Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 354

Chapter 354 – Into the Pyramid

Getting past Shai-Hulud was both easier and harder than she had thought it would be. Easier, since the Mass Flight spell did not, in fact, call the worm, which made crossing the desert child’s play, even if they were forced to stay barely above the ground. As for how it was harder? Well, when they decided to set a device to call the worm, so that the portal would spawn, the damn thing tried to come up from underneath them!

Under more normal conditions, that wouldn’t have been a problem. Just fly up, and out, before the big jaws close. But the altitude limit struck again. As it was, they just barely managed to escape before the worm rose up out of the sands. It was a mad dash from there, to the portal, but they made it through.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t had time to rest after that ordeal. Like the Pilgrims had warned, the portal let them out in the middle of a horde of zombies and skeletons. None of them particularly tough, but there were a lot of them, and they pressed in from all sides.

The only saving grace was that the damn things were still Tier 1 monsters. While they couldn’t just blow them all away like the Pilgrims had, that didn’t mean they were at any serious risk of being overrun. It just took more time for them to carve a path through the undead, that was all.

When they finally made it to the altar, the undead stopped, and then, as one, turned to sand, joining the rest of the desert. “Gotta give Lord Kuronoth points for style,” Gracie said, as she looked out over the now-empty desert.

“As you say, Mistress,” Liam nodded. “But what about the altar?”

Gracie turned back to look at the altar, and saw that Ramon was already studying it. “Well, Ramon, what does it say?”

“Basically, what you would expect. You need a sacrifice to open the way into the pyramid. Different types of sacrifice offer different benefits. A hundred gold per person opens the door once, as does accepting a curse for the duration of the floor. If one person is ‘sacrificed’ to be bred by the undead, then the entire party now present has access to the pyramid for so long as the child lives. And if you sacrifice a sapient being not bound to the dungeon, then all those present not only get a permanent pass to the pyramid, but also a 10% boost to all abilities while on this floor.”

Gracie nodded. “In other words, if we go with one of the permanent options, then if we ever add or replace one of the party members, then we’ll need a new sacrifice. And the ‘breeding’ option only works so long as the mother actually carries the child, and keeps them healthy. Well, it is a good thing we brought the goblins, then.”

“As you say, Mistress,” Ramon nodded. “The Lord will be pleased that we planned ahead like this. Would you care to do the honors?”

“Yes, I think I will,” Gracie nodded, as she pulled out one of the Capture Balls they had prepared especially for this. With a command word, the ball unleashed a red light, and a level 10 Goblin Fighter stood on the altar.

“Halt.” Her command froze the creature in place, even as it turned to try and flee. The feral goblins from Boca Raton were technically sapient, but they let their instincts do a lot of their thinking for them. Maybe they would get smarter if their average life expectancy wasn’t measured in months, but now that people were starting to get some proper levels, the regular cullings were enough that there was even starting to be regular traffic through the Boca zone, instead of just heavily armed convoys.

“King, Liam, hold him down.” Her pets did as she commanded, seizing the goblin and pinning him down by his hands and feet. She pulled a dagger from her belt. She was a sorceress, and her primary means of attack was always her magic, or maybe the staff she carried, but that didn’t mean she ignored backup weapons. You could use a knife in places where a staff was too big to swing around, or for things that reacted better to slashing damage than bludgeoning. Plus, you could always cut things with it, if you needed to.

Perhaps it would have been better if she had an actual sacrificial dagger, which could have gained her even more bonuses for this sacrifice, but while some of those had been found in dungeons, or in the System Shop, anyone who carried one was under immediate suspicion. After all, there was no legitimate reason to carry such a blade, unless you intended to use it for murder. Really not worth the hassle unless you were going full ‘dark cultist’, or lived someplace where murder wasn’t as problematic as it was on Earth.

“I hope Lord Kuronoth appreciates this sacrifice, in His name.” As she spoke, she slashed the goblin’s throat, causing blood to spurt from the wound. Another breath, and her blade opened his front from groin to sternum. And then, she brought the dagger down, stabbing deep in the goblin’s chest, between the ribs and into the goblin’s heart, ending it. She might not be a melee combat class, but she still had the raw stats to do that much.

Blood of the Slain

You have sacrificed a creature in cold blood upon the altar. For this, the Pyramid opens its doors for you, permanently. While upon this floor, you gain a 10% boon to all your stats. However, this boon will fade if you do not return at least once for each time the Earth circles the Sun.

A bloody goblin handprint appeared on each of their faces. Only, it was not blood, but more like a tattoo, put there by magic. And something told her that, not only would the mark disappear once they left the floor, but that it would return when they next came here, so long as it was within a year.

