Dungeon Robotics Book 5 PT 2 (Patreon)

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2. These Chapters are unedited. Edited version is on Amazon

3. I am putting these up for people to enjoy the Dungeon Robotic universe from the beginning.

Chapter 11

Regan

After giving Izora her mission, I quickly upgraded her airship. It would get nearly ten times the speed it had before, which was probably already the continent’s record short of my own vessels. I could have installed a warp drive like the ship I’d sent to inspect the solar system, but that felt like overkill. Besides, I didn’t know what she would be walking into and didn’t want to give a potential enemy access to that type of technology. I was fully prepared to pull Izora back to the dungeon if I had to.

Her pendant served as a mini core. While it was a pendant, it would be dormant, but I could still keep tabs on her. If I pushed a decent amount of mana through it, I could teleport her back to the dungeon. I couldn’t wait to get access to the tech at the gnome capital. Their historical archives, to be particular.

Thinking about the scout ship, I actually grew worried. They should have reported in by now. The first target was the moon, after all. It should have made the journey in a few hours. I could only assume that something was taking longer to examine. Many of my machines tended to be completionists. The captain wouldn’t leave until he was confident that he had all the information he needed.

I teleported to the north. As planned, the army was nearly done arriving at their positions. The air fleet stood at the ready at the first dryad in the encirclement. The ground forces were ready to begin tightening the noose. Reports came in that the massive swarm around Alara was moving, but it appeared they weren’t sure where to send their main force and were keeping the bulk of it back around her dungeon entrance.

The resistance my forces received was almost pitiful. I was using my top-of-the-line children, sure, but the undead being steamrolled so easily almost made me laugh. I made sure to watch for anything that might be a trap, but nothing happened. Sitting in my throne on the bridge of Alpha made me feel like I was playing an RTS. I shrugged it off and turned back to the information feeds.

The readouts for the space above the area showed it was a hive of activity. I was aligning half a dozen ion cannons for each dryad. I wanted to take them all down in an offset-timed attack. That would give Anubis time to perform the ritual but keep the necromancers off-balance.

Finally, after a day had passed and everything at my disposal was deployed, we were ready. “Sir! All units are in position. Just awaiting your orders.”

“Very good,” I said and stood up. “Bring up all lines.” The screen flashed, and several hundred more screens opened that showed all the command units. The soldiers without screens would have an audio feed. “Good afternoon. It’s finally time to stamp out this nuisance. As a dungeon core, I find it very offensive that some slime has taken one of my kind as a slave. We will teach them not to mess with me or mine,” I said, making a fist.

“In ten minutes, we will commence the operation. I have only one order for everyone. Destroy anything that gets in your way,” I ordered and thrust my hand forward.

Everyone showing on the screen saluted. They pressed their fists to their chests and tapped twice. I wasn’t sure how it had started, but the soldier types had begun giving this salute a while ago. The screens focused, showing only the areas of importance.

Ten minutes ticked by slowly. Finally, the clock chimed. To the far north roughly a hundred kilometers from the shore, there was a flash of light. I felt mana drain from the station core as it powered the matrix of ion cannons above the dryad. We were viewing the feed from the commander on that site. Similar to the last dryad, this one went up in a burst of flames. The mana wave hit the commander’s location, and the feed flickered for a moment.

“Anubis, two minutes,” I said to him standing next to me. I had made heat-resistant plating for him. It couldn’t withstand the heat levels at impact of the ion cannon, but it could after the impact site had cooled for thirty seconds. It took him anywhere from one to five minutes to perform the ritual, so we had to brace for that.

“I’m ready,” Anubis said, flexing his chest.

Exactly two minutes later, he teleported off the bridge. The ground forces in that area were rushing forward, getting as close as they could before they overheated. Ents, zombies, skeletons, and several other monsters were torn apart quickly. It appeared there weren’t any supporting necromancers in the area, though there probably were on the gnome airships.

There was a flash of golden light, which signaled Anubis had finished his ritual. All that remained was to create the guardian treant. That ritual took even less time to complete, and I sent the order to prime the next set of ion cannons. I wanted to reach Alara by this afternoon. If I had to lose a few soldiers, so be it.

Anubis reappeared on the bridge, smoking slightly. “Father, it is done!”

“Good. Fire the next one!” I ordered.

A similar scene took place as the six beams sliced through the atmosphere. Right before they hit the dryad, one of the necromancer barriers formed over it. This barrier was on another level than the last, being at least five meters thick. The ion beams collided with the barrier, the force from the descent alone managing to cause cracks over the surface.

I watched as the dryad literally shriveled in real time, fueling the barrier. Before ten seconds passed, the barrier shattered. The dryad was barely a husk at this point. A moment later there was another firestorm from the attack, and the area was lit up. The timer started for Anubis, while the ground forces inspected the surrounding areas to make sure nothing could interfere.

For the next two hours, we rinsed and repeated. I would have thought the necromancers would have thrown everything they had at me, but after the first hour, I could only assume they'd decided to cut their losses. With the last dryad, there wasn’t even an attempt to create a barrier. I still kept my guard up in case they tried to play anything funny. With all the dryads “helped,” my forces were able to move within a hundred kilometers of Alara’s dungeon.

The forest was completely gone from an area about a hundred and fifty kilometers in diameter around her. The main discerning feature was black wasteland. What looked like low-tier undead mulled around the wasteland without any direction or reason. They were likely created by the ambient undead mana in the area. As none of my forces possessed flesh and blood, they were basically ignored by these mindless undead. We still destroyed them as we moved, just to be safe.

The mana drain to keep my forces from corroding was at a decent number now. The unholy mana was so dense, it was almost a physical force at this point. Even with the Anubis metal masks, they were fighting a constant battle with the mana. I would need to do something about it soon or risk trouble down the road. I could feel the foreign presence peering at my army even now. I hoped it liked what it saw.

“All command units link up!” I ordered through the comms.

All the command units connected to a mana stone that was scripted to act as a quantum conduit. It required a large amount of mana to create and use, but I could funnel mana into every section at the same time using this method. The stones would burn out afterward, thus I only planned to use this method when I needed to preform magic that spanned hundreds of kilometers.

With all the command units linked to Alpha, I activated the magic script program. Hundreds of thousands of lines of magic script flashed over the main monitor of Alpha’s command bridge. I moved my mental eye outside where a magical matrix that was composed of hundreds of magic circles and runes formed over the floating city.

When the magic was completely charged, roughly enough mana to fire the ion cannons thirty times, the spell activated. A barrier that stretched into the sky formed around the massive hundred-and-fifty-kilometer area. Having an open-ended barrier spell like this maintain its strength would require more mana than I possessed, so I had the barrier link up with some low-orbit satellites that would feed mana into the spell.

I only needed it to last a few days. The moment the barrier was complete, I felt a massive wave of rage from the presence, then a vague sense of something being pulled from the center area of the barrier and ripped back to the east. I tilted my head at that, as I would have figured some type of space magic would have been involved if it was the Celestial that controlled the necromancers.

Either way the first objective of the barrier was a success. I knew Celestials couldn’t manifest in this plane thanks to Duilin. The mana required was some number that felt imaginary when said aloud. Of course, I took everything Duilin said with a grain of salt. There were times when he appeared to slip into a madness of sorts. Though, that might be my fault for keeping him locked in a box. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t checked on him in a while.

The next objective was to contain what I was about to do. I didn’t want to cause half the continent to be wiped from existence, after all. I made sure everything was working properly, then moved to my main station. Exactly overhead of Alara’s dungeon, I prepared the next weapon that I was planning on using.

While the ion cannon was good for surface targets, there was little in the way of ground penetration. It left a pretty crater, but that was about it. I needed something that would dig deep and fast before the necromancers ordered Alara to fortify her dungeon with mana. Not only would it carve a path, but it would burn off some of the mana she’d built up over the years.

Even back when I’d first become a dungeon and the goblins had forced the entrance to open larger, I knew that I could prevent it. Many experiments found that there was a reducing mana cost the closer the invader got to the core. In other words, I could penetrate the upper floors easily, but the farther down I went, the less it cost to make the floors stronger, durability-wise.

Alara was still in tier two even after all this time because she refused to break through. That, and she needed a purer mana to do it. It would be quite easy to siphon off mana into places so that she didn’t reach critical mass. The instructions would have to be precise for the necromancers to control every drop of mana she had. I was more worried that if she broke through while producing unholy mana, she might not be able to recover.

I frowned at the memory of how bloodthirsty I became with just a few dozen necromancers in my aura. She not only had hundreds of necromancers but also thousands of undead. She had held out this long due to her nature being the complete opposite, but also since her mind was firmly locked in her avatar. Apparently, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt her core, and I worried what that was doing to her mentally.

I shook away my idle thoughts. The bridge of the station was a hive of activity with the final preparations being made to the weapon. I pulled up the schematics myself, revealing a rod composed of an osmium, or as the locals called it “Ismium,” shell. Ismium was denser than tungsten, that was true. But the main reason I chose it over tungsten was its magical properties.

I could probably have enchanted it with scripts until every speck of surface was covered and it would hold up fine. It even beat mithril out by a thin margin. The con to that was the magic enscripted on it would be relatively . . . weak. It was like comparing copper and wood to mana transfer. It would serve my purpose, though, and the mana cost was lower than tungsten in the long run.

Next, there was a core of mithril. At forty meters long and one meter thick, it was the most expensive piece of mithril I had ever created. With my army continually expanding, I’d had to create it with mana. I thought I would cry tears of oil when I felt the massive mana drain. Seriously, I knew that if I didn’t end this war soon, I would start going dry.

My Rod from God, as they were called back on Earth, was a mighty weapon with magic involved. There would be zero air resistance and constant acceleration until impact. It wouldn’t be absorbed afterward with my “signature” on it, so Alara wouldn’t be able to repair her dungeon until it was removed. I added a few more tricks just in case. You could never go wrong with a guidance computer . . . guidance spell.

“Rod from God is a little self-serving,” I mumbled to myself. “Hmm, let’s call it Starfall. It is falling from space, after all, and is basically a meteor.” I nodded.

The name appeared next to the countdown, which read three minutes. Personally, I would have liked to go warn Alara about what was about to happen, but if the necromancers were keeping extra care to observe her, the plan might be given away. I would have to harden my heart and apologize afterward.

I double-checked everything. With all my calculations, I estimated I would be able to punch through at least half of her ninety-plus floors. Even with that it would be an uphill battle for my forces, who were ready and waiting at the barrier’s edge. My commanders had their orders. My own personal weapons were ready, toys I’d worked on in my spare time. Me and mine were ready.

Chapter 12

Louella

“Is this all of them?” I inquired of the guards who were sent to gather the living and dead from the attacking force after the fire had died down. Next time, Ezal and I would need to have a bit more practice before we launched spells at the enemy. We’d both thought it would do a quarter of the amount of damage it did.

“Yes, my lady. Only ten survived . . . and survived is pushing it,” the guard reported with a salute.

I tried to not notice the slight terror in his eyes. Not that I could blame him. With my heightened senses, I could see the destruction we wrought. I couldn’t imagine what it was like up close with the sound and smell of the still burning around you for over a hundred meters.

“I’m sure there were observers. Hopefully this will have sent a message,” I replied offhandedly. I didn’t want to appear cruel, but I also needed to show that I’d meant to do this. If people thought we couldn’t control our own power, they would lose confidence in us quickly. Last thing anyone wanted was a leader who might level the city because they couldn’t control their spells.

“Yes.” The guard nodded furiously. “I doubt anyone would want to attempt an attack after that display.” I was glad to see his patriotism was stronger than his fear of me.

“Thank you. You can return to your duties,” I ordered.

I watched him go, then saw Ezal float down to land on Lucifer’s back behind me. She was looking tired. Even if it was only one spell, it still was quite powerful. I changed my opinion when she pulled a bag from her waist and emptied her stomach into it.

“Damn morning sickness,” she moaned.

“I hope that wasn’t a space bag,” I said, pointing to the bag in her hands.

“Huh? Ah, Regan gave me this a while ago. Said I would need it eventually after explaining its use.” Ezal shook her head. “It absorbs all the . . . stuff and makes it vanish.”

“That’s pretty useful. Have you tried putting other things inside?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah, gone without a trace. Though when I tried it on a prisoner, it wouldn’t close until his arm was removed,” she replied.

“I hope he earned it for you to try something like that,” I said, worried she was going crazy from the pregnancy and stress from her new position.

“Yeah. Raped a bunch of women and then sold them into slavery in another town. Tried to do the same thing here, but the obelisks struck him before he could get them into a private home.”

“What do you plan to do with him?” I asked, anger leaking from my tone. I hated slavery more than just about anything else short of the necromancers. At least they have the courtesy to kill you first. You are fully aware when it comes to slavery.

Ezal smirked evilly. “Why, he will be a sacrifice to the great Lord Regan,” she said with an exaggerated bow.

“At least the scum of the world is remotely useful here,” I said as I laughed at her antics.

“Speaking of scum, Malaki should have healed a few of them enough for us to question,” she said, glancing toward the stockade. I nodded in reply.

“Give them a few more minutes to recover. It’s not like they have anywhere to run,” I said with a look to the stockade as well.

“Yeah, I doubt whoever was behind this will want them back. He will probably claim there was a coup or something to get out of the blame.” Ezal sighed. Nobles and lords always had a way to get out of trouble. Though, something of this scale would have backing from at least two nobles. My neighbors, if they could be called that, were not developed enough to support an army even of this size.

“Nobles,” I replied and looked around. Quite a few people had showed up to offer their services, but I didn’t know any exact numbers. “How was the response from the town?”

Ezal was the one organizing the defense. I only showed up to help out, plus it was my duty to stand with my people, though I was surprised it only took our one attack to take them all out. I knew that Ezal was powerful, but she was almost to the level of a national weapon, even without my help. It made me shudder to think Regan could have hundreds of more powerful minions in that hole of his.

“It was decent. Most everyone that we expected to show, showed. The dwarves had the biggest presence last night. Speaking of which, Nastok would like to speak with you. None of the visiting nobles showed up until after they heard about us turning the invaders into ash, with the exception of Lord Skywood and Lord Wintergrasp. They both responded to your call immediately,” Ezal reported with a business tone.

“We’ll give them this one chance. I don’t want any more bloodshed for a day or two,” I said. I was pleased that Elder Yuin and Lord Brine had showed up. It raised my opinion of both of them several notches. The other nobles had managed to sink lower on my internal ranking, which I didn’t think was possible until now.

“All the guilds with combat personnel responded. I saw many issues that need to be resolved before we are attacked again, but overall, it was a good drill,” Ezal finished with a grin.

I nodded in agreement. There were several issues that needed to be addressed. Mainly, our early response. We needed to know much faster in the future.

