Chương 16

-0-0-0-0-0- The Dungeon, Medea Island, Kalenic Sea -0-0-0-0-0- That was boring. A few snippy comments and the trio teleported out of there. It was the smart decision, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't very entertaining. The curses and grumblings of 'Vert' were enjoyable enough, though. Learnt some new ones there. They didn't last as long as Haythem's party, and due to an entirely different reason. Haythem and his party members were cautious and wary, preparing adequately before each dive into the flooded sections.

Vert's men were less disciplined, a couple of bare-chested men often jumped right into the water without hesitation. If I were on earth I'd have called them adrenaline junkies, chasing that next rush. Since I seemed to have been transported to a kind of fantasy world, I'll call them Berserkers instead. I'll call them Rock and Boulder. Their intelligence and survival instincts seem to be about that level. They'd probably have died a few times over already if they hadn't possessed a rather quick healing factor.

It wasn't as quick as someone like Wolverine, or Deadpool, but ten minutes after receiving a cut, it was gone. Instead of using healing potions on them, the rest of the party seemed to fight around them. If they got too injured, they would be pulled from the fight to heal while the more conventional swordsmen filled the gaps. Speaking of; it was all swords and crossbows and daggers. Those seamen had pistols when they found me, but it seemed they were only used by normal humans.

Perhaps gunpowder weapons became ineffective against Guilders or monsters after a certain point? Perhaps not to the point of being bulletproof but some Golds should have the perception, reflexes and reaction speed to dodge, if only barely moving out of the way. Or maybe they're not heavily researched. Magic-enhanced guns sound dangerous. Research on them could even be restricted now that I think about it. Might upset the whole dynamic they've got going on here. Mental Note: Figure out Manatech Guns.

Anyway, back to the delve. I need to stop going on tangents. The group continued to putz around the second floor, encountering larger and larger groups of fish. At about two-thirds of the numbers that destroyed Isid's party they decided they had pushed their luck enough and left. Their decision may have had something to do with their potions supplies running low and one of the Rogues losing a hand. Successive Gold parties had equally as much luck.

It was actually a bit of a surprise; I had expected at least one of them to find the boss room. Then, the first Platinum party delved. There were only two of those, led by the set of fraternal twins Matha and Litan Gorge. From what I'd overheard last night they weren't the most popular people in the guild, though respected for their capability in spite of their atrocious manner and personalities. Litan, the male twin, entered first.

His part was composed of a healer, a water mage, a tank, a crossbowman/rogue and Litan himself. Their armor was intricately carved and enchanted, their weapons were sharp and enchanted with extra effects I hadn't yet seen. The tank's tower shield seemed to produce an energy barrier, which could be extended out into a half-dome. I'll call him Sherman, since I wasn't sure on his name.

The Golds and Platinums seemed to understand, where the silvers had not, that speaking in an intelligent dungeon wasn't much advised, and used hand-signals most of the time out of combat, which led to a revived practice of nicknaming unnamed Guilders. Much like Isid and her party, the group plowed through the first floor easily. Their equipment, strength and with the use of tactics my Crabs and I had no experience in defending against were the main reasons.

In their fight against the Crab Knight, I pulled out all the stops. He used his oversized core to great effect, throwing fire magic all over the place by slashing his sword-pincer. Unfortunately he was countered by the water mage in the party more often than not, dousing the flames before they could do much damage. Sherman was also able to take most of the Knight's strikes head-on, while Litan himself and the crossbowman were the main damage-dealers. Hm. The man with the crossbow and the water mage need nicknames.

I don't want to just call them something stupid... I'll think of something. After a brief break carving out it's core and collecting the mana water, they moved on. Litan looked disappointed it was only a single bottle's worth, but I'd adjusted the depth of the pool to that amount on purpose. Didn't want them getting too big of a reward. Their first encounter on the second floor ended as I expected it too. The water mage was too OP for this level.

Given the humidity of the third floor and the damp earth of my fourth, they might remain effective until the fifth, or even the sixth. Perhaps a Desert level at some point... The number of monsters they fought began at a much higher point than the Golds, leading them to make the decision to abandon the delve when the healer began taking injuries. The next party was one of the Silver parties. It really confused me, since I expected the other sibling to take the slot. Time for a little spying.

-0-0-0-0-0- Outside the Dungeon, Medea Island, Kalenic Sea -0-0-0-0-0- Matha sat, reclined on a chair in the shade, enjoying the fresh sea breeze rolling onto the beach. This Island was rather idyllic, so as her brother was currently delving the local dungeon, she rested. She wasn't worried about her twin. He was plenty tough enough to survive all their previous trials, this new one would prove no different. She was proven right as he emerged from the exit pavilion little over an hour later.

He joined her on a similar seat, the rest of his party mingling with hers. He sighed and relaxed into the comfy seat, closing his baby blue eyes. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Tough?" She questioned, opening her own mana-touched orange eyes.

"Decently." He replied.

"The first floor should be no problem for those of our level. The second is on somewhat of a timer, encountering more and more monsters the longer you're there." He raised a hand into the air and snapped his fingers. A somewhat disgruntled party member of his brought over a scroll and passed it to his waiting hand. She didn't know the man's name and didn't care to learn. Litan unfurled the scroll, displaying a copy of the map the local guild has been compiling of the second floor.

Flooded tunnels had been marked in blue ink, half-flooded sections were also marked. It was an impressive maze. Many paths turned back on themselves, or crossed other sections. She noted a half-dozen tunnels that could potentially lead to an exit. Matha rolled the scroll back up and handed it off to her friend Tisa.

