by Dakota Krout
“What are you doing, Cal? Why is my room… my building… the city trembling?” Dale seemed a bit underwhelmed even as he noticed that things were changing. I may be understating his anxiety a tad, but it is my prerogative.
“Is something coming? Are we coming under attack? Is… is the world sinking?” Dale finished his thought with dread as he finally noticed what was happening.
“I should have known it was too good to be true,” he whispered to himself.
He looked up, shrugged and laid down on the bed. “You are going to lift us up into the air and then crush us by dropping too fast aren’t you? This is a mass execution. I knew things were going too well. You are insane after all.”
Dale was quiet for a moment. When he finally spoke again, it was not words of encouragement. “I think you are underestimating the odds you are up against, Cal. The Queen of the Amazons is S-ranked. She could destroy the entire mountain to the point of not allowing even light debris to land on her people. You are what? B-rank two?”
I checked and found he was correct about my ranking. My use of assimilated Mana had likely given me a better understanding of the components of my own law even if I didn’t understand the nuances right now.
He closed his eyes. “Greasy guy? Looked like a hobo? You were going insane and he only needed to visit you to fix… ugh. Cal, that man is known to the world as Xenocide. As far as we know, he is currently the highest-ranking cultivator on the planet. Legends are told about his brutality and lack of morals.”
“All I know about him is that he is a cultivator of insanity. Madness. Psychosis.” Dale started to shiver as he recounted what little he knew. “He is the only cultivator for that particular concept, though others have tried going down that path. No one knows why.”
My words were filled with dread, perhaps a tiny bit of admiration as well.
“Don’t think that he took your madness out of kindness, Cal. His name, Xenocide, was earned when he killed off an entire race. He liked the name so much that he has done it twice since then.” Dale’s reveries were cut off as members of his council burst into the room, the new door tearing from its hinges with a piteous squeal.
“Dale! The mountain is rising!” Madame Chandra started the conversation with a bang.
“The Mana storm has been… absorbed?” Father Richard seemed confused, making me laugh.
“Last but not least,” Frank dryly input, “the Essence density of the area has at least tripled. What in the abyss is going on?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Dale rhetorically stated. “The dungeon learned how to fly.”
~ Chapter Thirty-Four ~
Overnight, the type of person delving into the dungeon had shifted radically. The first floor was positively swarming with F-ranked groups being led by a C-ranked ‘assistant instructor’. I listened to their conversations and was able to bask in their awe for a while. Ahhh, being amazing is so rewarding.
“We are flying. Are we sure that this dungeon isn’t Kantor reborn?”
“No, Kantor only floated. I hear we are going against the wind!”
“I don’t know why we are going south though, there is only ocean that way.” Oh dear. Seems that a course correction is in order. I checked in with Dale, stole a few maps from the Guild, and carefully rotated the direction-controlling gyroscope. There we go. North-east. Pretty sure. At this rate, we would be there in only a few weeks. I was still proud of the speed. For one because I was able to move at all. For another because I was now fairly certain we wouldn’t fall out of the sky for lack of Energy to power the Runes.
The massive cultivation technique filled with Essence-gathering Runes was pulling in enough Essence per hour to raise an F-rank human to the C-rank in one giant leap. There were a few… caveats to this process. We needed to move continuously as the ambient Essence I was taking in depleted the area too fast for it to naturally refill and keep us afloat. Moving to new territory allowed us to gather at the highest rate possible. Keeping us moving while flying took ninety-seven percent of the Essence gathered, which allowed me to keep a bit for myself. Most of the excess went to large Cores for emergencies, but by my estimations, it would take a week of travel to store enough power for fifteen minutes of hovering. Moving was key. Moving was surviving.
Using small portals, I remained connected to my original area so that I had access to the massive pool of oil under where my mountain had stood. I had been nervous that my plan wouldn’t work and my island would crash. So, I guess it may have been an escape route as well if the worst came to pass. I think I’ll keep that tidbit from Dale. Bob started shouting, trying to capture my attention.
“Great Spirit!” Bob was more anxious than anything I could see would explain. “We are flying into a thunderstorm. Not only that, but the area is extraordinarily dense with lightning Essence. I am almost positive that where we are passing over will hold either powerful cultivators or Beasts. Possibly both. I have an idea though, which may be profitable but will certainly be dangerous.”
I told him to speak his mind. He thanked me and laid out his thoughts, “Since there is such a thick amount of Essence in the area naturally, I am almost certain that your ley line ritual will have extended its Runes to this area. If we can get close enough for you to activate them here, we won’t have to wait for a build-up or accidental influx of Essence in order to make the entire series of Runescript activate.”
