DD 203 Ch 16 (Patreon)

Chapter 16

We rushed back to the 32nd floor, but as soon as our feet came off the steps, Neldra stopped the whole group and turned to look at Felin. "I think the kitty owes us an explanation," she said. 

Felin's eyes darted around before they landed on me. She began fidgeting, very unlike the confident Nekorian I often observed. 

"It's alright, Felin. Just tell us if you know what this is," I said. 

"I don't know exactly if it's the same," Felin said. "Our records are a little spotty." 

I raised an eyebrow. She knew something.

"But..." she said, "I've never seen the Nekorian world." She dipped her head at me. "I'm sorry I lied. We don't really talk about it." 

"What do you mean you haven't seen the Nekorian world?" Neldra stood up a little straighter, her hand on the hilt of her sword. 

I stepped between the two. "Don't threaten her." 

Felin's ears lay flat against her head. "The Nekorians inhabit what you would call a dead branch of the dungeon." 

Charlotte gasped and threw herself on Felin in a giant hug. "You poor thing."

Felin grumbled, but wrapped her arms around Charlotte and hugged her tight. "I was raised in here. I have only ever known life underneath the Great One," Felin admitted as if it was painful to speak those words. 

"My people were once a group that was separated during an event in the dungeon. They call it…" she frowned, doing her best to translate, "The Great Disaster. All I remember from the records is that a great storm hit. While they were within the Great One, the world rocked and they were left stranded away from their homes, unable to find their way back. My people set up in a branch of the dungeon and made themselves a new home." 

My jaw dropped. I joined the hug with Charlotte, squeezing Felin lovingly. "Thank you for telling us, but I don't think that will happen again." My voice was filled with confidence.

And there was a reason I had that confidence. This would be a perfect use of Eyes of Wisdom. With that, hopefully, I would be able to lead our group back to their worlds. I even had hope I would not say that I could help reunite the lost Nekorians. 

"It's okay," Felin said, "I'm sure we'll get back." She spoke the words, but her heart clearly wasn’t behind them.

I tapped at the edge of my eye as they glowed blue, posing the question to [Eyes of Wisdom], which way back to Earth? A blue line extended towards what I knew was the direction to the entrance to the 33rd floor. Of course, the way out would be first going down. Out of curiosity, I activated Eyes of Wisdom again, asking the ability, what was the quickest way to the elven world? The blue line went down the same direction. 

Neldra was looking at me curiously. "What did you ask of the ability? What is the way back?" 

I told her, and she smiled.

Tension bled out of the group around me. Only after telling them that I would be able to help guide us out did I realize how tense they had all been standing.

"Good, good," Neldra nodded to herself and then glanced at Elysara. "We'll be able to get you back. I know that this will not only have rocked the human world, but the elven world as well. This shake-up... will have stranded many people in the dungeon." Neldra made a face, "Many of whom we will likely never see again." 

Felin let out a low groan. "My people were already separated once, and now it's going to happen again."

I glanced at the princess, knowing that there was certainly a priority to get her back to her people. However, after that was done, I would help Felin find her people again. I put a hand on the Nekorian and pulled her face into my chest. 

"Don't worry, if you think that I won't use this ability to help you as well, you have no idea how wrong you are." 

Des held a hand up. "While I'm happy we have a way forward, we still have one huge problem." She pointed back the way we had come. "In case you guys didn't notice, there were a large number of dwarves."

“Unless that's a baby Dwarven Queen and Neldra thinks she can cut her way through it, we're going to have a very serious dwarf problem on our hands," I agreed. Neldra shook her head. 

"I'm not sure what a normal Dwarven hive looks like, but what's there looks very established," the Royal Censor shook her head. "Fortunately, we have to go down the dungeon and not in that direction," she said.

I couldn't help but agree with her. Going through an army of dwarves was not my ideal way out of the current situation. 

"Okay, let's go see if Professor Sai has gotten back from her trip," I suggested. I turned and started towards the encampment outside the raid. It wasn't on fire and there wasn't shouting, so that was a good sign.

However, most people looked fairly anxious as we approached. 

