The air screeches and roars with fury as Calidi twists her body and plunges the flaming spear into the barrier. More cracks spread and instantly begin to heal, but the Scorching Star does not relent. She resets her stance, her spear reignites as she spins it back to ready, then her hips snap forward as she drives her spear into the barrier again.

Her team watches. The reverberations from each thrust shake the dungeon, and deeper sub-sonics from the trembling shield rattle their bones. More and more cracks form and spread. They heal faster the farther they run, but it’s not enough.

Then, Calidi screams and with one final thrust, the cracked portion of the barrier shatters in front of her, creating a door-sized opening.

“Move!” she yells and jumps through the opening. Her team quickly follows at her command. By the time the last member has passed, the barrier has reformed and repaired the hole.

The group stops and stares, mouths agape, at the city of Atlantis. Hundreds of skyscrapers reach upward toward the massive barrier dome. Buildings nestled between them line the sidewalks of broad boulevards. Magical carriages stand eerily idle on the roads, stopped mid-journey. Mana powered street lamps still glow softly, and warm light still peeks out through the windows of the high towers.

Franky reels with deja vu and a profound sense of wrongness because the city, so reminiscent of an Earth metropolis, is dead. Thousands of skeletons litter the streets and cars, most of them still wearing clothing that has not yet decayed.

“It looks like they all died instantly,” Franky observes as he looks at the corpses. There are no signs of an attack, instead, they look like they were going about their business one moment, then dead the next.

As the team continues looking around, the ground trembles and shakes again.

____________________________________________________________

ATLANTIS BARRIER SYSTEM COMPROMISED

ENEMY PERSONNEL HAVE ENTERED ATLANTIS

ACTIVATING ATLANTIS EMERGENCY EVACUATION SYSTEM

EVACUATION SYSTEM CANNOT ACTIVATE.

ASSESSING PROBLEM…

PROBLEM FOUND. ATLANTIS IS CURRENTLY UNDERGROUND.

…

…

SOLVING PROBLEM. ACTIVATING CITY-WIDE GRAVITY RUNES.

COUNTERING GRAVITY…

ACTIVATING THRUSTER RUNES…

ASCENDING ATLANTIS…

________________________________________________________

“What the fuck kind of army is that?” Turnock asks while leaning over the ridge next to Brock. A large army, thousands strong, approaches them from the distance led by an armoured man with white hair and a fluffy tail.

Brock squints through the spyglass, “Looks kind of like a Demi-human one. They all have fluffy ears and tails,” he frowns, “and I think I see some Arachne in their midst.”

“The creepy, fucking spider women? What the hell are they doing here? Is this some kind of eastern army trying to invade the west? How the heck did they move an army over the mountains anyways?”

“There's no humans in that army and those [Soldiers] don’t look like [Slaves]. There’s children and elderly with them too. I think this might be a completely separate force. It almost looks like a migration.” Brock speculates.

“Separate force? Migration? From where? Only the fucking [Slavers] in the east have demi-human armies.”

“I’m not sure, Turnock, but we need to send someone to notify Franky.”

“You think they’re aggressive?”

Brock shrugs, “Maybe, maybe not, but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious. We vaporized some pirates yesterday, and today, an unknown army shows up at our feet. When the giant monster pops out to tear everyone a new one, I just hope it’s friendly.”

Both men take a sober moment to look back toward Leiking.

Turnock shakes his head and growls, “Fuk’n Thor’s hairy ball sack! Of all the shit to happen, it has to be a fucking foreign army.” Turnock stands back up, “Fine, lets send someone to tel-,” the dwarf freezes when the ground starts to rumble.

“Umm,” he begins and then notices the incoming army in full retreat. The ground shakes harder and starts to rise.

Turnock hugs Matilda III to his chest.

…

…“Fuck.”

_______________________________________________________________

Big! Whatever is coming is big! Garn retreats his army as fast as possible away from the heaving earth.

Behind them, the earth bulges, fractures, and lifts. The ground parts and a massive dome, dozens of miles across, rises up. Dirt and bedrock fall away, tumbling down the dome’s sides. The vanguard hastens to escape the landslide. The city rises above the rubble and the earth falls back. The last stone trickles down the slide and stops at Garn’s feet.