“We’ll have to make sure to thank whoever was kind enough for the free targets. If I had known we could take them out so easily, I would have had the regular forces train a bit,” I said, putting my hand on my cheek. While combat training was good and all, an actual battle would have been good for many of the newer recruits that had never seen bloodshed outside of practice sparring.

“I’m sure Regan would tell you the same thing, but it’s best to finish them off quickly.” She shrugged. Of course to her, an eliminated threat was a good threat.

“Fair enough. Alright. Let’s go welcome our new guests,” I said, noticing that Malaki was walking out of the tent.

Lucifer made his way over, and we hopped down when we were closer. Everyone made way for us, with some fear in their eyes, I noticed again. I guess I couldn’t blame them. We did just incinerate an army with one spell. I couldn’t help wondering if we were going to get a new nickname. I pushed the flap to the tent aside and walked in.

The ten prisoners were chained with mana-suppressant shackles. They all looked young, as if they had just enlisted, the oldest being somewhere in his early twenties. Steeling myself for whatever stories they tried to spin, I looked around, trying to decide which one I wanted to ask first.

A young man who looked to be just past his seventeenth birthday was staring at the ground as if he couldn’t understand what was happening. He was in perfect health now after Malaki had patched him up. I pointed at him. Hopefully with his youth he would be more inclined to tell me the truth rather than protect whatever lord he served.

Two of the guards moved forward and hauled the young man to his feet. I stepped back out and moved to the tent next to the stockade. It was enchanted with soundproofing and would allow us to ask questions and keep them from creating some fabrication. I took a seat in the throne-like chair that felt a bit out of place for the situation.

I couldn’t take it and turned to Ezal. “What’s with this over-the-top chair?”

She sat next to me on a much more normal chair and chuckled. “The soldiers felt it suited you.”

“Should I feel honored?” I asked seriously.

“Yup, I think that would be the best way to take it. After yesterday, I think we both have quite the little following.”

I let out a breath of air and turned to the young man, who sat in the chair across the table from us. He stared at us, but it felt like he was looking right through us. He was a decent-looking man if a bit on the weak side cultivation-wise. Likely a commoner, either having just joined the army or having been drafted as they passed through his village.

“Young man?” Ezal asked, tapping Feuer on the ground. He jerked in his seat but only shifted his eyes toward her.

“What is your name?” I asked with a gentler tone.

“Trido . . . Trido Guill,” he answered lifelessly.

“Who do you serve?” Ezal asked.

“Duke Neil,” Trido answered slowly. It didn’t sound like he was trying to think of a lie, more like he was just in too much shock.

That name sounded familiar. I tilted my head as I thought about it. Then it struck me that he was the noble who’d sent bandits after me a long time ago. I wasn’t in a position to do anything about it then, but I could now.

“What do we know about Duke Neil?” I asked Ezal.

“He was the lord who owned this land before you, my lady. While he did send the one attack, there hasn’t been anything since, which leads me to believe it was a fake. Probably bandits trying to pin it on a high noble if they were caught. He is Lord of Ebony Blade, our nearest neighbor after all,” she explained.

I bit my thumb as I thought the information over. Nobles were a pain in the ass to deal with on a normal occasion. Something like this could cause any number of headaches, depending on how the proceedings were handled. It would be a few days before he even knew his army was gone, but that still wasn’t enough time for me to appeal to the king about the situation. Depending on what Duke Neil said in defense, I could find my head on the chopping block.

“Sounds like he’s going to be a pain,” I said, rubbing my temple.

Ezal nodded. “I agree.”

“At least we sent a message. If he decides to do anything, it won’t be until after he either gathers a larger army or gets the king on his side,” I said, considering for a moment.

“Or gets lured with power by the necromancers. Though, currently it’s suicide to choose that path,” Ezal added.

“Are . . . are you going to go . . . go to war with him?” Trido asked, shifting back and forth. Some energy had returned to his eyes.

“That depends on the ten of you,” I answered honestly.

“My . . . my family. They still live on Duke Neil’s land,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I believe that is the danger of war, boy,” Ezal said.

“I . . . I know. Still isn’t there some way to prevent harm to the commoners?!” He jerked up in his seat but was held by the shackles. The guards reacted by slamming him back into the chair and pressing on both of his shoulders.

“Hmm, I understand what you’re trying to say, and I almost want to say I feel for you. But what would have happened to my people had your friends managed to break through the walls? I honestly can’t say I feel any sympathy toward your situation,” I said, leaning forward to rest my chin on my folded hands. “Yes, we bested you. Bested you in incredibly easy fashion, but the opposite could have happened.”

Trido remained silent for a long time, then looked straight in my eyes. “I’m willing to become a slave! Please—anything to spare them,” he begged. Tears ran down his cheeks from, I assumed, the desperation he felt at the situation.

“My lady scorns slavery!” Ezal shouted at him. “If she made you a slave, she would be making herself a hypocrite!”

I nodded. If I made him a slave, I would indeed be turning my back on what I preached. Even Wrakras was a gray area because he was on loan from Regan. The thought of bending someone to my will for the entirety of their lives just rubbed me the wrong way. I really had no desire to do that even to my enemies. A swift death was much easier to manage.

“My apologies! But I have nothing else to offer!” Trido cried in horror.

“Let’s put all this aside for the moment,” I said, seeing we had gotten sidetracked. “Why did Duke Neil attack?”

“I wasn’t told, but I heard from the other soldiers that the lord here was in possession of his property and he was reclaiming it. Some of the speculation was that the deeds were in his name, and if the lord . . . if you were to die, then it would revert back to him,” Trido answered.

I burst out laughing. Ezal and Trido looked at me funny. It took a moment, but I calmed down. “So the father doesn’t know what the son was doing.” Then a thought crossed my mind. “Or the son is playing the father.”

“My lady?” Ezal asked, confused.

“Ah, sorry. It’s true I bought this land from a Duke Neil. I was able to meet the man who put the entire area up for sale. One Marquis William Neil, or the son of Duke Neil Senior. I wonder if the son used all the money on gambling and whorehouses by now. Anyway, I have a feeling that William may have put the land up without telling his father,” I explained.

“Lord Neil has been bedridden for months now, but the church has recently started healing everyone for a fraction of the cost or even for free. I heard a saintess has even been meeting the high nobles to cure them of any aliments they have,” Trido suddenly said.

“So, the son wanted to reclaim the lost territory before his father recovered,” Ezal mused.

If the church was moving, we would need to be even more careful going forward. The church relied on the massive donations of gold from the nobles to operate as it did. If the noble who attacked us had the backing of both the church and the king, we would seriously be in some trouble. Regan or no Regan.

“That would be . . .” I started to say when it suddenly felt like the world was coming apart under my feet. I felt a wave of terra mana coming from the mountains that reminded me of a wave at the beach. I jumped to my feet and stumbled outside just in time to see a ripple in the surface that was at least half a meter high and moving from the direction of the mountains.

“What the hell is going on?!” Ezal shouted, floating in the air next to me.

A man dressed in an earthly green robe ran forward. “Reporting! The Mages Guild just sent a message that something struck the realm from the heavens in the north. The mana fluctuations could be felt from there!”

“Is the town in any danger?!” I demanded quickly.

“If the waves intensify, we could be in danger.” The man looked to the north with a worried gaze. I followed the direction and saw another wave that was a bit higher than the last emerge from somewhere on the mountain. If they got much higher, we would be rebuilding the town in the morning.

“Gather all the Terra mages! Have them redirect it, absorb it, or do whatever they can think of to protect the town!” I ordered.

The man saluted, then hopped on a horse and took off toward the mage’s tower. The first wave struck the town, and parts of buildings cracked and broke off, falling to the street. I could vaguely hear some screaming from here. I looked at Ezal, who nodded, and we both shot higher into the air, heading for town.

A message started to blast through the air. “Attention citizens! All Terra mages report to the north face of town! An emergency is taking place! Your tier doesn’t matter! Everyone is needed!”

“Good, he found an Air mage,” I mumbled as I heard the message.

Everyone was responding as best they could to the unknown incident. Mages ran toward the north side of town and formed a line a few dozen meters from the edge of it. They stood on the foundations of the third line of the walls that were being raised. The mana-suppressing qualities would help keep them stable.

A formless wall made of terra mana developed in front of the massive line of nearly two thousand people. As there wasn’t a target or even a way to accurately deal with the incoming wave, their best hope was to try to get the energy of the wave to dissipate into the surroundings. I looked everyone over, unable to miss their worried expressions.

“Everyone! Hold together! Together we can get through this!” I shouted, flying along the line. I was glad that it seemed to help a few people, and their expressions lost some of their edge. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to reassure them more.

The wave struck the wall, like a wave against a cliff face. With a crashing of dirt and stone, the terra wave rippled against the wall, forming a natural second wall as it cascaded into the air. It passed a few seconds later, and the debris turned to sand. The strain had been massive, and multiple people passed out or collapsed onto their hands and knees, gasping for breath, completely spent. Of the original two thousand, only nine hundred or so remained standing.

“Another wave is coming!” an Air mage shouted as he flew back from looking over the mountain.

I turned my gaze back to the mountain, and sure enough another wave at least a meter high approached. It was the strangest thing, watching the ground buckle but not break apart from the wave’s passing. The town wall was severely weakened from the last wave, and I had no idea how many more there would be. I estimated we had five minutes before this one hit.

“Get everyone still conscious a mana potion! I’ll cover the cost!” I ordered. Air mages took off flying, quickly returning with Brine and several cases of what I hoped were potions.

“No, I’ll cover the cost!” Brine shouted with a humorous tone. Not the time to argue, I simply said thank you and started flying potions to the people who needed it. Five minutes passed in what felt like a blink of an eye.

“Incoming!” someone shouted.

Everyone focused and poured their mana into the wall. Again, the wave struck the wall and formed its spray of dirt and stone over its surface before turning to sand. At least the wall held, but as it finished passing, the number of mages left conscious wasn’t enough to maintain it and it collapsed in a grand show of mana.

“How many are left?” I asked.

“Roughly two hundred, my lady,” an Air mage answered.

“Another wave is coming!” a different Air mage reported. “It’s the largest yet, but its moving at a third of the speed. We have maybe thirty minutes.”

“Damn it! Regan, we need your help!” I mentally shouted at him, blinking when I didn’t get a reply for several long breaths. I cursed again, then turned back to the mage. “Get every mage we have here in five. Maybe if we pour enough mana into its path, the reaction will break the wave.”

“As you command!” the mage replied and flew into the air to broadcast the message.

Soon mages were seen running from every direction. When they reached the line, they began channeling their mana into the wall. Even the mages’ guildmaster showed up, and his section of the wall alone stretched nearly a hundred meters, formed of golden mana. I floated down next to him.

“Thank you for the help,” I said, bowing my head.

“What? An old man can’t protect his own home?” he asked, sounding offended.

“I meant no disrespect,” I said, waving my hands.

He laughed. “I know child! This is a very dangerous thing to attempt. If the mana isn’t channeled correctly, we could end up as a crater in the ground.”

“We have you,” I replied.

“Indeed, you do.” He smiled. Like a soldier flexing his muscles after working out, the mana in the wall started to react to his by swelling and contracting.

The mana being channeled into the wall began to connect to his, adding some stability to it. The higher-tier mages worked with the others to make sure a balance was maintained. It was a level of magic that was brought out from desperation and hope.

“It’s here!” someone shouted before what sounded like mountain collided with the wall. The few remaining Terra mages being reinforced by the other elements held off the wave as it buffeted the wall like a storm surge. A part of the wall cracked, and shards shot like arrows. Ezal and I reacted quickly by incinerating the shards before they could hurt anyone. We glanced at each other as we held the hole “closed.”

Finally, like every time before, the wave subsided. This time, the display of terra remained in place without turning to sand. It looked like a horror-scape with twisted jagged points, scorched black and smooth like glass, as well as all manner of other effects from terra and the other elements mixing.

“I think that was the last of them,” the mages’ guildmaster said, rubbing his shoulders.

“I hope so,” I replied, then grew worried about Regan. He would at least try to reply if I messaged him. I could only assume something had happened again.

Chapter 13

Regan

“Drop!” I shouted.

On the screen, the massive weapon ejected from the station. We were just inside the atmosphere, so propulsion wasn’t needed for anything other than keeping Starfall on course. But where is the fun in that? In under a minute it was already moving at Mach 10. I almost wished I had a bowl of popcorn as I watched.

Starfall hit the denser part of the atmosphere, tearing a hole in the cloud layer. The magic script activated, and the air started to swirl around the weapon into a vortex. I checked its speed and was pleased that it managed to hit Mach 20, or roughly six thousand meters per second, and it was still gaining speed.

One of the necromancers must have sensed something, and a barrier formed above the ruined castle. It had to be the thickest barrier yet at several meters. In a blink of an eye, Starfall slammed into it . . . and didn’t even slow down. The green glass-like barrier shattered as if it weren’t there.

Another blink and Starfall made impact. In an explosion of debris, a kilometer-sized crater instantly formed, the immediate area vaporized. The ruined castle vanished, erased from the world. The next ten kilometers were ripped apart from the intense force. If it wasn’t for the shield that I put up, the debris would have been thrown for hundreds of kilometers.

Boulders and chunks of land slammed into the shield, creating a hellscape of twisted shapes. Undead that had survived the initial impact were soon ripped into tiny pieces. I would be amazed if they managed to recover from that, even with their ability to reconstruct their bodies.

The weapon drilled down into thirty floors like they were butter. Twisted forest floors, a maze, and similar floors flashed by, all turned to rumble. I grimaced as I thought about the pain Alara must be going through, but I had no other alternative if I wanted to reach her core as quickly as possible. Her being separated so thoroughly from her core would dampen the pain, but not much. I would just have to do everything in my power to make it up to her.

Another ten floors were soon torn apart. Monsters and I think even a few necromancers were crushed from the collapsing ceilings and blasts of superheated air. Starfall turned everything it went through into a smooth-bored shaft surrounded by a ridiculous amount of destruction.

Finally, either Alara was ordered to fight back or her own self-defense instincts kicked in, but Starfall collided with what appeared an almost unmovable force, coming to a dead stop. The intense mana built up in Starfall and shattered the osmium shell, which in turn detonated, turning the forty-five-floor-deep hole into a twenty-kilometer crater, with the deepest point being nearly six kilometers down where the mithril core of Starfall remained embedded in the ground.

I didn’t anticipate what happened next. Terra mana of a level I couldn’t absorb surged out from the impact point. Much like a sound when a gong is hit, it spread in a perfect circle, traveling in every direction equally. I was able to absorb part of the wave that traveled in the direction of the town, but I only managed to reduce it by half.

