CHAPTER 128

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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I watched for a while as Instincts practiced flying with Wave and Taura. The differences between Dragon and Wyvern were stark in their contrast. Wyverns were sleek, aerodynamic, and practically built for speed. Being part of their front legs, their wings gave them precise control, letting them perform aerobatic feats that dragons weren't built for. Dragons were stockier, tougher, and, as a consequence of this increased weight, slower. Instincts found great success in flying in one direction. Still, they needed wide banking maneuvers to turn, while Wave and Taura could practically turn on a dime.

It didn't look that way right now since Instincts was still young. Their turns were short, but if one extrapolated to how large they'd grow... they'd find themselves flying more like a WWII bomber than a fighter jet.

I hummed, my Avatar rubbing my bony chin and non-existent beard. They needed a new name since Instinct wasn't all they were anymore. Something appropriately dragony, and mythological. Fafnir? Cadmus? Hmm. I could go with Ladon and lean toward Eleven's Olympian theme...

Eh, It'd come to me.

I turned to Huea, who was pondering her orb.

"Any... odd feelings or impulses lately?" I asked nonchalantly.

"No more than the usual. Felt the need to cackle insanely twice, though," she answered distractedly. "I didn't use any magic for two days afterward, both times."

"Good, good."

Awkward Silence.

"Since Wave and Taura are a little busy, would you like me to bring you back to Wyvern's Rest?" I offered, making the woman blink and look up at me. "I assume you can make your own way back to the Ninth from there?"

"Of course, but how would you bring me down? Your Avatar doesn't exactly have wings," she asked, head tilted in curiosity.

With a wave of my Avatar's hand, I brought up the ship from where it'd been resting in a hidden dock under the island.

It was small, only the size of a Sloop. In fact, that's what it was. It was the smallest and most inconsequential of the ships we'd captured from the Bahrain fleet. I'd commandeered it for an experiment not long after raising Olympus. There were Gravity Cores anchored at five points on the outer hull; two at the stern, one at the bow, and the last two in the middle.

It still had a sail for a few reasons; with a full cargo hold, it took all the cores working at capacity to keep it level in the air. You'd then need the sail to move the ship, whereas, with an empty hold, the cores could hold the boat in the air and provide thrust. My airship rose from the clouds gracefully, the fluffy white clouds spilling off its decks as it emerged. With another gesture, I had it approach the small dock.

"Why would I need wings when I can have something else do the lifting for me?" I asked, walking up the self-extending gangplank. Huea quickly followed, and the gangplank retracted. I stopped at the bow, arms behind my back, observing the cloudscape. The ship had no controls yet, directed by my connection with its cores. Once I figured that out, and it was complete... I'd quietly stash it behind the Eleventh's Boss Arena.

Distance was my greatest protection right now. Even if the Guilders were to reach the Eleventh tomorrow - an impossibility- they'd be unable to reach my core. For one, they had no method to get to it, and none of my flight-capable Children would agree to bring them to the core. In the future, after sailing the ocean and solving the puzzles required to access and defeat the boss, they'd gain access to a whole new dimension to explore.

After that, I'd release the designs to the Children, and they could build their own ships.

The trip down to Wyvern's rest was smooth. I had the ship sail on the ocean most of the way since I was keeping the fact it could fly a secret. Hallmark was standing exactly where Huea left him, at the end of the same dock she left from. His black-armoured form was undoubtedly intimidating, even with the little life pixie flitting about him.

I disembarked the ship with Huea and walked with her back to her guard.

"Thank you for your assistance, even if it was ultimately unnecessary," I said with a grateful nod. Huea smiled slightly and performed a bow of her own.

"It was my pleasure, Creator," she answered, glancing back at Hallmark. I noticed him stiffen, and his eyes focused on me. I turned to openly appraise him in turn.

"Speak your mind," Huea commanded. Hallmark obliged.

"This is your... creator? I thought you were born from a dungeon," He sounded disgusted and confused. Huea snorted. I chuckled.

"This is merely an Avatar. A form I can command and use as my own without needing to hijack my Children's bodies or speak through them," I answered. Hmm. Actually... Why didn't I think of this before! I quickly cast an enchantment that wove an illusion about my Avatar. My bones disappeared beneath a scaled hide, and my imagining of what the future Dragonkin would look like laid over them.

"Is this better for your human sensibilities?" I asked, making the illusion smirk at Hallmark. I could see him blanch beneath his helmet, obviously shocked and thinking of the ramifications of my ability to weave full-body illusions like this.

Hmm. I'd have to integrate this into my Avatar more permanently and efficiently. Manually modifying and moving different parts of the illusion was surprisingly tricky. And mana-intensive. Though with the healthy disk of mana, I'd accumulated around my core, it wasn't a problem in the slightest.

