Part Thirty-Three

“Well, this is new. Uh, anyone got a key to open this door?”

“…Does it actually have a keyhole? Because it just looks like a blank metal door.”

“There’s no response from Analyze, so it isn’t some sort of Dungeon object. Uh, can we break it down?”

“I don’t think so. This door must be two inches thick. Even my sword would have a hard time cutting this, and even in the best case scenario, I’d use far more mana than I’m comfortable using.”

“Tch, guess it can't all be easy. But there has to be something here, right? We scoured the rest of the Dungeon, but we came up empty-handed. So either we investigate this weird door, or we backtrack and exit the Dungeon.”

“Um, did anyone actually try to open the door? Because it doesn’t look locked to me. Just sayin'”

“”””…””””

Oh my god, we’re all idiots. No, wait. What’s the point of a unlocked door in a Dungeon that’s not the Boss chamber? Huh. Now I’m more confused than ever.

Gwen marched forward and gave the apparently unlocked door a hard shove, causing it to slam into the wall it was attached to. The noise was deafening, and echoed down the tunnel. However, there was little threat of the sound attracting something from the Dungeon, as we’d likely killed everything inside it. I could see that Gwyn wanted to rebuke his sister for doing that, but couldn’t find a legitimate reason, so he had to drop it.

“Well, I guess we might as well.”

With Gwen in the lead, we all filed into the room, which was surprisingly big. It was a circular chamber with a diameter of about twenty yards, give-or-take. There was a door directly across from the entrance, as well as a podium of sorts smackdab in the middle of the room, though it was the suits of armor that first caught my attention. There must’ve been a hundred or so of them lined around the edge of the chamber.

“Woah, what’s going on in here? All these statues, this feels like a scene from a novel or something.”

“Aren’t our entire lives something from a novel? I mean, there’s a lot of stories about apocalypses on the internet. It’s a bit of a popular subject.”

“…Weird. Why would anyone want to read about the literal end of the world?”

“Because it’s entertaining, I guess. It’s the same reason anyone reads anything these days.”

“Good point. Hm, so I guess the other door's locked?”

Alicia and I had stopped by the entrance, while the twins went over to the other door to investigate that, and Kalia went to the podium. Based on the way Gwen was pounding on the door, it was obviously locked, though she seemed loath to admit it.

“Hey guys! Come over here!” Kalia called us over to the podium. She’d apparently found something.

“What’s up? Did you find something?”

“Yeah, I think this podium's how we open the way out.”

Set into the top of it was a large, slightly pink crystal. While it by itself was exciting, it was what was beside it that caught my interest.

“That’s a slide puzzle, isn’t it? Though I can’t tell what the picture is.”

“Yep, it’s a slide puzzle. And I think it’s also the way through here. See these carvings on the side of the pedestal? They’re Glyph Script, a type of writing that uses the universal language of glyphs to transmit information. By infusing them with a little mana, they’ll tell you whatever meaning had been imbued into them.”

“Huh, that’s handy. Kinda throws the whole language barrier problem right out the window. Actually, I think I recognize a few of these glyphs.”

“That’s because you’ve seen them before. Remember the reports we got back at Fort Aries? That was Glyph Script too. Actually, I have a theory that all the Status updates and System notifications we get are also in Glyph Script, and we’re just processing it all as visual information.” Uh-oh, the magic nerd's going on a spree again.

Thankfully Gwyn interrupted her before she got going. “That’s wonderful and all, but how do we proceed from here?”

“Oh, I’ll, uh, I’ll get started then.”

Kalia started pouring mana into the glyphs while the rest of us looked on. After a few moments though, her face started to pale, and she began to tremble slightly.

“Kalia, are you al-?”

“WHAT THE HECK IS WITH THIS!? WHO DESGINED THIS STUPID PIECE OF CRAP CHALLENGE!?”

“””Wha!?””” I don’t think I’ve ever heard Kalia scream like that. No, wait. I have, just the one time. Right after what happened with Mark.

Her outburst had been sudden enough that the others all twitched from the sudden burst of noise. Heck, even Kalia herself seemed surprised by it, though she’d also calmed down enough to speak again.

“Uh, sorry about that. It’s just, this is freaking frustrating! Why does this damn thing have to be so complex!? Ooooh, if I find the jerk who designed this, I’ll punch them in the face.” Kalia, quit it! You’re ruining your character profile!

“Ehem! So Kalia, what does it say?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you, that way you’ll be as angry as I am!” What the heck is even happening today!?

She then went on a ten minute rant, which I’ll summarize into the following points.

