Chapter 10

Chapter 10

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Temporary Camp, Medea Island, Kalenic Sea

1 Week, 2 Months Post-Corification

The day after fleet arrives.

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Layla emerged from her tent dressed and ready for the day. A slight adjustment to her blindfold and nod to Felin later, they were on their way to the large command tent set up off the beach. Layla watched as the common men and women who joined them on the island went about their morning routine, stepping aside and giving respectful nods as she passed them.

A glance showed the wooden pier they were building had been mostly completed. One of the ships full of construction materials had pulled up at the end of it, preparing to unload it's cargo.

The command tent was triple the size of even the next biggest tent, guarded by men at the flap and seemed to be enchanted. The guards nodded at their approach and folded back the flaps for them. On passing the threshold, the sounds outside muted from a dull roar to a quiet whisper. That would be the enchantment, or at least one of them. Lord Medean looked up when they stopped at the table in the center of the room.

Said table was surrounded by other men and women, Lord Medean's retainers and advisors. There looked to be a big piece of paper covering most of the table, which she assumed was a map.

"Ah, Miss Losat. Good of you to join us. I've had the water from that spring tested, and it's come back clean. No poisons, toxins or hostile mana." Layla nodded.

"That's wonderful news." She said. "We've set up a gate next to the dungeon. In the next week we should expect a few Guilder parties to visit. New dungeons are rare, ones that aren't immediately conquered or destroyed even more so." The man nodded.

"Yes, about that. I want it known this dungeon is off limits. No one is to attempt to take it's core, if we even manage to find the thing." Layla raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? I assumed you wanted to conquer it." She questioned. He shook his head.

"Oh no, Miss Losat. This is an opportunity." He said, rubbing his hands together. "All of my research shows Lost dungeons are far more innovative and creative than any conquered dungeon. This dungeon is likely to hold many secrets and resources we can use to our advantage. If it's as old as we expect I doubt we'd find the core quickly anyway." The blind woman paused.

"That... is quite well reasoned. Though it also means that getting those resources will most likely have a heavy human cost, at least until the dungeon understands we aren't going to try and conquer it." Layla could feel the oncoming headache.

Medean waved her off. "They're Guilders. They know what they're getting into. Oh! also, let my architect know where you want your guildhall and it'll be sorted asap." With the obvious and rather rude dismissal Layla turned and left the tent, Felin close behind.

"I don't like him." Felin rasped, once they were far enough away.

The next day, another, completely different party delved me. They too, only cleared the first floor then left. I've also stopped naming the Crab Knights. They'll pass on and be replaced too quickly to get attached. The first boss of a floor will still be named, maybe the second. The ones after that are inheriting the mantle and some muscle memories from their predecessor.

This new pattern changed on the seventh day since the humans arrived.

A new ship pulled into port; now a couple of piers. The crew traded with the residents of the island, while their passengers made a beeline to the new building outside my entrance. I assume it's a cross between a tavern, an Inn, and the operations center for these adventurers given Neo seems to base herself there and has some kind of office.

The new group of ten people entered the main door, where a small and hidden rat watched them talk to the bar-keeper. Two split off to go up to the second floor and meet with Layla. The other eight bought drinks and settled in to wait. The Clich Quartet made another run that day, same pattern as before.

The new group was apparently two parties of five, who both wanted to delve me. Layla let them know of the restriction on 'conquering' me, gave them some information on my monsters, but didn't go into detail as much as she did for the others. She also didn't seem to like them much. Maybe from a different faction? Either way, they looked cocky even with that little amount of information, and I took that personally.

The other adventurers who tried had a healthy respect for me and my monsters, while these newcomers were arrogant. I'm sure that these people will attempt my second floor if given the opportunity.

Well, I hope they enjoy their delve. Or, as I prefer to call it, their wake-up call.

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Rorgas was regretting this delve already. As the fifth wave of fucking crabs approached, he and his party rushed forwards to meet them. They climbed over the corpses of the last wave. Rorgas and the other two melee-focused fighters in the party kept the crabs off their other party members, who were harvesting the monster cores as fast as they could. Cutting down the final monster, he turned to his sister, Meser.

"How're we looking?" She looked exhausted, having spent most of her mana on healing spells already.

"Not good. I'm out of mana, our potions reserves are low. These crabs have tiny mana-cores, but the sheer number of them should help cover the cost of the potions we used." She took a breath. "We should turn back."

"No" Rorgas stated. "We press on. The Guardian has a bigger core, and that mana-water is worth all these little cores combined!" He shouted. "Who's with me!" The swordsmen, flush from victory over the crabs, cheered. Their other mage, a water mage, gulped down a mana-restoring potion then nodded.

"Alright! The next cavern should be the final one before the Guardian. Play it safe." Rorgas ordered, then led the way into the next dark and twisting passage.

After fighting off another two waves of crabs, they'd finally made it to the doors, carved with the image of a crab with a sword and shield. Rorgas pushed open the doors. The last thing he saw was a grey pincer-claw rushing towards his neck. His last thought was; Huh, I thought the guardian would wait for us to be in the room.

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After their leader got killed, the rest of the party managed to kill the Crab Knight, collect their 'reward' and stumble back out the way they came. I made sure they noticed groups of crabs watching from the water, and in the corners of their eyes. I really wanted it to sink in. I could have killed them all, overwhelmed them with numbers, but I didn't. Rorgas had been arrogant. He should have take the advice of their healer and turned back.

Though, when I discovered she was his sister I felt a little bad. Hopefully she gets over this and moves on with her life.

She didn't.