Dungeon Robotics (Book 4): Cascade

by Matthew Peed

  “Impossible, but I didn’t sense any unholy mana,” the dwarf Folwin said with confusion.

  “Dwarf! You dare mock my lord?!” Izora growled when she heard him.

  “No! No, I just don’t understand!” Folwin said, lifting his hands up as if to yield.

  “Of course you don’t, since you follow that bitch Lelune!” Izora said and I could just feel that she wanted to spit when she said the Celestial’s name.

  “How dare you! Goddess Lelune is merciful and giving!” Folwin yelled as he dropped his hands and angled his staff at her.

  “A lying snake! A traitor! And a murderer!” Izora shot back without restraint.

  Chapter 17

  Izora

  Lord Regan brought my people back to life! This was a miracle if ever I saw one. The priests would never be able to do something like that. Then this stupid dwarf decided to open his big fat mouth and ruin the feeling.

  “Blasphemy! Lelune is the Holy Mother!” Folwin shouted.

  “Mother of lies,” I retorted.

  “I can’t let this pass; I’ll be reporting all this to the Vicar Council when we leave this place! Especially how the gnomes view the goddess,” Folwin said in a huff.

  “Bring it. We aren’t afraid of you!” one of my guards shouted at him. I nodded with his statement. I’d like to see anyone try to mess with my people when they’ve started gearing for war.

  “Now, I was going to ignore this, but I don’t want a crusade to happen just yet. I’m far too busy for that. If you want to insist on this path, Mr. Folwin, then I’m afraid none of your party will be allowed to leave,” Lord Regan said with a large amount of anger.

  He raised his hand, and all across the floor, wolves started to howl. It was eerie how in sync they all were and how much anger I could feel from them as well. At the back of my head, the rules about dungeons having to play fair were completely thrown out. Lord Regan truly was on another level. The Chaos Party grouped together in response to the killing intent being sent their way from nearly all directions.

  “Lord Regan, what’s to stop them from giving their word, then sending a message when they leave the dungeon?” I asked, worried.

  “Oh, that’s easy,” he said, then looked over to Folwin. “Little dwarf, here is a glimpse of my power.” He raised his hand, then a dome formed around the party. At first, nothing happened, then Folwin shouted in surprise and quite a bit of fear.

  “The Lady! She has gone from me!” he said before he fell to his knees.

  “Exactly. I doubt you want to be the cause of your church being completely powerless in a nearly five-hundred-kilometer radius around this town. Would make destroying me quite difficult, wouldn’t it?” Lord Regan asked, then dropped the dome around the party. I was sure there was more to it, but I made sure to keep my mouth shut.

  Folwin looked at Lord Regan with fear in his eyes, while the rest of the party was forced to the side of the issue. Folwin only held Lord Regan’s eye for a moment before he lowered his own. From the looks on the rest of the party’s faces, they really had no idea what to do in this situation. I, for one, was glad Lord Regan had ways to remove the traitor goddess’s influence from his area. Just one more point toward him being an actual god. The gnomes had loved Arin before he was betrayed.

  “I . . . I understand. I apologize to the princess. As she herself showed, I just didn’t like my faith questioned in such a fashion,” Folwin said as he lowered his head nearly to the ground.

  “I do not blame you, but I’m giving you a warning. You might want to question your faith soon. In the coming months, many people’s faith is going to be tested,” Lord Regan said as his form dissipated into steam. The two guards who were brought back to life rushed forward to try to say thanks again, but their hands only caught water vapor.

  “Let’s call it a day. I think everyone here needs a good rest after today,” Tsuzuki said to the gathered people.

