Chapter 31

Red Sands Desert, Contested Border Region.

Dungeon Factory, Entrance.

Allya looked at the bodies, her expression unreadable.

"So...do we charge after them?"

The baroness looked to the side at her girlfriend, who was definitely looking a little green...but her gaze was firm as she met the knight-valiant's.

Allya shook her head.

"No...Not yet at least." She turned towards Anders, who was waiting by the stairs leading into the dungeon, talking with some of his officers. "Captain?"

Anders stopped, and turned, bowing.

"Yes, milady."

"I think it is fair that under these circumstances, we prepare a descent in force into the dungeon. However, before we do so, I want you to position a quick reaction force, with a recon team on the mesa itself to signal them."

The captain frowned.

"...Why, milady? We don't have that many men..."

Allya smiled, coldly.

"Whoever these people are, they aren't idiots. They must have expected that going out the entrance again, especially with the dungeon core, would be....counter indicated. The dungeon's influence would collapse the second the core left it, and everyone in the camp would feel that, regardless of if we had found out about their attack or not. So, the only thing that would make sense would be to force the core to dig them a way out, probably after enslaving her or forcing her to comply somehow." She shrugged. "If they don't...well, they're already fucked."

The captain slowly nodded.

"Yes ma'am...I....hadn't thought of that. My apologies."

Allya's smile grew.

"That's because it's not your area of expertise captain, there is no shame in coming up short....as long as you acknowledge that you did fail, and try to correct your failure. In any case, no harm done. Now execute my orders captain."

Anders practically snapped into a salute at Allya's implacable command tone and aura.

"Yes ma'am! Estar, get your men ready, you'll take point, Issiria, you assemble a lookout unit, Olokov-"

Allya phased out Anders' orders, satisfied that he was following hers, and confident that he would execute them to the best of his ability, and turned back towards Pyn. The elf was looking at her, worry plain on her face.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Said the baroness, reassuringly.

"Oh, I'm sure of it!" Pyn shook her head, smiling slightly. "It's just that you seem so..."

"Different?"

"Well...." Pyn sighed, and shrugged. "Yeah."

Allya chuckled. She had indeed made quite the impression by slipping into her knight-valiant mindset once more. Anders hadn't even argued when she'd simply walked out of the administration tent, where she was still supposedly confined to, and started throwing orders around right after getting the news about the dead guards by the entrance.

"That's normal. Just old habits returning to the forefront." She looked at the dungeon entrance, frowning. "This is....a massive escalation. Attacking our camp? Sure. Destroying some of it's vital infrastructure? A bit more borderline, but justifiable. Taking a dungeon core?" She shook her head. "Whoever did this is either overconfident, completely insane, or very, very powerful. Risking the wrath of the Kingdom and the merchant guild is one thing. Risking that of the UDC? Have these people learned nothing of how these bloodthirsty maniacs operate?!?"

Pyn winced, and took a step back at Allya's tense tone.

"I-I mean, I've heard the stories as well, but....you know, wealth can make people crazy." She looked at Allya, straight in the eyes. "We....know that better than anyone."

Allya smiled crookedly.

"Yes, we do, don't we? Well, for what it's worth, I believe you're right." She shrugged. "These guys probably got a bit too confident....or desperate. In any case, it will be their undoing, and-"

"Step aside!"

Allya blinked, and looked to the side, where Starvak was currently shouldering his way through the soldiers assembling for the delve.

"Step aside! This is an adventurers guild matter! Step aside!"

Anders stepped forward, straight into the guildmaster's path, his mouth opening as he fixed his angry gaze on the dwarf, but his retort died on his lips as Allya simply put her arm in front of him, and stepped forward.

"I disagree, guildmaster." She said, cooly.

Starvak drew up, gathering all of his....meager height, and not-quite glared at her.

"They have killed 3 of my adventurers. If that doesn't make it so, I don't know what does!"

Allya smiled.

