[The Impeccable Adventure of the Reluctant Dungeon] - Book 4 - Chapter 25

“Chrono magic,” the Demon Lord said while facing off the remaining heroes. “You’re smarter than you look.”

The note of spite that crept into the entity’s last words told Theo that he had accidentally managed to harm him in some way. Why was that, though?

By any observable metric, the monster was just as invulnerable as before. Yet, looking closer, one could notice certain slight differences. The speed at which his wounds restored had slightly decreased; the Demon Lord had stopped growing, maintaining his current size for half a minute. Also, his attacks had noticeably become more violent.  

The elf prince charged forward, rapier in hand. This was the first time he had seriously engaged the demon in close combat. Blurs of light and darkness filled the space between the two enemies.

Even after casting dozens of swiftness spells on himself, the dungeon avatar couldn’t keep up with the actual exchange. The Everessence’s style of fighting was a lot more fluid than that of the other heroes. It was like watching a ballet dancer with cleavers. There were no series of actions or apparent strategy, just one continuous strike that kept on going, constantly changing direction at random.

“Hero strike!” Liandra shouted a short distance from Theo’s avatar, releasing a wave of golden light from the tip of her blade.

The light struck the shoulder of the Demon Lord, but not before a cluster of black tendrils had emerged from his body, deflecting the ray to the ceiling. A form quickly formed as the ray left the area of slowness, increasing its speed sixty-fold from the perspective of the viewer. Of course, it would be a while before anyone became aware of that.

A second beam of light followed, released by one of the remaining heroes. This time, the Demon Lord reflected it right back, causing Theo’s avatar to leap to the side in order to avoid being incinerated.

“Calm down!” Liandra said. “That won’t hurt you!”

“I know that!” the avatar responded on instinct. “It’ll just mess up all my magic!”

There was enough truth in the statement to make Liandra give pause. Thankfully, the more knowledgeable entities in the room were too busy to point out Theo’s lies. The third hero of the group had rushed up to assist the elf, engaging the Demon Lord in close combat. At the same time, Prince Thomas seemed to have started something similar to a ritual. The royal remained standing still a fair distance away, holding his sword in a meditative state. Lines and circles of light formed around him, in an almost chaotic fashion.

Crap! Crap! Crap! Theo thought.

It annoyed him that he wasn’t doing anything to help, though not as much as the realization that there wasn’t anything he could do. There were enough heroic spells and auras to severely wound him should he take a step in the wrong direction. Yet, even if there weren’t, he didn’t see himself succeeding where an elf prince of divine origin couldn’t.

On paper, Theo was supposed to be unstoppable: he was a heroic rank seven dungeon with a legendary sword and loads of high-powered skills, spells, and abilities—among which was legendary swashbuckling.

A few steps away, Liandra summoned another sword.

“Wait.” The avatar went up to her and placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “We’ll just get in the way.”

The heroine gritted her teeth. It was obvious that she didn’t like Theo’s comment, but at the same time she knew that he was right. Of everyone remaining, she was the weakest to challenge the Demon Lord outright.

“We’ll have our chance,” the avatar said, in an effort to gain time.

In truth, he had no idea what to do, either. Things outside the castle were complicated enough, though with chances of improving. Here, though… things were risky no matter which side he chose. If there were indications before that the Demon Lord might spare him—turning him into a minion—that time had passed with the casting of the chrono spell. Likewise, the heroes seemed a lot less likely to achieve victory than Theo had originally thought. Of the thirty who had made it to the castle, only four remained.

“Don’t you have some skill to build up power?” the avatar asked, casting walls of ice between him and the Demon Lord.

Liandra glanced at Prince Thomas, then back at the avatar.

“Those are higher-level abilities,” she replied. “I needed a few more years to reach those.”

A new bolt of light struck the cheek of the Demon Lord. The Everessence took advantage of the weakened area to cut into the monster’s stomach, all the while continuing to move his sword around. Hissing, screeches, and a high-pitched hum filled the air as the elf kept on poking inside, as if he were searching for something.

Do Demon Lords have cores? Theo wondered.

