A Soldier's Life - 472 - The Twilight Warrior Dungeon

Chapter 472: The Twilight Warrior Dungeon

Once we passed through the gate, the knight locked it behind us. The heavy, iron-banded door and the click of the lock reminded me of being locked in a prison. Kyrenic was unfazed and grinned. “My name is Kyrenic, and I will be your guide today. We will be delving into one of the most unique dungeons you have ever entered!” he said with enthusiasm. “Each room offers a unique environment that is sometimes beautiful,” he said, looking at Baelira. “Sometimes, curious,” he looked at Evie. “And sometimes, deadly,” he looked at Maveith and me.

I didn’t have much information about this particular dungeon from the archives in the dreamscape, but I knew dungeons. I used earth speak before entering and noticed that Alhar was at the end of the hallway just around the corner. “I will go in first. Maveith and Baelira flank Evie.” Maveith nodded, putting on his helm as his armor materialized. I smiled with satisfaction at the shocked look on Kyrenic’s face, as this was the first time Maveith revealed his sentinel helm and armor.

The surface encompassed me as I pushed through the door. On the other side, I was standing above a large meadow at the edge of the chamber; the ceiling emitted a bright light from a single glowstone about a hundred feet overhead. The chamber simulated a peaceful environment, with a steady breeze blowing the tall grasses and lightly rolling hills.

The others soon stepped in behind me. Kyrenic inhaled deeply, “I love this smell. It is like a spring rain just happened.” I inhaled as well, and it smelled like a summer day with crisp, warm air and a hint of flowers. In the fields below, common yellow and blue flowers added some color to the landscape. The ledge we were on denoted the safe room; strangely, there was not the normal writing scrawled on the wall that gave hints to future delvers.

“What are we dealing with in this first room?” I asked, not seeing any threats in the grasslands below. I assumed the monsters were subterranean in nature.

“Giant rock beetles. They are named for their shells, which are difficult to pierce, but a hammer shatters them well enough. There are four of them. They like to set small pit traps, so don’t try sprinting across to the exit, and if you need to retreat, watch your footing,” Kyrenic explained.

“This is a huge room with just some bugs,” Evie said, stupefied. Kyrenic just smiled and threw a stone as far as he could. It bounced and disappeared into the grass. Moments later, a spray of earth and grass burst twenty feet away, and a dark brown beetle the size of a mastiff erupted from the ground and charged toward where the rock landed. Large pincers, capable of crushing a human torso, clacked together. Evie’s mouth hung open in shock.

“What do they eat?” I asked as the beetle slowly burrowed back under the earth, barely disturbing the ground.

“Worms, the size of my arm, but they have an acidic taste and don’t have any usefulness other than feeding pigs when we used to collect them for the citadel. The rock beetles are blind, and track you by your movement when you walk. They move slowly under the soft sod, but don’t get too cocky, as they will try to herd you into their traps or another beetle.”

“I got this, if you all want to stay here.” Heartseeker appeared in my hand, and I twirled it once. It had been a pain for Maveith to clean the gargoyle stone off the tip with his spell form, and its balance still felt off to me. I walked confidently down the stone steps, onto the grass, which only came up to my knees. My earth pulses detected the beetle before it even moved, helping me orient myself.

When the first beetle erupted, I skewered its hard shell easily with the dark mithril tip, but it took some effort to pry the spear out. I was ready to catch the second beetle as it slowly approached underground, thinking it was sneaking up on me. Tracking the other two in the chamber went quickly. As the others came to me, I studied the flowers. They were useless in alchemy, but dried and hung, they would give a pleasant aroma. With earth speak, the earthworms were numerous, varying in size from my finger to my arm. I would try the collector on them after harvesting the beetles.

“The beetles don’t give essences,” Kyrenic advised as he approached. I just smirked as I activated the device. The aetheric blue mist was weak, but I had utilized almost pure convergence essence to activate the artifact. The minor essence that formed was not an earth essence as I had hoped, but a strength essence. Kyrenic’s jaw was slack as I collected three more minor strength essences.

I started to hand them out, and when Maveith shook his head, I managed to change his mind. “Even if you don’t want it, Maveith, you can give it to your daughters when they get older.” Seeing the wisdom, he took the small sphere and slid it into one of the manticore pouches on his belt. Evie and Baelira consumed theirs immediately, while Kyrenic only debated momentarily before consuming his as well.

