Dungeon Robotics (Book 7): Collapse

by Matthew Peed

  “No! There’s no way you could have known. We’ll find her!”

  “Yes. I owe her a life debt for everything she has done for you.” He embraced me again before pulling back and kneeling in front of me. He rested his head on my stomach. “Hello, little one. I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’ve come to protect you and your mother like I was supposed to do from the beginning.”

  “He heard you alright,” I said, rubbing my stomach as the baby gave me a particularly strong kick. I would never understand how I could take a full-on punch from Bruce, but a tiny kick from the baby growing inside me could hurt me more.

  Val laughed, then swept me into a princess hold. “Come! There is still a few more hours in the day. I want to hear about the time I was gone before I help the soldiers during the night.”

  ~~~

  Three days went by with each night getting more desperate. Despite having Val, we were getting to numbers that even he was having trouble fighting off. He only had so much mana he could expend, after all. I had rested through the first two nights, but I demanded to help on the third. I couldn’t have my soldiers risking their lives while I stayed locked in a room.

  It was nearly halfway through the night when there was a change in the situation. The undead were charging the section of the city we had made into a stronghold. With all the buildings surrounding us collapsed to form makeshift walls, the undead were being forced to climb over the hastily-constructed barriers to get to us.

  We were fighting what felt like the third wave of the night. I would never understand why the undead liked to attack in waves. It was then that a large section of ground collapsed, creating a hole a few dozen meters wide outside the west wall where the center of the city would have been. The explosion of rubble took a couple hundred of the undead out.

  “Was that a Terra mage trying to be a hero?!” I demanded from the mage squad around me even though I knew none of them had caused it. There had been no mana signature for any of them.

  “It appeared . . . natural, ma’am!” one of the mages replied.

  The next moment, a wave of fire and stone washed out of the hole, clearing everything for almost a hundred meters. As the fire died, several hulking silhouettes emerged with small creatures running around their feet. They only took a few looks around before they started tearing the undead to pieces.

  “Reinforcements?” I asked. Maybe it was one of Lord Regan’s?

  Soon, there was a sizable force surrounding the hole. I counted at least a thousand of the larger creatures and roughly the same to a little more of the smaller. The smaller creatures were the magic might of the force, using spells that would have left many tier two mages out of mana over and over again.

  While we watched the new force tear the undead apart, Val landed next to me. “Trolls and kobolds. No matter what you do, do not attack them.”

  “But trolls and kobolds are weak monsters,” one of the mages said with a huff.

  “The kind you are used to. These are High Races. They come from the Beneath. If you don’t want us all to die today, you would do well to heed my command,” Val said with a sharp glance at the man.

  “High Races?” I asked. I knew about the High Races. Lord Regan suspected Louella was descended from a one.

  “The royal family know about the Beneath. Part of that information is about the races inhabiting it. This information is very old but should be accurate enough. There is the High Race city of Fallen Rose, home to the Common High Races such as human and elf. Then there are three other cities we don’t have names for. One is a shared place for the trolls and kobolds. Another for dark elves. And lastly, a city for the High Dwarf Race.”

  “So, there are over a thousand High Race trolls and kobolds within shouting distance that would wipe out a few cities. I understand,” I said, looking at the new arrivals with opened eyes. I was sure I was too shocked for the terror to set in.

  The force managed to clean up the undead in less than thirty minutes. The other half of the city was a smoldering pile of ash now, but it did the job. Once they were done with the undead, they turned their attention to us. I tightened my grip on Val’s arm.

  A group of the creatures approached us in a calm fashion. I was worried what we would do if they started to attack us without even attempting to open a dialogue. I released Val and stood up straight at the front. I was the person in charge, after all.

  The approaching group stopped at the edge of our makeshift wall. A kobold motioned with his hand, and an aura from a spell washed over the group. “Leader! Bring out!”

  I stepped forward and presented myself. “I am the leader!”

  “Hunting! Terra wave! Great destruction it caused! Know the source, you?”

  I pointed toward the north in the direction of the scar and the northern capital beyond. “A great battle took place a few months ago in the north. The surface dwellers were greatly affected as well. Only the origin is known,” I answered.

  The kobold doing the talking eyed me for a long moment. “You answer. Kill you, we won’t. Thankful be. If lying you are, destroy everything you love, we will. Remember, Koraz City Expedition, you will.”

  “Thank you for the warning. I hope your hunting turns out well,” I said with a bow as best I could with my swollen stomach.

  The kobold nodded, then turned and walked away with his group. We watched as the trolls and kobolds formed up into a horde and started to march toward the north. The ground responded without heed to the trolls as it formed smooth paths for them.

  Val jumped down next to me. “Good job, my love. Those two races respect honesty, if the reports are to be trusted. It’s a good thing you didn’t try to stall.”

  I nodded. When facing overwhelming power, I knew to just say what needed to be said and be done with it. Lord Regan had shown that to me plenty of times.

