Chapter 11: First Assignment

Catherine cursed her bad luck, just a few more moments that cat girl Nyoka would have been drained and tossed aside. All that time setting her up to break, the moment of absolute tastiness, gone. All because Lucy came back.

Catherine could not care less about fixing the so called ‘bad habit’ she had, a predator such as herself relished toying with prey that had no means to fight back. After Lucy released her control over the slime, she reformed and crossed her arms “I don’t see how someone I thought of as a meal would help me in anyway on this little assignment you have for me.” She said, then pointed at the cat girl “Minus emergency rations, of course.” She smirked as Nyoka moved behind the water spirit.

Lucy sighed, shaking her head lightly “See it as a way to build trust between you and this organization.” She motioned to the door, allowing Catherine to stand up “We are not naïve enough to trust some one such as you blindly.” Lucy pushed Nyoka out from behind her and out the door with Catherine following behind them.

Exiting the room led them into another white box, Catherine raised an eyebrow, looking back as the door behind them closed. “So, you guys have an obsession with white rooms?” She asked.

Nyoka scoffed “We are in a elevator, outside of these walls is just a bunch of railing and the guts of the Empyrean. These can take us anywhere in a sector, this is common knowledge why don’t you know this?” She laughed but then went behind Lucy with a small “eep!” when Catherine glared at her.

“As she said, this elevator goes between holding cells, testing cells, lab cells, and administrative cells for this sector.” She said, pulling up her own panel on her wrist “It can also take us to a few transport hubs, we will be using the private ones for now.” She entered in something on her panel, before the room shook slightly, Catherine could tell they started moving. “Oh, and these can come in different colors and fashions, this one just happens to be white.’ She giggled.

Rolling her eyes, Catherine waited with them. “So, this assignment, what is it?” She asked, Nyoka looking up at Lucy questionably.

“The organization wants to test how, useful, you will be and how reliable you are and considering the loses you have caused us and the current state of your dungeon they want to recuperate that loss.” She said, tapping idly on her panel.

“Wait, I thought you guys didn’t care about that ship?” She asked then blinked ‘Oh right, the dungeon…’ she thought, laughing inwardly at something “How is that thing anyways? I never did get to live in it for long.”

“The dungeon itself you are well aware of how useful an operating dungeon is for us, seeing as its core is damaged and its mana output is minimal. Excuse me as I put this bluntly, the higher ups are not amused at how you are the only thing considered valuable from this little trip.” She said then sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose “And as much as I don’t like it, they did not care for the crew loses, the damage to the ship is another issue, but to prevent motivation loss and stress the details of that will be discussed after this mission.”

Nyoka blinked, her eyes then going wide “Oh you are a dungeon monster! New to the alliance then!” She came out from behind Lucy “So your dungeon got damaged when they raided you? Man that sucks! how big was your dungeon?” She asked with a slight smirk.

Glancing down at Nyoka, Catherine answered “Single room, was just born.”

The smirk spread further on Nyoka’s face “Oh man you are lucky they are even bothering with you, taking out a ship helps I guess.”

Catherine looked at her questionably “How so? What would they have done if things were different?”

Nyoka was about to answer but Lucy butted in, placing her hand in front of the girls mouth “You would not be standing here, the dungeon would have been processed, drained, mined out and tossed in the trash. This might end up happening with the dungeon as it is now, depending on if you are attached to it or not?”

Catherine shrugged “Do I have to answer now?”

“No, we will expect an answer in a week after your first assignment is done. “Lucy said, seeing Catherine go into thought she continued “Speaking of,” She started, alerting Catherine to pay attention “Your first assignment will be a monitored dungeon dive. With a team you will go into and conquer a dungeon that has been giving us trouble. With miss Nyoka and one other person you know.”

“So, the mighty organization needs help with a dungeon?” She asked ‘And I can guess who the other person is, out of all the people I know only one is the adventuring type, unless Lucy is going but despite her power over me she doesn’t seem that strong…’ she thought

The elevator stopped the door opening and the trio walking threw it into a large tunnel with several machines and vehicles flying threw and making their way to their destination. Waiting for them at the edge of the walkway was a small vehicle with its sliding doors open. Catherine looked around, a bit overwhelmed at all the machinery. She looked back behind them, noting the several doors and above all of them a giant sign that read “Sector-C: T.E.S” which she questioned the meaning of.

