A Fight(?), More Looting, and Descent Deeper into the Dungeon
Before the tatzlwurm could swallow us whole, Nox made his move and released a blue wave, halting the beast movement.
I waste no time casting a spell, still using the machete as a wand, I point it toward the ground, "[Widden Magic : Penetration, Haste, Strength, Magic Boost]!"
A large pure white-colored magic circle with multiple layers appears beneath us, each layer has a different set of runes matching the spell I cast. One by one they light up in sequence and cover us in a thin layer of magic before dissipating.
The spell took effect in an instant as I could feel Asriel's fireballs doubled in size and burned twice as bright. Noticing this, the Monster Prince sent his flame down the worm's mouth, wasting no moment he summoned his fire once more and coated both of his Chaos Saber.
And then he moves.
Faster than my eye can see, he disappears, leaving behind a cloud of dust, a second later he reappears right underneath the worm, both of his sabers buried deep inside it.
I let out a hum, is this the effect of 'Haste'? The Journal did say it was to accelerate movement but I didn't expect it to be this much.
With a roar, Asriel dragged his sabers further down the tatzlwurm body, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. Not wanting to be outdone I brandished my own weapon and charge.
Since the bottom part is already taken care of I opted to attack the top part, with 'Strength' buff spell in effect I easily jump on its head. Using the momentum and 'Penetration' spell in effect, the machete sinks through its scaled body and flesh as if it was made out of butter.
Thinking back to Celestia's explanation about the draconic enchantment about it requiring a small amount of magic, for dragon standard, I pumped a good chunk of magic down my hand, which the machete greedily sucked all of it up and instantly burst into flames.
Despite the putrid smell of burning flesh and the darkish fire licking my hand, I felt no pain from the flame, only a soft warm feeling at the handle. Probably a part of the enchantment to protect the wielder?
Focusing back, I began to run along its body leaving behind a large gash and burnt flesh, unlike my brother I didn't leave behind fire trails.
As I dragged my machete, there was a slight movement from the giant worm, it was small but gradually became more notable, I realized Nox's magic began to lose its effect.
Not wanting to be tossed around like a lump of dead meat, I pushed my legs to their limit. Just when the magic was about to lose its effect, I jumped off the beast and cast a "[Barrier]", creating a platform to land on. I was ready to cast another spell but something bright caught my eye.
At the other end of the tatzlwurm, Celestia's horn glowing brightly, a trio of stalagmites floats in the air suspended by her magic, pointed tip first directly toward its head. There was a flash of dark blue light from her sister and the rock sharpened in an instant.
Sensing the danger, and the magic restricting its movement wore off, the worm beast reared its head back and let out a screech of a mix between panic and pain, no doubt its brain finally registered the damage. Realizing that it has been severely beaten in a short time, the worm began retreating back down where it came from but Celestia put a stop to that.
Aiming the sharpened rocks at an angle, Celestia hurled them right at its head with all of her might and with a distance that short all of them strike true, not only that, she even managed to nail the beast on the roof of the cave. Much to my surprise, it didn't kill the worm completely, I couldn't see clearly where she actually hit it but I assume she missed the vital spots.
However, it didn't deter the giant worm's attempt to retreat, in fact, it became more emboldened to get the hell out of here. Letting out another ear-piercing screech, this time notably wetter, and began to wiggle around in an attempt to release itself, due to its large body, each movement shook the whole cave and threatened to bury us alive.
There was another blue flash, this time more on the lighter shade, and the worm promptly went silent. I thought Nox cast another time-stopping spell but once the worm's body suddenly drops down and leaves the head still nailed on the roof, I realized he just straight up decapitated it in one swing.
Huh, I knew Nox is strong enough to take on a full-grown dragon but I didn't think he could be this strong from the get-go.
And just like that, our 'fight' is over
"It would be nice if they last more than a minute," I told myself. Don't get me wrong, it's great when they die in just one shot but it would be boring if this keeps happening, not to mention would end up biting us in the long run. Relying on pure power to overwhelm an opponent could only get you so far.
Asriel let out a scoff, "We've only been in this world for less than a week and you are already looking forward toe to toe with some kind of demon lord?" He shook his head at the thought, "I know you have some reality-bending power but don't get that into your head, Bill."
No matter how tempting it is to test my power against someone like Tirek, one of the most powerful beings in this world that I know of, it would be stupid to release him this early, not to mention the scar from Demon War still fresh since it ended not too long ago.