Through the dome, he can see tall towers ascending to the sky and in the center is the tallest tower of all. It looms over the city, easily the tallest structure Garn has ever seen, and shrouds everything within in the glowing dome.

Garn takes a moment to give a silent prayer to Coyote before turning to his very confused army.

With a wave and a command, the army forms up and prepares to… well, he’s not sure. He was heading south and then this… thing popped out of the earth.

As he stares at the dome, he startles when it suddenly shuts off.

__________________________________________________________________

ATLANTIS ASCENDED SUCCESSFULLY.

DEACTIVATING THRUSTER RUNES

ACTIVATING ATLANTIS EMERGENCY EVACUATION SYSTEM

SYSTEM ACTIVATED.

…

SYSTEM COMPLETE.

ALL LIVING ATLANTIS PERSONNEL HAVE BEEN EVACUATED

DEACTIVATING ATLANTIS BARRIER

ACTIVATING ATLANTIS CORE COMBAT MODE

_____________________________________________________________

“What the fuck is going on?” Calidi asks, her eyes darting everywhere. She remains in stance, ready for combat. Her [Danger Sense] is going off yet there’s no obvious threat.

“The Bulwark believes this city is risen from the ground,” he says with such confidence that Calidi can't help but snort. Darius points at the center of the city, where stands the largest tower which was the source of the barrier. “Also, the Bulwark believes the threat you sense is over there.”

Everyone looks at the tower, and their mouths gape open as the metal of the tower untwists. Adamantium and mithril, glimmering in streamers of black and light blue, connected by lines of glowing white light, unwind from around a violet, crystalline dungeon core of a size never before seen.The core pulses and the rest of the tower unravels. Mana washes over the city, ionizing the air. The clouds disperse and an aurora climbs into the sky.

The metal around the core seems to come alive, moving in time with the pulses of the crystal. Rivers of metal flow together, take shape, and harden, coalescing around and down from the crystal core. In just a few eternal minutes, the largest golem Franky has ever seen towers over Atlantis.

The golem slowly turns its body and its singular, purple eye, the dungeon core itself, peers down at the group of four invaders who dared to enter its city.

“This doesn't seem good.” Franky says and takes a cautionary step back.

The golem raises its hand into the air and the core glows. Lines of mana cascade down the neck, to the chest, and then up the raised arm.

Franky gulps. “[Analyze].”

Atlantis Level 3,158

Atlantis is the first successful artificial dungeon created by a team of seventeen [Artificers]. The dungeon, named Atlantis, was used as an energy source to create and power a floating city with the same name.

“Its level is over three thousand,” Franky blurts out. At the same time, the aurora lights turn smoldering red. Like an impending apocalypse, the air vibrates and shudders as a mechanical voice emanates from the metal golem.

“[Triplicate Magic], [Maximize Magic], [Meteor Storm],”

Thousands of house sized meteors, each one a calamity capable of reducing a city to rubble, appear in the sky and plummet towards them.

Darius steps forward and slams his shields together. His domain billows out like a mental tidal wave.

You are under the effect of [Allotropy Mire]

Denseness of the ground is decreased by 7952%

“[Greater Creation: Elder Earth Elemental].”

The ground beneath Darius’ feet rises up under and around him. Franky, Calidi, and Jessa stumble backwards as the ground flows towards The Bulwark. In a mere moment, a golem with shields for arms rises over the rooftops. The golem raises its arms to block the meteors and the domain shifts.

You are under the effect of [Allotropy Mire]

Denseness of the ground is Increased by 2722%

The meteors fall around them and again, the earth trembles, and buildings crumble.

_______________________________________________________________________

Garn’s mouth is wide open as he stares at the two titanic golems battling each other. A titan of metal casts meteors from the sky while a titan of earth blocks them with twin tower shields.

Garn is both amazed and terrified. He’s not even sure what he should do. Retreating with his people would be smart, except they can’t get far fast enough by climbing back into the mountains.

“Garn, what’s happening?”

He turns his head and finds his mistress outside her carriage, staring at the destruction happening in the distance.

“My [Lady], a city appeared from the ground and now two titanic golems are battling there with one another,” he answers.