The wave struck the shield, and before I could do anything, the feeder satellites exploded, then the entire shield collapsed. The wave passed my forces, but we only suffered minimal damages. Once I was sure the wave was harmless, I turned my attention back to Alara. Alpha moved above the giant crater.

Before I could react, I felt my aura snap to something. Outside my control, it quickly filled the area. It calmed down after the crater, and about two kilometers in a sphere around Alpha were claimed. I smacked my forehead and scolded myself. I should have consulted Ignea before reaching another core.

A moment later, I vaguely felt Alara’s mind on the edge of my consciousness. An immense amount of pain was coming from her. I tried to connect with her, but nothing happened. I did my best to send calming thoughts to her. I could only imagine the stress Starfall would cause to a being like a dungeon core.

“Just a bit longer,” I murmured to both myself and her.

According to Alara, she had ninety-eight floors. I’d just ploughed my way through forty-five. That left fifty-three floors to go. I just hoped that Alara wasn’t as creative as I was, or this might take a while.

With the shield down, my forces worked their way over to the center of the crater. Some of the large vehicles were carving a path to it for the smaller forces to walk through. There was just so much destruction that the surface around the crater looked even more like it had just been nuked.

I found something interesting. Namely, I couldn’t affect the ground. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I could only assume that it was some form of combat designed for dungeons. With our auras linked like this, I would normally be able to have an open dialogue with Alara right now. As dungeon cores were notoriously hard to kill, according to Ignea, this could be more a form of sport. But everything was best guess, as I really didn’t have anyone to ask. Then a light bulb went off—I didn’t have a dungeon to ask, but I did know where to find a dungeon researcher.

I mentally sent my mind to find Vern, but when I reached the edge of the aura, it felt like I had collided with something. I tried to connect to the station but was also met with a wall. I went to the comms section of the bridge and was happy to see that it still showed feeds from space. I sent an order for the station crew to maintain a link with everyone. Unfortunately, I hadn’t expected to have my mind cut off like this. So, my main core was unconnected from the entire “network” since I was so used to teleporting in and out easily.

I cracked my metal knuckles. That just meant I needed to save Alara as soon as possible so we could figure out what the cause of this was. I was pretty sure it was supposed to be a form of communication, or since the necromancers were forcing Alara to stand against me, then it was because we were enemies.

“Orders, sir?” asked one of the automata.

“Continue as planned. If the necromancers send out Alara to counter us, then I’ll head out to deal with her,” I ordered.

It wasn’t chivalry that caused that order. As a dungeon host, I could either battle Alara to a standstill or even defeat her. It would be my first time fighting another host, so I couldn’t say I was prepared, but it was better than sending hundreds of my minions at her just to die from the overwhelming amount of mana she would have at her command.

Alright, maybe there was a little chivalry in it as well. I also couldn’t stand the thought of someone fighting her. I decided to just blame it on my dungeon instincts for now.

The crew worked fast as several sections under Alpha opened. Constructs began falling to the surface under us. I really liked these. I’d taken the idea from an old movie I remembered from Earth, where, ironically enough, machines were trying to reach the core of a human settlement. If it worked for them, it should work for me.

Giant drills dropped to the surface. They landed and stabilized themselves with four mechanical arms and some minor thrusters. They were almost as long as Starfall but fell short at only twenty-five meters. The mithril alloy, which I named Iruthril, shot sparks as they began to bore into Alara’s dungeon surface. I grinned when they began to make progress.

That was the only thing that would have forced me to change my plan. As it required mana to protect the dungeon from “breaking,” having one large force such as Starfall make impact would burn a decent chunk of her mana. The drills were smaller but had multiple points of force. Thus Alara would be hard-pressed to resist all of them at once. If she did so, she would burn through all her mana in a matter of hours.

“Sir! Given the rate the drills are cutting, we’ll complete this level in ten minutes,” a crew member reported.

“Excellent. Anything else?” These automata were modeled after Jarvis, so they were superb at data and information gathering and processing.

“The terra wave that we caused has dropped significantly, but it appears the ambient mana is allowing it to maintain its current form. We can’t be sure what will happen if it contacts a source of terra mana,” another said, looking at a large readout.

“Anything of ours in its path?” I asked.

The town was over the mountain. It should be safe, as the mountains acted like a wall for almost all mana that tried to pass them. With the wave being terra, they should absorb it without too much difficulty.

“Only the outpost, but I’ve already sent a message to the force there. They are taking cover until it passes.”

“Good work. Make sure to send Darr and her forces a message. It wouldn’t be good if the old general thought we were attacking him,” I ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

I turned back to the screen. “Your move.”

~~~

“Floor fifty-nine has been breached! Estimated time until floor sixty breach, twenty-two minutes. Drills are receiving heavy resistance from internal dungeon monsters! Necromancer sighting confirmed. Number is to be determined,” the comms automaton shouted.

“Get a fresh squad down there! I want the generator station set up in ten minutes. How long until the linkup?” I shouted, standing in the middle of the bridge.

It had been nearly seven hours since the attack began. The upper floors were easy to breach. However, once we hit floor fifty, that changed. It looked like someone had ordered Alara to bring all her monsters into the projected path of the drills. Even if the necromancers couldn’t tell where that was, Alara could. Each time the drills broke past a floor, there would be a horde of monsters waiting for them.

I had already lost one drill on floor fifty-seven. That left seven more while the first was being repaired. My forces were a match for the monsters being thrown at us so far. I was basically having to build a power line down to the active floor. The unholy miasma was to the point that I was surprised even the necromancers could live in it. Anything living that entered it soon rotted and withered. My automata could hold out for a few minutes, but even the metal rusted or corroded before they could react.

Anubis and his corps were the spearhead of this operation. They would ride the lead drill to protect it from the miasma. Once a new floor was breached, they would span out and slaughter anything that moved in front of them. I was sure their necromancer kill count had already exceeded thirty.

Speaking of the necromancers, there were two moods present among them. Some were in full panic mode. It was as if they never could have imagined that someone could actually manage to attack them. The other half seemed to have lost all methods of thinking. They would use mana until their bodies collapsed. Then the undead would turn them into one of their own, and they’d get back up to continue fighting.

At the moment, Anubis was able to handle it, but he had already filled three of this unholy mana batteries. His soldiers were doing well in supporting him. They weren’t able to siphon off the unholy mana as easily as Anubis, but they took shifts while some would swap out a new battery on their armor. I could only imagine that the miasma would become worse the farther we went.

“Two minutes until breach!”

“Keep it up. I want to dive this dungeon in record time,” I ordered. “Be prepared for the boss!”

The enemy forces quickly retreated since the drills were about to break through. I noticed they were able to teleport to an extent. They had to be over three hundred meters from any of my minions, so I didn’t have to worry about sneak attacks, but I had to maintain a guard on floors that we’d already passed. I was getting new automata from the gate every few hours, but it was still costly troop-wise.

The drills finally broke through to the next floor. There was a large cavern ahead, so Anubis jumped in with the rest of his corps. The regular automata waited for twenty seconds, then followed after them. The pitch-black cavern was soon lit up as my forces flooded onto the floor. Thousands of green flames popped to life as the drill struck the ground, crushing a couple dozen of the undead under it.

What reminded me of the terracotta army appeared before me. Undead knights in lines, adding up to two thousand three hundred and forty undead, stood as floor sixty’s boss. In the center of the massive undead army was a two-headed undead troll-like creature decked out with more armor than I honestly thought was necessary. It wielded a massive two-handed sword that was seven or eight meters by itself. Its eyes, which were a deep green flames that made the other undead in the room look like candles, opened.

With an earth-shaking roar, it pointed at my gathering forces on the floor. The undead moved as one mass and charged. Anubis roared back, then there was an explosion of darkness.

“JUDGEMENT!”

Chapter 14

Regan

The darkness filled every centimeter of the floor. The sensors on the drills were able to pierce through, as they were calibrated mainly for unholy and dark mana. The undead swarm had literally stopped in its tracks. Many fell over from the strange positions they ended up in. The drills resumed their drilling, throwing up sparks that illuminated the darkness almost like a horror game from Earth.

It was maybe thirty seconds before something changed. One of the forerunners of the undead horde crumbled into dust. Then like a wave, all the undead behind it burst into ash, smoke, and dust. I could feel bursts of mana every time one of them exploded. After a minute the army was reduced to half its size.

“Get the mechanics down there! I want some fortifications in place within two minutes.”

I knew from experience that the longer you were in judgement, the higher your chance of being able to escape it. I wasn’t sure how it affected undead that were created by a dungeon. Did they even have souls to judge?

“Yes, Creator!” an automaton answered over comms.

Based off Natsuo, the mechanics were quite powerful outside combat, though these would be his upgraded version. As a mixture of all the smith models, they were slender and possessed the ability to shape just about anything that fell under terra’s jurisdiction. With four arms, they were able to work quickly.

“My girls will be done in less than a minute,” Queen said in her human form.

“Oh, Queen. Decide to join the fun?” I asked when she walked up next to me.

“We are rescuing your princess from her tower. I felt it would be better for me to participate than to sit back,” she said with folded arms. “Plus, my floor is basically automated now. That’s the reason I was here in the first place when I felt the ability to move between the dungeons get locked.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have some imprinted knowledge about that as a floor boss, would you?” I asked hopefully.

“Sorry, my lord.” Queen bowed her head.

“It’s alright.” I waved her off.

The mechanics, which were all basically clones of Queen, quickly reached the front lines. Walls of steel and stone rose around the drill sites. They were able to make it like a fort so that all the drills were included in one large wall. Weapons placements soon joined the walls. As these were humanoid undead, they went with machine guns and some heavier artillery.

It looked like my decision was the right one. The rate the undead army was turning to dust had dropped significantly. There were still about two hundred left, plus the main boss. I could sense that Anubis was reaching his limit. He would need time to recover from the massive amount of mana he had used.

“Anubis Corps! Make ready. The spell is about to wear off,” I warned.

“Second division has reached main breach!” the comms announced.

The damaged drill suddenly broke through, dropping down to the floor. It righted itself and resumed its work. A few mechanics jumped off it, their feminine faces covered in grease and grit but looking like they were happy with their work. I checked the time. They’d managed to repair it in less than ten minutes. I was impressed.

“Your girls are quite handy,” I commented to Queen. They did have four of them, after all.

“Thank you for the compliment,” Queen said with a curtsy.

“That was a good warm-up, but I need something more challenging!” Vetur shouted when he landed on the front line.

“Anubis is about to be out of commission for a time. Protect him,” I ordered the new forces as they joined the first division.

“My brother!” Vetur said.

Anubis suddenly collapsed. The darkness that filled the room soon flowed back to him in a surge. The remaining hundred and forty or so undead collapsed but almost immediately stood back up. The two-headed undead troll roared, causing pieces of the ceiling to collapse. With a surge of mana, he started to charge the defensive line.

“Fire!” I ordered.

The weapon placements began to unload their ammunition into the wave of undead, blowing off pieces of them with ease, but the undead would continue to charge until their heads were destroyed. This was more difficult than it sounded, as the armor they wore was thick enough to protect them from the machine gun fire. Even if it managed to blow the head off, it could pick it up and restart the charge if it didn’t get shattered.

A wave of explosions soon joined the symphony as the mortars and cannons went to work. They fired in a fan pattern to cover as much of the oncoming horde as possible. The undead troll took one full in the chest, its armor managing to protect it from the worst of the damage, and it soon made it to the wall.

The troll crashed into the wall. Its amazing brute strength from being both a troll and a zombie ripped the walls to shreds over a span of about five meters. It would have been bad, but when the troll glanced back to check its army, only about ten remained. Those were soon focus-fired down to bone meal.

“A worthy opponent! I challenge you. Let us see who the stronger dungeon floor boss is!” Vetur shouted as he spun his staff.

The undead troll glared first at him, then at the drills behind him that were almost out of sight in the ground. It roared and leveled its massive two-handed sword at Vetur. Vetur grinned and took a stance. They both began to channel mana. A massive pillar of dark and unholy mana formed over the troll, and a similarly sized pillar of blue and white formed around Vetur.

A tension filled the air. Then in a blink the battle began. Vetur shot back with an explosion of ice, and the troll followed him. The troll’s massive sword ripped into the ice like butter. Vetur formed several dozen spears of ice that floated around him, then launched them. The troll obviously couldn’t feel pain as it took them full on, each being embedded several centimeters into him. When there were nearly ten spears, the troll spotted them, then ripped them out. The massive holes quickly closed.

“Good! An opponent that can handle itself,” Vetur exclaimed happily.

The troll brought his sword around, and a massive black wave followed the edge. Vetur reacted by creating a wall of ice to block, then used it to slide farther from the attack. He reminded me of a surfer. The troll kept it up, sending several more strikes toward Vetur.

I glanced at the drills. They were starting to cut through the ground faster, which meant they were out of the floor’s influence. They would slow down when they hit the next floor, but with their speed, it wouldn’t take long.

“Vetur, end it soon or I’ll have the others join in,” I ordered.

Vetur sighed. “Always a rush. Of course, it’s a battle so I understand.”

The ice mana that was forming a pillar around him suddenly condensed into a sphere while he came to a dead stop in midair. The blades of darkness collided with his sphere and . . . froze, in much the same way Z2 had frozen Noir’s darkness during the tournament. The darkness was frozen in midair. Vetur kicked off from the ground and stopped right in front of the troll. He tapped him with a single finger, and all the mana from the sphere snapped into the enemy.

Vetur turned around and started to walk away from the troll. About five meters from it, he snapped his fingers. The spot on the troll where he had pressed his finger started to crack, and soon the frozen troll fell to pieces.

“Are you an anime protagonist?!” I mumbled. All he needed was some wind blowing his cloak around him.

“Anime, Monarch?” Queen asked from next to me.

“Huh? Ah, nothing. Don’t worry about it,” I replied.

With the sixtieth floor taken, there were less than forty to go. I was winning the mini war, but I wouldn’t press my luck until I had Alara’s core in my sights. There were an untold number of ways that the tide of the battle could shift. The mechanics started setting up the cables so that mana could be sent down, basically shifting the current support line to the sixtieth floor.

With the lull in the battle, the only thing left was to wait until the drills broke through to the next floor. Depending on how Alara had designed her dungeon, it could be anywhere from ten meters to a thousand meters. Taking my own dungeon as an example, twenty meters separated the first ten floors, then it ranged from fifty to five hundred for the next. The asteroid floor had six hundred meters on either side of it, just to be safe.

“Readings are in. Time until breach, five minutes!”

So, roughly a hundred meters for this floor. She was sticking to how she’d built her earlier floors, or whoever designed the dungeon was. The first forty floors were all designed how I figured a nature dungeon would be, with groves, forests, and plains, but all horribly twisted. It made me feel some real anger at the loss of such beauty. I may like my modernization and metal, but I knew the gifts that nature provided. One of the divisions back when I was still in control on Earth was made up entirely of drones that planted trees. I think my company managed to reforest more of Earth in a year than all of humanity combined for the previous thirty.

“Vetur, how’s Anubis?” I inquired, looking at Vetur in the monitor.

“The stones are recharging him now. He should wake up in three minutes,” Vetur sent back.

“Good. Keep a watch. I want you to go with the next wave. I can only assume that the floors will get more dangerous,” I sent back.

“Yes, Creator.” Vetur bowed, then the screen closed.

“Breach in thirty seconds!” was announced via comms.

The forces waiting for the breach began jumping down the holes. Some of them had flying equipment and would hover right behind the drill once they reached it. For the less mobile, levitating platforms brought them down at a slower pace. The main bulk of my forces was still on floor fifty-five.

“Tunnel enlargement in ten minutes!” reported a different comms automaton.

I glanced over to that section of screens. Rods were being lowered down each hole that were the same length as the tunnel. Inscriptions on them were pulling all the unholy and dark mana that came anywhere near them. Once they reached critical mass, well . . . boom.

“I am awake, Father,” Anubis reported as he regained consciousness.

“Are you good to continue?” I asked, concerned that I was pushing him.

“I can continue!” he declared, then jumped down the hole with Vetur.

“Breach!”

The drills broke through simultaneously, falling a great distance. I was impressed at the size of the cavern. The height alone must have been near two or three kilometers. The drills activated their thrusters but still took a bit of a beating when they landed. The other forces quickly joined them and formed a protective circle.

“Drills have been damaged! Mechanics report they’ll need ten minutes to get them all repaired. Drills One through Three can continue, but it will be at reduced efficiency,” comms reported.

“Hold off until all drills are repaired. I have no intention of splitting the forces any more than necessary,” I ordered.

“Visuals in, putting them up now!” another automaton reported.

A mountain appeared on the screen, surrounded by an eerie forest. Alara had even managed to create a night view inside the environment that cast a new full moon over the floor. There were no monster sightings yet, but there were mana readings all over the floor.

“Readings show that this is most likely four floors combined. It displays the same mana structure as the Creator’s.”

“So, a boss is on the next floor. All the more reason to sit and wait,” I murmured. “Alright, we’ll wait one hour! The armored division will have met up with the front line by that point.”

“I wonder how the mortals would feel if they saw you tearing through a dungeon in this fashion,” Queen mused aloud.

“Hopefully, they’ll never have to find out,” I replied dryly.

“I pity any mortal kingdom that pisses you off, Monarch.” She snickered.

“So do I,” I added, thinking about the annoying politics that would most likely result in me turning their city into a pile of rubble.

“Movement detected on the floor!”

“What is it?” I asked, turning toward the feeds.

Trees that were forty to fifty meters tall were crashing to the ground. Whatever was moving toward the front line was massive, causing the units with cameras to shake. I ordered some drones into the air for a stable feed. It only took a moment before the creature came into sight.

Nearly twice the size of the undead boss troll from the previous floor, a . . . monster crashed through the forest. It looked like it was made from hundreds if not thousands of bodies. Several giant-sized heads sat on its shoulders, all of their mouths gnawing with a desire for food they had been so long starved of. A few of the bodies were distinct enough to make out from the distance, and they had looks of anguish on their rotting faces.

“Designate target as Behemoth! Begin firing when in range!” I ordered.

I couldn’t begin to get a read on this thing’s abilities. Its mana rating was through the roof, even higher than Anubis and Vetur. It had to be tier three. I just hoped its “parts” were its weakness. If we could destroy enough of its body, it might collapse in on itself.

The few artillery that had already made their way down aimed at the Behemoth. They loaded explosive rounds and began firing nonstop. The barrage certainly made the massive undead stop moving, but debris soon filled the air and the feed couldn’t make out the damage being done.

“Hold!” I ordered, and the barrage quickly came to a stop.

Tension filled the air but was immediately broken when the Behemoth stepped through the cloud of dust. Craters littered its surface, but the bodies that it was made of started to move and reshape the Behemoth to “repair” the damage. I personally wanted to say it looked a little smaller but wasn’t confident in that assessment.

“So many tortured souls,” another voice said from next to me. I glanced to the left and found Julie standing there with a serious face.

“That bothers you?” I asked.

“No, but it will be hard to kill that thing. It has thousands of souls to power its mana.” She shook her head.

“Hmm. You done with your toys?”

With a shrug, she admitted, “I broke them all.”

“Fair enough.” I nodded.

“And I suspect it’s not the only one on the floor,” Queen added from the other side.

I grinned. “Then it’s time for a little fun.”

“Tunnel enlargement commencing!” a comms automaton reported.

Soon there was an explosion that shook the entire dungeon. The ten-meter-diameter holes were blasted to nearly fifty meters, easily large enough for some of my bigger weapons to finally make their way down. Mechs jumped down, relying on their boosters to reach the floor safely. Weapons platforms with more armaments than a sane person might feel were necessary followed, being lowered via antigravity platforms.

By the time they reached the front line, the Behemoth was only a hundred meters away. The new forces wasted no time pointing all their weapons at the monster. Beams of energy, concentrated bursts of mana, and physical rounds that could crush a person if they were dropped on them slammed into the Behemoth. There was so much firepower that it literally forced the massive undead to fall over, crushing several trees.

It couldn’t repair what was vaporized. If it were a bit faster, it might be able to dodge some of the weapons fire, but this thing was built to take a hit. Even with the barrage, it managed to last for a solid four minutes before I finally got a drone to drop an Anubis metal bomb on it. When the bomb detonated, the shards ripped through the undead and pulled massive amounts of unholy mana from it.

The entire encounter took ten minutes, and that was for just one. As if on cue three explosions echoed throughout the floor. I sighed, then ordered all my forces to concentrate on the closest Behemoth. Looking at their positions, I could see it was going to be close. I went ahead and ordered several Anubis bombs to be sent down.

Thirty minutes later, all threats on the floor were eliminated. Luckily, these undead were mainly just large. I could see it being nearly impossible for regular adventurers, but I’m not an adventurer. I made sure to send scouts out in case there was something hidden or equally dangerous but found the Behemoths were the only real threat.

“Drill maintenance complete! Divisions One through Five have all reached the front line. Division Six is maintaining guard duty until the next wave of reinforcements arrives from the gate.”

“Alright. Resume drilling!” I ordered.

Sparks soon began to fly as the drills reactivated. We were much closer to Alara’s core now, so I tried to reach out to her. The wall was still there, but it was much weaker now. I wasn’t surprised it was because we’d killed so many of the necromancers on the previous floors. Controlling a dungeon core must require a tremendous will, something I wouldn’t doubt several or even hundreds of people worked together on.

I frowned when I felt the wave of pain from her. I knew my method was the cause, but it was the fastest and most assured way to get down to her. I felt past the pain and smiled when I sensed a tiny bud of hope buried in her. Slamming my fist on the arm of my throne, I thought, I promised to save you and will do so.

Chapter 15

Izora

Allowing no one on the deck was a rule that had to be added once we were underway. If they went out there, they would be thrown from the airship, that was how fast we were moving. We nearly lost a crew member when we accelerated outside the valley. Next time Lord Regan said he was upgrading something, I planned to make sure he explained the changes more fully first.

“At this speed we’ll reach home in two days,” Captain Shido commented from where he was studying some charts.

“Good. Three months is much too long to be away,” I said, thinking about how long we’d stayed in the valley. While Jade Wind might make me feel claustrophobic, it was where I’d grown up. Even with how amazing my time at the valley was, I still missed home. I only feared it would be a place I never wanted to return to now that my mother had passed away.

Sure, I easily felt the time away had been worth it, given the advance of our magic and people, and I really didn’t want to leave, but I would never deny that Jade Wind was my home. Nothing could change that. I just wished my mother would be there.

“The airship is going to hold up, right?” I asked idly, hearing some loud creaking beneath my feet.

“This ship is completely different than it was when we came,” Captain Shido answered with a grin. Whatever Lord Regan had done to his ship, the captain must have really liked it.

“Alright. Let me know when we arrive,” I ordered, then left the bridge.

I retired to my cabin and sat down at my desk. I felt a sensation from the lance created from Regan’s mana and reached forward to grab it off my desk. As always, I felt complete when I took ahold of it. Something I didn’t mind, considering Lord Regan was the one who’d given me this power, inadvertently or not.

“Blood,” I heard echo in my mind.

“Who’s there?!” I demanded, jumping to my feet.

I looked around but didn’t see anyone. I channeled my mana into the area around the room, but still didn’t find anything. Curious, I sat back down.

“Why don’t you give me more blood?” the voice echoed again. This time I distinctly felt it come from my lance.

“Is that you?” I asked, holding it up to my eyes.

“You gave me so much before. In such a glorious way,” I heard.

“I’ve never used you in combat,” I replied, confused.

An image of the day I’d executed the prisoners flashed in my mind. Now that I thought about it, I had carried the sword since that day but never used it. That’s why I didn’t even think about it when it vanished during the incident. I tightened my grip on the weapon, unsure how I should feel, but images of necromancers killing my people made me realize that even an evil power could be put to good.

“Blood?” it asked with a hopeful tone.

“In the future. I’m sure there will plenty of blood for you to drink, but you have to listen to me,” I said.

It seemed to consider for a moment, then I got the distinct impression that it shrugged at me. It fell silent so I laid it back down. I just hoped this didn’t turn into a problem. History didn’t call them cursed blades for nothing.

