Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 194 (Patreon)

Chapter 194 – The Forest Shrine

“Down!”

On reflex and muscle memory more than conscious thought, Flint Fernvalley dropped down, rolling forward across the muddy ground. He might not be a top-tier adventurer, and never would be, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a veteran of countless dives. One did not survive in dungeons, even easy ones, without learning to react to warnings rather than think about them.

THUNK!

Those reflexes proved fortuitous, given the arrow sticking out of the tree he had been passing, right were his head had been moments before. Even as he rolled to his feet, he could already see a stone flying back along the arrow’s track, conjured by Suri’s magic. Readying his spear, he scanned the trees for enemies.

“Anyone see what that was?”

Gisela’s form flickered in the shadows in the trees above. “Tree sprites of some kind. Four of them, Archer, two staff wielders, and a shield and mace. Symbol matches the Demon’s.”

“God of the Blade, hear my call! [Archer’s Bane]!” Samlad’s voice rang out strong in the twilit swamp, and a golden light surrounded all of them. Flint knew the spell the Paladin used was a protection to deflect arrows and other projectiles from party members. It was effective against archers, but modern firearms or enough massed archers could overwhelm it, since it was only a Tier 1 spell.

A bolt of flame launched itself at the tree Suri was perched in, forcing her to dive to safety. Rolling to her feet, she drew her blades. “One of them is a mage! Not sure about the other staff-wielder.”

Then the bushes parted, and they saw the creatures. Each was no taller than they were, a bit less than half the height of a human, and looked as though they were mobile saplings or bundles of twigs, dressed up as adventurers were. Not just mindless creatures given weapons, then. More like the goblins that they were told to expect?

Flint sized up the sprites. They were arranged in a two forward, two back formation, with one staff-wielder in either line. The priest or paladin-looking sprite was in front with one of the staff-wielders, while the other staff-wielder stood behind, with the archer who was even now switching to a pair of wicked-looking knives. Looking closer, he spotted a difference between the two staves. One had a red crystal at its head, while the other was shod in iron. So, the one in back was the caster, and the one in front was some kind of melee class?

Gisela pounced from the shadows, aiming to strike the flame wielder. Standard tactics when facing mages, after all. But, to Flint’s shock, she was intercepted by the melee staff-wielder, the iron-shod staff batting the Rodaini woman into a tree. To see through Gisela’s shadowstep, that was not something a normal Tier 1 monster could do!

“Gisela, you all right?”

The Shadowblade coughed as she struggled to her feet. “Think I broke a rib. That guy’s definitely a melee type. Probably some kind of monk.”

Flint nodded. “Right. Suri and Gisela, priest. Others as opportunities present. Samlad, get the monk’s attention.”

“Right, boss.” The Paladin clanged the arming sword he carried (though other races would call it a short sword, or even a long knife) against his shield, before charging towards the monk sprite. At the same time, Gisela and Suri crossed his path, attacking the mace and shield sprite, opening up a gap in the defenses.

“[Lancer’s Leap].”

Flint whispered the words of one of his class skills, before jumping up, into the air. For a creature his height, he was able to jump a considerable distance, thanks to being a Deepstrike Lancer. As the battle below was joined, he saw the archer, now with knives drawn, moving to help what looked to be a priest, rather than a paladin, while the monk and Samlad traded blows. And the flame-caster was gathering his power for a spell.

He landed like a thunderbolt, his spear driving down through the joint between the sprite’s neck and what would be fleshy creature’s collar bone, impaling the creature in a single blow. He saw the sprite’s arms go limp, the magic it was preparing fizzling out of existance. Looking at the recording stone, he said, “Remember, always take out the magical support first, if you can.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Samlad get knocked against a tree by the monk, driving the breath from him. A monk intercepting Gisela was one thing. But a monk knocking around a tier 2 paladin? That was surprising, to say the least!

As the monk moved to strike a blow that might finish the paladin, Flint whispered, “[Charge].” With a burst of speed and the cost of some of his MP, he moved so fast that it could be said to be teleportation, his spear stabbing forward at the monk sprite. The monk turned and batted his strike to the side, but it didn’t matter. He’d given Samlad enough time to recover, and now it was two on one.

The ground shook violently. Flint and Samlad were familiar with the sensation. When you travel with a Stoneborn Geomancer, well, you get used to the earth moving, really fast, especially underground. The monk, too, did not seem concerned, though that was likely due to its class abilities.

Glancing over his shoulder, Flint saw that the archer had been crushed as two slabs of stone rose up at Suri’s command, smashing it like a bundle of twigs in a hydraulic press. A smile on his face, he turned back to the monk. His spear thrust forward, and was parried by the monk’s staff, which then spun, batting aside the paladin’s blade.

But that motion put the monk’s staff out of position, and Samlad made them pay for it. A quick step forward put him inside the staff’s arc, and his shield slammed forward, knocking the monk back. Seizing the moment, Flint thrust forward with his spear, aiming to skewer the monk, but even stunned, the monk was too quick for it to be easily dispatched, and Flint’s spear only cut a deep slash on its willowy side.

“This is for earlier, twig boy!”

Out of the shadows at the monk’s feet, Gisela sprang up, her blades glowing with black flames. Flint saw a flash in the air, as the blades crossed. The monk looked down at its treelike torso, unbelieving. It died, still unbelieving, as its upper and lower halves fell in different directions.