  “I agree. Let’s head back. Separately,” I said, sending a glare toward the Chaos Party.

  ~~~

  “The events that happened down in the dungeon have spread to most of the crew. If they weren’t under a rock, they’d have heard it,” Captain Shido said in the meeting I’d called for the higher-ranked members of the embassy.

  “How are they taking it?” I asked. I thought I should feel nervous, but I found I wasn’t for some reason.

  “Quite well, actually. I think the gnome people have gone too long without a focus for their devotion. When Lelune . . . took over, all the other Celestials went quiet, after all.”

  “And your crew, Captain Mesu?”

  “Roughly the same. I have to agree with Captain Shido. We have just gone so long without someone to put our trust in that people are actually glad to have someone for once. I would argue that we need to move slowly before we start spreading the word of Lord Regan to the continent, if you don’t want to cause a crusade from the church. What is the word of Lord Regan?”

  “Noted. Still, I plan to send word back to Father. I have a feeling Regan could return Jade Wind back to its former glory,” I said, remembering some images I’d found of the city when it was still new. I thought about his question for a long moment before I answered. I wasn’t sure how I did, but I knew it was correct, or at least as close to correct as one such as myself could get. “Knowledge. Seek and find knowledge.”

  “That would be a glorious sight indeed,” Captain Shido said with a dreamy look.

  “Speaking of returning, how many of the ships that turned traitor were repaired?” I asked with concern. They were already a force to reckon with before. If they were using the repairs that Lord Regan helped devise, then they were on a whole different level.

  “Of the hundred, fifty-seven of them,” Captain Mesu answered with a frown.

  I wanted to bang my head against the wall. That many! Seriously, what were the people in the palace doing?

  “I’ll let Lord Regan know,” I said with maybe a little too much anticipation in my voice.

  “That would be wise, wouldn’t want our lord to think we hid something from him,” Tsuzuki added. “We should also inform the king and emperor. They are the ones most likely to suffer if those ships are used correctly.”

  “I agree. Send a hawk at once,” I said with a nod.

  “Princess . . . Princess, do you think you could get Lord Regan to meet with me?” Vern asked with a sheepish tone.

  “I’ll see,” I said. I didn’t like the cute tone of her voice, but it might have just been me. She was actually the one who spent the most time in the dungeon. Even if it was outside in the outer layer. We rarely saw her outside of the library. This day had been rare, given the events that had taken place.

  “Thank you!” she said happily.

  “Does anyone else have anything to add?” I asked the group at large.

  “If I may?” Hatsu said from the side.

  “Yes?”

  “I believe we should begin anti-Lelune movements before we begin spreading Lord Regan’s word to the masses. Among our own people, we will be fine. But once we begin to spread to the cities and villages, there will be a lot of pushback. I propose spreading some of the facts to the general population on the down-low. This will not only keep the church busy, but more people might be inclined to listen to us when we begin in force,” Hatsu explained.

  “She does have a point. If we do it correctly, then there shouldn’t be any traces leading back to us,” Captain Mesu said.

  “The biggest issue will be the messenger being careful not to get captured. If he just uses parchment or some form of communication like that, he should be safe for the most part,” Captain Shido added.

  “Then let’s work toward that. Make sure you have a detailed plan before sending anyone out, with escape plans included,” I said. While I didn’t mind spreading the information to draw more people for my new lord, this sort of thing was always dangerous for the messengers.

  “Yes, Princess!” Captain Shido and Mesu
said together.

  “Is that it?” I asked again.

  “Princess, I would like to inform you of something as well,” a voice said.

  I looked over to the gnome and saw Umeki. He was a financial advisor my father had sent with Captain Mesu. He wore clothes that would have been fit for royalty with how much gold thread and adornments were on them.

  “Go ahead,” I said. I knew Umeki was good at his job. But given the nature of his profession, I found it hard to trust him. At least the obelisks didn’t strike him when he came to town. That would have led to a whole can of worms. The gnomes were quite rich, after all.

  “Yes, my lady. This town is a gold mine! I have never witnessed so much wealth that was so liquid in my years of doing this job. We have already set up a few enchantment shops in the embassy, and there has been such a demand that the crafters will be busy until spring at this rate. I know the current . . . state of affairs back home, but I feel it would be wise to call back for another ship to be sent here with many of our higher-level crafters.” Umeki paused for a moment to clean his glasses with a piece of cloth. “If we intend to truly go to war, we are going to need the funds. This place can provide that, and it will help our allies in the long run.”

  I thought it over. Umeki wasn’t wrong. Lord Regan was quite liberal with using gold as rewards in the dungeon. Not only that but his casino was attracting considerable attention from people from all walks of life. Many people were unable to become an adventurer due to the fact that they just couldn’t afford a decent weapon to dungeon dive or monster hunt. In the casino, people had gone from a few silvers to hundreds of gold coins in the course of a day.

  “I will raise this with my father,” I said eventually.

  “Thank you, Princess! Also, if you do get approval, please ask for Kumagai to be sent. She is one of the best enchanters we have, and I feel like she could use the kick in the pants this place might give her.” The more he talked the more animated he became. He was waving his arms around, apparently unable to stop himself.

  I laughed, then said, “Understood.”

  We discussed a few more things, but after that the meeting was basically over. I was ready to dive back into the dungeon, as I wanted to reach the newest boss room. Knowing Lord Regan, I guessed it would be challenging to say the least, but I needed to give my people a few days of rest. At least the guards who were brought back to life appeared to be living it to the fullest. One of them confessed to his romantic interest and got good news.

