by Matthew Peed
“Particle physics. I removed the energy holding the atoms together, and it turned to dust,” the other me said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Any way we can avoid fighting?” I asked sheepishly. This was the worst kind of opponent for me to fight. Along with the fact that I didn’t have an inkling of an idea on how to fight something like this.
“That’s not up to me,” the other me answered cryptically.
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, waving my hands in front of me.
The other me looked at me curiously. I dropped to the ground, then started pacing back and forth. This just didn’t make sense. Why would Regan create something that could so easily get out of control? I mean, if others’ copies were even half as powerful as mine was in their opposition, then I didn’t think anyone could get past this floor.
I considered for a moment whether that was what he intended, but I threw that thought out. Regan was quite up front with his idea of fairness when it came to his main dungeon. I believed it might not even be intentional, more a subconscious thing from being a dungeon core. I looked up to the other me.
“Hey, come down here. I want to talk,” I shouted up to her.
“Oh, what about, I wonder?” She smiled and walked down the air as if walking on a staircase.
“There’s no way Regan could create something like you for every person who reached this floor. Even as a dungeon core, the mana requirements would be out of this world. Especially if someone like me entered. I don’t want to even imagine what that cost,” I said, rubbing my forehead.
“So? How are you going to prove it?” the other me asked, tilting her head.
“I . . .” I started. How WAS I going to prove it? It’s not like she would just let me walk out of here. She had already stopped me from doing so. No, I felt like I was missing something simple. I tried to think about the conversations I’d had with Izora over the last few months. Vern was a dungeon enthusiast and knew a lot about them. She’d drilled me on some of the basics of dungeons that were accepted.
Thinking over the information about boss rooms, I remembered Vern had said that it was usually a stronger version of the previous floors or a similar version of the upcoming floors. I knew for a fact that the next floor was a forest made from lightning trees. The temple of Zeus was in there as well, so that meant it was similar to the previous floor.
“Well?” the other me asked, tapping her foot with her Helios staff.
“Shh, I’m still thinking,” I said impatiently.
She gave me a sour look but just shrugged. She continued to tap her staff, then began to hum a song from my childhood. It was quite distracting because it brought memories of my mother to mind. Mother had been a strong woman, and in my memories, she’d always helped people. The image of Ezal helping me from . . . something that Regan had made on the previous floor flashed to mind.
“I guess that’s game and match,” the other me said, shaking her head. “It was nice while it lasted.”
“Wait, I haven’t done anything yet,” I said, confused.
The other me tapped her temple. “I’m in here remember.” She smiled and moved toward me, but I didn’t feel threatened. She reached her hand out to me.
“Is that it?” I asked, surprised it was so simple.
“This time. I suggest you help your friend. She is having some trouble,” the other me said, taking my hand.
The world around me flashed, and I found myself in a room much like the city I was just in, only on a smaller scale. Looking around, I saw everyone from the party standing in a circle around a large rune that was engraved into the ground. Everyone was putting off various amounts of mana, as, I assumed, they were battling their alter egos in their mindscapes.
The expressions of everyone varied as well. Some of the guards actually had happy expressions. They were probably talking it through with their other half. I moved over to Izora and was about to reach out to grab her shoulder when a barrier sprang into existence around her. I looked down and saw it had come from a groove in the ground and extended to the ceiling.
I tapped it with Helios but could tell that I wouldn’t be getting through it easily. As I watched, blood started to flow from Izora’s nose. I was worried if she continued much longer, she might die. I was about to start channeling mana when I heard Ezal call from the other side of the large circle.
“Mistress! You’re alright!” She sounded relieved.
“Ezal! Glad to see you managed to figure it out,” I called back to her, likewise relieved.
“Yes, my alter ego was quite enlightening about a few things,” she said, getting a dark look for a moment. But it quickly passed.
I tilted my head, wondering what that was about. I’d have to ask her later if we managed to get free. “We’ll discuss it later. For now, we need to help Izora and a few of the others. I fear they might be dying,” I said, wondering again what could have caused her to have such a look.
“Yes. I encountered myself, only with extreme ice mana. I can only imagine what a multiaspect like her would encounter,” Ezal said.
“I’m more worried about the mental facet. Mine was very . . . to the point,” I said, remembering what the other me said about killing my father.
“I know,” Ezal said, looking over the barrier holding her. “I hate to say it, Mistress, but I think you should call Regan.”
I nodded. That was likely the best path, given how many lives were in danger. “Yeah. I was thinking the same thing.” I grimaced. I just hoped he wasn’t too busy with something. I reached down to grab the bracelet. It had been close to three days since I’d talked to him last. There was no way to know if he would be able to help soon. “Regan. We need your help!” I sent, then waited. It took nearly ten minutes before I got a reply.
“Busy. Deal with it on your own. If you can’t, wait five hours,” Regan sent back.
“Shit!” I growled.
“I’m assuming he can’t help at this moment?” Ezal commented when she heard me.
