The Dungeon Without a System

Chapter 60

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The Dungeon, Medea Island, Kalenic Sea

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As the raid of platinums ensconced themselves in a cave, I had a choice before me. I have made a regular pattern of night being particularly difficult for delvers, either by introducing special monsters or increasing their aggressiveness.

For the Sixth floor... and for this group in particular... I won't go too hard. The environment itself is pretty hostile, and with them in that cave... I COULD throw monsters at them and murder them all eventually. That's my first instinct, even. As with that party on the fifth floor, I could assault them in the dark and kidnap or kill them in their sleep.

Thankfully, I've gotten better at identifying my intrusive thoughts. Those ideas and instinctive reactions are caused by my nature as a dungeon. That instinct to kill invaders, to cause them to flee at least and remove them from my halls... is my base nature.

I've given in to that easy solution more than I'd have preferred. After overcoming that instinct, it's easier to think of other options, like why I'm putting so much effort into my dungeon's looks and atmosphere.

I want to awe these people. I want to see that look on their faces, the one I'd seen briefly when they emerged onto the Sixth. That look of awed wonder.

I couldn't get that from them if they were all dead or had given up because their friends were dead.

To that end, I wouldn't drown them in monsters and golems.

That's not to say I'd give them a free ride. They'd earn every achievement I let them have. Even if it's what they expected, ambushing them in the night wasn't... sporting. In fact, since they expected it, I wouldn't do it. I'd let them wonder why and raise their caution and paranoia even further!

As the nocturnal monsters roamed the caverns and the dregs of the Fire Court retreated to their cavern, I turned my attention downward, floor by floor.

The Seventh was chugging along. Drake-kin, equipped with mithril pickaxes, continued to expand the mines and expose new metal ore veins. I had yet to find deposits of any other metals, not even on the lower floors. Why is the metal only on this thin layer? Is there another layer deeper underground which holds different metals?

With the Guilders having reached the Sixth, it was also time to begin prepping the Seventh for their eventual arrival. My first job was ensuring the Drake-kin village remained invisible to the invaders. I checked all the entrances to ensure that Isid's mana sight couldn't discern any difference in the tunnel walls.

There were about five or six well-used entrances and just as many less-traveled ones. As far as I could tell, they were invisible to both mana sight and blended into the surrounding rock perfectly.

Ah, magic makes hiding things so much easier.

Regarding more active defenses, I have two types of monsters on this floor, the Drake-Kin, and the Stone Golems. The Drake-kin have been training in squads for weeks. With some tips and tricks from Kataren, they have become quite capable. The only thing left to be done is link them to respawn crystals and set their patrol schedule.

The Golems were doing as they had always done; standing against walls and pretending to be part of them. As with Air and Fire, these mana beings unsurprisingly embodied their element. Earth Sprites were quiet, patient, and contemplative. Air Sprites were flighty and always on the move, never settling down for more than a second. Fire Sprites were somewhere in the middle, prone to sudden bursts of energy interspersed with periods of relative peace. I assume Water Spirits are similar to fire, though I have yet to summon any.

On the Seventh, there are around three dozen Stone Golems of various sizes and strength levels. They aren't arranged in any particular order. The strongest of them, the Earth Spirit, is what I would consider... a roaming miniboss. Like his contemporary on the Sixth, the earth spirit set up his own court. While the earth and fire courts had similarities, the differences were primarily in how the court members behaved toward each other.

The earth court's hierarchy is clear. The oldest, which happened to be the spirit, is the 'lord' of the court. There are no other spirits in that court yet, but I assumed they would remain below the first in rank when they appeared. Age is greatly respected by these mana beings, with the oldest being deferred to whenever a choice must be made.

The boss of this floor would be Tear, which was more a foregone conclusion than an actual choice. He was the largest, most physically intimidating of the drake-kin. He was also intelligent, clever, and one many drake-kin looked to for guidance. Hooking him into a respawn crystal went fine, and he was soon back to hammering away in his forge.

The boss arena would have a tunnel directly connecting to the forge so that he could quickly move from one to the other.

Content with the changes, I moved on to the Eighth.

The peaks were clear and sunny today, and the monsters were taking advantage of it. Pyry, the Arctic Thunderbird, was doing wide circles around the peaks. The Ice Foxes were out exploring, and the Snowbolds were training amongst themselves.

