Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 399 (Patreon)

Chapter 339 – Sacrifice

“JUST DIE ALREADY!”

A blast of abyssal flame roared along with Ena’s words, causing Bargulg to laugh as the last of the undead in their path were consumed by the sorceress’s fury. “I believe that they were already dead, Ena. You just made them dead again.”

He could practically hear Ena’s teeth grinding as her helmeted head turned to face him. “Really, Master?” He wasn’t the only one who laughed that time.

“Still, we’ve arrived at the pyramid, Master,” Tanila said, saving her sister any further embarrassment.

They had come out of the portal in yet another desert, on what should be the lowest floor. Unlike the two floors before it, though, the fifteenth floor of the dungeon had a very clear landmark to shoot for, a pyramid rising out of the sand. Since no one had gotten this deep into the dungeon before, they had no idea what was next.

Of course, some things were obvious from the start. Between the ‘landing pad’ of stone in the midst of the sands and the pyramid was a veritable army of skeletons and zombies. Clearly, they were meant to fight their way through.

It wasn’t a terribly difficult fight. The undead were all in Tier 1 or 2, with the strongest being only level 20 in Tier 2. However, there were a lot of them, and the desert sun overhead was relentless. If they weren’t in their armor that helped keep them cool, it would be an exhausting fight, and, by the end, they would have been worn down, possibly enough that they started making mistakes.

Obviously, such a battle was not intended as a serious threat, but as a means of attrition, forcing them to spend time, energy, and resources on constant battles. They were a battle of attrition, forcing adventurers to judge just how much of their resources they wished to spend, and making them nervous about how much they would have left by the end. That uncertainty would cause them to make potentially fatal mistakes, without ever increasing the actual danger of the floor to a point where some would deem it unfair, or a sign of a rogue dungeon. He had to admit that it was a skillfully done bit of management on his Lord’s part.

But they had more things to worry about than just admiring the design of this floor. “Start searching for a way into the pyramid. This is obviously where we’re supposed to go, so there should be some way to get inside.” At his command, they all started to spread out, searching for the key.

“Master, over here!” Lyrei called out to him. When he got to her, he saw the Battlesaint looking at a stone altar set upon the side of the pyramid, with the symbol of Kuronoth above it, and carved markings on either side. She turned to him, and he could hear the frown in her voice. “Master, this altar appears to be the only way into the pyramid. However, the writing says that a sacrifice is required to open the path forward.”

“What kind of sacrifice?”

Lyrei sighed, and said, “Unfortunately, it is the kind that I very much doubt you would accept, on either side. There is a choice offered, in that you either need to slay a sapient creature, and have one of your party members consume their heart, or you have to sacrifice one of the party members to be bred by the undead.”

Bargulg let out a low growl, despite himself. He was the only one who could touch his pets in that way, and he certainly wouldn’t cast one aside, sacrificing them like that! They were more than just part of his harem. As a Lord of the Battle-Harem, they directly added to his own power, and he to theirs. And he was not going to give them up to anyone or anything. Not even his Lord.

“Hmm,” Ratha said, as she approached. “While I doubt that this requirement was made specially to force you into a terrible decision, Master, it is quite harsh compared to what we have seen so far in the dungeon. The only other instances of something like this were one of the means to open the door of the Water Temple, and the different challenge rooms as you went through the Black Temple.

Ashera also offered her insight. “There are also monsters like Captain Hentai, who have been part of the dungeon since the beginning. With a ‘normal’ group, even a skilled one, it wouldn’t be out of the question for one or more of us to have been ravished by one of the monsters by this point. It is only thanks to our armor and weapons, as well as the levels we have, that we weren’t subjected to such things. When looked at under that light, it does not seem terribly out of place.”

“The Lord has access to information from across the galaxy, thanks to his status as a god,” Ena added, “but He is still from Earth, and is still new to the System, as a whole. With so few people from Earth having advanced in Tier, it is likely that He was unaware of how a profession such as yours would affect you, Master, especially when combined with your draconic nature. As far as I’ve heard, there’s only one true dragon not born of a dungeon on this entire planet, and it was barely out of the egg before it ran into our Lord.”

Bargulg took a deep breath to calm himself, before he spoke. Even so, he knew his voice was harsh and tense when he finally mastered himself. “Options. Now. Speak freely.”

Tanila raised one hand. “The way I see it, there are only two options. We know that Master will not sacrifice one of us, because we are too much a part of him at this point, and his nature won’t allow it. For the same reason, he won’t allow one of us to be bred by the undead. And, while nobody has mentioned it, there is the chance that, even if he was willing, the person sacrificed could not then be revived by resurrection magic.”

