novelTower of Death?
| ← Ch.046 | Ch.048 → |
In a dark and gloomy passage, my fellow mercenaries advanced with lit torches.
The request this time is to conquer a dungeon. The mercenary group that I belonged to have conquered several dungeons before this, so you could say that we're not new to this type of job, and among those expeditions, I have joined two of them. Adding this one and it will be my third accompaniment in dungeon clearing.
However, this time is different in, as even the veteran warriors of our side, who have the most experience in dungeon exploring, were giving off steeper expressions than usual.
Still, I don't think it's unreasonable.
After all, this dungeon is the Tower of Death, the infamous Lavabelle Tower.
On top of its unique feature of only allowing females enter, it was the very dungeon where a lot of tales of people who has entered have never come back.
"Everyone, don't let your guard down. Get careless even for a bit and you can get done in an instant"
The tall woman leading the way - our Captain Lorraine urged for caution.
As she's the one leading the only female mercenary corps which is us, her words contained a heavy amount of power.
She's not just all talks, she also skilled with her hands too, and when I was about to be surprise attacked by a slime several minutes ago, the captain was the one who dealt it away herself.
"But Captain, until now we've only been encountering slimes, and as for the traps we have dealt with them without even breaking a sweat. Maybe the words of the director were true?"
Yes, our client this time was the director of the Magic Ministry.
Even though it was pretty unusual already for a request to come from the head of an agency of the country, this director even dared to say to us that the Lavabelle Tower's 'lethality' was now completely removed. Honestly, we thought of it as nothing but an act of sheer folly.
But right now, those words that were nothing but a joke from a moment ago was now spreading confusion to my colleagues what were sharpening their senses non-stop ever since we entered this dungeon.
Certainly, from our way up to here, we only have encountered traps and monsters that even a baggage carrier could avoid.
It felt like we're country bumpkins on our first time entering a city.
Stay alert. We are not sure if it's safe yet"
Hearing the captain's final say, we proceed to move once again.
As for my role in this corps? I'm the baggage carrier. I am responsible for transporting food, spare equipment, medicine and most importantly, the loot that we're about to obtain.
As long as one had the stamina, anyone can do it, so it is often common for underlings like me to have that role. Usually, if a rookie comes in, we'll take turns, but because I didn't have the talent to handle weapons, the role always ends up on me.
Still, I have no complaints. Especially so that I have to concentrate on my work right now.
All of a sudden, our captain who was taking the lead stopped walking.
"There are stairs, Apparently the first floor seems to end here"
When I peeked from the side of my companion, there was certainly a staircase in front.
"It's over already!? It was literally a straight road until here, no matter how low-level the person is, this level is too easy"
"I knew it, the director's words were true"
A commotion happened among everyone.
"It certainly was too easy, but we still don't know how difficult the next floor will be. Let us proceed with caution"
Though she was also unable to hide her puzzled state, our captain went up the stairs after giving us a stern warning.
And, like what she had said, the level of difficulty went visibly higher on the second floor.
The monsters were the same slimes we saw on the first floor, but now they approach from our blind spots and in large quantities at a time, and what's worse, they're increasing by multiple folds each time.
Even the traps were not exempted, and without enough knowledge and experience, one won't be able to unlock them.
However, even though it was so difficult, none of us were injured. It was weird, but we're beginning to accept the director's words as the truth.
Also, the increasing difficulty have caused the mercenaries to regain their original sense of tension, a tension we always had under these operations, so the speed of our capturing rate went up instead.
"Stop!"
Our leader's voice echoed all of a sudden, stopping everyone of their movements.
At the end of our sights was a wriggling tentacle.
"Kyaaa!"
One of our members, whom had only joined recently, screamed out loud. Well, this was her first expedition after all, so it couldn't be helped.
Still, our opponent this time is a really disgusting one. The more you look at it, the more you want to throw up. The good thing is, it wasn't moving from its current position, despite the noise made by our colleague.
In this case, we could handle it safely from a distance with an arrow or a magic spell.
As I thought about it, the thief who was next to me looked at our rear.
"Enemy behind! Slimes, more than thirty!"
She shouted with detailed accuracy to disseminate to those who are in front.
I turned around, and from there I saw, it was a horde of slimes, looming onto us about ten meters from behind.
"Deal with the slimes first. Vanguards 1 and 2, come with me! The rest of you stay vigilant!"
As expected of our leader, she gave no time for panic and made quick decisions in this emergency.
She charged at the horde with two others, while we who were left remained vigilant of our surroundings.
As we checked upon one another, my eyes ran up to the ceiling. I felt something odd, and after a moment, I realized the oddity - an opening at the ceiling which wasn't there a while ago.
"Above us!"
I shouted and backed away to the wall at the same time.
Each of my friends who responded to my voice took cover immediately, but the newcomer who screamed on the sight of the tentacles failed to get out in time.
A huge net fell from the said hole, wrapping the newcomer.
"Eh, what is this!? H-help me!"
The net that caught the newcomer tried dragging her back to the hole, but one of our warriors jumped to her rescue. With a single cut at the net, the newcomer was set free.
"Are you okay!?"
"Yes, thank you very much!"
I also heaved a sigh of relief.
Our captain and the others in front seemed to have noticed our commotion, and came rushing towards us after disposing the slimes altogether.
