by M J Conlon
Derick merely nodded, before petting the feathers of her head once more, then, forced himself to look away and walked through the final set of doors that led down to parts unknown.
Chapter 19
Derick entered the doorway that separated the last courtyard from the thousands of monsters and enemies that had suddenly appeared out of the wood work to stop his ability to leave this accursed dungeon. Maybe HAIL was correct in that we should have left and never tried to return. Yet here I am, once again trying to pivot out of here. Going through the scenarios, Derick predicted that this was it, my last stand. I had a good run. But ultimately he knew he had a 95% chance of final death occurring here in this dungeon. Given the myth that something happens to one’s code when they die in this dungeon, Derick figured that even if he had saved a respawn, rather than spending them on additional powers and abilities, they would be useless if he died here, now. Derick thinking back to the mayhem that had ensued upon his entering the grand entry way, and wondered what happened to my staff?
Derick knew that it was possible that he had let go of the staff while phased, but he had never dropped a weapon in a combat zone. Wanting to test a hypothesis, Derick turned off the main path, and hid in a dark alcove for a second. Pulling out a dagger and holding it in his right hand, Derick cast phase on himself. A second after casting the ability, the dagger fell out of his hand and hit the ground with a loud clank. Derick looked down to see that he still had other daggers still sheathed on his body.
On a whim, Derick grabbed and unsheathed another dagger with the other hand. As soon as the second dagger fully left the scabbard, it too dropped out of Derick’s hand and clattered to the ground with a loud clank. Derick thought about it, then realized that the being of unspeakable horror, then one that had taken over the body of the princess to interrogate him in Jalindan had warned him that something like this should have been expected. “Know this, we have ‘fixed’ the exploit you found in the phase ability.” Derick recalled the words of the being of unimaginable power warning him that something had happened. In a second, it felt like the game was taking corrective actions to kill him. It was after the meeting with the being that can gain control of seemingly any NPC that Derick also had his portal class ambushed. His response was to use the safeguards that he had learned to bypass using his own incorporated mathematical substitution program that he had learned to bypass. Derick thought for a second, dropped to the ground to pick up his two daggers that had fallen to the ground and then had his new insight.
They are expecting me to go in by myself and likely rely on my previous actions to escape or survive. Actions that they will likely have already plans in place to counter. Let me go through the facts, escape plan one, creating a Portal is out. Likely I can expect portals to behave only in preset manners, or ways that will be beneficial for the enemy. Escape plan two, using the destructive nature of phasing is also out, as anything that is in my hands seems to remain tangible, even while I am intangible. Then Derick realized how his plan of finding every enemy’s mental signature and using psychic assault would likely be mitigated in some way shape or form. Derick also knew that his form of invisibility would have to be cast against every single mind that I find and would not be sustainable against a few hundred enemies, let alone the thousands of signatures that I see ahead of me.
Derick mentally tallied his abilities, versus the likely actions and reactions to be taken by the unimaginably powerful being before him. Derick felt that the monster in this dungeon legitimately wanted to be set loose upon the worlds. Derick also knew with 100% certainty that the monster would have a plan in place to take him out, once he was no longer useful. It was with that in mind that a plan came to Derick, 17% chance of success, that is what he gave himself, yet that was better than the 5% chance he gave himself that the monster would hold up her end of the deal. Sheathing his two daggers, Derick went out to the courtyard where Anath and her flock stood. Once there he informed Anath mentally, and let her relay the plan in their weird bird language.
Then as somewhat of a surprise, Anath tackled Derick to the ground, her wings spread out and a weird powdery substance fell onto Derick. This was the same powdery substance that fell onto him, his first time seeing Anath leave from the cave that held the thought fiend. At the time Derick didn’t know what the substance was, but now it would be vital to Derick’s plans’ success.
Once the plan was relayed and everyone knew their roles, Derick went back into the final layer of the dungeon and never looked back. Ultimately Derick knew that either Anath and her flock would do their roles and everything would fall exactly right, or he would die. There was no in-between, either 100% success, or 100% failure, and I also have to be flawless with my execution regardless of whether I have any support.
Derick felt the minds of dozens of monsters surrounding him, as he made his way down the hallway. Derick found himself wishing he had his staff, as he would use the clicks of the staff against the stone to force him to slow down. Derick knew that his speeding up would only show how nervous he was about this whole scenario, yet Derick forced his steps to be slow and deliberate. He needed to give Anath and her crew enough time to maneuver around on their own.
To Derick’s surprise the monsters made no move around him, while the hallways were clear of any monsters, the hundreds of minds that all began to appear in Derick’s psychic vision were all staying still. I guess they don’t need to move, as they are more than capable of killing me at any second. Derick found himself entering a grand underground amphitheater. In his mind, he could feel monsters filling no less than three tiers of seats. Down here, almost all of the monsters were the mentally strong, or magically empowered monsters that he had felt only intermittently on the surface. Down, Derick felt himself walking down to a grand arena that sat surrounded by the tiers of monsters. Monsters that could easily flood and swarm Derick at a moment’s notice. Derick looking at the set-up, quickly reevaluated his odds to be less than five percent, that was with the factors that the unimaginably powerful creature would keep her word.