“Well, it was never an option before! You just started to fly.” Bob cringed as I stuck my ‘tongue’ out at him. Must have felt creepier in his mind than was intended.
Bob gained an ‘oops’ face at that moment.
Bob seemed to have no answer for me. He kept trying and failing to speak, which I admit made me laugh and cheered me up a bit.
Visibly working to calm himself, Bob walked me through the steps I would need to take. “You need to descend to just above ground level and find where your Essence is creating the line of Runes. Yes, it will be deep underground, but since the ritual is powered by your Essence, you should be able to find it easily. Then all you have to do is activate one of the Runes. I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole area is drained to power the Runes in a cascading activation
effect, so we should leave as soon as possible when finished.”
Descending was never going to be a problem. Descending in a controlled manner, on the other hand, took quite a bit of doing. We couldn’t go straight downward, as we would run out of ambient Essence to keep us afloat, so we inched down while continuing forward. I started to hear worried noises coming from the city above me, but I ignored them in favor of ensuring that we didn’t crash into the ground or other terrain features. After about an hour, I started hearing screams coming from the entrance to the dungeon. Not human screams that is, but screams of my Mobs dying. I chalked it up to a fresh group of too-powerful people entering at the first floor.
Working with Bob, I reached out and looked for my Essence signature. While it took almost an hour, I was able to eventually find a ley line. I inspected the line, and found that it became a powerful node about a half-mile further ahead. Since a Node was an intersection of multiple lines, I decided to wait to reach that point before spending the Essence to activate the Runes. We would get there soon enough, and activating the lines at a node would have a far greater efficiency than along a single line.
Deciding to investigate the screams of pain while I waited for us to arrive at our destination, I looked at my third floor just in time to see the Boss area half-hex get obliterated in a blaze of light. If I had a jaw, it would have dropped. When the light and rubble cleared, I was even more surprised.
~ Dale ~
“Anyone else feel that? My ears hurt!” A light buffet from the student’s sparring partner drew the complainer back to the present.
“Try yawning, that seems to get rid of the pressure,” someone called in response.
“That blow to the head probably already fixed it.”
“I don’t know many problems that can’t be fixed by a blow to the head!” A few laughed at this.
“Flying dungeon. Island. Eats storms. Commoner, now a Noble. This is going to be amazing.” The Bard, Brakker, was writing about everything that he could see. His muttering was starting to get into people’s heads, but he never even noticed. Noting the time with black-ringed eyes, he stumbled toward the Pleasure House for his daily performance. “Gotta warm up. Sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. Sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. Sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick…” When he was finally out of the area, people started to cheer brightly.
“Rose, does it look like we are dropping to you?” Tom was on the ground looking at the sky when he asked this. Adam was working to pull arrows out of him, and Rose was looking a bit embarrassed. Her eyes held a spark of true annoyance, though.
“Tom, you can’t just charge directly at a person shooting at you.” She lightly kicked the incapacitated man. “Straight lines are great for me. You need to zig-zag. Change it up. At least try to make it harder for me.”
“Noted. Again, I ask, are we falling?” Tom pointed at the swirling colors of the thunderstorm they were passing through without ill effect, then gestured to the side. “I feel like I’m falling. I feel light.”
Rose frowned and looked up. “There is no way to tell; we are in a cloud.” Her gaze sharpened as her perceptive eyes locked on shadows being cast with each peal of thunder. “What in the…? Someone find Dale!”
Three forms fell out of the clouds, impacting the ground hard enough to make the weakest in the area fall to the ground from the shockwave. Red cloak fluttering around him, a sharp pair of electric gold eyes looked out over the suddenly silent crowd. “Who dares bring a flying fortress into the lands of thunder? This is an obvious act of war!”
There was silence for a moment, then an awkward cough could be heard. A trembling F-ranked student spoke up. “Er… we had nothing to do with this. We’re just students. Pretty sure that the city had nothing to do with this either. This is a flying dungeon, and it’s not really under control.”
“Cease your lies!” The man's thunderous voice echoed through the area. “Kantor was the only known flying dungeon! He has been destroyed, which means that you are a flying invasion force!” The man stumbled suddenly, face paling. A heavy force fell on the area along with the existential feeling of dread only felt in a suddenly silent ancient forest.
Madame Chandra was walking up to the group, eyes shining a brilliant green. “If we are assumed to be an invasion force, why were simple Mages sent to deal with us? B-ranks one, two, and three.” She pointed at the Mages in turn as she spoke. “Where are your elders? Where is the threat you are trying to deliver? You are yowling kittens. Where is the tiger?”
