Chapter 1420 (Patreon)

After a bit of searching, Lia and I found the dungeon. Or, well, we managed to find a bunch of skeletal chickens that didn’t have the grace to stay buried, if they ever had been. By now, I was fairly confident the system had somehow generated the skeletal chickens. After all, just because the slaughterhouse, well, slaughtered the chickens, it didn’t mean that the bones remained here. I was fairly confident that the bones of slaughtered animals were used in some way, ground into bone meal or something, unless they remained in the animal for something like rotisserie chicken. Sure, some bones might get buried for one reason or another, but enough to fill the area with skeletal chickens, day after day, for almost two years? That was a bit of a stretch, and I wasn’t willing to believe that nobody had decided that destroying skeletal chickens was a good way to gain EXP. Or that no predator, or rather scavenger, found the skeletal chickens and turned them into a ready source of bone.

But did they have marrow in the first place, or were they just looking like skeletons, with no nutritional value whatsoever?

Out of curiosity, I used a pulse of Death Magic to deanimate a group of chickens. Part of me was rather amused by how easily I could do it, though mostly because the chickens were incredibly low-level compared to me. They fell apart when I looked at them with a bit of displeasure, though I was well aware I could do something similar if I looked at a fair percentage of humans the same way. They’d just keel over dead if I exposed them to the same Death Magic I had used on the chickens, likely even easier. The chickens had at least a bit of resistance to Death Magic, courtesy of their undead status. 

I picked up one of the bones and examined it closely, even breaking it apart between my fingers. It was brittle and smelled faintly of death, though I wasn’t sure if that was due to the Death Magic I had used; maybe I would have to check with another group. The inside of the bone was completely dry and dead, without any marrow. When I rubbed the bone between my fingers, the surface layer came off with ease, making me realise it would turn to dust with just a bit of effort.

Shaking my head, I tossed the bone behind me and waved Lia over.

“What do you think?” I asked, curious what she thought of these skeletal chickens.

“They’re dead and fake,” she said, shaking her head as she spoke. “Well, not really both. I don’t think they were ever alive, so can they be considered dead? Physically manifested Death Magic, I think.” 

Thinking about her words, I pushed my magical sight to the maximum and had to agree. These skeletons were no more alive than any creature I made from conjured Ice, just more animated. For a few moments, I considered ways to animate my creations without needing an intelligence to pilot them. Shaking my head, I discarded the entire train of thought. The skeletons weren’t the reason for our presence here; they were merely a distraction from the real price: 

The slaughterhouse ahead. 

In a way, it was strange. Since the Change, so much of human civilisation, so much of what they had built- their cities, their infrastructure, everything- had been reduced to rubble. As if reality, or maybe the system, knew that humanity’s time as the world’s dominant species had passed and the decay of everything they made was sped up a hundred, or maybe even a thousand times. I couldn’t imagine why roads and similar infrastructure that only needed maintenance when used had decayed so quickly.

But here, a single building stood nearly unchanged. Or maybe entirely unchanged. I had no idea how run-down the building had been before the Change, but I was fairly confident that the changes it had undergone since we had been here last were minor. Some dirt washed off by the rain, leaves falling on some parts of the building, some mud clinging to the walls, things like that. Nothing fundamental had changed, which made the place unique. After all, everything else in the area had collapsed, and the rubble was overgrown with greenery. Or maybe calling the growth covering the rubble shrubs would be better, as these plants had very little green on them. Twisted, skeletal branches, thorny vines and a few small grey leaves made things look unfriendly and desolate, giving the large, run-down slaughterhouse a foreboding atmosphere. As if anyone entering wouldn’t be able to leave ever again. 

Lia and I walked up to the door together. It hadn’t changed; just like the rest of the place. As I placed a hand on the handle, I felt something weird. I wasn’t sure how to describe it, but there was an awareness in the building, not quite inviting, but also not forbidding. Measuring might be the best description, though that didn’t fully fit either. Unless I completely misunderstood something here, the presence was the Dungeon, and for a moment, I had a wicked idea. 

If I could feel the presence, was there a way to communicate? As insane as it sounded, even to me, could I find a way to talk to the Dungeon? I pulled the door open a little and saw only darkness within. Even to my senses, it was impenetrable, and when I tried to use Darkness Magic to touch it, I found nothing but a void. As if the Darkness wasn’t there, the sensation made me incredibly uncomfortable, and I instantly took a few steps back, letting go of the door in the process. No longer held open, the door slammed shut with a loud clang, the force strong enough to break bones and mangle flesh. 

“Are you okay, mother?” Lia asked me, reaching out to steady me. Maybe that was for the best. I didn’t feel all that steady right now, not after feeling that. Normally, I didn’t fear the Darkness, but that? The dark void that didn’t feel like part of reality at all? It was deeply, viscerally creepy, making me feel as if I would fall into an endless, featureless abyss if I stepped into it.

“No,” I admitted, a shiver in my voice. “That was incredibly creepy.” 

“It was dark, sure, but that hasn’t changed since our last visit,” Lia shrugged, making me glare at her for a moment. 

“Open the door, and use your Darkness Magic to feel that darkness. It’s…” I shook my head, unwilling to say anything more. That darkness just should not be. Even compared to the occasionally creepy sensation I felt when walking the Shadow Realm, this darkness was a hundred, or maybe a thousand, times worse. 

“Okay?” Lia looked a little confused, but also curious, and did as I asked. She opened the door and was suddenly behind me, crossing the distance faster than even my eyes could observe, her vampiric speed coming to the fore.

For a few seconds, she cursed under her breath, her entire body shaking and shivering. 

“Stars,” she finally whispered, relaxing a little when I placed a hand on her shoulder. “That’s so not fun.” 

“No, it’s really not,” I agreed. “I don’t think I want to step in there, and hopefully I don’t have to. Maybe I’ll try the roof or look around and feel the area; maybe I find what I’m looking for without entering that place. But if we do, I think neither of us should try to interact with that darkness. Just close your eyes and rush through, get it over with, something like that?” I suggested, looking around the area to see if anything stood out.

“Sure, you do that,” Lia nodded after a moment. “But I don’t think I want to enter, even if there might be interesting loot inside. Unlikely as that is, given that the dungeon is rather low-level compared to us.” 

“There is that,” I agreed. “But even a low-level dungeon might surprise us.”

“Anyway, you do your thing, I do mine. Call out if you see anything interesting, okay?” I asked after a moment of silence. Lia nodded and started toward the rubble we had recently crossed, maybe looking through it for anything of interest. Not that I thought she would have much luck; her interests didn’t intersect with the local elements much, but maybe she got lucky.

For me, I looked at the door one more time with a bit of distrust before focusing my senses again, looking for traces of magic, something related to souls or anything that stood out to me. There had to be something interesting here, even if I had no idea what it might be.

Well, interesting, beyond the strange curtain of impenetrable not-darkness within that doorframe. I had no desire to mess with that at the moment, or at all.

Shaking my head once more, I started a slow circle around the slaughterhouse, destroying a few skeletal constructs as I went. Even just finding out how, or why, these things worked would be a fair backup discovery. Not immediately interesting, but maybe something I might want to use in the future.