Chapter 222

“Master, what do we do now?” Miki asked, staring at the place Carmine had left.

It was eerily quiet in the room now.  Moments ago, it had been filled with battle and a massive dragon, and now the battle was over and we were trapped underground in this grave. As the molten rock that blocked the staircase cooled, the room darkened as well, putting a wet blanket on the already poor atmosphere.

“We wait… the dungeon will heal… and then we can leave…” Lydia began hesitantly.

“The lore has been removed.” Miki shook her head. “There is no source of mana. The dungeon won’t heal. Rather, it will start to collapse. As the space collapses, we’ll be crushed with it.”

“Portal,” I said, pushing out my palm toward the empty air next to me.

{You cannot teleport from inside a dungeon.}

“It’s not a dungeon anymore. The lore is gone you…” I stopped from screaming any more at the text that no one else could see.

It wouldn’t be protective at all. However, it seemed like Portal was useless. I tried Return as well and found the same effect. This was still a dungeon, even though the lore was effectively stripped. I let out a long breath. This was truly an awful situation.

“So… she won?” Celeste said, shaking her head in disbelief. “That’s it? She has the power of the guardian now?”

“No…” I shook my head, my eyes turning to Terra who was standing to the side and watching us expressionlessly. “She didn’t.”

“Eh?” This caught the interest of the other girls too, who all turned to me with questioning expressions on their faces.

“She was able to gain control of the clockwork dragon, that’s true. However, the dragon isn’t this dungeon’s guardian.”

“It isn’t? Who’s the guardian then?” Lydia asked with some interest.

“Mmm… who?” Celeste mimicked, not looking nearly as perturbed that she was trapped in a dungeon as she looked at me like she would when she was waiting for a story.

“Just some things I put together.” I said, “Terra is still here despite the fact that Carmine took the lore. That means that Terra isn’t created or controlled by the lore. Also… some of the stuff she said about graves… it got me thinking. I had been misunderstanding the murals. I thought the story was about them trying to create a powerful dragon guardian. I was wrong. It was a story about righting their wrongs.

“What does Master mean?” Lydia asked, sitting down along with the other two girls while Terra remained silent in the corner.

“I had thought that when their daughter died, the magicians tried to put the soul into the dragon, but they found it too difficult and failed in the process. I was wrong. The magicians didn’t fail to create the guardian. Rather, they succeeded. The guardian is here, in this very room.”  

Of course, the girl’s eyes all landed on Terra. She stepped forward into the light and lowered her head, her hands cusped in a very polite manner.

“I’m sorry that I never properly introduced myself before,” Terra spoke docilely. “My name is Terra. I am an Earth Golem, and the Guardian of this dungeon.”