Dungeon Master 3

by Eric Vall

  Even I had to admit, he was quite a fearsome sight to behold, but it still didn’t matter how big he was. His power was still going to be mine.

  “I see you managed to survive my little obstacles,” the god’s deep voice boomed, and he spoke in monotone. “I must commend you, this is no easy task. No man has ever survived my trials. It is a shame that such brave adventurers such as yourselves will die after such a feat.”

  “We will do no such thing,” I laughed, and I moved forward as I held his gaze unflinchingly. “The only one who will perish on this day is you. I challenge you to combat, and once you’ve been slain your power will be mine and this dungeon will be conquered.”

  The warrior god raised a bushy eyebrow at me and was quiet for a moment before he finally spoke.

  “You willingly challenge me in combat?” his voice thundered without the slightest inflection in his tone. “I don’t know if that makes you a courageous man or just a fool. But no matter, I accept your challenge.”

  “Uhhh, doesn’t he know that Master is a dungeo--” Carmedy started to ask, but then Annalíse and Rana shushed her with an aggressive hiss.

  “Prepare yourself, then,” I said, and the giant god lumbered past us to the center of the room. Every one of his steps caused the cave to quake, and he accidently trampled a few trees.

  “Wow, that is way too much emotional banter for me,” Rana said sarcastically. “This guy seriously needs to tone it down. Actually, he’s probably a good match for you, Morrigan.” The fox grinned at Morrigan, but the dark sorceress offered no reply.

  “I want the rest of you to go back to the last cavern and wait there until I’m finished here,” I said to my minions. “What I have planned is far too dangerous for you to be around. I wouldn’t want any of you to be harmed from a stray attack, or that thing.” I nodded to the hulking deity’s battle axe.

  “Fine with me,” Rana shrugged. “I’m not too keen on getting sliced in half like a hunk of cheese.”

  “Mmh,” Carmedy licked her lips greedily. “Don’t talk about cheese. Just the mention of it is making me hungry.”

  “Everything makes you hungry,” Annalíse rolled her eyes as the four of them turned to go. “You say clouds make you hungry because they remind you of whipped cream, for heaven’s sake.” The women continued to walk away chattering about Carmedy’s excessive eating habits, but Morrigan hesitated for a moment and then turned back to me.

  “Please, return safely,” the elf said softly with a concerned expression upon her pale features, and she squeezed my arm affectionately.

  “Don’t worry about me,” I said with a gentle smile. “I’ll be fine. Now go on, do I as I say.” The pale woman nodded, and she walked away to join the others.

  My minions strode away into the tunnel from which we’d come and were soon out of sight. Seeing that they were out of harm’s way, I walked through the snow coated pine trees toward the center of the cavern to face the deity head on.

  As I approached, I slid the God Slayer back into my void pocket. I had used up a great deal of my necromantic power during the altercation with the serpents, so the use of my dark magic wasn’t the best option at present, but even if my dark powers hadn’t been temporarily depleted, I wouldn’t have used them against the warrior god anyhow.

  I wanted to play around with the abilities that I had harvested from the other deities.

  “I admire your bravery, human,” the bushy bearded giant said to me, and his blue eyes flashed. “Foolish as it may be.”

  “You won’t think me so foolish when I’ve finished with you,” I said with a wicked grin.

  Then I thrust my hand into the air summoning forth the power of the forest god.

  The frost dusted pine trees that surrounded the massive deity’s feet started to tremble and their dark hearty wood groaned and crackled from the strain of my strength. Just then the pine trees started to bend and stretch toward the axe wielding god’s feet, and he looked down at the twisting trees curiously. The pined plants curved toward him and started to snake around his massive legs and as they curled around, they tightened their hold.

  The Goliathan deity frowned and attempted to move his feet, but the trees kept him anchored down. Then another group of trees on either side of him stretched from the ground and shot into the air. As they reached up the trees angled toward the enormous warrior’s body and wooded plants wrapped around his forearms and wrists. His lips parted into a scowl as the trees still rooted pulled down. The colossal man bellowed angrily as he yanked against the wooded restraints and the bark of the trees creaked and groaned in response.

