Chapter 25

Dorn woke up the next morning, looking at the beautiful red-head who was still in his arms. He thought to himself, gods I'm lucky. She says she can't believe I would be willing to be with her, but who would ever believe a human would be willing to give up prejudices and essentially be with a monster?

He kissed her gently on the forehead, to which she mumbled happily in her sleep, and slowly got off the bed. After carefully disentangling himself from Kiera, he got dressed and headed down to the tavern, to grab some breakfast.

He sat down at the only occupied table, with Jeromy and Vossan.

“Morning,” said Vossan.

“Morning,” answered Dorn. “You guys ready for a week of hand-holding?”

“Ugh, don't remind me. Can't believe Kiera volunteered us for this task. And we're not even getting paid,” said Jeromy.

Vossan said, “It's not that bad; at least we get to go through that beautiful canyon again. And this time, we don't have to do any work; we'll just make the Voices of Fortune do everything, while we take a relaxing stroll through the Dry Canyon. Plus, we'll finally have some company in this desolate housing floor.”

Dorn had plans for the week. He would take this time to master the art of splitting of his mind. While one part would join the Seekers' party in assisting the Voices of Fortune on their trip through the ninth floor, his other half would be designing and building the next three floors of his dungeon.

Now that he had had breakfast, he split his mind and sent one of his selves to the core room. Emelia had finally gotten over him being with Kiera, and was now ready to help him fill out his dungeon. Dorn appeared as an apparition in the core room. He said to Emelia, “Are you ready to build the next three floors of this dungeon?”

“Three?” Emelia said with excitement. “You're buying five more levels?”

“Indeed,” said Dorn.

He opened up his status:

Status

Name: Dorn'axial

Dungeon Name: A Dragon's Dungeon

Dungeon Level: 25

+1 for 26,000 DP's

Floors: 14/16

Dungeon Points: 20,749,210

Dungeon Rating: C3 – Your dungeon does not suck ass.

“I still can't believe that all those Dungeon Ratings were your doing, and that I fell for your line about it being my subconscious,” said Dorn.

“Ha, I got you good. Yeah, the Dungeon Ratings are our way of letting the dungeon know if they are on the right track.”

To build three more floors, Dorn had to buy five levels. This cost him a total of 140,000 DP's. Then he moved his core room down to become floor 17.

Emelia asked, “I know I mentioned it before, but keep in mind that upgrading to B rank will cost you five million DP's. Think about how far you want to stretch the remaining fifteen million points. Are you planning on using all of them in these next three floors? Or do you want to finish off all the C rank floors in one go?”

“Yes, it's a good question. I feel that I will just build what ideas come to mind, and see how the points go. I will stop building a floor if it reaches five million or more points. We also need to remember that at some point, I can sacrifice Friedrich to receive a large number of points. How much are S-ranked practitioners worth again?”

“Depends on the rank. Since he's only an S1 rank, he'll be worth around twenty five million,” said Emelia.

Dorn started choking. He said, “What the fuck? He's worth almost the same as my silver dragon pattern?”

“I told you, killing lives is the best way to make dungeon points, period. And I also told you that A and S level practitioners, with their powerful danger senses, almost never die in dungeons. You have a unique opportunity to kill an S-ranked adventurer and gain a huge number of DP's,” said Emelia.

“So why don't most dungeons go out and try to collect S ranked adventurers to kill in their dungeon?” Dorn asked excitedly.

“Did you seriously just ask that stupid of a question?” said Emelia.

“Oh right, it's hard for Dungeon Avatars to rank up. But for me, I can just use Soul magic to capture them,” said Dorn.

“Just when I think you can't sink to a new level of stupidity, I'm proved wrong. If a person starts using Soul magic to capture famous S-ranked adventurers, what do you think will happen?”

Dorn had the grace to look embarrassed. He had let his greed get before his thoughts. He had forgotten about the Churches and the powerful SS rank adventurers in the world, both of whom monitored for exactly those kind of activities. “Well, anyways, I can at least capture the Hartjenstein family.”