Most other monsters did, so it wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility. At the same time, he knew that they had hearts which packed an equivalent, or even greater, amount of power.

A ball of light emerged within the belly of the beast. Quickly growing, it melted the demonic flesh around it, creating an empty void in the middle of the Demon Lord’s torso. For several seconds it kept on expanding, creating the impression that the battle might already be won.

The Demon Lord’s attacks diminished, as there were fewer places arms and tentacles could emerge from. Several attempts were made to fill the hole, but the light surrounding the tip of the elf’s blade proved to be too powerful. Adding to that, the nearby hero leaped up and thrust his own weapon into the demon’s head. This wasn’t the first time that the creature had sustained such an injury, but as the previous attack indicated, there was something that it considered a weak spot right in the middle of the “forehead.”

A second glow surrounded the hero’s sword.

The avatar could see Liandra holding her breath. This was an important moment—potentially the end of the fight. By all accounts, the Demon Lord was on the ropes. On the surface, there was nothing he could do. Just by looking, Theo could tell that the hero and the elf held the advantage. All they needed was a few more seconds—half a minute at most—to completely annihilate any trace of the entity.

Of course, such an approach would never work on Theo himself. All they’d do was destroy his avatar, leaving the rest of him plenty of time to escape or lie low.

“Oh, shit!” the avatar uttered.

No wonder he thought there was something wrong about the fight. The Demon Lord wasn’t fighting like an entity afraid for its life. Even with overwhelming power, its actions were reckless, unimpressive—in the grand scheme of things—and far too inefficient. It more resembled a cat playing around, giving its food just enough illusion of hope to keep it from giving up. That’s why the demon was so annoyed with Theo’s chrono spell; of everything done so far, it was the one thing that disrupted things the most.

“That’s not the Demon Lord!” Theo’s avatar shouted. “It’s just a—”

Before he could finish, the entire form of the Demon Lord exploded, sending out a wave of black foam and thorns in all directions.

The hero in the immediate vicinity of the monster was instantly pierced with dozens of demonic spikes, faster than he could sacrifice himself to cause another sacred blast. The Everessence was also pushed back, though the protective magic of his charms and armor managed to save him from sharing a similar fate.

Ice walls shattered, barely decreasing the force of the expanding demonic matter. If things continued as they did, there was no doubt that Liandra would end up dead, just like her fellow hero.

Baron d’Argent froze time. With his level of magical energy still low, taking needless risks was stupid. And still, he did just that, leaping to shield Liandra one more time.

As time returned to normal, he and the heroine were thrown out of the chamber. The avatar had the foresight to wrap them in an indestructible aether bubble just in time to smash through the chamber wall. Coincidentally, in doing so, the two of them flew out of the slow zone.

All sound from the chamber suddenly stopped. Looking over his shoulder, the avatar could see the black matter continuing to expand at a snail’s pace.

“This is the second time,” he said, turning to Liandra. “You chose the worst time to make it a habit.”

“It’s…” Liandra attempted to smile, but found that she couldn’t. It wasn’t much later that Theo found the reason.

A splinter of the Demon Lord had managed to pierce her despite the aether bubble. Apparently, the defense wasn’t as absolute as Theo thought it to be.

“Hold on.” The avatar quickly cast a healing spell. It wasn’t something he had used often, making it far too weak to be of any practical use. Seeing that, the baron switched to another ability, blessing the area of the woman’s wound.

 

DEMON LORD FRAGMENT PURGED

2000 Avatar Core Points obtained

 

Within seconds, the demon splinter transformed into a trickle of smoke as it was being purified.

“Do you have any healing spells?” he asked.

“I… think so,” Liandra replied, barely moving. The sliver of demonic matter had done more than just inflict a wound.

“Stay still.”

The avatar cast an ice slab onto the floor. After some thought, he also cast a layer of soil on top.

“Not the most comfortable, but better than staying on a cursed floor.” He used a levitation spell to gently place the heroine on top. “I’d offer something to cover you with, but…”

“You…” Liandra’s eyes widened for a few seconds, then slowly returned to normal. Something was different, though. All the inner warmth that surrounded her had suddenly vanished, replaced by icy disappointment. “You should be dead.”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s what people always say.” The avatar waved it away. In his mind, he was still concentrating on the battle taking place in Rosewind.

