[Shrubley, the Monster Adventurer] Chapter 136 - Tentanda Via

“Good luck,” Konko said, accompanying them to the balcony of their suite. She fiddled with a small notebook she had picked up to put her notes on alchemy within.

Konko was serious about becoming an Alchemist, and she intended to improve on the old recipes and create alterative recipes to make the concoctions cheaper and more affordable.

That wasn’t where the money in alchemy was, but she was determined to do it as a way of giving back. Besides, she could always focus on the more “premium” products that were just as difficult to produce, but owing to their rare ingredients garnered a significant markup.

“Out with it, girl,” Miranda told her. “You have something to say.”

“I do, Countess,” she said softly. With a deep breath, she clutched her notebook in both hands and bowed, stiffly and formally. “Please do not die! I would not know what to do without you all. You are… my first real friends.”

Konko stayed in that pose, unable to believe what she just did and afraid of what the monsters would say or do. Instead, of mocking laughter, she felt a warm wooden hand on her shoulder.

“We will do our best, Konko,” Shrubley told her. “Should we fall, you will be fine. You are stronger than you know.”

Konko whispered, “Thank you.”

She stayed in that same position of formal subservience until the monsters had all gone.

The air changed with the sound of silk ripping, and then she could feel the loneliness seep back in as if it had never left.

Straightening, Konko looked at the empty balcony. “I hope you are right, Shrubley…”

***

A high price must be paid, Shrubley thought as he used Secundus to open up a rift and bring them straight to the Dungeon they sought. The last Dungeon that was corrupted.

Before long, many more Dungeons would fall to the same corrupting influence. Unless they stopped it at its source.

Shrubley opened his eyes and found himself floating in absolute darkness.

A price… a voice said into the dark. Shrubley wasn’t sure whose it was. It did not sound like any he knew.

Something warm was pulled free from his inventory, a familiar yet heavy coin spun free in front of his face. Shrubley reached out and grabbed it. “No,” he said firmly. “That is not mine to give.”

Clutching Remal’s [Adathril Coin], Shrubley held it close like a precious thing, because it was. Not because of its value. Shrubley cared little for money, but he did care greatly about the sentimental value it possessed.

It had been entrusted to him by Remal, the Bard he had saved from an early grave. And Remal expected to have it back. Shrubley was not going to disappoint him.

A faint tug pulled at the coin once or twice, but was unable to dislodge the heavy blue-green coin from Shrubley’s grasp. It rang out with an odd, otherworldly timbre, and the force that enshrouded Shrubley was pushed back.

Without knowing what he was doing–which was a lot more often than he would have liked–Shrubley burst through the darkness and used Secundus to carve a hole to where he wanted to go.

For the second time that day, Shrubley heard a silken rip and an odd tugging sensation as if a heavy wind was suddenly at his back. He tumbled through the opening he just made and landed with a jarring thud onto something hard and bony.

“Gak!” Cal cried out, going down hard onto the stony floor as Shrubley bowled him over and kept going down the stairs.

Shrubley rolled down the steps, completely unprepared. He tumbled onto his back, laying down at the bottom of the steps feeling dazed and confused.

All he knew was that they were in the Dungeon they aimed for, and he still had Remal’s coin. It was almost painfully hot, but it was still whole and still in his possession.

Shrubley tucked it away again into his inventory and smiled to himself. Perhaps the coin really was lucky. It had allowed him to slip free of whatever had demanded a price.

I should not count on it again, he thought. The coin was worryingly hot, even in his sunny and grassy inventory, but it was not getting any warmer.

Shrubley placed Secundus away and drew [Death’s Razor] in its place. [Adrastos] came next, the special shield he had received from Lord Hammar as thanks for saving the town of Talvar.

His sword was not quite as strong as he was, but with his recent bout of enchanting, its power was pushed a little higher. Using Secundus was risky, not only because he did not wish to risk breaking it, but because it was too tempting to draw on its power.

It felt right to use [Death’s Razor] instead of one of the Count’s weapons. Despite what the Countess said, he did not feel right stealing from the Count. They were won fairly in a duel, yes, but that would just deprive the Count from proper weaponry in the future.

Shrubley felt a connection to [Death’s Razor], a tether of some force akin to mana that linked the two of them. The blade’s balance and weight were familiar to him, and it continued to be instrumental in his survival. He intended to wield that which might sow destruction for the betterment of all.

Besides, the skeleton knight he had taken it from had seemed pleased to finally be allowed to rest. It felt fitting that he should wield [Death’s Razor] to put this Dungeon to rest as well. He hoped there was enough of the core left to save.

Shrubley fully intended to give the Count’s weapons back as soon as he ran into him again.

“Shrubley?” Cal called as he hurried down the steps after his friend. “Are you okay?”

By way of answering, the shrub picked himself up and gave a thumbs up to the skeletal mage.

This Dungeon was unlike anything Shrubley had seen before. Granted, he had only ever seen 2 Dungeons in his life, but this appeared to be on a scale that dwarfed the others.

While he was still within a single corridor, there was no ceiling. The walls vanished into the gloom a 100 feet or more above their heads, but Shrubley could not shake the feeling that even if he spent all day climbing, he would never find the tops of those walls.

“It is a Labyrinth,” Miranda told him as she joined the rest of them at the bottom of the steps in the impossibly long hallway. “One of the worst kinds, really. The Labyrinth types are always difficult to traverse, tons of traps, and even more monsters than usual. Good for leveling, bad for getting in and out.”

