Chapter 32: 30. Plans, Plans, and Peris

AVATAR LEVEL INCREASE

Your Avatar has become Level 19

+1 Mind, ENTANGLE skill obtained

1420 Core Points required for next Avatar Level

 

“Finally, something good,” the avatar grumbled beneath his breath.

Through the current slaughter, he had gained five levels, and all the skills had been utterly useless. At first, he had acquired the mocking spell “Create Rain,” which granted him the power to summon a small cloud in all circumstances. Trying as hard as he could, Theo wasn’t able to find a practical reason for that spell, even if he was a normal person. Next was the Unlock ability. Arguably, that could have been good in certain circumstances, but as a dungeon, Theo was the entity that was broken into at the hands of thieves, and potentially adventurers and heroes. Both those spells, however, paled in comparison to what he had been given next: Locate Dungeon. If there was any doubt that the deities were having a laugh at his expense, it had long gone. For starters the spell wasn’t something that Theo would ever use in practice. However, when he tried doing so merely out of curiosity it turned out that the spell only had the power to locate the nearest dungeon. As Spok had said, at “least he’d know where he was at any point in time.”

Adding insult to injury, the avatar was considered part of the dungeon, so even in theory it wasn’t possible for him to find anything. The only theoretical possibility to salvage the ability was to cast it enough times to obtain the ultra version. However, that wasn’t a humiliation that Theo was willing to subject himself to.

The final skill the avatar had received, prior to the current one, was Aether Dagger: the ability to create a dagger out of mana. Initially, that had sounded quite impressive until Theo had realized that he could do much better both with his dimensional ring and ice magic ability.

 

ENTANGLE - 1

Allows your avatar to entangle a creature using aether threads, by using 10 energy. The threads have the strength of common rope and cannot be sliced, but could be snapped if enough force is exerted.

Using the kill will increase its rank, increasing the strength of the strands.

 

That could pass as good, although not particularly useful in the current situation. As things stood, anything other than a mass destruction spell would be useless. At present, Theo felt like he was fighting a copy of himself… a very chaotic and disorganized copy, but one a lot stronger. Thanks to his quick thinking he had managed to separate Lord Mandrake from his troops. Quite a good move, since without further instructions the massive army had been reduced to a mob of creatures. They were still a force to be reckoned with, as they had proved by destroying both the outer and inner wall in several sections, but they couldn’t compare to the time when the gnome was there to direct them.

Meanwhile, Lord Mandrake himself was going through the labyrinth of chambers, shoots, and tunnels that the dungeon kept creating. The gnome’s goal was to use the tunnels to make its way to the core; Theo’s—to prevent him from doing so. And since there was no trap, door, or minion capable of stopping the gnome in its golem, the dungeon had settled on slowing him down for the moment. The only issue was that even the creation of chambers required energy, and when combined with the constant repairs above ground, that energy was starting to run low.

“All back!” the avatar cast a wall of ice that thrust forward, scooping several hundred goblins and squishing them into part of the town wall which remained standing. Such an amount of cores could probably have been enough to boost him by a level at least. Sadly, the cores were more important for Theo’s main body.

The wall consumed them on the spot, then were instantly used up to fix another section of the wall. No sooner had that happened than an airship ripped through the air, crashing into it. Part of a hull section fell off, letting goblins pour out and join the battle.

“Seriously?” Theo grumbled. “Couldn’t you have hit it ten seconds sooner?”

Using a small amount of core points, he erected the section of the wall back up, tossing what was left of the airship away, and killing a fair number of goblins in the process.

“The core points you gained were half the ones you used, sir,” Spok said in disapproving fashion.

“Quiet, Spok,” the dungeon snapped in its main building. “Don’t you know any sleeping spells that will stop him?”

“Such magic is unlikely to work. Gnomes don’t require a lot of sleep by nature. Adding the fact that this one is under the influence of a demon heart and also inside a construct that negates magic, I would doubt it would work.”

