Author's Note:
This chapter is a little long. I didn't feel like there was a good cutoff point to split it up, and I didn't really want to make this into another 3 part dungeon.
Before moving forward, Alastair looked back. Mostly to check on his team, but he also noticed that the portal that had taken them into the dungeon was gone. As Melia and Eluna had said, the only way out was in front of him, through the rooms ahead.
The first room was oddly cave-like. Not at all like a tunnel carved from solid stone, but also not exactly a man-made building. Alastair could see how it might be a combination of the two: a room built to conform around a cave. The floors were large, dressed stones, but halfway up the walls, the intricate reliefs melted into rough, bare stone. The ceiling itself reminded him exactly of a cavern, with a few spikes of stone jutting down like broken fangs. Though unusual, the two opposites in architecture complemented each other, though it looked nothing like he thought it would from the palace veneer.
The room was also strangely square. Now that he thought about it, many rooms were square, but for some reason, this one was more apparent. Maybe it was because the empty void of the room itself almost felt like a cube of stone was taken out of a solid rock, with how the length, width, and height all seemed to match. Or maybe it was how this room, which had three exits into other rooms, all had one hallway placed exactly in the middle of their respective walls.
It gave the room a sense of symmetry he found fitting for followers of Order, not Chaos.
But he wasn’t here to critique the nuances of godly interior design. In the middle of the room, as soon as he stepped out of the protected space the entrance hall provided, a monster spawned in a puff of purple smoke.
[Vampire Bat]
Level: 1
Interesting. Not an elite, simply a level 1 bat like he might find out in the wild…though, like humans, Alastair didn’t think he’d naturally find anything level 1 wandering in the open. He did find it fitting that this monster was the same species as the first monster the group had encountered in their very first dungeon dive. He strode forward.
Alastair instinctively went to cast his [Shield], and was momentarily stunned when a golden circle didn’t fly out of his outstretched arm. Instead, he carried forward, nearly stumbling, his distracted gaze still locked onto his physical shield…and ran into the bat.
The monster collided with a dull thud and a mild screech, but when Alastair grit his teeth in anticipation of retaliation, he saw that the bat already had a third of its health missing.
None of his companions had attacked it yet, so Alastair could only assume that by simply smashing into it with his shield, he’d taken a chunk of its health. His surprise was almost paralyzing, leaving him rooted in place as his brain tried to reconcile the discrepancy with his expectations. His hesitation gave the bat enough time to screech in his face and flap about, snaking him upside the face with its wings, but Eluna’s [Renew] ticked and any damage was instantly healed.
Ellesea, of all people, ran forward with a mighty, “Raaaaagh!” And smashed her staff squarely on the bat’s body, killing it.
The thing fell to the floor, dead, with a pitiful cry, eventually disappearing with another puff of smoke. A tiny sack appeared in its place, which Jessica quickly swooped up, but Alastair could only turn to face the small [Mage], stunned.
“Whatever happened to [Arcane Blast]?” Alastair asked. Ellesea’s hands moved closer toward the head of her staff as she looked away, slightly embarrassed.
“I tried. It got canceled when I lost line of sight as it flew behind your head and I ran out of mana. My regeneration is terrible right now.”
“Fair enough,” Jessica said with a grin. “Good shot, though. You really whacked that bat. Maybe you have a future as a granny yelling at clouds and trying to keep kids off your grass?”
Ellesea puffed out her cheeks, gripped her staff like a club, and awkwardly shuffled around the room as fast as her robes would allow while Jessica skipped ahead, just out of reach.
“Hey,” Eluna eventually called out with two firm claps. “Remember what I said? Team camaraderie is excellent; we don’t want to change that, but you’ve already lost focus. Quick, get back here.”
It had been a minute, two at most, when a dark circle appeared on the floor and, with another puff of purple smoke, a second bat appeared. Ready for it this time, Alastair took a swing at it with his hammer, while Melia stabbed it with her giant sword to finish it off.
The [Vampire Bat] died with a squeal, but everybody in the room was too busy being shrouded by the golden light of leveling up to care.
“Whoa,” Alastair said. Maybe, if he had reached adulthood without leveling, killing two monsters would grant him an entire level. In fact, they did more than that, and his experience bar was about a third filled.
“Hey, what gives?” Jessica complained. “That one didn’t drop a little sack.”
“First, everyone get over here to the hall,” Eluna commanded, and everyone obeyed. “Not every monster drops loot, Jessica,” she said. “I don’t know the rates, but I’d say we’re probably lucky the first monster we killed dropped one. Open it up, don’t bother holding onto it, you can’t take it out of the dungeon.”
“Lame,” Jessica frowned, but did as she was told. She pulled out the sack and tipped it over her palm…spilling out a large, bronze coin.
[Palace Obol]
Level: 1
Rarity: Common
Ethereal
Value: 1
Can be traded for capsules inside the [Palace of Darkness].
Even more proof that you can’t take it with you.
Alastair stared at the flavor text. Normally, people said that about their money if they were talking about the afterlife. Glancing at the description of “ethereal” and considering the nature of this peculiar dungeon, he found it fitting.