“No…” the woman tried to raise her hand, but only managed to do so for a few inches before letting it drop down again. “Your stomach.”

The avatar looked down. Indeed, the blunt end of the demonic fragment was still there, sticking out of him. Theo had been very careful not to touch the body of his avatar with the blessing, so he had ignored the part that had gone through him. It wasn’t overly serious. While it still drained a small amount of energy, it wasn’t as bad as he feared, everything considered.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” the avatar said, quickly pulling the fragment out. “It missed—”

“There’s no blood,” Liandra replied. The fingers of her left hand moved again, surrounding her entire arm with a faint blue light.

Suspecting something, Theo cast an arcane identify.

 

IDENTIFY MONSTER (UNIQUE HEROIC)

Reveal and identify the nature of a monster, even if hidden through illusions or similar abilities.

 

A unique heroic spell? It had to be linked to some artifact or rare scroll that the heroine had in her dimensional ring. Such spells usually had a single use, making them highly unreliable. Unfortunately, on the correct target they were flawless, and right now, the dungeon felt that his greatest fear had finally come to pass.

“You’ve a dungeon…” Liandra continued, too exhausted to display her true hatred.

“Rest a bit.” Theo pretended to ignore her. “I’ll go help Prince Thomas and—”

“How did you get my grandfather’s sword?” the woman interrupted. “He would never have given it to a dungeon.”

The avatar turned around, remaining silent.

“You’re it. You’re the dungeon that killed him.”

Theo waited a bit, waiting for her to add more. This was the point in which she should have mentioned her surprise, the level of betrayal she felt, or just anything. For two years, the two had crossed paths in one way or another. So far, they had defeated several calamities, and not once had she suspected. If anything, she might have been instrumental for the hero guild to take notice of the dungeon’s avatar. Quite the irony, that his saving her had resulted in finally revealing his secret.

“Just rest,” he uttered bitterly. “I’ll be back soon.”

This put the dungeon in a serious pickle. If he were to survive, he had both to defeat the Demon Lord and to find a place to hide. Maybe he could ask a few favors from the Feline Tower and lock out Liandra’s memories of this revelation? It wasn’t much of a hope, but it was everything he had. The alternative was to convert most of his body to mana and flee somewhere else again.

“What did I ever do to you that you hate me so much?” the avatar asked the universe as he slowly made his way towards the Demon Lord’s chamber.

If nothing else, there was one good thing that had come out of this whole thing. Now that Theo had no reason to hide his nature, he could go all out, using his full combination of spells, skills, and abilities together.

Meanwhile, in an entirely different location across the continent, another group of entities were discussing the dungeon’s fate. Located deep within a mountain, in a chamber specially created for the purpose, eight impressively powerful entities gathered.

“The Demon Lord complicates matters,” a granite statue said. “I think it would be better if we stay low for a while.”

“That’s unlike you, Second,” the entity made entirely of months said. “Scared?”

“Concerned. A Demon Lord isn’t good for anyone. Last time that happened, we lost a few council members.”

“They were hardly worth it!” A giant skeleton replied, an orb of light glowing on his head like a makeshift crown. “In this case, I agree. The new candidate’s infected, so he can’t join us. Since he’s already engaged with the Demon Lord, there’s no point in getting involved. He’s dead, either way.”

“Did Ninth tell you that?” The moths stirred, mimicking the expression of a face.

“He told me enough.”

“Still would have been nice to hear his report,” the moth entity mused. “You have a tendency to omit things when it suits you.”

“One of these days, Fourth…” The skeleton audibly ground his teeth. “As I said, either way it doesn’t matter. If we get involved, either way we’ll have to pick a side: either for the Demon Lord or against him.”

“That might not be a bad option,” the black lame elemental joined the conversation. “If we display allegiance, he might leave us alone. It’s certain that he’ll get killed. Demon Lords always do. In the meantime, he’ll focus on other threats, leaving us a bit of freedom.”

“Trust a demon to be logical?” An entity made entirely of vines asked. “We’ll have more chances siding with the hero.”

