Dungeon Annihilation 3-19 (Patreon)

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Chapter 19

Regan/Earle

The procedure on the queen could last a moment or a few hours. It really came down to what sort of effect I was going for with the observers. If I made it look to easy, they might call me a sham or something equally degrading. Too long and they might question my ability. I decided that I would let the queen decide by watching her reaction to the operation.

Placing my hands on her chest and stomach, I created a mana link with her. I had to heal the cancer without overburdening any one organ. Doing so might cause it to react poorly and start to shut down due to the shook. I started with the lungs and heart.

I found that those were the most robust of the organs that were cancerous. Healing them first would also serve to make the overall operation better as her blood flow and air flow would be in much better shape. As the healing started, I wasn’t surprised when the queen started jerking though she managed to hold her voice.

“I would recommend someone holding her down. She could hurt herself if we’re not careful,” I advised to the room full of gawkers.

The princess and what looked like the queen’s trusted handmaiden rushed forward and grabbed the queen’s shoulders and feet respectively. I nodded and got back to work. I never expected to have to deal with cancer in this world, but magical induced cancer was entirely new for me in both worlds.

While I healed the damaged organs, I made sure to absorb some of the cells to make sure there wasn’t going to be a surprise later down the road. I had no idea what I planned to do with the gnomes long term, but if the queen died after I claimed to heal her that would put a damper on any negotiations. Though, I could always take a new form and start over. That felt sort of defeatist to me.

Other than a few differences mainly related to mana generation and absorption, the cancer was almost identical to Earth’s version. Or at least I assumed so. I had been a robotics engineer and scientist, not a biologist. Still, I had read enough while locked in that tower to feel like I understood the basics.

The queen’s breathing eased considerably after I stopped working on her lungs. She was still jerking from the pain of her heart healing, but it had to be better than it and the lungs at the same time. A few minutes after the lungs healed, her heart joined the clean list and I moved down to her intestines and stomach.

They were the least damaged of the organs that I had scanned. Her diet probably one of the best in the world, she hadn’t been malnourished or dehydrated. She had been under constant care by people that at least understood some of the principles behind vitamins and whatnot. Thus her digestive system hadn’t been under too much stress overall and only took a brief moment to heal. That didn’t mean it didn’t feel like she got kicked in the gut as I worked on it.

Next came the tricky part. Her liver. Magical or not, the liver had tried its best to protect her body from the cancerous cells. A few more weeks maybe two months if she were lucky and it would have failed completely. “This next part will be the worst. Brace yourselves,” I warned since I doubted the queen wouldn’t scream for this part.

Sending my mana into the organ, I started to heal the tissue. For the first time since I started, the cancer retailiteated. The cells actually generated a sort of mana field to protect themselves and attack my stream. I couldn’t help raising my eyebrow at the event. Needless to say, the queen started screaming blood murder.

The next ten minutes were almost like playing a strategy game. I had to cut off the cells before they spread then slowly attack through the weakest links. At one point, I even had to send mana to the organ that the cancer could assimilate in order to keep the organ from failing. Finally, I managed to crush and absorb a sort of node that appeared to have been controlling the cancerous liver and some of the surrounding tissue.

I had to surrpress a smirk as I realized I had gotten more out of this deal than I had anticapitaed. While I finished the rest of the operation, I scanned the rest of the people in and around the central tower of Jade Wind. Of the near ten thousand people that I checked, only two other people had anything even similar to the queen. One was her handmaiden, and another appeared to be scholar or something similar that obviously worked near the tower for long periods of time.

Stepping back from the queen who while sweating and breathing heavily, looked much better than when I first came into the room, I moved over to a basin of water and washed my hands. “I believe it was a success. Give her a few hours and she will be up and about. I do want to say that she has been bed ridden for quite a long time and will need to build back up her strength.”

The princess pretty much ignored me and focused on the queen as she sat up. The handmaiden wiping her off with a damp towel. “Mother?”

“Izora. My darling! You wouldn’t believe it. I don’t feel anything! No pain!” the queen exclaimed, getting more excited by the second.

She rolled her legs off the bed and went to stand up before anyone could think. Though she wobbled, she regained her balance before she stood straight and tall… for a gnome. She looked around her room before heading for something that was sitting on a table. Everyone stared after her like she was a newborn that had just discovered how to walk and they were afraid she would bump her head.

She grabbed an apple of all things and took a deep bite out of it. “That hits the spot.”

“Mother! That’s unladylike,” said princess Izora as she rushed over and looked like she wanted to fret but didn’t want to stop her mother completely.