"What happened? Is someone caught in a trap?"
"Yes, leader. Our newcomer here was almost caught in one, but luckily, I made it to her rescue. Thanks to our vigilance, we had no casualties beyond that"
The warrior reported to our leader about the recent events that happened in detail.
Our captain then approached the newcomer, who has plopped down on the floor.
"Somehow, my body is feeling hot......"
"Is it some kind of poison? Hey, have our thief take a look at her"
Soon our poison-savvy thief came and diagnosed her. After that, the details of the poison became known to us.
"Aphrodisiac!? Of all of them, why is she affected by aphrodisiac of all things?"
The result even surprised the other thieves. Somehow, I understand their feelings.
Poisons that are commonly set-up in the dungeons often deprive the victim of their physical strength or numb their limbs. This was the first time they heard a dungeon utilize aphrodisiacs in their traps.
"Are you really sure? If that's the case, then I'm now fully convinced that the director's words rang true, that this dungeon won't be able to kill us. Just basing on this aphrodisiac, the tentacles, and the lack of casualties we got, yes, this dungeon won't kill us, for it desires much worse."
"And what will it be, captain? What does this dungeon desire now?"
"Us. Our bodies, to be more specific. It wants to capture us alive, torture us, and make us turn into its playthings. I just hope that I'm wrong"
Captain Lorraine distorted her neat face.
If it is really it, then we may not die for sure, but......
The other party who remodeled this dungeon must be a lesbian who is really fond of women, and has a really bad personality.
"Give the antidote to the newcomer"
At our leader's command, the thief soon gave the antidote to the newcomer. With a bit of the proper medication, focus was regained from her flushed face.
"I knew this dungeon has become more insidious than I expected. However, we can't just walk away without getting a single loot for ourselves. All members, prepare yourselves"
Our captain gave a speech to relieve us from our unease. Although it turned completely different from what we had expected, we readied ourselves and gathered around the captain once again.
Soon after, we resumed our expedition.
After a couple of events, the second floor was smoothly captured afterwards, making us reach the third floor, of course with the whole pack still intact.
From there, we discovered a large wooden box that gave us a nostalgic atmosphere.
We have discovered a few crates back from the first and second floors, but its contents were mostly cheap things.
However, this time is different. Judging from the box itself, it must contain something of valuable quality.
"Don't get too close. Check for traps first"
The thief whom we entrusted to unlocking the box took the lead this time. And after carefully examining the box, we have found no evidence or signs of any trap.
Then she opened the lid. From there, she found a short staff inside.
"Mage, can you verify what kind of artifact is this?"
"Let me see. I'll appraise it thoroughly"
Our mage begins to examine the short staff our thief has taken out.
"It's a kind of healing staff, and it has healing magic that can be used up to three times a day. This is pretty well-made......th-this is!"
The mage suddenly exclaimed, attracting everyone's attention.
I also tried to approach to see what's happening.
"L-Look here, it's the crest of the Bain House"
Our mage pointed with a trembling voice at a certain spot on the staff, and from there, inscribed was an elegant coat of arms we are all familiar with.
"As for the possibility of it being fake?"
"Even with that, it's still difficult to copy a magic artifact, even if it's an ordinary tool. Plus, making an imitation that will lead you to face the wrath of the Bain House? It's just plain stupid"
"So, the artifacts the director has shown to us really did come from here. No matter how useless it is, as long as the said tool was the name old Bain in it, we could sell them for a high price. We really hit the jackpot this time."
Excitement has filled us upon discovering this harvest.
Amidst the commotion, the captain took the staff back, then she went to me.
"Sarah, this is a valuable harvest. Don't lose it."
She gave me the short staff, then went to the front of our squad once again.
From this point onwards, work will increase for luggage holders like me. I too have to give my all.
"Allright. We'll search this floor up to its nooks and crannies. Let's divide the squads into two to increase our search efficiency"
The captain ordered with confidence. Before, we were treading with full caution on each and every step in the last two floors, but now that we know what we're getting and what we're getting into, everyone is now filled with motivation and confidence. Utilizing this, we divided ourselves in groups o seven, which was the original plan all along, then as if competing with one another, we searched the whole floor as if wanting to turn the whole area up-side down.
After a series of looting events, we have finished mapping almost the entirety of the third floor. Almost.
There's only a single spot left, but it was blocked by a giant steel door.
And that said door was in front of us.
"Is this is the last area?"
"Yes. We have searched everything until here. If it follows the usual pattern, there should be a flight of stairs beyond this"
The warrior from our team answered to the vanguard from the other team's question.
"I'm not feeling good at this"
"Don't worry, all of us do"
After resolving ourselves, we entered the steel door.
We went into a surprise on the thing that was brought onto us.
"That's ...... golem!"
Yes, it was a golem, however, its appearance was a unique one. Its right arm was being surrounded by lightning bolts, as if it's dancing through it, while its left arm is gigantic that I almost confused it for a blunt weapon. On the first glance, this golem was clearly intended for combat.
A combat golem that is said to be capable of fighting tens of soldiers in a lone flight.
"There's one over there"
"There's another one over there too!"
And now, we're about to confront three of them - all at the same time.
| ← Ch. 046 | Ch. 048 → |