“In that case, let’s try getting rid of the coating.”

A new chamber appeared beneath the gnome, a chamber with a pool of acid on the bottom. Creating it was on the pricey side, but it was very much worth it.

The gnome screamed like a child as its golem splashed into the pool.

Was that it? Theo wondered. Not that he wasn’t glad, but one had to admit it was more than a little anticlimactic. Sadly, moments later, the golem emerged from the acid once more. This time, he wasn’t screaming.

“Did you think I wouldn’t protect it against something as simple as this?” Lord Mandrake shouted. “Acid resistance was the first thing I made for my airships! They were acid resistant before they were magic-resistant! Every idiot uses acid. I guess that explains why you used so much of it! If that’s all you’ve got, you better surrender your core right now!”

The snarky comments continued for a while longer, only ending because Theo cast a silence spell in the chamber. Thankfully, the magic-negating properties of the golem had no effect on that spell.

“Was that a good idea, sir?” Spok sighed.

“Doesn’t matter.” The pool made him feel better. Plus, it was going to be a while before Long Mandrake managed to get out of it.

The moment of spiteful job, though, was short-lived. Despite all his efforts, and the assistance from Liandra and the hidden dozen, the enemy armies were pouring within Rosewind. Only the earl’s castle and a few other massive buildings were intact at this point, and most of them didn’t belong to the dungeon.

“I would recommend converting everything to energy and perform a spatial displacement spell,” Spok said. “A lot of energy would be wasted, but you should be able to move your core a few dozen miles away. Enough to survive the attack, in any event. The space will probably consist of a single chamber, but it’ll allow you to start over.”

“I see…”

Thew knew where this was getting at and he didn’t like it. For all his stressing and grumbling, he had gotten used to most of the quirks of Rosewind. Maybe that was partially due to the heroic trait he had obtained. It had definitely made him more adventurous, allowing him to go out and see the world if he wanted to—not that he would if given a choice.

“I suppose I’ll have to convert my avatar as well?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“So, it’ll be you, me and Cmyk starting from scratch again.”

“Not exactly, sir. You’ll have to convert your minions as well, and that includes my own avatar.”

It must have hurt a lot for the spirit guide to make such a suggestion. She liked her avatar more than even the dungeon liked his. In order to go for such an option suggested that there was no other choice.

“You don’t have to make a decision right away,” the spirit guide continued. “There’s still enough time for you to—”

“You don’t think I can win, do you?”

Spok looked back at the crystal ball on the table, then leaned back in her seat.

“No, sir. I don’t think the town will survive either. Maybe the heroine will make it, since she’s not the focus of attention, but I believe everyone here is doomed.”

This was the first time that Theo had heard Spok sound so pessimistic.

“Of course, I might be wrong,” she added. “With you, anything is possible. Regardless, I’d suggest that you keep that in mind. You don’t have to do anything extravagant, just move sufficiently far away so as not to be caught in the crossfire. If it’s any comfort, I doubt that Lord Mandrake will survive either. He has caused a mess in several kingdoms. When he destroys an entire town, heroes and armies are likely to take their way here to put an end to him.”

That wasn’t a comfort at all. He had grown attached to his new body and his avatar. Having to lose them all and start again almost sounded like a semi-reincarnation. It seemed that all the marketing presentations about personal investment leading to attachment—that Theo had been bombarded with in his previous life—were actually true. The first time he had teleported to this town, he hadn’t even considered the amount of core points that he had used in the process. It was undoubtedly many times more than he had used since. Of course, back then, he had nothing more than a bodiless spirit guide and a lazy skeletal minion.

“I think I’ll stay around a bit longer,” he said. He had one thing left to try.