"Does murdering 3 adventurers under my protection, as well as killing or maiming over a dozen of my armsmen not make it my own purview?" She locked gaze with him. "It does. I am not denying that they have wronged the guild, but this is a security matter...and will stay under my leadership and command as the baroness of this land." She said quickly as the dwarf prepared to speak again, cutting him off. The dwarf's gaze sharpened, and she could see the gears turning in his head, the anger effectively dispelled, brutally realizing that they were in the middle of a very attentive crowd...and that virtually all of them were armed, and determined to follow their leaders wherever it lead them.

"I see...Very well, you are, indeed, the lady of this land, and I will, of course, submit to your judgement on the matter. However, this...butchery." He almost spat the words out as he looked at the bodies. "Cannot go unanswered."

Allya nodded.

"I agree, guildmaster. Which is why I would like to offer you and your adventurers to join our foray to rescue the dungeon core, Crystal." Her gaze bore in his with the intensity of a anti-ship laser. "But under my command. Understood?"

The dwarf waited for a split second, then nodded. Allya suppressed a frowned as she spotted a spark of...satisfaction? In the dwarf's eyes. And she suddenly had the strangest feeling of just having been manipulated by 'talking down' the dwarf into precisely the position he wanted to end up in. Obviously answering the call of vengeance, and putting his forces under the control of the local lord...and completely absolving the adventurers guild of any responsibility.

Fuck me, that guy is sneaky, she thought, almost in shock.

"Of course. It will be my pleasure, and that of my adventurers, to assist you in this, lady Aubétoile."

Allya blinked.

"Your pleasure?"

Starvak smiled, and he pulled out two axes, each appearing his hand in a peal of thunder, seemingly summoned from the void itself.

"Of course. Like I said, this act demands retribution. And I am the guildmaster of this area. The safety of those adventurers was my responsibility as well. So I will assume it...and avenge their deaths personally, if that's what it takes."

Allya gulped. There was no missing the fire of vengeance in his eyes. Never mind about winning, with him on their sides? She wasn't even sure there would be anything left of the enemy. If they managed to catch them before they could get to Crystal.

"Of course. You are more than welcome to accompany us, guildmaster."

"Good, good." The dwarf looked at the entrance, and stepped. Allya's eyes widened as she felt the familiar magic of instant step, a very powerful spell she'd seen used by the Imperial Guardians to instantly teleport to any spot within eyesight, and Starvak vanished...only to instantly reappear before the dungeon's very door. "Let's be about it then!" He called out from there, pointing one of his axes into the dungeon...and Allya nodded, and gestured her troops forward. They weren't completely ready....but with Starvak by their side, they didn't need to.

It's time to end this, she thought to herself.

*****

Diamond screamed in defiance -and with a touch of fear- as he counter charged the golems. His cry seemed to rouse his men from their stupor, and their voices joined his as they followed him.

It could be argued that charging headfirst the massive, angry looking mechanical monster speeding towards you wasn't necessarily the safest course of action, especially in a hallway filled with traps, but his men were well trained, aware of the positions of the traps their recon specialist had pointed out...And he couldn't afford to have that thing crash into them while they were still surprised, or frozen, no matter what.

Fortunately, the golems met them before anyone got caught in the traps (although plenty of the pendulum ones were triggered), and clashed with his men. The spider monster just stayed back at a respectable distance, and Diamond briefly wondered why, before seeing the golems frantically reloading the ballista on it's back.

"Damn it! Lapis!" He parried a spear jab without even looking as he turned his head towards the mage. "Target the golems on top of the spider! Quickly!"

The mage blinked, then looked at the massive creature, and nodded, immediately beginning to incant. That seemed to grab the golem's attention, and half a dozen of them jumped back from the fighting, and drew their spears back into a throwing position.

The marksman soldiers accompanying Lapis saw the danger, and did their best to shoot down the spear throwers.

Their best wasn't enough.