[Ethereal]
Cannot be removed from this dungeon.
“Capsules?” Y’cennia asked. Eluna nodded.
“Let me explain. Capsules contain charms, which aren’t related to the school of magic. Think of them like bracelet charms. Charms make up 75 percent of the loot in this place…which, again, you can’t take out. But don’t let that fool you. Charms are powerful. They can buff your stats, help you do damage, make you invulnerable…even reveal all the traps on a floor.”
“Traps?” Jessica asked sharply. She gave the ground at her feet a hard glare, as if it were hiding something.
“I should mention those, shouldn’t I?” Eluna sighed. “Don’t worry. They’re manageable.”
“So should I be going through each room before everybody else?” Jessica asked. “Checking for traps before we walk in?”
“No,” Eluna denied. “It won’t do much good. It’s possible some people might be able to identify a trap sooner than others, but even if that’s the case, it wouldn’t be by much. These traps aren’t like normal traps. They’re entirely magical and invisible. You take what looks like a normal step, only to find it's a seal, and suddenly the trap goes off. Most traps only affect the person that triggers them or a small radius, but others can summon hordes of monsters or a dense, black ‘fog of darkness’ that makes it hard to see.”
“That doesn’t sound very manageable,” Ellesea frowned. As a [Mage], she was likely wondering if she could counteract them somehow.
“That’s where charms come in,” Eluna explained. “Half the charms are dedicated to counteracting traps in one way or another.”
“Got it,” Jessica grinned, flipping the [Obol] in her hands. “Buy lots of charms. Will do.”
The first room had no traps, or if it did, [Sunrise] didn’t trigger any. They waited long enough to kill a third bat, bringing everybody to level 3…which was an improvement, even if it wasn’t enough to let them use most of their spells or abilities. Jessica finally had enough strength to draw her bow, so she was excited, but that only made Y’cennia frown.
“I shouldn’t have come,” she grumped sourly. “I’m useless.”
“Not useless,” Eluna laughed. “You can be the capsule bitch.”
Alastair was taken aback. It wasn’t often the healer spoke so…crassly.
“Sorry,” she quickly explained. “It’s an old term. Basically, charms are very important to the success of this dungeon. Knowing who should use them, when to use them, and when to save them are all vital skills. A lot of the time, people used to devote one person in the party to exclusively watch over the charms to make sure they didn’t get wasted. Normally, I might do that, as the healer, but if you are going to be fighting, I think you’d fit in perfectly. Think of them as…advanced potions.”
Y’cennia looked dubious, but nodded in agreement. Only time would tell once they found a capsule for these charms.
Alastair led the group into the second room, connected by a short hallway. There wasn’t anything special about it, being at most 20 feet long, though Eluna did mention that hallways were slightly safer than rooms since traps couldn’t spawn in them. He sighed in relief, glad to have one less worry, and peered inside the room.
It was identical to the last.
Alastair found it odd, but not impossible, for a dungeon to have multiple rooms exactly like each other. Down to the slight bumps in the floor, uneven tiles, or a random tree root burrowing through the wall. Everything was the same.
Except that the enemies in this room were different.
For one, they were enemies in the plural, not in the singular. A bat and a large, black hedgehog with huge spikes called an [Edgehog]. Alastair focused on drawing the bat’s attention first, not wanting to impale himself on those spines…only for a high-pitched cry to ring out.
Alastair glanced over fearfully, thinking one of his teammates was getting attacked, just in time to see Melia fall through the air, bringing both her massive swords down on top of the poor thing, crushing it entirely.
Better it than them, but Alastair frowned.
“Thanks, but I think I’d appreciate the warning.”
“Ahaha,” Melia laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. “Sorry. I got carried away. I apologize, I’ll try not to let it happen again.”
“This is what I’m talking about,” Eluna mused, putting her hands on her hips. “Mel, don’t be dumb. I know you’re tanky…actually, how tanky are you?”
“I’ve got 2500 hp,” she said with a shrug. Alastair nearly blanked. At level 3? [Warriors] were known to be a health-heavy class, but that sounded absolutely ridiculous. Compared to his measly 400 at the same level? Madness.
“What kind of gnome has that much health at level 3?” Jessica muttered, speaking what was on his mind.
“Don’t forget, she’s a dragon,” Eluna nodded grimly as if coming to a realization. “Fine. If you have to, you can off-tank. But let us know beforehand if you’re just going to pull something so I don’t freak out.”
Off-tank…Alastair mentally sighed. This was like being a backup to Hank Steelbraid himself. But there was no room for pride in a dungeon when it came to survival.
The second room turned out to be a dead end. It had the two respawning monsters, but no obvious treasure, no extra hallways, and nobody wanted to fall into a trap. So they headed back the way they came. They cleared out the single bat, got another level, and took the east passage. Unlike the west passage they’d traveled down first, this hallway took a sharp turn, making it impossible to scout into the room ahead. The turn almost immediately doubled back, creating a Z-like bend before dumping them into yet another similar room.