Ambrosia tilts her head and watches the fight. Her eyes glow red as she enhances her sight. She looks at it all… and smiles.

“My dear Garn. This city, if the signs at the city entrance are to be believed, we are staring at the lost city of Atlantis,” she then points to the golem of metal, “and that must be one of the city’s rumored golem defenses.”

“Atlantis? I thought the city was just a myth.”

“Not a myth, just old and forgotten,” her eyes settle on what is probably the aggressor. “And it seems the group controlling that Elder Earth Elemental is responsible for uncovering it.”

Garn nods slowly, “So, what should we do?”

Ambrosia reaches into her bust and withdraws a metallic black spider medallion with a blood red gem in the center. With an elongated nail, she nicks her palm and lets a drop of her blood land on the gem.

The legendary enchantments start to activate. She throws the medallion into the air and from the core of the spider, a torrent of blood bursts forth. The blood coagulates around the medallion, and within a second, the legendary vampire weapon, Sanguine Scythe, falls into her hands. She twirls it around herself, remembering its weight and balance.

“Simple, Garn. We fight the Atlantean golem, and when we win, we loot the city,” she says with a sweet smile. “Now join me. [Symphony of the Reaper],” she activates her skill and the whites of her eyes turn midnight black. An aura of bloodlust rolls out from the vampire, so thick Garn can smell it and taste the iron tang of blood. With a slight bend of her knee, the level 247 [Sanguine Reaper] accelerates away in a red haze.

“Stay here and stay safe,” he orders his army. With a roar, he grows into his Lycan form and rushes after his [Lady].

______________________________________________________________

Quasi takes a sip of coffee and sighs in pleasure. The warm liquid, the color of graphite, slips ever delicately down his throat. He can taste the exceptionally fresh and thoroughly ground beans in the drink. The light, nutty flavor, accentuated by the subtle sweetness of fresh honey, rolls through his mouth and lingers softly after each swallow.

Cleopatra watches his reaction with a raised eyebrow. She takes a sip of her tea, which Quasi had remarked is the poor-man's coffee.

“I can't believe you have coffee. I’ve looked everywhere for this,” he holds his mug in both hands and breathes in the steam with the smile of a child being given a birthday present or a dog told he would be going to the park.

He takes another sip, closes his eyes, and sighs again.

“The beans are only produced by a single island nation, and only in limited supply since nearly everyone prefers tea.”

“Then everyone has no proper taste buds,” he sips again and looks out the crystal window. The city of Luxor greets his eyes, shining on the sands, a gleaming jewel of civilization in the sandy wastes, and so small next to the massive, primordial worm in which he sits. He wonders, for a moment, what the residents of Luxor are thinking. He also wonders what his team is thinking. It’s been a day since he’d talked with them.

“Quasi, back to my question…”

“Oh, right. You asked about Mimir.”

She nods.

“Well, Mimir created an artificial dungeon which he used for experimentation. Apparently, he somehow made and controlled a sentient dungeon core.”

Cleopatra perks up in surprise, “That seems eerily similar to the city of Atlantis.”

Quasi takes a sip, “Atlantis? Isn't that a city supposedly sunk under the ocean or something?”

The [Empress] shakes her head. “Not the ocean. It was buried underground by Mimir.”

Quasi scratches his stubble-less chin. The feeling of always perfectly clean skin is both great and annoying in the extreme. His face gets itchy more often for some odd reason.

“Right. Sounds like a dick move. What was the motive?”

“Atlantis isn't actually a city, though it grew to be one. Atlantis is the first ever artificial dungeon crystal. The crystal functioned as an enormous powersource which allowed a city to be built around it. Unfortunately, Mimir wanted that technology, so he cast a massive death spell that slaughtered the city’s people. Then he attempted to take control of the core but was unable to without permission from the people he had just killed.”

Quasi snorts, “Ha, he didn't have the password.” he quickly waves his hand, “Sorry, please continue.”

“He couldn't control the crystal, but he didn't want to destroy it either. So, he cast a spell and buried the entire city deep underground somewhere north of Camelot.”

“Huh,” Quasi taps the side of his chair, “so the city is probably still underground. I wonder if anyone will ever find it?”

After a long moment, the [Hero] shrugs and takes a large, pleasing gulp of his coffee.