Dungeon Tour Guide ch. 56

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I gasped awake.

The tunnel where I’d died was gone. The wall between the safe room and the first room was nearly completely gone, the stone scoured until there were barely an inch of wall between us and them.

The separation between the two paths of the dungeon had been utterly removed, and I found myself thankful for the fact that I hadn’t decided to hide anything or anyone in the other dungeon path.

A single spell had done all of that.

At least the ground was still largely intact, though it was worn down by the array of magic that had been sent at it. There was still a solid foot of stone between us and the sheltered group underneath us.

The civilians were panicking, cowering in place and praying and screaming and what have you, but there was nothing to be done about that. So long as it didn’t get out of hand, they would just have to deal.

I got to work, using [Reshape] to extend and thicken the ruins of the separation wall. I left the tunnel open, just a crack—better to have a chokepoint that we could force them into than a solid wall that might incentivize the [Colorless Sorcerer] to destroy the wall in its entirety.

To my surprise, she didn’t act immediately, instead directing the lesser Kingsguard towards the connector tunnel as she walked forwards.

Walked was a bad word for it. Sauntered was more like it, the cloaked woman savoring each step. She was in no rush.

As she walked, she cast. The buildup was slow but inevitable, and if there was one thing I knew, it was that I didn’t want to see what that spell did.

“Kingsguard incoming,” I warned. “Focus on the tunnel. Retreat some more if you can.”

Not that I’d let them get that far if I could help it. As Ryan helped us retreat into the second room, the other three adventurers readying their attacks, I closed my eyes and observed.

The [Colorless Sorcerer] was walking at the back of their formation, accompanied by a [Necromancer]. Those two looked like the elite of this bunch—nobody else in the group of twenty-six was above level 16.

The lower-leveled Kingsguard charged, and for the first time, I deployed the monsters I’d been saving for the better part of a week.

I opened a small hole in the wall that the [Colorless Sorcerer] hadn’t completely scoured, a twelve-foot long vent less than three inches across. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to open line of sight.

Inside the storage room where I’d been keeping some of my monsters, the air cracked, and three very confused [Drake Knight]s appeared, pausing in their dash forward. Shame. They can’t target the elites.

Outside, three [Displacer]s screamed, tentacles lashing out into the crowd that they’d teleported themselves into.

“We can stall them from here,” Rose said. “We have line of sight to the tunnel between the safe room and the first room.”

I gave her a thumbs-up, still focusing on the ensuing fight. “Dungeon monsters are fighting them for now. More will fight once they break through the first wall.”

“Got it,” Troy said. “Rose, are you ready to combo?”

“Always.”

In a single moment, the [Displacer]s killed four unprepared Kingsguard—two [Echo Fighter]s fell under the assault of their tentacles, and a [Ranger] and a [Storm Monk] died when the beasts simply flung themselves forward, capturing our enemies in their massive maws.

I winced. I didn’t like that my monsters were already killing others, but it was necessary. This was a fight for our lives, after all.

Thankfully, the [Colorless Sorcerer] didn’t cast another [Storm of Vengeance]. She’d proven that she didn’t care for the safety of any of her subordinates, and I’d been half-worried that she was going to use another one of those devastating storms to clear the entirety of the wall into the first room along with my monsters.

Instead, she was… wait, where was she?

I’d lost track of the [Colorless Sorcerer]’s mana signature, but there was a space where my dungeon senses simply didn’t function, my abilities no more useful there than they were in the plains outside my dungeon.

From the outside looking in, I could make out the mana dripping off of the empty zone.

[Annihilation].

The color was leaching out of the space around her. When I’d seen her with my human eyes earlier, I’d noticed that she’d almost looked like she was in greyscale, and she was demonstrating the truth of that by forcing the world around her into the same state.

A [Displacer] dove for her, shoving itself into the zone, and I felt it wink out of my control, watched it turn black and white and grey and lifeless.

