Dungeon Annihilation 2 - 31 (Patreon)

Evening Everyone! I hope thanksgiving wasn't too rough for everyone. I plan on throwing up a Dungeon Robotics chapter later, but its my birthday so that may or may not happen lol. 

Regan/Earle

We made our way to the merchant district of the town. It had grown rapidly with the attraction of my dungeon. Even if the hype dies down eventually, there were likely to always be adventurers attempting the halls meaning it was rare for a business set up in a dungeon town to fail.

That said, the food was horrible on this planet. I had checked out multiple restaurants and eateries, but all have disappointed me nearly to tears. If I wasn’t a dungeon core, I knew I could make a fortune just bring Earth recipes here. The kicker was that they had nearly all the same ingredients. It was mainly a lack of creativity from what I could tell.

I still managed to find a place that was passable. I felt it was suitable for a lunch date. As long as I could get her over to the airdocks so I could take a look at a few of the vessels it would be fine. Something about the construction of the Marquis’ vessel was preventing me from simply observing them as I felt. Possibly an enchantment made by the gnomes for protection against subversion.

Inside the store, I asked for the waitress to put us in one of the private rooms. I had to give the owner some credit. The store was built with nobles and well-paying adventurers in mind. Privacy was one of the few things that most of the restaurants currently open in town lacked, favoring for the tavern style.

Even if we didn’t talk about anything of import. I preferred the privacy. As the lord of the area, it would also be for her benefit as she could claim that she was just eating lunch with her bodyguards rather than meeting a man. I knew that a scandal had already started to spread, but the chaos that might follow was just part of the fun.

“I don’t believe I’ve eaten here before,” Louella said as we took out seats.

“Yes. I think they just opened a few days ago. Right before the tournament.”

“Any recommendations?”

“While I’ve eaten here once or twice, I’m not sure about their full menu. Do feel free to try whatever you want.” Eating was something I was doing more to pass the time rather than due to my body actually requiring it. At most, I could absorb the food for its mana equivalent, but that number was barely over zero for the most part.

Louella smirked at me. “Not much help, are you?”

I played along and bowed my head. “I shall endeavor to know the full menu next time we come here.”

We ended up having a soup, steak/meatloaf mashup, and a few other items that were considered up and coming for the area. I was thankful that the cook had managed to remove most of the gamey taste from the meat. A feat that few had managed to accomplish from what I’ve seen so far.

“After this, how about a stroll over near the docks. The fields are looking quite stunning right now.”

“That part of the valley will probably be quite the sight from now on. The ambient mana from the area will help the plants grow better than any nature mage could,” Louella said, glancing in the direction of the airdocks. The window just barely managing to show the tip of the docks from our position.

“Now that you mention it, the forest next to the tower does seem to have grown a few feet in the few months I’ve been here.”

Louella tilted her head to the side in a cute fashion. “I’ll have to have one of the guilds check it out. We can’t have any nature monsters popping up from the trees mutating.”

We continued to chat about random topics while everyone finished their meal. Louella was a typical noble and had to follow their rules. Even with me as an exception, all the guards had to start eating after her. It was just a fact of the matter for them. They were eating a separate table even, but that was more to give us some privacy.

While we waited, I noticed or rather remembered that Louella’s bodyguard was still only tier one. “Is your bodyguard having trouble breaking through?” I asked not really paying attention.

“How did you know she was stuck?” Louella asked, thankfully more curious than suspicious. People could tell to a certain degree what tier and level another person was, especially if they were close, but it was hard to know whether they were on the verge of breaking through or not.

“Mainly because you are in the second tier while your guard is at a weaker level,” I said quickly.

Louella gave me a sigh and nodded in acknowledgement. “Its mostly my fault. Having to protect me, she doesn’t get much time to cultivate in places that are suitable to her.” She leaned forward and put her chin in her hand. “Even with that, she managed to reach the wall, but she hasn’t had the epiphany needed to scale it. I keep telling her to go to the mages guild, but she is stubborn.”

