Chapter 82: Day 210 – Ambush

Chapter 82: Day 210 – Ambush

I watched as twelve people arrived outside the dungeon. It was almost time for a reset. They really weren’t messing around about getting skills. I stepped out from behind a tree and was quickly spotted. I was to their East, Ruth and Tom were positioned to their South.

“Is this a private party or can anyone join?” I had been mentally preparing catchy lines over the last couple of days. Even if they were all going to die, no reason not to appear confident.

“Who are you? You aren’t one of the skilled. Where did you get that armor?” One of the men called out.

“I am Champion Michael and I purchased this armor for a considerable amount of points, but you still haven’t answered my question.”

“Lord Naran holds the rights to the dungeons. I am clearing it.” That was the same name I had learned from the person who had attacked me in Purgatory. The person the would be assassins had run away from.

“And what if I make my claim. A Champion is above a Lord, at least by my reckoning.” I took a step forward and several of the people readied their weapons.

“Champions can’t count apparently. There are twelve of us, two skilled, and then just you.” So, two people had skills, good to know. Pre-battle banter for the win.

“Ah, that is where I must correct you. A Champion is worth a hundred minions. Acid Shot. Acid Shot. Acid Shot. Acid Shot.” I unleashed a barrage that they weren’t expecting. Four people went down screaming. I had used the conversation to get in close enough, so they were in easy range of my skill without any trees in the way.

“Acid Shot. Acid Shot,” Ruth used her skill and took out two people.

“Grass Blade.” The attack skewered a person in the side. That left five after the rapid attacks from multiple directions.

“Surrender or die!” One woman threw away her sword and raised her hands. A man also dropped his weapon and began to raise his hand as well. It was aiming for me. A trap!

“Fire Shot.” I dodged out of the way, only getting slightly singed.

“Acid Shot. Acid Shot. Acid Shot. Acid Shot.” Ruth used her skill another two times as well and soon only the woman was left alive. The rest of her companions had been melted. I walked over to her.

“Anyone else coming out here?” I asked while watching her hands carefully.

She looked quite green at her melting companions. “Uh, no. Lord Naran already declared who was getting skills. No one would dare argue with him. They might try, but that is why we brought such a large group.” She rambled on in what was obvious fear.

“I see, and the other dungeon?”

“Another group is already there. Like ours.”

“Annoying.” I asked more questions about the city of Truth and confirmed that there were twelve other skill holders, soon to be thirteen due to the other dungeon. There was a 50% tax, and anyone who didn’t contribute at least one crystal a day was killed as an example or raped to death. And people called me a villain. I was downright cuddly and personable compared to this place.The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

The woman here was old and ugly enough to escape that fate and was decent at killing slimes, hence she got a position as a minion. At least that is what I guessed about her. Not that it would matter.

“Acid Shot.” I melted her head and she collapsed to the ground dead. “I am clearing the dungeon. It should have reset.” I held a lantern in one hand and used Acid Shot with the other hand. It took about ten minutes to clear since I already knew what was in it.

I got the lantern off the cart, quickly lit it up and then went right into the dungeon. It was cleared out as I raced through the tunnels and chambers. I at one intersection I took the left tunnel and quickly backtracked when I saw flower growing on the side of the tunnel. Not that way.

I went the other way and raced forward until I reached the boss room door where two people were readying to enter in some torch light. I had made it just in time.

There was shock on their faces as I rushed forward and stabbed one in the chest. “Acid Shot.” I wiped out the second. We were barely in time, but we made it. I also said my skill out loud. It was something I needed to stop doing. I shook my head slightly, not the time. I could practice silent casting later. I pushed open the boss door. Inside were several blue, red, and yellow flowers. There was a large brown flower in the center.

I waited for half an hour to regain my energy. I then swept the room with Acid Shot. I didn’t get to see what the large brown flower did, probably some version of Rock Lance. The yellow flowers spat balls of light, similar to the yellow slimes.

The moment my acid touched the flowers they wilted away. I guess that is what dying for a flower monster is called, death energy too over powered. They didn’t have enough flower power to stop my barrage. Even the level 2 monster was no match.

A skill crystal appeared. Light Bubble and Rock Lance. A skill to light things up. I would have taken it as a fourth utility skill, but I only had three skill slots. They were all full as well. My upgrade choices for Acid Shot mirrored my first choice, power, speed, or cohesion. I chose power again. With the increased cost, a power boost was more valuable. Still, it was painful to leave a light generating skill behind.

With that done, I exited the dungeon and gave Tom and Ruth a heads up on what happened. I came, I saw, and I melted everything in my path. With both dungeon groups wiped, it was almost time to move in on Truth. We made our way West. There was one more thing I wanted to see. I had purposely avoided it until now based on what I had learned.

After cresting a hill covered with small non-monster white flowers and killing a yellow flower monster, I saw it. There was a nothingness beyond a certain point. To the North a crack in the landscape extended from that nothingness into the flowerlands.

There was utter silence as we just stared at the visage before us for at least an entire minute. The land just disappeared and there was just blackness. A deep blackness that reminded me of vantablack, the blackest black to exist.

“Like someone just knifed the land,” Tom finally said.

“No weathering either, took me a moment to figure out what was throwing me off,” Ruth added, and I nodded at that. The cut was too straight to be natural, and the edge of the land into the abyss was also a straight cut into the landscape.

“Like an eldritch abomination, or a crack in reality itself. Could this be a bug in the Almighty System?” I wondered.

We slowly approached the edge, and a strong, cold wind began to push against us. The ground eventually just gave way to stone that slopped down at an angle for around 10 feet or 3 meters into a completely black void. After that nothing that could be seen. Even at the very end of the crack, the two edges touched and then it was straight plummet.

The far side just had a flat sheet wall. Line of sight was blocked pretty quickly by just a thick inky blackness. I was glad I didn’t get to see how thick the Systemic Land was, that would have given me nightmares.

It wasn’t space, since space had stars. This was just pitch black. I lit up a spare torch we had and tossed it out into the void. It felt more liquid than gas. Oh, if that was oil like the shadow pit dungeon, then I might have just blown everything up. Ooops.

I watched the torch arc into the blackness and held my breath. Hoping I just didn’t explode the entire world. The flames began to flicker heavily, as the torch fell down. It was visible until it passed beyond sight of the edge of the ground. There was just a cold wind from the void, no monsters, nothing else. Also, an inky blackness that appeared to consume anything that went into it without noise or notice.

“That is really disturbing,” Tom muttered.

“Is there even a bottom?” Ruth asked.

“No. At least from what was discovered. The city of Truth tried lowering people. The people go madder the deeper they are lowered until they kill themselves, by biting their tongue or trashing about enough to break their neck.” Human experimentation as well. It was like Truth wanted to check all the villain boxes. Still that kind of information was useful to have. I shuddered but it didn’t feel cold.

“OK, now I am even more disturbed,” Tom said.

“I wanted to see this place with my own eyes, I honestly couldn’t believe when it was described. Let’s go.” We turned around and walked away.