DD 202 Ch 27 (Patreon)

Chapter 27

The next day my class and the others pushed down to the 32nd floor easily enough. With all four colleges represented and their students clearing the way, the monsters were incredibly scarce.

Still, the floors were interesting. As always, they got larger the further down they were in the dungeon. Each floor we passed had a massive river winding past a mountain, but it was never the same river and mountain. The landscape around the river was lush and slowly faded away to arid desert.

The 32nd floor was different. The mountain had huge spires of crystals jutting out from it, and the land shifted such that the river came impossibly out of a cave at the base of the mountain.

That’s where we all ended up with the professors and a group of UG personnel.

With over a hundred students, the place quickly became lively.

“Attention.” Barret stepped up on a box and shouted loudly. His voice had a commanding quality that made everyone turn. The Pendulum students snapped in his direction and their hands clapped at their waists in unison.

Suddenly I was feeling better that circumstances led to me not being a part of Pendulum. 

“Alright.” Barret nodded now that he had everyone’s attention. “As you can see behind me.” He gestured to where several UG staff were working. “We are setting up a scoreboard to keep you all entertained.” He smirked. “Students will go in one at a time and fight a raid monster under our supervision. There are two pairs of UG tanks and a healer to hold the raid monster still for you to show off just how much damage you can deal. Of course, should something go wrong, we’ll intervene. After all, we have the famous Crimson Mistress here with us. You are all as safe as you can be in the dungeon.”

I smirked at Crimson. He really put her on the spot.

She caught my eyes with a glare of warning.

“Anything goes. Do as much damage as you can.” Barret continued. “These numbers will assess if your class is ready to enter the raid. They will also apparently settle a large number of bets.”

Some of the students chuckled at that and eyed their counterparts. The biggest pot was on who would win, but there were plenty of side pots for lesser rivalries.

My own betting odds rose with the number of bets placed on me, yet I still remained in fourth as if taunting people to put more money on it.

I’d gotten in at a much better ratio, and wasn’t putting any more down.

“Without much further ado, please check your CIDs. You’ll each be getting a random number between one and one hundred. That’s the order you’ll enter.”

Slightly off sync chirps rippled through the crowd of students.

I looked down at my own CID. “98. Guess I’ll get to see how everyone does.” I read it off for my party.

Des wrinkled her nose. “2nd. Oh well. Setting a high bar isn’t nearly as fun as crushing the winner, but it will have to do.”

“Oh, who said you’d last very long?” Ely showed her CID with the number 5 on it.

Of course with Fayeth present, they were sending the message out to the elves too.

“23.” Charlotte read.

“24.” Felin grinned at her. “Do not worry. You are the healer.”

“Are you going to be taking the healing test?” I asked Felin.

She shook her head. “I rarely heal. Mostly provide protection and buffs. For this, I’ll show off my damage.” The Nekorian puffed herself up.

I turned to the last member of our party.

Fayeth sighed and showed her CID. ‘100’. “Last. Don’t think it’s going to be that impressive.”

“There’s a bracket for tanks.” I offered.

She shook her head. “I do better with area attacks than single targets. If you are going to bet on the tanks, bet on Penny or Helen.” She paused. “Helen has been pretty quiet.”

I realized in that moment, that the fiery redhead had actually taken a step back since her mother had admonished her outside the UG meeting. “Guess she has. I’d put money on Penny over Helen. Penny’s pretty good with that greatsword, and I have a hard time thinking Helen’s mace and magic can match up to it.”

Our conversation was interrupted by a bellow from Barret. “Number one, you are up.”

A lanky man with glasses stepped out of the Trusk College huddle and once all the eyes were on him, he pushed up his glasses. “Watch. I’m going to be the highest damage on that board.” He struck a pose, pointing at the scoreboard being erected.

“Of course he is. He’s going to be the only name.” Des rolled her eyes. “I’m actually going to enjoy crushing his score.” She rubbed her hands together.

“Well, if it’s going to take what? Five to ten minutes for each and we have a hundred people…” Fayeth trailed off while she did the math. “I’m going to start cooking.” She pulled out her mobile kitchen and set it up.

Elysara poked around it, helping her out as Neldra and Tish set up chairs for us.

“Being with a princess is nice.” Felin said, plopping down in a chair.

***

Des watched Fayeth cook as more of their class settled up around them, starting to gossip and wait their turn.

Des could feel the nervous energy bubbling up inside of her. It was normal; her parents training helped her refocus the energy towards the challenge ahead.

This was just her body’s natural response to the oncoming event. It was ramping itself up so that she could be at peak performance.

The change in perspective helped her be calm, despite the nervous energy rushing through her.

Heads turned and she followed the gazes to the scoreboard as the previous student’s name flashed on the board.

Simon Steadwalt: 112 DPS

“That seems low.” Ken said, his brows furrowing in a cute way.

“We can’t all be insane monsters.” Fayeth added. “You’ve had DPS meters evaluate you before, when you were training with Crimson and Director Amato was evaluating you?”