A slight crackle and a smell of ozone suffused the air, followed by a man appearing in front of the weighed-down Mages. He chuckled as he noticed who he was talking to, the bloodlust in his eyes vanishing. “Madame! How good it is to see you! These lads were just the scouts; please pardon their rudeness. You know how it goes, fifty years on guard duty and you get excited over every little flying island you see.” He looked around, noting the silent people around him. “Is this a… school of some sort? Is this really a flying dungeon?”
“Indeed it is, Perun!” Chandra’s demeanor seemed far warmer now, almost shy even. “It has been far too long! We should find somewhere to chat.”
“I’d love to do that! Maybe you could take a few minutes to explain why this island is floating toward our city? Oh, and these lads will need a bit of exercise to calm down. Can we send them through the dungeon? What rank is it?” The man had an electric personality, and charisma seemed to ooze off of him.
“B-rank… two? I think that is correct at this point.” Chandra looked over and noticed that Dale was running over, escorted by a few Dark Elf guards. “Ah, here comes the city lord. I’ll have him get them into the dungeon ahead of the line, and we can go… catch up.”
“B-rank two and already a flying island? It must have found an interesting solution to the Mana draw needed to take flight! Even Kantor was in the S-ranks when he lifted off the ground.” The man seemed pleased by this fact. “How spectacular! I truly hope we will not need to blast you all out of the sky.”
After a quick explanation of the situation, Dale was happy to escort the Mages to the opening of the dungeon. A few people boo-ed them as they passed the line, but most were confused students planning on going into the dungeon for the first time. The Mages signed the standard non-Guild agreement, so Dale waved at them and turned to leave.
“Wait, child! My name is Jasper of the clan Azguardia. These are my brothers. Would you be willing to be our guide?” The Mage imperiously pointed his finger at Dale, beckoning him closer.
“I can certainly find you someone to act as a guide, but as city Lord I have duties to-” Dale’s smile started to become frosty as he was interrupted.
“Nonsense! A D-ranker like yourself should be thrilled to have tutelage from Mages! Do not fear, we will protect you from whatever dangers lie within!” Jasper joyfully wrapped his arm around Dale and walked into the cave. Arm acting as an irresistible force, Jasper dragged the Baron along while ignoring his complaints. Despite his protests, Dale was fairly pleased to have an excuse to avoid the meetings that had been planned for him today. Dancing lessons? No thank you. He would find a memory stone somewhere with that particular skillset instead.
The Mages laughed as Bashers threw themselves to their doom, screaming in fury as the humans took no damage whatsoever. The screams of the Mobs grew shriller as the Mages counterattacked. A simple flick of a finger turned anything hit into a red paste.
“What a young dungeon!” Jasper chuckled boisterously as they walked past the first floor Boss squad. What remained of them, that is. “Are all the creatures this weak? How in the world did it find a way to fly?”
Attempting to convince the Mages th
at there were much, much more dangerous beings within only made them laugh. He explained that the dungeon ‘didn’t get more dangerous slowly, it was exponential danger growth’ only gained him confused smirks. Explaining concepts by using math always had this reaction. Dale decided that they would have to experience the dungeon for themselves before they would bother to listen to him. He nervously absorbed a small Core, shuddering and relaxing a bit as the euphoria rushed through him.
After Raile was dealt with as easily as the standard Bashers, Dale started to have fun. One of the lightning Mages tried to keep the air-affinity hopsecutioner as a pet, but was ruthlessly shot down by the others. The mage shrugged and broke its neck, pulling out its Core and tossing it to Dale. He was very happy he came along now; they gave him all the Cores as they were ‘useless to B-ranked cultivators’. As a fringe benefit, if the Cores were absorbed in the dungeon, they weren’t subject to taxes! Dale revised his original opinion of these Mages as they kept lavishing gifts on him. He thought about what was coming next and tried to form a plan of attack. The Goblins should pose no problem, so he could breathe easy. At least till floor four. From there it may be more touch and go.
There was a terrifying moment when the B-rank three Mage noticed the Goblins trying to build up a charge of infernal Essence. What sort of attack could that deliver? They seemed familiar with the weapon they were using. Had they used it in combat before? Jasper frowned and created a huge spell circle in the air. A quick burst of Mana entered the circle, and a tree-wide bolt of lightning lashed out and impacted the wall of the Boss area. The entire fortification was blown to smithereens, and anything that had been alive in there was cooked beyond recognition. Dale stepped out of the cloud of dust, coughing and heard an incredulous voice.