DD 203 Ch 14

Chapter 14

Before our party could even make it halfway back, the blur that was Neldra solidified in front of us.

She spotted Elysara and quickly grabbed my arm to keep us near her. I raised an eyebrow at the Royal Censor as she easily kept pace with those of us in the raid. 

"With you coming in, I assume that those quakes were outside as well," I said.

Neldra gave me a sharp nod, a clear sign that she was very much on duty right now. Her head was on a swivel as she looked back and forth, alert for danger. 

"Outside, you're going to find most of your tents have collapsed," she said with a grimace. "Everyone's tent has collapsed and there's a lot of confusion." She stayed glued to Elysara's side and kept me within her line of sight. 

An idea occurred to me, and I turned to Des. "Would you open up a portal? We need to get somewhere so we can inform the UG what's happened. Crimson has been looking into these earthquakes." 

Des held out a hand and then frowned, jerking her hand forward again. 

"Performance anxiety?" Harley quipped. 

"No," Des's tone was serious. "It says that I have no known locations." She frowned. Her frown deepened as she pointed her hand forward and a portal appeared ten feet in front of her. 

"What does that mean?" Neldra glanced at me, which I guess was fair because it was my ability. However, so far only Des and Crimson were actively using the ability. 

"Not a clue," I said, frustrated at the development, but there was no sense in dwelling on it. "Regardless, let's get outside and figure out what the situation is. Neldra, would you be willing to go to the nearest...?" 

The censor held her hand up to cut me off. "I don't leave Elysara's side. Until Miriam and Tish get back, I will be planted next to her. Chaos is always the perfect time for someone to strike, and that means you should stay with me as well," Neldra said. 

"Alright then, sounds like we are making a trip to the safe zone." Neldra was our greatest asset. Might as well bring her along for the trip.

"You aren't going anywhere without me," Des said in a hurry. 

"Nor me," Fayeth chimed in.

I could see from the eyes of the rest of my immediate party, there was little chance of me going anywhere without them.

It was over the normal group of five.

However, that was just going to have to be a reality. With Neldra in the group, it wasn't like this dungeon floor would bother us. 

"What about the rest of us?" Harley asked. 

"Stay put. We'll get out of the raid, we'll go get some help, and then figure it out from there." There was no sense in everyone running off. Besides, they were safe here.

Harley still looked nervous, however, I could see several of the other leaders within the group nodding in understanding. I knew they would do their job and try to keep everyone calm. 

My smaller party exited the raid to find the scene much like Neldra described.

The oasis that looked like a tropical paradise outside the raid was covered in collapsed tents. The earthquake had been heavy enough to dislodge the stakes the other adventurers had put in the ground.

People were still pulling themselves out from the tents and shouting at each other, trying to understand what had just happened. Our exit from the raid didn't go unnoticed, causing heads to turn our way. 

Machen spotted me and started jogging my way. The berserker was the leader of Pendulum Academy. His mohawk was laying across the side of his head. 

"Do you know what's happening?" He asked, several of his ladies catching up with him. 

"We're gonna go find out. My party is going to go up to the 30th floor safe zone," I told him. 

Professor Sai had been quiet this whole time that Neldra had been there, but as we started discussing the plan, she spoke up. "I've been unable to communicate through my CID." She tapped away at her device. "There might be a larger problem than we think," she said. "I'll go down to the 35th floor safe zone just in case something went wrong on the 30th floor safe zone."

"What do you want us to do?" Machen asked the professor.

"Just wait, continue as if you normally would." She pushed on her glasses, suddenly a figure of authority.

A moment later,Marin made it over, as did Prince Albar and Professor Gafar from the Royal College. “This looked like a group to discuss a plan.” The prince strode into the center of the huddle.

I resisted rolling my eyes at the prince.

"We're going up to the 30th floor to try and contact the UG, and Professor Sai here is going to go down to the 35th floor as a backup," I said. There was no reason not to keep everyone informed.