“The dungeon knows about us,” the First’s voice boomed. The dragon that represented him, opened a lazy eye, looking at the other dungeon minions like a cat observing ants. “If he really is infected by a Demon Lord parasite, the demon will know as well.”

Silence filled the chamber. It had been half an eternity since the council had faced an extinction-level threat. There were always annoying matters that required their attention. In some cases, a few members had even been placed in danger. Yet, all that paled to the prospect of a Demon Lord actively learning of their existence.

“So, you say kill him?” the stone statue asked, turning towards the dragon. “If we’re lucky, the Demon Lord will never know.”

“What about Ninth?” an oval made entirely of cyan quartz crystals asked. Of all the dungeon representations, it was the most unassuming, though that didn’t diminish its power. Everyone present had been deemed strong enough to join the council, and it was no exception. “Do we destroy him as well?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time we lose members,” the skeleton replied without a moment’s hesitation. “Not the ideal outcome. Ninth was good at scouting the real world, despite our differences. But I prefer him to us, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.”

“It’s not a matter of preference,” the oval said. “If we attack him, he’ll fight back.”

Silence followed once more. Being a dungeon, it was natural for Ninth to make the decision that was best for his own survival. He would without a doubt take the side of the candidate dungeon and also share any and all pertinent information regarding the other council members. Due to his specific development, the walking dungeon had a habit of constantly amassing any and all information regarding his surroundings and entities he knew. He had never talked about it openly, but no one present had any doubt that each of them had revealed more than they would have liked.

“What exactly do we know?” The dragon glanced at the skeleton.

“About the candidate?” the Fifth looked up. “He’s a rank seven, he’s managed to consume a divine temple, and had a minor abomination serving him as a minion of sorts.” There was a slight pause. “He also has a dungeon gnome.”

“Is that why you’ve been spying on him?” the moth entity asked, amused. “Always on the lookout for new spoils.”

“He won’t be needing it when he’s destroyed,” the skeleton snapped back. “I thought I’d evaluate the assets myself. As I said, taking him on won’t be that difficult, provided there are a few of us. Even with a Demon Lord parasite, we should be able to crush his core. I warned Ninth to drop everything and come here. Obviously, he didn’t listen.”

“Let’s have a vote,” the statue said firmly. “If there’s a tie, we’ll—”

“There will be no vote,” the dragon’s voice boomed. “I’ll settle things myself. The rest of you can go into hiding until this whole thing blows over.”

“First?” The statue sounded uncertain all of a sudden.

“Nothing is guaranteed when demons are involved. If the worst happens, we’ll gather again in a millennium, or sooner if the Demon Lord is banished.”

Before anyone could make a comment, the dragon raised its head straight up, then released a torrent of blue flames mixed with orange lightning. The breath melted through the miles of rock like chocolate, quickly creating a tunnel all the way to the very top. Within miles, people and creatures noticed the beam of light emerge in the sky like a beacon, only to vanish shortly later. A few—those skills and curious enough—would claim that they saw a dragon fly out from the mountain peak and vanish into the sky, flying at speeds greater than they had ever seen before. Yet, with no additional confirmation, their accounts would be treated as a tall tale reserved for inns and taverns.

Theo, of course, remained completely unaware of all that. With his avatar venturing into the Demon Lord’s chamber at the astonishing speed of a step per minute, he had focused all of his mental and physical effort to getting the mana gem he so desperately needed. Unfortunately for him, the demonic rabbit was fully aware of his intentions, not to mention that it wanted the energy for itself.

“Spok, just go inside the castle!” Theo shouted.

For the last five minutes, the spirit guide had been trying to cross the final fifty feet that separated her from the dungeon. Each time, tendrils the size of bridges would shoot out of the demonic bunny in an attempt to capture her. Naturally, Theo would counter by creating a stone tower, he’d launch like a rocket to shred the tendrils before they did the unthinkable.

“I’ll deal with him and reach you!” Somehow…

If he had just a little more energy, there were so many things he could do. If nothing else, he could turn the ground beneath the rabbit into a catapult and propel the minion away. Sadly, he had passed the point where he could be extravagant with his magic. Even now, ten percent of the city had quietly been converted into energy so he could maintain the status quo.