  Then I gritted my teeth as I used my might to force the bearded man down to the ground.

  “What. Is. This?” the Goliathan god roared as he fought back against the trees that pulled at his body.

  The pine trees wrapped around his legs had nearly forced him to his knees, but suddenly he rose up, yanked at one of his arms, and managed to break free of the wood like cuffs that bound him. He tore the twisted trunks away from his other arm, and sent the bark, branches and clusters of pine needles sailing through the air.

  With another fierce cry he lifted his constrained feet from the ground, and the trees that wrapped around his legs were ripped from the floor roots and all. I scowled at the axe wielding warrior as he tore away the trees that had twisted around his legs and feet.

  “An amusing little trick,” the giant said, his voice void of emotion, “but I’m afraid you’ll have to do better than that.”

  Without another moment’s hesitation the deity swung his axe over his shoulder and brought the weapon down in my direction. I dove to the side and rolled away just as the humongous axe came crashing down on the ground crushing several trees in the process. Then he yanked the mighty weapon from the floor, leaving a huge crevice in the rocky surface. He reeled back his arm to strike at me again, but I leapt out of the way, and the ground shuddered with the impact of his weapon.

  He continued to swat at me with his axe as though I were merely a fly and each time, I avoided his attacks. He reeled back his arm once more in preparation to attack but this time he parted his lips and sucked in his breath sharply as he tilted back his head. As his head came back down, and his axe swung overhead, he exhaled and a tornado-like burst of ice sprayed out from his mouth and aimed in my direction. I quickly sprinted out of reach of the attack and glanced over at the area where I had stood only seconds ago. The ground and the trees in that area were completely covered in ice.

  “Stay still you little worm,” the ice god called out unemotionally, and he sucked in his breath just as he had done before.

  “Happy to oblige,” I said with a sinister smile. “I only wanted you to show your hand first.”

  With that, I reached my hand out in front of me and curled my fingers upward. The deity spat out his cyclone of ice but before it could touch me, a ten-foot wall of lava rose from the ground in front of me. The torrent of ice collided with the blockade of scorching orange fluid. Upon impact the ice hissed and sizzled loudly, and pillars of steam rose into the air as the ice melted away.

  The ice deity blinked at me in surprise but then the fierceness quickly returned to his luminescent blue eyes, and his lips twisted into a crooked grin.

  “I suppose this will be more interesting than I thought. You aren’t human, are you?”

  “You cannot sense my power?” I laughed. “And yet you called me the fool.”

  The god immediately sucked in his breath, and I braced myself for another one of his ice attacks, but instead of aiming toward me, he turned his head to the side. Then he released his breath and a long stream of ice stretched from his lips and started to grow within his grasp. As he continued to blow the structure of ice contorted to form the shape of a mighty sword. Now he had both his battle axe and this hulking weapon crafted from ice.

  The giant released a battle cry and swung the ice sword down toward me.

  But this time I stood my ground.

  As
the frozen weapon sliced through the air and whizzed down at me, I reached one hand out beside me and with the other I curled my fingers upward summoning forth the power of the lava deity once more. A wisp of lava started to form in the grasp of my other hand. The fiery liquid bubbled and boiled as it stretched into a long slender shape. The form started to transform into a large sword that was nearly the length of my entire body.

  Once the orange sword had been completely formed, I clutched it tightly, and the relentless heat of the lava sizzled in my hand which caused steam to rise from it. But I felt no pain. The lava that I had called forth was a part of me and would bend to my will. If the ice deity wanted a battle of swords, I would give him one.

  When the sword of ice finally came down near my head, I swung my great sword of lava with one hand to block him. Our weapons struck each other, and large clouds of steam emerged from the weapons as a loud fizzling sound erupted.