I nodded, then turned to the barrier. It was just Regan, I thought with a grimace. I would show him I didn’t need his help for everything. I moved Helios next to the barrier, then started channeling my mana. Arcs of lightning formed between the barrier and Helios, but I wasn’t even sure I felt it weaken.
“This is going to take a while,” I murmured angrily.
Chapter 27
Regan
The prisoners woke up roughly as they came out of the shock caused by my blast. Some regained consciousness quickly, while others suffered from various forms of nausea and other ailments. Julie woke up among the first group and was heading toward the other necromancers in the cell.
“Wake up! The master will be displeased if he sees us right now!” Julie said harshly. She proceeded to kick each of them in the stomach. They were all gnomes except one, who was a human female. They were all barely into tier two from the amount of mana they were giving me.
“Bitch! Who the hell are you?” one of the men growled. He immediately turned green and went to empty his stomach next to the wall.
“A messenger,” Julie said calmly. I had to give her credit for coming up with that on the fly. I had only just questioned her about the position a few weeks ago when I’d learned about the information from the other necromancers.
“Prove it!” a woman demanded.
Julie held her hand out, then channeled some of her mana. A skull made of unholy mana formed over her hand, and the others looked at her less critically. Before the others could react, Julie reached forward and grabbed the man who’d spoken against her by the throat. The unholy mana ripped through his body as his life force was pulled into Julie. She dropped his lifeless corpse to the ground after a few moments.
“What is the word from the council?” the first man asked, sounding desperate to divert her rage.
“I come from the lower lands, but I was caught up in this mess,” Julie said, glaring around her. “What is going on?”
The oth
er necromancers glanced at each other before the first man stepped forward. He took a deep breath, then said, “Madam messenger, my name is Owin. We were assigned to bring the gnome forces back to the citadel, but an unknown force attacked the keepers. We were sent to repel the force. As you can see, we failed, quite miserably at that,” Owin finished with a sigh.
“Why did you not gather intelligence on the force and try to infiltrate it, as is our way?!” Julie demanded in an impressive pissed-off tone.
“Our apologies, madam messenger. Recent events are forcing us to react with more speed than in the past,” Owin said, kneeling.
“What was the last message from the council?” Julie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Head for the citadel as fast as possible,” Owin answered.
“Interesting,” she said, then mentally sent to me, “Anything else, Master?”
“Like I said, make some friends,” I sent back.
“WAIT! You mean to leave me in here?!” Julie sent back, worry in her voice. “When will I get to see you again?!” she asked quickly.
“In a few days. I might give you a reward if you come up with some good information.”
“Promise?!” she demanded through the link. I could almost feel her anticipation at the thought. I would have to make sure to deliver.
“Messenger?” Owin asked.
“I’m trying to think of a way to get us out of here,” Julie growled at him.
“Yes, madam!” Owin said.
I felt he was rather new and too lacking in confidence to be a necromancer. The ones I had encountered so far tended toward the overconfident side, to the point they became twisted like Julie and Wrakras.
I left Julie to her own devices, though I kept a bit more of my awareness on her in case the necromancers said anything important. I felt like I was fighting an octopus, only one head and several arms. Each time I cut one off, more took its place. I hadn’t even fought any of the leaders yet.
When I arrived back on the bridge, I found that the transponder was set, and we were readying to head out. The next dryad was only two hundred kilometers from here. We would reach it by the end of the day. Before we left, I went over the dock section of Alpha. On one of the arms, large bays let airships dock with ease. Although my other airships were too big to fit in them, I could work on smaller and other types of airships, as well as allow foreign airships to land in the future.
In one of the bays, a small airship, by my standards, was anchored and receiving its crew. It came in at only a hundred meters long, being meant for speed with a sleek exterior. It was armed with a few autocannons and a single large plasma cannon on the center. Its reactor guaranteed that the goblins would have enough mana for their barriers while on the journey as long as they didn’t stray too far from the ship unprotected.
A contingent of forty goblins were moving cargo onto the airship with ease using exosuits and mechs. The biggest strategic component was that the suits and mechs were equipped with mana batteries that were strong enough to last them several hours outside the ship. If they failed to return to the airship or couldn’t find a mana supply for the barrier, they would convert back to their “primal state,” as I liked to call it.
“Tony, who did you choose to lead this expedition?” I asked when I saw the mob boss leaning against a rail as he watched the proceedings.
“Ah! Boss, glad you could witness the departure. I choose Darr of the Kell family. They are reliable and get the job done,” Tony answered, pointing at a female goblin that was working on a mech. A cord attached to a harness led back into the mech, and the harness emitted a paper-thin barrier to protect her from the ambient mana.
Her mech was on another level compared with the ones they’d used a while ago. I mostly left the goblins alone when it came to their mechs, as I wanted to see the natural progression they would take. Darr had somehow gotten ahold of mithril and used it for parts of her mech. I also noticed several weapons that looked like they should belong on one of my airships rather than a humanoid mech. The whole thing must have been eight or nine meters tall.
“Where did she get those?” I asked out loud, though more to myself.