Her attention was drawn to other doors next to them, the doors opening as small vehicles arrived at the edge of the walkway, letting people on and off as they went about their day. “This is the non-civilian transport system. We will use this to get to the dungeon mining area.” Lucy said, ushering Catherine into the vehicle.

Once inside Catherine found the vehicle was spacy, enough room for them to walk around in without bumping into each other with seats lining the walls. Catherine took a seat, waiting for the others to do the same before tapping on her panel. The vehicle then took off, the scenery outside the vehicle quickly turning into a blur as they moved.

“Now to continue” Lucy said. “Our organization can very well throw countless resources into the dungeon and clear it, but how much is it really worth it to do that?” She asked, then motioned to Nyoka “They have decided to use the tried-and-true methods many planets used for eons, The guild. Employing adventurers who specialize in hunting monsters and conquering dungeons.”

Catherine crossed her arms “Sounds like too many extra steps, just send everything in there and be done with it.”

Nyoka perked up “Oh, bad idea. There are several theories but dungeons are chaotic and some even have restrictions or special effects. The guild specializes in combating them and dealing with all the surprises. The last dungeon I went into before getting fired stopped you from flying and was just one big giant maze.” She said.

Lucy nodded “Some even restrict how many people can be grouped up in a party, but leaving a dungeon unconquered does have some benefits. Even if the dungeon masters don’t like being held captive inside them.” She paused for a moment then continued “Some naturally produce minerals that adventurers mine, or hunt monsters for food.”

Catherine took in the information ‘mine didn’t seem that special… as far as I know all it did was hoard mana and then panicked when it got invaded… ‘ she thought

“Forcing your way threw the dungeon is also bad and is to be only used as a last resort, but we have gotten a bit off topic” Lucy said, stretching lightly in her seat “The dungeon you are delving into is one that we have had for the past year. While it has good resources, the guild can turn in passively the higher ups think its time to capture it, they have had contact with the master of the dungeon but…The dungeon master then pissed off the leader of sector C.”

Nyoka ears perked up “We are going into Delvin’s core?” she asked “That place is famous in the guild for that incident!” She laughed.

“Why? What did it do?” Catherine asked.

Lucy’s face squinted, she opened her mouth but then gave up, motioning over to Nyoka “The master of that dungeon has a really bad personality, so after many failed attempts to contact them strike a deal the master finally answered and made their stance very clear.” She said “It suddenly shrank the size of the asteroid it was in, made a giant letter ‘N’ out of the moved rock, and then in place of the ‘O’ for ‘NO’ it opened a portal to the demon realm.”

Lucy put brought her hands to her reddening face “That portal… it was to the lust layer…”

Nyoka laughed “It was SO bad, took them days to finally close the portal. Till then it was just a bunch of horny demons flying threw and getting gunned down. I think some managed to sneak by the barricade cause the red-light district grew a bit.”

“indecent” Lucy huffed “Filthy demons.” She shook her head, trying to get the thought of a bunch of naked demons with their….’things’….flying about out of her head.

Catherine shrugged “So, why is this dungeon still a problem?”

Lucy coughed, calming down “After that development the difficulty of the dungeon passed the previously explored areas increased drastically.” She said “The explored floors remained the same, but imagine everyone’s surprise when they make it to a new floor and instead of fighting orcs they are now fighting demons.”

Nyoka nodded “It’s a big power difference, for anyone under A rank its suicide….wait!” She stood up, prompting the other two to look at her as her face paled “I was C rank! You expect me to go in there! I’ll die!”

Lucy pointed to Catherine “And its her job to make sure you don’t. You will be with an S rank who will help.” With her face turned towards Nyoka, Catherine smirked and raised her hand and on her palm letters rose out that spelled “emergency food.”

Nyoka gasped, opening her mouth to protest but then sank back down in her chair “Guess I was on death row anyways….” She grumbled.

A few moments passed before they came to a stop. “We are here, normally we would stop at the guild but we already have everything organized” She said, exiting the vehicle to the thin walk way. Catherine looked up at the wall, reading a sign that said “Sector-C: G.D.PP” They then entered another white elevator, making Catherine doubt if their even was another color.

After they started moving Lucy spoke “We expect you to at least map down further then what has already been explored. If possible, capture or kill the dungeon master.”

“Capture?” Catherine asked.

