TtOW! - Chapter 45: Team Termination

What happens when two dungeons go to war, you ask?  Well, dungeon wars are a rare occurrence these days, thank the Aesdes and thank the Legion, but we do have some records.  And all those records paint a consistent picture.

Dungeon wars are hell, and not for the dungeons.

Consider the situation: you have two factions, both ruled solely by a single entity, with infinitely spawning armies of monsters who have decided to wipe the other out.  So what happens?  Those infinite armies of monsters collide.  If one is woefully inferior to the other, they are wiped out before they can spawn anew and that’s the end of it.

It’s when they’re anything close to equal that the trouble starts.

If the two sides are even remotely equivalent…the battle becomes an infinite stalemate.  Neither side will ever run out of troops and neither side has to worry about a weary populace, or traitorous political rivals, or having enough laborers left for the harvest.  No, they can keep it up forever, so the stalemate will never end unless one side can force it.

But if the two sides are equal…they can’t force it.

Dungeons have an incredible defender’s advantage.  They are literally designed as labyrinths of death, meant to protect their core at all costs.  Sure, a dungeon diver might be able to go in and out but an army?  An army gets split up, funneled through narrow corridors and defeated in detail.  It doesn’t matter if it's an army of intelligent species or an army of mindless monsters, the dungeon’s defenses will tear them apart all the same, allowing even an inferior dungeon’s forces to hold the line unless they are truly and utterly outclassed.

And every casualty improves the strength of the opposing army.  So taking more losses by fighting on the enemy’s home turf is simply unacceptable.

As a result, the dungeons will not assault each other directly until one possesses an overwhelming advantage…which they do not in the case of a stalemate.

So what will they do?

They will attempt to acquire that advantage.

And how will they do that?

By sending their monsters to pillage and murder everything in the neighborhood, in hopes of raising high-level champions who can smash through the enemy’s dungeon.

This is just one of the reasons why the Empire strictly manages the dungeons in its territory.  The endless wealth and power a dungeon can provide is matched by the endless danger it poses.

-Legion Historian Paullus Cincius Lucceius, while lecturing the latest officer cadets on dungeons.

***

Cassius couldn’t stop smiling as he looked over the records of his dungeon.  The sheer amount of mana that flowed into it was incredible.  The artificial mana storm had also destabilized the fabric of reality in the area, causing mana from the Source to leak through.  And his dungeon was now greedily absorbing all that mana, leveling up several times even as he watched it.

He went ahead and upgraded his monster summoning capabilities and his dungeon’s maximum mana.  He then summoned several groups of basic monsters, sending them towards the wandering knight.

It was time to find out exactly what she could do.

***

NSLICE-00P marched through the dungeon when she detected several signatures appear and head towards her direction.  It was not long before they rounded the corner.

It was a group of small humanoids, smaller than even a young child.  But they had red, leathery skin, yellow fangs sticking out from their mouths, and small horns on bald heads.

Oh, and they were flying on leathery wings.

[Flame Imp (Level 3)]

[The lowliest peons from the Inferno Realm.  They are not particularly imposing but the combination of flight and fire magic makes for great mischief.]

“Hostiles detected, engaging.”

NSLICE-00P barraged the group with her assault rifles, as well as magic missiles and light beams.  The bullets and spells tore the imps to shreds.

[You have slain five Flame Imps!]

[Gained 15 Personal XP and 15 Dungeon XP total!]

***

Cassius blinked as he watched the knight cut down the imps.

That…was not what he expected.

Some kind of…enchanted weapon on her arm?  Was that air magic?  All he knew was holes appeared in his monsters and he didn’t see how it happened.

Fortunately, he had dungeon perception now, so he focused in as she took down the next group.  It appeared…she was launching tiny metal projectiles at incredible speeds?  Some sort of exotic crossbow then?

So…not a swordsman or anything like that.  Maybe she was some kind of magic archer?  But she also multicasted several different spells at once…and he didn’t catch her chant.

Cassius went silent for a moment.

He didn’t know much about mages but he did know he had never seen one do that.  Much less a magic archer who would be splitting perks.  Maybe she wasn’t an archer and was using a bunch of artifacts?  But artifacts could run low on mana if not allowed time to recharge…not that Cassius ever had the opportunity to use one but the point was from what he knew people with artifacts wouldn’t be wasting them on starter monsters.