Suri nodded contentedly as she walked over, leaving the broken husk that had been the priest where it lay. “Well, this dungeon certainly has more than its fair share of surprises. That was a very competent group of mobs.”

Samlad grunted. “I think they were scaled, high enough that they could still prove a challenge to us. They might still be Tier 1 creatures, but the Dungeon increased their levels and abilities to at least something that can compete with Tier 2.”

Flint nodded slowly. “Agreed. And that would make this a ‘mystic’ style dungeon. They tend to have fewer overall mobs, and not so many of the tricks and traps that other dungeons might, but they use dungeon magic to cover the gaps, at least to some degree.”

Gisela grinned. “They also tend to have better loot, too, since the dungeon magic allows for more unusual items and materials to crop up, faster and earlier than in other dungeons. If the Demon is affecting the loot, then that’s probably even more true here.”

Flint nodded. “Yes, the Demon is a former human, if the stories are correct, which means he should have some idea on what drives adventurers, and how to tempt them into the dungeon. Decent loot, and a death rate that is just on the low side of average for a dungeon of its age. It is easy to see how the Demon attracts delvers, with the unwary becoming prey to his traps.”

Polished Ironbound   Ironwood Staff of the Wild

Type

Staff

Rank

Uncommon

Damage

100 – 200

Damage   Type

Bludgeoning

This   mastercrafted staff is made of ironwood, known for its incredible strength   and resilience. The two ends of the staff are capped in iron bands, adding   weight to the wielder’s strikes, increasing the damage significantly.

+5% to   attacks with this weapon

Polished   – This weapon is resistant to most forms of damage. It does not convey this   resistance to the wielder.

Staff   of the Wild – This staff deals double its normal damage while the wielder is   at least 5 miles from the outskirts of the nearest active known settlement,   and not in a dungeon or on other planes of existence.

Flint whistled to the recording crystal as Suri read out the report of the weapon’s stats. Looking into the crystal, he said, “Well, that is certainly a piece that would make any novice monk or druid take note! As you know, magic weapons marked ‘of the Wild’ are highly sought after on feral and death worlds, where the creatures adventurers face every time they go outside the camp are far stronger than they are on worlds that are overrun by cities.”

Samlad put one hand on Gisela’s shoulder, and said, “Bladelord be your guide. [Cure Wounds].” As he spoke, golden light surrounded her, and Flint could see her stop favoring her right side, where the monk had hit her.

“Thanks, Sam.” Gisela nodded, and then looked back to the rest of the group. “I saw a structure in the distance. Didn’t look like local architecture. Something about it reminded me of the Yoroy Shrine on Teldar.”

Suri raised an eyebrow at that. “Dungeon shrines are usually noncombat zones. Or, any combat inside them is under the auspices of the god, not the dungeon. Might be worth a look.”

Flint nodded. “Sounds like it. Either we find a rest spot, or we get some local color. Lead the way, Gisela.”

An air of stillness and peace fell upon them as they walked towards the shrine. That was a sure sign that the god enshrined there was not actively hostile to you, or your companions, which was always a good sign, in Flint’s book. Soon, they came to a rough path, with a stylized red archway, with two upright poles, with a cross bar between them, and an angled roof structure over it. Hanging from the cross bars, well over their heads, was a sign, with strange characters on it: 鬼神社.

As they passed under the archway, the view before them, which had been of a rough path continuing on through the trees, shimmered, and then cleared, as a glamour faded away. Now, they saw several well-maintained buildings, made of wood, with a sloped, red-tiled roof. Walking along the path of neatly swept paving stones, they soon found themselves between the two buildings, looking down at a training yard, where people of several different races were clearly training, under the watchful eye of another tree sprite, who carried what they could all clearly identify as a sword openly on his hip.

A young human woman in what looked to be ceremonial clothes of white and red approached them. “Welcome to Onijinja, the Demon’s Shrine. May I help you?”

Flint smiled, and said, “We are travelers from afar, come to document this dungeon, and others like it, and would like to learn more about this shrine, and the god worshipped here, if that is acceptable. My name is Flint Fernvalley, but you can call me Flint. How would you like for me to address you?”

The woman smiled back at him, and said, “I am Hino Rei, one of the maidens serving at this temple. But you can call me Rei-san, if you wish, Flint-san. The head priest, Chiba Mamoru-dono, is currently in meditation, and Oninoki-sensei is currently training the aspirants, as you can see. Would you like to wait, or is speaking with me acceptable?”

“Ah, Rei-san, speaking with you is just fine. So, tell me, if this is the Demon’s Shrine, then does that mean it is devoted to the one known as the Demon of the Dungeon?”

“Of course, Flint-san. We are, after all, inside Lord Kuronoth-sama’s domain. As part of a bargain he made with another being of power, this shrine is open to all who do not worship a god hostile to the Lord, and you will find altars to each of the main deities enshrined in the Black Temple and other places on the floors below us, as well as an altar to Śākyamuni, patron of a shrine important to that other being.”

“Fascinating. I believe this is the first dungeon I’ve heard of to have shrines to multiple gods who were not all from the same pantheon. How did this come to be?”

Rei smiled. “Well, as the story was passed down to me from Chiba-dono…”