It fell on ground that I couldn’t affect, slipping out of my control, and it disintegrated, dissolving into the air.

Fuck.

“Your minutes are numbered, Dungeon Core.” I couldn’t sense the area where the voice came from, but the sound propagated out of the [Annihilation] and into the air around it. “Target the core. The guide cannot die while the core is alive.”

That wasn’t quite right, but holy fuck if that wasn’t the worst case scenario for me. If she killed the core and the human, that was it. That would be the end.

She still wasn’t advancing any faster, though. Was she seriously trying to get the entirety of the forces under her killed?

And they were getting killed. Two [Displacer]s would obliterate an unprepared mid-level party, and that was absolutely what these Kingsguard were. They swapped with fervor, tossing enemies into the attacks of their own allies, and every attack claimed another life.

Even as I watched, a [Dazzling Flare] that had clearly been meant to confuse one monster hit a [Sniper] that took its place, stunning him long enough for the other [Displacer] to take his head off.

Seven down. Nineteen to go.

Of those nineteen, four had decided that staying to fight the [Displacer]s was a fool’s errand. They dashed through the tunnel, narrowly avoiding the wrath of the tentacled horrors, and I let them. The highest level between those four was 12. No point in taking pressure off the higher-leveled Kingsguard for these small fry.

There was more waiting for them, anyway.

I was just about to start opening the walls that hid the [Skeleton Dragon]s, [Displacer]s, and [Mirror Beast]s of the first room, but I needn’t have bothered.

“Go!” Troy shouted.

Minus One had been practicing. Ryan dashed out from the tunnel as the four Kingsguard let their attacks rip. Two [Manaburst]s, each of them with four beams, and two crossbow bolts.

The [Knight] kicked himself into overdrive, and I could feel the cusp of a class evolution as lightning flashed and he blurred, meeting each and every attack with a [Knight’s Shield] that was now strong enough to stay intact after the barrage.

A moment later, Troy cast, using the same [Increase Gravity] trick he’d done before.

If it works once…

Rose sang, and four men died.

…it’ll work again.

“Be wary,” I warned. “There might be others in there with resistance or immunity. I’m surprised these didn’t, actually.”

“We saw,” Troy said, grimacing. “My special skills let me bypass some level of vulnerability, but I doubt that the grey lady is going to be affected. Our odds aren’t looking good. We need backup.”

We did. We were deeply, hopelessly outnumbered. Even with the efficiency with which we were dispatching the lesser Kingsguard, their numbers were still far greater than ours, and their power ceiling was significantly higher as well.

Where were the Duelists? Where was the Guild? It was more than possible that they’d simply not gotten to the dungeon town in time.

“They’re late,” Rose said as if she’d read my mind. “The others. I don’t know if we’ll be able to win with them on our side, but we need the force multiplier.”

“I was with the Duelists last night,” Anderson said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were hungover.”

Ryan dashed back to us, sword sheathed once more. “The order will have mobilized. If we can hold out for… ten minutes, maybe? That should be enough to turn the tides.”

Is it even possible to turn the tides against a level 27? I was pretty sure that nobody that was coming to help us was at that level, and while I’d love to be proven wrong, it was looking more and more like I was going to have to use the dungeon monsters to slay the elites.

If that was even in the question, at least. The [Colorless Sorcerer]’s [Annihilation] had subsumed a fair chunk of the safe room now, leaving a greyscale trail straight through the middle of it that I couldn’t touch.

Most of her fellow Kingsguard parted ways for her as she stepped forth, wandering towards the [Displacer]s. One unfortunate woman swapped places with a [Displacer] at the very last second, and I saw her mana signature disappear, a candle snuffed out in a single breath.

“They’re going to breach the wall soon,” I said, trying my best to ignore the casual disregard of life. “Be ready to retreat again. We won’t survive long in direct battle.”

My words were proven true far sooner than I’d hoped.