Machen and Marin jumped to their feet and rushed to us, along with Harley and some of the others. Their groups bled out of their tents wanting to get an update.

"Please tell me you have good news," Harley said.

I winced. "Not the best. It seems the dungeon has shuffled the floors," I replied. There were frowns of confusion around the impromptu huddle. 

"What do you mean, shuffled?" Machen asked. 

"Well, as we all know, the dungeon is like an inverted pyramid that connects to multiple worlds. Every five levels of the dungeon then connects to three other branches of five levels. The deeper down in the dungeon the level, the bigger and fewer floors there are. I don't know exactly how the shuffles worked, but it seems we are not connected to the same safe zones we were a few hours ago. We are connected to new safe zones." I always struggled to explain the dungeon structure.

Marin raised her hand. "Did we just shuffle horizontally or could we have shuffled vertically as well?" 

I made a noise of hesitation. "We have no clue." 

"Oh, that's comforting," Harley said sarcastically. "Well, hopefully Professor Sai had better luck on her end. Humanity has explored a lot of the dungeon. Hopefully we're still connected somehow.”

“Or the dungeon is impossibly vast and the part that humanity has explored could really just be a very small percentage." A Trusk student pushed up his glasses.

"Yeah, let's not think about that." I cleared my throat, seeing another figure approaching the camp.

The figure was Professor Gafar from the Royal College. Professor Sai wasn't with him.

I waved the professor down.

He jogged up to us, panting. "I hope all of you are safe," he said, looking around the group. There was a splash of blood on his clothes that were torn slightly, causing me to frown. 

"Professor, are you okay?" I asked, worried that he had encountered something on his trip.

The absence of Professor Sai made me momentarily hope that she had stayed behind to communicate with whoever was at the other end of the safe zone. Yet, Professor Gafar's appearance told another story.

He shook his head. "No, the safe zone was filled with Naga. She stayed behind so I could escape." He shook his head again and then glanced at Neldra. "We'll need you to help clear the Naga if we are to survive." 

Neldra put her hand on her sword. "Not a chance." 

"What do you mean?" The professor puffed himself up. "We are connected to a different safe zone, one filled with Naga that could potentially flood this floor and kill all of the students. Are you saying that you won't help?" 

Prince Albar smirked as he spoke. "I thought the elves and the humans were going to have a working relationship, but you can't even step in to save some of the pinnacle representatives of humanity?" 

Neldra grimaced and looked at the prince like she wanted to wipe him off the face of the dungeon.

Unfortunately, while 'everything in the dungeon stays in the dungeon' was a wonderful motto, now surrounded by so many adventurers, it would be very difficult to keep killing the prince quiet.

I too had had several thoughts about sneaking into his tent at night and making sure he would never be a problem again.

However, life wasn't always that easy. We had to continue, and in the current situation, it would be best to learn to work together. 

"Alright, I have worse news," I gestured at Professor Gafar. "The 30th floor safe zone we're connected to is filled with dwarves." 

The professor's face fell. "You mean, we're surrounded?" 

"It would appear so." I rubbed the back of my head and looked up at the fake sky that was the ceiling of the dungeon. "What we need to do right now is figure out a way through either the naga or the dwarves. What level were the naga?" I turned to the professor. 

"They were in the mid-forties," he reported.

I pinched my brow. "Far from ideal, but I think dealing with mid-forties naga is more doable than fighting through the masses of dwarves and potentially a dwarven queen." 

I paused, thinking back to Maren's earlier question. Did we just move horizontally in the dungeon and get shuffled around, or did we move vertically instead?

I put my hand over my eyes. "If the naga were that high level, that means that safe zone, we could assume, was deeper than level 35." 

There was confusion from about half the faces in the group, though Candice spelled it out. "If that was a safe zone of naga that high level, it's safe to say it was likely the fortieth or the forty-fifth floor before the shuffling." 

I nodded. "Which means we might have shuffled vertically either deeper or higher into the dungeon. The monsters are still level thirty-two, though," Machen said. 

"Well at least that's good," Des twirled her hair, "because if they suddenly leveled to fifty, we'd be screwed." 