Meanwhile, a short distance away, in the sky, Theo’s goblin carrier was having trouble. While the airship was significantly larger and sturdier than most of the ones at Lord Mandrake’s disposal, it was only one single vessel. If there had ever been any serious weapons, they had been removed long before it had come into Theo’s possession. As a result, the only thing that it could do was ram into enemy airships and hope that eleven skilled warriors were enough to defeat all enemies there. At least that would have been the case if there weren’t people inside. The only alternative was for Wolf to get close enough for the rest of his team to board the ship.

Initially, the approach had been somewhat successful. Lord Mandrake airships were focusing on the town and—to a lesser degree—on the heroine Liandra. The woman had already managed to sing handedly destroy a dozen vessels until the others had caught on and disrupted their ring formation. Unfortunately, upon doing so they had also fired a few bolts at Theo’s goblin carrier. Thankfully, it hadn’t been enough to destroy it, but it had caused significant damage in the levitation generator, keeping it up. Since then, the whole thing had zig-zagged like a half-deflated balloon in an attempt to avoid enemy projectiles.

“Two more are heading for us,” Nauska ran into the control room. “The old guys think we can take one of them, but not both.”

“What do you expect me to do?” Wolf snapped at her. “I said I can fly this, not that I can make miracles. I’m not the baron.”

“That much is clear.” The assassin agreed in a cold tone. “Pick one and go for it. We’ll hope for the best.”

“That’s a terrible idea! No matter which one I pick, the other one will tear up the hull. Our only solution is to run away.”

“Like cowardly sea rats.”

“It’s not like you did anything when we were in the mines. I don’t remember you freeing us from there.”

A dagger appeared in Nauska’s hand. It would be so easy for her to just kill Wolf here and now, but that wasn’t going to help even a little bit. Also, there was no denying he was right. For all his faults, the man was an expert at survival and one of two people aboard who could fly the airship.

The entire airship shook as another projectile hit it. Moments later the sound of running steps echoed in the corridor outside the room.

“More airships are heading towards us!” The prodigy child ran in. “One is of the explosive type. If it hits us, we’ll go up in flames.”

“Shit!” Wolf punched the first thing he found in the immediate vicinity. “Was nice knowing you. There’s no way to survive that. Even if I land that thing, we'll be sitting ducks.”

Silence attempted to fill the room, but was instantly broken by the explosions coming from outside. The battle for the two was heating up in more senses than one.

“What about the gliders?” the prodigy child asked. “We have a lot of those?”

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“Kid, I don’t know if you’ve realized, but none of us can hurt any of those at airships. And even if we managed that, a goblin glider will do nothing to a carrier. It’ll be like throwing grapes at a knight in armor.”

“Not throwing.” The boy grinned. “Flying?”

“Flying?” Both Wolf and Nauska asked in unison.

“Well, since everyone kept yelling at me to get back inside, I want to check out the gliders. We can fly them. It’s quite easy, actually.”

There was no way it wouldn’t be—the devices were designed for goblins. Normally, no sane person would agree to such an outlandish suggestion. Goblin gliders were flimsy, high risk flying devices that weren’t expected to last for long. Lord Mandrake had been using them for cannon fodder ever since the group had escaped from the mountains. And yet, there was no other option that came to mind. When the ship shook again, it was all but decided.

“Get everyone,” Wolf said to Nauska. “You go to the gliders and figure out a way to explain everything.”

“And you?” the assassin asked.

“I’ll try to keep us from getting hit till then.”

When it came to speed, the dozen were second only to Theo’s avatar. Like a flash, the boy and the woman dashed out of the room, each heading to the part of the ship they were supposed to. In the time it took for the pursuing airships to shoot two more metal bolts, all but one had gathered to where the gliders were. Not too long after, Wolf joined them as well. The pirate had set a course for the ship to gently go towards the ground and hopefully land without too much of a bump.

“It’s mostly magic, so it flies on its own,” the prodigy child explained as he helped Flail get strapped into one of the devices. “Use your arms to choose the direction. Arms, not hands.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the man grumbled. “What about speed? How do I get to fly faster?”