“That’s true,” Lyrei broke in. “Sacrifices on an altar to a divine being typically send the soul of the sacrificial offering to that being. Someone sacrificed on the altar would likely be bound to the Lord, and possibly become a creature of the dungeon, even if revived.”

Tanila nodded. “That means, we have two options. The first, is to retreat. Our fame would take a bit of a hit, since our Master proclaimed that we would conquer the dungeon in its entirety on our first try, but the reason for our withdrawal is one that most of those in the Lord’s service would understand, and we have already beaten bosses that none others have conquered before, and broken through to Tier 3, which would soften the blow. Also, as adventurers, bringing information like this back to the local guild would be respected by those around us.”

“And the second option?” Bargulg prompted. If he could avoid the shame of retreating just because of a locked door, without compromising the codes he bound himself with, it was worth talking about, and at least considering.

“The second option would require a significant expense, Master. Not just for the purchase, but also for an expedited delivery, into an area that one is not typically permitted to have such deliveries. You would need the Lord’s intervention with the Dungeon to ensure success.”

Bargulg straightened as he realized what the Deathwhisper Sniper was suggesting. It was… unorthodox, and not something most people would even think of. Generally, when one entered a dungeon, you were limited to what you brought in with you, and what you found along the way. And the costs were prohibitive, even if you considered it.

“The Minion Market.”

“Exactly, Master. There does not appear to be a level requirement on the sacrifice. And while I know that many people frown on purchasing a slave just to use them as a sacrifice, seeing it as wasteful…”

“It is a better option for those, like myself, who are unable to give up their own minions for such a task,” Bargulg nodded. Of course, there were problems with such a thing. Even if he looked for the cheapest minion he could, the charges for delivery here and now, rather than at a System Shop or registered home address, would be astronomical. If Lord Kuronoth allowed it to happen at all. With his power over this dungeon, he could easily prevent such a thing from happening.

He reached into his inventory, and pulled out the device which allowed him to access the System Shop, and its various departments, even while he was away from home, or the physical location of a System Shop. He turned the device on, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it connect. There was some concern whether it would be able to cross dimensional boundaries, but it looked to be fine.

Level wasn’t an issue, so he could go cheap on the cost of the slave. Of course, few people bothered putting extremely low-level slaves on the Minion Market. They couldn’t be sold for much, and were usually just exchanged with people nearby, or slave traders picked them up to train into something more valuable. However, you did find surprises sometimes, since some types of monsters were also included on the Minion Market.

The cheapest minion available was only 2500 gp, but with the charges for expedited delivery, and delivering him to the middle of the dungeon? That made the price soar to over 36,000 gp! And the sale was contingent on the Dungeon allowing it!

Still, if there was one thing he had, it was money. Materials gathered from monsters and dungeons at the upper limits of Tier 2 sold nicely, after all. Once you got into Tier 3, things changed quite a bit. Oh, any materials you wished to sell would certainly bring a large profit, but the problem was finding buyers. The number of people who could work with Tier 3 materials was obviously lower than those who could use those from Tier 2, and it was the same with finished items. So, selling, even through the System Shop, often took time to find a buyer, and if you were buying it was almost always cheaper to go to a dungeon and get the materials on your own, if possible. But Tier 2 items and materials were much easier to unload, and he had been doing this for some time.

Lindsey Gran

Human Male

Level 10 Thief / Politician

Titles: Follower, Hypocrite, Foolish One, Captured

Market Value: 2500 gp

The first thing Bargulg noticed was that the minion was not a slave. Rather, they had been captured in one of the Capture Balls that forced temporary obedience on their victims. Each time the individual was released from their prison, they were forced to obey their owner for a local day, before the effect broke, and they were free. If they were put back in the ball, the timer reset for the next time they were brought out. While inside the ball, they were basically in stasis, unaware of anything happening outside. It was generally seen as a nice middle ground for ensuring that prisoners didn’t get out of hand, while avoiding things like slave collars or worse.

The second thing Bargulg noted was that, even for a human, this man was pasty, overweight, and just generally weak looking. More than physical weakness, a quick [Appraise Value] proved that he was largely weak as far as morals or ethics went, as well. Clearly, this was someone who would not be missed by anyone that mattered.

“What the? Where am I?”

Bargulg ignored the man’s prattling. With a simple tone of command, he said, “Be silent and lay upon the altar.” The man’s mouth shut so fast that he could hear the teeth clack together, but his eyes were wide and filled with fear as his body obeyed the command. That didn’t matter, though. He was only here to be slaughtered, after all. Looking over to Lyrei, he said, “Prepare him.”

“At once, Master!”