Chapter 35 - The dive I

Day 52

Mike's POV:

"Welcome back Mike. Don't worry, your comrades can't hear me. I must say, I'm impressed that you managed to bring the guild leader herself to my dungeon."

Mike froze for a second, then he tried to keep a stiff upper lift.

"Well, it's a pretty one sided conversation if you can't say anything. One tip, try to get them to take you with them, at least to the fifth floor. Good luck!"

Mike saw the dwarf turning to Sonja.

"So Sonja, do we start the run immediately?"

"Yes, Khorgan let's go."

"Wait, one moment. Is it possible for me to accompany you for the first floors? I don't expect you to protect me, I just think it is safer for me to do my first dungeon dive with an experienced group like yourself."

"Ok, but stay behind Mike."

"What, Sonja are you nuts? You want to take a freshman to a first run?" the barbarian asked.

"Shut your trap Hallvor! Show some respect for the guild master. She can clear a dungeon that would wipe our group without breaking to sweat. She knows what she is doing and it is her decision." the leather clothed man with the two swords said.

"Thank you Sardian, but I can speak for myself. And Hallvor, the next time you question me while we're in a dungeon, I will assign you to be the cunt of Geldern's personal maid."

Mike saw the large barbarian getting pale.

"Sonja, if I may ask, why are you even here? It's not normal for an S ranked guild leader to make an exploration run on a new dungeon." the mage asked.

"I needed to get out of Geldern, Khadgar. The cunt has been trying to get into my pants now for almost five years now. If I stay there any longer, I might end up killing him and that would be detrimental for my career in the guild. I got lucky, a dungeon has a higher priority for the guild than a low tier city like Geldern. So I handed over my post to my deputy and decided to become the new guild leader for the new dungeon town here. When I asked the regional office for my redeployment, the regional leader himself granted it in less than an hour."

"The cunt of Geldern?"

"Bruahahah, that is how every adventurer calls the count. If I'm honest, I'm operating out of the town for ten years now and I still don't know his real name." the dwarf explained.

"Enough talk, let's go and conquer a dungeon now!" Sonja said and started to move to next room.

When they reached the room, the only monsters that greeted them were ten rabbits. Sonja just moved on. In the third room, Mike saw a wolf. But after they entered, it immediately started to lay on its belly and put his front paws in front of his eyes. Then it began to whimper.

"Is this a normal behavior for a dungeon monster?"

"No boy, that's the behavior of a broken dog. It probably fled from a lower level where it was tortured to insanity. There have to be some pretty evil beings in here!"the rogue said.

"I don't know, but I can't kill an animal like this." the barbarian commented.

"Let's leave it for now, it isn't a danger to us. That over there should be the entrance to the second floor. A first floor without an enemy, that's a new one." Sonja said and they went on to the next floor.

Neo's POV:

"Luna! What did you do to that poor wolf?"

"What, me? I didn't do anything."

"There aren't any other creatures with a major hatred for wolves in our dungeon don't you think?"

"Maybe, I mentioned something about the rabbit killings from the wolf to Mr. Floppy. He got pretty angry and wanted to take revange for his dead brothers and sisters. You said it yourself back then, it was all the wolf's fault!"

Damn Neo thought, he'd known that this excuse would come to bite him in the arse later.

"Ok, maybe the wolf deserved it. What exactly did Mr. Floppy do and why is the wolf not behaving like a brainless dungeon animal?"

"He pricked it a bit with his horn and the wolf had been alive in the dungeon for quite some time."

"What do you mean? Why should he get more like his natural counterpart just from being alive longer? And how often did Mr. Floppy hurt the wolf?"

"Oh that's easy. If a dungeon monster stays alive for a long time, it gets his natural conscience back, bit after bit. Just like a named creature, it only takes much longer. For a stupid wolf maybe a few month, for an ancient dragon probably a few hundred years. It kind of depends on the intelligence and power of the creature. How often he pricked the wolf, I don't really know. Maybe fifty times?"

The rabbit shook his head.

"Maybe a hundred?"

The rabbit shook his head again.

"Ok, probably two hundred"

The rabbit nodded and had a proud look on his face, as far as Neo could tell.

"So two hundred and - Oh, probably shouldn't tell that."

"Tell what? Luna I'm kind of losing my patience here! Tell me!"

"Ok, he set the wolf on fire two times and I had to heal it. But Luna did a great job, there were no scars left behind."

Neo felt kind of guilty for the wolf's sorry state. This whole mess was more or less his fault.

"Ok, let's move on. Mr. Floppy, no more setting other dungeon dwellers on fire! Luna, you should've told me earlier about this development. I think it could be very useful for our research facility if the shamans will be getting their intelligence back."

Neo waited for both the fairy and the rabbit to nod, then he shifted his focus back to his visitors."

Mike's POV:

When they reached the second floor, they saw a larger room with five wolves in it. Four of them we're smaller and looked younger. The wolves immediately attacked. At least, they tried. The sorcerer Khadgar summoned five ice bolts that killed the wolves in less than a second. After this, they kept moving, until they reached the next room.

