Chapter 141

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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If my avatar could have physically broken a rib at that moment, I'm absolutely sure it would have. I couldn't laugh, but my avatar sure as hell could. I was absolutely consumed with laughter. I was rolling on the floor laughing and getting confused side-eyes from Wave, Taura and Cadmus. The three were sprawled out on a recent experiment of mine: a semi-solid cloud. It was light, fluffy, and obscenely comfortable.

Unfortunately, they were also a bitch to make. I couldn't just enchant a cloud to be a solid surface, and the whole process was far more involved than I had the time for. All in all, it was an interesting prototype I could hand off to Drake-kin researchers on the Seventh and leave them to it.

"What's so funny, Creator?" Taura asked, respectfully lowering her head.

"Yeah, Mom, what's funny?" Cadmus chimed in, changing into their dragon-kin form and kneeling down near my avatar.

"Haaa..." I took a moment to catch my breath. "The guilders have reached the Tenth floor, and I'm observing their progress," I answered, only half paying attention. "I'm watching them struggle to catch even a single jackalope. The rabbits are just too nimble and quick in the forest, and their use of life mana to manipulate the forest is also flinging branches and pulling roots up to trip the guilders." It was then that I saw something that once again had my avatar burst out laughing. "Isid just tripped and faceplanted into a mud puddle! She's absolutely furious! HAHAHA!"

I knew they'd have trouble locking the rabbits down, especially the jackalopes, but this was just too funny. They were making so much noise that the winged rabbits were warned of their approach well in advance, while the three jackrabbits who'd caught the guilder's attention ran them on a merry chase. The rabbits were cautious, knowing the guilders had bows and other ranged abilities. They didn't need to fight them, only distract and run, just far enough ahead to leave a flash of their white tails or brown antlers.

Cadmus giggled and flopped down on the cloud next to me. They snuggled in, and I unconsciously wrapped an arm around them. "That does sound funny, Mom. Can we see, too?" As I got my laughter under control, I turned my avatar's head to look down at the grinning young dragon-kin.

"I'd rather not risk revealing your existence if it's not necessary," I answered, to Cadmus's disappointment. I raised their chin to look up at me again. "Hey now, don't give me that look. I'm sure there's a way to preserve memories and project them so I can show you without putting you in danger. I'll get some Children on it. Who knows, they might even manage to make a camera!"

Reassured, Cadmus yawned, snuggled in with a "Okay, Mom," and promptly fell asleep. Glancing over at Wave and Taura, I saw them both looking at us with longing in their gazes. I focused, taking a closer look at Taura, aaand... Huh. Well, that answers that question.

Congratulations, I projected into their minds, my avatar giving them a kind smile. You have five eggs developing at the moment. I have no idea how long their development will take, but I could expedite the process if you'd like?

Their initial confusion burst into a chaotic mix of love, excitement, nervousness and worry.

'We're willing to wait, Creator.' Wave answered after sharing a few meaningful glances and gestures. 'It should help give you a baseline, right?'

It will, I answered. If you change your mind, please let me know.

I left my avatar there, cuddling Cadmus, and cast my focus back to the Tenth.

Through the eyes of a Winged Rabbit high in the trees, I spied on the guilders as they regrouped. Three of them were covered in mud, using water from their canteens to wash their faces and bare skin to prevent chafing, and I finally saw what Isid looked like without the blindfold.

She was gorgeous, her porcelain-white skin unmarred by a single scar or flaw. Her perfectly manicured eyebrows framed the most dazzling eyes I'd ever seen. Her eyes lacked any distinct white, iris, or pupil; those familiar features were replaced by a black void interspersed with a dash of star-like spots to illuminate the darkness.

Of course, I knew overuse of manasight would eventually render the user blind to normal vision, but how in the holy hell could it do that to someone's eyes? I had no clue and hadn't bothered to investigate the ability further than replication and pressing upon my Children the consequences of overuse. I hadn't needed to reverse any symptoms, mainly since one of the drake-kin had managed to turn manasight into an enchantment placed on eyewear.

But... now I was tempted to ask for some testing on the matter. Would it even be possible to reverse something that could do this?! It would be a potent bargaining chip...