"The Great One always provides a path to survive," Felin hummed. "I think it is likely the monsters will slowly adjust the level to whatever this dungeon floor should actually be in the future.” 

“For now, let's just keep calling it the thirty-second floor," I said, not wanting to add more confusion. "But we all understand that this dungeon floor could actually be higher or lower than it was previously." 

"What about the raid," Prince Albar asked. 

"Are you really still concerned about the raid?" I asked him. "We're pinned on both sides by hostile races, and the monsters in this floor might be leveling on us," I said, trying to paint a realistic picture of the challenges we faced. 

"We had a bet," Prince Albar said, "and I'm not one to give up a bet." 

I rolled my eyes.

"I think running the raid is still important," Candice surprised me with her opinion, and I must have shown it on my face, because she continued. "If this floor begins to level, then it stands to reason the raid will too, as will the drops it produces. If we want to keep up our strength, and prepare to fight these higher level naga, running the raid might be in our best interest to keep up with the increases." 

I thought about what she had said for a moment, and could only nod in agreement. As we were right now, we would be relying entirely on Neldra and Professor Gafar to try and clear what was likely a safe zone of hundreds of mid 40s naga. At the same time, Neldra's body language was making it clear that she didn't want to stray far from Elysara. 

"We'll have to modify how we do it though," I said. 

"What do you mean," Machen asked. 

"Well if we want to optimize levels and loot, we should probably have one team rotated out, and three teams rotated in. Each team gets a wing." 

"Hold on, that's not fair," the prince said. "One of the wings has twice the bosses." 

I sighed. "Of course, we'll have to rotate who gets which wing. It's really the best option we have." 

Even though the 32nd floor was quite large, it would be difficult for all 100 adventurers to farm the space. The raid, on the other hand, provided strong monsters that took a raid to kill, and thus might be a better way to keep everyone occupied, increasing their strength. It seemed we would need to be far stronger in the near future.

“Alright. It’s been a day for us. I’m going to rest up. Remember to keep a watch rotation now.” I said, stepping back.

Des pulled me aside as we moved off towards our tents, breaking from the huddle with the other colleges. I was happy to see someone had righted our tent.

"That's what they're going to do. What are we going to do?" Des asked. 

I glanced at Neldra, and she shook her head. "With everything that's been going on, especially that Miriam and Tish just went to follow up a lead, I am not leaving Elysara alone." She made herself perfectly clear, and I didn't really have it in me to argue with her.

Instead, I thought this would be a great time for the rest of the class and I to level. We had gone through some intense stat training from Crimson. We were now starting to get powerful gear, and were well ahead of the curve on stats for our level. It was now time to catch our level back up to our stats, and push ourselves higher.

If the floor leveled, we’d just have to keep up.

"We'll do as I said," I told Des, "we grind, we level, and we make sure that we can get back home. If we have to go down the dungeon, there's a good chance we're going to have to go past not just that safe zone, but several more. I don't know if we are strong enough to do it as we are right now." 

Des made a face. "Can't you just spin [Liminal Speed] up to insane numbers and go slaughter the naga?" 

I smiled back at her. "I might just do that. However, all of you better have a massive feast for me afterwards. I'm going to look like a shrunken husk at how many calories I'm going to burn." 

Her idea wasn't a terrible one. I had been thinking similarly, though there were enough abilities out there that I could find myself in serious trouble if I took on too powerful of naga. There were certainly abilities that were not dodgeable or blanketed a large area. For me, it was still too dangerous to try and take out all of the naga, especially when I had no one to revive me. 

We made it back to our tent, and I watched as the other colleges started to rally their people. Machen jogged over. "Since you guys just finished up the dungeon, we figured you would sit out first," he said awkwardly. 

"That's fair. Go ahead. You three can all go in the raid, and good luck." 

"Thanks. I think, if nothing else, it'll be a good distraction for my class." Machen scratched the back of his head and dipped himself awkwardly before hurrying off to manage the rest of his class. 