“The leader of sector C wants to personally punish the dungeon master.” Lucy answered as they came to a stop. They quickly exited into a large dome chamber, in front of them was a giant pit with a small rotating asteroid that was slightly bigger than the vehicle they rode here in. The asteroid also had a large letter N rotating it.

“Finally!” A familiar voice spoke, Catherine turned her head to see Rose. A ping of anger tugged at her in her mind, but she calmed herself. Rose was dressed differently then on the ship, wearing a more advanced set of metal armor with a rifle attached to the back with a sword on her waist. She also looked a bit different, while Catherine could tell it was Rose she noted her hair was different. It was now a purple and styled in a spiked and wild manner.

Rose walked up to them, chuckling at Catherine “I expected you to jump me the moment you saw me, they really have you on a leash huh?” She glanced over to Lucy briefly, then back to Catherine with a smirk.

“Fuck off.” Catherine said before being flattened to the ground.

Lucy sighed, bringing up her panel. “Transferring control of the leash to you Rose.” She said, Rose’s panel showing up briefly before it flashed and vanished.

“Thanks, I’m sure we can trust this slime” She said, rolling her eyes before noticing the Cat who was silently standing behind Lucy with dead eyes “And who is this?” She asked.

Lucy filled her in on the details involving Nyoka, Rose stiffened a bit, briefly looking at the Catherine then facing Lucy “…Did you check if this monster did it’s…other…habit?”

Lucy nodded “Yes, I read your report, and yes, yes it did. I have chosen not to act on it based on the situation.”

Rose sighed heavily “Like I said, sure can trust this monster.” She then looked at the girl with pity in her eyes.

Shaking her head, Nyoka blinked and came back from her self-induced trance “Ah, sorry! What? Were you talking to me?” She then noticed Rose “Ah! Hello nice to meet you! Names Nyoka!” She said with a bow.

Rose smiled wryly “Rose, I’ll also be trying to keep you safe on this mission” She said.

Lucy’s grip on Catherine loosened, allowing the slime to reform with a frustrated sigh ‘going to be so glad to get away from this bitch’ she thought, looking at Rose with a glare ‘trading one bitch for another…’ She then looked towards the asteroid “So how is it this dungeon is troublesome? It looks small.”

“Bigger on the inside.” Rose said, “Much bigger.” Watching the asteroid rotate, on one side of the of it was an entrance just big enough for people to enter.

Lucy poked Nyoka on the top of her head causing the girl to face her “Go get geared.” She said “And don’t try to escape.”

“Oh thank god I won’t be defenseless…You really are my savoir.” Nyoka said, before running off towards another entrance, different than the ones they had used to get here.

Giving lucy a weird look rose spoke “She calls you that even though… Slime, can you re-“

“No, she was supposed to be my meal before she decided I needed to ‘fix my habits’” Catherine crossed her arms “And my names Catherine.”

“Yeah, not calling you the name of my dead friend you killed.” She glared.

Catherine shrugged “Some friend letting her go in alone.” She then looked over to Rose, expecting a reaction but instead only saw her looking forward. Catherine frowned “I mean, imagine if she had her friend to back her up?” Again, no reaction. Annoyed now Catherine was about to continue but got interrupted as Nyoka came running back.

“Ready!” She ran back, wearing a light skintight suit that was lightly armored near her vitals. She had two knives at her waist, a sack on her lower back, and backpack that looked to be attached to the suit itself.

“Good, now slime seeing as this is your first time…” Rose spoke, pointing to the hole in the asteroid “We will now enter the dungeon, to do so simply jump” She glanced at Lucy, waved her goodbye “Like so” She then jumped, flying towards the hole and vanishing into the hole.

“Good luck, I wish you well on your first mission. “Lucy said.

Catherine walked up towards the edge of the pit, looking down into the void. She then looked towards the hole. She shrugged and jumped, finding out the area around the asteroid had zero gravity as she flew towards the hole and enter it.

Catherine’s vision flashed, feeling herself rapidly move in space before settling, when she opened her eyes she was face to face with the end of the barrel of Rose’s gun “Shi-!” Before she could react, her head was blasted off and her body frozen.

Rose unsheathed a sword off her back, the edges glowing with energy as she sliced threw Catherine, reducing her to a pile of shards. “I know you are not dead from that, to my annoyance, but let this serve as a reminder of what would of happened if Catherine didn’t insist on going in alone.’ She said crushing some of the smaller shards beneath her armored feet.

“And what will happen if you EVER bring it up again.”