  The rest of the night passed calmly, the Koraz force having dealt with all the undead in their path. As the morning sun broke over the horizon, we spotted an airship coming from the direction of Tearfalls. One of our better-sighted members made out the dungeon and Vaihdetta emblems on the banners. At least something was going right.

  Chapter 39

  Puppet

  I looked at the city from the wall. Since Father had built his tower, everything had calmed down considerably. While it wasn’t as tall as his forest tower, it still dominated the city. After living here for so long, I couldn’t decide if it ruined the view or improved it. I knew that some people found it an eyesore, but they were adapting.

  Steps sounded next to me and found Izora approaching. “Queen Izora, how goes the teachings?”

  “It would be easier if Lord Regan actually preached anything. Well. I’m telling people about him as is, that he helps those who try to help others.”

  “I see. Hopefully, the people aren’t too hard with you,” I replied.

  “After what was going on in their Church, I’m surprised they are willing to trust anyone talking about religion.”

  I glanced at her to see she had her head in her hands. I couldn’t agree with her more. After Father had exposed the Church here, the local guards launched a full investigation of the place.

  Many unspeakable acts were just some of the things taking place under the feet of the believers. Anyone who was even a bit beautiful was pulled into the Church and used until they were little more than corpses. In the end, everyone was arrested while the place was burned to the ground.

  “I just want this war to be over. How many more lives have to be lost before it’s too many?” Izora asked. I noticed that she wasn’t looking at the city but toward the east. She had lost quite a lot of her people due to the necromancers. Last we’d heard they were at the northern capital.

  “I think one is too many, but people with power usually want more power. That’s what makes them so dangerous.” I was no exception. After coming to this city, I found that my power was lacking. I inadvertently wanted more. I was able to help some of the people but not
enough.

  We lapsed into silence as we watched the night roll in. With Father’s force stationed in front of the city, we hadn’t had to worry about attacks anymore, but we still kept a guard rotation for obvious reasons. It wouldn’t do to have some undead sneak in during the dead of night and slaughtering everyone.

  “What’s that?” Izora asked as she pointed to a spot past the machine defense line.

  I zoomed in and saw a globe of darkness heading for the city. I was wondering why none of the machines were firing on it when the globe broke and Julie appeared. She carried something in her hands that shifted in the winds from her flight.

  “What do we have here?”

  I jumped from the sudden new voice. “Anubis! I’ve asked you not to sneak up on me. You’re the only one that is capable of that,” I said with a growl.

  “I’m helping you so that you are ready in case an enemy does it,” Anubis said, then jumped off the wall. I followed him as Izora spread her wings and took to the sky to land on the ground with us.

  Julie stopped in midair, then descended. She dropped the two bodies she was carrying, and they crashed to the ground. “I picked these up on my way through the scar. I think you guys should have them.”

  A large man in a suit of armor and the prince’s sister lay on the ground, barely breathing. They were severely weakened, but I placed the man somewhere mid-tier three. The girl, while possessing a tremendous amount of mana, was still in tier two. It was probably one of the reasons she hadn’t destroyed the entire wall when she attacked.

  I gave Julie a raised eyebrow at her statement. “Picked up?”

  “They were being all flirty in the middle of the undead scar. I knew they weren’t your regular necromancers. Oh, I killed about fifty of those, by the way. Anyway. I figured they needed to answer to someone.”

  “Yes. While I don’t know about the man, the woman will need to answer to the prince . . . Argent for her crimes against the empire. Even if it no longer exists,” Izora commented, looking the pair over. Since the Lecazar Empire technically didn’t exist anymore, Izora had changed the Prince’s title mid-sentence.

  “I hope they go with a beheading. They are always fun to watch,” Julie said with a grin that would make children cry. I called for the guard captain, and he had the two taken to the jail after they were bound in several mana-absorption cuffs. We found the man was actually a minor lich after we removed his armor.

  “Well, that’s a bit of the problem taken care of,” Izora commented as they were taken away.

  “Master will be here soon. From the sensation I was getting, I don’t think he is very happy,” Julie said, glancing toward the south.

  True to her word, one of Father’s airships appeared on the horizon a few hours later. The airship docked at the tower, and we waited for those on board. Father walked off followed by Ezal, who was looking much more pregnant than the last time I’d seen her, and the noble that Father had transformed to help with his quest for revenge.

  “Father!” rang out from all those gathered. Z2 ran past us and locked her arm around his.

  “Oh Z2! It’s good to see you.”

  “Master!” I didn’t realize that Julie had also clamped on to Father’s other arm.

  “Ah, Julie. I see you’ve adapted to your new body considerably.”

  “Yes! It’s amazing!” she said, rubbing her hand against his arm.

  We moved into the tower and found ourselves in the core room. I glanced at the core and had to pause. The familiar crystal was gone, replaced with an orb that had shards of crystal floating around it. I could still sense Father’s presence from it, but I felt like there was . . . more of it.

  “We have several issues that are coming to a head. Ezal informs me that a force from the Beneath is heading north along the scar. Thankfully, they’re almost on a direct path to the lich core. What that meeting will result in, I’m not sure yet.”