“Yes, no one will miss that group of bigots. Alright, enough talk, go build your floors,” said Emelia.

He turned his attention to his 14th floor. Then he thought about all the floors that he had already built in his dungeon to date. In his D-ranked floors, he had three instanced floors (Introduction, Element Hallways, and Maze) followed by three open floors (Forest, Jungle, and Dry Canyon) before his D-ranked boss floor. He had already built an underwater labyrinth in his first C-ranked floor (floor 13). He liked the idea of continuing to explore the four base elements. Since he already had an open water-type floor, his next floor would be related to air, while still being open. He had just the perfect idea.

He started by expanding the 14th floor to be incredibly large. Then, he built a series of floating, upside-down mountains. He basically created an archipelago of floating surfaces. Each surface would have challenges, puzzles, and monsters. To get from one end of the floor to the other, one would have to walk across perfectly clear and somewhat narrow glass pathways. While walking between mountains, he would have adventurers be attacked by modified eagle and hawk monsters. The floating islands zig-zagged across the floor. The first and last island, with their teleportation glyphs, were very small. As soon as one teleported to the floor, they would be able to look down and see the abyss.

For the ground, he played with some dark magic. All light that hit the floor was sucked into the enchantment. It made the ground look like a deep abyss that fell forever. To complement this, he painted a beautiful sky illusion on the ceiling, making the floor feel like one was stranded on the little bits of land that floated between the sky and the abyss. All in all, it made for a terrifying floor for people afraid of heights.

Emelia said, “What about people who can fly? Or those with flying pets?”

Dorn frowned. He could create an anti-flight magical shield to cover the entire floor, effectively ending the use of Air magic on the floor. “Do you think it would be too difficult for C-level floors to ban flying?”

“No, and here's why. The only ones who can fly are the B-ranked adventurers in the first place. And let's face it, how many C-ranked adventurers can afford flying pets or flying enchanted items? So, you'd only be closing off the ability to fly for those who are already above the difficulty level of this floor.”

“Good point,” Dorn said, before coating the entire floor in an anti-Air magic shield, with exeptions for dungeon creatures. It wouldn't do to have his own creatures be bound to the ground.

“Good, now what are you going to put on the islands themselves?” asked Emelia.

“First, let me build my flying predator monsters,” said Dorn.

He pumped his predator birds full of DP's, until their wing spans were around twelve feet across. He upgraded their beaks and claws with metal, creating razor sharp talons. He had to give them inherent air magic, just to fly, for their new mass and volume sizes didn't scale well with the necessary forces for flight. With the Air enchantments in place, he was then able to fill in their bones to make the birds even denser, and thus allowing for the potential of bashing into adventurers as they scaled the glass pathways.

“Alright, for the floating islands, I created six of them, besides the entrance and exit islands, and I did this on purpose. My idea is to do a mini-version of my D-ranked floors on each island. So, for example, the first island from the entrance will have an entrance to a simple tunnel full of rooms, monsters, and traps. Only, the monsters will be upgraded. Then I'll continue on, until I create a small canyon on the last floating island before the exit. What do you think?”

“I think it'll cost a mint, but it's a fun way to remind the adventurers of where they came from, and how far they have progressed,” replied Emelia.

Dorn then starting fleshing out the floor to these specifications.

***

After managing to wake Kiera, who was a surprisingly heavy sleeper, Dorn and the team went to D-Housing to meet with their new trainees. The Seekers met up with the Voices and headed out towards the Dry Canyon.

Jeromy asked, “Did you guys bring tents and rope and everything?”

Thornley said, “Yep, we're all good to go.”

Dorn just looked over this team with some suspicion. They would, after all, be spending around a week together with this team. And he'd have to be looking out for them, instead of allowing them to die to his dungeon. It just seemed wrong. All of this while he was building his fourteenth through sixteenth floors. It was going to be a long week. He looked over at Kiera, who seemed happy to be making new friends, and sighed, resolving to just suck it up.