"I'll come with you," the professor from the Royal College glanced at Professor Sai. "We should probably leave someone to help keep everyone calm."

Professor Sai glanced around at the chaos of the collapsed tents. "The students are strong enough to deal with the monsters on this floor, and I would advise that no one go into the raid without supervision." Professor Sai pointedly glanced at Prince Albar. "Right now, understanding what's happened and why we've lost communication on the 32nd floor, it should route through the 30th floor safe zone."

Professor Gafar glanced at his CID again as if to check it was still not working correctly. "So checking the 35th floor is important. Who knows if that earthquake affected multiple floors. It could have affected systems on the 30th floor.”

“Or just the repeater relays that cross between floors." Candace was standing behind me. The professor frowned at her, but the blonde shrugged. "That's how they work. That's how we keep between floors. No signal can actually penetrate between floors of the dungeon. It's only with repeaters they use at every entrance that we're able to keep any communication."

The professor seemed upset that he had a student explaining how the UG’s technology worked to him. However, he calmed himself and straightened his uniform. "Of course, I too understand the basics of how the UG keeps communication up."

Candace pursed her lips, not believing a word he had just said.

Regardless, I tried to clear the air. In times of crisis, it was best not to let people fight and cause more discord. We needed to keep calm, no matter how much I disliked the professor. "What is important now is that we re-establish communication. If what Candace said is correct, then the best solution might just be to get one floor up and down from here and see what communication we can send out. If you still don't get anything, continue to the safe zones."

I glanced around to see if there were any disagreements, and was not surprised by who spoke up.

"I think the elf should stay here," Prince Albar said pointing at Neldra. "After this disaster, who knows what could happen in the dungeon. I would feel far safer if the highest level here remained with the rest of the group."

Neldra didn't even glance at him or give him a response beyond stepping closer to Elysara.

"Well, that's settled. We'll get moving. Good luck, professors," I said, and broke away from the impromptu huddle. that discussion had moved past being productive. Apparently, even a disaster couldn’t keep everybody civil long enough.

"Don't just ignore me," Prince spat.

Entirely ignoring him, I continued to move away and towards where I knew the entrance to the 31st floor lay.

As soon as we were clear of the camp, I picked up to a run. The rest of the group joined me. I had Felin, Des, Charlotte, Fayeth, Neldra, and Elysara with me.

Candice had stayed behind talking to the others in our class and doing the best at damage control. I could see Marin and Machen doing much the same. The two of them were trying to calm their class by getting them to rebuild their tents.

"All right, is anyone else freaking out a little?" Charlotte asked as we had gotten away from everyone.

"Personally, I like Candice's idea. I’m going with the idea that the earthquake knocked out the equipment between the floors.” Fayeth said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself.

“That doesn't explain Des' ability having issues," Elysara pointed out. Her brows were pinched down in a look of concern.

Neldra echoed her, "I too think we have a greater problem. But I have very few theories about what is causing this latest development."

I was also at a loss. The dungeon was full of surprises, however this was a touch further than I had ever experienced.

Amongst our group, there was one oddity: Felin. I had never seen a cat girl look so scared before. At that moment, she looked positively terrified. 

"Felin, do you know what's going on?" I asked. 

She jerked to attention. "No, I don't think so." 

Everyone in the group was giving her a weird look.

"It's probably nothing," she said a little too quickly as her ears pinned back. 

"Well, if you have even an inkling, it would be a better place to start than the rest of us have," Neldra pushed her. 

"If it's..." She paused. "Let's just get to the safe zone. And then we can talk," Felin said. 

Everyone could tell that something was wrong with the Nekorian. But that wasn't what mattered right now. What mattered was getting to the safe zone. 

***

Crimson was in a meeting between the lawyers on the advice of the president of the UG and the lawyer he'd given her. She had come to offer a settlement. One that was egregiously priced, in her opinion.

However, getting this all to go away was more important after being jerked around to several meetings with lawyers as well as the strange quakes that the UG had been detecting. She wanted to settle this so she could spend time with the class.

