by Matthew Peed
“More like peeping,” she said as she stuck her tongue out at me, and I laughed at how cute it looked.
“Do you have any idea when they are going to send some people in?” I asked. We couldn’t really put our plan into motion until I could get out of here, and the best way to do that was to take someone’s identity. It was a cruel method to use, but we had little choice. Though we did plan to aim for someone who seemed to be the bottom of the barrel.
“I think soon. I’ve seen a couple dozen people who were nowhere near the level of those other people, but still much stronger than the first two groups that came in here.”
I nodded. That made sense. Dungeons were a resource. Just like a mine, if the material inside was desired, then there would be miners that carved the ore out. Still, with two near-perfect wipes and now this, the Association had to have raised her rank among the dungeons. Not just anyone could enter now.
“Try to keep a man alive. It will be easier for me to move around if I take a guy’s position,” I said. I wanted to remind her in case she forgot. I’d noticed that she had a tendency to let her mind wander if she wasn’t interested in the task.
“I know! I’ll TRY not to kill them all,” she pouted, then flew from the room. I just shook my head as she vanished through the wall.
Chapter 19: Level Up!
Azaria
After I left Lance, I stuck my tongue out at her on the other side of the wall. She thought I was just a ditzy dungeon core, but I knew more than she thought I did. For one, I knew that she was having a hard time controlling whatever power it was that she used. She would be calm one moment, then her fingers would dig furrows in the ground.
Floating through the dungeon, I didn’t have much to do at the moment. I could create some dolls. I had plenty of souls to work with. While my Aether took a hit from raising my mansion to the surface, I still had more than what Starburst said was normal. I waved my hand in front of me, forming my status.
Azaria Highlock
Age: 14
Level: 1
Race: Dungeon
Type: Doll
Subtype: Goddess’s Chosen
Aether: 6,578
Floors: 2/1
Skills: Creation
Deconstruction
Summon (7/102)
Teleport Matrix (1/1)
Enchanter’s Melody
Achievements: God Killer – Killed a God, albeit a weak one.
Undefeated – Remain undefeated. Enhances abilities (1.15*x) X being the number of attempts on the dungeon. X=2
The Surface – When a dungeon reaches the surface, the world opens up to them. Aether hourly gain (+10)
I looked at the addition to my status and knew without having to ask that it would be useful. Right now, I could only gain Aether from killing things. This proved there were other ways. This was probably due to my unnaturally high luck that I vaguely remembered Starburst mentioning when he was changing me.
I was wondering how to pass the time for the rest of the day when I felt and heard the front doors to my mansion explode inward from being struck by something. My connection with the mansion dimmed abruptly, and I was pulled into what I was starting to call my instrument room. My vision moved to the front of the mansion, where a group of people stood behind a man dressed in red leather.
Flames were leaking from his hand, so I assumed that he’d thrown a fireball or something similar at my doors. He had a satisfied expression that irritated me. Something inside me clicked, and I mentally put him on my make-sure-to-kill-for-sure list. The first person to make the list.
I wasn’t compelled to play the violin this time and realized I could choose. I decided to go with the piano to keep anyone watching on their toes. I started playing but the notes didn’t travel. The sound stayed in the room until the first person from the party stepped into my dungeon. That’s when it started to echo through the mansion, and I could tell it even traveled outside a good ways.
“Welcome,” I said to myself as I fell into the music.
~~~
This party was much more skilled than the last two that had dived. For one, they didn’t let any of the traps bother them. They had a guy who appeared to be more armor than person walk through the traps, tripping them with nonchalance. I found it slightly annoying to watch. It reminded me of when my parents took me to the park once, and another larger kid wrecked my sandcastle I was building by walking through it.
The music reflected my displeasure, becoming agitated with sharp chords. The party steamrolled their way to the first sub-boss room, which happened to be Stella again. Of course, they knew the trick thanks to the guy who’d managed to make it out of the dungeon last time. The party of five walked into the boss room and didn’t even give Stella time to prepare before they rushed across the room.
The penguins, unsupported, were just dolls to them and exploded into stuffing as swords and spells slaughtered them. In less than ten seconds, they reached Stella and managed to slice her in half with a single swipe of the sword. Her scream echoed not only throughout the dungeon but through my soul.
“Stella!” I cried without meaning to. Not that anyone could hear me. I was isolated in this prison. Alone to watch as my creations were cut down for money or whatever was motivating these people. My anger found its way into the music, but I forced myself to focus on the party.
“I think we’ve pissed it off,” one of the men said as he pulled a stone from Stella’s body.
“Probably. Compared to the trash that’s come in here so far. It doesn’t know how to deal with us,” a woman said, then gave a nasty laugh.
“Enough! We’re not getting paid to talk. We need to be the first to finish this thing and claim the diver rights to it!” the heavily armored man said, slamming his fist into the wall for emphasis. Large cracks formed, spiderwebbing from the impact.
“Yes. Yes. We know. Calm your metal tits,” a different woman said and tapped her hand against the large man’s chest.