Although, since there are some elements from our original bodies' world present here on Equis, there's a possibility that a much stronger foe could appear in this world. Take Shushu for example, at first glance they're nothing more than your usual demons roaming around the world but their existence alone only suggests their lord, King Rushu, exists somewhere out there.
It might sound like an average demon lord that fated to be defeated by some hero but King Rushu is not someone that can be defeated by a 'hero'. To put it simply he's a Demon God, the strongest one at that since he managed to defeat any other demon in his generation, it took a literal honest to god...well God of War to push him back to his realm.
Who knows, maybe we will come across him in the future.
"You and I both know we lack fighting experience, taking on something like him would be a death sentence," I answered, "Besides why bother breaking into a literal hell when there are dragons roaming around the world?"
That seems to shut him off, however, there's some uncertainty in his eyes. In a way, I understand his concern, a dragon isn't a common mob monster anyone can beat with swords, bows, and magic.
If the Journal is correct, those flying lizards are basically flying tanks with enough strength to destroy a decent sized village or town. With high physical strength, thick scales, and natural resistance to magic, they're the apex predator on both land and air.
Taking down just a single dragon would need some serious force, a kingdom could possibly do it if they use every single one of their soldiers, not to mention how big the casualty would be.
Despite that, some might say the sacrifice outweighs the result, the materials gathered from a dragon's corpse are highly sought after, for example, their scale is commonly used to create armor that can brush off both physical and magical attacks, the organs can be used as a potent alchemy ingredients, bones and fangs can be forge to create nigh unbreakable weapons.
However, there is one thing that caught my eye, a small note at the bottom of the page told a short rumor of old, supposedly a master of alchemy manage to make some sort of potion of immortality from an Elder Dragon's heart called 'Blood of God', a name given after its crimson red color.
Speaking of materials, I ran my hand across the tatzlwurm's scaly body as I walked, wondering if its body could be used for anything. The scales might be used to create armor, it might not be as strong as dragons but at least it's stronger than leather.
And as for the core, I don't know where exactly it is but searching through its several meters long body would be a hassle, not to mention how bloody it would be, it would be a waste to just leave it here and I am rather curious how big the core is.
"-nd they were like whoos, shing and then you are like Wapow! And cut its heads off!" My train of thought was broken by Chrysalis talking animatedly to Nox like some kind of kid after watching their favorite action show, "That was awesome!"
It was amusing seeing her like that, talking as if nothing ever happened, I was sure she might get some kind of mental scar after almost being swallowed.
"You guys alright?" I asked, making sure everyone got away with nothing more than a bruise.
"Yes, we are fine," Said Celestia, using her magic to dust off some dirt on her white fur, "Honestly, it took me by surprise, I have never seen someone use Time Magic to that extent."
I shrugged in response, not seeing how big of a deal it was, "He's a Xelor, time is basically his plaything."
Taking a look at the rest of our party, they came out unscathed with Luna and Gerindha both staring at the headless body of the worm, though the latter was clearly shaken by the brief encounter, even as I got close to her, she still stares at it as if it'll come back to life.
"Hey, you alright?" I asked, breaking her stupor by poking her 'shoulder'.
With a jolt and a sharp inhale, she answered "Y-yes, I'm f-f-fine."
Ah, there's her stutter, to be honest, a small part of me thinks it was cute.
Making sure she told me the truth, I examined her up and down, looking for any sign of injury. I could just cast a healing spell on her, pretty sure the Journal has one or two, but I rather not risk tainting her with Chaos.
True to her words, other than a few ruffled feathers, I don't see any injury on her.
I shrugged in an 'if you say so' gesture, "Alrighty then, if no one is injured, we should get a move on, we're burning daylight. I'm starting to get sick of this cave."
"The Demon is right," surprisingly it was Luna who agreed, "we are still in the goblin's territory, this disturbance would attract them here, we better hurry up before they come."
While a single goblin sounds non-threatening, an adult person could defeat one or two with nothing but a hoe, a whole horde of them could spell disaster even for a well-fortified city and that's not counting the other types of goblins.
And since we're smack-dab in the middle of their territory, for all we know there's already a horde of them on our tail. Fighting them is out of the question since we have a non-combatant and a miss fired spell could cast a disaster, pun not intended.
"Unfortunately we have to take another route," Nox butted in, his hand pointed toward further down the cave outside my light orbs range.
I was about to send one of my orbs but something beat me to it and lit the path ahead, like a flying flashlight, the Noxin which my brother sent ahead of us lit up the cave ahead with its singular lense.
Turns out, whether it was before or during our battle, the giant worm had caused a cave-in. Lucky it wasn't on top of us, unlucky our current path is now blocked by a pile of rocks.