Lapis cried out in pain as a spear pierced his side, coughing up blood...but he continued incanting, somehow retaining his concentration as he finished his spell...and unleashed hell on their enemies.

Bolts of lightning leapt from his fingers. Some of them missed their targets...but most of them didn't. The golems on top of the towering monstrosity started shaking uncontrollably, smoke escaping from their frying innards, before collapsing. Several of the foot soldiers collapsed as well, either hit by the misses, or having the lightning arcs bounce them their nearby comrades to them. The spider, however, survived. It shook, and let out a resounding metallic screech, before charging forward, heedless of it's allies, who carefully broke contact, and hugged the edge of the hallway, retreating out of reach of the rampaging mechanical monstrosity. One didn't make it, it's damaged leg slowing it down too much.

It was still trying to get out of the way when the spider flattened it.

Diamond winced as the screech of metal ground against rock filled his ears. But he quickly recovered his wits.

"SHIT! Onyx, Ruby, with me! Firatite, cover us! Jade, get Lapis back up!" He yelled out at his remaining men...and then charged forward to meet the spider, Ruby holstering her own crossbow to join him and Onyx on the frontlines.

It was chaos. He was reacting more by instinct that conscious thought as the creature swung it's massively limbs around, trying to crush him. He dodged, rolling right under the massive leg, and his sword drew a shower of sparks as he tried to strike it as he came back up.

He swore viciously. The damned thing was armored, just like the soldier golems. And if it wasn't made of a better material, it was much thicker, deflecting his sword with ease, his enchanted, armor piercing weapon leaving only a long gash in the wrought iron plating.

"Ruby! I can't get through the armor!" He called out.

"I know!" Answered his corporal, somewhere above him. Diamond's eyes widened, was she-? "Just keep it occupied!"

"Roger that!"

Which, overall, was easier said than done. He wasn't so much occupying it than mildly annoying the monstrosity by dodging it's attacks and refusing to die. He didn't even try to deflect any attacks, and just kept on dodging. He knew that he had no hope of even deflecting such blows, let alone parrying one! His only hope was to keep enough room between him and it as to be able to dodge the next attack, and-

He heard a scream, and his head turned to the side...just in time to see Onyx dodge a second too late.

The architect fell down, his legs broken, and barely had the time to scream in pain before another one of the spider's legs came down, straight on his head. His scream died in a horrible, sudden crunch as his head simply exploded under the hit like an overripe melon, showering the spider's leg with gore. And the spider simply withdrew it's leg, and kept attacking as the burst of essence washed over the group of beleaguered soldiers.

Diamond almost screamed in rage, but kept his cool, smoothly dodging out of the way, being the only thing distracting the spider from whatever Ruby-

"EAT THIS YOU ASSHOLE!" Yelled out the corporal, as she slammed an object on an exposed part of the construct's upper thorax, and activated it. Thermite flared, and molten metal poured into the automata's inside, destroying them.

The spider roared in agony, or whatever passed for it for a golem, and Ruby roared back in triumph...Then, the spider, gathering all of the remaining force it's dying capacitors and actuators could muster, slammed it's back against the ceiling.

The ceiling cracked...and Diamond heard a sickening crunch, and felt a rush of essence....before the golem finally collapsed, and his corporal's body followed, limply falling to the floor, like a puppet with it's strings cut, and limbs shattered.

Diamond gulped...and took a step back, looking around. Of the 6 soldiers he had heading into the room...only 4 were still breathing. Jade, his recon specialist/healer, was patching up Lapis, his mage...and a shocked Firatite was the last remaining pure combatant of the group.

He looked beyond the spider, and saw the golems disappearing back into the door they had come from. His mind idly wondered why they weren't pressing their advantage...when a whirr answered his question for him.

The covers on the walls, the one Jade had pointed out, exploded outwards at the end of the hallway. From them sprouted glaring beams of energy, and Diamond's eyes widened as he saw them. He looked around quickly, and saw Lapis, his face contorted in pain, incanting as fast as he could, Jade and Firatite huddling around him. He realized that he wouldn't have the time to join them under the protection of whatever spell the mage was casting.

