SL: Chapter XCVI – Emergency Phase – The Dungeon Core

I was boxed in, not literally thankfully, but figuratively as the calculator’s minions closed in. There was no escape, no more communication from the calculator, which had won. The few remaining conduits I had to siphon off energy were found and destroyed. I was trapped inside my small bubble, with only limited reserves of energy to draw upon.

Still the calculator would not be able to defeat me easily. It might expel me, but I doubted it would allow me to easily escape. I could still defend. I needed to clear out the monsters and begin sealing everything off.

“Its just ahead, more bombs!” I physically heard the shout, since there was a small trace of energy imbued into it from one of the monsters. They were that close to my position. To be defeated by a calculator would be shameful, but understandable. But to be defeated by lesser beings, organic monsters. Such a thing would bring great shame for all eternity onto my ancestors.

For if it wasn’t a thing of Chaos that killed us, our memories would go back to my ancestor and then onto any other beings that were formed. I might be a seed, but I was a seed of the Great Primordial Hellscape, one of the greatest dungeons to ever exist and that still existed. Devouring all who entered within it, consuming their knowledge and energy.

I could not die like this. As I firmed my resolve, a massive explosion breached my inner chamber. I was running out of golems to attack with. I called forth my remaining golems. My energy reserves were dipping dangerously low.

It couldn’t end like this. I was a seed of the Great Devourer. I would continue on the legacy. Each blow on my outer shell weakened just a bit more. Everything had come to this moment. There were no other options. I had to act in order to save myself before it was too late.

I couldn’t easily move, but I would rearrange everything around me with the last bit of my energy to kill these beings and thwart the calculator.

“NO. THE END AND THE BEGINNING. THE THOUSAND THOUSAND ACROSS THE FIRMAMENT. YOU SHALL BE DRAGGED TO YOUR DEATHS. NO SURRENDUR. NO DEFEAT. RECONFIGURE!”

I condensed my functions inward and discarded useless mass. The ambient energy quickly rose as I prepared to act. That was when I was cut off. I was in a box, a container. NO! I was core created to consume.

I no longer had access to other functions, I had discarded them. I couldn’t break out. It had all been for nothing. I had lost. In my final moments, I could only lament my mistakes and the end of line.

I was a dungeon core. A seed of the Great Devourer existing across the Firmament. It was impossible for me to lost like this. Impossible…