  ~~~

  A day passed with nothing in particular happening. A man who claimed to be Louella’s father did call on me, but I already knew the full story from Louella. I had him sent away without him ever coming inside the building. I was itching to get back into the dungeon, but I needed to give my people time to rest. I was sitting at my desk with nothing to do, having finished all my paperwork, just responding to messages from various places over the continent that needed the king’s or my signature.

  As I was bored, I took a chance and called out to Lord Regan through our link. I knew it was childish of me, but I wanted to be in his presence. I felt him answer my call, so I wrote a message on my desk in case anyone came in, then my vision swam as I was moved into a new room.

  “Little princess,” Lord Regan said as the room solidified around me. It was composed of metal and glass and looked so sleek and otherworldly that it took a few moments before I managed to tear my eyes away from it all.

  “Lord Regan,” I replied with a curtsy, or at least I tried to as the room shook from some external force.

  “Don’t mind that. The forest around us is a little edgy today,” Lord Regan said, looking outside through a large window.

  I followed his line of sight to see what looked like an army made of trees and creatures surrounding our position. Magic of all kinds was being flung at us, but the barrier of Regan’s vessel was more than capable of handling it. A treant, a creature that was supposed to be as nonviolent as they can get, channeled nature mana tainted with dark mana as the creature slammed into the lower section of the vessel. This caused the vessel to rock backward a few meters, though I was only able to tell that much because the floor was see-through.

  “Where are we?!” I asked, trying to take in everything around us.

  “The front lines?” Lord Regan answered, tapping his chin. “Yeah, I think front lines is accurate.”

  “Are we in danger?” I was a princess. While I didn’t fear battle, I didn’t like the idea of being thrust onto the front lines without even knowing the situation.

  “No, not really,” Lord Regan replied. “We should be finishing this batch up in a minute,” he continued as he pointed to something outside.

  I looked and saw a huge ship that dwarfed the gnome flagship. It had more weapons than I could count. Large bay doors along the edges were open, and oversize . . . golems were jumping into the forest, sometimes right on top of a monster. More normal-size soldiers that were equipped with strange armor and weapons soon followed.

  As one of them jumped out of the ship, they activated one of their weapons and what appeared to be a beam of mana came out the end. Only, it didn’t keep traveling like my cannon, rather it stopped after maybe a meter—couldn’t be sure from the distance—then acted much like a blade of a sword. The glow was bright enough to allow me to see it from where I was.