This room didn’t have the tree root growing out of the wall, but it featured a huge stone pillar rising from the center of the room, connecting the ceiling to the floor. Alastair frowned; he couldn’t see around. Since there weren’t any obvious enemies in this room, they could easily be hiding behind the pillar. He motioned for the group to stay close behind him and started moving counterclockwise around the pillar. He held up his shield, ready for anything.
Nothing was there.
What gives? So far, every room had an enemy. And yet this one didn’t…?
“Wait, I get it,” Jessica laughed. “Turn around!”
Sure enough, Alastair turned around, waited several moments, and a large [Wild Strider] came strutting around the corner. This one was level 5. While still inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, it was a level above theirs and much higher than anything else so far. Was the dungeon adapting so fast? He had enough mana now to throw his shield, so after making sure its attention was locked solely on him, the group was able to beat it down.
Fortunately, the [Strider] did not respawn as fast as the bats, so after walking around the pillar several times, the group decided to take the north hall. This one was another straight shot into the next room, which had another handful of level 1 bats…and a large, shimmering copper chest.
“Wait!” Alastair commanded before Jessica could potentially hurt herself. “Clear the room first!”
“I was gonna!” She called back, and Al gave it even odds whether she would have or not. They killed the bats with ease and grouped around the large chest.
“Ufufufu,” Jessica cackled deviously. Alastair shook his head.
“Are these things trapped?” He asked, making Jessica pause as she reached forward.
“Sometimes,” Eluna nodded. “But not like floor traps. They either give treasure or turn into [Mimicks]. No telling before you try the lid, though; even if you blast it with an attack, it won’t budge.”
“Devious,” Jessica grinned, and reached forward.
Thankfully, it was not a monster, and Alastair let out a sigh of relief. The girl was too reckless at times…or maybe he needed to lighten up? He wasn’t sure. Having a healer on the team was still too new and fresh; he didn’t know their new boundaries.
Jessica flipped the huge lid up, peered inside…and frowned. Without saying anything, she leaned over the rim, balancing on her middle as the top half disappeared into the box and her legs dangled uselessly behind her.
“Why the crap did they need such a huge box?” she griped as she shoved herself back upright. She held out her hand, and inside it was a set of 5 glass bottles.
[Palace Healing Potion]
Level: 1
Rarity: Common
On use: recover 30 percent hp.
Ethereal
Alastair raised a brow as Y’cennia whistled. A flat 30 percent, no matter the user’s level, with no obvious cap, was a pretty big deal. And this was common? He was glad that they’d have some sort of consumable inside the dungeon if Y’cennia’s didn’t work out. It was a shame they were ethereal…though he couldn’t imagine the damage they’d do to the local [Alchemy] market if people could take them out.
Jessica pocketed one for herself and tossed one to Al. She had 3 left, but 4 teammates…she paused. Alastair took it as a good sign that she hesitated instead of just keeping the rest for herself. But he could also understand her hesitation. Somebody wasn’t getting a potion. Who should get left out?
Y’cennia, because she wasn’t in combat?
Part of Al wanted to use that same excuse as a reason the catkin should take a potion. She might need it more than the rest.
Eluna, because she was a healer?
Melia, because she was, frankly, cheating with more health than all of them combined?
But then again, if they wanted to get maximum value out of each potion, Melia should take them all. 30 percent of her health pool was greater than Alastair’s entire bar.
In the end, Melia declined to take one, stating that she had other ways to sustain herself, which, Al wondered, might make her immortal. Even when synced in a dungeon, she seemed unkillable.
How did those ancient heroes manage to do it? Or at least get close?
Alastair assumed that, if running the [Obsidian Mansion] was their eventual goal, he might someday find out. For now, they had a different dungeon to clear.
Floor one of [PoD] was more interesting than Jessica wanted to admit. Even if the only treasure chest they found didn’t contain massive loot and they eventually stumbled onto their first trap.
Ellesea had taken a step to the side to see around Al and blast an [Edgehog] with some arcane magic, which set it off. The ground beneath her lit up with a symbol Jessica couldn’t hope to understand, and all she could do was watch on in horror as the [Mage]’s eyes lit up in surprise…before a giant white X appeared over her mouth.
Ellesea tried to cry out, but no sound came from her lips. [Silence]. Melia was efficiently slaughtering her way through their enemies, so Jessica took the opportunity to really observe the small mage, mumbling frantically, but mutely, unable to make a noise.
In any other instance, having a [Mage] get silence would be catastrophic, but Jessica thought it was hilarious. She laughed, nearly dropping her bow, pointing as Ellesea gripped her staff in frustration but seemed unable to cast a spell. The current encounter was long since over, and Ellesea simply looked tired and resigned, bored out of her mind. As Alastair pulled the next pack of monsters, all she could do was whack them over the head with her stick. All in all, the [Silence] lasted a full minute, and when it ended, Ellesea let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, slumping down onto a nearby rock.
“Traps are brutal,” Eluna said, making everybody nod.
By Jessica’s count, the first floor had 8 rooms. Most of them were boring, plain rooms with nothing but monsters, even if two of those rooms also had chests. Both chests were copper and had potions, so thankfully, everybody had a potion of their own. The first oddity that stood out was the out-of-place fountain they came across. Jessica was about to go up and look into it when Eluna held her back.
