by Matthew Peed
I breathed in relief. I just couldn’t see this boy surviving in my dungeon. He looked so weak. One wrong move and I would lose the only person I felt I could actually talk with. I doubt that Starburst would be too happy if I forced the dungeon to spare him, plus he might realize something was up. I could tell he was intelligent from his eyes, though that might have just been me.
We sat there in silence for the rest of the night, broken only when we had short bursts of conversation about off-the-wall random topics. I saw some pink start to dye the sky and knew it was time for him to go soon. Sure enough, he stood up and stretched. “I feel much better after spending the night with you. Until next time.”
I shot forward and grabbed his hand before he vanished again. “Wait! Tell me your name.”
He returned my grip and gave me what I thought might have been a genuine smile. “Thomas.” He gently pushed my hand back, then as a ray of sunlight hit the roof, I blinked, and he was gone.
I couldn’t hold back the sigh that escaped my lips as I held my hand to my chest.
~~~
The rest of the day was filled with thoughts of Thomas. For some reason only one party entered the dungeon during the day. Not only that, but they took forever. They entered just after dawn and didn’t leave until it was well past noon.
They were so cautious in their dive that it took them an hour just to clear a single wing of the manor. Even as I complained about their speed, they were the first party not to have any casualties and make it to the second floor. They stopped there, though, and turned back for the day. I was more disappointed than I had thought I’d be.
Outside, there were plenty of people surrounding the dungeon though. Periodically, I could feel bursts of Aether hitting my aura, but it felt more like they were looking for something rather than trying to hurt me.
“They probably can’t afford any more losses,” Starburst said, shaking his mane.
“I hope that’s it. Humans are good at making weapons. I’d rather them not drop a nuke on me.”
Starburst laughed with a few neighs mixed in. “They can’t use one of those in the middle of the city.”
“I wouldn’t put it past them,” I mumbled with a shrug.
I flew down to the third floor to check up on Emelia and the amusement park. I would need to smack Lance next time I saw her. She still hadn’t delivered the information about the theme park. How hard was it to print a few things off the internet?
Looking around, I found Emelia had put a lot of work in. I was feeding her all my excess Aether, so she had a lot to work with since I’d gotten back to full. I couldn’t overfill anymore either, for some reason. The third floor reminded me of a theme park, horror themed.
The few rides she had completed were the ones I’d told her about. She must have figured out how to make them work. For now, there was a roller coaster, a merry-go-round, and a Ferris wheel. She had already created the layout of the floor, which had a central plaza that branched out in various directions and was surrounded by what I assumed were supposed to be shops. It would be hard to see from the ground, but up here in the air, I saw that it resembled a spiderweb.
Emelia and her workers were working on a fourth ride that looked like a tower. I moved over to her slowly, as I didn’t want to interrupt her work. While I did so, I decided to check my status as well to see if anything had changed since the last time.
Azaria Highlock
Age: 14
Level: 3
Race: Dungeon
Type: Doll
Subtype: Goddess’s Chosen
Aether: 3,700
Floors: 3/3
Skills: Creation
Deconstruction
Summon (7/123)
Teleport Matrix (1/1)
Enchanter’s Melody
Uncontrollable Proliferation
Mirrored Perception
Achievements: God Killer – Killed a God, albeit a weak one.
Reigning Power – Permanently enhances abilities by ten percent.
The Surface – When a dungeon reaches the surface, the world opens up to them. Aether hourly gain (+1)
The night passed with nothing happening. No Lance, no Thomas, nothing of note happened. To say I was more than a little depressed that Thomas didn’t show up might have been an understatement, but from his stories, it sounded like he didn’t just look sickly but was actually a bit under the weather for some reason. If he couldn’t sneak out often, then it was only understandable that he couldn’t show up every night.
Thus, I spent the night trying to ignore my thoughts of Thomas while working on the dungeon here and there. There really wasn’t much I could do to improve the upper floors more. I understood quite a few items, weapons, and armor now thanks to the divers continuously dying inside my halls. I thought about giving some of those to my toys, but the first floor was starting to be too easy for the people who made their way into my dungeon.
I decided to boost my toys’ defenses at least. They were quite easy to defeat if you could get up close to them. I created some amulets that boosted the strength of their fabric and plush, but realized that if any divers got ahold of them, they could use them on their clothes. After some thought I decided to leave it but added a only small degree of chance to drop, as it would make a nice reward for people coming into the dungeon.
I could use the amulets on all my toys, but it would take more Aether than I had at the moment to hand them out like that. I settled for the bosses, and a couple of the normal ones that were chosen at random. Once I was done with that, my Aether had dropped to about two thousand. I didn’t want to use it all up in one go in case I then needed it.
Glancing outside, I was disappointed to see that it wasn’t even midnight yet. With a groan, I wished I could sleep and settled in to watch the stars by myself tonight. I wondered if I could use a cellphone if Thomas or Lance brought me one. Something to ask about later.
~~~
The morning came, but no one entered the dungeon. I was actually starting to get worried that the people in charge had decided I was too dangerous to let people dive. I mean, I felt bad about killing all those people, but I had little choice in the matter.