“And it means our quarry, the one pulling the strings, is likely to be made aware of our presence long before we are able to get to him or her,” Shrubley said.

“Unfortunately.”

“Can’t we do anything about it?” Cal asked. “What about your key thingy?”

Shrubley shook his head. “I cannot use it again.”

Removing Secundus from his inventory, Shrubley showed the dull metal to his friends. Only at the very hilt was there any indication of its previous golden glow.

“It takes time to charge back up,” Shrubley explained, though he wasn’t sure how he knew. “The stronger magic I try to work with it, the longer it will take to recharge.”

“How long?” Cal asked nervously. “Are we going to be trapped here?”

Slyrox put a mittened hand against the wall, feeling along the smooth edges where different colored stones met. “Slyrox cannot feel any seams,” she said wondrously. “Is very good stonework.”

“You can admire the stonework later,” Miranda said. She put her hands on her hips and looked into the darkness above as if there was somebody listening to her. “Okay, Dungeon, show us the way.”

Silence.

“This is not Dungeonley,” Shrubley told her as if it were obvious. “Nor is it Dungeonette. I feel this is a very different Dungeon. One we have no rapport with. I am afraid we will need to go through this one normally.”

Cal looked up into the infinite darkness and slid closer to his best friend. If Shrubley was not trying to be amiable toward the Dungeon, then he knew it was impossible. That had to be a bad sign. “Okay… so you can’t use that clock hand thingy just yet, but maybe if we waited…?”

As if his words triggered it, the Dungeon began to shiver and shake. The way back up the steps vanished as the walls closed in, creating a smooth wall behind them without any seams.

“Methinks there will be no shortcuts.” Slyrox felt along it and nodded, impressed. “Muchly trapped.”

“I can guide us,” Miranda said. “I’ll turn into a bat and fly above–”

Once again, as soon as somebody voiced their plan aloud, the Dungeon compensated. A foul miasma roiled above their heads, descending until it was less than 10 feet above them.

“Hey, that’s not very fair!” Cal said. “It’s listening to us and… er, cheating, I suppose?”

“I do not think the Dungeon is cheating,” Shrubley said. “I think the one controlling the Dungeon is… trying to keep us out. I think they are scared.”

The Dungeon rumbled deeply, but nothing more happened. Shrubley was confident in his analysis.

This was not typical Dungeon behavior. This reeked of fear.

They were being kept away, slowed down. If the Dungeon could have simply crushed them to death, Shrubley was certain the puppet master would have already done it.

There were some laws that were too deep and ancient to break.

“I’m going to steal their boots, just you wait,” Sose muttered fiercely.

I suppose if you did not expect your adversary to suddenly show up when it should have been otherwise impossible to reach here, then I would be greatly surprised too, Shrubley thought.

All that meant to the little shrub was that they were on the right track.

There would be nothing to fear if their adversary was prepared for them. Instead, this sounded like they had gotten the drop on them before they could finish their plans.

That was good. In Shrubley’s eyes, that meant they had not endangered other people.

He hoped that for the same reason the Dungeon could not crush them to death, that there must also be a path through the maze. An accessible entrance and exit.

“We are still on a timer,” Shrubley said out loud. A little too loud. “If we cannot defeat this Dungeon in the remaining 12 hours, Clocktown will be destroyed! We cannot afford to let the Dungeon win.”

Cal looked at him curiously.

“But Shrubley say–mmph!” Slyrox began before Miranda clapped her hand onto Slyrox’s muzzle.

“Yes, Shrubley,” Miranda said, “you’ve told us non-stop that there are only 12 hours remaining until we need to be back. If we can’t get through this Dungeon in that time, we’ll have to leave. Nothing is more important than saving Clocktown. This Dungeon will still be here.”

Smudge blinked out of sync.

“We can only hope,” Shrubley said, taking the first step down that infinitely long corridor, the foul miasma stirring like rank rain clouds over their heads.

I am not a particularly good performer. Was that a little much?

Shrubley wasn’t sure. He hoped that the puppet master had heard them, and that they sounded believable enough.

His hope was that the puppet master could only alter the Dungeon so much. Otherwise, they would have been destroyed already, or some massive monster would have been revealed to fight them.

There were laws that had to be obeyed, and the Dungeon was hard-wired to obey them no matter what.

The puppet master, if they were listening, would need to expend all of their efforts in the next 12 hours. Giving Shrubley and his friends 48 hours after that mark to find the core of the Dungeon, get the [Ivory Card], and then gain access to the Dungeon Dimension.

The last part bothered him. He had no idea where it was located, nor how long they would be trapped within the Dungeon Dimension. They had brought enough supplies for weeks, bracing against the unknown.

Shrubley had to hold on to the hope that the Dungeon Dimension did not work as normal time does. He did not think it was likely to explore such an odd and unfamiliar realm as the Dungeon Dimension within 2 measly days.

The corridor beyond split into a T-junction, stretching far and wide to either side.

Just one glance up and down the hallway told Shrubley that there were well over a dozen paths to take.

“We’ll need to split up,” Shrubley said, returning to his group.

No sooner had he spoken than a silvery gateway appeared right in front of them, nearly crushing Cal’s toes as he backpedaled out of the way.

Beside the closed gate, a series of metal pegs on the wall held dangling silver cuffs with a large sign saying, TAKE ME.