He jumped. Not towards them, but towards the spider, putting it's body between him and the beams, and fervently praying that it's armor would prove as effective against them as it had against his weapons. There wasn't a whole lot else he could do, after all.

The beams screamed passed him, and he cringed, before relaxing, as he realized that he, indeed, wasn't dead. He looked up, and smiled as he saw the shocked, slightly singed, but overall intact Lapis, Jade and Firatite, huddled under a gleaming shield of energy.

But his smile faded as he heard the massive clangor of feet pounding the floor, and he turned around, his eyes widening, as ranks upon ranks of golems walked from the door, forming an impenetrable wall forward as they stopped, and locked their shields together.

He gulped. He hadn't expected that the dungeon would have that many golems in reserve....nor that it would have a giant, mechanical spider in it's arsenal. Still, the golems they knew and had prepared contingencies for. He opened his mouth...and closed it as the golems parted ranks...and a woman stepped in the middle.

She was...striking. Not quite petite, with flowing white hair and a white, red and black trimmed robe, she would look like the image of innocence...if it wasn't for the stony expression on her face, and the glittering shield in front of her. Then, she pulled out a book, held it up, and it started glowing.

"ADVISOR! FIRATITE!"

The soldier reacted instantly, and reloaded his crossbow faster than he had ever done before. They'd known the dungeon would have an advisor, probably a very powerful mage from the house of Oswald, and had planned accordingly.

Firatite shouldered his crossbow, and fired.

The bolt was true. It's trajectory was near perfect, and it's magic disruption enchantments glittering as it flew through the hallway.

But however fast it was, Alexandra and her golems were even quicker. The golems didn't move to interpose their shields, they simply dropped everything, and jumped in the path of the projectile, all interposing their bodies like a horde of desperate bodyguards. They moved so fast their actuators failed under the strain, and some of their power systems simply caught on fire from the overload. But they did their jobs.

Diamond's eyes flew wide in disbelief as the bolt hit the golems...and the advisor stood there, unharmed, as the pile of golems collapsed in front of her. It was unlikely that the bolt had hit more than the first few in the row...but it's magic disruption field had almost certainly destroyed at least half of the golems. And the golems had gathered in such number that they stopped the bolt so far from the advisor that even its area of effect wasn't affecting the vampire. And the magic disruption field would only last a fraction of a second, enough to break the concentration of a mage, shatter their protections and spells, and allow for a follow up, immobilizing shot, but not enough to prevent a mage, or sorceress, from attacking their foes through it.

Firatite reloaded as fast as he could, and just as he finished spanning his crossbow, the advisor's grimoire flashed as the spell manifested at last. Contrary to popular belief, sorcerer spells in grimoires weren't instantaneous. They were casted much faster than an incanted spell, but it still took time to properly form them, if nothing else. That delay was usually unnoticeable for lesser spells, but it could span seconds, or even minutes, for vastly more powerful ones.

And this was a powerful spell indeed.

Blood rose from the shattered corpses of Onyx and Ruby, and gathered into a sphere in the middle of the hallway, over the spider's corpse. Diamond's eyes widened at the sight, panic rising within him as he witnessed blood magic for the first time, reputed to be one of the most deadly schools of magic in existence.

Then the sphere opened...and revealed an eye, irresistibly drawing their gaze into it, and looking back at all of them at once.

And Diamond's mind failed.

*****

Alexandra gulped as she saw the core thieves collapse onto the ground, their eyes and mouths bleeding. They hadn't screamed, or even moved, they just...instantly died where they stood, like if some giant hand had reached out and snuffed out their lives like so many lit candles. And she could almost physically feel the....wrongness. Like if something that didn't quite belong to this universe had briefly come and gone. It was the same feeling she'd gotten when she'd truly 'seen' hyperspace when the UIS had blown up Pluto.