Cassius shook his head.  Well, what exactly she was and what exactly she was doing didn’t matter.  She would fall all the same.  Cassius began mass summoning imps.

Exotic weapons, enchanted artifacts, or inexplicable magic skills, it didn’t matter what she used.  Weapons ran out of ammunition, artifacts needed to recharge eventually, and mana didn’t recover immediately.  All of it would eventually run out if she kept using it continuously.  All he needed to do was make sure she spent her resources faster than her natural recovery rate and he’d be good to go.

So he filled the labyrinth to the brim with Flame Imps and ordered them forward.

***

NSLICE-00P continued walking through the halls, her machine guns blazing, missiles soaring through the sky, and magic circles flashing all around her.  Imps continuously dropped from the sky and faded away.

She kept an eye on her barrel health, but as a dungeon trap her assault rifles could be reset to mint condition with some mana so there was no problem.  Overheating barrels was no longer a concern for her, so long as she had mana.

The flame imps did seem slightly resistant to magical attacks but that wasn’t a problem either.  She could handle them with her conventional arsenal alone, so she took the opportunity to trial and level new spells.

[The spell Mana Blast (Minor) is now level 2!]

[The spell Poison Blast is now level 2!]

[The spell Poison Blast is now level 3!]

[The skill Poison Magic is now level 4!]

As she did, some of the monsters began to stir in her hangar.  The rat monster who had fought the cat was fidgeting about.

“Query: Do friendlies have any observations or concerns to share?”

The rat monster jumped and shook his head.

“N-No No, wise-mighty boss-queen!  It’s nothing!”

“Acknowledged.  Request: If friendlies notice any points of concern or potential efficiency improvements, please inform this unit.”

“I-I see…well…forgive me, wise-mighty boss-queen, but this lowly servant has a question-request.”

“Acknowledgement: Please explain the request.”

“Will we…be fighting-assisting you at any point?”

“Analysis: This unit does not require combat assistance from covert-specialized units at this time.”

The rat monster’s ears fell against his head.

“I-I see…”

“Query: Does the friendly unit disagree?”

“N-No no, wise-mighty boss-queen, I would never!  It’s just…we are your monster-servants, yes yes?  It is our duty-purpose to fight on your behalf.”

“Requesting Clarification: Friendly unit wishes to engage in combat?”

The rat monster looked down for a second, then looked up at the live feed.

“Yes yes.  I wish to fight-battle in the wise-might boss-queen’s name.”

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered.

“Analysis: Risk level against current hostiles concluded as within acceptable range.  Initiating subordinate upgrade routine.  Participating friendlies, please prepare to deploy.”

The rat monster’s eyes lit up and he bowed his head low.

“Yes yes, thank you mighty-powerful boss-queen!  This lowly one promises he will meet-fulfill your expectations, yes yes!”

NSLICE-00P hit the next group of imps with her stun ray as the rat monster leapt out of the monster hangar.  The other rat monsters glanced at one and another and then followed after him.

“Oh, so we’re, like, getting free kills now, or something?  I was, like, going to nap, but I guess that’s ok too.”

And so Lilussees and the spiderlings climbed out after the rat monsters.

Leaving Rattingtale alone in the hangar.

“Ugh, i-it’s dangerous-dirty out there, yes yes.  B-But…if I stay here…the others will surpass-overcome me…urgh.  How dare they corner-manipulate the Great-High King like this, yes yes?!”

And so Rattingtale reluctantly joined in as well.

But the initial rat monster was not content to just kill the monsters lying helplessly on the ground.

No, he wanted to fight at the boss-queen’s side.

So he leapt past the fallen monsters, leaving them for the others, and rushed towards a new group of imps that had just turned the corner.  He activated dash as he leapt into the air, launching straight into the neck of one of the monsters and sinking his fangs into it.

NSLICE-00P’s robotic eye flickered.

“Observation: Friendly wishes to participate in active combat?”

“Yes yes, wise-powerful boss-queen!  I will show-display the might of your servants, yes yes!”