It was like going back to manually moving every bone of my skeletons. Irritating, certainly, but no more than that. I let the Illusions go, my bony features returning as I turned to Huea.

"Well, until next time then, Huea. Be sure to call on me if you need anything." I waved goodbye and returned to the airship.

After ensuring it was once again safely stowed away in its hidden dock under my core island, I decided to do another top-down examination of my dungeon. It'd be good to check in on the Upper Floors and see if they needed any adjustments.

As my gaze focused on the First, I noticed something peculiar. Haythem and Bertram, entering the dungeon with three young guilders. They purchased five Teleport crystals and passed through the ruins to enter the dungeon proper. It'd been a while since they'd delved without the rest of the raid group. Were they doing a training delve?

There was something about those three teenagers, though... Something about them was off. They were... unusually accepting of the Drake-kin, Kobolds, and Capriccio, who ran the dungeon shop. Most guilders new to the island treated my Children with a healthy dose of caution and respect on first meeting them. These three were totally accepting; they didn't treat them any differently than how they would another human.

This required investigation.

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The First Floor, The Dungeon, Atlantis

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As they walked through the cramped triangular tunnel between the first and second chambers, Haythem cleared his throat and started his lecture.

"I said it earlier, and I'll repeat it now. This dungeon is unlike any you've delved into before," he paused and turned to ensure the three teens were paying attention. They were. Good, they just might survive. "The First Floor of most dungeons is the easiest, holding the weakest monsters. I couldn't tell you how many silvers and golds died here in the first few weeks after we started delving. Keep your eyes open for the Ambushers. The Brutes, Shielders, and Fire Crabs are the most straightforward, but Ambushers are scarily good at blending in. They will attack when you're most distracted."

The three nodded thoughtfully. They walked in silence for a few minutes. These tunnels were just as cramped as they'd been when he first passed through them. The only real change was the bio-luminescent moss that grew on the ceiling, providing just enough light to see without ruining their night vision.

Haythem, being at the front of the line, was first to emerge from the tunnel. The huge teal mana-light cast harsh shadows from the stalagmites and stalactites, which formed walls through the cavern. He remained on guard as the teens emerged, Bertram taking up the rear. A scrutinizing glance later, Haythem had identified three rocks that looked like potential Ambushers. Gods, Isid's manavision made spotting them effortless in comparison.

"Keep watch on those three rocks as we pass; they could be Ambushers," Haythem advised to a chorus of yesses.

They moved cautiously through the cavern, Haythem at the front, Bertram in the rear, and the teens in the middle.

A noise.

Haythem raised a hand, calling them to a silent halt. He pointed at a puddle ahead of them with the same hand on the left side of the path. It bubbled and frothed; A Brute emerged, with a Shielder quickly following. Ah. A classic ambush. That means... "Akio, forward. You're with me. Bertram, you got the other two?"

"Of course," Bertram replied, turning to face the Fire Crab and Brute, shaking the sand off themselves as they rose from the sand. "Bruce, you take the Fire Crab. Sophie, keep an eye on those potential Ambushers."

"Right!" The three chorused and moved into position.

Haythem focused on the two approaching him, extending some trust to the teens to have his back.

"The Brutes are strong," Haythem lectured as they squared up with their opponents, who waved their limbs at the guilders tauntingly. Haythem stood across from the Shielder, and Akio faced the Brute. "Don't block directly, but redirect their strikes. Weak points are the eyes and the claw joints. The legs are too well armored, and the shell needs a crushing weapon to break."

"Right," the boy answered, taking a steading breath.

Then, the battle was joined.

Haythem parried the Shielder's strike and moved with practiced precision. His sword tip got within an inch of the Crab's eye before it raised its shield. Haythem's sword was deflected enough to scrape the monster's back instead, leaving a deep furrow that didn't fully penetrate the thick shell.

He stepped back, taking a quick glance at Akio's fight. The boy had done as he advised, and the Crab's blue blood was seeping from a stab to its armpit. Haythem refocused on his own fight. He moved forward first, feinting at the monster's eye. As it moved to defend, a drop of the sword's tip pierced its actual target, and a wretch upwards severed its claw from its body at the base.

The limb landed on the black sand with a thump, and the Shielder tried to retreat, its mouth-parts moving unsettlingly. Haythem didn't let it. He stepped and, with a single sharp strike, pierced its eye. His sword went deep, all the way to the base. The Crab went limp and slipped off the sword with a wet Shlick.

Satisfied his opponent wouldn't be getting back up, Haythem turned to watch the rest of the fight and step in if necessary.

