Advent of Eternity - Chapter 126 (Patreon)

Knell and his team worked their way deeper into the dungeon, clearing out four more rooms of fishmen. Each fight was just slightly harder than the last, with the deeper fishmen often being better equipped or wearing slightly improved armor.

None of them put up any significant amount of trouble, but Knell still took note of their growing strength. They’d already spent several hours traveling beneath the earth, and there was still not a single sign of the rewards they’d come here for in the first place.

“Just how deep is this dungeon?” Stix asked after they’d finished off the last of the monsters in their room. “I thought you weren’t even able to beat the big boss guys we killed a while back, but you knew about the Path Change stone and the other thing you’re looking for. Doesn’t that mean you had to have seen them?”

Nyra leaned against the wall and wrung some of the blood out of her hair. “Yes. The dungeon wasn’t anywhere near this deep the last time I was in it. Something is different.”

“There is a possibility that our targets are no longer here.” Knell drummed his fingers on his staff. Coal tugged at his hair gently and Knell pulled out a strip of jerky, idly handing it to the bird while he thought. “I’m inclined to believe something of relevance is still here, though. Even if the gods didn’t make this dungeon, they wouldn’t be getting more powerful the deeper we got if there was nothing to protect.”

“Implying that anyone who makes dungeon has their brain screwed on the right way is probably a stupid assumption,” Cyll drawled. He plucked a fishman’s rusty shoulder plate off and tried it out on his own shoulder. It was too small, so he tossed it away with a grimace. The metal clanged off the stone, drawing everyone’s irritated gazes. “Whoopsie.”

“I guess everything could have been moved deeper,” Nyra allowed. “I’m not giving up this deep, though. We can’t be that far from the prize.”

“Nor would I. Not without a proper reason to, at least,” Knell said. “I imagine we’ll have company fairly soon, so I would prefer to emerge from this dungeon stronger than we entered it.”

“You killed their tracker,” Nyra said, frowning slightly. “Are you sure? I was hoping we might have thrown them off my tail.”

“Unlikely. With the number of men they’ve been throwing after you, I would be shocked if they only had a single tracker. We should expect to find enemies waiting for us outside the dungeon. They might even enter it if the entrance remained open. I am unsure if the dungeon seals itself.”

“Shit,” Nyra muttered. “We should hurry up.”

“Moving quickly is wise. Moving rashly will just get you killed,” Knell said. “But there is no reason for us to linger pointlessly.”

***

Another two rooms of fishmen later, the five of them found themselves standing before a massive pair of stone doors. A sparkling sea of blue and green glass embedded within it made a beautiful painting of ocean waves upon their surface. The faint light of the moss reflected off it, making the waves ripple and dance as if alive.

Water dripped from the ceiling far above, plinking against the smooth stone at their feet every few seconds. The air felt colder – crisper – and the stale scent that had hung in every other part of the dungeon was gone. It had been replaced by the salty, slightly pungent smell of the deep ocean.

Aside from the group, the room was completely empty. There were no fishmen or even stalactites – everything was smooth. Everything was intentional.

“Anyone else ever get a feeling like they don’t belong?” Cyll whispered. “Because I’m getting that feeling right now.”

Knell couldn’t help but agree. He was probably the farthest thing from a religious man, but this room felt sacred. A part of him was tempted to call out, just to see what might take offense to his slight, but that wasn’t nearly foolish enough to actually attempt it.

“Do you recall this place?” Knell asked, but Nyra was shaking her head before he even finished the question.

“No. I think we might have taken a wrong turn somewhere.”

“If there are doors like this, there’s got to be something really good beyond them,” Stix pointed out.

“And it’s probably guarded by something as strong as these doors are large,” Maya said. “They’ve got to be – what, six times our height? What kind of monster is that tall?”

“One with good loot,” Nyra said. “I’m with the elf.”

Knell studied the rippling murals on the doors. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that if there was anything of true worth in this dungeon, it was probably behind these doors. Granted, there was a possibility that the designer had been clever and stuck the truly valuable stuff in a ratty little cubbyhole somewhere that nobody would ever check, but that entirely defeated the point of a dungeon.

Nobody made a dungeon to keep something safe. That was called burying treasure, and the best buried treasure was the one that nobody but the owner knew about.

“We continue,” Knell said. He sent a sharp glance at Cyll. “Cautiously.”

Cyll rolled his eyes and drew Lassie. He approached the doors and everyone else moved to the side as he pressed a hand against them. After getting a confirming nod from Knell, Cyll pushed.

Stone cracked beneath the door and it rumbled open. Huge hinges squealed as Cyll turned, bracing his back against it and digging his feet into the ground. His heels slid back across the stone, but he continued to shift the massive door inch by inch. When he’d opened it enough to form a human-sized gap, he pushed off the door and poked his head into the room beyond it.

Cyll stepped back out and turned to them, holding a lip to his lips before gesturing for them to approach. They crept over to join him and Cyll pointed at Knell.