The party left Stella’s room after looking for something. When they didn’t find anything, they grew even more disruptive and began making their way back down the hall. I thought about what they could have been looking for, then remembered the games I used to play. After you completed a zone, you usually got a reward. I would have to add that after they left, as I couldn’t affect that floor of the dungeon while they were inside.
The party stopped at the entrance and debated going up the stairs. After a few curse words back and forth, they decided to try the right wing first before heading up to the second floor of the mansion field. Again, the traps failed to even bother them.
I wasn’t sure how she knew, but Lucy was aware that Stella had fallen already. I could almost see the anger rolling off her. The two had been acting like sisters since I created them, so it was only reasonable. She had pulled all her nutcrackers to her room and was reinforcing them individually.
The party didn’t rush as soon as they came into the room, which ended up being their doom. “Looks like another of the controller dolls. Fred. If you will,” the armored man said with a nod to a man in white.
“Protect my sheep from chains,” said the man called Fred as a yellow light covered the party.
“Die, you peasants!” Lucy shouted while the light was covering the party.
A group of nutcrackers stepped to the side, revealing two cannons of all things. With a boom, two balls of iron sailed across the room, both impacting the armored man. His body collided heavily with the doors that had already sealed behind them.
“Fuck this place!” shouted the nasty woman before bolts of lightning danced around her hands. She flung her hands forward, and the lightning flashed across the room and struck the cannon. The nutcrackers working them paid no heed to their burning hands as they reloaded the cannons.
With the opening salvo done and the party’s main tank down for the count, the rest of the nutcrackers moved in. This was a party I didn’t plan to let escape. Not after how they treate
d Stella. The party managed to take out seven of the thirty nutcrackers before they were overwhelmed. Lucy didn’t even have to fire her cannons again. They faded to shadows after a few seconds.
I finished the music piece I was playing, then moved over to Lucy. “Where did the cannons come from?” I asked. I hadn’t seen her make them.
“I don’t know. I grew so angry at them for killing Stella that I just . . . knew how to create them. I can use the skill once every two hours. It creates two cannons with three shots each.”
I nodded. I guess there were other ways than killing for dungeon monsters to get stronger. I was about to ask her another question, when the five dead bodies were absorbed into the Aether of my dungeon. Power, unlike what had happened with the two parties before, rippled through my ethereal body and almost caused me pain.
It lasted for a good couple of minutes before I managed to take a deep breath and nothing hurt anymore. I went ahead and pulled up my status. I knew whatever had just happened to me would be displayed on there.
Azaria Highlock
Age: 14
Level: 2
Race: Dungeon
Type: Doll
Subtype: Goddess’s Chosen
Aether: 7,679
Floors: 2/2
Skills: Creation
Deconstruction
Summon (7/112)
Teleport Matrix (1/1)
Enchanter’s Melody
Random Skill (awaiting use)
Achievements: God Killer – Killed a God, albeit a weak one.
Undefeated – Remain undefeated. Enhances abilities (1.15*x) X being the number of attempts on the dungeon. X=3
The Surface – When a dungeon reaches the surface, the world opens up to them. Aether hourly gain (+10)
Looking over the screen, I saw that quite a few things had changed. The biggest was that I went up in level. My natural Aether store had doubled, though I was still “stuffed” from the Aether I had when I’d awoken, so that really didn’t do much for me. My Undefeated went up another tick.
“Random Skill?” Not sure what that meant, I moved over to Starburst. “Hey. Hey.”
Starburst yawned and turned to look at me. “What?”
“I leveled up. I got a Random Skill. What exactly does that mean?”
“Use it and you’ll gain a skill. You get one every level. Ah, congratulations,” Starburst said, adding the congratulations almost as an afterthought.
“Is it . . . is it safe?” I asked, playing with my hands.
“Safe? Sure, why wouldn’t it be?” he asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. Which was impressive, given he was a horse.
“Let me rephrase that. Is it safe for me?” I asked again. I did seem to break whatever the system that governed me worked on.
Starburst’s eyes shot fully open. “Let’s wait until nightfall! We can’t afford for you to turn us into a flying dungeon the very next day!”
“I can make my dungeon fly!?”
Chapter 20: Back on the Streets
Lance Teron
I heard a crash outside my room in the late hours of the day. The next moment, Azaria and Starburst—I still have to struggle not to laugh when I think his name—came through the trap door, hauling what looked like a body. Starburst tossed the still-living man to the ground in front of me.
“Here you go! A mister Friz Waldin. Level two associate with the Association. About to be recently deceased,” Starburst said, angling his horn, which was dripping blood, next to the man’s throat.
I nodded and looked at Waldin’s features. While I felt bad about stealing his life, I didn’t have much choice. My own face would get me killed on sight with the monster features. I hoped the Scales would be able to hide them. Even if I wasn’t killed on sight as a rogue monster, as soon as people learned who I was, I would be thrown into the nearest jail cell.
The man was relatively good looking. What many people might consider roguish good looks. Personally, I did not see the appeal, but to each their own. I much preferred smooth and cute, like Azaria. I shook my head to clear the dangerous thoughts. Why was I attracted to a dungeon core?