~~~

“Massive wave of terra mana incoming!” I heard over the ship’s broadcasting system. It was the night before we reached Jade Wind. I had just been thinking the journey was too smooth and quickly rushed to the bridge after arming myself.

“What’s going on?” I demanded when I got there.

“A few of our Terra mages felt a surge of mana a few minutes ago. It won’t affect the ship, but it’s causing quite a bit of damage to the continent,” Captain Shido replied.

“Source?” I asked.

“The north. I have a feeling our all-powerful lord is behind it.” The captain grinned as if happy that Lord Regan was powerful enough to cause such a large effect. The memory of the weapon he showed me came to mind. Lord Regan was indeed the likely cause of anything that could cause such a reaction.

The image of Lord Regan’s weapons was in my head again. “Yeah, most definitely him,” I agreed.

“Check this out,” Captain Shido said, then pressed a few buttons on the console. An image of the ground under the airship appeared. We could barely make anything out since we were moving so fast, but the five-meter-tall wave that was moving faster than we were was easy enough to see.

“What’s going to happen when that hits the ocean?” I asked, worried.

“I’m afraid I don’t have the answer to that,” he replied as he shook his head.

“I guess we’ll find out in about ten minutes. We are keeping pace with it . . . barely.” I looked into the distance. The large sheet of blue that was the ocean could be seen quickly getting closer.

The tension grew as more people joined us on the bridge. Finally, the terra wave hit the beach, the sand looser than the dirt and stone, and exploded dozens of meters into the air. Soon it struck the water. As if the tide were receding, the water formed into a wave that nearly reached our height at a hundred and fifty meters.

“Is there anything in the path of that thing?” I asked.

“Only Jade Wind, but that sits nearly twice this height,” an officer said. “After that . . . the maelstrom I believe.”

“Alright. Once we get home, I’ll make sure a relief force is sent to assist Jade Port,” I said, considering the situation.

The airship suddenly shook as if struck by a heavy weight. We looked back outside to see a massive storm forming right before our eyes. Lightning started to crackle as the sea turned into a frenzy after the wave passed. I gulped, worried for the airship.

“Gain altitude!” Captain Shido shouted urgently.

The airship jerked as it started to rise. We stabilized, then passed the clouds. Peals of thunder surrounded us, and the airship lurched to the side suddenly.

“We just had something hit us! Hard!”

We rushed to the window and saw a phoenix that was holding on for its life. A scorch mark across its back showed that it had been struck by lightning. I thought quickly, then channeled mana into a sphere around the creature.

“Open the port-side bay! I’ll move it inside!” I ordered.

“It’s a monster!” Captain Shido argued.

“And?!” I demanded. While phoenixes were certainly monsters, they were tamable. Plus, there was no reason to throw away its life when it was quite obviously hurt bad. It might just be my selfish way to make up for killing so many of my own people a few weeks ago, I thought guiltily.

“As you wish.” Shido sighed, then pressed a button that opened the bay doors.

I used the sphere of air mana to move the injured beast into the bay. It didn’t have the strength to resist by this point. I rushed down to the bay, not really sure why I was worried about the creature.

When I arrived, the guards were keeping their distance from it, their weapons bared. It struggled weakly but the harsh winds outside and the injury made it unable to do much after draining its strength. I waved the others back and inched closer carefully. The five-meter-long bird, with a wingspan of thirty meters, was a tight fit in the bay.

It glared at me as I approached, but I kept my hands free from my weapons and palms up. Monsters may be feral, but they are by no means unintelligent. There were plenty of monster tamers in the world, though from the information I had, they were more common on the Fuizol continent. That place was nearly overrun with monsters, so they had to fight fire with fire.

I created a thin stream of mana over to the giant bird to help heal it. It panicked for a moment, but when its wound started to heal it calmed down. I was halfway done with healing it when I stopped. It wouldn’t be a good idea to heal a monster to full health in a situation like this. If it decided to ignite, half the airship would go up in flames.

“Get some meat and give it—” I started to say when the ship lurched again.

“Princess! The storm is getting worse. At this rate it will reach the same level as the maelstrom!” Captain Shido reported through the ship’s tube system.

I ran over to the tube that would let me talk to him. “What do you recommend?!” I shouted. This was his area. Plus, I couldn’t think of anything that would actually help us in this situation.

“If we landed in the ocean, we could put more mana into the barrier systems. At this rate we’re going to get knocked out of the sky either way,” he reported.

“Do it,” I agreed.

The pressure changed as we started our descent. The phoenix exploded into motion as it flapped its wings as if trying to rise, it only lasted for a moment, and soon realized what was happening. The airship rocked as it set down in the ocean. We tilted until we were almost sideways before we righted. I could only assume we had crested a wave.

“Captain, will we be able to reach Jade Wind?” I sent. Landing in the ocean would help for now, but if the storm took another turn, we would only be waiting for our deaths. If we couldn’t make it to Jade Wind, we would need to turn back before we lost the ability to do so.

“It will take us a few extra hours, plus it depends on if this storm gets worse.”

“Keep me informed.”

“Yes, Princess.”