"What the hell?" the dwarf cursed

The room was a lot bigger than the last one, at least 3000 m². In it Mike counted over a hundred dear and badgers.

"Upps, kind of forgot that I've forbidden the animals from leaving the room and they started to breed." Mike heard Neo say.

Before anybody said anything, Khadgar shot an ice ball into the room. When it exploded it froze and shattered all of the animals. The other divers looked at him, he just shrugged his shoulders and they went on for the next room.

There they spotted another wolf group. This one consisted of seven in different sizes. The barbarian, Hallvor stormed and attacked them. Each of the wolves that was hit by his mighty warhammer just disappeared into a red cloud of blood and gore.

"So first level, to draw some blood and second level, to use the terrain to fight superior numbers. Both only a challenge for F ranks though. Probably not bad for a first dungeon experience for fresh men. Look over there, I think that is aaron root. At least ten, should be 50 copper each when you sell it to an alchemist. Not a bad loot for some wolves." the dwarf declared.

Khadgar went over to the roots and collected them, then they went to the next floor. It was similar to the last one, but it had two rooms that were overcrowded by badgers and deer. Before they entered the last room, they spotted a purple sign above the passageway.

"A new dungeon with signs, now it's getting interesting. As far as I know, it normally takes them a long time, until they start to communicate with adventurers in that way." Khadgar established.

They went into the room and were greeted by the sight of a large black bear who was just poking his paw into what looked like a large bee hive.

"Oh shit." Mike heard the rogue mumble.

Bees started immediately attacking the bear, and a lot of them flew in their direction too. The barbarian created a flaming aura around him, the mage a water shield. Khorgans skin became metallic and the rogue Sardian just disappeared. The guild master Sonja, just stood there and ignored the bees altogether. She drew her sword and without Mike seeing what happened, the bear was sliced in two. A second later, a frosty cloud laid itself over the room, and all of the bees froze to death.

"A little bit more difficult, if some newbie let themselves be distracted by the bees, the bear might get them. Over there are some more plants. Kalorn herb this time. If I remember correct, you could use it to cure and create poisons." Khadgar commented and collected the herbs.

"I don't know. I hope I didn't give up my guild master post for a crappy F rank dungeon."

Mike heard Neo chuckling when Sonja said this. Without closer inspecting the bear, they went on to the fourth floor.

They were greeted by a larger cave, at least 300m long and 100m wide. It was populated by boars, badgers and deers. This time, is wasn't as overcrowded, and there were small trees and bushes that disturbed the line of sight.

"Be careful boy, I detect large cats and snakes. Don't get yourself killed, it would be pretty embarrassing for us." Sardian let him know.

While they moved through the floor and dispatched the animals that attacked them, Khorgan commented.

"Again no loot, but the snakes could be harvested for their poison I think. This level should be pretty hard for fresh parties that don't have any detection abilities."

When they made their way to the fifth floor, the noticed a green symbol with a pickaxe over the passageway. They went through and entered a large cave. The stone was littered with signs of ore and coal veins and there was one tunnel leading to another room.

"Damn, a dungeon with a mining floor. When my brothers are getting wind of this, you'll have a pretty big dwarf contingent over here, Sonja."

"Yeah, mining floors are pretty rare. This one is probably pretty crappy, but if this dungeon continues to spawn them and has some valuable minerals on the deeper levels, I think it'll become pretty popular over all. Let's check that passageway, there is another purple sign."

They were greeted by a large brown bear after they entered. It directly ran in Mike's direction. He reacted fast and used his Haste to get out of the way, while swinging his sword at the bear. Before he was cursing about how little damage he inflicted, one blow from Hallvor's hammer exploded the bear's skull.

"I should probably stay at the mining area, the monsters will be only getting stronger and I don't want to become a burden for anybody. Oh look, a chest appeared next to the way down."

"You're sure? If the dungeon is giving false information with the mining floor, you could get yourself surrounded and killed off by creatures from above." Sonja asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I could just use the confined space of the way up to defend myself. The creatures were only F rank and should not pose a huge threat to me if I can fight them one by one."

"Your call Mike. See you later."

They ignored the chest and kept on moving. Mike opened it and collected 25 silver coins.

"Congratulations on becoming a dungeon diver Mike. It was probably pretty boring, your group was just a bit overpowered. To business, did you bring me any metal samples?"

"Yes, I've got nickel, cobalt, titan, vanadium, manganese, tungsten, chrome, tin and even some star silver."

"Put it on the ground. I'll think about the techniques that would be best for you later. First I want to watch how the exploration group is doing in the dungeon."

Mike put the samples on the ground, then he gathered all of his courage.

"Neo, I have to tell you something. I have told the guild master that I got your book from a man called Neo. She seemed to know a man with that name, who is supposed to be an immortal."

Mike closed his eyes and prepared himself to be killed. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes again.

"Never lie to me again boy! I watched your visit to the guild and know that it was the chief who mentioned me. I forgive you. After all, it should be a boon for the dungeon to have Sonja as the responsible guild master. Never mention me again, or I'll kill everybody you've ever told!"

Mike gulped and nodded his head.