While it put a damper on our rather straightforward plan, it posed nothing more than a small obstacle in our way, however, the steady stream of water flowing down between the rock from above made me think otherwise.
Asriel let out a sigh, "great, now we have to backtrack our way," I silently agree with him, although there's a chance we encounter a band of monsters investigating our little scuffle.
A small part of me was looking forward, and a bit eager, to getting a scrap with the green skins. Even with a superior number, I get the feeling they wouldn't be much of a problem and this place is perfect to set up a choke point, only one way they came but unfortunately no way out for us.
It might be best to dig to another part of the cave for retreat, even if it might become another way for the monster to attack us, but I think my brother could keep the way clear.
"Oi Royal Flanks," that got me a glare from the youngest sister, "you got anything to dig us out of here? I would do it myself but I don't think an early grave sounds nice."
While Luna let out a huff and not much else, her sister was about to reply but Nox beat her to it, "I think that wouldn't be necessary, Bill, can you bring up the map?"
I raised an eyebrow at his request but nonetheless I brought it up with a swish of my 'wand'. Strangely, I still remember every branching pathway, dead ends, and other nooks and crannies like the back of my hand, I was half expecting the map would be an unrecognized jumble of mess by this time but it seems I have a clear memory of it as if it was burned into my memory.
7 colorful dots representing us were on a rather straightforward section of the cave leading to the Tree of Harmony, however, with the recent event, the way forward was cut off and replaced by a dead end.
Taking a look at where we are, I can see why Nox would be against digging our way to another part of the cave as where we currently are is rather isolated from the other cave system, the nearest one being right on top of us which is a huge chamber half-filled with water, given how there are multiple huge snake-like monsters poking out of the water surface it doesn't take a genius what kind of place that is.
At least we know where the water is coming from.
"So what cha' got for us, Nox? Between you and me, and probably everybody else, an early watery grave right in the middle of a snake den doesn't sit well with me," I said, raising an eyebrow to the Xelor.
In response, he 'draw' a line with his own magic with his fingertip near where we are, "as we can see, we cannot risk another cave-in, therefore we cannot afford to damage the surrounding cave structure, that means we will not dig our way out of here and steer clear of any fight to avoid collateral damage."
Even wearing a mask, I got the feeling he took a glance at me when he said the last part.
"However that doesn't mean we do not have a way out of here," he said, referring to the line he drew which is right near where we are, it took me a moment to realize which way he's referring to.
"Pardon me for interrupting, Mister Nox, but the passage you're suggesting is in fact made by a foul monster, for all we know it could lead to its nest." butted Celestia, she then nudged her head toward the headless tatzlwurm corpse, "and it's still inhabited by its late digger, I am ashamed to admit it but our magic is still weak so we cannot help, furthermore this Elder Tatzlwurm has a high magic resistance even after death."
Elder Tatzlwurm? Is that a souped-up version of monster? It does make sense, according to my meta knowledge at least, I was expecting it to be something like 'Alpha' or 'Greater' but that is common in isekai troupe.
"I was expecting you to say that, however, we wouldn't be needing your help," Nox said in understanding, and like any older brother would do he turned his attention to me, even with his face covered I already knew what he's going to say, "dear little brother if you would be so kind."
I rolled my singular eye and let out a scoff, nevertheless, I complied, "Whatever you say, dear brother."
With a single snap, the giant corpse vanished from existence similar to how the chest earlier sunk into the ground and to my 'inventory', the same can't be said for its head since I don't want to have something that messy inside my hammerspace.
Ignoring the dumbfounded look the locals give me, except Chrysalis who is in awe, I nudge Nox with my elbow, "c'mon we're wasting time, since it was your idea you go first."
"Hmm, I suppose you're right, we do not want to end in an early grave now do we?" he jabbed in a humorous tone to which I clicked my tongue but grinned nonetheless.
The xelor's mask flashes and a 'beep-beep' noise is made, on the other end of the cave I can see the Noxin circling the hole before diving in, presumably scouting ahead in case we end up in the monster's nest as Celestia said.
A couple of seconds later we got the all-clear from Nox, telling us the way ahead is devoid of any monster and traversable.
With that tidbit of information, we continued our walk.
For a tunnel created by a monster worm, it was surprisingly clean, well clean as in there's no excrements or 'leftover' from its prey but that doesn't mean it was easier to walk on. The ground was covered by debris from the collapsed wall and ceiling, while the locals had little to no difficulty walking on their four legs, or in Gerindha case claws and paws, we bipedal had to watch where we were stepping so we didn't trip or fall.