I felt my Aether flow through the Scales, then I suddenly felt like I was wearing a mask. I touched my face and could immediately tell the difference, as I had a five o’clock shadow on my jawline. Moving to the mirror, I checked and found that most of the man’s features were now on me.
“Amazing. I can barely tell the difference,” I said, looking at the reflection from several angles.
“You should be good as long as you stay away from any dispelling magic. Not sure how common that is up . . . out there,” Starburst explained, correcting himself midsentence with a look toward Azaria, who had her hands behind her head and was noticeably looking in a different direction.
“Alright. I’ll head out then. Other than evil people, is there anything you want me to bring back? For a reward, of course.” While I was all for helping Azaria and her dungeon, she had already made it clear that we had to play by some rules. I would make sure to get my due if I were to keep helping her.
Azaria started spinning in circles. “I want you to check on my”—her face contorted for a second—“on some people for me.”
I narrowed my eyes. There was something more to this than met the eye. I would have to be careful. To this day, no one knows the reason behind the dungeons. I would not be the person who doomed the Earth to destruction.
“Sure, I can try,” I said, pulling out my phone. When the mansion rose above the ground, I had signal for a second, but that quickly vanished. I had a feeling it was due to Azaria’s influence expanding. I opened my notepad app and waited for her.
“Anna and Zaris Hig . . .”
This time I actually saw her mouth close against her will. Still, the first names were more than enough for me. Everyone knew Anna and Zaris Highlock. A rich couple who became two of the most powerful people in a two-hundred-mile radius. Neo notwithstanding. They were relatively private people, who emphasized the strong protecting the weak.
“Why do you want to know about them?” I asked, my concern only growing. A dungeon core knowing about high-level Powered—this couldn’t be good news.
“ . . .” She moved her mouth, but nothing came out. Finally, she couldn’t take the frustration anymore and screamed as she shot through the ceiling.
Starburst stared after her for a moment. “Yes. I think that will be all for now. Let’s just concentrate on pulling some of the trash of the world inside so we can get her a bit more control,” he said, shaking his head. I wondered which part of that statement he was exasperated by.
“Yay,” I said with a deadpan voice. Starburst spent the next thirty minutes filling me in on what they knew about the dead diver. It was all about what I expected. He was a real scumbag, given that was who they wanted to attract to the dungeon. You needed to be a scumbag if you wanted to find others of the same nature.
At the very least, I was relieved the identity I was taking over didn’t have a family or anything that I would have to avoid. In fact, I would be lucky not to go to jail with how many crimes this individual had committed.
“That about sums it up,” Starburst said as he finished explaining. I nodded in understanding. I considered telling him that I saw the two outside the dungeon the other day, but I had only known these two for a few days. Without knowing more about their intentions, I’d rather not give up too much information.
~~~
After Starburst gave me a few good gashes for effect, I limped out of the dungeon. It had only been three days, but it felt like it had been a few months. A full-on military detachment was present, including two tanks with their barrels aimed directly at the entrance of the dungeon.
As I stepped out, I only managed to count two dozen of the lasers pointed at me. Guns weren’t too helpful past a certain level, but they could still pin a monster down for a few seconds to give the Powered a chance to finish it off.
I held up my hand, and
over half of the lasers were lowered. I made it halfway to the terminal, and another few lowered theirs. It was only after I had my ID scanned that everyone lowered their weapons.
Once everything seemed to be settled for the moment, I was taken to a side tent. One of the Association members handed me a cup of coffee. “What happened?”
“Not much to tell you. After the first party went in, we followed. We took out the left-wing doll first since we had info on her, then made our way down the right wing. The music that comes out of the dungeon changed and everything turned red. The next thing I knew, I was the only one still alive.”
“A rage trap?”
I just shook my head. It was true, I didn’t truly know what had happened, so the less I said, the better my situation. They went over a few more things with me, but I gave vague answers about anything that they wouldn’t already know. At the end of it, the Association agent, who was named Miller, was scratching his head in disappointment.
“Alright. I hope this defeat doesn’t turn you off from heading back in. The more people who dive with actual experience, the better chance we have of finding out more about this damn thing,” Agent Miller said.
“You don’t have to tell me. I know that better than anyone. I plan on tearing this place a new one for my associates it killed,” I said, going for an angry grimace.
Agent Miller nodded and handed back my card. “Want me to call a ride for you?” he asked as he looked at my various wounds.
I shook my head. “They’re not as bad as they look. I have some places I need to get to. If you’ll excuse me,” I said, standing up. I didn’t want to find out if an MRI could see through magic.
“Very well. Just sign here saying you refused to go to the hospital. Can’t have you dropping dead, then your family suing us,” Agent Miller said with a morbid chuckle.
I made a quick scribble on the tablet, then walked out of tent. I took a deep breath of the night air. For the first time in a while, I felt remotely free. If I wanted, I could walk away from this madness and find a new life for myself in another city. There was little that could stop me.