Akio was holding his own but was having trouble committing to another strike. The Brute had learned and kept him at a distance. It turned easily, keeping the boy in front as he tried and failed to flank it. Bertram was in the process of finishing off his opponent; a practical mace strike to the carapace above its head shattered its chitin and stunned it, then a follow-up strike to the same spot. It fell limp, just as Haythem's had.

They'd fought so many crabs that this was practically routine now. They were intimately familiar with all their weak spots, their range of movement, reaction speed... And there was also the fact that while Haythem and Bertram had gotten better, the Crabs died so quickly and so often they never gathered the strength to match Golds these days, never mind Platinums.

Bruce had raised a shield of water, taking from the plentiful pools in the cavern. The shield bubbled as fire bathed it, but any water lost to steam was quickly replaced. A tentacle formed from the edge of the shield lashed out, forcing itself into the tube a Fire Crab's flames came from. It panicked, waving its arm around to dislodge the water. Bruce took advantage, and a second tentacle armed with a sharp tip of bluish ice stabbed into its eye. It died quickly.

It turned out two of those rocks were Ambushers. Sophie seemed to have them well in hand; shadowy limbs reached up to grab their legs and distract them, letting her stab with precision to take out the much smaller crabs.

Turning to Akio once again, Haythem witnessed his sword gain an edge of deep blue light and slash down. The sword passed right through the Crab's parry. In fact, it passed through the Crab entirely and buried itself in the sand before the light disappeared. The Crab collapsed, an inch-wide cut partially bisecting it. Haythem nodded as they gathered again.

"Good job. Maybe you won't get yourselves killed. Come on, let's go. We're in for another two or three fights like that; then we need to fight the Guardian."

"Oh yeah, the giant crab boss!" Akio answered enthusiastically. "At least it's not a lobster, right Bruce?"

"Ha! Yeah. Hopefully, it doesn't have some kind of hidden cross-battlefield water sniper," the more tanned boy answered with a grin.

"It doesn't," Sophie answered as she wiped blue blood off her daggers and sheathed them. "It has fire magic, not water magic."

"Remember, just because a monster displays one kind of magic doesn't mean it doesn't have others. Some monsters in this dungeon have multiple types of mana; It could be two, three, or even four." Bertram cautioned to chastised nods. "And don't assume nothing has changed between delves. Anything in that book could be outdated within a few hours. The Dungeon likes to keep us on our toes."

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea.

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Yes, I do, Bertram. Thank you for noticing.

And boy, was I right to be suspicious! That reference could only be understood by one who's also suffered under one of Miyazaki's tyrannical creations. Those three were from Earth! They may have spoken Phenocian but between their looks, names, references, and the few English words I heard mixed in there...

Akio seemed Japanese or some kind of Asian from his facial features. He'd called Sebastian a Boss when locals always called them Guardians. Sophie wore black makeup and black leather, but it was mainly her attitude that made me think she was an American. Bruce was tanned, and when he'd made the reference, the word sniper was in English! Because the Phenocian doesn't have a translation, I assumed.

Either way, what did I want to do with this information?

I had three earthlings delving me... Who would understand my references? THIS WAS GREAT! I could slip in references everywhere! Not that I hadn't already done that, but I hadn't been prolific about it because none of them would be understood properly. But now... Now they would.

On the other hand, three earthlings were in my dungeon, which is decidedly not on Earth. So, they're the victims of Isekai. Summoned by the gods, strong mages, or through some other method, likely to deal with a problem disrupting the regular functioning of this world. I was a significant disruption, but I couldn't assume I was their goal yet. That seemed a little self-absorbed. Heroes went on training trips to dungeons to get strong quickly, right? Maybe I was their training arc!

But that still left me wondering what it was they'd been summoned here for.

I watched them closely as they progressed through the rest of the First.

Water, Light, and Darkness mages... but not focused entirely on their magic types. Akio was obviously going for a paladin-style build, with the armor and magic. Sophie was leaning into the shadow rogue archetype. Bruce was doing a pretty good Percy Jackson impression, accenting his mastery of water magic with a short sword when his magic wasn't enough. There was something odd about Akio's light magic, though. Sometimes, it was bright yellow, and other times, a deep blue. It was puzzling.

Either way, they reached Sebastian, only having to use one potion, when Akio took a blow directly on his chest armor and broke a few ribs.

I decided to test them personally.

After asking for and receiving permission, I shifted Sebastian's legs and claws as I reacquainted myself with a crab's body. Also... This was probably the best opportunity I'd get to test this...

I triggered the enchantment as Haythem, Bertram, and the three summoned heroes approached the arena.

I watched as they entered, looks of total confusion on their faces at the music-box-like notes. Then, as the organ started, I rose from the sand, my sword claw lit with teal flames and a chittering war cry screeching from my mandibles.

Oh yeah, this was going to be awesome!

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