They stepped into the dungeon's teleportation glyph and entered the ninth floor. A few minutes after they left, a sinisterly grinning Anatole Hallowedlash walked out and entered the dungeon as well.

***

“Nice, I think this floor looks just about done. Anything you think it's missing?” asked Dorn.

“Are you sure you don't want to introduce some new monsters or traps? Don't you think snakes, giant lizards, and goblins are getting a little old?” asked Emelia.

“Ah, that's the plan for floor 16. It'll be another floor like my fourth floor, introducing adventurers to all the new monsters and traps,” replied Dorn.

“Alright, then what's your brilliant plan for the 15th floor?” asked Emelia.

“Hell,” said Dorn.

“Hehe, I like the sound of that. Could you elaborate on what will be hellish?”

Just as he was about to respond, Dorn suddenly paused. “Huh, I guess that asshole never gives up.”

“What?” asked a confused Emelia.

“Earl Anatole Hallowedlash has just followed us onto the ninth floor,” said Dorn.

“Why haven't you controlled him through Friedrich?”

“I have; he was ordered not to leave the floor. Guess he's more worried about Kiera,” Dorn said with a dark face.

Emelia looked a little concerned, saying, “Don't do anything too obvious. In fact, it would be best to take care of him in your human form.”

“Good point. I'll tell Kiera though.”

***

The Seekers watched as Thornley's team finished off a small group of goblins within a cave.

Kiera said, “See, that wasn't too bad. I think you guys were making this floor seem more difficult in your heads than it is in reality.”

Brook, the team's healer, said, “Thanks, Kiera. Yeah, this floor isn't too bad.”

Buoyed by the Seekers' support, the team headed towards the puzzle at the end of the cave.

Unlike the Seekers, the Voices worked on puzzles together, and divvied out the tokens to those who most fit with the piece of gear. Personally, the Seekers thought it ruined a good bit of fun, but they kept their ideas to themselves. It was at this moment that Dorn noticed the Earl sneaking onto the floor.

Dorn telepathically spoke to Kiera. “Don't freak out. Earl Anatole just came to this floor; he's clearly out for revenge and to finish what he started.”

Kiera started looking panicky, thinking, I thought you said that he was under control, because of that Friedrich.

Dorn soothed her, saying, “Don't worry, he'll be dead for coming to this floor. I just want to test something first.”

What? thought Kiera.

Dorn said, “Just want to make sure the Voices aren't in cahoots with him. Wait for tonight; I'll take watch and see exactly what happens. At the moment, he's just hiding near our camp in the forest.”

Okay, but you had better stay close to me!

“Always,” answered Dorn, to which Kiera smiled beatifically.

The Voices started discussing the riddle:

I have four fingers and a thumb, but I am not alive. What am I?

When the team gave up, Thalia headed over and suggested that they try 'glove'. The team was happy to get their gauntlet high steel coin. They headed out of the cave and looked at the position of the sun. They had about two hours until sunset.

Thornley said, “I think that should be good enough for today; we should head back to camp and cultivate until nighttime.”

Back at the camp, they started a fire and grilled up some rabbits and foxes. They all shared the meal, without noticing Dorn casually observing the Voices. Dorn decided to bring up some conversation, to try to suss out any hints.

“So, have you guys heard about Warley?” asked Dorn.

One of the Voices' two damage dealers, Davon, said, “Yeah, he's headed to Kendra to invite the empire to come take over the dungeon. Is that what you mean?”

“Yes. What are your group's thoughts on this? Do you think it'll work out?” Dorn asked.

“I doubt it,” replied Thornley. “I can't see why Kendra would be any better than Ilsan when it comes to adventurer taxes.”

“Exactly,” said Davon. “We're better off with our current leadership. I think the King and the Duke have things well in hand.”

Well, that's suspicious.

Davon's brother, Quinton, the team's scout, made eye contact with Davon, grinned a little, and looked away. It was so quick, that even Dorn missed it.

