabbits were incredibly fast and stealthy. On top of that were the advantages and magics of the three subspecies that the dungeon had turned them into. Flying rabbits with an Air mana affinity? Almost impossible to hit. Enormous horned rabbits with Life mana affinity? Surprisingly hard to corner.

Then there were the unihares. Outwardly unmodified, but for a slight size increase and a single horn in their forehead, these were the most difficult to deal with. The sheer breadth of spells they used, with affinities of all tiers showing themselves. That unihare with the Gravity affinity from the day before stood out firmly in her mind. After extracting the monster's oversized manacore from its body, Isid picked up the unihare's head. She turned and showed it to her husband, who was pushing through the shoulder-high grass with some effort. "Got another one," Isid stated, not bothering to hide the strain in her voice. They'd been out here all day and only managed a couple of monsters each. It was... very demotivating, to actually have to hunt monsters. It was so much easier when the monsters came to you.

"That should be enough, then," Jerrard said, holding out a hand. Isid put the head in his hand, and he delicately separated the horn from the rest of the skull. He chucked the head into the distance and put the horn in a pouch, which, from the clatter it made, held a decent number of them. "We'll trade some of these at Minos Village, and take the rest back to the surface. Come on, the others should be done by now as well."

Isid took the offered hand and followed him back down the path they'd pushed through the grass.

They'd spread out in teams of two, to cover the most ground, in mage/melee pairs where possible and ranged/melee where it wasn't. It was a short walk, and they emerged from the grass at the end of the 'road.' A little further up was the fork which led back to the Ninth, and to Minos Village. The rest of the raid group was already there, waiting.

Each team shared the number of Winged Hare wings and Unihare horns they'd collected, and it ended up being a little over what they'd needed to collect, but that was good, too. After being let into the village, Isid noted that it seemed more bustling than usual, with a higher number of Kobolds running around than they'd seen before. There were even adolescents underfoot, herded by a couple of stressed-looking kobolds in robes.

"That's odd," Isid muttered, pointing it out to Jerrard. Her husband hummed in agreement, but made no other comment. They made a beeline to the 'Church of The Creator,' to turn in their collection request. As they approached the temple, or 'church' as the priests called it, Isid noted that once again, it seemed like the more 'anthropomorphic' Children hung around the building more than the more 'bestial' ones. They quieted as the group of humans passed them, some staring, and others averting their eyes. isid and Jerrard entered the church, leaving the others outside.

The inside of the church was austere. Most temples displayed their wealth for all to see, to awe those who entered. This one was mostly bare stone, with wooden benches and a stone altar at the other end. The afternoon light poured in the stained glass window over the doorway, casting a blue tinge over everything. Several groups of Children in their red and black priestly robes talked in low tones throughout the building. Just inside the door, though, Isid found the sheep-like 'Beastborn.' She was frowning and looked to be pondering some passages in a book.

"Kaley?" Isid called, jolting the woman from her introspection.

"Ah! Isid," the sheepperson said, blushing slightly. The Child mastered herself quickly, though, and turned to face them properly. "You've come to turn in a request, then? Which one?"

"The Unihare Horns and Winged Hare Wings," Isid replied. Jerrard stepped forward, holding out the two sacks containing the limbs and horns.

"Excellent!" Kaley smiled, her oblong pupils flicking to the bags. She raised a furred hand, signalling someone, and a capriccio walked over to collect the bags. "We'll do a quick count and get you your Talons. Will you be taking any more requests before you go?"

"No, thank you," Isid replied. "We're planning on going back to the surface for a time. It's been a while; my niece is surely worried."

"Ah, of course," the sheepperson demurred. "Well, when you get back down here, we'll have more requests waiting!"

"I do have a question, though," Isid said. "Why are there so many Kobolds running around?"

"Well, they are being evacuated from the higher floors, in light of the coming events," Kaley stated. "The Creator, in his infinite mercy, did not wish to leave their survival to chance. I heard they're being sent to the Twelveth."

