The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 81: Dungeon Race

Chapter 81: Dungeon Race

By the time Kir recovered, the squad was moving through a tunnel that seemed to spiral downward at a diagonal. Its walls were eerily smooth except for where alcoves had been picked out to place etheric lanterns.

"Let me down," he said.

"Lugh said carry you. So sit tight until we’re at the bottom, demon baby," the minotaur holding him replied.

Lugh was nowhere in sight, so Kir presumed he was at the front.

Something began crawling under Kir’s gambeson. Even though it tickled, he suppressed the urge to cry out until Stella popped her head up from his shirt. "Whatever you did, boss, please don’t do that again... I’m into pain but not that much."

"I can’t promise that," Kir said. Stella groaned and ducked back down.

"What was that?" his carrier asked.

"Nothing... what’s your name?" Kir asked.

"Draungen. How’d you get sealed without going to jail?"

"It’s a long story," Kir said. "One I’m not supposed to repeat." It wasn’t the first time Kir had been asked over the last month. Most simply assumed he was some sort of criminal, or that the spell he’d demonstrated at the exam, Nova Blast, had been deemed too dangerous to let him live as a mage.

"Hmph," Draungen grumbled, then proceeded to carry him in silence.

The air seemed to grow thicker with mana with each step. Kir noticed he was having a bit of a heady feeling, like a sugar rush.

Then they arrived at the bottom.

The second floor was a massive cave. Moist, dark walls were covered in green, glowing moss that grew all the way to the ceiling. Close to where Lugh and the Professor were talking was a beach made of smooth grey rocks that ended where the black waters of a subterranean lake began.

Professor Faymar cleared his throat. "As you are all new, you will be reminded about this floor. The consequences of failure here are sure to be debilitating, expensive, or fatal; depending on your circumstances." He put his hands behind his back. "The waters here contain a deadly amount of arsenic. There is a fungus that lives along the ceiling. Its spores will heighten aggression in most species. Control yourselves, or you will at worst become this floor’s dinner."

With that, he hovered off. Kir saw the slight curve of his personal shield as he floated high enough to encounter larger clusters of spores.

Waiting on the shore further along were boats, each large enough to fit six.

The trip across the lake began in relative silence.

It was decided that they would take turns rowing in groups of three. Halfway through, they switched. Though Draungen insisted he could continue, Kir took his place at the front of the boat.

Lugh was on this shift as well, and they shot each other a look before they both scowled and looked away. When they started paddling, Kir noticed Lugh aggressively pulling his oars, trying to stay ahead of them. Kir followed suit, only for Lugh to start rowing even more aggressively.

Kir didn’t want to get drawn into some petty bullshit, but he noticed that on his boat the resting team seemed restless. Ata’s legs were bouncing on the floor of the boat, her boots making a small but noticeable noise.

"Stop that," Draugen ordered her after a few moments. There was a snap to his voice that put Kir on edge.

"I’m nervous," Ata replied. "I can’t help it."

"Well it’s pissing me off."

"Guys! It’s the spores, remember?" the third person on break, a young human boy reminded them.

The three of them started arguing, and Kir looked over at the other boat to find that Lugh wasn’t having the same trouble. Once again they shared a look and Lugh paddled harder, increasing his lead.

That gave Kir an idea. "Guys!" he raised his voice but failed to get through. "GUYS!" His shout bought him a moment of their attention. "Grab the spare oars. It’s a race!"

Everyone stared at him.

"Why should we listen to you?" Draugen rumbled.

"Because if we don’t find something else to do, we’ll be ripping each others throats out. You’re the one who wanted to continue, remember?"

Draugen growled but pulled out the set of oars that were stored in the side of the boat under the seat. He handed one pair to Ata and another to the human.

"I’m tired," the human cadet said.

"Shut up, Rolen. You need more stamina," Ata sniped.

"Hold your oars until you feel you can row," Kir said. "We need to be in sync anyway if we’re going to get ahead."

It took some coordinating, but eventually, all five of them were rowing as one. When they came closer to Lugh’s boat, Rolen joined the row and it became six.

Seeing this, Lugh shouted at his own team to start rowing, which they did.

Soon both boats were vying neck and neck to reach the far shore. Until-

Cruuuun-uunch. Both boats hit the shore so closely that it was hard to tell who had landed first.

Everyone dismounted, too out of breath to fight.

Before anyone could speak, Professor Faymar descended.

"Acceptable marks. Channeling your aggression into a race wasn’t novel, but it was effective. Had you a proper mage, this room would not have been a challenge at all." The last comment seemed tailored to make everyone look over at Kir, which they did.

