(AS) B2 - Lesson 63: "It's Okay To Ask For Help."

I'm not dead! These last few chapters have really been kicking my butt though.

This one's a longer one to, enjoy!

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Inside the rapidly liquefying forest clearing, the Kigendoro roared again. Walls of black mud rose to block a barrage of white beams that streamed from the treeline in all directions. The Kigendoro turned and opened its mouth wide, and several super-compressed lines of black, muddy water shot outward at odd angles. They swept outward, moving in random, chaotic directions, and cut into the forest. The wood began to rot and decay where the water beams clipped the trees.

A dozen shadowed figures scattered, black beams clipping off of hexagonal energy shields. The Kigendoro sent another rolling wave of mud outward. Bert threw a large, gauntleted fist and struck the air with such power that hurricane-force winds scattered the earth wave before him. On the other side, Robert lept over the wave, slashing at the grasping tendrils that reached up from the raging earth as it passed underneath. Several small gems along his armor cracked.

Three huge, glowing blue lances of fire streaked through the air and slammed into the eel-like beast. The fire lances exploded into bright stars, turning the oozing black mud covering the Kigendoro into dry, crumbling stone. More of the smaller white beams shot out of the treeline and hit the dark stone, causing it to fall away and reveal grey flesh underneath. Before anyone could take advantage, however, black mud flowed down to cover the exposed areas.

Robert cursed loudly. “Nothing’s getting through! I thought Kigendoros weren’t physical types!?”

“They’re not,” Bert yelled back. “It’s the mud. It’s acting like a natural armor!”

Each of them had held back nothing in this fight. Be it the goblins and their strange artifacts, Robert and the multiple talismans Bert had seen him burn through, or Bert himself and the various techniques that let him break through his limits… at a cost. Even Maggy had revealed a rather shocking amount of power.

He turned and looked up at the floating girl near the edge of the clearing. Dozens of orange sparks danced around Maggy as her eyes glowed a bright white. As Bert watched, three of the tiny sparks were sucked into the strange blue orb hovering over a frost-covered hand. Then, a sound akin to a screeching bird, three more huge lances of blue flames erupted from the orb and shot toward the Kigendoro.

Despite the display, Bert could see that the artifact the young mage was using — whatever it was — was taking a toll on her. Each barrage of blue flame was coming later and later, while the young girl was shivering, like she was stuck in the middle of a snowstorm, despite the air around her wavering from the heat. She was running out of steam.

They all were.

Yet… the Kigendoro was only getting started. With each passing moment, it grew more accustomed to its new body, learning to flex its power in different ways and becoming ever so slightly quicker to respond to their attacks.

Boarslayer lept into the air from the forest edge, [Megaton] raised high. Boosters on the legs of her armor activated at her highest point, shooting her further and higher than her natural leap would ever have. “LET’S SEE HOW WELL ITS ARMOR DEALS WITH THIS!” she yelled.

The Kigendoro’s eyes opened wide as Boarslayer suddenly shot toward it and swung the massive hammer in her hands down. However, a [Core Condensing] beast’s reflexes were far above a mere [Silver Spirit] Cultivator, even one at the peak like Boarslayer. A solid stone wall rose from the muddy earth to intercept the flying goblin.

BOOM!

[Megaton] slammed into the stone wall with enough force that the air itself ignited. Not finished, Boarslayer activated the hammer’s piledriver. The ground itself shook as the array-reinforced piledriver hit the stone barrier. The barrier cracked… but held.

“Oh…” Boarslayer muttered under her helmet.

A black spike erupted from the wall the next moment, hitting Boarslayer in the chest. A hexagonal energy field appeared, but it bent and warped under the power of the blow until it shattered with the sound of breaking glass. Boarslayer was thrown backward with almost as much speed as her boosters had thrown her at the beast.

“Lass!” Bert called, filling his legs with Spirit Energy and leaping into the air after her. After reviewing the footage later, Alpha would realize the man had actually kicked off the air, as if he was stepping on invisible floating stones.

Bert caught the woman and landed with a soft thud. He let out a breath of relief. Other than a small dent in the strange armor’s chest, it looked intact. Boarslayer’s helmet folded away, and she snarled before struggling out of Bert’s arms. She turned to the Kigendoro, her teeth clenched and her eyes burning, looking like she was ready to charge back into the fight immediately. Bert reached out and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back.