  The warrior god glowered down at me and pushed his sword against mine, but my sword didn’t break under his will. His weapon however began to drip and melt in his hand. Seeing that his sword was disappearing before his very eyes, the gargantuan god bellowed and swung his battle axe around in an effort to cleave me in two. I had however anticipated such a move. I made a quick gesture, and in my other hand an enormous round shield materialized in my hand that I quickly raised to cover my side. The massive battle axe struck the lava shield sending splatters of the orange boiling matter into the air and onto the floor, but the shield held strong.

  By now the giant’s ice sword had melted altogether, and he snarled at me as he gripped his axe with both hands.

  Now he was right where I wanted him.

  While the deity was focused on attempting to shatter my shield, unbeknownst to him, two gigantic spears of lava started to form in the air on either side of his neck. As they took shape, an evil smile came to my face. He had put up a good fight, but even his immense power was no match for mine. The spears started to turn in the air, and they angled themselves into position. As soon as they were in the proper place, I sent them careening toward the ice god’s throat. The bearded deity looked out of the corner of his eye and saw the weapons hurtling toward him, but there was nothing he could do, and the lava crafted projectiles pierced either side of his fleshy throat with a loud squish.

  “Myyyggghhh!” The towering god dropped his battle axe and grappled at his throat as steaming blood spurted from his wounds. His eyes blinked rapidly, and he gurgled and attempted to draw the fiery weapons from his throat. But the spears scorched his hands, and he cried out in pain.

  Gloves of ice started to form around his hands, and I let my laughter fill the massive cavern. It was a clever move on his part, but still it would do no more than prolong the entertainment that his death throes provided me.

  With his protective gloves the giant man attempted to remove the spears from his neck, but the gloves immediately began to melt as soon as they touched the weapons. The warrior giant looked around desperately, and the glow of his blue eyes started to fade. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and it ran down his chin as he sank to his knees and toppled forward. I quickly moved out of the way as his massive frame came crashing down and crushed the trees on the cavern floor.

  The Goliathan god’s blood pooled out on the rocky floor around him and quickly filled the cavern with the tantalizing smell of death. The aroma excited me, but even more cause for excitement was the radiant orb of white light that emerged from the deity’s corpse and hung in the air above him. It bobbed and dipped in the atmosphere as it began to float toward me. Upon reaching me, the glowing sphere pressed against my chest, and it slowly pushed until it disappeared inside of me.

  Power began to course through my body. My skin grew warmer and began to tingle, and my heart beat wildly as the ice god’s strength melded with mine. I now had the ability to control ice and could now summon the ice demons, marble soldiers and serpentine monsters that we had faced. My mouth watered at the euphoric sensation.

  This was what I lived for, and soon, Annalíse’s comments about me being able to do ‘pretty much anything’ would be true.

  Chapter 6

  As my heartbeat returned to normal, I extinguished the lava sword and shield that I held. Then I turned to leave the cavern and walked through the tunnel where my minions were waiting for me. Most of the cavern in which I told them to wait was still filled with chunks of ice floating on the frigid water. So, the four women were seated on the small section of rock nearest the tunnel opening talking amongst themselves, and upon seeing me, they hastily stood to their feet.

  “Master has returned,” Morrigan said with a sigh of relief.

  “Yeah, glad to see you’re still in one piece.” Rana grinned at me as she playfully punched my arm. “That was quite a racket you two were making in there. It sounded like the cave was going to collapse on us.”

  “You saw how big he was yourself.” I chuckled. “Entering into combat with someone of that size wouldn’t make for a quiet fight.”

  “Fair enough.” The fox raised her paws with a gleam in her blue eyes. “Now that it’s all settled, what do you say we go treasure hunting?”

  “Let’s get to it,” I said with a nod.

  With a snap of my fingers, I quickly dispatched my shadow slaves into a few branches of the cavern. Given the vastness of this particular dungeon, I figured it would be best if we joined in the hunt as well, so we split up to search the dungeon for the treasures that it held. It took some time to complete our search of all the dungeon’s nooks and crannies, but at last, we found our spoils and met back in the cavern where I had brawled with the ice deity. While Morrigan, Carmedy, and Annalíse hadn’t managed to find anything in the areas which they had searched, Rana and I each found a treasure chest, and my shadow slaves found four more amongst themselves.