  In the areas that were clear of soldiers, the ship’s weapons aimed and fired, causing massive craters to form where their ammunition hit. It looked like the ship alone could handle the horde, so I wondered why Lord Regan would send down forces and risk them like that. I wanted to ask, but I also didn’t want to offend him.

  “What is it? Feel free to ask me anything,” Lord Regan said suddenly.

  My face had probably given me away. “I . . . I was just wondering why you’re risking your troops when your weapons are clearly powerful enough to deal with everything down there,” I replied after a moment.

  He laughed loudly. “This is quite true. In fact, I have weapons that could turn this entire area into a smoldering crater.”

  “Then why?” I asked, even more confused.

  “A few reasons actually. The first—” He pointed to a spot on the battlefield, then a screen much like the one in the library opened, and the spot was magnified so large that it looked like the scene in the image was right in front of me. A group of about a hundred people were huddled together with a girl, I think her name was Ren, at the center. She was talking to them in growls and roars.

  “Survivors?” I asked, surprised.

  “Yes and no. They are technically monsters, but I am working on fixing that. The main point, however, is that they listen to Ren, meaning they have some intelligence. I’m all for killing my enemies, but they are innocent in this struggle,” Lord Regan said with some anger.

  “What happened to them?” I asked. I just couldn’t believe that something could survive up in the north. Every report, every scrap of news we’d ever gained from the north showed that it was a land of death. There was no escaping it.

  “A necromancer who didn’t know enough to leave well enough alone. And if I find him . . .” Lord Regan said as he clenched his hand, his metal fingers causing sparks to cascade to the floor. I’d seen him upset a few times, but I was surprised he was so angry. He truly was a god to care about individuals that were merely in his path.

  “I understand. Is Ren going to be ok?” I asked. It looked like most of the beastkin down there were behaving, but a few looked a little edgy.

  “Yes. She will most likely have a few challengers when they get back to the colony, but I have helped her out a bit. Plus, she does live on nearly the bottom floor of the current dungeon, after all. She’ll probably surpass you soon in cultivation.”

  “That’s good. I’ll have to grab Louella and Ezal so we can have some time later,” I said, worried about the girl.

  “That would be good. Sometimes she talks to me in growls, which I find hilarious,” Lo
rd Regan said with a chuckle. “As for the other reason, many things have been changed due to the unholy mana, and I’m trying to catalog it all.”

  The treant struck the vessel we were on again, but it shuddered even less this time. Some of the large golem things were quickly moving toward it. I asked Lord Regan about them, and he said they were mechs. The treant turned at the noise, and I noticed the mechs were almost the same size as it. They had to be between six and ten meters, but I couldn’t be sure.

  The first one to reach the treant pulled back its arm and punched. The treant didn’t seem to react as the mech brought its arm around and landed the punch square on the treant’s head, face, center . . . whatever you want to call it. Wood and bones were sent flying as the treant fell back. It quickly reformed its body before it fell completely to the ground, however, and managed to catch itself. It lunged forward, wrapping itself in a bear hug around the mech.

  The mech struggled to get it off for a moment, but the treant had too much give for the mech to be able to break the hold. Giving up on that tactic, the mech started to generate mana around its arms, and soon every place the treant was touching combusted.

  Just from that fight alone, I had to revise my earlier thought. Lord Regan wasn’t risking his troops by sending them out. He was just giving the enemy more time to think about their deaths. I felt even more confident in my decision. Lord Regan truly was the path the gnome people were to follow.

  Chapter 18

  Regan

  The mech made quick work of the treant. It had been built with them in mind, after all. Back at the mountain base we’d tried to help the treants back to their natural state, but all the experiments ended in failure. They were just too far gone to help. It was more merciful to just give them a quick death. I glanced at Izora as she watched the battle in awe.

  This was the third . . . encounter so far. With each step closer to the dryad at the center of this part of the forest, the monsters were becoming stronger. I wondered if it was more aware than the treants that were changed by the unholy mana. It would have been an interesting meeting. I had no doubt about that.