Add in the fact water decided to follow us makes it even harder not to slip.
While the rough terrain did hamper us a little bit, the tunnels were high enough for us to walk up straight without our heads touching the ceiling, the same can't be said about the width so we're forced to walk on a single row, while I believe Nox can handle the front side I still had my doubt on the princesses.
They might be all-powerful Alicorns but from what I've seen I think they aren't as strong as how the show portrays them to be, so far they haven't thrown a single earth-cracking-weather-changing-eyes-blinding spell, the most impressive I've seen was when we're 'fighting' the giant worm earlier but it was nothing but a simple application of 'Reshape' and telekinesis to throw the sharpened rocks.
It might have something to do with the Everfree Forest's natural magic inhibition, but I doubt the forest's natural magical dampener can reach this far underground, or they're not that powerful yet, whatever the reason is I expect them to be more than just meat shields.
Speaking of magic, I'm still finding a way to add a 'filter' function on my shackles, currently, it can only limit how much Chaos Magic I can use, any more than a certain amount it would activate its function and completely block my magic. To put it simply, it's nothing more than a magical circuit breaker.
It does absolutely nothing to counter the Chaos Magic residue other than limiting how much I can exert in a single spell, which means it is absolutely useless if I were to cast multiple spells.
Bit by bit is going to be a mountain eventually.
There are a few ways of getting around this problem however only 2 were the most commonly used, at least according to the Journal. The first one is to separate the raw magic from Chaos Magic, which is harder than it sounds, one would meditate for a very long time, it could take months or even years, aside from that there are also other additional steps that are also time-consuming.
I might do that if I can figure out how the original Bill manipulated time or created a pocket dimension but for now that would be on the backburner.
The second one, which is easier and faster, is to use an enchanted artifact that could turn one type of magic into another and enhance it, like a staff that can increase the potency of a fire elemental spell even if the user is not adept at pyromancy.
On paper, I could make an enchantment specifically to separate raw magic from Chaos Magic and apply it on a staff or gloves, the problem is I have no idea how to make an enchantment or enchant something.
Moments like this make me wish I had Bill's innate capability and understand anything right off the bat.
There might be a guide on enchanting in the Journal but this isn't the right time nor place to do it, best to do it in a safe environment and away from any living creatures in case my Chaos Magic goes awry.
For now, focus on getting the Elements. The sooner we get our hands on them, the sooner I can do experiments with my newly gained power.
Actually I could use one of my favors to ask the royal princesses to make me my own staff, with their status I have no doubt they can order someone top of the line enchanter or staff maker to make a high quality filter staff.
My train of thought was interrupted as Asriel nudged my ribs with his elbow, "got something on your mind?" He asked, looking at me over his shoulder, "I haven't seen you think that deeply since the last time you took the exams."
I shrugged in response, "nothing to worry about, just thinking about my magic that's all. Still looking for a way to use them safely."
He hummed, turning back his head forward, "aren't those shackles good enough? So far you haven't buried us alive yet so that's a good thing."
I shook my head, “they are only good for limiting how much I could use so the spell I cast doesn't overload,” I lifted my right hand up and ‘willed’ the shackle to appear, “the residue is still there so it might corrupt other living beings."
Now that I think about it, I wonder what would happen to the crater I made yesterday, no doubt it's a ground zero for Chaos Magic but I think the Everfree natural magic inhibitor could take care of it.
I dismissed the shackle with a thought, "how bout you, got any problem with your magic?"
Asriel let out a hum, "not really, in fact it was easier than I expected. I don't know how to explain it but everytime I use magic my body just knows what to do as if it was muscle memory."
Interesting, while I haven't experienced something like that, I might have an idea why it happened. Amongst the three of us, Asriel was the only one who came from a game so there’s a chance he got some kind of game mechanic, and since his attacks have names, there might be a ‘moves’ function similar to Pokemon game.
However, is it only limited to that? While Undertale can be completed without killing a single monster, the system is similar to most RPG games, kill monsters, gain experiences and Ilevel up, the usual stuff.
From what I’ve read from various media, whoever possesses this system could hypothetically become an ever evolving organism that gets stronger the more they kill with no limit.
But since we're talking about Asriel here, I think it wasted on him being the end game boss with infinite health point, defense and attack. The only thing that could be of use is the inventory function.
I could ask him to bring out the status window, to see if he has the gamer system but this isn't the place or time to ask it, yet another thing to add to the backburner.