It was around two in the afternoon when I spotted Lance among the crowd of people who always hung around my dungeon. She was with a party of men. While they looked presentable, it was hard to tell whether they were good people. At least my dungeon hadn’t been banned or something like that.
I flew over to Starburst. “Some people are about to enter the dungeon. They have Lance with them, so be prepared for part of the dungeon to explode again.”
“I, for one, will be happy once the deal with that person is finished. She is a bad influence to have around.”
“Okay, thanks, Dad,” I said, giving him a hug while faded memories of my parents flashed through my head.
“Someone needs to keep you in line.”
I stuck my tongue out at him before moving to the instrument room. Other me was already there, waiting for me. I knew I should absorb her soon, but something inside me wasn’t sure about having to go through all the experiences at once and was dreading it a little. Though, the longer I put it off, the worse it was likely to be.
Everything went like normal as the party came into the dungeon. One of the men walked next to Lance at the back of the group, and the four other men walked at the front. I couldn’t really tell what their positions were from their dress. They wore a decent amount of armor, but nothing like the full plate worn by people who normally defended parties from the front.
I found out why a few seconds later as one of the traps went off but stopped as if it got stuck in midair. I glanced around and found that the man next to Lance held his hand out as if grabbing something. He tightened his outstretched hand into a ball, and the ax that was hanging in the air crumpled into a ball.
I looked at Zaria. “This will be interesting.”
“Yes. It is the first time you have dealt with something like th
is,” she replied.
I shivered from the strange way she had the exact voice as me but moved past it. I grabbed the violin, and we started our performance. The trance quickly overtook me. Lance’s party moved farther into the dungeon. The four men barely lifted a finger, letting the man at the back do all the work.
Not that he needed any help. He was decimating everything they came up against with ease. It was actually starting to piss me off how easily they were going through the dungeon. Stella and Lucy each managed to give one of the men a few scratches, but that was the extent of the damage.
They made their way up to Starburst’s room with confidence. I couldn’t blame them, considering how they had effortlessly made their way through so far. I noticed that Lance seemed to want to attack the telekinetic man but couldn’t find a good chance. Of the four men, one of them would almost always be near him. Zaria and I decided to just watch to see what would happen.
Chapter 32: PARTY!
Lance Teron
The party made, er, allowed me to hunt with them. I supposed they wanted to see what I was made of, likely to decide how they were going to make money off me. Either way, I was able to gain a few monster parts that I would have to hope offered the resistance that I’d come there searching for.
In other news, I found out why the parties were monopolizing this dungeon. The plant I had harvested turned out to be the prime ingredient to one of the most popular drugs on the market. In other words, I was not only in debt, I was in debt to a criminal organization. Needless to say, I wasn’t having a good time.
“Alright, little mouse. You’re free to go. Remember, three days or the next conversation we have will be, well, less than pleasant.”
I nodded to the woman who turned out to be the leader. The fact that they never once asked my name made me think they knew I was wearing an illusion. I could only grind my teeth as they walked away. Thankfully, I could deal with this problem as myself after tomorrow. I had to get ready for a party.
~~~
Walking toward the house that was likely illuminated enough to be seen from space and blaring music loudly enough that most of the city could hear it, I adjusted my dress. I had gone out of my comfort zone to be as provocative as possible, while still maintaining a semblance of class. My goal was to get Kyle to take me to the dungeon but to stay out of his bed.
Once inside, I saw people who should have been behind bars or on death row, according to the news. People from all levels of the criminal underworld surrounded me. There were already people who were drunk and trying to get some tail. My heightened senses allowed me to spot the overly horny ones and avoid them. I had only one goal tonight, and I didn’t have time for these other idiots.
I grabbed a drink from one of the tables and carefully gave it a sniff. I couldn’t decide whether or not I should be surprised that it was laced with something. I quietly used Harvest and saw the entire table light up in various colors. Kyle apparently liked to use the more exotic ingredients for his guests.
I upended the glass into my mouth, then used Harvest to absorb its contents. At the rate I was going, my body would be a poison factory. No matter, everything to push the end game. I went ahead and drank a few more, causing the bartender to give me a worried look. He must have known what was in them then.
“I couldn’t help it. They’re so delicious,” I said, handing the seventh empty glass back to him.
“You’re . . . you’re still able to talk?”
“Huh? It’s just wine, right?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, ma’am. Sorry. Ignore that.”
I chuckled and made my way around the party. After a few minutes, I found what I was looking for in the form of a VIP section. I tapped the bouncer on the arm and gave him my best puppy-dog eyes. “Do you mind if I hang out in there?”
The guard looked me over.
I grinned and grabbed his hand and placed it on my chest as I moved up next to him. “Pretty please.”
I felt a few strong squeezes as the man gained a grin. “Fine. Go on.”
“Yay! Thank you!” I said, trying to act like a ditzy drunk. He smacked my ass as I walked past, and I sped up, trying to act embarrassed. Having never done that before, I wasn’t sure I had played it off right, but only the guard was watching me, and he only had eyes for my ass.
