Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 209 (Patreon)

Chapter 209 – Uninvited Guests

(Bridge, Pure Light of Freedom’s Blessing, Lunar Orbit)

“Captain, we’re over the object now. Distance, two thousand rels. The dome appears to be magically hardened air, according to our scans. We also are detecting what appears to be an energy shield of some sort.”

“What can you tell me about what is under the dome?”

“According to the imagers, it looks to be some kind of museum, as well as having a lounge. It is all centered around some strange machine in a patched of exposed dirt. There appear to be several individuals down there, as well.”

“Let me see them.”

The image was displayed before him. Six figures. Three sitting in front of the machine, with a weathered flag nearby, the others standing around like a production crew. The three sitting were watching a screen, showing something he couldn’t see at this angle.

“Hmm. If the two large ones are humans, then, unless they have children with them, that would make the four smaller figures Rodaini. That ‘celebrity’ adventurer and his people?”

“Yes, sir. One of our initiates watches their show, and identified them. From what we can gather, the other two are the leader of the Adventurers’ Guild covering the heretical dungeon, and the Demon of the Dungeon himself!”

“What? Dungeon bosses can’t leave the influence of their dungeon, everyone knows that!”

“Sir, you don’t think that—” The officer’s question was cut off as a series of System notices appeared in front of everyone.

You have entered the Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Desires dungeon (Lunar Annex).

WARNING!

You   are currently listed as a Dungeon Foe. All attacks and effects from dungeon   creatures will be 25% more effective against you. This also applies to any   craft or vehicle with greater than 50% of their occupants being Dungeon Foes.

WARNING!

You   are currently listed as Anathema to one or more deities enshrined in this   location. All divine entities and their followers who you are Anathema to   deal 25% more damage to you, and their abilities, spells, and skills are 25%   more effective against you. You deal 25% less damage against those followers,   and your abilities, spells, and skills are 25% less effective against them. This   also applies to any craft or vehicle with greater than 50% of their occupants   being Anathema to that deity.

WARNING!

Due to   a Dungeon Law preventing violence against non-combatants in a Safe Zone being   broken, the functionality of all magic items by you is disallowed within the   territory of the Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Pleasures dungeon, and its   subsidiaries. This effect is permanent, and can only be removed by   sacrificing three individuals not affected by this effect for each slain non-combatant   to be enslaved by the Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Pleasures. This effect   also extends to any craft or vehicle with greater than 50% of their occupants   being affected by this Dungeon Law.

WARNING!

You   are currently entering a Global Heritage Site, as defined by Title 193,   Section 46.3.A.[Yellow] of the System-Recognized Monuments Treaty of Belkoill   IV. Any offensive action against this site will grant the defenders and their   organization(s) a permanent 100% bonus to damage dealt to members of your organization(s),   and a permanent -50% penalty to all damage dealt by you and any members of any   organization(s) you represent to the defenders and their organization(s).

Captain Goold hadn’t even had a chance to finish reading the System notices, before the permanent magical lights went out. Emergency lights, based solely on technology, thankfully, came on, along with a humming sound. The life support spells must have been taken offline as well, and the backup systems were kicking in. And then he noticed that he was floating.

“Report!”

“Captain! We’ve lost magic power to all systems throughout the ship! Both primary and secondary magic reactors offline! Even worn magic items have no effect! Artificial gravity is offline. Life support spells offline. Main engine power is offline. Emergency thrusters are online.”

The captain took a breath, steadying himself. Without magic power, they were stuck. The emergency thrusters were designed to augment magic thrusters and main engines, to increase the ship’s maneuverability in combat. By themselves, they were only useful for station-keeping in high orbit. With their being this close to a gravity well, even one as lackluster as this moon, however…

“What is our current elevation to the moon’s surface?”

“One thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven rels, and descending, sir. We are accelerating in our fall.”

“Helm, emergency thrusters. They don’t have the power to lift us out of the gravity well, not with our ship’s mass, but they can shift our position. Get us on a glide path to try and get out of this dungeon’s influence horizontally!”

“Calculating. Our current momentum is taking us further into the area of influence, Captain. I don’t know if we’ll be able to delay landing long enough to glide free.”

“Do your best, Helmsman. A dungeon’s influence is spherical, remember. If we can get near the edge, we can get the rest of the fleet to pull us free. Focus on getting us as far as possible.”

“Sir! The Broken Chains of the Innocent and the Herald of Freedom’s Glory have been caught as well! They’re falling into the area of influence.”

“Damn it! Use the light-based communications systems or personal communications spells. Warn the rest of the fleet not to approach! We can’t let this damn dungeon take us all down. Not like this!”

There was a thrum of magic in the air. Not strong. Weak enough, in fact, that it probably would have gone unnoticed if not for the fact that all their magical items were offline. Like a pin dropping in a silent room.

“What was that? Report!”

“Captain, the dungeon’s influence just expanded another eight thousand rels, and growing! Half of the fleet is now disabled!”

The Captain looked over to the helmsman. “Helm?”