The reward chest appeared right in the middle of the chamber, beneath the glowstone that mimicked the sun. The simple wooden chest had no latch and probably wasn't worth taking with us to sell. “Can I open it?” Evie asked excitedly. She had read about dungeon chests before, but this was her first time in a dungeon. I waved her forward. She ran and opened it so quickly that it flipped over and spilled the contents onto the ground. There were numerous large copper coins and two finger-sized vials. Dungeon glass was stronger than normal glass, so it didn’t shatter; it only got dirty as it rolled across the packed soil.

“Take the copper, Evie, and place it in your space.” There were twenty-three large coins, worth just over two silver. I dusted off the potions and studied the runic script. Kyrenic watched me, clearly curious if I could read it. “A cure poison and cooking oil? No, not cooking,” I pieced together the parts of the unusual runic script. “Heating oil?” I guessed.

Not sounding smug, he clarified. “Most mages take a week to figure it out. It is an oil that you slather over your body to resist the effects of the cold. You can walk around naked in freezing environments. It lasts about 24 hours, but doesn’t wash off even if you are swimming. Our order sells them,” Kyrenic explained. After a quick discussion, Evie got the cure poison potion and Baelira took the oil. We had cleared the room in less than five minutes.

I found a decent earthworm near the surface. I tore up the sod and pulled the slick, writhing creature out. Kyrenic watched, curious about what I intended to do. When I placed the collector over the creature, he frowned. The blue wisps were weak and couldn't form an essence, but just pulling any essence from such a lowly creature was impressive. Understanding crossed his face.

“What is in the next room?” I asked, giving up on the earthworms.

Kyrenic flashed a smile. “The waterfall room.” He led the way to the only exit. A short walk down a stone passage brought them to a misty, almost foggy chamber. It nearly matched the impressive size of the first chamber and had the same oversized glowstone high in the ceiling. The mist from numerous streams of small waterfalls created rainbows throughout the room. Glossy blue and green lichen grew up the walls, reflecting more light and amplifying the rainbow patterns. Small pools of water dotted the room.

“Water elemental?” I remembered. “Which pool is it?” I actually didn’t need to ask, as my aether sight showed one of the pools swirling with concentrated aether.

“It is usually in the largest pool. As long as a number of us attack with runic weapons, it will be disrupted quickly. Unless you feel the need to continue preening your prowess?” Kyrenic said with an accusatory, but joking smile.

“I need to use the collector quickly, so it is best if I handle it alone again,” I said, not feeling at all abashed.

I stepped into the chamber, and a musty, but fresh scent hung in the air. The rainbows seemed to rotate like facets on a gemstone as I walked toward the pool. The water elemental rose up, appearing bipedal with two club-like arms. When the left arm swung, Heartseeker severed it, and the amputated limb splashed to the ground. Three more swings and the elemental was having trouble maintaining its form. As it was reforming a limb, I thrust Heartseeker into its mass and the entire globe of suspended water splashed down. The collector was out immediately before the essence could disperse too far.

There should have been a dense, almost jelly-like core for the elemental somewhere, but my aether sight just revealed chaotic aether trying to escape the pool. I placed the collector in the densest spot and activated it. Kyrenic stood over me, watching closely. Maveith followed Evie to the chest that had appeared at the base of one of the small waterfalls. When a major water essence formed, Kyrenic huffed in disbelief. “We rarely get an essence from the elemental and only a minor water essence at that.” His tone carried no accusation, just an observation. When he said we could keep all the loot, I don’t think he realized how effective we would be.

Having given away all the essences in the first room, I consumed the major water essence. It was like a river of cold water rushing through my aether channel and then pooling in my aether core. Through the euphoria, I could hear Evie asking if she could open the chest. “Go ahead!” I yelled over the splattering water.

I went to inspect the lichen. The green lichen was a natural antiseptic but needed to be peeled off the wall in sheets and dried first. It didn’t have any alchemical uses, but perhaps since it grew in this dungeon it might have achieved a decent level of aether saturation. When I have time, it would be good to experiment with it as I thought it might be a good base for healing paste. The blue lichen was one I was not familiar with, so I took some samples and would try to find a reference in the dreamscape. I started harvesting while the group came to me.

“Anything good?” I asked after the chest.

“Seven silver coins and a hemp shirt, but since Evie opened it, it only fits her,” Maveith’s deep voice intoned.

“It is a very common and weak artifact. It is incredibly durable, though, and the one I am wearing currently is more than twenty years old. When your body overheats, it helps keep you cool and wicks away your sweat. You need to drink more, but you will be thankful if you ever find yourself in a desert,” Kyrenic explained. Evie’s eyes widened, reevaluating the plain-looking garment. Evie was growing so fast that she would outgrow it in a year, though. Still, she eagerly put it on while we had our backs turned.