"Well, I guess we better get in line." She sighed, eyeing the four parties currently waiting their turn. It wasn't worth antagonizing all those parties and the local guild by bypassing the line. Beyond that, there was zero chance any of these people would be able to make it to the core before them. There was literally no point in butting in. So, she stood from her chair and strode to the line, the rest of her party following along obediently. Four hours later, she finally reached the front of the line.

With the setting sun, it was likely they would be the last party of the day. After signing the entry requirement forms and waiting a whole hour more, her party was finally granted access to the dungeon as the last rays of the sun touched the beach. The first floor was as easy as her brother had told her it was. The Crabs, while numerous, weren't tough enough to defeat her nor smart enough to outwit her. The Floor Guardian was a bit more of a challenge. Unlike her brother, her party did not have a water mage.

Her party was composed of her childhood playmate Tisa, her two bodyguards Halter and Wrec, a rogue named Daltan they'd recently brought onto the team and herself, a fire mage. Wrec and Halter took the majority of the Guardian's attention, while Tisa put her crossbow to good use defeating the smaller monsters. Matha herself was occupied making sure the Guardian's fire magic didn't catch on any of her team.

Daltan proved his usefulness by getting the final blow, driving his rapier into the soft tissue the eye stalks emerge from. When on the second floor, they used the map to great effect. Tisa was an able guide, directing them to unexplored sections quickly. The first few ended up putting them back on to the explored parts, but that only helped in narrowing down the correct path. A dead end later, and there was only one more tunnel to explore. The fish monsters were effective, she'd give the dungeon that.

The multiple schools of all types that guarded that final flooded tunnel were relentless. Matha deemed it lucky she had experience using her magic underwater. Going beyond fire itself, she directed pure heat into the water ahead of her, keeping it from affecting her party behind her. The water boiled, cooking the fish before they could get close enough to do too much damage. It was too bad that using her magic this way drained her much faster than using fire. With this many monsters though, it was needed.

The Guardian was likely a variant of one of the normal monsters, and hopefully by removing all these ones easily they could enter the fight relatively fresh. After pushing past the floating corpses Matha and her team finally made it to the final room of the second floor. Hopefully. If this passage just led to another maze underneath the first she would be incredibly upset. When they entered the large, cylindrical room occupied by a large red fish with massive teeth, she was relieved.

There was the risk it could have been a different species entirely. The walls were made of stone, intricately carved with the sharp-lettered language of the dungeon's old masters. there were designs and stories in the stone, images of fish and some lizard-like monsters. On the other side of the room was a circular indentation below what looked like a vent, similar to the ones in the first floor guardian's arena. The moment the Guardian rushed them, more fish started emerging from darkened holes in the walls.

This fight certainly wasn't going to be easy. -0-0-0-0-0- The Dungeon, Medea Island, Kalenic Sea -0-0-0-0-0- These Platinums weren't stupid. Unlike the Silvers and Golds, the male twin had procured a map of my maze the sister used to navigate and find unexplored tunnels. I was going to need to implement a way to move the maze soon, to prevent people just rushing the boss room. That trick the female twin showed off, using fire magic to boil water. It inspired me.

Tomorrow, my maze would include traps that boiled the water in a section of tunnel. Only one or two though. The boss fight was intense. Every party member was occupied fighting the adds. Sanguina kept back, letting her subjects fight in her stead. With Matha having used most of her magic in the entrance tunnel, she was much less useful. The two knights were forced to defend her in her mostly-helpless state. The woman with the crossbow and the rapier wielder were the most effective fighters, though it wasn't enough.

There were too many fish. The man with the rapier was the first to abandon the fight. After taking a bad shock from the edge of a Lightning Snapper's cloud, the twitching man activated his teleport and abandoned the fight. Now a fighter down, Matha appeared incensed. Already on the ropes, the party were talking more and more injuries. Everyone left had at least one electrical burn, a dozen shallow cuts and more than a few gouges in their armor or flesh. As one, the group grabbed for their crystals and escaped.

Sanguina would survive another day. The fallout on the surface was impressive. Dalton, the rapier wielder, found himself on the receiving end of every threat under the sun and kicked from the party. If he hadn't left the island by tomorrow, I would be very surprised. And so ended the second day of constant delvers. The Crabs performed their role well, making sure no Silver parties had the resources or willingness to explore past the Crab Knight. The Fish also did excellent; No Gold party had found Sanguina.

The one Platinum party that did were repelled with prejudice. The fifth floor was coming along well, and I had finished carving out the rooms. A few of those rooms held experiments that I hoped would work out. The fourth floor was fine; the rats continued to commit genocide on themselves in order to grow. A few dozen of the rats were about twice the size of the normal rats, with elongated limbs and a tendency for bipedalism. Sharpened claws and tougher hides were also widespread beyond the larger specimens.

The larger rats were predominantly female, which made sense given that even normal sized female rats were bigger than males. The Kobolds both were joyful and anxious; joyful they would soon participate in my defense and anxious that they wouldn't be up to the task. As such the normal villagers were preparing for a party to make it to the third floor any day now.

The mini-bosses practiced against each other while the Drake-Kin was brought to the jungle floor to practice his skills against the mini-bosses, since they were the closest thing to humans I had. They were decently strong. I was hoping their intelligence, use of magic and tactics would prove decisive in future battles. I didn't want them to be pushovers. The Drake-kin, I evolved slightly more by granting him more mana, pushing it to enhancing his physique and speed.

The moon high overhead and the Guilders resting, I focused on the fifth floor. I needed to speed up. I might have less time than I expected. -0-0-0-0-0- © Max Porteous, 2022