  Carmedy, Annalíse, and Morrigan silently gazed at the giant god’s corpse in awe. Rana, however, had her attention elsewhere.

  “You know, when we’re getting terrorized by bloodthirsty monsters and demons and stuff, I sometimes ask myself why on earth am I risking my tail for all this.” Rana sighed as she looked down at the half a dozen chests that stood at our feet. “But when I see all these beautiful little babies, it makes it all worth it. Now, let’s crack these open and see what we’ve got here, shall we?”

  Together, the five of us started to sift through the items within the wooden chests. We came across the usual gold coins, gold and silver chalices, jewelry, precious gems, and a few ornate headpieces. Such finds would have been deemed impressive to others, but at this point, these were mere trinkets to us. While these pieces would add to our already notable wealth, we were searching for something far more valuable, the sacred objects. They were the only way in which the dark wizard Tuzakeur could be summoned. We had found two so far on our travels and had five left to find.

  “I’m not seeing anything in this lot that looks like any of the sacred objects.” Rana frowned as she carefully held piece after piece up to examine before she placed it on the ground. “Anyone else find anything interesting?”

  “Not me,” Carmedy said as she scooped up a few handfuls of gold coins and poured them on to the floor. “My treasure chest mostly just has money in it.”

  “Mine doesn’t seem to have anything of interest either.” I furrowed my brow as I lifted a jewel inlaid crown and a small scepter from the wooden box that sat in front of me. “Just some royal trinkets.”

  “I have not encountered anything notable either,” Morrigan added. “Merely useless baubles.” Her pale fingers grasped at some gaudy looking rings with large gems fixed at their centers, and she placed them on the floor with a disinterested expression.

  “Annalíse, did you find anything?” I asked the freckle-faced woman. She had yet to say anything about her findings. Instead, she was curiously gazing into the treasure chest in front of her.

  “O-oh, my apologies!” The chestnut-haired princess blinked quickly as she broke ou
t of her stupor. “No, I didn’t find any of the sacred objects, but I did find something rather interesting. Look at this.”

  Annalíse pulled something out of the wooden container. Cupped in her hands was a hexagonal emerald gem that looked as though it fit perfectly in her palm. The flawless faces of the precious stone gleamed in the light of the glowing walls. Etched along every edge of the jewel were golden runes, and inside of the gem, at its exact center, was a golden crescent moon.

  “Wow, that sure is pretty,” Carmedy breathed with widened eyes as she leaned in closer.

  “It sure is,” Rana said as she marveled at the intricate piece, and her lips slowly curled into a wide grin. “I bet that could fetch a boatload of money.”

  “I don’t want to sell this,” Annalíse mumbled as she shook her head, her eyes still fixed on the green jewel. “There’s something… special about it.”

  “Indeed, there is something special about it.” I nodded at the swordswoman. “I believe that what you hold in your hands is an augmentation stone.”

  “An autonema- wha?” Carmedy wrinkled her nose and tilted her head to one side.

  “An augmentation stone,” Morrigan corrected the feline and pronounced the word slowly so that she understood. “It is a particular classification of magical object. They are quite rare, so rare that most adventurers never see one.”

  “What is it exactly?” Annalíse questioned. “And how does it work?”

  “You see, an augmentation stone is a gem, crystal, or some other similar object that bestows magical properties when attached to a weapon,” I explained to the human woman. “It can alter the weapon’s design, increase the user’s strength, provide temporary invulnerability, or any number of powerful magical effects. Every stone does something different, no two are alike.”

  “Fascinating.” the female warrior said with excitement brimming in her brown eyes. “So, if I were to find more of these stones, could I attach them all to a single weapon and use each of the powers of the stones all at once?”