“The other have already escaped!” Bert said. “We need to retreat!”

Boarslayer whirled, the look on her face clearing, telling the larger man if he didn’t take his hand off her, he’d be the next thing she hit. “We can’t let that thing go,” she said. “It’ll destroy the cavern!”

“This beast is beyond us, girl,” Bert responded. “We need to evacuate the village while we can.”

Robert landed nearby and frowned at Bert.

“Are you suggesting we abandon the dungeon?!” he asked. “The Kigendoro will only get stronger as time passes. This is our best chance to stop it before it turns this goldmine of a cavern into a festering swamp!”

“Exactly,” Bert responded. “It’s growing stronger with each passing moment. We’re already throwing everything we have at it. If we wait too long, people will start dying.” He then turned to Boarslayer. “Gather the hunters and start heading for the village. We’ll try to slip away. With any luck, it’ll rampage in the area and not chase after anyone.”

Robert took a step forward and pointed at Bert. “Hold up, I am the leader of this expedition! You don’t have the authority to make these decisions.”

Bert turned back to Robert with a glare. He stared at the man momentarily before reaching into his pocket and pulling out an object. “Yes… I do,” Bert said, holding up the finger-sided jade tablet.

Robert’s eyes widened as he stared at the tablet. His gapping mouth snapped shut, and Robert’s face reddened. “You’re a Guild Investigator?” he asked through clenched teeth. “They put an investigator on my expedition?!”

“Standard practice, I assure you,” Bert said flatly before slipping the tablet back into his pocket. “You’re a smart man, Robert. You couldn’t have honestly expected they would let an expedition like this go through without some kind of supervision.”

Robert’s eyes bulged further, and his mouth gaped like a fish, though no words came out.

“An investigator has the authority to override the orders of any acting field commanded. Don’t force my hand on this, Robert…”

The two of them locked eyes for a tense moment. Robert’s hand wrung the hilt of his sword while Bert’s fist clenched. In the background, the fight with the Kigendoro raged on, and Maggy and the goblin hunters continued to pelt it from afar.

“How about option three?” said a voice.

Both men’s heads snapped to the side to see… an ant?

A giant silver ant, to be exact.

Bert stared at the ant with suspicion, but Robert frowned.

“You can leave the dungeon…” he said.

The ant turned to Robert and tilted its head. “Puppets are rather convenient for going places you’re not supposed to,” Alpha said.

Bert looked between Robert and the ant. “I assume this is our Dungeon Core, then?”

“Yes… They are.” Robert narrowed his eyes before sheathing his sword and standing straighter. “What exactly do you mean by a ‘third option?”

“I have a surprise for our muddy friend here. All I need you to do is lead it toward the Dragon’s Garden entrance.”

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Garrelt stared unblinking at the massive, sprawling complex laid out in front of him. He had seen the inner ‘guts’ of many dungeons in his life; for as much as Halirosa tried to prevent dungeon breaks, they still happened from time to time. Yet, never once had he seen anything like what he was seeing now.

Instead of grand halls enscrolled with vast, complex arrays and filled with dazzling artifacts, the clean, surgical hallways he had been led through felt almost… mundane in comparison.

Yet, to those who knew what to look for, it was anything but.

Be it the odd lights that dotted the ceiling, the sheer precision of their construction, and even the strange materials he had no name for. The entire thing spoke of a level of meticulous design and craftsmanship he had never seen before. What’s more, Garrelt could barely feel any Spirit Energy from any of it; only the oddly simplistic arrays spread out here and there, most of which seemed to do little more than act as energy conduits or sensors for doorways.

It was like the Dungeon Core wasn’t even bothering to hide that it was constantly scanning everyone and everything that passed through the facility. Then again, maybe it felt like it didn’t have to.

The actual complex was sprawling and labyrinthine to an absurd degree. The dungeonbound, Hugo, had already led him through several areas, each filled with strange machinery and moving automatons that simultaneously felt oddly familiar but utterly foreign. If Garrelt hadn’t already mapped the areas of the dungeon above previously, he would have been totally lost. As it stood, he estimated they were nearing the main entrance they had used when meeting with the Dungeon Core. Or at least underneath it.