Brook, the healer, said, “I disagree. I trust Warley; he's always been a good guild head. I think he'll be able to work out a favorable deal with Kendra.”

Jeromy jumped in, saying, “Yes, Warley is very capable. We should find out relatively soon, as he should be on his way back from Kendra at this point. Hopefully he makes it back before the dark elves come. We could use the help of an A-ranked practitioner in that fight.”

“Are we even sure that there are dark elves coming to attack this dungeon?” asked Kinnard, the team's other damage dealer asked.

“Yes, I believe it,” said Thalia curtly.

Thornley asked, “Do you mind if we ask why?”

Thalia thought for a minute, before saying, “The dungeon has a celestial tree growing in the elves' quarter, which is very important to all elves. Many elves have come to this dungeon because of it, and the drow will come to try to destroy it. They will kill everyone in this dungeon while they are at it, however, so it is the duty of all of us to stop them.”

Everyone contemplated the impending arrival of the drow. Thornley tried to pump them up, saying, “We defeated the dark elves in the Colosseum yesterday, and we'll defeat the drow whenever they do show up.”

After that, they all sat down to cultivate for the remainder of the daylight, before heading to bed. Dorn sat next to Kiera and kept his dungeon vision on the Earl Anatole, who hadn't moved since the team had returned to camp. He seemed content to wait for nightfall.

***

When they finished cultivating, Dorn offered to take watch. Both Davon and Quinton, the two brothers, protested, saying, “You guys had to babysit us all day; let us at least take watch.”

Dorn thought, nailed you suckers. Now to see if anyone besides you two is in on this plot.

Dorn smiled, saying, “That's alright. You guys worked hard; you should get a good night's sleep, so let me take the watch.”

Without being able to argue any more without seeming suspicious, Davon and Quinton just bedded down with everyone else. As night fell, Dorn just sat in a meditating position next to his and Kiera's tent. He closed his eyes and focused on his dungeon vision. It was a little difficult to keep track of Anatole, Davon, and Quinton, as well as the remaining three members of the Voices.

At around four in the morning, Davon and Quinton quietly rose from their tents. Davon sneaked out into the bushes. Quinton headed into camp, and said he was just going out to relieve himself. Dorn just nodded and returned to meditating. He watched as Quinton walked towards him. Davon procured a dart gun with poisoned darts from somewhere, pointing it at Dorn. Just as Quinton was about to walk past him, Davon blew his dart gun at Dorn. Clearly the plan was for Dorn to be focused on the dart while Quinton quietly snapped his neck. Then they would knock out Kiera and carry her to Anatole.

Quinton and Davon both stopped and stared, stunned and dismayed. Dorn had caught the dart between the index and middle fingers of his left hand. He had his eyes open and was staring at Quinton with a smile on his face.

“Oops,” he said.

Then he blurred into motion, smashing his fist into Quinton's windpipe, instantly silencing him. Quinton fell, desperately trying to draw air through his crushed throat. The next second, Dorn had flash-stepped over to Davon's position. He grabbed his head and twisted in a single motion, instantly snapping his neck. Then, he turned towards where Anatole was calmly waiting with a huge grin on his face. He used what he knew of shape-shifting magic to turn himself into a clone of Davon.

When he walked into the little clearing where Anatole was waiting, the prick's sadistic smile disappeared, saying, “Where's the fucking bitch? Go get her. Now.”

“Oh boss, I just thought you should know.”

“Know what, you stupid fucking piece of shit?” responded Anatole.

“That you really should have listened to Friedrich,” answered Dorn.

Anatole had a moment of sheer panic flash across his face, before Dorn flash stepped and punched him in the temple. He then tied up the good Earl with rope and put a restriction on his dantian, preventing him from being able to use magic.

It was time to go back, inform the Voices of the traitors in their midst, and let Kiera get some revenge. Dorn had managed to build his 14th floor and get rid of the Earl all in one day, so all in all, Dorn was quite pleased.