As Derick continued to walk forward, he could see the signs of a massive portal structure that still radiated power. In a second, Derick could feel the mental equations that filled the dormant portal before him and see how it was purposefully sabotaged, no doubt in an effort to keep the being that Derick was going to make a deal with stuck in this underworld dungeon.
Derick kept up his slow progress, through the grand arena. With each slow and deliberate step, he could feel Anath maintaining her distance, as she prepared to get into her position. It was somewhat surprising that the other birds were not visible to Derick’s mental probing. He hoped that they would be able to get into their respective positions, but he would not be able to do anything if they weren’t. A lot of moving parts.
Derick thought about sending Anath a mental message to double check, but figured the mental communication might get noticed by the beings that were in the giant stadium. Instead Derick cut his own mental link with Anath, letting his map fill with only monsters that shone red, a sign that they were ready to attack at a moment’s notice. As he got closer to the base of the stadium and his inevitable doom, he saw grand roman style pillars stretching up as high as the eye could see. He did not want to lose set, or falter in his movements, so rather than looking up while walking, he continued to walk forward slowly. He could see one monster far ahead, it looked like an elf sitting on a giant black cloud from a distance.
Yet, as Derick got closer he could see that it wasn’t a cloud that the elf like being was sitting on, but rather a giant abdomen? Derick decided that looking at the ground might be the best course of action. As he continued to walk down into the cut out arena area, he could see that each step was actually a giant marble slab that fit perfectly on top of the previous piece, which stretched up to the first step Derick took into the stadium. It was here that Derick could imagine being a Roman prisoner being sent to face a final death at the hands of a gladiator who had
trained their whole lives for this moment.
Derick, despite his grand knowledge of history could not recall the name of any prisoners who achieved a pardon by defeating the monsters that were placed before them, more than likely due to the fact that more monsters and gladiators would be sent than prisoners. There was a movie from either the 1900s, or early 2000s that depicted a person who rallied the other prisoners to achieve their freedom, though I believe in in that movie the hero died. No doubt HAIL would know the name and year the movie was released.
Once he set foot on the arena floor, Derick was surprised to feel a flat smooth surface under his feet. Each step felt as though he were walking on a faint rubbery substance, rather than the ground that was before him. No doubt this was designed to do two things, one allow the vibrations generated by the stadium attendees that all called for his death. Also it was to give a slight feeling of being uneasy while walking, as not every step would be met with complete support and friction. Once he realized the ploy of this unbalanced terrain, Derick was able to walk with a little more purpose. Even if I had my staff, it probably wouldn’t help walking in here, as the end would likely slip and slide on this surface.
As he got closer, he couldn’t help but see the outline of two immense beings that both sat upon giant black clouds from his periphery. They stood around a giant disk shaped doorway that stood at the center of the arena floor. It was clear that the doorway had been moved from another location to this one. It reminded Derick of the stories he heard about the moving of Cleopatra’s Needle to England, an object that had no reason other than opulence to be relocated from its original location. Now, only a few hundred feet away,
Derick had to look up at the two beings that blocked his escape through the grand Portal structure. Overhead he now saw no fewer than 30 giant flying lizards that had multiple wing sets flapping in unison to help them hover in one area surrounding the two giant elf spider creatures? Both creatures seemed to have started off as beautiful elves, but then had been transformed by dark magic. It almost looked as though they were trying to flee, but somehow got captured and then melded with giant spider-like creatures that hunted them down. Their giant spider legs, which numbered more than eight had either blonde hair, like the elf body of the larger monster had. Or had red hair that matched the hair of the smaller elven monster creature. Derick was now close enough to see that the two monsters in front of him conned yellow, deceipt?
“Greetings traveler.” The large blonde elfin spider creature said in a voice as smooth as silk.
“Hello.” Derick replied, still walking forward slowly, as if he was being paid by the hour.
“I see that you left you griffins behind?” She continued. Griffins? That’s what they were? Fuck. Derick mentally kicked himself as he realized all the signs were there.
“I figured this was a deal between us, and you would be more likely to let one target escape rather than six.”
“Interesting plan, do you expect me to betray you?”
“Do you expect me to betray you?” Derick asked in response.
“HAHAHA. You do intrigue me, perhaps we will keep our deal after all.” The large spider elf being said.
Being this close it was clear that the female elf portion of the creature was designed to be pretty, and seemingly lacked clothing, though there was a slight shimmer of a spider silk slip that covered nothing, while adding the illusion of decency. Likewise, the smaller red haired spider elf version had a similar look and clothing line, though she looked like she was licking her lips hungrily at Derick every time Derick didn’t have his direct attention on her.