“Don’t worry, it’s safe,” the strawberry elf said, guessing correctly why Jessica stiffened. “I just wanted to tell you not to use it. This is a [Fountain of Healing]. Does exactly what it sounds like. Each person can only use it once per floor, though, so it’s best not to use them unless strictly necessary. Also,” she added, becoming quite serious, “This is one of the few ways to rez somebody if they die. If you can carry a corpse back to the fountain, assuming it’s not a party wipe, we can dump the body back in and they’ll be revived.”
“Let’s hope we never have to use it for that,” Alastair said, and Jessica agreed.
The second oddity that stood out was much more immediately useful but, conversely, confusing at first glance.
In the eighth room, in the far corner, was a fancy-looking pillar, slightly taller than Ellesea, intricately carved from a beautiful white stone. It reminded Jessica of a rook or castle chess piece (which she had no idea why a single piece had two names), but at the top of the piece, nestled into the crenelations of the crown, was a large, black sphere, perfectly fitted inside. Around the rim of the piece was a flowing, looping script she couldn’t hope to read.
[Right of Passage]
23 out of 8 monsters slain
On use: if the requirements are met, travel to the next floor.
Thankfully, Eluna didn’t need to explain this one. As soon as the entire party got within arm’s reach of the black stone, it turned a deep, royal blue and began glowing. At the same time, a clear bubble of white energy sprang out in a radius all around the stone, encircling them.
The stone began to hum, and a golden ring appeared at their feet, slowly creeping up the bubble and blocking everything out. After several seconds, the entire bubble turned golden, and once it did, it lingered for a very brief moment before instantly vanishing.
But now that Jessica could see again, she instantly noticed this wasn’t the same room as the one they were just in. Also, the [Right of Passage] was gone.
“At least that explains why we can’t simply go back up the stairs,” Jessica sighed. “Can’t go up stairs if there’s no stairs to go up.”
“But,” Ellesea asked with a finger to her chin, “Didn’t the kill count seem a little low to anyone else? If I read that right, we only had to kill 8 monsters to progress, and we killed 3 times that. Why would anybody stop to kill more? I assume it goes much higher?”
“Not really,” Melia explained. “Yes, I’d say the requirement for each stone hovers around 10 to 15 monsters, but that’s not the really important part. What isn’t very clear at first glance is that this dungeon is on a timer.”
Alastair and Jessica both blanched, guessing the worst. Melia laughed, waving away their worries.
“Sorry! Nothing bad happens if you’re slow! But, if you want to go deeper, like, really deep, you kind of have to clear floors quickly. If you don’t beat the 9th-floor boss and make it to the 10th floor in the time limit, you’ll only get an exit portal. You won’t have the option to go deeper. Now, the first 10 floors are really generous. I think it has an hour limit? But that suddenly seems a lot tighter when you’re spending multiple minutes per room instead of per floor.”
Alastair nodded solemnly. His nature was to be cautious, and he would always put his team’s safety above everything else, which was something Jessica respected. They had spent about 10 minutes clearing that first floor, but even with killing as many monsters as they did, they could have shortened it to 7 or 8. If they were really moving? Maybe as little as 5. That being said, no matter how strong Melia was, Jessica could appreciate the skill it took to clear an entire dungeon like this by herself.
“Eventually,” Melia continued, “It’s a balancing act of killing enough monsters to level up, but leaving enough time to delve deeper. But none of that matters if you don’t make it out, so you also gotta know when to quit.”
And wasn’t that just sound advice for life in general? Not that Jessica was often able to listen to it herself.
Slightly more conscious of how long they were taking, the group cleared the second floor. More monsters started appearing in pairs or triplets. Sometimes rooms could be cleared by pulling them one by one, and sometimes they had to strategize on how to tackle the monsters as a group. [Sunrise] continued to regain their levels rapidly as monsters fell beneath their blades (or sticks) and by the end of the floor, they’d climbed all the way back to level 50.
It wasn’t the same as returning to their normal levels, but they once again felt like proper adventurers, using skills in rotations and moving through set patterns of attacks. The third floor was much like the second, where monsters slowly grew more powerful, staying just about a half a dozen levels below the group. The third floor also marked an interesting discovery: they found their first [Mimic].
The room contained two chests, which was unusual, but it had happened once before. Both looked identical; two copper chests like any other. Jessica had opened 7 of them so far, and every one of them had contained potions. The group was fully stocked. Jessica walked up to the chest, only half paying attention, placed her hand under the latch, and started opening the lid.
She had barely cracked the chest open when a large, rough, leathery strap shot out of it and snaked its way around her arm. Jagged teeth slid out of the lid and rim’s edges, and the tongue, which was what the blood-red strap actually was, began pulling Jessica inside.
“Ack!” She squawked, not quite realizing what was happening. It only took a second for her brain to catch up and she began pulling away frantically.
“Oh no! Screw you, box! I’m not becoming some box’s lunch!”