Ken scratched his head. The man was too modest. “Yeah, but Crimson moves a lot. It’s not a fair comparison.”

Des frowned at his modesty. Wouldn’t that make it harder for him to deal damage?

“Next.” Barret boomed from the doorway.

“Good luck.” Ken waved at her. The others did so as well, but she didn’t stay behind to grace them with her replies.

Instead she hurried, ready to get the moment over with.

This was worse than presentations.

“No need to be nervous.” Barret smiled at her as she got close and then he squinted. “Renard?”

“That’d be me.” Des smiled.

“Ah. I know your mother. Terrifying woman. Even if you weren’t related to her, you’ll be safe during the assessment.” Barret led her into the raid.

The cave shortly turned into a giant pair of bronze doors much like a boss room, beyond them was a whole world.

“It’s bigger on the inside.” Des said walking through the doors. There was a courtyard with massive limestone walls. Beyond that, there was another mountain and plenty of tall trees trying to climb over the walls.

“Yep. This way.” Barret directed her to a corner of the courtyard where there was a set of chairs along with all the equipment needed to record her damage. A UG tech had a stand with a laptop.

“We’ll go get another.” A man with a heavy shield and a woman with a powerful staff headed off into the next area.

“Des.” Crimson waved her fingers at her. “Do us proud. Ken’s going to be looking forward to your numbers. Just hit the bug as hard as you can.”

“Bug?” Des asked, looking where the two had run away. “When does the timer start?”

“As soon as you deal any damage the timer starts. I’ll kill it when time is up.” Crimson said.

Des nodded. The situation could be gamified a little. She could start with her heaviest and slowest spell, even chug a potion beforehand. Actually…

She had a spell she rarely used because it was almost impossible for Fayeth or Ken not to step in it. [Hellfire Pit] activated, and her hands burned with fire before she threw it on the ground. It did a decent amount of damage.

The professors didn’t even react to her spells. She figured they expected something like this.

“Incoming!” The tank that had run off earlier had gold dust flying off his feet as he rushed back, seeing the pool of fire and circling it.

Yet, Des stopped paying attention to him and instead turned to see the giant beetle clicking its mandibles. The appendages looked more like they belonged on a piece of industrial equipment than an animal.

The beetle itself was as long as a bus and just as wide, towering over the tank and her on six legs. Each of the legs thumped on the stone, and she was sure if they weren’t in the dungeon, its weight would reduce all of the stone to powder.

With a start, she started channeling a ball of dark shadows. It was going to hit her [Hellfire Pit] first if she didn’t start this spell. It took a whole six seconds to cast, which was a lifetime in a fight.

Yet, it would make a big splash for a first strike.

The spell loosened from her hand to strike the beetle in what felt like an insignificant splash compared to the size of its body.

Des followed up. Both of her hands glowed as she started to cast a number of damage over time abilities, stacking them up on the monster. There was no need to be at all supportive with her curses, switching to throwing her trusty [Shadow Bolts] as soon as she finished. She quickly reapplied her curses when her CID chirped to let her know the timers had fallen off.

She lost herself in trying to be as precise as she could, not leaving any gaps between her spell casting. Even as she started to wobble on her feet from mana exhaustion, she kept it up. She only stopped when Crimson appeared in front of her, the monster exploding into black smoke the same instant.

“Good job.” Crimson put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from toppling over. “I assume you got all of that?” She asked the UG tech.

He lifted a thumb at her. “All good. It’ll be on the scoreboard in a moment.”

“Go celebrate.” Crimson was being remarkably kind as Des walked back out.

***

I waited for Des’ purple hair to pop back out of the doors with baited breath. Even though she might not win the competition, I knew the woman had enough pride to get hurt should she do poorly.

The scoreboard flickered with an update at the same time as she walked out.

Desmonda Renard - 581 DPS

I let out a breath. She had crushed the Trusk student and from what I gathered in the conversations around me, she was well above average for our levels.

“Damn.” Penny was reading the same numbers everyone else was. “She might hold the top spot for a while.”

Glancing back at Des, she was turning away from the scoreboard with a smile on her face and a strut to her step.

She at least liked her numbers.

“Good job!” Charlotte shouted excitedly.

“Thank you. I need a glass of wine. Now that I’m done, I might as well enjoy myself.” She pulled a bottle from her CID and sat down to pour a glass.

“Good point. Crimson can just portal us back afterwards.” Kendra eyed the bottle.

“She won’t portal us if we do poorly!” Harley whined. “That evil woman would make us fight our way back stripped of all our gear.”

The rest of the class thought about that and shrugged it off. We’d been training like we were crazy the entire time anyway.

Each and every one of them would put their all into the fight. However, afterwards it was clear that they wanted to celebrate.

“So. Think you’ll hold that spot for long?” Elysara sat down next to Des. Her Censors had vanished, but I was sure they weren’t really that far.

“Certainly past the 5th contestant.” Des grinned, competitiveness sparking between the two women. “Let’s make a bet and settle this.”