Don’t most female spiders eat the males who mate with them? It was then that Derick wondered why all the lizard creatures around them looked so protective of the larger blond spider queen. Did she mate with, then eat a lizard creature? The sheer volume of additional questions that this train of thought brought to him, made him forcefully stop the line of thinking and for once focus entirely on the moment.
“I think I could work with you as well. I believe you promised the knowledge of being an artificier as a form of good faith.” Derick said, finally walking within 20 feet of the portal that offered his only true escape path out of this dungeon.
“I don’t believe that was how it was offered at all.”
“Yet it has to be, if you intend to keep your word. For think about the logistics. If you leave to Argos, then I will be left here without the knowledge that you offer before you leave me here for good. Yet, if you offer the knowledge first, then I can hold and maintain the portal to Argos without any concern or thought about having to follow you and track you down for your promised knowledge.” Derick responded, in a tone that was both calm and rational.
“You do make an interesting point. Though, what if I want you to find me later?” The blond queen said with a faint seductive tone. Does she intend for me to mate with her?
“Surely you could find a far more enticing mate, than someone as small and unworthy as myself.” Derick said, trying to end any talks about future courting.
“You might be small, but are clearly worthy.”
“I thank you for your praise, but I know you would clearly grow tired of me. Also one such as myself would be little more than a snack once your intended actions were to cease.” Derick said.
In an instant the smiling elfin face grew angry with a snarl, perhaps it was his knowledge that she would try to eat him. Or maybe was she trying to use mind control on me? Derick looked at her, but couldn’t tell for certain what caused the sudden mood change.
“Perhaps you are right.” The blonde elfin spider said, before snapping her fingers. In a second, the red haired elfin spider princess began walking forward, her large abdomen barely clearing the ground as she walked. She leaned forward, then held out a delicate hand that sat supported a good ten feet off the ground from where Derick stood.
Derick realizing the potential trap, decided to play along for a short period of time. Derick seeing that two thick red haired covered legs had been lowered for him to climb on. Without fear Derick walked forward, gently touching the first red haired leg, forcing his small hand down deep through the matted fur until it touched what felt like scalp? Once his hand was firmly placed on the first leg, Derick raised his second hand, pretending to grab for the second leg, but instead began a battle of wills against the red haired elfin spider princess.
This was his first time performing the battle of wills against a living opponent, but this wa nothing compared to battling the spirit of the dragon eggs that were being rejuvenated by their mother’s energy. Instead there was a steady current that tried to push its way past Derick, yet Derick now realized a few tricks. Rather than letting the energy flow downhill, he imagined himself charging down a mountain of his own mental energy. When the currents got too tough to swim, he imagined his body being lighter than the current and floated on the surface of the water. Each step on the surface came faster and faster, until he was running forward and around the splashing waves of mental energy. Finally he found the glowing center of the red haired elfin spider princess’s mind and attacked.
Not wanting to merely touch this one, he punched and clawed at the structure until it cracked and bent to his force. In a second the current of energy that had been flowing under him, now flowed into him. His mind was awash with the energy and knowledge of divine concepts and permeatations on how to expand the capabilities of any and all items.
He could see the possiblities with the portal in front of him, how it was missing a few key components that would allow it to be a fully functional celestial travel system. How it had access to not just the standard five, but an additional seven planets that were previously uncharted. Derick saw this, as his knowledge of the artificier came into full view, but then seemed to trickle away, as if there were too much knowledge to be shoved into his tiny little head. It was then that he realized a sage artificier had to be a human, though Derick did not know who was supposed to be the true sage art
ificier. I did make a promise to find the person who was supposed to be the next sage artificier.
Derick opened his eyes, to see blood pouring down the nose and face of the red haired elfin body that was attached to the giant spider body. In a second the body that had been balanced on no less than ten spider legs began to wobble and then fall over.
“What? What did you do?” The blond elfin spider queen screamed. “What did you do to my Virinia?” She demanded as she began charging forward towards Derick.
In that moment a number of things happened.
First the blond elfin spider queen screamed a piercing cry into the sky that caused the entire stadium to erupt in a war cry. The forty or so flying lizard creatures with multple appendages all began to fly down in an agressive manner towards Derick. And most importantly of all, a purple portal appeared 20 feet behind Derick. Thank God. Derick thought, as he remembered how the exit point always came, when he unlocked a new knowledge portion for his skills. He had never been so happy to see the easy out before in his life. Derick then felt a number of talons come in contact with his skin as two giant birds, griffins grabbed hold of his arms and began to drag his body from the ground. Not wanting to be a burden, Derick quickly cast levitation on himself. In a second his body that had been offering close to 100 lbs of resistance soon became an insubstantial ammount of weight that was easily carried by Anath and another griffin towards the portal.
Derick felt lightning get fired toward him from somewhere behind him. The lightning caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up on edge, but were quickly absorbed by the griffins that were following in a wedge formation behind Derick’s escape party.