I walked back to the phoenix. It didn’t have the same amount of fear in its eyes as before, but it clearly wasn’t going to let me pet it anytime soon. It had dried enough for its feather to start to burn again. I wondered if it realized it was safe as long as it didn’t threaten us, as it kept the flames at a campfire level.

“I just want to help you,” I said calmly.

Its large eyes turned toward me and stared me down. The ship rocked as a wave crashed against us, and the phoenix dug its claws into the floor. Smoke rose from the grooves. I channeled some mana into a warm gust of air, trying to calm it down.

“It’s alright, boy,” I said. The phoenix glared at me with a pulse of fire leaving its nostrils. “Girl?” I corrected. It nodded and laid its head back down. This wasn’t an ordinary phoenix if it could understand speech. I was also curious about why it wasn’t in a flock.

“Princess, we can take it from here. Please return to the bridge. I’m sure they need you more than we do. Don’t worry, we will make sure she is taken care of,” a guard said as she sheathed her blade.

“Thank you. I will open the bay when the storm lets up.” I nodded to her, then turned to leave.

The phoenix made a trilling sound as it saw me start to walk away. The beautiful sound made me think of wide-open skies and the tops of flaming mountains. I turned back around to smile.

“Don’t worry, girl. These ladies will take fine care of you, and when the storm lets up, I will finish healing you. I wouldn’t mind seeing you fly myself,” I said, sure she could understand me.

She eyed me for a solid minute before she laid her head back down. The men left, while the females all remained. I worried they might get attached, but it would be my own fault if they did. Feeling a little warmer in my heart than I had in a while, I made my way back to the bridge.

“Ah! Princess. I’m glad you’re back up here. We have a problem,” Captain Shido said as soon as I was through the bridge hatch.

“What is it this time?” I asked. I wasn’t sure we could handle too many more problems.

“The storm is showing no signs of weakening. If it continues to grow, I feel even Jade Wind won’t be able to survive it,” he explained as he pulled up some screens.

I sent a silent thank-you to Lord Regan for the improvements to the airship. The screen showed a display of various information about the storm. It even showed the mana readouts. I had to look twice to make sure I was actually seeing the numbers that I was.

“This cannot be correct,” I said, pointing to the chart. Jade Wind could handle quite a lot of stress, the maelstrom had buffeted the barrier protecting it more than once. That, however, was under the impression that everything was well in the city.

“I’m afraid it is. I had one of the mages go out on the deck to confirm it. At this rate . . . it will grow stronger than the maelstrom.” Captain Shido shook his head.

“Damn it. That will reduce us to an island in a sea we can’t pass.” I frowned, biting my thumb. Jade Wind was powerful, but it was a metal and wood island in the middle of the sky. Other than some private gardens by a few higher-ranking gnomes, there was nowhere that produced food in the city. This was the outcome of assuming we could always reach Jade Port for our supply needs.

“Correct. The magical engineers onboard are trying to find ways to counter it but . . .” Captain Shido bowed his head.

“What . . . what happens when it hits the maelstrom?” I asked, growing worried.

Shido stared at me blankly for a moment, then had the mages try to come up with an answer. Teacher Tsuzuki was front and center, working with all the knowledge he’d gotten from Lord Regan’s library. After a few minutes they had a few scenarios, but the most likely outcome was that the two storms would merge.

“We need to get to Jade Wind before that happens!” I said, worried about the people.

By the time we could get there, it would be far too late to evacuate them to the mainland. Even Jade Wind wouldn’t be able to withstand the storm for long. Our only hope would be for Lord Regan to try to contain it once I placed his core in the city. This was much more important than trying to find some conspiracy in the city.

“We have a break of luck there. The Home Stone still works, and we should reach it in about thirty minutes,” Captain Shido said, pointing to a stone that glowed in the console. It was part of the original ship and would always guide the ship back to Jade Wind. I just hoped we would be able to ascend through the storm to reach Jade Wind.

Chapter 16

Regan

“Breach in one minute!”

“All forces are ready, Monarch,” Queen reported.

Queen had made herself into a sort of designated assistant. I didn’t mind, as she was able to do four or five things at a time thanks to her extra limbs. Alara had a rather large chunk of ground in between this floor and the next. It took almost an hour for the drills to breach it. My forces were having to deal with a Behemoth every ten minutes or so. Though, they had started to treat it more as target practice.

“Thank you, Queen. I think after this we might need to get you off that floor and somewhere more useful.” I grinned.

“Your praises make me blush,” Queen said with a small bow.

With a boom the drills broke through the ceiling of the next floor. Another combined floor met my eyes as the drills fell to the bottom. The mechanics made sure to up the output of the thrusters so they didn’t crash down again. The cavern was about the same size as the last one at two or three kilometers.

The drills landed much gentler this time, and my forces surrounded them quickly after they landed. This was a boss room that took up six floors’ worth of space. I wasn’t about to let my guard down. The scans of the floor quickly came in. Reports listed no movement to be seen and only a few living entities. The mana level was off the chart, making me wonder if this was some sort of floor-sized boss-level trap.

“Hold positions. Something is bound to happen,” I ordered, standing up from my throne. “Fire a flare to get us some more light.”

One of the artillery units loaded a fluorescent round and fired it across the floor. A ruined village came into view but that was it. There weren’t any monsters, undead or otherwise. Even the rest of the floor was a bare expanse of rock and stone. It was as if someone had taken a village and teleported it into the middle of this cave.

“Orders, sir?” asked one of the bridge automata after nearly ten minutes had passed with nothing happening.

“Begin drilling. Send scouts to check the area,” I said, deciding to make the first move. I didn’t like to sit and wait. Whatever was going to happen would happen once we made enough racket.

Sparks flew as the drills restarted operation. I nodded, not surprised it took them much longer to start making headway. This was a boss floor, after all. It would be strange if we could just cut through without any issue. I exhaled when it took the drills almost ten minutes to cut through half a meter. If it hadn’t been for the fact that they were accelerating the farther in they got, I would have had to think up a new plan of attack.

“Nothing to report, sir. The village is . . . empty,” a scout reported an hour later.

“Keep your eyes open. It’s possible they withdrew all their forces to a lower floor to prepare a bigger resistance,” I ordered.

“Understood,” the scout bowed, then the monitor that was showing him blinked off.

“What does everyone think?” I asked the assembled group of automata.

All the captains from the airships, Anubis and Vetur, Queen, and myself stood around a table that displayed the entirety of the floor. I wanted as many suggestions as possible. Anubis and Vetur were here as projections. I didn’t want to risk taking them off the front lines. It would be my luck that Alara found a way to block teleporting that far inside.

“I agree with Monarch. It’s likely they withdrew in the face of our overwhelming power,” Queen said with a smirk.

“Fled with their tails between their legs.” Benjamin laughed.

“Sir, I believe this to be some sort of trap,” Jarvis said.

“I agree, but we need to find the trigger before we can deal with said trap,” I said, nodding to Jarvis’s input. I firmly believed it was a trap as well. The real question then was what kind of trap it was.

“Let’s just blast the entire floor with mortar shells!” Spare grinned, playing with his beard.

“Hmm. That might not be a ba . . .” I started to say when I noticed two of the dots on the screen disappear. They represented the scouts out on the floor. They were tied directly to their mana cores so that if they vanished like that, their cores were completely destroyed. Just then a thought sparked in my head.

“Switch to the anti-specter shields!” I shouted to the control automaton.

It quickly pressed a few buttons, and a blazing white wall formed around the command units. It slowly expanded until the entire front line was enclosed inside. A moment later a soul-wrenching screech filled the cavern. The female specter from the other day was back in its full glory. Her form had changed to that of a queen, with a regal dress and a crown.

I chuckled when I saw her. “Looks like we’re before royalty.”

“She isn’t worthy to stand before you, Monarch.” Queen frowned, looking the specter queen over like she was a child.

“Be that as it may, we need to deal with her. Jarvis, how are the anti-specter weapons? Did you find a way to counter them without relying on brute force?” I asked, looking at my trusty researcher. I’d left him in charge of studying the data we’d gleaned from the last encounter with these annoying creatures. I was starting to miss the days where I could sit in my dungeon and just play around with the magic of this world.

“On that front we have made many experimental weapons, but we have had no test subjects. If I may join the front line, I would be happy to conduct said tests,” Jarvis said with a bow.

I nodded to him. “Go ahead. The barrier is holding for now, but this is a dungeon army we’re dealing with. They can come up with a solution if we give them time. Don’t give it to them.”

“As you command,” Jarvis said as a magic circuit formed around him. He soon vanished, and I sensed him appear in his labs on his ship. Short-range teleportation still worked on the surface.

“Anubis, you and your forces are to stand by while Jarvis conducts his tests. I know you’re able to deal with this problem, but I don’t want to expend you completely,” I said, looking at his hologram. I was getting worried about the amount of unholy mana he was having to channel through him.

“Yes, Father. The unholy mana on this floor is tremendous. If we continue going deeper than normal, automata will require more mana to stop the corrosion,” Anubis said, looking into the distance at something.

“Understood. I’ll get some more generators sent down.” I looked to Queen, who nodded. She bowed and moved to get it done.

I moved back to my throne and sat down. I was interested to see what Jarvis had come up with in the short time he’d had. He did have quite the dedicated staff working with him. If you wanted a weapon, Jarvis and his team were the ones to go to. If I’d had to think up solutions to all the magic-based things I was having to deal with, I would have probably had a headache.

“What do you have for me, Jarvis?” I sent through comms.

“We have several things that we want to test. First, according to the mortals, specters are a soul that has gained the ability to manifest. This rings many bells, as the mana required does not match the mana visible, mana being strongly tied to the heart and brain of a body,” Jarvis explained while setting up what looked like a workstation.

“Yes, but the soul also has the ability to produce mana under certain conditions,” I said, thinking about Anubis’s ritual for the dryad.

“Indeed, however, the mana levels from an army of this size should be high enough to drown both you and Undead Queen Alara out from the amount of ‘noise’ it would put off,” he explained as he put the finishing touches on his station.

“Therefore?”

“I believe they are merely projections,” Jarvis finished.

I glanced at the map of the floor. If what he said was true, then it could be a problem. We already knew that high-powered light mana did have an effect on the specters, but it was costly and may not be permanent. Anubis could deal with the specters, more because of the fact that he was absorbing their souls when he ripped the unholy mana from them. If the specters’ physical bodies were somewhere that we couldn’t get to, that would make this a nearly impossible floor to get through.

“Can we just avoid combat and drill to the next floor?” Benjamin asked.

“Avoid combat . . .” I murmured.

This was a dungeon. Even with her being controlled, I doubted the necromancers fully understood the rules and laws that went into creating the dungeon. Alara should have made it where a party of adventurers could succeed. Whether it was sneaking through the floor, or . . .

“The bodies have to be on this floor. Given the strength of the specters, being this deep in the dungeon would be like they were trying to talk thirty meters underwater. Their physical links have to be here,” I said.

“Exactly. We just have to find them. We could blow the floor to pieces, but that would require a lot of mana and time. During which we would be under attack from the specters,” Jarvis said, then pressed a few buttons on his station.

I changed the view of the communicator so I could take in the entire workstation. Jarvis had rigged up what looked like a telescope from a stellar observatory. It sat on a hover platform allowing for easy maneuvering. Mana stones lined its body, each with a dense mana scripting. Jarvis channeled some mana to levitate one of the mana cables from the generators and attached it to the device.

“This will find their bodies?” I asked.

“Yes. At your request I have come up with a weapon to be used against the ethereal type of undead. Using light mana, it will strike a specter and follow the ‘cord’ back to the host body. Even if it doesn’t destroy the host body, it will allow us to trace it, and then a good bombardment from the more traditional cannons can finish the work,” he explained excitedly.

“Excellent. Begin your . . . tests as soon as you can.” I laughed at how excited Jarvis was over his toy. Seeing a creator so happy with their creation should make anyone that builds things in the world happy as well.

“As you command, sir,” Jarvis said and turned back to his device.

He didn’t even have to try hard to aim. The specter army was massive and crowded outside the barrier. They were trying to get past it, but the nearly solid level of the light magic continually forced them back. A few of the specters smoked, and parts of their ethereal bodies were noticeably missing from their attempts to get through.

Jarvis activated the device and a beam of energy shot into the mass of ghosts. If I was human, I was sure my ears would have been bleeding from the horrendous screech that was given off. The beam split a few dozen times with each specter it hit, like a ray of light hitting glass. The branching beams sailed off into the distance to impact a large mound on the other side of the floor.

“I bet most of the souls are from adventurers that tried to stop Undead Queen Alara in the early days,” Queen commented.

I rubbed my chin. “I don’t doubt it.”

Zooming one of the cameras in close on a random specter, it was clear that, sure enough, the specter looked like a man in a plate armor from the Middle Ages. Burn marks that I found to be the usual work of unholy magic marred parts of his body. The necromancers had likely inhabited Alara’s dungeon for few years to kill off adventurers and gather her mana quickly. It wasn’t a bad idea to get a still-developing dungeon stronger. Hell, they could have posted quests in the Adventurers Guild to lure people here.

“Should I just destroy them all?” Jarvis asked after his fourth test fire.

The ghost army had learned by the second shot, but light traveled faster than they could dodge, after all. Even with them taking distance and spreading out, Jarvis was still picking them off like flies. I wanted to take out the boss no matter what, and maintaining the barrier against this threat was draining our mana reserves.

“Burn as many as you can,” I ordered.

“Yes, sir.” Jarvis nodded, then started firing much faster.

The energy blasts were smaller and didn’t burn through quite as many, but they were still taking five or six out with each shot. Before long, the ghost army looked more like a ragged band around a defeated queen. The specter queen glared at Jarvis. She was the only one so far that was able to dodge Jarvis’s energy attack. And it was more of a type of teleportation, to be fair.

She teleported right above the ruined village and dove straight down and into a ruined manor that was in the center of town. Streams of unholy mana broke from the ground around the village, then surged into the house. Before I got a chance to order it blown to pieces, the action was already done. A figure burst from the ruined building and floated into the air.

Jarvis fired his energy cannon at it, but with a flick of the figure’s hand, the beam shattered around her. The specter queen held out her hand, and a massive scythe formed out of shadows. More shadows coalesced around her, turning into a gray dress that would have been fit for royalty. Just before her form was completely covered, I was able to make out a physical body.

“Anubis, what do you see?” I asked.

“Her soul has changed. The dark is eating the unholy from her body. I believe it might be a good idea to wait for the change to finish,” he said. His eyes were glued to the event happening above us.

“I wonder if this is what happens when a monster without loyalty evolves into something stronger than the core can control,” I said, leaning back to watch as well.

“It’s possible, Monarch,” Queen answered.