“You’re considering consuming a mana gem to boost your rank, aren’t you?” Ninth’s voice asked.

Although Theo couldn’t tell exactly where the visiting dungeon was, he clearly felt that he was close. In truth, it wouldn’t surprise him if the pest had been attached to his colossus since the start of the clash.

“Your point?” The colossus punched the demonic rabbit in the stomach, sending a hill of demonic flesh flying out of it.

For the briefest of moments, the demonic minion froze and looked down at the hole that had formed in its torso. Being a demon, it was safe to say that no organs of any nature had been permanently harmed. The damage, if any, was psychological; in its entire existence, the minion had never been injured to such an extent, and even with a link to the Demon Lord, regeneration was never instant.

“Increasing your rank to eight would be undesirable in the view of the council,” Ninth continued. “The entire reason I was sent to assess you was because of your rapid growth.”

“Seriously?!” Leave it to bureaucracy to meddle in everything, even when Theo’s very existence, not to mention the world itself, hung in the balance. “Do you prefer the Demon Lord to take over the world?” the dungeon hit back with the most powerful verbal threat he could think of.

“My analysis remained undetermined,” the visitor replied. “The council is certain to independently come to a decision sooner or later. I just thought it fair to warn you how your actions might be interpreted.”

“Thanks…” A series of bridges rose from all sides of the duke’s castle, extending towards it. Before they could pass half the distance, a new set of demonic tendrils emerged, shattering them.

“That said, I’m not disagreeing with your approach,” Ninth added. “If you don’t consume the gem in the next thirty seconds, you’re unlikely to have the energy to do so. Not without cannibalizing the rest of your city.”

“Again, your point?!” This was getting tiresome.

“I can help you get the gem, but only if you’re sure you want to. While it’ll give you a boost, it won’t guarantee victory, and might very well force the council to decide on an undesirable outcome for you.”

Mentally, Theo blinked. Was Ninth trying to help him? It was impossible to say for certain, but it definitely seemed like it. Furthermore, despite Theo’s knee-jerk reaction, the visitor was right. Once he consumed the gem, there was no turning back. He could try to convince the council that he’d done it out of necessity for the rest of time, but they had no reason to believe him. Then again, if he didn’t, he’d unlikely to survive long enough to try arguing his case to begin with.

“It’s just a rank eight,” Theo said in an attempt to sound calm, even dismissive. “Go for—”

A new wall emerged before Theo could finish his sentence. However, this wasn’t a wall he had created. Instead, the origin of this building was a single humanoid figure located twenty feet from the giant fighting monsters.

The sight defied human logic to the point it seemed cartoonish. As a dungeon, though, Theo couldn’t help but feel impressed.

How come I can’t do that? He wondered as a second wall shot out of Ninth a split second later.

Like two barriers of stone, they created a tunnel up to the castle entrance, leaving Theo the opportunity to create his own connection to there.

Here we go!

Using all the magic energy he could spare, the dungeon shot out a tube of stone from through the ground to where Spok was hiding. Same as before, the demonic rabbit attempted to shatter the connection, but its tentacles failed to breach Ninth’s protective walls.

“Spok!” Theo shouted.

Grasping the opportunity, the spirit guide reached out, slamming her palm onto Theo’s extension. A fraction of a second later, she disappeared, reappearing in the dungeon’s core chamber.

“Here, sir!” The spirit guide shoved the gem into his spirit core.

 

YOU HAVE ADVANCED TO RANK 8!

 

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Theo shouted as a surge of mana swept through his chambers and corridors. Everything he had hollowed out was quickly replenished, and even the consumed buildings were instantly restored.

That wasn’t all. A whole lot of rooms, structures, spells, and dungeon abilities had spontaneously become available to him. If circumstances had been different, Theo would have loved to experiment a little bit and surround the bunny with nests of mountain-eating leeches—whatever those were. For the time being, though, it was more prudent to be conservative with his energy and proceed how he had been so far. Ultimately, he still had a Demon Lord to face. The major difference was that now that he had the power, there was someone he could rely on to help out with that.

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