“No way, Captain! We’re too far in, and too heavy with just emergency thrusters. We don’t have enough speed or altitude to get out of the new area of influence.”

He sighed. That was it, then. “Just… just make sure we get down in one piece, then. The emergency life support will only run for so long, I don’t want to waste any air on hull breaches. We must trust in Pofmis for the rest.”

It took just over a minute for the ship to finally come skidding to a stop on the moon’s surface. They did not even have the power to deploy the landing struts, causing them to leave a trail across the rocky surface as they slowed. Before long, the rest of the fleet was scattered across the surface, as well.

Over the next few minutes, they used light signals to confirm that, out of the fourteen ships which had been caught in the dungeon’s influence, ten were now trapped on the moon’s surface. The other four had managed to maneuver out of the dungeon’s influence before they crashed completely, allowing them to repower their engines and take off again, returning to a safe altitude. Thankfully, none of the other ships were affected.

“Captain, all grounded ships are reporting situation stable, for now. No hull breaches, but we can’t know the full extent of damage until we restore power. Some of the more sensitive systems could have been damaged without the magic to reinforce them.”

“Thank Pofmis for that much, at least. What about the ships outside the dungeon’s radius? Are any of them able to help tow any of the ships free?”

“Unfortunately, that is going to be a problem. There are concerns whether the magic grapples will hold, if the ships using them are outside the influence. And even if they hold, without the reinforcement fields, there’s a chance that they could rip holes in the hull attempting to drag even the ships nearest the edge far enough where their systems will work again.”

“My, my, my. You do sound like you’re in trouble.”

Captain Goold jumped at the sound of a new voice on his bridge. He could see he wasn’t the only one shocked, as everyone else was looking around, trying to find the source of the sound. “Who’s there? Show yourself!”

It was only by luck that he saw it. Two red eyes, glowing in the shadows in the corner. The figure they were attached to floated forward, into the emergency lights, and the Captain gasped in horror.

Before him was the banshee form of the former Crusader-Champion, after the Demon ripped her soul from her body. But the look on her face was not her own. And the burning red eyes spoke to something more than just a banshee!

Goold’s breath caught in his throat. Was the Demon—? No, wait, dungeons that lived long enough to become ‘awake’ were supposed to be able to talk through their dungeon bound creatures, if they wished.

“Who are you?”

“I am known by many names. Demon of the Dungeon. Lord Kuronoth. Demon Lord. But this vessel now calls me, Master.”

The Captain grit his teeth. “So, what, you came to gloat, having us trapped in our ships? And using the tormented soul of our fallen champion to do it? Have you no honor?”

The former champion’s spectral body shook as the Demon chuckled. “Oh, no. Your group hasn’t done anything to particularly warrant my taunting you. As for using this vessel, I’ll admit that torturing the annoying bitch a bit more this way is gratifying, but the true reason is that this form was able to move through the walls of your ship, now that the magics protecting them are gone. And, she is able to speak to you, allowing me to communicate through her, like a ventriloquist speaking through the mouth of his hand puppet.”

“And you didn’t think that we would just strike her down, and release her from this torment?”

The Demon laughed. “You could. In fact, I had even odds that you would. Of course, killing her wouldn’t save her, or release her. She’s a part of the dungeon, now. Kill her one thousand times, and she will always come back, to experience the horror again.”

Goold forced himself to think, not just react. He wanted to just grab his weapon and cut the demonic influence from the champion, so she could get the pure death she deserved (and he could see more than one hand itching towards weapons amongst the bridge crew), but only the Golden Host had been armed with Soulstealers. Only they had been trusted with the foul task of claiming souls of the fallen, so that they could be purified, away from the dungeon’s tainting influence. And without one of those weapons, killing the Crusader-Champion’s spectral body would accomplish nothing.

He held out a hand to stop the Vice-Captain, whose hand was actually wrapped about the hilt of his sword. His eyes never left those burning red orbs, however. “So, why come here, then, Demon?”

“As I said before, you seem to be in quite a bit of trouble. To be honest, I was actually quite surprised at how effective the passive defense was. I did not expect the effect to translate to your ships. A pleasant secondary effect, I can assure you.”

A pause, and then the Demon continued. “The reason I sent this toy to come and meet with you, however, was not to gloat, as I said. Expanding my aura so much, so quickly, was expensive, naturally. Sure, catching fourteen ships in my influence before the rest figured it out was worth it, even if four managed to escape anyways, but it was still a very large expense.

“I can’t simply go around throwing that kind of power around on a whim, after all. I’m powerful, but not THAT powerful. Even using the mana that I gain through my worshippers to augment the Dungeon’s mana, I only barely managed to do it.

“Naturally, after investing so much into this, I want a bit of a payoff. Which brings us to you. By my reckoning, without your magic devices, you have somewhat limited supplies of air, to say nothing of food, water, or heat. So, I wish to recoup my investment, and you, presumably, wish to live.”

The Demon smiled wickedly through the Crusader-Champion’s spectral face. “So, let’s make a deal.”