“That's a deep hole.”
We reached the end of the worm-made tunnel, well actually the rest of the tunnel is on the other side of a gaping hole big enough for a 4-seater car to fall in.
It was easy enough to cross the hole, a single cast of ‘Barrier’ for a bridge is enough, however Nox had other ideas as to why he brought me in front of the group.
“Bill, do you have anything to help us go down?”
I raised an eyebrow at his question, but nonetheless I shrugged, “I can make a moving platform like earlier but…” glancing at the hole, I can't help but ask, “do we really have to go down there?”
“It’s the fastest way and I already have my Noxin scouted ahead, there’s nothing down there,” he patted my back in a reassuring manner ,“so don’t worry about it.”
I let out a snort, “don’t blame me for being paranoid, for all I know there could be one of those spider traps down there.”
A single hexagonal shaped barrier later, we all began moving down the gaping hole, albeit rather slowly. I might be able to move it faster but with how terrible my magic control is and not a clear ground to land on, I rather not.
As we descended down the hole, I sat down cross legged right in the middle of the platform and…well there isn’t much to do other than keeping the platform moving. Seeing the other is keeping eyes from any surprises from above and holes on the wall.
With the exception of Gerindha and Chrysalis to which I motion both to sit by patting an empty spot beside me.
Surprisingly, the little bug jumped on my lap and settled down like a common house cat. I'd be lying if I didn’t find it cute so I let it pass, Gerindha seems perplexed but nonetheless sat near me.
We sat in an awkward silence, occasionally broken by the little changeling letting out a satisfied hum as I pet her, hey if she’s behaving like a cat might as well treat her like one. However, the silence is starting to get on my nerves so I decided to have a little chat with the griffoness.
“Sooo…” I began, purposely drawing out the ‘o’ to catch the griffoness’ attention, “any reason why are you using a staff? Besides the obvious of course, I was assuming you griffons prefer something like a sword or spear.”
“...I…I am not g-good at all u-using weapons or f-fighting…” I had to strain my ear to pick up what she said, “t-the only thing I-I can do is use m-magic, but I-I can only cast m-minor spells s-so I use it to a-amplify my s-spells.”
I let out a hum, still finding it weird why a griffin like her would rather prefer using magic, even if she claims to be bad at using weapons, her talon is sharp enough to deal some damage.
“So are you any good at casting your spell?” I asked, trying to get more information on how magic works, who knows maybe I’ll get an explanation the Journal doesn’t have.
“I-I think so, b-but most spells I know is only the basic, so I still have to study more,” she answered, her left middle claw idly tracing the Barrier surface, “i-it’s the reason why I t-travel here to E-Equestria, to study more m-magic.”
Well it's not much of a surprise when I heard the lands of ponies is the ideal place to study magic, with how one-third of its inhabitants had a wand literally grown on their skull and cast magic spells with a flick of their head.
What surprised me was her reasoning, sure griffins are able to use their magic similar to pegasus, push clouds, stand on it, etc, but casting spells like unicorns? I’ll admit it does sound interesting to learn how she did it.
“And what, a lowly bandit like you, will use our magic knowledge for, to raid another village perhaps?” It wasn’t a surprise when Luna decided to put her two cents in with some heat behind it.
Clearly shocked at the sudden accusation, Gerindha rapidly shook her head, “No, I would never do something like that!”
With a snort, the moon princess began to walk toward the griffin, “bah likely story, as if your guild action hasn’t caused more trouble than they already are.”
Before she could size up to the shrinking griffon, I stood up and blocked her way with an arm “knock it off Moon Booty, beside what’s your problem with her?”
That might be a bad move considering now I’m the target of her ire “the fact that she belongs to a guild that has repeatedly attacked merchants leaving villages without food or medicine? Or maybe the numerous times they raid settlements and kill all of the inhabitants? Or perhaps the countless lives of our loyal soldiers THEY'VE ENDED?!"
With each accusation her voice became louder and the wings flared in a sign of dominance.
She would've looked threatening if not for the height difference, though her horn is dangerously close to my eye.
“Um, guys?”
I let out a sigh at her little rage, “let me make that clear so your small brain can understand,” I shot back, “what is your problem with her? All the crap you said was about the Flaming Claw-”
“It’s Flaming Talon, Uncle Bill!”
“Thank you Chrisy, anyway what you just said is what Flaming Talon did, even if she’s a member of a bandit guild that doesn’t mean you should treat her like one.”
“Guys…”
“Bah, what do you know about them, demons? As you said it yourself, you and your cohorts are new to this realm, I wouldn't doubt your realm is nothing more than a barbaric land if letting criminals go is completely normal.”