“Speed isn’t the problem. It’s slowing down. That’s tricky.”

“What do you mean?”

“The gliders have one speed. The only way to stop it is to fold the wings completely. You do that by stretching both arms back and—”

“Wait. I don’t remember goblins slowing down when we fought them,” the adventurer said.

“Oh, they don't. I don't think Lord Mandrake expected them to return.”

Before Flail could protest, the gladiator of the twelve, slid the section of the floor that allowed the gliders to drop out. There was a single moment of hesitation, quickly disrupted by another metal bolt hitting the back of the airship. Once that happened, Flail jumped off.

Seeing that he didn’t crash into the ground, the rest of the dozen join in, putting on the large contraptions and leaping off the airship. One had to admire the engineering ingenuity that had gone into creating the gliders. They didn’t require any particular preparation or even a running start. The only requirement seemed to be that there were over fifty feet of space to keep them from splatting into the ground.

In twos and threes, the fighters filled the air, gliding towards the enemy airships. Two groups of five made their way to the direct pursuers, while the assassin sisters changed direction, preferring to head to the dangerous airship, instead—with Wolf no longer aboard to maintain the carrier’s zigzags, it was going to be a much easier target. Thankfully, they managed to reach it before the goblins aboard had decided to fire.

All three teams acted in a completely different fashion. The group in which Wolf and Flail were in went directly for the control section of the airship. Having more knowledge than anyone of its location, they were eager to gain control as quickly as possible and then send it flying into the enemy army on the ground. The shield bearers and their group, on their hand, went for the classical approach of dropping on the top of the airship and fighting their way inside, the same as they had done with the original goblin carrier. As for the assassins—they attacked the airship's weapons itself, which quickly resulted in an explosion from the side of the vessel. Unable to destroy the airship itself, the force of the blast sent it flying to the side, slamming into a surviving section of the wall a fair distance away.

“Stupid idiots,” Theo grumbled to himself as a second explosion followed, this time destroying both what was left of the airship and the segment of the wall. If he was paying his fighters he’d subtract the amount of damages from their pay. However, by the looks of things, it wasn’t going to make any particular difference.

A squad of fifteen goblins in crude metal charged towards him through the city streets. The avatar barely paid any notice, tossing a few fireballs in their direction. That had earned him a certain amount of points, though nowhere enough to reach the next level. War Ogres were far better targets. They were slow, not too difficult to kill, and provided considerably more experience. Sadly, most of them had focused on the pockets of resistance about the town, the most prominent of which—ironically enough—was led by Cmyk. For reasons that defied logic, the minion had turned into a local source of inspiration, making guards, adventurers, and pretty much everyone else who could fight flock to him. To a degree, it helped that with all the energy invested in him by the dungeon, Cmyk had turned out to be quite a powerful minion. In a normal dungeon, he could have passed as a mid-boss, at least. Furthermore, all the time spent reaping straw with a sword had made him get accustomed to the action, allowing him to slice whole rows of enemies as if they were grass.

A bet he has cleave as well, Theo grumbled to himself as he ran towards the Peris’ temple.

Despite the chaos and Spok’s dire warnings, he had thought of something. Technically, it was half a something, but if all went well, it could just maybe work.

Quite surprisingly, the temple had suffered quite a lot compared to the rest of the city. One could almost say that Lord Mandrake hated it as much as he hated the dungeon. Then again, it was thanks to Theo’s clever use of blessings that he had slayed most of the demons, so there was something for the gnome to be angry about.

“Goddess!” the avatar shouted as made his way into the temple. With an entire wall missing, there was no need for him to go around to the entrance. “Goddess!”

“Welcome, dungeon,” the half-broken statue in the temple said, turning its head towards the avatar. “I’m glad that you got your avatar back, but staying here isn’t a good idea.”

“It’s not worse than anywhere else. At least there aren’t any goblins nearby.” Out of habit, he looked around, checking whether another group wasn’t making its way towards him.