Kir realized halfway into the race that he wasn’t feeling any of the spore’s effects, but the Professor’s backhanded remark drew the blood to his face and-

"Let’s get out of here," Lugh said. "The sooner this is behind us the sooner we can rest."

"Rest at your own discretion. Just remember there is a reward awaiting the team that reaches the outpost first," Faymar said.

He flew down the waiting mouth of the exit and out of sight.

"Reward?" Kir asked as they started moving.

"First time I’m hearing about it," Ata said.

"Me too," Draugen chimed in.

"Read the paperwork next time, fools," Lugh said. "I won’t have us lose because of you."

Ata snorted, "And how do you think we’ll lose? We’re the first team in."

"By ten minutes," Lugh snapped at her. "An hour is nothing. At some point we’ll have to rest, so it’s the team that pushes hardest who will make it."

"Or the team that does everything correctly so they don’t waste time," Kir responded, elbowing Draugen in the ribs.

Draugen gave Kir an aggressively apologetic huff.

Lugh ignored him.

From there on, the dungeon seemed to grow more aggressive in its handling of the intruders.

On the third floor, they faced a jungle, where the plants were not only carnivorous but often featured vines that could creep silently, poisonous needles, and sharpened growths on roots.

Lugh solved the floor by putting the metal-armored cadets on the outside and huddling the lightly armored squad members in the middle. They moved at a turtle’s pace, but eventually made it with only minor cuts and a couple of shredded boots.

Kir lost the back half of a heel on his right boot, and decided to donate his other boot to a cadet who’d lost her left. For a moment, Ata stared at his clawed feet.

As was rapidly becoming usual, Professor Fayren descended on them to render judgment. Kir tuned him out as Ata poked him in the side.

"Didn’t know you were packing those cutters," she said. "Do you even need shoes?"

Kir flexed his half-digitigrade feet. "I don’t walk barefoot a lot," he answered back.

"Just saying, you need every weapon you can get. Those could at least put an eye out," Ata added.

The fourth and fifth floors turned out to be different kinds of rocky terrain. One was a steppe land, with broad, sheet-like rock formations and spined, crocodile-mawed ambush predators that Kir later learned were manticores. Just encountering one of the beasts had been a close call, and they were fortunate to outrun the rest of the pack.

The next room was the rocky, silty bottom of what appeared to have once been a lake. Kir didn’t think much of the challenge until he noticed how people were struggling to breathe. Wherever they were, it was like being at a higher altitude, or perhaps a place with less oxygen.

His memories from his past life came in handy here, as he recalled what altitude sickness was and managed to argue that they should proceed slowly and take more frequent breaks.

It was on this floor that they saw their first sign of another squad.

Further away on the lake, the group of cadets were jogging in double-time. Kir winced as he watched them, expecting Lugh to try to have them do the same, but Lugh merely stared angrily and continued to march the squad at a slow pace.

What felt like hours later, they saw the other squad sprawled on the rocks, their faces exhausted and several members spread-eagled on the ground.

Lugh took on a satisfied smug, walking the team past them. Just before they fell out of sight though, everyone stopped and turned as they heard the other squad crying out, the sounds of furious activity filling the air.

"Draugen, go find out what’s happening. Don’t approach them though," Lugh ordered.

"I’ll go with him," Kir said.

Lugh ignored him.

As they neared enough to see what was happening, Draugen asked, "What is that?"

The cadets were all stomping the ground, bashing at it with hammers or anything blunt.

At first, Kir had no idea what they could be fighting. But then he saw...

The rocks.

The rocks around them had come open, revealing little crablike legs and beady eyestalks. On some of the cadets, the creatures had already pinched their way onto their clothes, their skin, their hair...

Kir felt a slight pain on his foot. Looking down, he saw one of the little crab-rocks prying at the cuticle of his claw. Hurriedly, he lifted his foot and stomped it, causing blue blood to spray out. But it was then he saw the movement.

More rock-crabs scurrying toward the cries and screams. Faster and faster, awakening more of their kind until it was like a wave of ants.

"We need to get back," Kir said, watching as several rock-crabs picked apart the corpse of the one Kir had squashed.

They jogged quickly, and as soon as Kir caught up, he blurted out, "The rocks are crabs!"

"The fuck’s a crab?" one of Lugh’s cronies asked.

"It’s seafood," Ata snapped, "Shut up." She turned to Kir. "You mean there are crabs in the rocks?"

"I mean all of these rocks are crabs. If we stop, they start to wake up. They’re trying to feed on the other squad. We should help-"

"They have their own help," Lugh said, pointing up at the sky.

Kir turned to see a brownish dot descending toward the distressed squad. There was a flash of white as ice magic was applied to the problem.

"Let’s go," Lugh said. "We’re not eating a penalty like them. I don’t need saving."