“Guys!”
“I assure you, where we are from is much more civilized than your kingdom, it's not a high bar to reach compared to a kingdom ruled by animals.”
That jab might hit a nerve with how her horn starts sparking and the face adopts a fierce borderline feral look. Even when the sparks almost hit my only eye, I can't help but feel…satisfaction? Glee? Joy? Whatever it is, it brought a wide smile on my face.
“Why you-!”
“GUYS!”
Both of us turned toward the source of the yell, while I only raised an eyebrow toward Asriel, Luna was rather vocal with her opinion and yelled back.
“WHAT?!”
The monster prince flinched at the shout but still held ground, “do I need to remind you we’re in the middle of a goblin's nest?!” He whisper-yelled, “I swear to god if we’re getting swarmed by those green skin, it's both of your fault.”
I let out a scoff, “hey, don't blame me, I was just having a small talk with our tour guide here," I then pointed a thumb toward the moon princess, "if its anyone fault, its hers."
"I said both of you, I don't care who started it first but we're knee deep in shit right now. At least wait it out until we're clear from here so shut it!"
With his piece said leaving no space for me to retort, Asriel went back to keeping eyes on the surrounding wall. I glanced at Luna, she sent a 'we'll finish this later' glare before stomping away to her sister's side.
I let out a hum at the situation and went back sitting next to the now semi-curled Gerindha.
"...s-sorry," the griffoness said meekly, with how big her eyes are, it was easy to tell she's almost burst a tear duct, "f-for troubling you,I s-shouldn't t-t-talk too m-much, I-I k-kn-"
Aaand she's back to her stuttering mess, great. Not wanting to waste another second trying to understand her I place my hand on top of her head and give it a little pat.
"Relax, it wasn't your fault," I said, trying to console the griffoness, "beside, she's the one that butt in so don't worry about it."
"B-but you d-didn't ha-"
"Don't forget we have a deal, if I remember correctly we, or at least I, would keep you away from any dungeon or jail in return you give us your knowledge about these lands, so don't worry about the princesses hounding you."
For a moment I thought she's going to bawl her eyes out but instead she gave a silent nod and sat close to me, perhaps a little too close with how she put her head on my lap, not that I'm complaining.
I felt a nudge on my free arm, from the corner of my eye I could see Chrysalis staring at me, her eyes gesturing to the oversize winged cat I'm petting. Without uttering a single word I placed my other hand on her head and earned a happy squeak.
And the rest of the trip is spent in silence.
"Well this is it, if my map is correct, which so far has been true, all we have to do is open this gate and go to the other side of this room."
We all gathered in front of a giant metal double door, big enough to fit a whole tanker, its surface covered with runes from top to bottom. If I had to guess what their purpose is it might be to strengthen the doors and other security measures.
The way here is surprisingly smooth with no traps, no ambushes around the corner and sudden 'mini-boss' encounters like tatzlwurm from before. Though technically there were traps but not as in pressure tile triggered arrow, poison gas or trapdoor with spikes at the bottom.
The trap I'm talking about was the big-ass spider Nox's Noxin saw earlier in the day, according to Gherinda they're called Giant Trap Spider, which is pretty self explanatory, they're giant spider that primary hunting method using traps similar to their earth counterpart the Australian trapdoor spider.
While they don’t shoot acid spit or have highly toxic deadly venom, they make up for it in the brain department, they're smart enough to create more elaborate traps and other trapping equipment such as nets, ropes and strings.
From a simple web trap, trapdoor ambush, booby trap, to more complex string triggered traps that can launch nets, lift you up by the foot or simply drop a pile of rock held by a net right on top of you.
And why does this become relevant? Turns out the hole we're descending through leads to their territory.
Not only they're smart enough to set up traps and ambushes they're also equally smart at hiding, by weaving the surrounding material with their string to their body almost similar to ghillie suit, they're able to camouflage themselves with the environments.
So when we got to the ground level at first glance there's nothing but a straight path toward the Tree of Harmony without any sign of those 8 legged freaks.
Only because of Gerindha's sharp eyesight stopped me from dispelling the barrier and dropping our party right to a grinder.
Somehow her eyes caught a sliver of almost invisible thin string amongst the darkness which led to a seemingly innocent yet odd pile of rock on the ceiling that is actually a cleverly disguised giant spider using loose rocks to hide itself.
A fireball courtesy of Asriel took care of it, a direct hit set the hiding spider ablaze and immediately killed it. However that single fireball had unintentionally hit other almost invisible strings.