“I am glad the queen is feeling so spire, but please you should rest just a little longer before really getting up and about,” I cautioned deciding to play the role of doctor to the end.

The queen pouted but nodded. “If the man that healed me says so, then I suppose I should listen.” She made her way back to the bed and climbed in reluctantly.

I motioned for the princess. “Your highness, a moment.” She gained a pensive look. I bet she expected me to say that it was only temporary or something along those lines. The amount of trust was so little, it wasn’t even worth measuring. “Your mother is as healthy as a person her age can be. Probably better than many of the people in some of the cities in the kingdom. It would be a good idea to have anyone that works or lives near the central tower to be checked. It is possible they have something similar to the queen.”

The two others might have the same illness, but just like a virus, it could have mutated differently based on the person that hosted it. Given that it was cancer, the cells were even more prone to changes. Just the sample from the queen had already given me several ideas that I planned to work on soon.

Relief flashed through the princess’s eyes. For the nth time this evening, I had to stop myself from grinning at her. “I cannot thank you enough for this service you have preformed today. The Metalgear family owes you a great debt.”

“It was only right for me to provide my services to those that require them. I gained my abilities from the one called Nyx though and do not deserve all the credit,” I said dropping my head the bare minimum to be respectful.

“Nyx?”

I hadn’t really thought out it, but I figured it would be a good idea to spread Nyx to the gnomes. They didn’t outright follow anyone. Though from what I learned from the necromancer agent in the city, a good subset were poised to follow Cassin given the state of the gnome state. “A goddess that came to me recently in my dreams. She held the stars between her hands and was surrounded by darkness. The dream lasted for only the briefest of moments before it ended, but I had learned a great many things.”

The princess for her part tired to hide her disdain of the topic of religion. “I see. You will have to tell me more about her at a later date,” she said though her tone told me that the date was going to be quite a long-time from now.

I had seen the records in the database thus I could understand her attitude. Lelune had betrayed her at the time lover Arin after he stole something called the Flame of Knowledge for her during the Demon War. There weren’t many accounts toward what exactly Celestia as a place was. Some records called it a paradise, while others wrote that it was more along the lines of a prison.

One thing I do know from the scant accounts was that there was a lot more to it than just lounging in the sunlight. You were ascended to it when you hit tier five, but something about it felt forced. It was odd that there was no choice in the matter. Given how survival of the fittest this world is overall.

I pulled myself from my thoughts. “I’m sure you have much to discuss with your mother. Please enjoy your time together,” I said then turned to leave.

“I will make sure to repay this debt in time,” the princess said to my turned back. I glanced back and nodded before I left. A pair of guards broke off from the assembled group and escorted me out of the palace. This time I didn’t hide my smirk when they were much more respectful than the first time, I had encountered her guards.

They bowed to me before turning to head back into the palace. I cast my gaze up along the tower toward the top where only I knew my core floated like a gem on a priceless crown. I would let the gnomes sit for a while before I played with them some more. The number of toys I had access to was growing and I didn’t want to neglect the ones I had already acquired. Namely, the little lord of the valley.

She had been under the effect of a diluted compulsion charm that I had taken from Lust. I wanted to see what the long term affects and what happened when the exposed went without getting more of the charm. It wouldn’t do if the charmed rebounded with a passion. Considering Louella had gone from wanting me dead to my lover in everything but the label from the power of the charm I had been using.

I stretched before I turned and made my way back into Jade Wind City. I couldn’t exactly just vanish from the central plaza. Even being in the evening, there were plenty of people making their way through the city. A nice evening walk soon found me in an abandoned alleyway. I checked to make sure I hadn’t been followed with my dungeon aura then dismissed my avatar.

“Welcome back, my master,” Set said almost as soon as I returned to my main core.

“Set. How goes the evening?” I asked since I was out for most of the evening.

“There were ten deaths in the dungeon today. Over forty injures that resulted in the parties returning to the city. No one has made it past Lust,” she reported and I nodded along even though I had no body to technically nod. “That said, the adventurers are quite enamored with the Garden.”

“I see. That’s good. All according to plan.” With that large a selection of herds, it would make quite a few professions in this medieval and magic based world drool. That in turn would decrease the chances of someone trying to destroy me outright. Still, it would be good for me to work on the dungeon some more soon. It had been a while since I had created the last floor and that was more me taking advantage of the creationist magic to make a workforce that would be useful in going through the massive amount of data I was collecting.

“What would you like to do for the rest of the evening?” Set asked. I glanced at her and smiled with devilish intent.

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