The shadows continued to ripple around the boss, random spikes of green energy emerging from her body. I had all my sensors and the scanners trained on the specter queen to collect all the data I could. It was rare that I could witness something breaking through. At least where I’m not involved to the point where something wouldn’t explode if I stopped concentrating. As usually was the case when I was helping my creatures reach the next level.

“Still, it’s amazing that she is fighting the unholy mana. Especially this deep in the dungeon,” I murmured. I leaned forward again when it appeared the change was about to be complete. I knew this was a risk to take, but I also felt the knowledge I could gain from this was worth it.

I really want to capture her, I thought. The specter queen was breaking through to tier three. I would be able to control her with a collar with a few adjustments. She gripped her head and screamed, then swung her scythe at random, causing massive blasts of energy. One blast of energy struck the wall, creating a large crater. Explosions boomed throughout the floor as the blasts destroyed it.

“Brace!” I yelled when one of the blasts flew toward the frontline barrier, crashing into it and causing cracks to form. I upped the mana flowing into the barrier, and it repaired itself. Eventually, the specter queen calmed down. She floated in the air lethargically, almost as if she was unconscious.

“I don’t sense any unholy mana from her,” Queen said, and Anubis nodded in agreement.

I checked her myself but could only agree with the two. However she’d managed it, she’d changed into an undead form without unholy mana. This led to a number of possibilities that I would have to explore in the future.

I wasn’t sure what triggered her, but the specter queen suddenly screeched and turned away from my forces, shooting toward what felt like a random spot in the dungeon floor. With a blast of shadows, a large chunk of the wall turned to rubble. Rage was rolling off her in almost visible waves.

“Should we let her go?” Jarvis asked.

“I think it would take us a bit more than I would like to commit to take her down, and she obviously is out to kill someone farther down.” I tapped my chin, then nodded. “Yup, just ignore her!” I threw a thumbs-up. An explosion accented it from across the floor.

When the boss left the floor, the speed of the drills increased tremendously. From the scans, it would only take us about twenty minutes to reach the next floor, though I wondered if there would be anything remaining when we got there.

Chapter 17

Louella

“The damaged parts of the city aren’t repairing themselves,” Ezal said, reading from a report.

“I did get the impression that something had Regan occupied.” I sighed, leaning my head on my desk.

“I’ve sent a few runners to have all the adventurers pull out of the dungeon for now. We won’t be able to reach everyone, but we’ve left a message at all the floor entrances we have access to. I don’t want something to happen while Regan is busy,” Ezal said.

I nodded in agreement. While adventurers dying in the dungeon was a matter of fact, there were things down there that I was sure Regan didn’t want the normal mortals to have access to without a fight. Without the host to command the dungeon, someone might manage to stumble beyond what they were prepared or meant to see.

“That’s probably for the best. The prisoners have been moved to the jail, correct? Any new information?” I asked, then took a sip from my drink. Since the terra wave, we’d been cleaning up the damage to the town and hadn’t been able to personally interrogate any more of the prisoners from the attack. Most had been traumatized anyway.

“Nothing more from what the kid told us. They were all on the bottom of the hierarchy and didn’t know much. Of course, that contributed to them surviving.” Ezal chuckled.

“Funny how the fates work.” I chuckled as well. “I suppose I will send a formal complaint to this Duke Neil and the king and demand reparations for the damages caused.”

I leaned back in my chair to look out the window. That was about as far as I could take it. I knew the king would likely back the noble or attempt to sweep it under the table. However, I still had to make a complaint for honor’s sake.

Focusing outside, I observed the town smoking in various places, but it was the dying smoke of old fires. People moved to fix the smaller damage. Most of it would normally be fixed in moments with terra magic, but it hadn’t been working correctly since earlier. The mana acted differently, more excited than normal, causing the spells to react differently than they were supposed to.

“Damages, Mistress?” Ezal asked, pulling my attention back to the office.

“Damages. The West Gate Road is in ruins, my people are terrified of another attack, and I have to take care of the dead. Plenty of things I can claim damages for, according to the lords’ war agreement,” I said, tapping the desk. “Even though most of the damage was caused by that strange wave of terra, I couldn’t say it wasn’t part of the duke’s plan to attack me. He would, of course, have more talented mages than me, a measly viscountess.”

“Fair enough.” Ezal nodded, and we heard a knock at the door and turned to see who it was.

Wrakras came in carrying a box loaded with food. I shook my head at how much of a glutton he was. I knew he was partially undead but still couldn’t wrap my head around how his body actually functioned.

“Wrakras, have you heard anything from your master?” I asked.

“The link is still active, but I can’t communicate with him directly. I do sense his mana is being used at a fairly rapid pace. And that’s taking into account how much he pulls in every minute or so.”

“Directly?”

Wrakras pointed to the east. “His tower in the forest has other means of communication. He has been trying to keep the technology level of the valley down since he doesn’t actively control every person who comes through here. He has much more control in his forest tower,” he explained with a shrug.

“Can you get there and find out what is going on?” Ezal asked.

“It’d take me about four hours,” he said and took a bite of what looked like a chicken leg.

“Go ahead. We’ll be fine here. We need to know what’s going on,” I said.

Wrakras nodded, then turned into smoke, box of food and all. Ezal also excused herself to return to her duties. I leaned back in my chair and looked back out the window. So much had changed since I came here that I couldn’t even fathom where my path was heading. I never imagined that the little village I took over several months ago would turn into a budding town.

I sipped my drink as I looked out into the sky. Suddenly, I felt a surge of mana from all around the valley. Hexagrams formed a dome that covered the entire valley. I jumped to my feet, trying to find the cause. It was midafternoon and the sun was just about to set. I managed to see a black dot in the air that was streaking toward the valley from the east.

“What the hell is it now?!” I murmured.

I released some of the draw of my armor so that my senses increased. Like a telescope, my vision magnified, and I could make out what approached the valley: a woman with jet-black wings that stretched several dozen meters in each direction. Darkness poured off her liberally, but I couldn’t sense any unholy mana coming from her.

The woman gave me a bad vibe, but the spear was almost as bad. It was plain looking but carried an energy that matched the woman in scale. She was traveling faster than anything I had ever seen before and came to a stop over the town as a barrier, one of Regan’s, activated.

Before I could blink, the woman vanished. A moment later, the entire valley shook from her impact on the barrier. The barrier didn’t even last a moment, shattering into a thousand pieces. The woman was angled toward the dungeon entrance. In another blink, there was a massive quake when the woman impacted the dungeon. The next thing I saw was raining debris.

I smashed through the window and flew into the air. Channeling as much mana as I could, I vaporized all the debris near me, but it was like the entire mountain was coming down on me. The more I destroyed, the more there was. I struck something with my lightning but failed to completely destroy it. Intense flames from behind me flew past and turned the boulder into ash. Ezal flew in next to me.

“Ezal! Glad you could join me,” I shouted while launching another lightning strike to destroy debris.

“What the hell happened?!” She was throwing fireballs that exploded into spheres and turned everything inside them to ash.

“Something is attacking Regan’s dungeon!” I replied. “It was more powerful than anything I’ve ever seen or heard about.”

The stream of debris finally abated, leaving the town with only minor damage as various mages destroyed it. I had to smile at the people working together to protect their neighbors. I looked at Ezal and she nodded. We took off through the air toward the dungeon.

Reaching where the entrance used to be, we found only a massive hole in the mountain. It was large enough to fit the town, and parts of the floors that weren’t instantly obliterated still showed. Parts of automatons on the edges were still visible, and smoke rose from blackened areas from where the woman had pulverized her way through the dungeon.

“This is bad, isn’t it?” I asked, rubbing the back of my head.

“Surely Regan would have defenses set inside to deal with invaders,” Ezal said.

“I don’t know. He’s kind of overconfident at times.”

“We better go in and help, then!” Ezal started to move toward the hole.

“No!” I grabbed her shoulder. “I’ll go, you need to stay in the town and protect everyone. Plus, I would never forgive myself for letting a pregnant woman go into battle with something that is powerful enough to do this.”

“But, Mistress!” Ezal frowned.

“No argument! Go back!” I ordered.

She gritted her teeth but placed a hand on her swelling abdomen and nodded. When she’d flown back to the town, I smiled and turned back to the smoldering hole. Right as I started down, Gulv flew to me and wrapped around my neck.

“Coming with me?” I smiled. He rubbed his head against my cheek and chirped.

As I descended into the hole, I was glad that the damage was quickly reduced. It was still quite extensive, but I judged it would be stopped around the fifteenth floor. I wasn’t sure how the machinations of dungeons worked regarding this, but I knew Regan was powerful. Still, Regan would most likely have to redo the upper floors.

I reached the ninth floor—or what remained of it. Most of the floor was gone, but part of the fort remained. I flew over to see if any adventurers were there. We had been evacuating them since earlier, but adventurers didn’t always listen to orders. I heard shouting as I flew up to it.

“Is everyone alright?!” I called out from over the fort.

“The lightning queen!” I heard someone shout, which made me blush.

“What happened?” I asked as I landed in the middle of a group of about twenty-five people.

“We don’t know! We were trying to capture one of the beasts when we found ourselves here. A moment later a blast tore through the floor,” one of the women explained with her hands over her head.

“I understand. Try to make your way outside. I’m not sure what exactly is going on, but the dungeon is under attack,” I said as I rose back into the air.

I flew down the crater to the next floor and was surprised at how much distance there was between each floor. Between the ninth and tenth floor alone, there had to be fifty or sixty meters of solid stone. Whatever was attacking the dungeon was in a realm that I felt hadn’t been seen in an age.

The shaft shook from something farther ahead. What sounded like an explosion echoed up, followed by a blast of air that buffeted me. I accelerated to reach the bottom but wasn’t sure what I could do even if I caught up. Another explosion followed by a second blast of air blew up from the shaft, the force almost sending me into the wall.

“Damn it!” I groaned as I corrected myself.

The crater was only a few dozen meters in radius by the time I reached the fifteenth floor. A weird white city met my sight. I couldn’t see any signs of combat, so the attacker must have managed to blast right past it without getting copied by that floor’s magic.

I couldn’t find any evidence that they’d made it past this floor, however. I landed on a building and scanned the area but couldn’t find the exit, let alone any damage. However, the woman was nowhere to be seen. I looked around to try to find where she might have gone.

“This is crazy. What would I even do if I found her?” I mumbled to myself while rubbing the back of my head. I had been doing that a lot the last few days, I realized. In less than two days, my valley had suffered from three different occurrences. I had the distinct feeling they were all completely separate and just happened to occur at the same time.

“Town Lord, do you want to watch the fight?” I heard from behind me, pulling me from my thoughts. I spun around to see a strange-looking fairy floating in the air. Though, she did remind me of Regan. She had see-through wings with multicolor lines running along them and silver skin. I put her around two-thirds of a meter tall but had to say she was beautiful.

“Are you Regan’s dungeon fairy?” I asked. I had never seen him with one before. I honestly thought he might have absorbed it a long time ago. He wasn’t exactly shy about doing things his own way. Being told what a dungeon is supposed to be doing by a little fairy just didn’t fit my image of Regan.

The fairy bobbed in the air. “Yes. With Father busy I have control over the dungeon right now. My name is Ignea.”

“Do you know what’s going on?” I asked, but she shook her head.

“I felt something connect to him in the north, then the link was blocked. If I had to guess, I would say he is engaging the dungeon to the north in combat.” Ignea shrugged.

“Where’s the woman who attacked the dungeon?” I asked, turning around to look about again.

“Rather than have her destroy the rest of the dungeon, I took advantage of this floor and teleported her farther in where there are opponents that can actually deal with her,” she explained as she landed on my shoulder. I felt an aura of mana form around us.

The sight in front of me changed, and we appeared in a room made out of metal. I looked out of the window and saw rocks that seemed to be floating in midair with no regard for gravity. Beams of energy were lancing toward a spot in the emptiness from a ship, or at least I assumed it was a ship. The beams struck the spot, and spheres of energy formed. I could tell they would easily destroy anything out of the normal.

A figure with orange lines and black plates covering its body flew around a spot that looked like liquid darkness. It raised its arm, and a sphere of darkness formed literally on top of the liquid darkness. The floating rocks within what looked like a hundred or so meters were pulled into the sphere. They quickly vanished as if they had never even existed.

In the distance, I saw three enormous ships, all firing beams of energy at the target, which had to be the woman. I was equally amazed that the liquid darkness was, I realized, a type of barrier that handled all the attacks being sent her way. The beams of energy lost their color as they slammed into it.

“So, are Regan’s forces winning?” I asked, unable to tell.

“It’s about even at the moment. She is taking everything we throw at her, but she isn’t able to proceed or retaliate. I assume she is waiting for us to expend most of our mana before she attempts anything.” Ignea flew around my head. Gulv nipped at her, and she smirked and stuck her tongue out at him. Yeah, she was definitely Regan’s.

Chapter 18

Regan

We stared at a large plain. It was covered with an undead army at least forty thousand strong. Specters and high-level undead moved around the floor. The strong pulse of Alara’s core vibrated in the center of it, and her avatar floated above a castle-like cathedral that reminded me of a replica of Notre Dame before it burned down. A very twisted one at that, with a black material making up the walls and what looked like real gargoyles alternating between landing and flying around the towers.

“Finally, we made it down to the bottom floor,” I said after taking it all in.

I was physically on the floor. That allowed my control over my aura to be at its strongest short of bringing a core down here. My mana reserves were about half-depleted from the assault, but I had enough to level this floor if I had to using my more Earth-like tech.

My current goal was to lure Alara out into combat so I could capture her avatar. That was the best way to save her mind. While I was prepared to shatter her core, as I had contingencies to save her that I thought could work, I really wanted to avoid it if possible. It didn’t hurt to take every precaution. Starfall had been enough of a chance already.

“Monarch, all resistance on the upper floors has virtually ceased. I think they are pooling their mana for the coming confrontation,” Queen said, bowing behind me.

I glanced at her and chuckled. I knew she was making a show for the enemy. Alara was looking at me every now and then. I didn’t hate the display, so I just played along. In the future, I was sure there would be plenty of people who would want to bow to me thanks to the gnomes. The others were playing along with her, and all bowed in a line next to her.

Behind them were my forces all arrayed in a defensive line and ready to commence the attack as well. All the forces and even several batches of reinforcements that had arrived since the assault began were all present except for the bare minimum needed to protect the rear lines. While it was risky, if I took Alara’s core, the conflict would basically come to an end.

The foot soldiers, end-tier-two automata, stood in a perfect line that stretched six hundred meters. They formed a line that was five deep and armed to the teeth in a variety of energy and physical weapons. Their armor could stop tier two attacks all day long and could handle several steps into tier three as well. These were machines built for only one purpose and that was war.