“Sort of like her mistress,” I commented with a chuckle.

“I said sorry. Anyway, she…”

I felt a surge of mana in another part of the restaurant and dove across the table to protect Louella. Holding my hand out, I forced the shadows to form a wall, but put a little too much power in it. The restaurant ended up sliced in half by the wall just before a torrent of flames slammed into it. The center of the building collapsed almost instantly.

Screams from the injured and the groaning of beams as the rest of the structure struggled to maintain its shape could be heard. I flung my other hand out and blasted the wall out so that everyone could get clear of the obviously ruined building. “Go!” I pushed Louella after the others.

Out on the street, a crowd had already formed to watch the building burn. I was impressed when I saw that a good chunk of the building now resided in new places all over the street. Whoever or whatever had caused this hadn’t held back.

I didn’t have to wait long to get my answer, when a few seconds later, a large man that clearly had some sort of link to monsters and a scrawny man rushed from the collapsing building. The large man looked like a cross between a human and an orc. A massive sword rested on his back. The scrawny man was human but appeared to lack any muscle mass at all. I had seen insane before, since coming here, I had caused it in a few of my experiments, but the small man was unmistakably missing a few screws.

He spun and tossed a few spheres of fire into the building causing it to explode even more. I would have whistle if I wasn’t in present company. The orbs were densely packed with fire mana further increasing their destructive force. You had to have quite the control to handle your mana to create something like that.

“That’s what you get for charging so damn much! Let’s go Chips!” he shouted giving the burning husk of a restaurant the rude gesture of Thonaca.

“Des.” The large man grunted. I noticed that he had what looked like half a deer in his hand.

The moment wore off and I realized I might not get to see the airships during my game. Anger flooded through me as I shot forward, the least I could do was make it worth it for Louella and the locals. Arriving between the pair in an instant, I spun and brought my foot around to strike Chips’ head. With a loud boom, I sent the man flying several dozen meters down the street.

“What’s this!?” Des cried angrily as flames flared up around him.

“You ruined my evening! That’s what!” I matched him by forming shadows that moved like flames all around me. I drew my rapier slowly, the sound managing to cut through all the noise. Even with how insane this man was, he could tell that I was dangerous. Good.

“Earle!”

The shout helped me. I spun on the spot and parried the two-meter-long sword that seemed to appear from nowhere. Chips had some immense strength and the ground cracked underneath me as I held my ground. Terra mana surged from the man, but I only smirked. Dozens of spikes ripped from the ground and impaled me. Some more screams, but they died quickly as my body melted into darkness.

There were two pops, as my rapier emerged from the darkness and pierced through chips. Even with both lungs punctuated, he didn’t appear to be stopping. It grew quite a few degrees hotter when several fireballs landed right on top of us. The man, Des, could somehow tell where I was in the shadow realm as his fireballs landed quite accurately in my corresponding spot in the material plane.

Arcs of lightning distracted Des long enough for me to reappear and ram my rapier through his stomach. I was thoroughly pissed, not only had they ruined my evening, but Des had even managed to singe my skin. This was the first time since Wrakras that I’d actually been hurt.

Des fell to the ground his hand on his stomach as he burned the wound closed. He probably wouldn’t die, but he was definitely out for the count. Glancing over to Chips, Raven had his head between her swords and Ezal’s hand was glowing a bright red color hovering a few centimeters from his face.

The fight over, I moved back to Louella. “Thanks for the assist.”

She ignored me and patted me over focusing on the spots that had burn marks. “Are you alright!?”

I laughed as I grabbed her hands. “I’m fine. Basically, a bad sunburn.”

“Are you sure? I can get a healer,” she insisted.

“Positive. Besides,” I waved my hand over my arm using my new patented shadow healing to remove the burns. “I got it covered.”

She breathed deeply in obvious relief. “Thank goodness.”

“Countess Louella! Is everything alright?” We turned to see marquis Valamar and his royal guard approaching. Just behind him was Commander Yin with a full squad of guards.

“Yes. These two destroyed the restaurant for some reason. Sir Earle dealt with them.”