The [Colorless Sorcerer] killed a second [Displacer] with her [Annihilation] when it tried to [Displace] itself into her space. The skill failed, and moments later, so did the monster’s life.

With only one [Displacer] left, the amount of offensive pressure being placed on the Kingsguard was low enough for the [Colorless Sorcerer] to simply stride forth, uncaring.

She pressed a hand against the still-regrowing wall I’d created, and more mana surged forth in a single instant than I’d seen deployed in the entire rest of the fight put together.

[Obliterate], she whispered, and a hundred tons of rock became dust.

“Fuck, get back!” I shouted, taking my own advice. As I ran, I started opening up the walls, letting the monsters I’d saved for the first room. We were in the second room already, so they wouldn’t attack us, but having only one wall between us and them was far too close for comfort.

[Annihilation] stripped my influence from the [Colorless Sorcerer]’s vicinity, so I lacked the mana sense that would’ve told me about the [Disintegrate] she tossed my way.

Ryan saved my life.

The sickening green bolt flew faster than I could react, promising to bring out my third and final resurrection, but then light flashed around me and I was at the far end of the second room.

“Gotta keep your eyes open, right?” he said, giving me a lopsided grin. “That’s what you told me. Stay on your toes.”

And then he was off, helping the other three retreat as well. In the process, Anderson landed a lucky [Void Bullet] with the rifle he’d acquired at some point, injuring an armored man enough to knock him down.

The Kingsguard were fully in the first room now, though, and that meant I could finally deploy the monsters I’d held in reserve there.

Three [Skeleton Dragon]s. One [Displacer Hydra]. Three [Displacer]s. Ninety-four [Mephit]s.

I kept three [Mirror Beast]s in reserve. They wouldn’t do well as the first line of defense here.

And against my better judgment, I shouted, loud enough that I knew that the fourteen surviving Kingsguard would all hear me.

“We haven’t been introduced yet! My name’s Lucas, and I’ll be your tour guide for today!”

That earned me an odd glance or two, my slowly degrading dungeon perception told me, the Kingsguard in the first room glaring at the tunnel between rooms.

My monsters flared into action, and I took the time to guide them a little myself this time.

“I can kinda see some of them,” Troy said. “Rose, wanna try hitting them while we can?”

“Always.”

The two of them cast and sang, respectively, and though their effectiveness was diminished from this range, they were able to take one or two of the Kingsguard out with a [Manaburst] and a [Song of Harm], respectively.

As for my part, I moved the monsters.

“The [Skeleton Dragon],” I murmured, noting that there were still a few Kingsguard that were reacting to my words, some skill letting them hear my impromptu ‘tour’ at this range, “lacks a breath weapon, but it possesses the same strength as a true dragon. A single swipe from its claws is enough to kill near anyone.”

My monster struck, and the Kingsguard reacted accordingly, but for the lesser ones, the skills that had buoyed them through the first room weren’t enough.

Four level 15 [Merciless Paladin]s linked shields, each of them using a [Multiplicative Protective Barrier], and the first skeletal swipe simply bounced off it.

Unfortunately for them, that barrier dissipated the moment a [Displacer] swapped places with one of them, and the second strike from the magical bone-claws slashed through their armor like it was wet tissue paper, reducing them to nothing. Seconds later, a swarm of dying [Mephit]s dive-bombed another armored Kingsguard, detonating on impact.

“The [Skeleton Dragon] is a formidable foe!” I shouted, making sure that they could hear me. Need to buy more time. “When combined with the [Displacer]’s swapping ability, it makes for a nearly unwinnable fight if you’re not ready!”

Other than the two elites, we were winning.

And then the second high-level, the [Necromancer] who’d barely done anything until survive up until this point, proved why he was here.

The man pulled his hood off, revealing a gaunt, ashen face that only a mother could love, and he cast.