Logan nodded slowly as she looked over the notice that they all received. “So, permanent access, but the boost to our abilities is contingent on our returning at regular intervals. Whether that means to the dungeon, or to this floor, I’m not sure. Could be either. But, anyone who is strong enough to get here in the first place probably wouldn’t come to the dungeon without at least passing through this floor, I don’t think.”

“Well, something to report to the Guild, either way,” Gracie said, cleaning her blade with a quick burst of flame to remove the blood. “As far as we know, we’re the first group to get down here since the Pilgrims, so everything we can bring back is going to be useful.”

Turning to look at the stone doors that had now opened for them, she said, “Everyone, on your guard. Ricardo, you’re in front. The Pilgrims said there were traps here, and they were deadly, not the annoyances or potential maimings that the traps on earlier floors posed so long as you were careful. We don’t know whether that level of lethality is still present on this difficulty, but we should assume that it is. I don’t care if it takes us hours to get through this pyramid, stop and check everything.”

Turning to her other scout, she said, “Liam, you have the Cartography skill, so you’re next. I want you making maps of everywhere we go in the pyramid, and marking the location of traps. While it isn’t likely that the pyramid will change configurations each time, it is possible, and good maps will mean the Guild can figure that out before too many people get killed.”

Looking back at the rest of her party, she said, “Everyone else, standard scouting formation. The dangers should primarily be traps, until we get to the miniboss chamber, but, again, that is no guarantee. Move out.”

It turned out to be a good thing she’d read the Pilgrims’ report on the pyramid. Barely ten feet past the door, there was a pressure switch hidden in the floor. Ricardo couldn’t see a way to disarm it, so he backed up, and used one of the expendable wooden poles he kept in his inventory to push on it. The ten-foot poles were cheap, and didn’t take up much space in his inventory, but they were invaluable for situations like this.

No one in the group questioned his use of the pole. They’d been with each other long enough to know Ricardo had good instincts for traps. Instincts that proved to be spot on once again, as three seconds after he pressed the switch, the floor dropped out in front of them, revealing a pit with jagged spikes at the bottom. The problem was that the pit was between them and the switch!

“That was purposefully set on a delay,” Ricardo frowned. “Most times, when you notice you stepped on a pressure switch, the smart play is to jump back and use defensive abilities, just in case. Except here, they would have jumped back right into danger. And if they didn’t notice the trap, then, if the party is even slightly spaced out, the one behind them would probably be the one falling, maybe even the third in line, as well.”

“Mistress, look at this!” Liam called out from the edge of the pit. Gracie frowned as she saw what he was point out. The pit was only fifteen feet deep, but the spikes were wickedly sharp, and had barbs running down their length. Pulling someone up, off those spikes would do more damage than the initial impalement! “Unless you can break dungeon stone to clip the spikes, saving someone from down there would likely kill them, especially if the wound was near any critical organs.”

Ricardo knelt at the edge of the pit. “I see another button, here. On the side of the pit, just under the lip. Should I see what it does, Mistress?”

“How sure are you of your ability to detect traps and dangers? This is clearly past the Tier 1 traps and snares we were facing before. Especially if you didn’t notice the trap until after it opened.”

“This trap is a tricky one, Mistress. It works around the typical way a rogue’s Trap Sense or Danger Sense works. For instance, I found the trap’s trigger easily. However, because I was looking ahead, instead of under my feat or behind, I found no clue as to what it did, because all the mechanisms are hidden by stone. And the pit didn’t register as a danger, before I pressed the button, because I wasn’t going to be in danger from it.”

He sighed, and said, “For this new button? I’m not detecting a trap, and I’m not sensing any danger. However, that does not mean it would be safe for anyone in the pit, or on the other side of it.”

“All right, go ahead and try it.”

Ricardo nodded, and pressed the button, before yanking his hand back like a snake was after it. For a moment, nothing happened. And then, with an audible clicking sound of machinery in motion, the pit doors, which had fallen to the side, began raising up. The pit sealed itself, and there was a loud thunk, like a massive bolt being slammed shut in a lock.

King let out the breath they had all been holding. “So, the button, what, resets the trap? And then disables it? But anyone still in the pit is basically left for dead at that point, right?”

“Yeah, looks like it,” Ricardo nodded. “Even the original button no longer shows up as a trap. If someone panicked, and hit the button hopping that it would release the spikes? Or someone hit it accidentally as they fell? They’d be trapped, with no way out. Best case? They either die from bleeding out, or live long enough to make a deal with Lord Kuronoth.”

Gracie looked at where the pit was in annoyance. “Worst case, something much more horrible takes place. And probably in such a way that a team’s failure comes back to haunt them. Good work, Ricardo. Liam, make sure you take notes on everything. This is like the ‘trick’ with the Red and Green buttons in the Water Temple. The Guild needs to know about this.”