“No, I think here’s the most dangerous place to be. In fact, I’d appreciate it if you made an ice shield above what’s left of my temple.”

The avatar stared at her.

“Just to be on the same side.”

The amount of energy required for something so small was far less than most of the spells he had cast all day, so Theo did it. Raising the hand of his avatar upwards, he created a dome of ice. For a moment, the dungeon almost expected something to hit just now, but nothing did.

“That’s the problem with demon parts,” the statue said. “They affect the people who seek them, even gnomes.”

“Not this one. I’ve seen him twice so far. The pesky little creature just wants to take over the world and transform it into a lab for tinkering.”

“That’s how it works. The demon heart builds up his obsession. He wouldn’t be the first creature affected. You’re a dungeon, so you can’t feel the same when in its vicinity. I’m certain that before it found the heart, the gnome just wanted to build a small lab in the mountain far from everyone. At first he probably thought that’s what he was doing: making better tools, a better lab, gathering more people to make better tools, and so on.”

“Yes, that sounds like him. Not the first case you’ve seen?”

“Dungeon, I’m a goddess. I’ve seen a lot of things. Other than you, very few of them are new. Although, I have to admit, I’ve never seen an affected gnome before. Usually, they are the minions. That’s why demon lord hearts are so dangerous. They grab a hold of people even long after the demon was banished from this world. Many who attempted to conquer the world were due to the archdemon's hearts.”

That was a slightly alarming turn of events.

“How long will it take for my avatar to learn all skills I know?” Theo asked.

“I thought I told you.” The statue seemed confused. “It’ll be instant.”

“Instant,” the avatar repeated. “And without any side effects?”

“What side effects could there be? The avatar is your physical embodiment. You can think move it, can’t you? Then everything will be fine.”

Now, that was more like it. Gaining a vast number of new abilities was everything Theo needed. Or, at least, it was the first step of everything he needed. As things stood, he was only interested in one ability.

“And it doesn’t matter where my avatar is?”

“As long as it’s in your main body, everywhere will work. Why?”

“I might have a way to end this war, but I’ll need your help. Can you grant me a blessing?”

“Of course. What would you like it to be? The gift to slice through metal? To be shielded from the effects of the demonic influence? Or maybe—”

“I’m not talking about the avatar,” Theo’s avatar interrupted. “I want you to bless me.”

If the statue wasn’t made out of stone already, everyone would have noticed it had frozen for over half a minute. The amusing aspect of the request had become alarming. Never in her entire existence had Peris heard of such a thing happening. While people, and other races, had prayed for centuries for this or that building to be blessed by her, this would be the first time a dungeon had done so.

“It’ll just be temporary,” Theo clarified. “I won’t assimilate your temple. I mean, I will, but just so that you can bless me for a while.”

“You’re asking that I allow you to assimilate my temple, so I might bless you?”

“You told me that sacred ground is required. Your temple is sacred, so you’ll be able to do so.”

“Technically, you’re correct, but this isn’t something I have done before. It isn’t something anyone has done before. There’s no telling what might happen. For all we know, you might explode in a thousand pieces.”

“If we don’t do this, I’ll be blasted to a thousand pieces for certain.”

“I see your point.” The goddess agreed.

“It’s very simple, goddess. I assimilate your temple, you cast your blessing, and then I defeat Lord Mandrake and his remaining armies. Pretty simple.”

It was anything but simple. With so many unknowns and even more uncertainties, it was a lot safer for Peris just to forget about that particular temple and focus on one of her other temples in the world. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, however, things hadn’t been going too well for her. Being a minor deity was a lot more difficult than she like to put on. Her temples were decreasing by the month, abandoned or transformed into shrines of a higher deity. The truth was that Rosewind had become the spot with the greatest concentration of followers in the world.

“Very well,” Peris said. “Just tell me exactly what you have in mind.”

A split second later, an explosive projectile hit the ice dome, shattering it to bits.

 

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