The [Mimic], sensing its prey was trying to escape, slammed the lid down, crunching into Jessica’s arm, causing her to scream out in pain.
“Agh! Oh gods, it hurts! Get it off, get it off!”
The others had been stunned by the sudden appearance of a monster, but Melia had reacted instantly. Unfortunately, she was on the other side of the room, but she was already midway through her leap when Jessica cried out. She landed next to the [Mimic] and stabbed both of her swords directly into its side repeatedly until it died.
As soon as it perished, the lid went slack, the tongue lolled to the side, limp and unwinding, letting Jessica scramble backward in haste. With a puff of purple smoke, the monster vanished, replaced by a newer, silver chest.
“Are you okay?” Melia asked as she turned toward Jessica. Eluna was already by her side, casting healing spells and inspecting the wound. Jessica stared at her arm numbly. She had been sure the creature had broken her arm; she had felt a blinding pain and heard something snap. But the last…had it only been a handful of seconds? The last few seconds had been such a blur; she didn’t know what to believe.
She poked her arm gingerly with a finger, expecting to find the searing pain of a shattered bone, but all she felt was the dull press of a finger into her flesh.
“I’m…alive?” Jessica muttered, realizing how close she had just come to being eaten. “I’m alive! Suck it, box!”
She jumped to her feet, ignoring how Melia was fussing around her, and pointed toward the [Mimic], only now realizing that it had vanished and turned into a different chest.
Jessica was instantly torn.
The old saying about once bitten, twice shy was ringing in her ears, and there was no way she was getting close to anything remotely close to resembling that [Mimic] any time soon….
...BUT…
…The new chest was silver.
They hadn’t come across a silver chest yet! Jessica approached the chest cautiously, taking small, deliberate steps, inching her way forward until she was only an arm’s reach away. She stretched out her hand…and froze.
“Hey, can [Mimics] spawn [Mimics]?” She asked.
“Not that I’m aware of,” Melia shook her head as she approached fearlessly.
For a second, Jessica wondered what would have happened if Melia had been the one to discover the [Mimic]. Well, not considering the fact that she probably wouldn’t have gotten caught off-guard and would have slain the thing instantly, gnomes were very small. Would she have just been eaten instantly? Not that it probably would have killed her instantly, but what happened to somebody in a monster’s stomach? Did [Mimics] even have stomachs? Jessica shook her head.
Instead of reaching forward with one hand like she’d been doing in the past, she adjusted her stance so she could grip both sides of the lid and raise it from the side. The memory of the tongue lashing around her arm flashed through her mind violently, but her greed and curiosity to find out what was inside were too great. She lifted the lid.
The new chest was empty, but that didn’t mean it didn’t contain anything. Before Jessica had a chance to complain about rigged boxes with crappy drop tables, a silvery-white light circled around her. And not just her, but everyone in the room. Like a tiny wisp or fairy traveling around her, it circled her whole body, from head to toe, before vanishing in a shower of a million sparks. It was very pretty, but she had no idea what it had done.
“Oh, nice!” Eluna said. “I got plus 2 to Wisdom!”
Sure enough, Jessica glanced at her stats and found, next to her Dexterity, a small green addition stating “+2.”
That brought her Dexterity up to 79. For a level 50 person, an additional 2 stats felt like a lot, but that wouldn’t make much of a difference when she was back to rank 3. Jessica felt her excitement wane a little.
“How long does this last?” She asked.
“The last entire run,” Melia said with a smile.
“Wait,” Ellesea said. “The entire dungeon? Okay, that’s a bit stronger than I figured. It’s too bad it’s so low; I could see how useful a buff like this would be if you got it early, but it kind of falls off hard.”
Jessica and Al both nodded in agreement, but Melia and Eluna shook their heads.
“No,” Melia explained. “There’s a reason it’s so small. Every silver chest you see adds a tiny bit. Usually only 1 or 2, but sometimes 3. But they stack. Every time you get a silver chest, it goes up. By the end of a run? If you kill enough? It adds up, let me tell you.”
Jessica whistled. They were only on floor 3 and they’d found a silver chest. She was already dreaming that they’d find another 3 by floor 10, and that could be as much as 9 whole stat points. Needless to say, the stars in her eyes were blocking out her fear of getting nommed by a treasure chest, especially if she had a healer to patch her up if it treated her like a snack.
The rest of floor 3 was uneventful, but spirits were high. Even Y’cennia was getting into the mood, chatting animatedly as the group went around killing monsters as they spawned. According to Melia, the group could only gain levels inside the dungeon to match their real level outside of it. Eventually, they would stall out and the monsters would outpace them on later floors, so they weren’t too concerned with their speed in order to go incredibly deep. The gnome figured they were on pace to reach floor 20 or 30 easily, which would theoretically put them back to their normal levels, and then they could kill the boss and exit normally. Seeing as she was an expert on this dungeon, the group was inclined to listen to her.
…except she was, perhaps, a little strange, which Jessica already knew, but was always amusing and bizarre to see.
On the fourth floor, Melia tripped a [Minimizing] trap, which reduced her strength by a ton and shrank her in the process. The silly gnome squealed and ran around in excitement, uncaring that her damage got cut hard, and was sad when she returned to normal.