To be honest, she wanted to stick around Ken, especially with how worried Broken Blade had been and the news that several assassins had been contacted according to Ken’s Grandparents.

"Are you paying attention?" Her lawyer said, making her look away from her daydream. 

"Huh? They accept?”

“No, you dolt," one of the SJF's lawyers said to her.

A little crackle of red lightning snaked out of her eyes.  "This was beyond stupid. But we're not done yet?" She said, exasperated. "I was hoping this farce would be done soon. I'm paying you more than SJS even stood to lose with the bet.”

“That's not the point here. It's a matter of legality," the lawyer said, "it's not about money. That's not what the law is about." 

She groaned and put her cheek in her hand. "No, it's about wasting my time, isn't it? Can we get this over with? Would you like more? Would you like a signed statement?" These were options she'd been coached on giving with probably less sarcasm. 

"Well, listen here," the lawyer puffed himself up about to spill into a tirade. 

While the SJS representatives worked himself up, Crimson’s CID started pinging one message after the other with a wild amount of urgency.

She glanced down at the device, tapping in, seeing that her connection to Ken had flickered. her CID was repeatedly pinging messages that his signal had been lost. She frowned. She had gotten the UG president to set her up to track Ken’s CID. She’d been willing to pay his price if it meant she would have the information she needed if ever separated from Ken.

She frowned at the messages, which were quickly followed by messages to be coming from the United Guilds requesting her immediate assistance. 

"I'm sorry, I have to take this," Crimson stood. Anything was better than a meeting with the lawyers. 

"Sit back down," the SJS representative demanded. 

Crimson raised an eyebrow at his tone. She was sick of this. "Yeah, you don't tell me what to do," Crimson said. "In fact, I think it would be a good idea to take the settlement. And we can just all get on with our lives."

He reeled back like he’d been slapped.

She gave him a smile that turned out to be more of a grimace as she looked at several more messages coming from the president of the UG. She almost couldn't believe her eyes. 

"Excuse me, I do need to go," she said. 

A guard from outside the door, because the SJS group insisted that there were guards every time they met with her, blocked her path.

Crimson gave him a mirthless chuckle and grabbed his skull with a hand, crushing it with a flick of her wrist. 

"You can revive him," she said, tossing the corpse aside. "In fact, I think that's going to be a new thing. Every time I come here, you're going to have to revive him. And probably the SJS representative, and probably all of the lawyers, too, because I am just sick of these meetings." 

Crimson stared down the room before she left. "If I have to come here again, I will start popping heads. And if you keep pushing this, I know a surefire way to get out of the lawsuit," she shrugged. "If there's no company to sue me, then this is all over." 

She flashed them a smile and with a wave of her hand obliterated half of the building she was standing in. 

"See?" She smiled. "You probably have a few more people to revive. Best get on that." 

Crimson swaggered out of the building as a portal opened in front of her, feeling like she might have just solved her legal troubles.

She may have just created several troubles for the president of the UG and Headmistress Marlow, but she could handle them. These lawyers were driving her insane.

The content of the messages was of utmost importance. She stared down at her CID, hoping that the United Guilds had made a mistake. Otherwise, she was about to embark on a rampage through the dungeon.

***

It took us less than an hour to reach the location where the 30th-floor safe zone should have been. However, dwarves were pouring out of the entrance to the safe zone.

From what I had learned in our previous encounters, these seemed to be drones. I crouched down next to a sand dune with the rest of my party.

"Dwarves?" I asked. "Could they have broken through the 25th floor and come all the way down here?" I looked at the others for answers.

"I have no clue," Neldra said.

Felin's fidgeting had grown worse. Once we had spotted the dwarves, Felin shook her head vehemently, making her ears flop around. "No, it can't be," Felin insisted. "You should go up there and see if the dwarves have taken over." She pointed up at the safe zone.

Neldra glanced at the stairway, then back at the group. "I will be right back," she insisted. "All of you are to remain put." Her focus landed on Elysara. "Especially you. I will be back in less than a minute, and you will all still be alive." She said the statement with conviction. Then she launched herself from her hiding spot. Dwarves were cut in half as the elven sensor exploded up the stairs.