Finally, they seemed to reach their destination as they turned a corner into a gargantuan hallway, easily thirty meters high and twice that wide. To their right was a set of equally massive vault doors, eerily similar to the ones above, though without the engravings. Instead, it stood as an imposing barrier that even Cultivators several major steps higher than him, would struggle to pass.

To their left, the hallway — no, tunnel — stretched hundreds of meters into the distance before disappearing around a bend. Inside a small depression, two parallel lines of metal ran down the middle of the tunnel, following the bend until they, too, vanished out of sight. Hugo turned to the right and walked toward a smaller, person-sized door set into the massive ones. Garrelt, however, stopped and frowned.

How far does the dungeon actually stretch? He asked himself. It wasn’t unheard of for a dungeon’s influence to extend beyond what was publicly obvious. After all, its resources and materials had to come from somewhere. But typically, that direction was down. This… this was beyond anything he had ever heard of.

Hugo had stopped at the door while Garrelt took in the sight. When the scout leader finally turned and followed the former bandit, Hugo removed his helmet and leaned toward the door.

A panel opened, and a red light swept over Hugo’s eye several times and from several directions before finally flashing green with a ding. The man stood straight, and the door slid open. Beyond the door was a white room, featureless except for three bright yellow squares arranged in a larger triangle and another door at the far side. For a moment, Garrelt feared a trap, but Hugo calmly walked inside and stood in a square. Garrelt took a step forward and hesitated at the threshold before sighing. If this was some kind of trap for whatever reason, it wouldn’t really matter. He was already in the belly of the beast, and in his condition, there was no fighting his way out.

“Hurry up, we have to go through decontamination before entering the Guardian’s room,” Hugo said, waving Garrelt forward.

Garrelt took a deep breath and followed Hugo inside before standing in the square that Hugo pointed to. The door slid shut behind them with a hiss.

“Arms out,” Hugo ordered before holding his arms out vertically. Garrelt frowned but mirrored the man. Hidden slots in the wall opened, and thick white mist slowly filled the room. Garrelt’s heart raced, and he feared poison; however, circulating his Spirit Energy revealed none of the typical signs. Instead, the mist seemed to cling to his skin, causing it to tingle slightly before vanishing without a trace.

As if reading his mind, Hugo spoke up through the mist;

“There parts of the Guardian are still being made, and according to Mr. Alpha, the process is delicate, so no foreign contaminants are allowed inside. The mist scrubs you clean of everything; dirt, blood, waste, oil. It eats it up and leaves you cleaner than the first bath your momma ever gave you.”

Now that he knew what was happening, Garrelt paid closer attention and was amazed to see Hugo was right. While he didn’t understand how it worked, Garrelt could see — physically and with his spirit sense — that wherever the mist touched, the accumulated grime and filth of months away from civilizations evaporated, vanishing into the mist.

He shook his head, mentally tearing himself away from the process, and turned to where Hugo stood.

“This is the second time you’ve mentioned this ‘Guardian.’ What is it?” Garrelt asked.

He could see Hugo shrug, although through the mist he appeared little more than a dark shadow. “Don’t right now, myself. Mr. Alpha isn’t the most… forthcoming individual, though I understand, what with us being bandits and all. From what I’ve gathered, though, it’s some sorta’ weapon. Given the name, I’m guessin’ to help protect the dungeon. Bill would no more; he’s spent the most time helpin’ out with it.”

A weapon? Garrelt thought to himself. That didn’t tell him much. Dungeons, as a rule of thumb, weren’t innovators. They were designed to perform a specific function, and stepping outside of those functions wasn’t something that was done.

Under normal circumstances, that was.

There were known dungeons that could adapt and learn, incorporating new knowledge and techniques as they fed on what was offered by trial takers, both freely and otherwise. These so-called ‘growth types’ were exceedingly rare, mostly because of their absorbent cost to create and maintain, as well as their tendency to collapse, for those same reasons. Those few that thrived, however, were some of the planet’s most coveted and sought-after resources. Continent-spanning wars had been fought over the control of some.

Before Garrelt could ask anything more, the mist cleared. Garrelt stared down at his pristine hand in amazement. He still couldn’t move his other arm, but where before it had the appearance of a freshly exhumed corpse, the limb now appeared simply withered and sickly, like he was a mortal who had spent months in a healer’s bed.

Hugo turned and grinned at him. “Amazing, ain’t it? I’ll admit, even barring everything I’ve seen this past month, I think I’d have jumped ship for this alone. I don’t think I can go back to the alchemical wash.”

