Dungeon Heart: Halls of Stone, page 5
Upon realizing this, he took a moment to steady himself and calm his thoughts. Cursing and shouting at his children would not solve a thing after all. He accepted this fact, and curbed his anger as he took the time to look around his core room. Pala, Echo, and Arturus surrounded his core. They were by far his greatest creations, but they were all sorely lacking in worldly knowledge. It was wrong of him to expect that they knew as much of the world as he did, especially considering that he had over seven hundred years of knowledge and wisdom in the world outside the dungeon.
Considering this, it shouldn’t be a surprise that none of them would know about the ranks of the adventurers. Even Echo, who had lived far longer than the other two, had not really paid much mind to adventurers when she was a dungeon herself, and thus was just marginally less ignorant than the other two. Upon further reflection, it became evident to Smit that he himself was to blame, as it was his duty to educate his creations about this sort of thing.
This realization caused his anger to deflate more, and for once, he felt ashamed of his response. It was easy to forget that these three mighty creatures were no more than children, and children that adored him no less. Regardless of their appearance, he was their father, and it was up to him to ensure that they learned certain facts. Especially about things that could put their lives at risk. He could not afford to be slack with something so important, or it could be the end of all of them.
“Listen here you three, and listen well,” he said sternly, his presence expanding as if it was unfolding itself to fill the entire room, making it clear this was a serious matter. By the wide eyes that his creations made as they focused on his crystalline body, seeming like they were beholding something terribly frightening, he judged that he had their full attention. “Once adventurers reach a certain level, the differences between the ranks become more apparent, and the strength of the individuals at higher ranks becomes more obvious. It becomes as if there is a wall between the ranks that some may never surpass in their entire lives. Specifically, beyond the C rank, the strengths of the higher ranks increase dramatically. The first ‘wall’ for adventurers is between the C to B ranks. This is the wall that divides the good adventurers from the great adventurers. In theory, any team can reach C rank, with sufficient hard work and determination.
“One could call a C rank adventurer a true professional of the trade, surviving multiple dangerous situations to become a veteran in their field. However, a B rank is another breed of adventurer. These are what we could call exceptional or very talented individuals, many of which are often able to use special skills. Any B rank adventurer is worth three of the C ranks. Adventurers of A rank are prodigies with great abilities that most men can only dream of replicating, and S ranks... Well, S ranks are monsters amongst men. Do you understand now, my children? Imagine a team of B ranks. Imagine a team of four people, each of which is comparable to say, about half of the members of the team of Azure Arrow. Do you see now?”
He let his words sink into their minds, letting them process the idea of a single team of people being several times stronger than Azure Arrow. Pala and his squad had barely held them off last time and that was due to the preparations taken beforehand, as well as the fact that the adventurers had had no knowledge of the second floor. The implications were unpleasant, should the dungeon be met with not one, but several teams of this caliber.
There was only silence at his words now, and he could not fault his creatures. Though they were certainly strong, they would struggle to just defend themselves against B ranks at best, and they would never survive an encounter with a single A rank individual, much less with any adventurer that had reached S rank. Pala’s speed, Echo’s’ toughness, and even Arturus’s leadership skills all would crumble to fine dust before the power of an S rank adventurer.
“How can one combat such monsters?” Pala whispered with a tone marked by melancholy. As one that had already died before at the hands of Azure Arrow, he could scarcely imagine how to combat people so monstrous that they could destroy Azure Arrow with ease.
“Oh, it’s possible,” Smit affirmed powerfully, noticing the depressing mood that seemed to bear down on everyone present. “In fact, it is possible to even kill an S rank.”
His words got a reaction out of those in the room. Their gazes seemed to look at him with morbid curiosity. It was easy for Smit to read their expressions, which seemed to ask how someone could kill such monsters anyway?
“If you want to kill a monster,” Smit continued, “all you have to do is find a greater monster to take them down.”
Smit chuckled at the simplicity of his own statement, but it had always held true. This was one of the most obvious pieces of wisdom he had learned over the centuries of life he had had before his new life. This particular nugget of wisdom had been acquired from an old acquaintance, now long dead, but he was a hunter without equal in his time.
“Which means,” Smit continued, “that we all must become monsters to hope to survive against people of that caliber.”
He relaxed his aura, and the atmosphere shifted as the unseen pressure was withdrawn from the room. He even heard his children sigh in relief, which he found odd, but ignored it. “Allow me to add one thing to this. An extra bit of wisdom, if you will. Not everything is about out muscling your opponent. Even if someone is stronger or faster than you, as long as you can leverage your strengths you can defeat them... within reason of course. A single mouse cannot defeat a lion, after all. To that end, our goal must be to survive rather than defeat our opposition at this time, and grow our strength. We must prepare to the best of our abilities for this incoming wave of adventurers. Therefore, starting today, the fifth floor is to be a battle frenzy zone. There is no other choice.”
