Lewd Dungeon, page 23
Morte
Does this dungeon have the strength to accomplish the task?
Resident Evil
Alone, maybe not. But this dungeon is a follower of Kuronoth, so…
Exotic Pleasures
Ah, you are talking about Scaleskin Burrow, right? Yes, I’ve been following their progress. They’re actually stronger than you give them credit for, RE. Like me, they’ve hidden their true strength behind a Dungeon Contract.
Justice
So be it. Let Freedomland’s fate be decided in a war between himself and the Scaleskin Burrow.
Chapter 309 – Pilgrims
With the assault on Freedomland being given over to another dungeon, I turned back to other things. While there wasn’t any point in adding new floors until some of my adventurers had proven that they could reliably get to the end of my desert boards, that didn’t mean I was ignoring my other projects. In preparation for the next set of floors, I was actually experimenting with creatures in the Breeding Halls, to try and get new combinations or elemental mutations.
It was slow work, of course. Sure, with time dilation I could reduce the amount of real time, rather than subjective time, that things took, but there was more to breeding two creatures than simply making them bone until you got results. You had to repeat different experiments, altering variables to see if they made conception easier, or worse, and whether they added or subtracted to the finished product. Dungeon creature biology also interacted differently with other dungeon creatures, or with outsiders, than outsider on outsider. There were a great many things one had to adjust for, obviously.
And it was a process that was not without failures. The slimes created from the Slime Lords or the Slime Queens breeding with creatures were usually viable, but their strength was limited, at first, by the strength of the nonslime parent. They took more time to work up into something useable, past the first couple floors. The plant creatures were only slightly better, with all the viable offspring being strong and surprisingly adaptable. However, only one in six proved viable, and the others had to be destroyed.
The area where I had the least success was when dealing with animals, including humans and aliens. Crossbreeding those strains was problematic, at best, so I was working to try and figure out ways to make it happen. The problem was, even if I was a god, and had magic on my side, as well as skills from the System, I did not have the kind of technology I needed to analyze the samples, and see where the process was breaking down, in real time. Which meant I needed to take the longer approach, and adjust for what variables I could.
The current project looked like it would produce benefits, fortunately. I just needed a little—My thoughts broke off as one of the alerts I’d set went off. Turning my attention to my little landing pad out by Swamptown, I frowned as I saw that there was a new arrival. And they clearly were far more powerful than most people who came to my dungeon, or they wouldn’t have set off the alert.
The ship was clearly a personal vessel, not a freighter. It was also armed to the teeth. I was no expert on ship weapons, but I could clearly see what looked like a launcher in the nose of the craft, and two heavy blaster-type weapons at the end of either wing. But there were also two turrets, above and below the main body of the craft, and what looked like pylons to hang additional weapons on. All that without accounting for anything that might pop out of the hull on demand.
The most interesting thing about the whole deal was that it had my symbol painted in red against the blackness of the rest of the craft. Not just once, but it was on the nose, as well as on either side, amidships. I looked, but I didn’t see a name anywhere on the ship. Perhaps whoever owned this ship didn’t come from a tradition where ships were named? Or where putting the name on the ship was bad luck? Either way, they clearly weren’t from around here.
The ship powered down, and then there was a hiss of an airlock equalizing with the outside atmosphere, before a hatch slid open, retracting into the hull. A ramp made out of light given solid form extended to the ground, allowing the crew to disembark. I found myself watching through my dungeon senses, intrigued by these new visitors. Or were they pilgrims?
And then, I saw the first of them. Easily seven and a half feet (maybe even eight feet) tall, this creature was built solidly, like a brick wall. He wore armor that was clearly higher-tech than what I’d seen before. Reminded me of the power armor from a popular video game series, except this was all in black, with a green visor, instead of green, with a yellow visor. At one side, what was clearly a sword hilt hung from his waist, attached with some unknown means, though I did not see a blade. On his back, there was a high-tech rifle (or maybe cannon?) that looked like it could easily be used to hunt tanks.
Behind him, and it certainly looked as though this was a man, even if I couldn’t see any of their features through their armor, five smaller individuals descended the ramp. Each was just under six feet tall, in armor, and were more agile, and slender in build. Also, they appeared to be female, if the bulge in the chest part of the armor was any indication.
Each was wearing power armor, as well, but there were distinct differences in each of their armors, and the weapons they carried. The first two were the closest to the big guy in how heavy their armor looked. One had what looked like a small pole on their waist, while the other had a blade hilt, like the first one. On their backs, however, were smaller guns, more like a submachine gun or assault rifle in size than the big guy’s gun.
The next two had less armor, clearly designed to emphasize mobility over raw defensive power. However, their weapon choices were very different. One had two knife hilts on their thigh, and two actual knives at the small of their back, with two pistols at their hip, ready to use. The other had a single blade on one side, and a pistol at the other. On their back, they had a weapon that looked like a cross between a sniper rifle and assault rifle in form, as well as a hand grip at the small of their back that didn’t appear to be attached to anything.