Fuck me. FUCK ME. What kind of magic is this?!? She thought to herself. She knew Emilia was powerful, but this...

Then she felt a weight being lifted from her shoulders, and her eyes widened as she gained the feeling of her influence back. She instantly plunged back into dungeon mode...and froze.

Nevermind, she had regained some of her influence. As in, while she could see everywhere again, she was pretty sure she wouldn't even be able to do some minor scribbles on the walls on the entrance even if she tried her best.

Because standing over the shattered influence disruptor, and at the center of the massive interference zone, was the dwarven guildmaster she'd so often seen before.

Alexandra shivered in fear. The dwarf was practically exuding power. Looking at him was like trying to stare at a grav-shield, light literally bent, photons turned into pretzels around him. Or at least so it seemed to her, because the adventurers -and the entire infantry platoon- around him didn't seem to see it or care.

"Crystal? Crystal can you hear us?"

Alexandra blinked, and looked to the side of the room, where Allya was currently talking to...was that her entrance sentry golem? They seemed to have tied it up and latched it onto a particularly tall and muscular adventurer's back, probably to prevent him from attacking if taken, as were it's instructions. The Earth-born restrained an urge to giggle at the absurdity, and jumped into the golem.

"Yes! Yes, I can hear you."

"Oh thank the gods! Just hold on, we're on our wa-"

"No need."

Everyone in the room froze.

"What do you mean, 'no need'?" Slowly said the baroness.

Alexandra smiled, then realized that the golem didn't have a face to speak of, and laughed.

"You're a little late to the party princess. I just wiped out these bastards."

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"Took them all down? Before they got to your core?"

"Done."

"Damn."

There were a few hushed whispers, and Alexandra shrugged.

"Hey, I'm a dungeon core, defending stuff is what I do best. So, you guys were here to rescue me?"

Allya nodded.

"Yes. In case they managed to get through your defenses, to prevent them from kidnapping you."

"Well, I appreciate the thought. And the help, that thing." She nodded at the influence disruptor. "Has been a colossal pain in the ass. So I thank you for the assistance."

Allya bowed slightly.

"It was our pleasure." She winced. "Still...we would be remiss in our duty if we didn't check, just to make sure that, well..."

"I am not under their sway somehow?"

Allya sighed.

"Yes."

Alexandra closed her eyes, and thought furiously for a few seconds.

"Alright. I'm not going to let you go into my depths with an army. ESPECIALLY not in my core room. No offense. But I will let you send the guildmaster...if he keeps to the core room verify I'm not under a spell or whatever, and leaves afterwards." She looked at the guildmaster. "Again, no offense, but your presence is...rather distruptive to my operations, sir dwarf."

Starvak chuckled.

"None taken! And I can imagine, lady dungeon. Well, that seems more than acceptable to me." He rose an eyebrow, looking at Allya.

"Same for me." Said the baroness.

"Excellent! Then I'll quickly check in, and then I think we'll finally be done with this whole affair!"

With that, the dwarf guildmaster departed from the group, and Alexandra reintegrated her body, once again looking at the carnage in the hallway through the scrying spell Emilia had set up on the crystal screen. This...was going to be quite the mess to clean up. Less so than if she actually had deployed her prototypes, as after seeing how weakened the core thieves had been by the spider tank she had decided to go for the killing blow outright rather than potentially give them time to recover by sending the prototypes, which might not have worked at all.

At least she wouldn't have to worry about the influence disruptor, as some of the soldiers seemed to be preparing to put it in a bag, presumably for disposal. She would have loved to get at the inner workings of the things of course -if only to find counter-measures-, but it was probably for the best that she couldn't get her hands on it, given the fact that she had a hard time knowing when to stop with dangerous technology, let alone outright forbidden one. Besides...these guys were quite well equipped. They would make for a more than respectable consolation prize.

She rubbed her hands together. Oh, this was going to be good...