Unlike their counterparts on earth their silk doesn't 'melt away' when exposed to fire, the strings burn quite well, almost like a rope soaked in gasoline. Not long after that a total of 7 giant spiders dropped from their hiding spot with a squeal as their camouflage caught on fire.
Sensing the danger they're in, the other giant spiders abandoned their hiding spot and began skittering away from us. However their effort is for naught as Asriel began throwing fireball after fireball, setting the whole cave on fire just like he said he would.
The rest of our party didn't just sit and watch, the sisters cast fire-based spells with deadly precision and forcefully pull out the ones hiding underground, while Nox kept any giant spider that’s brave enough to get close with his sword.
As for me, Chrysalis, and Gerindha? We're on the clean up duty, the little changeling told me the Giant Trap Spider silk is a rare commodity and many tailor would pay a hefty sum for it, and so with a little telekinesis magic I was collecting the silks that spared from the fierily onslaught while the griffoness collect magic cores from the spider's corpses.
Not long after that whole burning cave fiasco we finally arrive at the metal doors.
"But how do we open it up?" asked Asriel, "there's no handle, keyhole or anything and pushing it is definitely impossible."
I let out a hum and combed through the journal for any sort of clue but, "nope, all of these runes don’t match up with what I got. Oi, princesses got any clue what we're dealing with?"
Luna is more than content on ignoring me, Celestia on the other hand, or hoof, had her eyes on part of the runes around where the keyhole should be, not long after that she let out a gasp.
"No,but…perhaps?...it could be" she muttered to herself.
Nox raised an eyebrow at her reaction, "care to share your findings, princess?"
"I am not certain but," she trailed off, her head turning toward her sister, "Luna, do you perhaps recognize these runes?"
It took the moon themed princess a single glance to be equally interested, she let out a gasp, her eyes widened, "this…this is the same rune we used on our doors when we were little!"
"So I assume you're familiar with it?" I asked, to which Celestia nodded
"Yes, these are the same rune mother put on our room door to protect us," in a split second her eyes had a longing look but disappears a moment later, "It is a simple yet effective lock enchantment that can only open by certain set of runes that act as a 'key' or specific magic signature"
"Well that's troubling, suppose you have whatever this 'key' is?"
She shook her head "no, but this is almost identical to the one when we were fillies, we can try to open it with our magic."
"By all means, go ahead," with that, the rest of our party stepped away from the metal doors letting the princesses do their thing.
It didn't take long for the magic to happen, once both of them touched their horns on the doors the runes on the door began to glow like a Christmas tree and a loud thunk-thunk sound of the lock mechanism undoing itself reverberated through the cave.
The doors began to slowly open inward, its hinges groaning in protest. Despite the size and the force needed to open it, not a single rock falls from their place nor there's any crack on the wall.
With the last thunk the door lay silent and the runes began to dim, it didn't open fully but enough for us to enter one by one.
We all looked at each other, including the princesses, despite none of us uttering a word the question of 'who goes first?' was asked.
I felt someone shoved my shoulder, turning around to see the culprit. I met with Asriel, his head gestured toward the opening.
'You go first.'
I sent him a deadpan look, an eyebrow raised.
'Why should I?'
He pointed a finger at me.
'It was your idea.'
Letting out a low sigh, I mentally prepared myself to enter the giant room. Even if my map show's there's nothing but a pile of something in the middle of the room, stepping inside felt like swimming in an open ocean, there's no telling what else is hiding in the darkness.
"[Twin Magic: Light Orb]!"
Two glowing white orbs the size of basketball appeared from a magic circle in front of me, I mentally commanded them to enter the gap and go in the opposite direction of each other, not long after that I followed.
The first thing that came to my mind when describing this room would be 'boss room', a giant spacious room with almost nothing to hide behind. And when I say giant I mean 'enough to fit a whole baseball stadium with enough space for the parking lot' giant, can't even see the ceiling.
Even my light orbs which glow like an industrial grade floodlight can't illuminate the whole place, thankfully those aren’t the only light source in the room.
Remember the pile of something with a jagged tip in the middle of the room? Turns out it was a mountain of purple pink-ish glowing crystals in various sizes, in the middle the mountain is a huge crystal almost as tall as a two story building.
Turning around I see my party member slipped inside one by one, each one wearing the same weary look pointed to the mountain of crystal dead ahead, especially for the princesses, their wings would twitch every so often as if sensing an unseen dan-
CLANG
I think my heart skipped a beat when the door suddenly closed after Gerindha entered with Chrysalis on her back, safe to say I wasn't the only one surprised. All of us pointed our weapon, or horn for the Alicorns, at the metal door.
