Chapter 266 - Secrets

Note : Chapter 268 has been written and added to the queue !

Wow, twenty chapters in this streak. I think it's a new record, honestly.

Chapter 266

Simulation one

Ghost smiled as her programs pinged her.

Going through the dungeon core's inner workings was still a pretty high priority project, hell, with the Church potentially angling to kill them it was quickly going to go back to the top slot.

She checked the various systems she had checking the code. Her smile fell as the suspect bundle appeared before her.

She'd wondered how the Republic had known where to teleport. After all, even the Adjudicator hadn't known what had happened to the NLR core when she'd arrived. Which meant that the God of Fire's servants couldn't penetrate the sensor barrier of the dungeon influence, nor Seraph bunker's stealth shielding, at least not without a massive energy spike, or they'd have seen the core had been moved.

They could have snuck someone in, but Alexandra had scanner systems probing everyone that came in, no matter the entrance. After Allya's little stunt, it was the only logical response.

This code gave a much simpler answer. If they had a spy within the church, and they should unless they were terminally stupid, they could simply download the schematics.

Straight from the dungeon core.

The code…it was for the dungeon mode interface and its map function, which could be annotated and such. It was supposed to be a lesser version of the dungeon vision, something that could be taken in at a glance.

But there was an anomalous bundle. One who was written completely differently.

One of the modifications by the God of Fire. Or at least his minions.

Thankfully, they'd switched to their own systems as much as possible now, and outright sabotaged or at least hobbled the others, since they didn't dare take them offline, but neither did they want them betraying their true intentions. From maps to simulations, they had moved on to their own software. That meant they still had a lot of data, but only the 'official' stuff, not the core fortress, or stars preserve them, the escape shuttle hangar or the nuclear research lab.

Sweet stars, how many of these booby traps were there? The more she looked and the more she found. More worryingly, she still hadn't found the default killswitch that had to be there, somewhere. Problem was, it had to be something part of the base dungeon core package, meaning it would be a lot harder to find than the God of Fire's edits. Though she believed she was getting close.

She needed to warn Alexandra. But first and foremost, she needed to cut this thing off and tug on the thread it left, see if anything else came loose.

This was going to be a long day.

*****

Helmgor, Baron of the White Sands, knelt before Satina, duchess of Sunrise and rightful queen of the Asarian Kingdom.

"Rise, baron, rise." Said the duchess, and he got up. "I command you for answering my summons this promptly. I was told that you had received the gift from our most esteemed friends?"

The baron swallowed, but nodded. The only other person in the room was the duchess' spymaster, the rat bastard that had arranged for this thing to be delivered, but even then he wasn't comfortable speaking about it.

"Yes milady. The weapon arrived a few hours ago, and I've had my archmage take a look at it."

"Her conclusion?"

"She believes it is genuine."

He could have told her it was genuine the second he'd seen it. He was a devout man, he'd made the pilgrimage to Retribution, the hallowed halls built upon the ground where the God of Fire had first set foot on Alcheryos during the Dawn of the Flames. There he had been able to see the distant holy mountains, with His Divinity's Most Holy Inquisition's sanctum crowning the highest peak.

And at the site of the temple, he had passed by the two Seraphims guarding the entrance, their spears glistening in the sunlight.

The one they had now was an exact replica to its smallest detail, and it had the same…aura, for the lack of a better word. As if reality itself bent around it.

He did not know how the spymaster had acquired it, and he did not want to know. There were some secrets that were better left hidden.

"Excellent. Do you understand your mission?"

The baron nodded, despite how dry his mouth was becoming.

"I do."

"Then tell me."

"We…we are to penetrate the Dungeon Factory, and eliminate Crystal, the dungeon core. For the good of the realm and the good of the world."

"Good. Very good." The duchess' face mellowed. "I know I am asking a great deal of you, my vassal. But it must be done. Not just for Sunrise, but for our world at large. If a new dungeon war happens…"

She shuddered, and so did he.

That was the only reason why he was obeying after all. To prevent another cataclysm like when the dungeons had risen against the surface dwellers.

He wouldn't kill a dungeon core for his duchess, no matter how close their ties, how he still remembered consoling her after the crown had executed her parents, remembered teaching her the art of war and statecraft. But he would kill a dungeon core to save his world, and everyone on it, whether they wished to or not. Even that psychopath in Rebirth or the self righteous pricks in the Hegemony.

"I understand milady. Me and my people are ready to serve."

"Good. Will you be able to, without the duke?"

"Falmagar was a great loss, but we knew he would not be able to join us once he was designated for command. We have planned around his absence, extensively so."

"Then I will leave you to prepare."

"Thank you, milady." The baron showed himself out, and his sovereign exchanged a look with her spymaster, once the baron was gone.

"Do you think this will work?" Asked the spymaster, softly.

He had been the one to set this in motion. A simple prod, to get the UDC to move…had opened a window into something a million times more horrifying.

They were exaggerating, for the baron to comply, but…even he was scared that they may not have inflated the threat by much. At least not to Sunrise. And maybe not even the world as well.

The duchess looked at him, and for an instant the spymaster didn't see the woman of steel that had ordered the deaths of millions, but a woman scared beyond all belief.

Someone who had gazed into the abyss and saw it stare back.

"It has to. Or we're all going to die."

*****

"This palace is a lot larger than I'd imagined." Said Alexandra as they descended through the cellar.

"It's also the city's siege stockpile, it has to be." Simply answered the count. They had acquired a few hangers on for their descent, but most were close associates, like Felix, Pyn and CQ, or some security, including a few of her golems.

"Aaaaah. Keeping the stores close, eh?"