I nodded my head to them standing behind Louella. It was best to let the nobles do the talking or risk ruffing from feathers. Commander Yin did send a glare my way, but that was probably because we had bad blood. She thought I had snuck into the valley under her watch. Any guard captain would be annoyed if that was the case. Then there was the fact she couldn’t do anything against me.

“I see.” Marquis Valamar gestured, and the large man named Bruce moved forward. He was wearing a tank equivalent of armor. He had to have tremendous physical strength to be able to move as well as he did. I had already resolved that if relations with the marquis went down the hole, I would make sure to capture the man as a sample.

After a quick inspection of the two men by him, he turned back to the marquis. “They are wanted in Thonaca. They recently stole from a few businesses in Jade Port. We got a sending just yesterday about it.”

“Lady Louella. Would you accompany me with your companions?” asked the marquis with a glance at the those of us behind the lady.

I wanted to walk away just to spite the man, but if we were going to his base of operations, then we’d end up on his airship. The evening wouldn’t be ruined nor my game. His airship was the best in the valley right now. Of the vessels, his would be the best to replicate if I was going to do so.

Louella glanced at me and I gave her a nod. “Very well. Guards bind these men as thoroughly as you can. They have a surprising control over their mana for criminals. I want full anti-mana cuffs.”

“Yes Ma’am!”

Commander Yin moved up next to Louella. “Do you want me to accompany you?”

“The marquis’ airship is probably the safest place in the valley,” the countess replied with a chuckle. “No offense. No. I want you to find out how these men came to be in my valley.” I whistled when I saw the anger rolling off her. Of course, even if the restaurant was the target of the mentally imbalanced individuals. They were still wanted in Thonaca. As the captain of the guard, Commander Yin should have gotten the information roughly the same time as the marquis.

“I will have a report on your desk in an hour.” Commander Yin saluted then rushed off with most of her soldiers. The only ones that remained were the ones holding the restraints of the two men.

“You know. I like her,” I commented watching the commander leave. “reminds me of a loyal dog.” Louella smacked me on the hand and barely suppressed her laugh. I might be a bad influence on her.

~~~

The little field trip soon made it over to the airdocks. The evening had taken a bit of a weird turn with the help of Des and Chips. I was curious to what the marquis was planning to do. From what I heard, he had thrown a dwarf from the airdocks before, though there was a slight against one of his men.

The marquis had been in the town long enough that his airship had been landed to reserve fuel. That little tidbit of information made me even more curious as to the design behind these vessels. The group made their way on board and I felt the moment we crossed the wards that had kept me out of the main workings of the vessel so far. I didn’t want to risk anyone becoming more aware thus I’d had to leave it alone when I first felt it.

Now that I was onboard the ship, I could cast my senses around much easier without risking too much trouble on myself. While we walked, I leaked out my aura through my feet. As long as present company and none the wiser, I could shift the blame if I was caught. Like water, my aura washed through the creases of the ship making its way through the vessel. It took me a fair couple of minutes, but by the time we arrived at the main room. I had a good grasp of the ship.

The ship was nearly identical to one found on Earth for seafaring. The best way to describe it was to call it an elongated galleon from the 1700s. It had fewer masts, but after that most of the overall structure was the same. It was basically a really big ship.

What was really interesting were the pipes that ran through the vessel. I found that a fascinating liquid was flowing though them back to what had to be the engine. The liquid appeared to have anti-gravity properties. It had me wondering if the liquid was naturally occurring or if it was synthesized.

Just from glancing at it, I could see that the people that had built that had made it much simpler. Whether due to technical challenges or simply to keep potential enemies from getting the technology, I would have to ask a gnome involved in the process that question. If I was a betting man, I wouldn’t doubt that the people involved were tight lipped even among their own people.

My curiosity stated, I did the last thing I need to make any type of replicate work. I carefully absorbed a few drops of the liquid by passing some shadows into the boards under us. I grinned once the knowledge flooded into my head. I was going to have a lot of fun here soon.

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