Pala shivered as he stepped out of the core room with Echo and Arturus, walking almost mechanically. It wasn’t until he had walked several steps outside the room that he felt a shiver run up his spine. It was almost as if his body had not realized that it was no longer in the presence of Smit until Pala had moved far enough from the dungeon core.
“What a terrifying pressure that was,” he finally said aloud. It was true. Pala had never seen Smit unfold his presence like that. Or perhaps it was fair to say that he had never become so aware of Smit’s presence. It was like he had always had a mountain before him but never seen it until now.
“Yes. I did not know Father had such an aura,” Echo nodded, her normally calm face twisting into a frown as she tried to explain her thoughts. “His presence is beyond anything I have experienced before, even the adventurers and ogres we faced cannot hope to compare to him. I don’t think I have ever felt... intimidated before.”
“First he was a strong father,” Arturus began. “Then he was a king. And then he became a god that held the world in his palm. I am young, but I have never sensed such depth of wisdom in anything or anyone. I was but a babe before an all-knowing master.”
“Accurate analogy,” Echo stated solemnly. Smit’s aura did not shock them simply because of the amount of power in it, that was only to be expected of a creature with several thousand times their mana capacity. Instead, what pulled them in was the fact that there was a certain depth to it, a feeling of wisdom that seemed to stretch before them as if it was an unfathomable sea.
“Father knows far more than we can imagine,” Pala muttered. “I wonder, what does he see? How does he see the world? Does he see us? Beyond us? The future? The past? All at the same time? Life itself...?”
It was a question that none of them could answer. Even Echo, who was arguably the most intelligent of the bunch, could not fathom how Smit saw the world. Funnily enough, if Smit had known what they were thinking of him he might have had a good laugh out of it. While his perspective was unique, the way that they made him out to sound as if he could transcend time itself was rather comical to him. Their awe was simply the result of the compounded effects of [Monster Loyalty] and his rather impressive display of aura upon the impressionable minds of his children. He had not intended to present himself as a god to them, he had only intended to impress upon them the importance of the situation.
Unaware of Smit’s intent, everyone became lost in their own thoughts. They were all silent for a moment, marching down the halls of the maze. A pulse of mana rippled through them and every other inhabitant of the fifth floor of the dungeon, and they all knew that this was the signal that would trigger the new frenzy.
“I suppose there is no point in just worrying about it,” Pala finally said as he gripped his spear tighter. “Father is still father, and we are his children. Come my siblings, let us dance with the other creations. For the glory of the father!”
No one said a thing in reply, but they didn’t need to. There was a certain fire lit within the eyes of Arturus and Echo now. The sweet and childish appearance they had when they were before Smit morphing into a face that duly displayed their fierce and determined expressions.
And so, the massacre began.
Chapter 5
Mussol was one of the smaller countries in the northern part of the continent. While not particularly small in general terms of area, compared to countries like Illeb, it could hardly be considered a large kingdom. Nevertheless, Mussol had thus far managed to hold its own against its neighbors by making use of its natural borders and carefully managing its resources and military. However, while this careful management was the reason why Mussol had been able to hold its borders in the past, it was also a constant source of many headaches for the upper echelons of the ruling class.
Among these resources, the five dungeons that lay within its borders were some of the most precious available to them. These five dungeons provided the country with additional resources that had more than once been key to its survival: iron and copper ores, leather pelts, wood, and even apples. Though it didn’t sound like much, the five dungeons produced resources that were particularly useful in times of war. Wood for arrows and bows, leather for armours, iron and copper for weapons and helms, and apples were useful as rations. The Phantom dungeon was particularly useful, as it produced iron and copper, and it had been instrumental in preparing the army more than once in the past.
Their importance to the survival of the country could not be overstated. The kingdom had made an effort to protect each and every one of its dungeons, building a city near every single one of them, with a standing army to guard it. Naturally, the soldiers would also train within the dungeons, which helped the soldiers keep their skills sharp, and become accustomed to the sight of blood. The military had a strict rule of having all members of the standing armies go into the dungeon a set number of times per year, including the military reserves.
The kingdom truly endeavored to make use of the dungeons so as to not squander its benefits thoughtlessly. But it was exactly this reliance on the dungeons that made them a source of greed even within the kingdom itself. To rule over a domain that had a dungeon meant to have more influence in the kingdom as a whole. It granted the person presiding over that territory not only the ability to manage a significant number of resources, but it also allowed that person to make connections with all kinds of influential people and provided a significant rise in status and fame.
Because of this, the only natural response to the announcement of the king was a mad scramble from most nobles. Almost every family with claim to nobility that had the time and money to join the fray was scrambling to get their chance to conquer the dungeon. Naturally, not every single person who wished to participate could, and not everyone that could had the desire to participate. But the announcement still caused enough chaos in the social circles of the nobility that the king considered personally smacking some of the individuals to calm their foolishness.
It was only thanks to his wife’s sage council that he refrained from doing so. The queen, while she had a good heart, was not shy about calling out her husband and spelling out the negative consequences of what could happen if he did as he desired. What would the world think if he went around bonking the nobility of his kingdom in the back of their heads like it was some sort of game?
