Chapter 55: Welcome to the Internet (1/2)

Chapter 55 Welcome to the Internet

At least one of the scouts that had been sent into the dungeon was confirmed dead. Apparently a trapped hallway followed the door and they had spend hours to just dismantle the different killing devices. A massive elevator followed after, bringing whoever chose to use it downwards for over five hundred meters, into the dungeons.

No massive surprises were reported by the scout, sword guardians all over the place though. “Well what are we waiting for then?” Ilea asked into the group and made her way towards the door.

“Lilith I know we agreed on the ten guardians thing but if the layout of the place is that complicated it's not practical.” Jasper told her and walked next to her. “We'll pay you differently for that part of the information, for now we all go down there and clear it. You get as many as you destroy.” he said.

“I feel cheated but do see how it doesn't make sense to wait for me. Let the faster one win then.” she said and ran towards the door.

“Agor, keep a lookout for her. Please do let her kill the guardians, she's a headache as it is I don't want her to become even more annoying.” Jasper said to Agor who nodded to the man.

“They're about my level so I'll let her do the killing...if we encounter more centurions though...” he followed the excited healer towards the dungeons, getting stares from many of the adventurers around.

Ilea reached the elevator in no time and stepped on the pressure plate to activate it. The design was quite similar to the one she’d used before, although this one seemed a little less cared for. The chains she could see even showed some rust. Agor landed on the elevator after it had descended ten meters.

“You don’t feel like waiting, do you?” he said and looked at her.

“Lorcan, so you’re my babysitter then. Well just keep far enough away and don’t interfere when I’m destroying the guardians. Compared to you they’re actually pretty decent for my experience.” she answered, cracking her neck in preparation.

“Referring to sword guardians at level 200 as pretty decent for your experience. You truly are a battle maniac...” she could tell he was smiling below his helmet.

“Well so are you. So don’t give me that judgmental tone Lorcan. And hey, we might find one or the other centurion down there as well...” the man seemed to tense up a little at the uses of his name which Ilea noticed immediately. “Don’t worry, I won’t use it when others are around. Same as you’re not using mine...” she told him just as the elevator slowed down to a stop.

‘Smoother than some elevators on earth...these dwarves really were remarkable. I mean the machines are decades ahead of whatever the military had chosen to make public so far. I’m sure they’re hiding away some gurren lagann type shit somewhere though...’ she thought as the two heavily armored adventurers exited the elevator.

Another scout was crouched in the room next door, her eyes glowing in an eerie red. “Hey, can you point us to the biggest clusters of enemies around here?” Ilea asked, stopping next to the woman.

The red glow vanished as she looked at Ilea. She was a level 149 rogue, at least that was what identify had told the healer. “They’re everywhere, you’ll find them easy enough. This way I generally see more of them though.” the woman pointed and Ilea nodded.

“Thanks, let’s go clear out this prison then. Agor?” the man nodded and gestured for her to go.

“I’ll follow the trail.” he said and smirked under his helmet. The scout looked at them and shook her head.

“Fucking lunatics...” she whispered, knowing full well that both of them might’ve heard her.

Bumping her fists together, Ilea exploded into a run. Soon after she activated her buffs. The dungeon’s hallways were much smaller than anything she’d encountered in the great hall before. There was barely enough space to fit a single sword guardian, let alone a party of adventurers.

‘They’re gonna have a bad time...’ she thought as she encountered her first enemy. Dodging the blades it was second nature by now to face a single sword guardian. Using her blinking ability to strategically position herself, she used the tight corridors to her advantage.

Her quickly increasing power overwhelmed the guardian though she was cut several times in the fight until the machine fell before her unrelenting assault. Small cuts closed quickly as she started to run again, ignoring the messages she’d received from destroying a single guardian.

In the next half hour Ilea cleared out a number or random corridors and rooms that held single or up to three guardians inside. ‘There certainly are a lot of them here...’ she thought as she dodged a dozen swords from two guardians in the current room. The possibility of destroying guardians to level up and the looming expedition behind her, ready to steal her experience made her a little more reckless than usual.

There were some cracks in the wall where a guardian’s blade had sent her after she had to block one of it’s hits. Her armor combined with the shroud of ash negated most of the damage but the force was still there. ‘Man I’m already out of mana...’ she thought as she started to meditate in the now empty room, besides the dented metal on the ground.

Agor caught up to her a minute later. “Meditating eh, well the close quarters helps them as much as they help you...destroyed over twenty already. Level...” she stopped him there with a quick open palm towards him.

“Don’t spoil me, I’ll get to the messages later.” she exclaimed and bit on some dried meat she got from one of her pockets. The backpack she had left upstairs in the great hall where the expedition resided. She would’ve likely slowed down a little if she had known that the group was still discussing tactics and team compositions as she was meditating.

And so the half hour of fighting turned into one and then two. The dungeons were vast and filled to the brim with sword guardians. None of them came close to hurting Ilea more than superficially. “I need a quick break and some food.” she said to Agor who had come into the room she’d cleared most recently.

“Yea, it’s fucking boring down here.” the man said and closed the book he was holding.

“You read? Did you at least sketch down the layout while you were walking behind me.” she asked, while chewing on her last piece of dried meat.

“I do, shocking I know. It sure would make you more interesting if you chose to learn your letters. I did map out the rough layout, here it is.” he flipped to the first couple pages of the book and showed her.

“Let’s go back then, this meat isn’t satisfying and there are professional cooks up there with free food.” she said and regretted her choice not to use the necklace to store some of their food. It would’ve likely been a risk to let Agor know though so she sucked up her disappointment.

They ran back in just twenty minutes and in the last stretch encountered a group of adventurers from the expedition. ‘They haven’t come far yet.’ she thought.

“Why don’t they go through faster? You and Jasper alone could cleave through the guardians with ease.” she asked Agor as they entered the elevator room. Several adventurers perked up at their entrance.

“Even you would be gutted quite quickly were it not for your set of skills. Most adventurers aren’t as mobile and self regenerative as you are.” he said and continued as they stepped on the elevator that had conveniently been down in the dungeons already. “Additionally it’s a worthless risk to take. For the expedition, all its members and subsequently Jasper it’s more beneficial not to lose too many people and have a lot of them come out stronger. The Forkspears aren’t the only ones with that interest. Maybe after this he’ll finally be able to open the stupid school he’s been talking about...”

“He wants to open a school?” she asked.

“Yea, sword master and all. Wants to give his knowledge to worthy students.”

“Nice sentiment I guess. Doesn’t he have enough money to just build a school?”

“You need more than just gold to build a prominent school in Dawntree, even if you’re at his level of strength and fame. There’s bigger fish out there and quite a few of them reside in Dawntree. Having a sword master train random pupils might be a thorn in their eyes. Or a boon if enough powerful adventurers and noble families support him.” Agor explained.

“Politics man...he just wants to build a school.” she said and shook her head, the horns accidentally scratching on the walls that were rushing past them. The two reached the great hall’s entrance soon after and got some food from the cooks. Ilea noticed that the cook that had handed her the poisoned food was there as well.