After a silent moment, I realize the pair of inanimate objects wouldn't pose much of a threat to us, other than closing out the only way out, I lower my machete with a silent curse and a sigh.
"I was expecting you to know this would happen, Bill," Asriel grumbled, in response I just raised an eyebrow, "after all, a boss room at the end of a dungeon is a standard thing in RPG, you of all people should know."
"While I do not know what an 'aar pee jee' is, what you just describe is a common knowledge regarding dungeons," Celestia said, "when the Dungeon has grown to a certain size, it will call upon the strongest monster that reside in it to act as a guard to protect its core, it will then construct a room best suited for the monster combat ability."
"Wait a second, did you just say 'grown', does that mean the Dungeon is alive?" I asked, confused at her choice of words, "Also you said it 'constructs' a room, does the Dungeon have control of the monsters living inside it?"
"Yes, the dungeon is alive though to some degree, it simply grows along with the creatures that take residence inside it, the more monsters there are the bigger the Dungeon is." Celestia explained, "As for your second question, the Dungeon relies heavily on the monster to expand, however there has been evidence that the Dungeon is capable of creating a room all by itself amongst other things, however there is no such thing as Dungeon controlled monsters."
So basically we're inside a giant living organism? Well that's nice to know…when we're inside of it. From what I know from Celly's explanation the Dungeon acts like a symbiosis organism, it takes magic from the creature inside in return it gives them food and shelter.
Thankfully the Dungeon only has a limited, almost primal level of intelligence and the monsters inside of it act with their own free will. If it had control over the monster we would have to fight through hordes of monsters the moment we step in.
"If I may have a say on this," Nox interjected, "while it is nice to have more information about this world, I have to say this discussion should be continued when we're in a safe place, wouldn't you agree?"
We all voiced our agreement, 'right this isn't a place to dilly dally,' I thought to myself.
I began walking toward the other set of doors at the end of the room and kept my distance from the crystal mountain. I don’t know why but a voice at the back of my head and my gut told me to stay away from it.
There's isn't a single sign of whatever the boss monster is but if there's nothing between us and our prize then I wouldn't be compl-
C-C-CRACK
I stop dead in my tracks as the sound of something cracking reaches my ear, my eye shoot downward fearing the floor is going to break, I let out a sigh of relief as the ground is still intact.
C-C-CRACK
The sound echoed through the empty room once again, this time my eye darted toward the mountain of crystal in the center. My blood runs cold at the sight of a couple of loose crystals falls down with a faint tink-tink noise.
C-C-CRACK
With the purple pink-ish light glowing from the mountain of crystals I could see a hand full of crystals burst from the ground adding more to the pile
C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK
More and more crystals join in, some even growing between the other crystals and climbing higher and higher.
C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACKC-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK
Not only the amount of it grown in a single burst increased but the size also kept getting bigger. More and more and even more crystal grows and climbs even higher until the giant crystal is covered by its smaller brethren.
C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACKC-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACKC-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK C-C-CRACK
Then it began to take shape, first a crude imitation of a torso, and then two pillars of crystal made up the arms, after that a skull-like structure with a sharp jagged jaw for the head.
CRACK
With the last burst on top of the 'head', the crystal statue lying still unmoving and silent, I realized I was unconsciously clutching the machete tightly, my palm turned white and opened the Journal, the word 'Explosion' written on the top of the page.
My stomach dropped as the eyeholes of the statue lit up in a deep purple bathing us in its glow, then it began to move, bending down to see us, from where we're standing the now-golem crystal statue looks like it's glaring at us.
It opens its jaw and, despite not having anything that can be a voice box, lets out an earth shaking roar.
GRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!
The golem raises both of its arms, even if the distance between it and our party is too far for it to reach us, my gut tells me to move away, something that I am more than happy to share with the other.
"Oh shit, SCATTER!"
We all jumped just in time as the golem smashed its arms down and sharp crystals burst from the ground in a straight line, we all would've been skewered if we didn't dodge.
And thus our fight began.
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YES
FINALLY!!!
NEW CHAPTER!!!
Yes!!!!
It is good to see that this story is still living and breathing.
I have been following this story since it got its first 3-4 chapters and warms my heart to see you haven't forgotten about it.
Great chapter and I look forward to future chapters, have a good life!
I like this story can't wait to see more chapters
Next chapter bill and nox , asriel vs discord please