For the time being, I just watched them wearily trudge their way out of the forest and back down the path to the Ninth, their hunt fruitless and hands empty. Given they wouldn't be able to access Minos Village without a hide each, they'd be fighting the Scorpan Royal Guard a lot, giving the Scorpans a lot of much-needed experience fighting humans.

Oh yeah, it's all coming together.

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The Third Floor, The Dungeon, Atlantis

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"Alright, I know we've done this before," Tamesou Akio said to his friends. Bruce, Sophie and Elize as they crowded around a large, carved double door. One of the doors was already open, and a light flickered from within. Gobble was investigating the mushrooms growing near the cave. "But, since this is Elize's first time, is everyone ready?"

"Yup," Bruce answered. The boy rolled his neck and shoulders, and Akio rolled his eyes. The Australian boy had recently put on a decent amount of muscle and loved to show it off at every opportunity. Given he never seemed to work out outside of delves, Akio was sure it was due to his 'cultivation.' He'd been tempted to give it a try himself, but decided against it in the end. He was happy with his development so far.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Of course," Sophie agreed, the shadows around her feet roiling in the midday sun. Akio had found that as she grew stronger, watching how her shadows acted was a better way of telling her mood than trying to decipher her expression. The way her shadow rippled indicated that she was tense and determined. Akio agreed. This particular miniboss was skilled and had already bested them twice. Akio wouldn't let it become three losses in a row.

"I'm as ready as I can be. It's just the one, Kobold, right?" Elize asked, eyes locked on the shadow moving in the flicker of orange that lit the tunnel beyond the door from around a distant corner. Elize clenched her wand tightly, betraying her own nervousness.

"It is," Akio answered, reassuring. "Don't worry, this miniboss works like a duel. We fight him one-on-one until one of us bests him, or he bests all of us."

"Why don't we all attack it at once?" Elize asked, "Then we'd definitely beat it, right?"

"That'd be breaking the rules of the fight," Sophie reminded the healer princess. "If we break the rules first, then they can break them right back. At the moment, it's only a duel to the first blood, and they leave it at that. If we all attack, then the next time we fight, it'll be four of them against four of us. If we make it a duel to the death, then they'll fight to the death, too.

"They come back after death," Bruce added, "but we don't. They learn from every fight, and it's in our interest to stay in their good graces."

"Gobble thinks the Hunters are cool!" Gobble added, arms full of brownish mushrooms. She threw one in her mouth and only chewed twice before swallowing with a satisfied hum. "Gobble heard the last ones went to the Eleventh! Current ones aren't as good, still training. Gobble wanted to be a Shaman, but the shaman said she didn't have an aff-in-i-ty." Gobble slumped at that, a few mushrooms tumbling off the stack in her arms.

"Everyone has an affinity," Sophie reassured, kneeling down next to the sad Kobold. "It just means she didn't know what affinity you have. We can try and figure it out if you like. The guildmistress and her aunt have manavision. If we ask one of them, I'm sure they'd be able to tell what you have!"

Reassured, Gobble smiled brightly and nodded, then started chewing on another mushroom.

"Okay, Gobble, remember you aren't doing any fighting," Akio established firmly. "Elize, if the three of us fail, then it'll be up to you, but don't sweat it if you can't beat him. I think it was... Bruce's turn to go first?" Akio asked, to a confident smirk and nod from the Aussie boy.

"He won't know what hit him!" he exclaimed, throwing out a thumbs-up.

Sufficiently hyped up, the group passed through the doors and into the tunnel beyond. It was a short walk to reach the corner, and Akio once again locked eyes with the armoured Kobold. It was very unlike the other Kobolds he'd seen on Atlantis, standing at four foot nine, compared to the regular Kobold's roughly three feet in height. This Kobold stood alone, his shadow cast by three orange fires that burned within hand-shaped sconces on the walls.

The Kobold was armoured in a combination of leather and metal plates and wielded a longsword. Akio thought about what Gobble had said; this was a Kobold Hunter, one who'd been trained and whose master had descended, leaving him in their place. He was judged fit to stand over this trial, but wasn't at the peak of his own skill.

The group of guilders and a Kobold stopped at the edge of a large circle drawn in the thin layer of sand that covered the arena floor. No words were exchanged, only nods.