Arrayed behind them was a variety of machines and vehicles. The most notable were the mechs piloted by goblins that had mastered the machines. I wasn’t sure why, but they were even better pilots than automata that I’d created especially for piloting the mechs. It was one of the mysteries I planned to investigate when I got a bit of free time.

Most of the mechs were humanoid or quadrupedal. It seemed the goblins had varying preferences when it came to the mode of walking. Not to mention the massive number of weapons that each mech was packed with. The goblins didn’t seem able to resist.

The hover tanks made up a good chunk of the rest of the armor division. As mobile weapons platforms, they would drop legs and deploy their turrets. Every hover tank was accompanied by a squad of foot soldiers, as they were weak at close range. They were armored more heavily than the mechs, but I didn’t want to test it out unless I had to.

Finally, there was the command staff and the maintenance division. Queen controlled the maintenance division while the command were all the named automata that I had created. They were each linked to central command via comms, and I could issue orders without having to move a muscle if need be. Not that I planned for that to happen. I wanted to be on the front line for this.

“Good. One less thing I must concentrate on. The undead still haven’t attacked?” I asked. It was an obvious question, considering the undead had formed a line roughly a kilometer away.

“Yes, it is as if they are waiting for something to happen,” Anubis said.

“Any signs of the specter queen?”

Jarvis answered this time. “Signs of battle are present around the castle, but there are no signs of the specter queen. The specters are much weaker than those on the previous floor.”

“So, we should assume she was defeated or captured,” I said, tapping my chin. That was too bad if either was the case.

Queen nodded. “That would be best. What would you like us to do?”

“We need to lure Alara out. That means we have to convince the necromancer controlling her that they can’t win without sending her—” I was cut off by an intense pain.

The pain was something I had never experienced since coming to this world. It was like someone had torn my arm off and was beating me with it. I dropped to one knee, grabbing my head as pain lanced through me. I was sure that I would be bleeding everywhere if I could. As it was, tears of oil laced with mana were leaking from my eyes and mouth.

“Monarch!” Queen shouted and was quickly followed by everyone else shouting out in surprise.

I held up a hand. The pain was already passing. I did a mental check on myself and everything in my aura. Nothing was wrong in my aura around Alpha. Looking deeper, I found the pain radiating from one of the links to my other dungeons. It was the thickest of the three, so it was my main core.

“I’m alright!” I said, standing back up. “Something is paying my main dungeon a visit. We don’t have time to play games anymore! Finish this!” I ordered, raising my voice.

“As you command!” they all echoed, then rushed to their various ships and positions.

The pain still echoed throughout my body. I frowned when I considered that was probably what Alara was feeling every time I broke through a floor. I was going to have a lot of making up to do. I needed to make the necromancers pay for this trouble.

Mentally connecting to one of the ion cannons in space, I had it begin to charge. It was on standby, so it only took a moment for it to reach critical. Leaving the target blank, I forcibly opened a portal connecting the floor I was on and the spot right in front of the cannon. I pointed the portal toward the castle. The strain of keeping the portal, even within my aura, from inside Alara’s dungeon was causing my arm to spark from the mana flowing through it.

A moment later the cannon fired. The massive beam of energy collided with the portal, which acted like a magnifying glass. The beam exited the portal in the dungeon much smaller but on another level of intensity. I groaned as I felt another jolt of pain from the source in the distance. The white-blue energy beam sliced clean through the entirety of the floor.

When I saw the splash of energy from it colliding with the back wall, I channeled more mana to the other side of the portal to force it to change angle. It felt like moving a mountain, but eventually the portal started to turn, the beam of energy with it. The undead were fleeing from the beam as their necromancer masters tried to save their forces.

Finally, the beam struck the left wall, and the ion cannon in space exploded at nearly the same time. I quickly closed the portal to guard against any debris that headed in the direction of the portal. Looking at the damage I’d managed to wreak, I felt it was good enough to force the necromancers to send out Alara to fight me.

I had aimed straight down the center of the floor. The castle in the center now possessed a massive hole that went clean through it. Then there was the ragged damage from where the beam sliced it basically in half. As I watched, the left side of the castle started to collapse. We were a good distance away, so it wasn’t as spectacular for us as I was sure it was for any necromancers that were present.

The right side and the upper part of the castle, though barely still connected, maintained their shape. With how the upper part was basically floating, I figured Alara’s core must be inside. It could be thought of as a completely separate floor by itself. I glanced up to where Alara floated but she hadn’t moved yet, so I checked the rest of the damage I’d caused. The left side of the floor was reduced to slag. I couldn’t make out anything moving in the debris. The right side shuffled forward without pause, though, since they were undead. I wondered if they could feel fear.

“Now what, Monarch?” Queen asked. I sensed awe in her voice, but it could have just been my imagination.

“We wait for them to make the next move. But, let’s help them make it.” I grinned sinisterly. “Begin bombardment!”

The undead began charging the defense line. The hover tanks and mechs in the army all raised their cannons. There was a moment of silence, followed by a flash as several hundred cannons fired, causing streaks of light as the rounds flew into the enemy. Explosive rounds impacted the first hundred meters of the enemy lines, blasting everything to pieces. The first volley managed to destroy roughly five or six hundred.

Even with half the floor turned to ash, there had to have been ten to twenty thousand undead left to contend with. My artillery couldn’t aim for the back lines, though, or the roof of the cavern would be struck by the weapons fire. Explosions rang out almost constantly. Even with that, the undead quickly closed the gap between the two forces.

The foot soldiers raised their weapons. A moment later it started to rain bullet shells. I mentally looked down on the battle. It looked like a waterfall as the streaks of light from the fired rounds arced toward the undead. The weapons fire reduced the zombies and regular skeletons to pulp and bone meal.

The skeleton knights rushed to the front of the line and raised their shields. I was impressed when I saw they were able to withstand the rounds fired from my weapons. But they didn’t survive long, as once a spot was struck five or six times, it would be destroyed. But it gave the undead breathing room.

“One hundred meters until contact!” shouted one of the command automata.

“Melee weapons!” Anubis ordered as he rushed to join the front. He was followed closely by Vetur.

The frontline foot soldiers activated their shields just before the undead wave collided with them. The skeleton knights’ metal shields threw up sparks from the energy grinding against them. The foot soldiers with melee weapons began slicing into the undead line with machine precision. Short-range weapons like shotguns also made an appearance as they ripped apart the undead.

Anubis and his soldiers moved through the lines like shadows, acting like grim reapers to the undead. Rotting body parts and black blood went flying as the two forces fought. Benjamin commanded his crew from the air to use energy weapons to fire on anything that could bulldoze through the defense line into target practice. They were rather ruthless.

My forces weren’t without casualties. No matter how coordinated they worked together, the massive number of undead slamming against the line was just too much. In areas, they were literally crawling over each other, managing to go over the line. The target was quickly turned into a paste by the next line, but they still managed to achieve some damage.

Queen’s girls would pull the damaged unit out and quickly perform repairs. Even with them repairing them as fast as they were getting damaged, I was still taking loses. Still, though, once enough parts added up, a new unit could be recreated from them and would join the line.

Under normal circumstances, I had no doubt this battle could be quite endless. I just hoped that the necromancers felt pressured enough to put out the big guns. Without them making a move, this would be annoying.

The battle raged for the better part of two hours before something changed. The undead that were charging almost relentlessly stopped dead in their tracks. The undead that were near the defense line were quickly ripped apart, but that only lasted a few seconds. Suddenly, they all turned around and started to run back toward the castle.

When I saw the change, I quickly scanned the area to find the cause. Sure enough, Alara was constructing some sort of monstrosity in front of the castle. Before I even ordered them to start bombardment, the necromancers threw up a barrier around the site. I knew I could blast my way through it, but the construct would be done long before we breached it.

My forces were in better shape than I anticipated. I had factored in a certain percentage being destroyed and was prepared to take the loss. The fact that my forces performed better than I expected was good news to me. I must have only lost a three hundred or so foot soldiers. Queen was commanding her girls with such finesse that they were managing their mana to a half a point margin. I was quite honestly impressed.

“Everyone be prepared. We are about to get a very nasty present from our neighbors!” I sent to all the forces.

I laced my hands behind my back as I watched the show, interested in what Alara could be creating. A virtual vortex of energy flowed into the creature under her. Not only unholy mana, but almost every other mana was present. The other undead collapsed into dust as their energy was ripped from their bodies and pulled into the monster.

“That thing . . . it has a soul,” Julie said with serious eyes.

“It might have a soul, but it should not exist,” Anubis said.

He tightened his grip on his scythe. If Anubis was worried about it, then all the more reason that I needed to keep my guard up. Suddenly, a wave of mana rolled over the entrenchment. It was dense enough to possess physical force. Surely, they weren’t making her pour all her remaining mana into a single creature.

The skeleton of the creature was complete, with flesh starting to form along it. The thing had to be at least a hundred meters tall. As more of the creature formed, the density of the mana increased as well. I was at the point where I wanted to see what was born from the insane amount of mana being infused with it. I knew it was going to be in tier three but could not fathom the result. Tier three had the most wiggle room of the tiers that I’d dealt with so far.

The massive creature appeared to enter its final stages as gray skin formed. I was surprised its form was humanoid, reminiscent of a giant . While it was a hundred meters tall, the body looked to be shaped by a god, or a goddess in this case, given that it was created by Alara herself, who was one of the beings closest to a god.

“Monarch, the mana levels have reached high-tier three. I fear that we are going to be outmatched soon,” Queen said while looking over several monitors.

I glanced over and saw that the charts were indeed going crazy as the sensors went haywire. Looking back toward Alara’s creation, I decided I would have to create something of my own to confront it. I contemplated the different types of weapons and ideas I had considered since starting this war. Nothing I possessed currently would be able to contend with her monster, so I would need something new.

I remembered a movie from Earth and grinned as I decided to go with it. I channeled mana into my avatar to float up into the air until I was about the same height as Alara. Looking over to her, I could see that the massive usage of mana to create the monster was draining her. Streaks of blood from her eyes and nose painted her face and turned to ash as they left contact with her body. I could only wonder what channeling such a massive amount of mana through a flesh-and-blood body was doing to her.

“Just a little bit more,” I whispered to her and myself.

Concentrating on what I was doing, I got to work. I was going to have to use every bit of magic and technology to force my creation to the same tier as hers. Magic gears appeared as my spell script formed around me, and I channeled mana into my creation abilities. Arcs of mana flashed into the nearby air.

Metal flowed like liquid to form a skeleton. It reached a similar height of roughly a hundred meters. Moving my hands like a sculptor, I molded the frame around the skeleton into an armor. At the center was a cockpit that would allow me to pilot it. The reason I would be its pilot was the mana system.

While Fuilum had unique properties involving mana, mainly its antigravity function, I believed it was similar to Earth’s uranium and could be used to enact nuclear fission. I would need either a core or my avatar to be near the reaction so that my aura could absorb the mana created in the process, as well as any radiation put off.

In the movie, these mechs required two pilots to run them. It was a good thing my system was a little more intuitive than the one in the movie. Mainly it did not need to read my memories to work. I refused to lose myself in somebody else.

I glanced up from my work to check the progress of Alara. She was at the finishing touches on her creation, developing armor and a massive sword for it. The overall balance was very sleek, and it lacked the undead feeling that everything else in the dungeon was putting off. That meant they had ordered Alara to create something that could actually fight me since the undead had been proven ineffective.

Chapter 19

Izora

Waves buffeted the side of the ship as we made our way to Jade Wind. The floating city was actually in sight, but the weather prevented us from sailing a direct line to it. We were still able to talk to the city thanks to light signals, but the situation wasn’t much better for them. Jade Wind was built to withstand the maelstrom, but the added strength from this other storm was pressing their systems.

“Fifty degrees to the starboard!” Captain Shido shouted. The airship-turned-naval-vessel pitched as the bow sliced through a wave that would have sent the ship underwater. Arcs of lightning crashed into the ocean, threatening to turn us into smoldering driftwood.

“Captain! We need to get to Jade Wind before the ship is reduced to sharp metal!” I shouted over the intense noise of the rain and waves.

“I know, Princess! It’s like the ocean has come alive!” Captain Shido shouted back.

Lightning arced in front of the ship, missing by only a few dozen meters. Alarms of all kinds were blaring on the bridge. I was worried the violent pressure of the ocean was going to break us even before the lightning or waves took us out. The grinding noise of the metal and wood of the ship being pulled or pressed together was enough to send shivers down my back.

There was a flash, and as if in slow motion an arc of lightning branched and branched again as it headed for the ship. I channeled mana despite knowing that I would only be able to protect myself. Before the lightning struck the ship, there was an equally bright flash of light.

A perfectly straight line of white light shot off into the ocean away from the ship. The lightning slammed into it and was pulled off into the distance. I blinked, trying to clear the spots that formed in my vision. A figure slowly came into focus on the deck of the ship. It was tied to the rail so as not to be thrown by the waves.

“Who is that idiot?” I asked the bridge.

We didn’t have a Light mage that powerful with us. Secondly, I had never seen light used in such a fashion. While I was thankful to them for saving the ship, it was reckless to be out there by themselves.

“It’s that goblin from the dungeon,” one of the crew members shouted.

“Why is he on board?! He was supposed to remain at the embassy,” I shouted back.

I didn’t get an answer from anyone, meaning he’d most likely snuck onboard. As we watched, a beam of light flashed from Alphonso’s outstretched hands, slicing a wave so the ship could break through with less trouble. With Alphonso’s help we started to make time toward the clearing being created by Jade Wind. It was literally the eye of the storm right now.

Twenty minutes later we made it under the city. Thankfully, nothing else happened that significantly threatened the ship. The barriers around the city were obviously struggling to hold back the storm. I needed to get up there and place Regan’s core as soon as I could.

“Activate engines! Get us in the air!” Captain Shido yelled. Though we were out of the worst of the storm, the waves were still quite heavy, slamming the ship around.

“Aye, Captain!” the helmsperson said.

The thrum of mana rippled throughout the ship as the reactor was turned back on. The ship quickly started to rise once the reactors reached their peak. I wasn’t sure when I’d last been so happy to see the docks of the city. Once we passed under the barrier, the air calmed down tremendously. We really started to gain altitude then.

“It’s good to be home,” Captain Shido said, a rare smile gracing his features.

“I agree,” I replied.

Looking up at the city, I took in the sight that I had missed. A large column that was nearly six hundred meters long made up the center of the city. It was composed of a metal-and-stone mixture that we were unable to re-create. From there, a metal grid spiderwebbed its way out from the center point of the column. The web had grown over the centuries and was nearly two kilometers by itself.