That was... a lot to unpack. So, these were the kobold residents of the Third? 'Evacuated in light of the coming events?' What was about to happen, that the dungeon would pull Children deeper in, rather than just hide them as it had always done?

Before she could ask, the capriccio returned with a clinking bag of Talons.

"Thank you for your diligence," the goatperson said. "We've affirmed that you've met the required number of wings and horns. Here is your reward." Jerrard stepped forward and accepted the bag with a nod. Then, they turned and left. The rest of the group was still standing outside the church, talking to one another. "We need to return to the surface," Isid stated when she reached them. "Something big is happening, and we're out of the loop. We've been down here too long. Get your crystals out. We're leaving, now."

Aaaand the CHI group were finally gone. This had been their longest delve, by far, and it showed. Despite having access to multiple towns, their equipment had been showing visible signs of wear and tear. I supposed that they didn't trust the Children to repair it properly, and could only do so much on their own. Well, they were back on the surface and had leatherworkers and blacksmiths they trusted up there to do their maintenance.

The Teen Heroes had delved once during my previous work and managed to defeat Mushu again. More decisively this time, too. They pushed into the Fourth a little, but were put off by the endless stream of rats and their myriad abilities and magics. Various other guilders were also delving. There was even a group that was fighting Ants on the Seventh! Good luck to them, really. It looked like the configuration of the tunnels took it through a decent part of the ant colony.

With nothing to distract me and my mind rested, I went back to work. The Ratten Warren was a well-oiled machine, much as the First, Second and Third were. Not much to change. As with the earlier floors, I evacuated the most promising Ratten clans to the Twelfth and left the rest to maintain the defence. Among these four clans were the Shadow Clan, one of the oldest on the floor. There was also the Lightning Clan, the Rous Clan, and the Burning Fist Clan. The Ratten were the least organized monsters in the dungeon. I'd left them to run wild a long time ago, and it showed. Each clan had hundreds of members, each of incredibly varying sizes, strength levels and mana density.

It was a real mess. I created templates for each clan, at varying stages in their development, to incorporate the age-based evolutions that were becoming standard in my dungeon. They were still monsters, of course. Intelligent monsters, capable of recognizing their family groups and enemies, but they had no inclination to tool usage or any other hallmarks of sapience.

The Mushroom Castle was populated by Golems, Manabeings, and Fungal Zombies. The manabeings still descended when they became 'too strong' for their area, and a new manabeing took their place. All I would have to do here was disable the shortcuts, causing any crusaders that reached this far to pass through the whole castle. If they had anyone in their army familiar with my dungeon or actionable intelligence, they'd know about the keys. But if they didn't, they'd then have to retrace their steps back through the castle, explore and fight their way through the mushroom forest, then go back through the dungeon.

Hopefully, another huge timesink.

The Capriccio on the Sixth were evacuated; nannies, billies and kids, all. I was sure they'd love the mountain range on the Twelveth, but, again, where they wanted to settle was up to them. The oldest and largest monsters of the Lava Caverns were also evacuated: the bats and snakes. After that, I increased the reproductive rates of those monsters and left them to breed. The manabeings of the Sixth had long gotten into the rhythm of sending their strongest downwards, and needed no encouragement.

The Seventh was much the same. I sent the majority of the Drake-kin south, a massive number by now. Those who remained were the warriors and shaman who were part of this floor's mechanics. They'd leave when the invasion arrived, but until then, they'd stay as part of the floor. I also further updated the Ant's evolutionary system, delineating their life stages into proper evolutions: Pupal, Hatchling, Royal Hatchling, Young, Mature, Elder, and Queen. Queens got their own evolutions, because of course they did. Each path the ants could take was well-delimited, and given I only needed to infuse the Queens with the needed metaphysical information, it went much smoother than designating a couple of pairs from each monster kind to continue breeding. When the invasion came, they'd have free rein of the Abandoned Mines. As I moved to the Eighth, I felt something... strange. Hard Mode had just been triggered on the First. It was a party of guilders I'd never seen before. How very... odd.