The fifth floor presented a dilemma.
Though, depending on who in [Sunrise] was asked, the dilemma was completely different.
This floor wasn’t like the other floors. It only had a single, large room, and there weren’t any monsters. Instead, on the west side of the room, there was an exit portal. An actual, real portal leading to the outside world.
Just seeing an exit portal filled the group with relief. They’d been diving this dungeon for what felt like hours (even if it had only been about 45 minutes), and knowing that they had a chance to escape was heartening.
On the east side of the room was another [Right of Passage], which could lead them deeper.
Alastair, always being the voice of reason, called the group to a vote. Did they take what they’d gained so far and leave? Or did they press their luck and go deeper?
Y’cennia and Ellesea were the only two who were somewhat undecided, since Melia was along for the ride and Eluna wanted to go deeper. Having spent so little time inside the dungeon, if they left now, the reward (whatever it was) would probably be small. Hardly worth the effort. But on the other hand, they were safe and they could actually leave in one piece.
Saying they were undecided wasn’t really fair, as even Y’cennia, who hadn’t had much to do the entire time they’d been inside the dungeon, was glancing at the [Right of Passage], clearly interested to see what it had in store.
But none of that mattered to Jessica. There was a third option nobody said anything about, and as soon as she saw it, she power-walked over with a huge, mischievous grin on her face.
“Holy crap, get a load of this!” She called out, disrupting the conversation happening by the two portals.
Against the north wall, out of the way compared to the two options for moving forward, was a gigantic machine. Much like the city of StoneCairne, this dungeon seemed tied to magitech, or at the very least, it knew it existed. The machine took up three-quarters of the wall. It had a main box, several feet wide and reaching high above Jessica’s head, with huge gears protruding out of both sides and sunk halfway into the ground. They churned nearly silently, and Jessica could see the glow of cerulean illuminating the box’s front panel, a giant glass window.
Inside the box were thousands of orbs. Capsules, Jessica realized, each one a small ball that would fit comfortably in the palm of her hand. Each orb was made of two halves, perfectly split in the center; one half was a solid color, while the other was clear. Because so many capsules were crammed into the machine, Jessica could see only some of the clear halves, and even then, it was difficult to tell what was inside.
But Jessica firmly understood what was going on here. They had machines like this back in Horizon, only on a much, much smaller scale. And instead of anything useful, those machines usually dispensed small, cheap trinkets that easily broke or got lost, yet people always came back because they were collectible.
“Oh, the Charm Machine,” Eluna said, striding up.
“Ugh,” Ellesea groaned. “A gacha. Why am I not surprised?”
“I’m guessing this is what we use the [Obols] on?” Y’cennia asked.
“Oho,” Jessica smiled, jingling the little sack full of coins. “What are we looking at here? What can we win?”
“Looks like there are several options,” Al said, sliding up next to her. He might not look like it, but Jessica knew he had a soft spot for games of chance. Normally, he didn’t allow himself to fall to things like actual gambling, but every now and then, the urge struck him. He pointed to the slots at the bottom where a coin could be inserted and a little knob cranked to dispense the price. One slot had a copper symbol depicting a single coin, a silver slot showed 5 coins, and the last, golden slot showed 10.
Jessica looked in the bag. They only had 7 coins, so the 10-coin slot was straight out. That begged the question: sink them all into single coin pulls to maximize their chances? Or risk it on the big-spender silver pull to try and win big?
Not that Jessica actually understood what they were winning. But she knew value when she saw it, and she was tempted.
“What’s the difference between the costs?” Y’cennia asked. Jessica rolled her eyes. It was a valid question, and one she should have been asking. But where was the fun in that? The risk? The adventure?
She supposed Y’cennia spent most of her professional life trying to minimize risk.
“If I remember correctly,” Melia said, “The more expensive options draw from a rarer pool of more powerful charms.”
“But they still only give you one?” Ellesea frowned. “Sounds like a rip off.”
“So is it better to buy one expensive charm and two small ones?” Alastair mused. “Or a full seven small ones? Or do we save up for a ten-pull?”
“It would help to know what we’re even gambling for,” Ellesea sighed, but she was staring in the window, her face nearly pressed into the glass so she could get a better look.
“Only one way to find out,” Jessica said with a grin. She held up a single coin dramatically and slammed it into the single slot. A satisfying chink ca-thunk sounded as the machine acknowledged her purchase, and she turned the handle hastily in anticipation.
The machine lit up, the small border of lights running along the window frame changing from a soft white to a dizzying array of colors. The gears on the side of the machine whirred to life, spinning faster, while the whole box vibrated. The lights spun faster, some internal mechanism sounded several bells, and just as the whole spectacle almost became too much…it stopped. A small flap opened up at the bottom of the machine and a capsule fell into the prize compartment. Jessica wiggled her fingers greedily and quickly pulled it out.
As she had noticed, the capsule came in various colors. Most were either red or blue, though their quantity was almost matched by the color yellow. A few were purple, and very rarely, a silver orb could be seen. Through the window, after staring at the machine for quite some time, Ellesea had pointed out a single, golden capsule, most likely the rarest of them all.