“Oh, you think you’ll win?” Ely didn’t back down.

Des rolled her eyes. “Of course that’s what I’m betting will happen. No, the bet is that when we eventually both share a night with Ken, that I’m above you in the pecking order.”

Felin leaned over to whisper to me. “Are you going to do anything about that? Seems like the moment for a pride leader to assert his dominance.”

“Nope. I know when to let them settle their own pecking order.” I did my best to ignore the slight barbs they threw back and forth at each other. It seemed that I was still in charge as a whole, but those two would be battling for their own spots.

“Ken Nagato.” A voice I’d rather not hear addressed me, as Prince Albar swaggered over, his overly large saber slapping on this thigh as he moved.

“Ah. What do I have the pleasure of seeing you today? Are you here to summon your high level bodyguard to kill me again? Oh wait. That’s right, he’s long dead.” I smiled as his face screwed at the mention of our prior encounter.

It seemed the loss of that servant was actually rather large.

Still, if he or his organization was responsible for killing everyone at the safe zone, then I didn’t really give a shit about annoying him.

Elysara put her hands on my shoulders. “Ah. This is the one you mentioned before.”

“Another elf.” Prince rolled his eyes.

“Watch your tongue.” Fayeth snapped at him as he disrespected Ely.

“Regardless.” The Prince pushed past that potential argument. “I’ve come to offer you half of your bet back if you’d like to pull out. The offer is only good for the next minute.”

“Huh?” I made an ugly face at him. “Why would I do that? I’m going to ruin you and the Royal Academy for putting my odds so low.”

“Don’t joke.” He laughed good naturedly but obviously forced. “Here I am trying to do you a favor after realizing that you are relying on Crimson for everything.”

I looked up at Elysara. “Can you believe he thinks it all comes from Crimson?” My elven princess was wearing an elven dress which was actually quite revealing.

“Shame.” She shook her head. “You have other bets with him, right?”

“That one is for the raid, not the DPS competition.” I knew she was talking about the one where Crimson had me bet her. “This is just the bets I’ve placed on the competition.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll beat him. Besides, you are so much better than him. I bet his dick is tiny with the way he compensates.” Ely kissed the top of my head.

The prince had a foul expression when I unfortunately changed my view from the pretty elven princess to him. I’d much rather stare at Ely.

“I’m so happy that your elven slut supports you.” The prince sneered.

I deadpanned.

“Oh. What was that? You're incapable of pleasing women so you must lower yourself to insulting them?” Elysara cupped her ears as if she couldn’t hear him.

The prince fumed and I wondered how stupid he could be to insult the princess to that extreme.

But then a thought hit me. He had no idea what Elysara looked like, and her Censors were conveniently hiding somewhere nearby while she provoked him.

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eyes, realizing she was enjoying herself and baiting him.

It clicked.

She likely couldn’t simply cancel deals with SJS. No, but if one of their representatives here made a scene with her, it could be justification to alter them or outright cancel those deals.

“Elven slut.” The prince spat at my feet. “Are those pointed ears as useless as they seem?”

“I’d be careful if I were you.” I warned him. “You know nothing about this woman.”

“She’s cheap enough for you to afford. I can see that.” The Prince decided to dig his own grave. Far be it for me to stop him.

“I’m very cheap. He didn’t pay a penny.” Ely laughed. “You really hate Ken, don’t you?”

“He had Crimson kill my man and embarrass me in front of everyone.” The Prince’s eyes had a fire in them. “I want to crumble his entire world and get a picture of his face as he realizes the mistake he made in crossing me. To make it better, he’s part of the Nagato Family, the last heir. Oh, my father would happily fund their fall.”

I gave him a flat smile. “Shame. Want to keep pissing this elf off?” I hooked a thumb at Ely.

“She’s not worth my time.” The Prince said with conviction. “In fact, why don’t I just deal with that slut.” He put his hand on his sword.

I wanted to shake my head. He was almost making it too easy.

Prince Albar really seemed to really have trouble containing his anger towards me. He clearly had never trained with my grandmothers or grandfather. Now they could be frustrating.

An oppressive force crushed down on everyone present.

Ely was completely calm, and I wasn’t bothered by this sort of bloodlust.

The people behind the Prince fell to their knees.

Surprisingly, The Prince stayed on his feet, but several pieces of gear glowed brighter as he grabbed his saber with white knuckles. It seemed he didn’t have the strength to draw it.

“I go for a short break to pester Crimson and this is what I come back to?” Neldra swaggered forward and eyed the prince. “Who the fuck are you shit stain to talk to Princess Elysara like that?”

It was obvious to everyone present that a grave mistake had been made.

“Aunty. We aren’t in elven territory, you can’t go around killing everyone and their family because you are a Royal Censor here.” Ely said the statement so casually I almost vomited blood.

“The Royal Family’s honor is paramount, even here. I’ll ask the UG if I can kill them all first?” Neldra played along.

AN - No chappies this weekend.