The Air Spirit and her court occupied a larger flat section of the second peak, flitting about snowdrifts and playing. Their court dynamics were far looser than the regimented earth or ever-shifting fire courts. The Air court, unsurprisingly, valued freedom and control over their power.

Since first asking for a group of sprites, the Air Spirit had tripled the size of her court. Conversely, she had yet to ask for any golem bodies for her subordinates to occupy. I wasn't sure why at first, but looking at them, I thought I had found the answer. Just as they valued freedom and control, they also had great synergy. Fires could be singular or found in enormous conflagrations. Earth was similar, found in large continuous masses of rock or singular boulders.

Air, as it is, is never alone. It's ever-present, and any movement has knock-on effects that pull, push and twist other parts of the air. This effect can be large or small, but it's always there.

I watched the dozens of air sprites flow in a large group, like that small bird on earth, which swarmed in massive, organic formations. Independently, they were relatively weak. Combining their abilities in this way, however, compounded their strength significantly.

The Air Spirit floated in the center of the area, conducting the sprites in their dance.

I spent the rest of the night tinkering with the details of the mountains, adjusting paths, ledges, cliffs, and more to provide a more authentic mountain-climbing experience. I was particularly proud of the avalanche trap, which would trigger when a loud enough noise was made, or if someone marked as hostile entered the area of effect.

At an idle whim, I created a sign reminiscent of a street sign from my old world. It was an equilateral triangle, holding the image of a man tumbling down a slope. Behind the man was a cloud, and lines represented it flowing down the slope.

I placed this sign at head height, embedded into a cliff just before the avalanche trap.

In this way, only idiots or those who wanted to shatter me would trigger the trap. Those with sense and restraint could pass without a problem, but there was still the chance they could trigger the trap.

As I was about to move on to the Ninth, day broke. The nocturnal monsters retreated to their nests, and the guilders roused themselves.

I returned my attention to the Sixth, eager to see what they'd do next.

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The Tenth Floor, The Dungeon, Medea Island

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Asterion, the First Bull of the Minotaurs, grunted in exertion as he maneuvered the thick log into the prepared hole. He stood back from the wall, and with a wave of his hand, his two sons came forward and secured the log to the two alongside it.

He watched and gave a satisfied grunt at their work. Another gesture brought the mages forward. The mages, led by his head wife, Tauris, spread out along the wall and placed their hands against it. They began a synchronized chant, followed by their horns giving off a vibrant green glow.

At the apex of their chant, Asterion could see the bark of the logs melding together. Slowly, the independent logs became a single, continuous mass of wood. He could imagine roots growing from the underground portions, anchoring the wall and providing stability.

Of course, it is just wood. It could be easily cut through with enough strength and a sharp tool. It could be set aflame and burned down.

Those weaknesses would be rectified by the next spell. Across the wall section, bulls smaller than Asterion approached, their arms laden with mithril ingots. They placed the bars in a line alongside the newly fused wall, and the mages began another chant.

The visual changes were less evident but still obviously there. Asterion watched as the ingots were absorbed by the wood and how the brown bark of the pine turned a dark silvery-grey, one that gleamed slightly in the light.

It was a brilliant combination of Earth, Metal, and Life magic. The individual logs were brought back to life and merged into a single entity by the first chant, then absorbed the metal provided by the second. The metal was integrated into the wood at the most basic level, providing great strength and resistance. The material they had come to call Mythwood was too tough to utilize when the ritual was performed on a living tree.

In the center of their village stood their first successful experiment, an enormous gleaming grey tree with leaves of a brilliant teal. They had not wanted it to stay there, intending to cut it down and use the wood for other things. It had proved too tough to significantly damage and quite capable of healing itself.

Asterion nodded as the mages stepped back. This was the final section of the wall to convert, and its completion marked a significant moment in the history of their young village.

"It's done," he grunted, instantly catching the attention of all the Minotaurs involved. "Good job. You all know what you need to do next. Go do it."

Asterion hefted his battle axe over his shoulder and stomped toward the center of their little village. Behind him, the small herd of Minotaurs dispersed. His wives, sons, and daughters followed him closely.