The others helped with the lichen, and I collected dozens of sheets of both. Kyrenic mentioned the knights did use the green lichen as compresses over bloody wounds, so even if my alchemy experiments yielded nothing, they would still be useful. The order used the blue lichen for making paper. They shredded it, pulped it, bleached it, and then used a screen for making thick sheets.

We moved toward the next room, walking down the rocky connecting corridor. Before we even reached it, waves of heat radiated from that hallway. Since elemental themes are common in dungeons, I figured we would face a fire creature next. I paused at the entrance to the next room, sweating profusely and slightly jealous that Evie had gotten the artifact from the last reward chest. At least, I now knew how Kyrenic always appeared so collected.

The chamber matched the first two in scope. The glowstone in the ceiling might have even been brighter than the first two rooms, but it was the walls that shimmered in heat waves. Small cave openings appeared along the walls, concealing whatever danger was within. “Thermal stone?” I guessed.

“It is, but it loses its properties if mined,” Kyrenic answered. “There are two fire drakes in the room: juveniles, but clever beasts. They traverse the hidden passages in the walls, pop their heads out, spit fire at you, and then retreat. It's annoying, and we usually cross to the next corridor, forcing them to follow us so we can catch them in the open.”

Fire drakes could mature large enough to carry a man on their back, matching a horse in size with a twenty-foot wingspan. I couldn’t remember how large a juvenile was, but I guessed no more than ten feet snout to tail. It was still a beast with powerful claws that could rend open a man’s unprotected chest.

“What do they eat?” I asked, not seeing any movement in the chamber.

“I don’t know,” Kyrenic answered. “There is no water and no source of sustenance that we are aware of.”

“Curious,” I said, eyeing the passages. “Have you explored the passages before?”

“No, the thermal stone makes them unbearably hot,” Kyrenic said. I nodded, not needing to solve this dungeon mystery.

“Okay, Maveith, you are up. I will cross the chamber, and when the drakes come for me, you rush and rescue me,” I said cheerfully.

“I don’t think you will need rescuing,” Maveith said doubtfully.

“Still, do your best, I am counting on you.” I patted his matte black armor, stepped into the room, and walked calmly across the rocky floor. The heat felt like it was pressing in from all sides, and my lungs struggled with the dry, hot air.

I finally saw flashes of movement in the holes, so I stopped in the middle of the room and waited. The first draconic head snaked out and spat a glob of fiery napalm at me. I watched it approach, then splash against my air shield in a micro explosion of flame. The other drake attacked me from the other side, but it was easy to raise another shield.

“Now you are just showing off,” Baelira yelled from the safety of the passage.

“Do you want me to save you now?” Maveith asked noncommittally, resting his hammer on the ground, making no attempt to move now that he could see I was in no danger.

“Let me see if I can frustrate them enough to come to me,” I replied. For the next fifteen minutes, I served as target practice for the pair of drakes as they moved from hole to hole. Using my Earth Speak, I could track their movements, and the maze of passages in the wall looked like a ball of spaghetti.

The others watched me as I was repeatedly targeted, and the drakes even tried to attack me simultaneously, but I learned I could erect more than one air shield at a time. The heat was starting to get to me, so I pulled out a waterskin and started drinking. For some reason, this triggered the drakes to attack. Maveith launched himself out of the passage as the two drakes finally revealed themselves.

They were a little larger than a pony, with undeveloped wings that were shriveled and tucked along their sides. Their tails were unimpressive, hanging behind them as they charged at me. As they both closed in, I teleported to the right of the slightly bigger one, and Heartseeker did its job, piercing through the ribcage and into the chest cavity.

Maveith hammer made short work of the skull of the other drake with two swings. A black onyx chest appeared in the center of the room, indicating the fight was over. As Kyrenic stepped into the chamber, I was happy to see that he was shocked. “Did you just teleport?” his disbelief was evident.

“Ah, yeah. Pretty cool, right? I picked it up a few weeks back,” I said nonchalantly. I teleported next to him, causing him to jump slightly.

“You just picked it up?” Kyrenic said, agitatedly.

“You get used to it,” Baelira said, walking past him and trying to stop Evie from opening the chest. She was unsuccessful, as the young woman reached the chest first and flung the lid off. I could have stopped her, but it was the most fun I had seen Evie have in a long time.

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