Garrelt stared at Hugo, blinked, then chuckled, shaking his head. He couldn’t blame the man. The alchemical wash that Adventurers used to clean their bodies and gear of all the accumulated blood, gore, and grime while in the field worked. But it always left your skin feeling slightly… sticky for some reason. Not enough to be uncomfortable, and most people eventually got used to it, but it would never beat a proper bath.

This… cleansing mist, though… Garrelt didn’t think he had ever been cleaner than this very moment. Or ever would be, even after a hundred baths. It was terrifying in its own way. Garrelt didn’t dwell on that matter for long, however. There were more important things to worry about. The far door slid open the next moment as if to drive that point home.

From the room beyond, a spiritual wave slammed into Garrelt with enough force that it almost drove him to his knees. It wasn’t as strong as the Kigendoro’s, but it was close. Garrelt followed Hugo through the doorway and soon understood why.

He stared in wide-eyed amazement at the massive cavern absolutely covered in a vast network of mind-boggling arrays. Interwoven between the arrays were dozens of strange machines and flashing screens, creating a strange cacophony of controlled chaos, Garrelt didn’t even try to understand. Be it machine or array, however, everything converged toward the center of the cavern, where a large metal cylinder sat. Hugo quickly made his way in that direction, and soon, they saw another man standing at its foot.

Bill waved them over with a wide grin. “About time you guys got here! Let’s get this show on the road! I’m pumped!”

“… What?” Garrelt asked with a frown.

Hugo sighed. “Ignore him. He’s been watching too many videos,” he said, then turned to Bill. “Bill, focus, please.”

Bill rolled his eyes. “I am focused…” he muttered before turning to a control panel at the base of the cylinder. He pressed several buttons, and the cylinder rumbled before the metal sides slid down, revealing an equally large glass tube filled with some sort of slightly green-tinted liquid.

Inside the tube floated… a man? The man’s arms were bound to their chest, and dozens of glowing wires sprouted from their body, running to both the top and bottom of the tube. A thick, joint mental appendage, attached to the man’s back in a way Garrelt couldn’t see from this angle, held him in place.

Garrelt’s eyes bulged at the sight. Despite being shaved bald and appearing several times thinner than he had last seen the man decades ago, Garrelt instantly recognized him.

“Is… that Bosco?” he asked in an almost whisper.

“Yup!” Bill responded, almost chipper despite the gruesome scene.

Garrelt frowned and forced his gaze away from the man in the tube. “I don’t understand. What’s happened to him? What did the Dungeon Core do to him? More importantly, why am I here?”

Bill looked up from the device at the foot of the tube. “Mr. Alpha’s had to… accelerate a project he’d been working on due to the Kigendoro. It’s not fully functioning yet, but if we can get it working, it might be just what we need to stuff the beastie back in the box. For that, we need someone more familiar with modern arrays. Specifically, we need someone who knows how different systems and methodologies work together…”

“… Someone like a Spellsword,” Garrelt finished the man’s sentence.

Bill grinned and pointed at him. “Bingo!”

Garrelt spun around and stared at the complex web of arrays etched into the cavern. “What does any of this actually do, though? I can recognize some of it. There are a lot of energy gathering and distribution arrays, as well as several control systems mixed here and there. Some of this, though… I couldn’t begin to dream what it does. I can see a few parts that don’t even make any sense! They don’t follow any rules I’m even aware of.”

His frown deepened. The closer he looked, the stranger it became. He could already pick out several problem areas where common, almost rudimentary mistakes were made as if the one who had made them was only working with a partial understanding of what they were doing. Yet right next to it would be a section that worked off of principles and concepts so beyond him that he didn’t even have a name for them. The dissonance of it all made his head hurt.

It’s like the whole thing was done by a child who had the knowledge and talent of an Array Master but none of the experience, Garrelt thought to himself.

Finally, he turned and pointed at the floating Bosco. “He can’t be the ‘weapon’ Hugo mentioned. Even if the Dungeon has done something to him, he was only late [Shackle Breaking], according to the goblins. That’s not going to be enough to deal with the Kigendoro.”

Bill shook his head and chuckled. “Oh, don’t worry. Bosco here isn’t the Guardian.”

He slapped the tube and grinned from ear to ear;

“He’s just the battery.”