I'd just come out of the raid looking for a solution. I was exhausted. But before I could go to sleep, I looked around. "Who's got first watch? We need someone on watch at all times. It'd be even better if we could get a group to stay on watch from the class." 

Neldra nodded. "It would be important right now. We have to treat the dungeon as hostile. Never know when Naga could strike." She clearly left out the unvoiced 'or assassins'. 

Charlotte raised her hand. "I'm still good to keep watch. I'll get some other girls from the class." 

I dragged myself off to the bed in the back to make sure that we got rest for what was sure to come. It was only a matter of time before we found ourselves once again in danger.

***

I woke up with a start, someone's hand over my mouth. An unfamiliar face hovered above me, and a dagger flashed in my hand before I recognized the woman as Professor Sai. I sat up and blurted out, "You're supposed to be dead." I was loud enough that several of the girls in bed began to stir. 

While I was happy to see her alive, Professor Sai was in chain mail and a bladed skirt, a long sword strapped to her back. This was far from the Professor I had known thus far. In fact, she looked quite ferocious. 

"Gafar has four assassins on the floor with us," she whispered. 

Neldra, who had been dozing on a chair, went bolt upright at that statement, drawing her sword from its sheath as if ready for combat. I held a hand out to stop her. 

"I appreciate the heads up, but if that's the case, why am I waking up to you and not a blade in my throat? Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset," I chuckled, but no one else was laughing. 

"I don't know either," Professor Sai said. "If anything, I would bet that he's holding off until they can remedy or at least understand the current situation.”

“Do they know that Ken can find a way out?" a sleepy Felin asked. 

Professor Sai gave me a strange look. "A way out?” 

“Our current theory is that the dungeon floors have shifted. Currently, the 30th floor safe zone has been replaced by one that has a Dwarven Queen established in it, and then it sounds like the 35th floor, or what we thought was the 35th floor safe zone, now has Naga." 

The professor nodded. "Great. It seems like the 31st through the 35th floors have remained the same,”

“Or moved together in a unit," I said.

Professor Sai stood up and started pacing "We could quite literally be anywhere in the giant complex that is the dungeon. Getting back would be almost impossible unless we knew the way." 

I tapped my eyes as I activated Eyes of Wisdom. They glowed blue. "I have an ability that Crimson has shared with me."

That statement caused the professor to raise her eyebrow.

"It's a long story," I continued, "either way, know that I should be able to guide us through the dungeon.” 

“Can that also see invisible assassins?" Des asked. 

"It absolutely can," I smiled and glanced at Neldra, who gave me a vicious grin, her sword still at the ready. "Point me in the right direction and we won't have an assassin problem any longer." 

Professor Sai held a hand up. "They were strong, strong enough to incapacitate me quickly. And I'm level 48." 

Neldra wrinkled her nose. "So they're probably around the low 50s, which is the top end for humanity." She glanced over at me. 

"What?" I shrugged. "Because they're assassins, I'm supposed to know who they are?" 

Neldra waffled her head, "Kind of.”

“While I might formally be an assassin, my grandparents would be the ones who know everything. But that doesn't matter much. If I can spot them and send you to them, like you said, they won't be a problem. But, I am concerned that if they took the job, they may feel confident enough to defeat you." 

Professor Sai nodded at my words. "Regardless, I think between Neldra and I, there's a chance we can take care of them. And I would rather go on the attack.We just have to time this right." 

I pulled myself out of bed and tapped at my CID until I took my yorai out of it. "Well, if we're assassinating them, you can't leave me out." 

"What about us?" Des asked. 

"If we kill the assassins, then you should all be safe," I flashed her a winning smile, but she crossed her arms in response, raising an eyebrow.

I sighed. "Look, it's dangerous for you guys." 

"It's just as dangerous for you," Des shot back. 

Neldra cleared her throat. "I would feel better if all of you were here to protect the princess. Only then would I feel comfortable leaving her." 

Elysara glared at the Royal Censor. "Don't use me as an excuse." 

Neldra only flashed her a humorless smile in return. "Sorry, princess. You don't get to join us." 

Neldra grabbed me by the shoulder and the world around us blurred as she ripped me out of the tent.