He let a half-smile emerge from his stoic faade when his younger calves rushed out in front of the group. He had two sons and four daughters, born by three wives. His eldest were twins, one boy, and one girl, born of his union with Tauris. The girl, Taura, was proving adept at all magic she applied herself to. The boy, Aston, was growing like a weed. Asterion was sure his sons would match his height when they reached maturity.

As the group entered their home, the village's most central and largest building, Asterion felt a sense of peace and safety wash over him.

With the wall completed, the gate was the only way to access the village. While weaker than the rest of the wall, it would be much easier to defend than the entire wall. Though... if they could jump high enough, the guilders may be able to leap over the wall entirely...

He decided to approach the mages tomorrow with the problem.

Tonight, however, he'd celebrate quietly with his family.

Yes. Life was good in the warm embrace of The Creator.

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The Dungeon, Medea Island, Kalenic Sea

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The Isid/Haythem/Cliche raid group moved across the Scorched Plains carefully and as quietly as they could. They hugged the edge of the cavern, moving between boulders as they dodged the attention of the patrolling Golems. Despite their best efforts, they were seen by two who had rounded a boulder at just the right moment to see the group.

The two were a molten golem and magma golem pair. As with others of its type, the molten golem's body wasn't made of Potentium, but rather Mithril and either Orichalcum or Moonsilver. This one was feminine-presenting and, as such, was most likely composed of Orichalcum. The golem's body was composed almost entirely of molten metal. Though it maintained a humanoid shape, it could and would abandon that shape for a mass of tentacles.

The magma golem was twice the size of its companion, and from the look of it, it was pretty close to its transformation into a Spirit. Molten stone seeped slowly between cracks in its stone plates, placed and shaped to mimic the muscle groups found in my more humanoid monsters. This one had a hunched posture, with arms that hung to its ankles.

At first sight of the guilders, the monsters rushed into battle.

The magma golem took the lead and charged the three guilders scurrying between cover. The woman in the middle, Flasa, dodged the overhand smash. She retaliated by attempting to stab the golem's arm with a dagger.

It wasn't very effective, being made of stone and all.

As the dagger skittered off to the side, the golem raised its arms again. It was much faster than the woman expected, and she barely dodged the second smash.

Now on her feet, she was joined by other members of the raid group, who all started probing the golem for weaknesses. It was unfortunate for the guilders that, unlike the Fifth Floor Boss, I hadn't given them one, and they were ill-inclined to give one to themselves.

The molten golem wasn't far behind her companion. She slid along the ground, as her legs were more of a solid pillar than anything else. Her arms deformed from their humanoid structure into long whip-like tentacles, then split in two. With four whips of molten metal whipping through the air, she kept the guilders away from her main body quite handily.

While the golems had the initial advantage, it didn't last long.

Where regular blades failed, a mace succeeded. Where daggers skittered along the rock, the mace crushed it and exposed the molten rock beneath. Bertram wielded the weapon with skill, and with the other guilders harassing the golem he landed blow after blow.

The molten golem found her nemesis in Isid, whose manablades were the only weapon that found purchase on the golem. She was also the first to fall, her whips worn down to stubs and her chest pierced directly into her core. With its shell losing cohesion, the sprite escaped into the ground. The magma golem, now receiving the attention of the entire raid group, started losing limbs as well.

Unlike its companion, the magma golem escaped by rolling into a ball and speeding off, catapulting itself into a nearby lake of lava.

The looks on their faces were priceless. Ah, what I wouldn't give for a camera at that moment.

The Guilders didn't come out the other side without a few injuries, mostly second-degree burns, large black-and-blue bruises, and long thin cuts. A few potions later, they were back in fighting shape.

To my surprise, they didn't attempt to leave after that. They'd judged the effort just to get to the Sixth large enough that they would only leave when they felt the trip was worth the effort.

Now cooled enough to touch, the guilders collected a sample of the sprite's metal body, its cracked core, and some rock broken off from the magma golem.

They continued searching for the boss arena for the rest of the day, and only had to fight roaming golems another two times. Though they won, their encounter with a group of five left two of their group less an arm, and they'd run out of potions.

I watched them retreat to the fifth, then moved my attention back to the Tenth. It's time to set up the boss arena, and after that... The Eleventh beckons.

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Max Porteous, 2022