She had to remind him that his strength was no laughing matter, and even a half-hearted smack might be enough to kill some of the individuals. Had these individuals known of her intervention, they probably would have sent her gifts and letters of thanks and appreciation, because no one wanted to be struck by the king. Not when he could brandish heavy war hammers with a single hand as if they were toys.
The scramble of the nobles had some interesting effects on the Adventurers Guild, as the demand for B rank adventurers skyrocketed. Messengers and other vassals were sent from many nobles, scattering over the country in search of information about the best teams. Requests were sent out, information was exchanged, deals were made behind closed doors. In a sense, it was a controlled war between the nobles.
Had it not been because the king specified that only adventurers that originated from the country of Mussol could be taken, some of the noble families would have certainly gone out to recruit adventurers from other countries. This rule was made by design, naturally, with the sole intent to try to slow the spread of the news to neighboring countries, and to limit their involvement. A similar rule was made to ban the involvement of any soldiers and members of the private armies of the nobles, as this was meant to limit loopholes in which a noble could defer command to a more experienced commander entirely.
There were several small rules, such as those whose aim was to control the event and ensure that it was carried out as it was meant to be. But that was not to say that the rules and regulations were perfect. Alas, it was unrealistic to expect that none of the nobles would work around the rules to try and get the upper hand on the competition. Proof of this didn’t take long to reach the ears of the king, as reports from the Adventurers Guild arrived mere days after his announcement.
As the king had expected, some had tried to circumvent the rules by hiring people that were not registered with the Adventurers Guild and putting them through the registration process in an attempt to have them be registered as adventurers from Mussol so they could participate. Thankfully, his dear wife had already advised him of how to deal with this. They had already conceived of a potential way to solve the problem, and it relied entirely on the testing done by the Adventurers Guild. This resulted in more than one frustrated noble, who found that the process for becoming an adventurer was not quite as simple and fast as they had expected.
That was just the start of it, however. Some tried to bribe members of the Adventurers Guild to accelerate the process; others tried to edit records or falsify information. There were a dozen methods and more that some members of the nobility thought up, but many such attempts led to a dead end. With the aid of Ikfes and his queen, the king had successfully managed to block many of the more obvious attempts at circumventing the rules.
Not so far from the king’s palace, another person also received news of the latest failed attempt to sidestep the rules of the contest. In contrast to the letter that the king received, the letter was not sent to him by the Adventurers Guild. As a matter of fact, the letter had no signature, only marked by a delicately shaped “x” at the bottom of the page.
“You clever old cat,” a thin man with a nasally voice said to himself as he crumpled up the letter. His voice held a light tone of annoyance, and just a hint of amusement. “You and that wife of yours were much more thorough than I expected.”
The man raised his bony hand, and lifted his thick spectacles as he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger. This letter marked the fourth failure to circumvent the rules, and the second pawn that had been disqualified from taking part in the event. Not that it mattered too much to him. Those pawns were simply throwaways to probe the blocks set up by the king. The pawns would be happy enough to be compensated with some gold or some other benefit that the man could provide them. Even if one or two of them tried to stir up trouble, nobody would think much about a handful of opportunistic baronets and gentlefolk, as they were not even part of the hereditary peerage anyway.
From what he had gathered, the most obvious loopholes within the existing rules had been well protected against, which was actually quite a pleasant surprise for him. Given what he had learned, he fully expected at least another of his pawns to be disqualified, and perhaps more. The fact that these obvious points of exploitation were so well protected was actually beneficial to him, as it meant that there would be very few who would actually be capable of exploiting the system,. This of course meant that he would be in a better position, as there would be fewer unexpectedly strong people to look out for.
Despite this, not everything was good news for him. While he was pleased to know that the most obvious loopholes were closed, he had not expected that so many of his pawns would meet failure so quickly, nor had he expected any of them to have been barred from entering the contest in mere days. The security seemed to be surprisingly robust compared to what he had anticipated, even for an event such as this one. This complicated things, as it meant that there was now a chance that none of his sacrificial pawns would make it through to the actual competition—which was also undesirable. He had been prepared to lose some of them in the process, but not to lose them all.
“What are you thinking, red cat?” the skinny man asked no one, glancing up from his documents, turning to look at a gilded cage on his right. There sat a pretty white bird with a black beak. “What do you think, my dear Sweetie? That big cat and his fox of a wife are up to something, I know it. I can feel it like a phantom wind brushing up against my skin. The game, the rules, the intense security... It’s too far out of the ordinary. It’s like they are trying to get the attention of the whole kingdom. But why? The dungeon is young, too young, to be of a significant impact to the kingdom yet. True, in time it might secure a bright future for the family of whoever rules it, but does it warrant the help of the Adventurers Guild to protect it so thoroughly? Can it be that the dungeon is hiding a massive secret? Perhaps it’s ancient, and worth far more than they are letting on...”