"Well, she did a really poor job of keeping us hidden," I said as many of the drones turned our direction, determining where Neldra had launched from.

I pulled out my weapons, and the rest of the group did as well.

The drones that I'd been scouting around started collapsing on our position.

"All right, these aren't monsters. Ely, take a durable melee build. You, Fayeth, and I will meet them up front with Des and Felin behind us, and Charlotte bringing up the rear." I made a quick plan of attack, then glanced down at the rabbit. "Bun Bun, if anyone gets close enough to hurt Charlotte, I want you on them."

The rabbit gave a quick salute. He would always prioritize Charlotte's safety. I knew I could trust him to stay on task.

I came over the ridge of the sand dune, but no further, so that I could stay in line of sight for Charlotte and Felin.

The dwarves rushed at us. Fayeth's glaive caught the first two before Elysara rushed one.

She had a pair of wolf ears and what I thought were bear paws as she muscled one of the dwarves and threw it down the sand dune.

The one that Fayeth still had its attention tried to stab the elf.

I stepped up behind it, my new knife working wonders to cut through the dwarven drone's thick skin. It wasn't exactly a listed stat, but stronger, higher-level weapons tended to cut through more easily.

The drone swung for my head, and I ducked under it, stabbing twice more in its abdomen before coming around the other side.

This time its back was to Fayeth, whose glaive cut a nasty wound from shoulder to hip, possibly knicking its spine as the dwarf's movements became incredibly sloppy, like one of its legs wasn't working.

A blast from Des hit it in the side of the head and the dwarf tumbled down the hill. I didn't think it would be getting back up.

But my focus was on the next half dozen dwarves that were reaching our sand dune to replace the one we had just eliminated.

I was glad I had saved my abilities for the larger group. The next dwarf that reached the top of the dune was hit with a [Triple Breach].

The second and third hits blew large chunks out of the dwarf's body, enough to stagger him down to one knee.

I slipped around his side, my knife carving a sanguine smile across his neck. 

Charlotte threw a heal at me just before another dwarf reached me and landed a good fist to my chin.

I stumbled to the side.

Fayeth stunned that dwarf before he could get another hit on me. The petite elf suddenly had vines spilling out of the shield on her arm, wrapping around her shoulders and all the way down her torso to make an armored skirt.

This happened just in time for a few more dwarves to reach the top of the dune. She blocked one with a shield while she braced the back end of the glaive on the sand, fighting with it like a sword. 

Elysara made a gesture with her hands, a large paw print exploding from her hand, causing them to slide back down the sand dune. Elysara put her fists up like she was ready for a boxing match, punching her hands out. Each punch made a smaller image of a paw that worked very well in pushing the dwarven drones back.

Thankfully, they were on loose sand footing, which provided no help in resisting Elysara's ability. 

I was back on my feet, slipping a dagger into another of the dwarves and using [Earth Stomp] to stun those on Fayeth.

Waves of darkness came from Des, hitting the dwarves, as well as curses flying over my shoulders to the ones Elysara was keeping at bay.

More drones continued to pour out of the entrance to the 31st floor until they all stopped and slid in half just a moment before Neldra reappeared in front of us. The dwarves that had been there with us were killed. 

"We need to go," Neldra's tone brooked no argument, and I turned and started running. The rest of the girls were in lock-step with me. 

"What's going on?" I asked. 

"That is not the 30th floor safe zone we came from," she said. "If I understand the dwarves correctly, what I saw was likely the hive of a dwarven queen." 

Neldra dropped an absolute bomb on our group. Not only myself, but the ladies all had a haunted look in their eyes. I knew I likely had one myself. 

"How?" Des asked. 

"It didn't look like a recent addition," Neldra said. "I have no clue. I've never heard of or seen anything like this before." 

The only one in our group that didn't have a look of horror was Felin.

Felin had a look of sudden clarity.