Bruce's fight was swift, though he lasted longer than he had last time. While he'd gotten stronger recently, thanks to that cultivation of his, he was still far weaker. The Kobold Hunter was skilled and very experienced in one-on-one combat with guilders, melee fighters and mages alike.

Bruce's magic was potent, but he just wasn't quick or fast enough yet to keep up with the Kobold, who could read him like a book. Akio wondered how many water mages he'd fought before. He knew there were at least two or three on the island at the moment and wondered how many had died before they got here.

The fight stopped, the Kobold's blade resting on Bruce's neck, a thin line of blood trickling down towards the collar of his robes. The Kobold stepped back, returning to his starting position. As Bruce stepped back, his cut healed by Elize without a second thought, Akio stood forward to enter the circle. The Kobold Hunter did the same and raised his sword. Akio did likewise, and for a moment, all was still as the two of them waited for the other to make a move.

Akio stepped sideways, and the Kobold moved in the opposite direction, and after a quarter-rotation, Akio struck out. The Hunter blocked, deflecting the strike with his longsword, then countered. Akio deflected and countered. It became like a dance, one that Akio was beginning to become quite familiar with. Twice, he'd fought this specific Kobold. Twice this, Kobold had fought him. They'd tested, probed and gauged each other's strength and skill.

While the Kobold was more skilled, Akio had the advantage in sheer strength. His sword rang in the air, and the Kobold could do little but avoid his downward slashes rather than block them. The Kobold had tried that before, in previous fights, but found his own strength... insufficient. Instead, he used his speed, which just edged out Akio's own, to dodge that which he could not block.

Akio used this, and as the Kobold dodged one last time, Akio stood back with a smirk. The Kobold looked confused, but his eyes soon widened, and he looked down at the circle drawn in the sand. One of his clawed feet has crossed it. A ring-out.

The Hunter sighed and, for the first time, spoke.

"Well done, guilder, you win. Next time, it won't be so easy," the Kobold said, and Akio noted that he did indeed sound relatively young. The Hunter's eyes flicked to Gobble, who stood with Bruce, Elize and Sophie. "I'd heard a kobold was delving with a group of humans, but I hadn't believed it. Why have you turned away from The Creator and joined the humans, Gobble?"

Gobble's eyes widened, no doubt at this random Kobold knowing her name. She shifted nervously. "Gobble... is always hungry. Shaman said she eats too much. 'You don't need food, Gobble,' she said. 'Control yourself,' she said. The others bullied Gobble and took the food she caught for herself. The humans are nice. Gobble doesn't fight, though! Gobble hasn't left The Creator." There was a moment of silence as the Hunter examined the smaller Kobold, his reptilian eyes narrowed. Or was that Draconic?

"One day, you'll have a choice to make, Gobble," the Kobold warned. "The Dungeon defends The Creator, and it is not a merciful place. If you continue to delve with these humans, eventually, one of them will be at a Child or Monster's mercy, and you'll have to choose. Save the humans and kill a fellow child of The Creator, or let your new human friends die."

Without waiting for a reply, the Kobold turned and walked right through an illusionary wall. Akio followed him and touched the wall after he disappeared. It felt like solid rock. It looked like solid rock. As far as he could tell, it was solid rock. Awesome! he turned around to see Sophie and Elize comforting Gobble while Bruce examined the wall near them. Finally having the time to do so, Akio looked up and joined his friend in looking at the runic carvings and images on the dome-roofed cavern.

"Is that fucking loss?" Bruce pointed out. Akio squinted, and his own eyes widened.

"That's not just loss," Akio answered, hands reaching up to trace the carvings. "This is the Peter Griffin version, carved over the original loss character in a straitjacket." Akio's eyes were drawn to the writing under the ancient-looking carving. "You just lost the Gam- DAMN IT!" Akio fell to his knees and slammed his fist against the sand. "NOT AGAIN!"

Bruce let out a choking noise, and Akio looked up. His friend was tracing a series of paragraphs. "What is it?" Akio asked.

"I think I've just been rickrolled," Bruce answered, sounding dead inside. "The dungeon doesn't just know about Earth. It knows about memes from the earliest years of YouTube and the modern internet. And it's a massive troll."

"Yeah, we're doomed." Akio nodded, suddenly calm. There was no avoiding it. They were doomed.