"It was the wisest course of action, even before Sunrise started deploying saboteurs. And since it has to be extremely secure, well…" He shrugged, and she nodded.

"Your predecessors buried the access to their holiest of holies down there. Kill two birds with one heavily protected stone."

"Precisely. It also discouraged some attacks. No one wishes to damage the shield or the mana pools and kill the golden goose."

"Right." Alexandra nodded. Without the shield…Darthar would have a bad time. Rebirth was shielded from sandstorms both by its relatively dune free area and the mesas, but even Darthar's impressive walls would get abraded eventually. She knew they were starting to have issues for the principality's defensive perimeter already, and that was with the royal engineers helping.

Without the mana pools, the entire city would simply die out.

Before long they arrived before a set of double bronze doors that looked like they predated the existence of the Asarian Kingdom…and probably did, actually.

Flanking the door were half a dozen heavily armed guardsmen, each wielding the city's iconic trident, though why they used it in the middle of the desert was a mystery no one'd explained to Alexandra yet.

"Now. I won't do you the insult of asking you to disarm, but please do keep in mind that this is a highly secure area, and my men are a bit on edge." Said the count, and everyone nodded.

Sunrise may have fallen back, but that didn't preclude sabotage attempts and such. Especially given how fond of rebellions the rebels were, and how much blood they'd spilt during them.

Even in this city, arguably the most prepared for it due to its inherent instability, the streets had run red with blood.

"Of course. We're not here to cause trouble." Allya's voice was friendly.

Only Alexandra and Pyn could hear the tension underneath it.

"I don't doubt it." The count was good, the Earth-born barely caught the flick of a glance towards her, and she was looking directly at him.

He pushed his hand against the middle of the door, and the air filled with a low hum. Then the doors swung open as an energy barrier vanished in a flash of energy, and Alexandra realized with a start that the entire door had been warded. Damn, she was a paragon of paranoia and even she didn't do that.

Though it was a good idea. One she'd have to save for later.

TO-DO LIST UPDATED

"Please, stay close." Said the count as he stepped into the hallway.

"I assume there's traps, and you have some kind of talisman disarming them?" Said Alexandra, before raising an eyebrow as the count almost jumped. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, just…few people pick up on it, even among those that are allowed to go down here. But you are a dungeon core."

The count looked thoughtful as he lead them through a hallway that seemed positively ancient. As in 'that's not the Asarian Kingdom's royal heraldry on the walls' ancient. Alexandra knew, intellectually, that the city had been founded by the Saphire Kingdom, but it was still a shock to see the Asarians' mortal enemy's crest just emblazoned here. She wondered why they hadn't replaced it, before she saw a glimmer of energy.

Oh.

That was why. The doors weren't warded, the entire fucking hallway was.

That wasn't just 'impressive' levels of paranoia, it went straight into the same levels of 'oh shit' as the ones she'd had when inspecting Seraph's little bunker and its stealth shielding.

"I suppose you would recognize such a setup at a glance." Finished the count.

"I would." It was basically how her core defenses worked now, though she had better target recognition systems than a token of passage. That one, even if it required a certain person's mana signature to activate, were a recipe for disaster. "Maybe I could give you and your mages some advice?"

"Give recent events, I'd appreciate that. Those are uncertain times. And you have more than proven your competence in repelling intruders under the most trying of circumstances."

"Kind of you to say so anyway." After all, one of her successful 'repel' had been bringing down her entire dungeon on top of her enemies.

"Perhaps."

Alexandra stopped, and Allya almost ran into her back as they passed another door…and emerged into the most drop dead gorgeous cavern she'd ever seen.

She'd expected some kind of bunker, or at best a barren hole in the ground, but this?

It was a large, spacious even, cavern filled with life, with pools of glittering liquid mana in the distance. Glowing plants, from giant mushrooms to blue willow trees littered the landscape, lighting the entire area. It looked so profoundly alien, and yet so…serene at the same time.

"Holy shit…" Whispered the dungeon core.

"Reminds me of the Sundered Grove." Said Allya, who shrugged as Alexandra gave her a glance. "A place I went through when I left the Empire. There's a lot of underground places filled with life like that. If you have an abundance of mana anything can happen. I mean, you're a dungeon core, you've seen it, you've done it."

"Right. Still, it's very beautiful."

"That it is." Said the count. "My mages tell me everything here glows and isn't hostile because it was an isolated environment for millennia. We've tried to keep it secure from invasive species and whatnot, though we haven't always been successful." He nodded towards a rabbit with glowing eartips, showing above the blue grass, before bouncing away. "Like that Janny."

"Janny?"

"Named after the ex wife of the ruler of the city at the time, I believe. A rabbit beastkin, if I remember well. In any case, we've had to keep their population under strict control, lest they devour the grove."

"Ah, I see. And the generator?"

"Right this way, please."

They made their way through the grove, creatures, some seen, others not, moving to observe them or skittering away before their steps. It was profoundly bizarre for Alexandra, who hadn't really encountered wildlife that wasn't out to kill her since she'd become a dungeon core. And that was if you classified wasteland monsters as 'wildlife' and not 'biological weapon of potential divine origin'.

The caverns extended further than Alexandra would have thought. Before long however, they rounded an iridescent mana pool, that looked profoundly wrong and right to her simultaneously, and arrived before an area that had clearly been dug, expanded, and reinforced.

"The generator wasn't accessible at first." Explained the count. "It was buried. We can't tell if it hit a part of the cavern and it collapsed around it or- Lady Crystal?"

Alexandra had let her expression slip. And was utterly speechless.

That wasn't a shield generator.

That was a fucking spaceship.

A European Federation warship!