The final warrior had the lightest armor of all, especially around the hands. However, they compensated for this by wearing a sleeveless robe or tabard over the armor, fastened with a belt at the waist. This one had a pistol and a knife at their side, but they also had a staff that was a couple inches taller than they were in hand, topped with a glowing red crystal.
All told, it was a fairly balanced-looking group, aside from the obvious fact that the big guy made all the others look tiny beside him. Three warrior-types, from the looks of things, two stealth or mobility types, and an obvious mage. One of the warriors was probably actually a healer, if I had to guess. This group was too well-equipped to not have some kind of healer in their mix. Anyone who survived long enough to get to where these people obviously had was not going to leave obvious vulnerabilities like that in their lineup.
That was especially true since they were apparently followers of mine. Oh, I had followers that leaned all the way towards pleasure, while others went hard on domination. This group didn’t strike me as either of those. Probably somewhere in between? Yes, that felt right.
Of course, since they were within my territory, I could have just used [Appraise Value] on them, and gotten all the detail I wished. But that would ruin the fun, and suspense. No, I would just amuse myself with watching, from afar, and tracking their progress through Swamptown. They would eventually make their way to my dungeon, or to some other area that was more explicitly my domain, so I would wait until then to get their information.
It wasn’t like they weren’t providing me with entertainment, even without my snooping into their names and status, after all. Having six beings in power armor walk through the streets of Swamptown was causing a bit of a stir. Only natural, really, considering that these were probably the first suits of power armor that any of them had seen, outside of video games. Even if they weren’t doing anything threatening, all my locals were quickly moving aside to give them plenty of space. No one wanted to be the one to light that candle, it seemed.
The only surprising thing was that they did not head directly to the dungeon. Instead, they turned aside, and made their way to my cathedral. This pretty much cemented the fact in my mind that these were some sort of pilgrimage. And, given the disparity in height and build, my guess was that the big guy was calling the shots. Though there was always a chance I was wrong.
I chuckled to myself as I considered another group, that proved that point all too well. There was one party that came through, now and then, where this little gnome woman kept everyone else in the party whipped into shape. Seeing her take on the half-ogre that was their party’s only man whenever the Enflaming Gas got to them was informative. I still wasn’t sure how she fit him inside her without breaking things, when he was half her torso in length, and as wide as her arm.
Actually, I checked quickly, and saw that group had just made it to the Black Temple. That was the furthest they’d gotten, so far, which was pretty impressive, in its own right. The monsters scaled in power to people’s level, more or less, which meant that you couldn’t just steamroll the lower floors by being high-level. Of course, higher-leveled people had more tricks at their disposal, and more experience, so they were generally able to make quicker work of the enemies who didn’t have as expansive a kit to work with. Even so, most groups didn’t try and go too far at once. That was a great way to overextend.
Turning my attention back to the new group, I had a feeling that they weren’t going to be satisfied in just doing a couple levels at a time, pushing a little further each time as they learned the patterns. No, they were going to try and go all the way, I was sure of it. Might be that I’ll finally have someone finish the desert floors! That would give me a good excuse to start work on the next set of ‘elemental’ floors, as well as letting me reward the first set of my followers to come to Earth on their own initiative.
A brief hush fell over those in the cathedral, as the group entered, before everyone turned to go back about their business, whether it was praying or indulging in other acts. My Hand and my Sword, however, walked forward from where they had been discussing mundane matters with one of the local teams that delved the dungeon regularly, who they were on good terms with. With a nod of her head, my Sword said, “Welcome, travelers, to the First Cathedral of Kuronoth, God of Domination, Pleasure, and Dungeons. We shall not ask that you set aside your weapons while in this hall, though we shall ask you keep them safe, and any conflict be taken outside. However unless your armor is essential for life support or quarantine reasons, we must ask that you remove your helmets, so that we can see who comes to worship here.”
The big one nodded once, and reached up to pull off his helmet. Beneath, was the face of an Orkad, what most people would call ‘space orks’, but different. Bronze scales colored his otherwise green skin, trailing down from his brow, past his ears, and down his neck. I could not see how much of his body was covered in scales, thanks to the armor covering him, but I saw enough to know that he was a half-dragon in heritage.
The others followed the big guy’s lead. All five were knelfi, and all of them were women. Not just women, but all five had hair that was the same shade of fire-engine red. If I didn’t know that there were literal catgirls and blue-haired ladies out in the universe, I would have sworn that their hair was a bad dye job. As it was, the best way to tell them apart was the different haircuts they had, ranging from a short bob to a long ponytail that had been kept hidden under the helmet.
My Sword nodded once more, and said, “Thank you. Might I have your names, and your purpose here, so that I might pass them on to my lord?”
I was very interested to hear what they would say.
Chapter 310 – Warning
The orkad stood tall, and said, “I am Bargulg Parod, half-dragon scion of Balreren the Bronze Terror. I am an Assault Mage and follower of Kuronoth, God of Pleasure, Domination, and Dungeons. I have come on pilgrimage with the choicest warrior slaves of my harem to see the dungeon from which my new god arose, and pay homage to him.”