  “Are they dangerous?” I asked. I’d gotten a few bits of information from the local library but nothing more on the Beneath.

  “Considerably. I sent scouts a few times, and they had yet to suffer any losses from the undead on the scar. That is just how much mana they have at their command.”

  “Understood.”

  “Second, due to the battle that took place roughly a week ago, some . . . thing has been revived. We haven’t been able to identify it as of yet. It turned everything to slag within a hundred-kilometer radius, then started to dig. I believe it seeks something in the Beneath. The complication is that it has taken Lady Louella.”

  I felt a burst of fire and glanced to see Ezal’s body was radiating flames. The anger washing off her was almost tangible, if you didn’t count the flames. “I swear I will send this creature back to whatever plane of existence it crawled out of!” She only calmed down when Valamar placed his hand on her waist.

  “Yes. That would be the plan. Next, my floating core is heading to deal with the lich core. This presents another problem. I can see and sense the core, but I cannot control or move to it. The forces with them are all that they have until I physically go to the core.”

  “How is that possible?” I asked with more emotion than I meant to. What could cut Father off from his own core?

  “When I allowed Alara to take control of it, I wasn’t present to form the correct bond with her. Thus, she has taken full control of the core for all intents and purposes.”

  “Is that safe for either of you?” Izora asked with concern in her voice.

  “Yes. I just need to get into my own aura to take back control. The problem is either they are about to be in a dungeon battle or they have already entered it. Frankly, there are so many issues to deal with that I’m going to be stretched thin,” Father said with a hand on his forehead.

  “Send us where you need us!” I shouted. I was created to do Father’s will, after all. It was fun mingling with the mortals, but it was time for us to return to our original purpose.

  “Yes. It will have to be all hands on deck to deal with all this.”

  Everyone nodded in agreement. Father would know how to place us where we could shine the most. I was ready for anything I would need to do.

  Chapter 40

  Yuno

  “Nero! Why the hell did you drag us down here?! Where the hell are we?!”

  Nero rubbed the back of his head. “Calm down, boy. We’re in the Beneath. I didn’t have time and pulled you two with me.”

  “It’s dark,” Sera whispered.

  I quickly moved over to her and grabbed her hand. For the most part and a bit to my annoyance, she wasn’t afraid of anything. However, she’d recently started developing a fear of the dark. I couldn’t get a straight answer out of her about why, but I felt it was due to her worrying that she would no longer be able to go into the light.

  “It’s ok, Sera. I’m here.” I turned back to Nero. “And? Why are we in the Beneath?”

  Nero gave a large sigh. “Lady Louella was taken by an old fart. I’m going to take her back.” A large grin formed on his face, and he started to laugh and mutter to himself. “She’ll feel grateful to us for rescuing her and will reward me. I can do this and that with her.”

  “Pervert,” Sera muttered. I nodded at her statement. He was definitely a pervert.

  Nero crossed his arms. “Excuse me. I am truly enamored with her beauty.”

  “Yes. Yes. So? What are we supposed to do?”

  We were currently in a cave of some sort. I could only remember a sphere of stone wrapping around us before we eventually arrived here. There were a few spots of light, but nothing that really gave any hints to our situation.

  “We need to find Glourios’s lair. He’ll need to rebuild his power and army before he can do anything. We need to get the lovely Louella away from him before he gets too powerful.”

  “Glourios?” Sera asked.

  Nero groaned as he looked around the cavern. He turned back to us after a minute. “Glourios, Sovereign of Fire. The lack
y of Tersio. He was vanquished a few millennia ago, but something like that is never truly dead.”

  “Alright.” That was a lot information we would have to circle back to later, as I didn’t know anything about any of the names used. “Why would he take Lady Louella?” I asked, wondering what a being of such power would want with a mortal.

  “We’re going to have to ask that when we find them. I just know that it’s not with his best intentions at mind.”

  “Fair enough. Lead the way.” I helped Sera up and gestured for Nero to take the lead.

  “About that. When I used the spell to get us down here, the shock waves sort of . . . pushed us about a bit.”

  I crossed my arms in front of me. “Meaning?”

  “I don’t actually know where we’re at,” he replied, looking off into the distance.

  “So, what you’re telling me is that we’re lost?”

  “You got it!”

  Nero never even saw my fist as it collided with his face. He flew through the cave and impacted the wall. I growled, just barely resisting the urge to roar in anger. It was always like this. Nero did whatever he wanted and dragged my sister and me with him.

  “Lie there for a minute! If you weren’t our only lead, we would have left you a long time ago.” I cupped my face as the last ten years crossed my mind. “I should have been smarter about that contract.”

  “Always read the fine print,” Nero said. He pulled himself out of the hole he’d made in the wall and dusted himself off. Of course, he was completely unharmed. Even after all these years, I wasn’t sure how powerful he truly was. For instance, during the battle on the surface, he’d used a spell that had wiped out thousands of men.

  “How are we supposed to find her down here, then?”

  Nero pointed to his nose. “Time to put your other side to work. Just focus on ash and brimstone. You won’t miss it.”

  “You know I hate that.” I sighed, knowing I didn’t have too much choice in the matter. I doubted Sera and I could find our own way out of here. I didn’t even know how deep we were in the first place. Nero’s spell had cut off our sight, after all.