“She was working in the labs here in the city, boss. On her downtime she would go study the turrets and weapons that Boss created for Alpha. Not sure about the mithril, though,” Tony explained.
“Let’s go ask, then.” I grinned.
Creating a platform of solid energy under us, I levitated Tony and me down to the dock level. Darr was so enthralled in her work that she failed to notice us as we stood there. Tony was about to say something, but I felt that Darr took after my own heart and held my hand up to tell him to wait for her to finish. I remembered that I always hated getting interrupted when working on a project.
Finally, after maybe another five minutes, Darr reached a stopping point. She moved the wrench to her harness, where it snapped on with a clang. She wiped the sweat from her brow and looked up. Dread crossed her face when she saw us standing there.
“Godfather! Boss! My deepest apologies!” she screeched as she tried to move down from her mech. The cord caught on something, causing her to slip and then dangle from the side of her mech like a puppet. Her green cheeks were blazing red from the embarrassment.
“Calm down,” I chuckled and used some mana to lift her back on top of her mech.
She took the proper path down the side of the mech this time, quickly reaching the ground, then rushed in front of us, most likely afraid to upset either of us. “What . . . what can I do for you?” she asked, rubbing her hands together.
Darr was cute for a goblin. My goblins all possessed smooth skin much like a human’s or elf’s, but hers was particularly well cared for. She had a determined but innocent face that people would associate with youth. Her purple and blue hair was cut short, stopping just above her ears, which were long, also much like an elf’s would be.
“I just wanted to meet the leader of the expedition,” I said finally.
“Oh . . . oh, Darr of the Kell family, boss!” Darr said looking a bit relieved.
“And to ask where you got the mithril from,” Tony added with a more serious expression.
Darr shrank back a bit before looking back to her mech. Her eyes filled with a love one might have for a trusted friend that you knew you could rely on no matter the situation. She turned back to us with a sigh. “I . . . I borrowed it, Godfather,” she answered, bowing her head.
“Borrowed it? From where?” Tony asked, anger leaking into his voice.
“Umm, umm . . .” Darr said, wringing her hands even more nervously.
“Girl!” Tony shouted.
Darr crouched, covering her head in her hands. “From the labs!” she cried, terror in her voice.
“That’s not possible,” I said matter-of-factly. “Explain.”
Tears were leaking down her cheeks by this point, but I couldn’t let something like this go without knowing the full story. If my creations had found a way to get around my control—even the goblins have a level of it embedded in their subconsciousness—then I would have to revise how I did things in some places of the dungeon.
“You . . . y-you . . . you said-said we could . . . use the . . . materials provided to experiment . . .” Darr squeaked out the best she could. “I . . . I-I used it to . . . experiment on . . . on my mech,” she finished, then threw herself to the ground.
“You think that excuses you from this . . . this heresy!” Tony shouted angrily. “To steal from the boss! The dishonor it will bring your family!”
“Please! Spare my family!” Darr begged, crawling forward to grab Tony’s leg. “Please!”
“Quiet!” I ordered.
Darr continued to whimper but stopped begging. Tony also didn’t say anything, though he did push Darr from himself. I considered the situation. She hadn’t technically broken any rules. She’d used the mithril to experiment on her mech, which was still beneficial to the dungeon forces. It also showed s
he had the awareness to look at her situation and find a solution, though this time it had ended poorly. Going into a foreign dungeon, such smarts would be needed in the event the unknown happened.
“Darr, I will forgive this transgression—only this once. In return, if you should fail your mission, know that your entire family will be cast into ruin and suffer feralization, then cast into the wilds to die,” I said, energy leaking off my voice.
“Yes, boss!” Darr said, her head smacking the ground as she bowed from her hands and knees.
“Now tell me about your creation,” I said, gesturing to her mech.
Her face did a one-eighty as she flew to her feet and ran over to her mech. “This is Bervin 01. I used a triple-mana battery matrix so that I could nearly quadruple the power during a pinch. I was going to use a miniature version of the reactor, but all my experiments ended in failure. If I went another ten meters bigger, I could have made it work but . . .” Darr explained. “For weapons there is a 20mm autocannon on each shoulder. Two mana sabers for close quarters combat. A hexagram force barrier that has been simplified from the airships.” She paused, looking at me with wide eyes.
Darr explained everything like a child showing off their favorite toy. I decided to oblige her. “Go on.”
She smiled happily. “The armor is composed of unraulium alloy developed in the labs. It requires orichalcum to be fused with undead flesh, like a sort of living metal that takes mana in and uses it to heal itself. Its defense is top notch, equal almost to untreated mithril,” Darr finished, beaming at me.
“Impressive. I’m glad you found a use for the unraulium. Alright, your friend here is a sufficient enough asset to forgive your transgression,” I said, patting her on the head.
“Thank you, boss,” she said, casting her eyes to the floor.
“I also see something else,” I said, glancing over to Tony. He only coughed and looked away. Of course, he would assign a mission like this to her. He was worried about a potential challenger rising to power with her expertise in mechs.