Successfully in the VIP section, I was taken aback by how much money it would have cost to create this temple of sin. There was nothing short of an orgy happening in one corner and a virtual mountain of drugs sat on a table in another. I found my target sitting with three women around him, his goons arranged on either side of the pile with a few women each themselves.
I was wondering how I was going to approach that when I heard my name, or rather Erica’s name, being called. Turning toward the sound, I saw the woman from Station 39. I gulped, then made my way over to her.
“Hello again, little mouse. Fancy running into you again.”
“Yay me,” I said, having lost all my energy. Depending on how this went, there was no way I would be able to get near Kyle tonight.
She bent over and placed her mouth right next to my ear. “Your chest sure has swelled out nicely, Mr. Lance. How’d you manage it? Plastic surgery?”
I jerked back with horror. The red from my battle lust started to dye my vision. I would not be going out without a fight.
“Calm your tits. I want to help you.”
“Help me?” I had to cough to remove the growl from my voice. I also saw my claws had started to extend and retracted them, something I found I could do after some practice. “Why?”
“Because I hate that brat!” She pounded back her drink, then made a small gesture. “Look around you. All this is someone else’s achievements, but that fucker took the credit for it. I will not stand by while my . . .” She cleared her throat. “Sorry. Let’s just say the issue is close to home.”
“Okay. Say I believe you. How are you going to help me?”
“I assume you have a plan. Tell me what you need help with, and I’ll see what I can do.”
“For now I just need him to agree to challenge the new dungeon, Station 64, and to let me be part of it.”
She gave me a grin that I normally wouldn’t ever want to be the target of. “Leave it to me.”
She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the cesspool of lust that was the area around Kyle. He looked like he had just finished for the moment and sat with a drink, using the women as a bed of sorts. “Ah. Erica and Susan. A pleasure. I would offer to entertain you, but I’m a little spent at the moment.”
“No worries, Kyle. We had other things we’d like to discuss with you, a bit more business related.”
“Business?” he asked, and I noticed he wasn’t too thrilled about that. “Fine. Go ahead.”
“You know how Erica’s party was wiped out the day before, right?”
Kyle nodded.
“She wants to get revenge, but from the reports on the dungeon and her own telling, it would be hard without someone of your skill. You do rival Neo.”
The last comment brought a smile to his face. From what I understood, no one matched Neo, but that was beside the point. Kyle was running on alcohol and sex. He would be much easier to manipulate right now.
“Yes. I hate that we lost to the boss!” I said angrily to add to the show.
“I had planned to conquer the new dungeon here soon. It might be hard to get in for the next couple of days. The Elite are moving due to some issues.”
“Issues?” Susan asked.
“Yes. I’m not sure of the truth of the matter, so don’t bother asking.” Kyle tapped his chin in thought. It might have been the first time, however, that he didn’t look like an idiot that thought with only his penis. He gave us a grin, then turned to me. “I’ll get us in tomorrow. Meet me at the dungeon at three after noon. You’ll get your revenge, and I’ll get one up on Neo.”
We didn’t get much chance to talk after that. One of Kyle’s goons
came over and whispered something in his ear.
“Sorry, ladies. I would love to spend more time with you, but I have other . . . business to attend to.”
He got dressed and soon looked like he was about to head into a meeting. Susan and I nodded and moved away from the seating area, the women who had been attending him being escorted out much more forcibly. As Susan and I left, I saw someone I never expected to see in a place like this. Hell, she supposedly didn’t ever leave the house.
I almost blew the entire thing until I took in the situation. She was obviously here under her own power. Several men who radiated more power than even Kyle and his goons walked with her. She was dressed in a suit and looked almost five years older since the last time I’d seen her.
“Shinigami—a pleasure to have you in my home.” That was the last thing I heard before we were forced out of the VIP section.
“Susan, do you know who that was?” I asked, trying to control my emotions.
“The Shinigami, part of the Kings Syndicate. There are rumors that she is the head, but they haven’t been confirmed. You should do your best to stay away from her. She can kill you with a look.”
“Seriously?” Of course, I knew that. I even knew how unless she was hiding that from me too. I took a deep breath and decided I would investigate this after I dealt with Kyle. The goal was in sight, I just needed to focus on scoring. My little sister could wait.
~~~
The next day arrived, and I found myself outside of Azaria’s dungeon with Kyle’s party. Flashbacks to a few weeks ago of when I went to the dungeon with his party as his Harvester flashed through my mind. I shook my head and looked around, noticing there were a lot of people from the Association around.
There was some of the monitoring equipment that was used to check the Aether level of the dungeon and the area around it. More agents surrounded the station than I had ever seen around a single dungeon since the dungeons came into being. I hoped there wasn’t something wrong with Azaria.
I didn’t have much time to worry about her though. Kyle was raring to go on the dungeon dive. I could only assume it had something to do with the fact that conquering this dungeon would somehow give him something against Neo. The fact that Neo was involved with the dungeon in some way also raised my mental eyebrow. There were a lot of things I needed to check up on once I was free of my revenge, like the fact that my little sister was apparently the boss of a crime group.