I tried dropping a rock on him along with encouraging a second [Skeleton Dragon] to swipe at him, but there was no use. The [Colorless Sorcerer] killed the [Skeleton Dragon], moving at a speed faster than a light walk for the first time this fight, and the rock shattered against an invisible barrier of force just above him.

Mana bubbled outwards, the [Death Transference] spreading out from the [Necromancer] like a plague.

The [Displacer Hydra] died as it teleported to strike him, withering away in an instant, and then the dead men rose.

They didn’t come back to life, not truly—where limbs had been chopped off and chests caved in, the bodies remained mangled. The bodies had been totally destroyed or [Annihilate]d didn’t come back, either.

The important part—and the bad news for us—was that their mana was still intact.

Their number was back to nineteen, and while the undead Kingsguard weren’t going to be as powerful as they were in life, the ‘price’ to raise the shambling corpses had been the life energy of my monsters.

I dearly hoped he wouldn’t be able to do that again.

I sent a [Mirror Beast] out, hoping to mimic the spell that he’d used, but the [Necromancer] noticed it before it could even begin. With a snap of his fingers, a [Telekinesis] sent the spider-like creature flying straight into the [Annihilation].

Fuck. I had to preserve those. I didn’t have many, and I was running out of mana. I couldn’t afford to waste monsters.

“Dungeon’s telling me that the first room’s monsters are almost gone,” I said. “Be ready for them to break through. There’s undead. They number nineteen.”

“I don’t think I can kill the grey lady,” Rose said. “I can try.”

“Do what you can,” Troy said. “Your skill is way better than mine at bypassing immunities.”

“I’ll pick off who I can,” Anderson said. “Fuck.”

“We’re cornered,” I said. “There’s no more room in the dungeon to retreat to.”

This had always been where it was going to end. I had my nastiest monsters prepared, but that was it.

The lower-level Kingsguard were practically fodder in the face of the powerful monsters I could bring to bear, but it was still a fact that they were slowing it down. With their overwhelming numbers, freshly restored by [Death Transference], they were making it significantly harder to apply pressure to the two elites.

The [Annihilation] was spreading. Soon enough, she was going to get to the final room where my Dungeon Core was hidden, and she was going to find it. Everyone here was going to die in the face of her overwhelming firepower, and we just weren’t strong enough.

I’m sorry it has to end this way.

I didn’t voice my thoughts. That felt too much like accepting defeat, and if the adventurers around me were going to maintain their defiance in the face of insurmountable odds, I was going to do the best I could to support them.

“This is it, huh?” Ryan said. “Let’s do what we can.”

“May the goddess protect us,” Rose said, closing her eyes as she prepared to sing again.

I remained silent, afraid that I was going to burst into tears if I opened my mouth.

And then someone familiar entered the dungeon, then another. Another.

Hope blossomed in my heart, but I tamped down it. We weren’t out of the woods yet.

“Don’t touch the grey,” an [Elder Archmage] that I hadn’t seen before warned. “That’s [Annihilation] if I’ve ever seen it.”

“Let’s go,” Lisa called, applying a [Haste] to herself. “I can hear them fighting deeper within. There may still be more time.”

Eight people made their way in, and their presence did not go unheard.

The walking undead turned to meet them, mangled bodies raising their broken limbs to cast and shoot and fight, and eight spells rang out before the dead men could fire.

[Enemy Attunement].

[Shield Expansion].

[Explosive Scattershot].

[Fatal Duel].

[Moonlit Devastation].

[Scatter Arrow].

[Sands of Time].

[Reverse Gravity].

The spells struck, and every last corpse returned to the natural state of death that they had been forced out of.

“The rest of them are here,” I said, and my heart soared as I watched the tension in my fellow adventurers’ shoulders fade away, replaced with determination.

We still weren’t on even ground, not with the insane power levels of their two elites.

But our chances were looking a damn sight better.

“Let’s go on the offense, shall we?”