My Hand bowed her head to him, respectfully. “Be welcome in the Cathedral of our shared god then, Bargulg Parod. You have come far, further than most who come to visit this place, and the halls of our Lord. Will you descend immediately? Or would you first like to worship with us?”
“We will attend services, yes. But, before we begin our delve in the dungeon, I would first seek out whatever organization oversees adventurers in this land, so that we might learn of any taboos or dungeon laws that are in place, and prepare accordingly. No two dungeons are the same, and even a dungeon designed for those of the first Tier can still claim the lives of those in higher Tiers if you are unwary, or unprepared.”
My Sword nodded once. “Good, you are smarter than the last group of off-worlders to come and try and test themselves against our Lord’s domain. They thought that being in the second Tier would save them, allowing them to simply overwhelm everything with brute force, so that they could conquer the dungeon, in their goddess’s name. Their overconfidence claimed the lives of all their host, save for those who forsook their oaths, and enslaved their comrades in order to save their own skin.”
She paused, looking over the group, and said, “If we would best advise you, perhaps telling us about your levels, classes, professions, and your weapons, would be best? Your gear is obviously advanced beyond anything we have here on Earth, but I can guess most of its functions. You need not worry about the Lord listening in, if that is a concern. While I can feel his attention on us, no doubt due to your presence here, he believes quite firmly that he gains the most entertainment from having a dungeon that is tough, but fair, as opposed to one designed to slaughter all who venture within its halls.”
Bargulg nodded once, and said, “As the Tome of Kuronoth states, ‘Domination comes from meeting a foe and forcing them to submit. Slaughter is the way of Conquest, not Domination. Kill only in pursuit of a greater goal, or to avenge wrongs done to you.’ Lord Kuronoth will do as He wills, and my pets and I shall face his trials and prove our worth.”
My Sword nodded. “Well said, Bargulg. Well said, indeed. It is good to see that the Lord’s words have passed across the stars so well.”
Bargulg accepted the compliment, and then said, “As I said, I am an Assault Mage, Level 50 in the second Tier. Assault Mage is the evolution of Warmage. My profession is Hoard Master, a variant evolution of the Slave Master profession for the second Tier. I have a power sword that can be used in one hand or two, as well as an energy shield built into my gauntlet. The rifle is an armor-piercing anti-vehicle cannon, designed to take on heavily armored creatures.”
He pointed at the closest of the slaves, one of the ones who was armored as he was. “Lyrei Royra is the primary healer of our group. A Level 50 Hammer of Faith, which is an evolution of War Priestess class, and Holy Armorer, which is an advancement of the Blacksmith profession. She uses an energy hammer and shield as her primary attack, though the plasma assault carbine she has is capable of both mid-range marksmanship and suppressive fire.”
Next was the other knelfi in heavy armor. “Ratha Royra is the vanguard, after me. Like the rest, she is level 50 of the second Tier. Her class is a Dreadnought Bulwark, which is a defense-specialized evolution of Fighter, while her profession is True Defender, the advancement of Bodyguard. She uses a sword and shield similar to mine as her primary weapons, but an assault carbine like her twin sister’s for ranged combat.”
He pointed to the lighter-armored one, with all the knives. “This is Ashera Elaro, their cousin. She is a Shadowdancer, an advancement of the Rogue class, and has the Mystic Dancer profession, an advancement of Dancer which allows her to invoke magic with her movements. She has a pair of adamantine knives for dealing with foes who resist energy, and a pair of force-blades to deal with incorporeal or heavily-armored foes. The pistols are there for ranged attacks, or when special materials are needed against an enemy.”
Next was the second of the lighter-armored slaves. “Tanila Miafir, a friend of theirs who tried to save them from me, and ended up joining my collection. She is a Deadshot Sniper, evolved from Ranger, and Master Survivalist, which focuses on allowing the group to live off resources found in the wild, or in dungeons. Her primary weapons are either her marksman pulse rifle, or force bow, but she keeps a blade and pistol for backups and close-range combat.”
Then, there was the slave in light armor with robes over it. “Finally, we have Ena Miafir, her younger sister. She is a Hellfire Sorceress, which is an advancement of the Flame Sorceress, and Master Alchemist. Her primary weapon is her staff, naturally, but she also has a knife and pistol, to use as backups.”
My Hand nodded, appreciatively. “A good collection of slaves for your harem, Sir. And a nicely balanced party for delving in dungeons, as well. With that combination, you should have little trouble with the initial levels. The only consideration would be the strength of your weapons and armor, I think.”
“That it would not be strong enough?”
“No,” she said. “Rather, that it is too strong for the monsters in the dungeon to prove a challenge on the normal difficulty. Our Master does not use His full strength for every dungeon delver that enters His halls. To do that would be to make the dungeon a slaughterhouse, at least before people are raised to a level like yours.”