This room was a Challenge Chamber, which basically functioned the same as a Mid-Boss encounter, meaning that it was an obstacle to clearing the Dungeon. Solving the slide puzzle on the podium would open the way forward. The suits of armor around the room were actually enemies that would attack us as we tried to solve the puzzle, which was pretty obvious in retrospect. Each time a puzzle piece was moved, one to four enemies would be randomly activated to attack the challengers. Attacking a non-activated enemy would cause all of them to activate at once, thus dooming us. Though, apparently we could clear the Chamber if we did that and survived. We unanimously rejected that idea. If all enemies were killed and the puzzle was yet unsolved, we would be ejected from the room and force to start over. The Chamber would come to life when the pink crystal was provided mana. Until then, everything would stay inert.

It was both simple and complicated at the same time. Simple because it was obvious how to get through, and complicated because there were a number of ways to attempt clearing it.

“Hm, it sounds easy enough, but is it really? These kind of things always have a way of making you scream in frustration near the end. The fact that there’s a fluid limit on the number of moves you can make just makes it that much harder.

Based on a rough count of the suits of armor, there was a maximum of one hundred moves and a minimum of twenty-five moves, but the real number would likely fall somewhere in the middle. Not bad System, not bad at all.

“Then I suppose those suits of armor are actually Golems of some kind? They aren’t responding to Analyze right now, so I imagine that crystal will power them.”

“Seems likely. So who’s going to solve the puzzle? Just to let you know, I suck at puzzles, especially slide ones. And Rubik’s cubes too, come to think of it.”

“I’ll do it. We all know I’m physically the weakest of the group, so I doubt I’d be much help fighting here. I’ll just make sure to buff you all before we start.” Hey, Kalia’s learning to use gaming terminology. Good for her.

“Alright, then the rest of us will hold off the Golems so Kalia can solve the puzzle. There’s four of us, and the rules say only four will activate at most, so it works out perfectly.”

Well, that was only if Alicia could deal with Golems on her own. I knew she’d struggled with them back in the Siege Dungeon, but she’d also developed since then, so maybe it was a moot point by now. We’d have to wait and see.

The four of us each stood on one side of the podium as Kalia prepared to activate the Chamber. She took a deep, steadying breath, then placed her hand on the crystal before channeling some mana into it. The change in atmosphere after that was near instantaneous.

The room, along with all the mana in the air, pulsed. A quiet second passed before the door we came in slammed closed and was quickly sealed by metal bars. But that wasn’t the end of it. Mana, or some other form of energy, began to flow thickly enough from underneath the podium that we could feel it. It felt similar to when the Archmage had cast that Meteor spell back at the Fort. Only this time, we were right on top of it.

“”””“EUURRRRRAAAAGGGHHHHH!!!!!”””””

Strange, otherworldly cries echoed through the room, sounding like something taken straight out of a horror movie. We’d all been focused on the podium and the mana coming from it, so the sudden screams took us by surprise, but we all turned to look at the source of the sounds anyway.

“Gah! Fuck!”

“No way!”

“Shit! Those aren’t…!?”

“Aaahhh!”

“D-Damnit, that ain’t good!”

What we’d thought were suits of armor were definitely not Golems. Every single one of them was now convulsing as the mysterious energy entered them. Underneath the otherworldly screams and howls, I could hear the shrieking of metal rubbing metal. Something was happening to them that was stressing the metal of their armor.

Several tense moments passed before the transformation finished. Once it did, every single suit of armor straightened up before glaring at us with the same glowing red eyes. They then all pulled out weapons from behind them, though it kinda looked like they’d just summoned them from nothing. About half of them had something resembling a glaive or halberd, with the next largest number using greatswords or warhammers. The rest had pretty idiosyncratic weapons. I saw a few with whips, scythes and what looked like shuriken. I even saw a few dual-wielders.

Feeling that something was very, very different from what we expected, I used Analyze on one of them, and was shocked by what I saw.

Dullahan

Rank: D

Description: When a corpse is infused with Demonic energy, a Dullahan is born. Sometimes known as Corpse Knights, Dullahans are actually large, fleshy masses of necrotic tissues that have the ability to consume and absorb metals, allowing them to form shells similar to armored suits. Most Dullahans prefer to assume a humanoid form simply because it is how they used to appear, though nothing remains of the original occupant of the body.

Uh, shit? What we’d thought were simple suits of armor were actually something far more grotesque. Based on the description, those were actually corpses we’d seen, and that flow of energy must’ve been Demonic in nature or something. A lot just happened and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, so excuse me for not simplifying it. Still, this wasn’t a bad development. If there was flesh underneath the armor, then these Dullahans would be easier to deal with than metal Golems. Though this would also have disadvantages as well.

“Eeeeeeeeeeeee…..”

“Alicia, they’re not freakin' Undead! Get ahold of yourself. There’s no Miasma in the room whatsoever, so they can’t be Undead.” Actually, they kinda remind me of Necromorphs a little. They don’t cause madness, do they?