“Acknowledgement: Reclassifying friendly as combat-support asset.  Adapting protocols for group combat.”

NSLICE-00P had led autonomous warbots and other cyborgs into battle in the past, as well as fighting alongside Taog and Ateia, so she had protocols for this sort of scenario.  She swapped her role from directly combat to support, utilizing mana barriers the Equalizer to negate the Flame Imps’ attacks.  She opened fire with her assault rifle to take down two Flame Imps moving to help their comrade directly, so that the rat monster could finish his fight with his foe.

“Status Update: This unit is moving to combat support mode.  All friendlies, please prepare for direct combat.”

Lilussees and Rattingtale shuttered.

“Wait…we have to, like, actually fight, or something?  That’s, like, so much work.”

“That is too dangerous-risky for the Great-High King, yes yes!  Send the wretched spider-thing!”

But the other monsters showed no such hesitation.  The rat-monsters cautiously followed their courageous kin, ganging up on the flame imps one by one.  The spiderlings began crawling on the roof, tossing out silk threads to try and trap one of the higher flying imps.

Lilussees heaved a sigh.

“Well, like, whatever.  I guess my skills are, like, not growing, or something.”

She formed a ball of silk and lazily tossed it into the air.

The ball exploded, wrapping up one of the Flame Imps.  Lilussees slowly crawled over to the fallen imp and then sank her fangs into it until it stopped.

Rattingtale whimpered, but he had no choice.  So he very slowly crept towards the battle, looking for the weakest, most injured Flame Imp to take down…

***

Cassius blinked.

First, the wandering knight kept marching forward.  She had not stopped shooting her weapons or launching spells for even a single moment, with no indication she was planning to do so anytime soon.  So either she was unbelievably wasteful…or she was nowhere near running dry.

And then, she had suddenly deployed a bunch of rat and spider monsters.

That caused Cassius to pause.

She was…a summoner?  On top of everything else she was?  At a mere level 26?  Or, well, 28 now according to his dungeon Analyze ability, but the point still stood.

Well, she could have been a monster tamer, but that was a few too many monsters for a casual taming. Either way, she would have needed to invest perks to control this many.  Not to mention a monster tamer’s pets should have triggered Castra Turannia’s wards and would have needed to be declared.  And she hadn’t displayed any sign of her pets prior to this point, so just how was she feeding and taking care of them?

Of course, the wards were long due for maintenance, a fact that several individuals in town had already taken advantage of to bring in contraband.  And this knight was already strange, almost certainly a foreigner.  Perhaps she had special clearance for the monsters…but then why would she lack identification?  Maybe it was simply that she didn’t know she needed to declare them, as unlikely as that seemed?

Well, given all that, summoner made more sense…except why would she bother wasting the mana to summon weak monsters like that?  And…was trying to train them? Summoned monsters don’t get experience, so there’s no point in training the weak ones.  It might make a bit more sense if she was a monster tamer.  But was she really at such leisure she could afford to do so now, of all time?

Cassius tilted his head.

The more he learned about this strange knight, the less sense she made.

But he shook his head.  That wasn’t the problem he should concern himself with.

The problem he should concern himself with is that she was headed directly for the exit of the labyrinth.  She hadn’t taken a wrong turn even once, in fact.

The imps would not be enough to bog her down at this rate.  She would reach him before she ran out of mana.

But Cassius grinned.  The imps were but the weakest of the minions he could summon, even before he upgraded his monster summoning ability.  He had used them purely to scout out her capabilities, so now he was ready to try something else.

He would see how she would handle the Hot Devils.

Author’s Note:

…I couldn’t resist (Faceless Minion reference if you didn't read that one).

And now Rattingtale is regretting the whole get the boss-queen to summon more rats idea.  How was he supposed to know one of them would turn out to be a blood knight-teacher's pet who would force him to do actual subordinate work?

...Lilussees might be plotting his murder now.  Maybe.  Tomorrow.  If she gets around to it.

Anyways!

Can NSLICE-00P take on a Hot Devil?  Will the rat monster show the might of the wise-mighty boss-queen’s servants?  Will Lilussees recover from this horrendous expenditure of energy?  Will Cassius ever realize what’s actually going on?  Tune in next time, to find out!