Knell slipped past Cyll, keeping his magic ready, and peered into the room. It was pitch black, only lit by the faint light of the moss behind him. Directly in front of them, resting on a huge mound of glittering multicolored glass, was a claw the size of a small ship.

He followed it back along an orange shelled, craggy arm and up to the enormous body of a crab. The monster’s mast sized eyestalks hung to either side and its mandibles twitched with every breath. The scent of fish grew stronger as soon as he inhaled, showing exactly where the smell was coming from.

Beneath it, covering the ground and forming small mounds throughout it, were massive piles of glittering sea glass. The light bounced off them in what would have been a beautiful spectacle had it not been for the disgusting creature perched atop it.

Knell leaned back and the others all took a turn looking inside the room. Every single one of them stepped away, looking several shades paler than they had been. They walked over to the other end of the room before anyone spoke again.

“Think it tastes good?” Cyll whispered. “If we set it on fire, maybe we can eat it.”

“Do you see any good way to set it on fire?” Stix asked. “I’m not sure how we’re supposed to kill something like that. It’s massive. Will it even feel anything we do?”

“Something that big probably isn’t very fast,” Nyra said, rubbing her chin. “We could try to grab the items and make a run for it.”

“We’d have to find them first,” Knell said softly. “But I’m not opposed to that idea. It doesn’t actually look like the crab would be able to fit its whole body through these doors. We can send someone in to try and grab what we’re looking for, but it won’t be easy. Not with all the glass everywhere. The Path Change stone is probably just a small rock, and I don’t even know what your artifact looks like.”

Nyra chewed her lower lip, furrowing her brow in concentration. “I’d be willing to bet there’s a whole lot more in there than just what we came here for.”

“Gold isn’t going to help us if we get eaten,” Stix said. “There’s no way we’re going to be able to look through all that glittery stuff unless we kill the crab, but I don’t think we have any actual way to hurt it. My bolts are going to feel like splinters.”

“I can restrict its movements or improve ours, but neither will allow us to directly kill it,” Knell said. “And I don’t have any bullets that are going to seriously hurt something of that size either. Stix is right, we’d just be tickling it.”

“Maybe we can try to send one person to creep in and look around while it’s asleep?” Maya asked. “If the door didn’t wake it up, it could be one of those monsters that doesn’t act until someone tries to actually leave with something.”

“Possible,” Knell allowed. “Give me a moment to think. There are a lot of ways we can go about this, and a rash decision after all the time we’ve put into getting here would be a waste.”

They all fell silent with Knell. He stared blankly at the doors, running through potential scenarios in his head as he tried to find one that would have the highest chance of coming out on top. It was several minutes before he spoke again.

“I believe we may have a chance of defeating it.”

“You’re kidding,” Nyra said. “Seriously? How are we supposed to kill something like that?”

“Not kill,” Knell corrected. “Defeat. It’s huge, but its limbs are fairly gangly where they connect to its body. We should be able to cut or damage them enough to render the monster unable to pose us any threat.”

“Unless it falls on top of what we’re looking for,” Stix said.

“Unless that happens,” Knell agreed. “This is my plan. Maya will search the area for the Path Change stone. Meanwhile, we will get into position for a fight. If she locates it before the monster acts, fantastic. More realistically, the monster will attempt to attack at some point after we enter the room. Our job will be to keep it distracted while Maya searches. By targeting its limbs, we may be able to render it unable to continue fighting. If we cannot do that, we will retreat.”

“What about Maya?” Nyra asked. “Just going to abandon her if things go south?”

Knell snorted. “No. She will be the safest of all of us.”

Nyra raised an eyebrow, but the rest of Knell’s crew nodded. She squinted at him. “How is that even possible? She can’t defend herself. I know you healed my wound, but you can’t possibly be implying that you can raise the dead.”

Knell mirrored her expression. Nyra pursed her lips and threw her hands up. “Fine. Don’t tell me. It’s your people’s lives you’re playing with. What about my artifact?”

“Can you describe it?”

Nyra hesitated for a moment. “It’s a trident made from blue stone. Pretty large, so you shouldn’t be able to miss it.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for it,” Maya promised. “I’ll have a minute, right?”

Knell grinned. “To the dot. I trust you understand the importance of that. If you can’t find what we’re looking for in the time we have and the monster is awake, your only task will be to leave the room.”

“Understood,” Maya said, her brow tightening in determination. “There’s a very real chance I only have one shot at finding what we’re looking for, especially if the crab starts fighting.”

“Good. Then it is settled. No reason wasting any more time. You first, Maya.”

They all crept up to the door and Knell pointed at Maya. He cast Haste, then drew deep within himself and cast Anchor as well. Green light enveloped her and Maya blurred, darting into the room at incredible speed. Knell set his mental clock for sixty seconds and stepped into the room after her, his crew at his heels.