Well, it didn’t really matter what they were. The room was sealed and the only way out was to see the challenge through to its finish. And since the Dullahans didn’t seem to want to take the initiative, it would be up to us to get this show on the road.

“Kalia, want to make your first move?”

“Ah! Uh, hold on a moment. I’m gonna look the puzzle over before I do anything else. That way I don’t make any unnecessary moves.”

“Good idea. Take your time Kalia. We’re in no rush.”

We stood by as she scanned the slide puzzle, eyebrows scrunching together in thought. Since she’d already buffed us, there really wasn’t anything else to do but let her do her thing. If she said this was necessary, then it was. Also, this fight would be the first unveiling of one of her newest spells, [Divert Force]. It was basically a spell that lessened physical attacks. It wouldn’t do much to stop a sword from cutting you open, but it should help with blunt attacks at least.

“Okay, I’m making the first move!”

A second after she said that, two of the Dullahans let out eerie groans, before steeping towards us. The creatures appeared to be somewhat uncoordinated as they walked, so hopefully that would help. But after a few steps, the monsters seemed to get their legs underneath them, and began moving much faster.

We’d already decided on who’d defend what side, so Gwyn went to fight one, while Alicia started shooting arrows at the other. Her first arrow went right through the slit in its helmet, burrowing into where its brain should be. Unfortunately, it seemed that they were closer to Necromorphs than Zombies, as the Dullahan kept moving even as it turned into a pincushion. Finally, Alicia got irritated enough to fire a Grenade Arrow into its head, blowing it apart. But even with half its upper body gone, it still kept trying to get closer.

I glanced over at Gwyn to see that he’d dismembered his Dullahan, but that the torso kept wiggling, as if it was an inchworm trying to crawl over to him. The sight was pretty grotesque, but I’d seen worse by now. He finally seemed to kill it when he gouged out large chunks of its torso, though I wasn’t sure if it was really dead or not.

I turned back to that Alicia’s target had stilled as well. She’d used a second Grenade Arrow to blow both of its legs off, and that seemed to do the trick. Wow, these damn things really are like Necromorphs. Now I’m a little scared.

“Hm, they’re tougher than they look. Their bodies aren’t particularly hard, but they seem to lack any kind of vital points we can exploit. You basically have to just rip them apart by force.”

“I hate to admit it, but I won’t be as useful here. I only have so many Grenade Arrows to use. I can probably distract one or two if we need me to, though.”

“How many do you have?”

“A little less than a hundred right now. I’d like to keep half of them in reserve, just in case. Being able to launch substantial bombardments is pretty helpful for when we get into pinches.”

That was actually more than I’d thought she’d have. It even made me wonder just how many she could make in one day. Though since she also created Magic-Infused arrows as well, she probably kept to a strict limit so as to not fall into Mana Exhaustion to often. She’d once told me that even Imbuing a grade-one spell cost almost three times as much as a Grenade Arrow. I didn’t want to know how much [Fireball] cost.

“Okay, then just focus on immobilized them then. Blow their legs off or something. Me and the twins can finish them off. Kalia, if you will.”

“Ah, okay. Uh….making next move.”

Three more groans followed, meaning three more enemies had activated. One for me, one for Gwen, and one for Gwyn.

Not content to wait for the monster to reach me, I rushed straight towards it, stopping just out of range of its weapon. This particular Dullahan used a halberd, and the long reach put me at an innate disadvantage. As a test, I tried to use [Rot] to take one of its legs out from underneath it, but either the armor protected it or they were resistant to it, just like the Hellhounds had been.

Giving up on that method, I ducked under its next swing and slipped closer to it. This close, I noticed that there was red, pulsating flesh sticking out of the joints and seams in the armor. Thinking it a good sign, I used a sword to slash at one of these seams on its leg, and the flesh parted like butter. I’d only meant it as a test, but I’d nearly crippled my opponent in one attack.

Having lost its balance, the Dullahan fell to the floor, losing its grip on its weapon in the process. At that point, it was easy to dismember the monster, eventually causing it to still. I wasn’t quite sure if it was dead or not, but Analyze no longer reacted to it, so it seemed safe.

Hm, interesting. Analyze says they’re a D-Rank, but I’d classify them as E-Ranks, maybe even F-Ranks. They’re just as weak as Goblins. Is the difference in Rank due to their ability to absorb metals? I haven’t seen it in action, but it could be a game changer. If that’s true, we should try to keep the corpses away from the other Dullahans. We don’t need this to get any harder.

Based on the way they were eyeing the corpses, I had a sneaking suspicion that the other Dullahans would try to cannibalize them. Allowing our enemies to toughen up would be a severe mistake, but one that wouldn’t hard to fully prevent. If four of them were activated at once, we’d have a hard time stopping them all, though I thought we could pull it off.

“Making third move!”

Welp, let’s do this.

Horrific screams rang out for the third time, though it definitely wouldn’t be the last.