The one in Jessica’s hand was blue. Before opening it, she twisted it around and got a good look at the charm inside.
A small trinket in the shape of a stylized arm, flexing a bicep, with the word POW floating above it, hovered in place, suspended in the air without touching the walls.
“Oh, nice,” Eluna said. “That’s a good one. It doubles all damage and healing done for 30 minutes.”
Jessica’s eyebrows flew through the roof, and she nearly twisted the two halves apart to get to the charm inside. The only thing that stopped her was greed. Not because she considered the charm might be more effective on somebody else, but because she had 6 more coins to spend. If she used it now, that would be wasted time!
She put another coin into the slot and watched with overflowing excitement as the machine went through its routine. This time, she got a red capsule, with a trinket that resembled a shield.
“This one’s kind of obvious, I think,” she chuffed, tossing the orb to Al. “Let me guess, raises defense?”
“Close,” Melia waggled her hand. “Decreases damage taken by a flat 50 percent.”
Jessica wasn’t sure how the math worked out, but either way, it was still strong and most likely best spent on their tank.
“5 coins left,” Ellesea said. “Do we go with a silver or more coppers?”
Jessica’s hand was already traveling to the medium-grade pull, but Eluna spoke up.
“Honestly, since this is our first run, I’d say get more copper capsules. Silvers are great if you’re in it for the long haul, but I don’t think we’re going any deeper than floor 30. I’d be surprised if we clear 40, and anything further than 50 is simply impossible for our current level.”
“What do you mean?” Y’cennia asked as Jessica smoothly diverted her hand from the silver slot to the copper one.
“I mean that I’m going to be hitting my level cap soon. I’m only level 157, remember? Once I hit that, I won’t go any higher, since the unique experience in this place won’t apply anymore. You all will still level, and the monsters will too. Eventually, my healing simply won’t keep up. We want to leave with all our spoils before we die and lose everything.”
That made sense…but Jessica was too invested in pulling more capsules.
They got 2 more blues, 1 red, and 2 yellows. The blue and red orbs were identical to the last, so she was about to hand them out when Eluna stopped her.
“Give them all to Y’cennia,” she commanded, and Jessica nearly lashed out. These were her shinies!
…until the rational part of her mind kicked in and remembered it was everybody’s loot.
“Remember what I said about being a capsule bitch?” Eluna asked with a lopsided smile. “Technically, any party member can use them on any party member. That trinket inside is just an illusion; the magic activates when the capsule breaks. All she has to do is touch you with it and it will shatter. We used to throw them; they have some sort of system-assisted guidance and it’s hard to miss.”
Well, that didn’t sound so bad, so Jessica only partially grumped as she handed them over. She paused as she spun the yellow capsules around in her palm.
“What gives? These two are different. I thought all the colors were the same?”
“Not really,” Melia shrugged. “But the ones we got are the most common. Think of it like this: blue is offense, red is defense, and yellow is utility. Let me see?”
Jessica passed the balls over and the gnome held one in each hand. They looked much larger than when Jessica was holding them.
“Ooh, this one’s nice,” she said, holding up the one that looked like a sigil with a big X through it. “This cancels all traps on a floor. Very useful. And this one…well, not bad, but not super great.”
She held up an orb with a trinket that looked like the silhouette of a generic bipedal monster and a down arrow.
“You use this on the floor you’re on, and the next floor will have fewer monsters. Since we’re still on the early floors, we actually want to kill more monsters. This would be helpful past 100 when you’re trying to stay alive.”
Jessica nodded in satisfaction. Even if they only had a single blue capsule, if they'd only had a single coin and could only use the machine once, doubling her damage was a real score. She was satisfied with these results.
…though, as the group all gathered around the [Right of Passage], she did wish they could have made at least one silver pull.
The floors started flying by once [Sunrise] got into a rhythm, and Ellesea lost track of the fact that they were in a dungeon. She was actually having fun! It didn’t hurt that, with the help of the blue capsule, she was one-shotting almost every monster that she laid her eyes on. All she had to do was queue up [Arcane Blast], and they’d fall over dead after 2.5 seconds. She wished she could master the ancient art of haste manipulation, but her practice had yet to yield tangible results. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought her casting speed had improved marginally. Maybe she imagined it.
She could also understand how adventurers got lured into a false sense of security in this dungeon. The first 10 floors were laughable, with the 10th-floor boss being a joke. It was a huge, shambling [Dusk Ghoul], which looked simply disgusting and moved very slowly. However, it had a [Howl] attack that dealt minor damage to everyone and rooted them in place. Not being able to move for 5 full seconds was terrifying, but fortunately, Alastair was the closest person, so it shuffled over to him. The boss took a huge swipe at the [Paladin], which would have normally been quite severe, but he was still under the effects of the red orb and it only took a chunk of his health. Eluna was able to patch him up very quickly.