Under the center column, a pulsing energy was constantly shooting down into the ocean. If the storm wasn’t present, there would have been an outlying cloud of steam surrounding the city. Special magic technology held the worst of the weather at bay. The only time I remember it raining in Jade Wind had been ten years ago, when a storm had put Jade Wind in its path. Winds strong enough to blow airships out of the sky barely caused a breeze inside the city.

It was a mechanical marvel that used all the accumulated knowledge of the gnomes. A part of me always wondered what marvels we could achieve if we landed the city. But the gnomish pride never allowed us to do so. It was a thought that all gnomes have once in their life.The mooring lines were launched with precision toward the designated targets on the docks. With a bang they locked down on the lead and started reeling the ship in. I left the bridge and went to the deck to check on Alphonso. He was drenched, but the water ran off the armor and led me to believe there really weren’t any gaps.

“Boss princess! I hope my actions have been noted?” Alphonso said when he saw me approaching.

“You were very heroic, but that was dangerous! You could have been swept overboard!” I said once I was near him.

“Wouldn’t have bothered me. Well . . . I guess it would have been a long walk,” Alphonso said with a grin.

“And how would I tell Godfather Tony?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

“Ah! True! My bad.” He rubbed his head, causing a tooth-grinding sound of metal screeching.

“Whatever. Anyway. Welcome to Jade Wind! Home of the gnomes!” I said with a dramatic gesture to the magnificent city in front of us.

The airship came around, gently riding the currents to get close to the docks. The winch would drag the airship in, but the pilot made the process easier by keeping it from fighting the winds. Airships of various ages filled the docks. My ancestors might have lost a lot of knowledge over the years, but airship building was kept alive to the best of our ability.

The docks circled all of Jade Wind. The royal dock, which we were being pulled into, was reserved for the royal families’ airships. The Arashiand the Kou were currently docked. They were only used in times of war. To my knowledge they had only been used twice. Both times, we were assisting another country rather than fighting a war ourselves.

Buildings made of the lightest wood made up the structures around the city. Jade Port had a special grove dedicated to growing these trees. The newest building in Jade Wind was almost two years old now. The support ring of metal was allocated only so much weight before the building on it is required to reduce the items inside.

I loved this city. I knew every centimeter of it like the back of my hand. As the princess, there was nowhere I wasn’t able to go. I’d made friends from all over the city, even with my status. I could say without a doubt I was happy to be home.

The Raiu came to a jarring stop as the winches finished pulling us in. A grinding noise sounded as a steel walkway was lowered automatically to connect the vessel and the docks. A few workers rushed to make sure that everything was working correctly. I noticed they seemed . . . anxious, but I put it off as my homecoming since the queen had passed.

I looked to the captain. “Clean her up good. I don’t want my father to see his favorite ship looking like a common sailing vessel.”

“Yes, Princess!” Captain Shido said with a salute.

“How is the phoenix doing?” I asked, using the communication tube to talk to the crew in the bay.

“It’s . . . napping. Damn thing ate half our stores, then clonked out,” I received back a few moments later.

“Alright. Keep it in the bay. We can’t let it out this close to the city. It wouldn’t be a joke if someone lost a kid thanks to me.”

“Of course, Princess!”

Leaving the bridge, I walked to the deck a little more hurried than was needed. Hatsu and the others quickly fell into step around me as my Royal Guard. I blinked as I noticed there was one more than normal.

“Alphonso, what do you think you’re doing?” I asked, coming to a stop.

“I was told to go with you,” he said, twirling his fingers together.

I barely resisted the urge to smack my forehead. “I can give you a tour later!” “I know that but . . . I can’t wait! It looks so interesting!” He was hopping on his feet in enthusiasm.

“Let the little fellow tag along,” Tsuzuki said with a laugh.

I looked between the two of them and realized that they must have talked beforehand. I would have to scold them later, but I was too excited to be home. I just sighed and nodded, and Alphonso jumped into the air in a cheer.

“You better stick with us!” I said, poking his glass helmet.

He gave me a salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.”

We crossed the gangplank to the docks. The workers were all lined up and bowing to me as we walked among the docks. When we reached the gates, a pair of guards stood with almost unnatural stiffness. When they saw us, they reacted immediately and bowed.

“Princess Metalgear! Welcome back. The king will be most pleased,” one of the guards said woodenly. I could only assume it was due to him being nervous.

“It’s good to be home. I will report to the castle as soon as I take a look around. I’ve missed home so much,” I said, nodding to the guard.

“Very well. I shall inform His Majesty that you will see him within the eve,” the guard said and bowed deeply.

“Good. Thank you, Sir Guard.”

We left the docks and made our way around town. The city was composed of six circling streets. Any point you started at, you would eventually make your way back. The only caste system we had here was king, then craft masters. Everyone worked to become masters of a craft to reach a closer place to the pillar. That would allow you a larger weight allotment for your home or shop.

That wasn’t to say that the citizens were mistreated. There was plenty of food to go around. Education was given to all children under the age of ten, after which they had to join a craft guild to apprentice to a master crafter. If you looked at the surface, you would think that everyone was living a good life. But given that the necromancers had managed to pull so many of our people to them, maybe they weren’t happy. I would need to sit with my father and talk with him about this.

“Is that little Izora?” an elderly woman called out to me.

“Grandma Ku! I’m glad to see you!” I said, rushing over to the old gnome. She always gave me treats when I wandered the streets in my younger days, and she treated me just like one of the other kids on her street.

“It’s good you’ve come home. Strange things have been happening,” Grandma Ku said, throwing a glance around. “Why don’t you come in?”

Chapter 20

Louella

Half an hour had already passed since Ignea had brought me to the battle. I wanted to join in but felt I was more likely to get in the way from the massive amount of magic being used in front of me. The black orb was still standing strong, even after the almost continuous barrage of attacks on it.

I was more impressed that something could withstand the massive amount of mana that was being flung at it. It made me wonder what the being attacking Regan’s dungeon was. Something being able to pulverize past the outer layers of a dungeon was nearly unheard of. Tier three mages had attempted to do so in the past. I believe the farthest floor breached in this fashion had only been two or three.

“Do you have any idea what is going on inside the sphere?” I asked Ignea.

“My senses do allow me some insight, but there is so much mana being used that it looks like a blur,” she answered with a shake of her head.

“Is Regan going to be ok?” I asked, worried.

Regan’s core was just beyond this point. I wasn’t sure how far in actuality, but it was down there. Though, if this floor already had creatures of this level, I was sure there were more powerful entities waiting. It was a known fact that the most powerful entity in the dungeon beside the dungeon’s avatar was the last boss before the core.

“There are still a few more surprises ahead. Father wouldn’t leave his heart unguarded, after all,” Ignea said, tilting her head to the side.

“That’s good. Regan has done a lot for me. I would hate to see something happen to his core,” I said, relieved to hear there were things even more powerful deeper down.

Nothing continued to happen for several more minutes. I wondered if the liquid shadow was just going to end up being burned to a crisp from the beams of energy that were pounding it. Just watching the show made me feel useless. What was the point of breaking through to tier three if I couldn’t help in situations like this?

Suddenly, the ship Ignea and I were watching from jerked and started to move away. I twisted my head to the side, trying to find the reason. There—a tendril of shadow lancing through a section of the ship. It only became visible a few meters from the ship.

“Something is happening in the orb. The tendril is only the beginning!” Ignea shouted, looking all around the floor.

“Even after taking all that mana?” I asked, surprised.

“We are dealing with a Celestial! There is no way to know what she can do.”

“A Celestial?!” I cried. “Why is one of those here in the lower realms?!”

“You’ll have to ask her when we bring her down. I only realized when some of her shadow broke through the ship. She is similar to Duilin up on the station. Much weaker but with a physical form,” Ignea explained, then started to pull me away from the viewing window.

I wondered why for a moment, then one of the ships in the distance experienced an explosion in its hull. Linked to the dungeon as Ignea was, she could sense such an event before the explosion physically took place. It wasn’t anywhere near enough damage to bring the ship down, but it was still damage that was caused from a tendril. Ignea didn’t want us to be near the outer hull in case a tendril aimed for the weaker sections of the ships.

“Does Regan even have anything that can fight her?” I asked.

“Nova . . . maybe,” Ignea said, her tone weak.

The lack of confidence worried me. But if even these creations weren’t having an effect, what could I possibly do? The ships were turning away from the fight. I noticed that barriers of some kind had been raised, but the ships could no longer fire their weapons. The only thing still fighting was the man who was using spheres of darkness to cause a crushing force in his surroundings.

“Why can’t that guy just create a big enough sphere to swallow the invader whole?” I asked as we moved.

“He’s tried. Tells me it’s a bad match. She is able to condense her shadows enough to escape the black hole without being crushed,” Ignea said with a sigh. “Father probably didn’t anticipate something like this happening without himself being present.”

“How about using the rocks against her?” I asked.

We emerged from the corridor we were running along into a large open section. Dozens of automata were running around or sitting at various spots around the room. A large screen showed what was happening out in the floor. An automaton that stood in the center of the madness was yelling orders at the others. They were using a weird language that vaguely made me think of the word “fake.”

Ignea came to a stop. “What do you mean?”

“Well. Straight energy obviously isn’t working. Throw some of those massive rocks at her. With the one guy’s power, it would be easy to pull a couple dozen into her path,” I explained.

Ignea flew over to who I assumed was the captain of the vessel. “What do you think, Third?” she asked.

“First and Second believe it is worth a shot. Not really anything to lose at this point,” Third said with a glance at me. He reached down to press a button on the chair he was standing next to. A weird sound rang out and he said, “Nexus, use some black holes to accelerate some asteroids into that bitch. Maybe some good old brute force will hurt her.” I was glad he was using Origin, though it was probably only for my sake.

“Yes,” a voice that honestly sent shivers down my back answered. I had never heard anything quite so eerie.

Most of the rocks . . . asteroids around the sphere were already gone from Nexus using his abilities, so he targeted those on the outer edges. He created black holes faster than I could count. The asteroids started to move toward the sphere of darkness. A massive one that looked like a floating mountain shot toward the sphere and crushed everything in its path.

Tendrils of darkness started to appear as smaller asteroids were sliced or pulverized. There were hundreds of them but even they paled against the mass of the mountain-sized asteroid. The tendrils whipped and slashed against it but only managed to rip a few chunks off. Finally, the asteroid collided with the sphere of darkness and started to ripple around it as its own weight caused it to wrap around the sphere.

“Did we get her?” I asked, hopeful.

“Still confirming, Selected,” Third answered.

I moved next to Ignea and whispered, “Selected?”

“Some of the automata in the dungeon know about the mortals that Father tends to favor. They have created that term for them. I don’t know if Father knows or not,” Ignea whispered back.

Well, I definitely couldn’t deny that Regan liked to give me things. If that counted as his favor, then I was definitely one of these Selected. I wondered if I should bring it up to him next time I saw him.

“Movement from the center of the crash point!” shouted an automaton.

The asteroid started to crack as tendrils of shadow stabbed out from the center. Before long the asteroid crumbled to pieces, which were then blasted away from the center. The black sphere was gone. There was now a dragon of all things in its place. Dark mana swirled around it and was pulled into its nostrils and mouth. A large horn grew from its forehead that reminded me of the spear the woman had possessed.

It sucked in a deep breath, then expelled a great blast of shadow mana aimed at one of the other ships. The breath attack ripped through the hull in a matter of seconds. Explosions boomed out as the ship was ripped in two. The breath attack cut off, and the ship started to fracture around the damage. Even I could tell it was a goner. Small ships started to leave the giant vessel as the crew evacuated.

The screen started to display readings from the black dragon. It was ten meters long and five meters wide, forty if you included the wingspan. The mana readings were unchanged, but they were still higher than any mortal could possibly possess. I wasn’t sure if I was reading it right, but it was over a hundred thousand.

“That honestly makes more sense,” Ignea said from next to me.

“What?” I asked with wide eyes after reading the information.

“That she could take so much and be relatively unharmed. She is a dragon. Dragons aren’t bound to the Celestial laws as much as the other mortals due to Modderm resisting change,” Ignea explained.

“It’s still a fucking dragon! One that is bent on killing Regan!” I shouted.

“Father has his own dragon,” Ignea said coolly.

As if on cue, the perpetual darkness of the night sky that made up the floor cracked. More accurately, one of the walls along the section of the floor that was under the ship I was on cracked. The bridge brought up the spot, and there was a boom as something slammed into the wall, causing more cracks to form.

“What is that?” I asked, worried something else was attacking.

“Nova,” Ignea answered with a smile.

Two massive white and gold claws, crackling with mana, ripped through the wall. The wall broke to pieces, showing a floor with floating islands, which looked even larger than this massive empty floor. The body attached to the claws was also visible now.

The dragon looked as if made from a white metal. I had never seen anything so terrifyingly beautiful. Two massive horns that branched as they lengthened sat on the equally massive head. Four wings moved behind him that looked almost as deadly as his claws. Never piss Regan off, I thought to myself once again.

“Someone trying to destroy my home?” a voice echoed in my head, almost forcing me to my knees. “Powerful” was the word that instantly came to mind. This creature knew no equal and wouldn’t stand to be challenged.

“The black dragon over there,” Ignea said out loud.

“Puny . . . weak . . . annoying,” Nova said as if offended.

Apparently, the black dragon heard him too. A massive jet of dragon’s breath flew toward him in a blink of an eye. Nova snorted, then used his claw to backhand the breath. The breath collided with something and was ripped to shreds. The force soon reached the dragon, causing black blood to leak from its mouth.

A blinding light prompted me to turn to the source, and I found Nova breathing in for his own breath attack. His chest was swelling and glowing from the massive amount of mana he was pulling in. I could almost feel the mana in the air dropping. There was a moment of tension before Nova’s head lurched forward and sent the blast of energy at the black dragon.

It tried to form the shadow sphere again, but nothing moves faster than light. The beam sliced into the side of the dragon. It would have been full on, but the black dragon managed to shift enough to avoid the direct beam. I followed the path of the beam and saw a hole that led up to what looked like a city. I hoped no one was injured.

The black dragon’s right side was nearly completely missing. Only the natural durability of being a dragon kept her alive. Her right arm and wing were gone. Her scales and even part of her tail were gone as well. Even with her being a dragon, I was amazed that she was still alive.

“Surrender, little one,” Nova said. He flew within a few hundred meters from her. The black dragon glared the whole time. “Little one” was accurate, as Nova was even larger than the black dragon.

“Ne . . . ver,” the black dragon said with a surprisingly girlish voice.

“You will die,” Nova said, his massive wings like the cloak of the reaper.

“So . . . be . . . it . . .” she gasped, obviously in pain.

“What have you so committed yourself to?” Nova asked, sounding intrigued.

“A . . . new . . . home,” she whispered, shadow leaking from various places around her body.

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