Killing the boss didn’t drop any normal rewards, but every one of them, even Y’cennia, who didn’t contribute much to the actual fighting, received a [Sealed Coffer]. They couldn’t open it and were very curious to find out what was inside, but the system said it might be worth something to someone back in town. Melia told them that, back in the day, they used to take these to somebody in StoneCairne, so they decided to hold onto them.
After floor 11, the monsters started ramping up. Ellesea could usually kill them in two shots, though occasionally one might take a third. They also started seeing fewer animalistic-type monsters and more undead. [Ghouls], [Zombies], and [Rotted Corpses] were common.
Ellesea was curious about the story this dungeon was trying to tell, even if she knew it was related to the downfall of Whispershade.
Time passed. They killed monsters, gained experience, and eventually returned to their original levels.
Well, except for Melia, but Ellesea had a hunch that simply wasn’t possible, even if they made it through every floor. She looked at the gnome and it was hard to picture her as a mighty dragon…until she did something ridiculous like stepping on a monster summoning trap and soloing everything that spawned. Everyone had received at least two level-ups from that fiasco, but Ellesea was more impressed by how Melia practically danced around with her two giant swords, gracefully cutting everything down.
But then again, Melia was a [Dancer], so she shouldn’t have been surprised.
Then floor 35 happened, and the worst outcome occurred. Jessica insisted on splurging for a silver gacha pull and received a purple orb. Inside was the image of a ferocious, snarling lion with a scorpion’s tail: a [Manticore].
But as soon as Eluna explained that the orb temporarily shifted the user into a [Manticore] and didn’t summon one they had to fight, Jessica instantly used it. With a puff of purple smoke, gone was the [Hunter] and in her place stood a giant monster on all fours.
The beast stared at a paw in shock before a feral grin spread across its terrifying face.
“I have become a god!” Jessica’s voice echoed throughout the room as she stared straight up and breathed fire.
Melia simply rolled her eyes and hurried everybody to the next floor. The transformation only lasted one minute, but during that time, Jessica was unstoppable. She bounded from room to room, pouncing on monsters and eradicating them with her breath. It was everything the group could do, just running frantically behind her. It was a good thing they were, though, because the transformation ran out mid-pounce and Jessica, caught completely off-guard, slammed face-first into a [Ghoul]. It latched onto her with a strangling grip and began gnawing on her shoulder, but before Jessica could do more than cry out in pain, Melia wrenched her free and stabbed the monster.
Jessica was slightly more subdued after that, but only slightly.
The 40th-floor boss gave them trouble and they nearly wiped. It was a [Replicating Slime] that appeared weak and pitiful at first, being merely the size of Ellesea’s head. But the more damage it took, the larger it grew, until it took up the entire arena. Each member of [Sunrise] was forced inside its body, struggling to move around, let alone hold their breath. It was disorienting, panic-inducing, and more than mildly terrifying. They found themselves floating in goo, trying to swim around while still fighting, but they were also constantly taking damage from the [Slime]’s acid. It wasn’t a lot of damage per tick, but it was constant.
Thankfully, the [Slime] only reached that point when it was nearly dead, so it only took a few more strikes before the core shattered and it died.
Ellesea lay limp on the floor, gasping for breath and coughing up gross liquid, having once again gone back to the other side of the spectrum, the side of the scales that said running this dungeon was a horrible idea. The others felt the same or understood they had reached their limit, because as soon as they reached the exit floor, the group unanimously voted to leave rather than continue.
Stepping through the portal put them right back out in front of the dungeon, and Ellesea blinked. She almost forgot they were traveling through the woods under the cover of darkness. Many hours had passed, but the grounds looked almost exactly the same. [Sunrise] quickly retreated to the side, where Layalee was sitting in a chair, reading a book, watching over their trunks.
The scene almost felt surreal, watching domestic staff serenely turn a page in the middle of a monster-infested woods. The [Retainer] sensed her gaze, looked up, and quickly put the book away.
“Welcome back,” she said brightly, bowing to them. She smoothly inserted herself in front of Ellesea, who must have had some remnants of ooze in her hair, because the huge woman retrieved a towel, bent down, and calmly began drying her off.
“You made it past the [Replicating Slime], I see. Congratulations.”
“We did well!” Melia chirped. “I bet they got loads of XP!”
Ellesea hadn’t even thought to look. Normally, tracking her experience wasn’t something she had to think about, since it wasn’t something she usually “got,” not like buying lunch or picking up her homework. But, as she glanced at her system, she saw she had a notification. All of them did, she assumed, as she realized as she read it.
[Congratulations on clearing the Palace of Darkness!
For reaching floor 40 and conquering the boss, you have been granted experience.]
Golden light filled her vision as a wave of power flowed through her. The rush filled her whole body and she felt lightheaded. As the light cleared, Ellesea stared at her hands in awe, just as her party members were doing all around her. She didn’t know about them, but she was given 10 whole levels.
She was now level 391. Only 9 levels away from rank 4.
Judging from the looks of awe and satisfaction on her teammates, Ellesea guessed they’d received something similar. Slowly, one by one, they all grinned.
For as dirty as they’d gotten, for as gross as some of the monsters had been…only needing to spend the better part of a day conquering a dungeon?
This was something they definitely would have to do again.