A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

“This should be a good place to rest for the night, right?”

“Trunk looks sturdy and there is only one way in. I’ll lay some traps and get this place secure.”

“Got it, thanks. Haaaa, finally some rest after a good day’s work! Come on, Naden, help me out.”

Ecosystems. A biological community of organisms interacting with each other and their environment, all linked together in a cycle of life where energy and nutrients are being transmitted around. Generally starting with the vegetation performing photosynthesis, this energy gained from the sun would then be shared among the fauna before decomposing back into the ground for detritivores and plants to reuse. However, inside a dungeon, ecosystems work a bit differently.

Lacking a sun to keep the organisms inside a dungeon alive, a dungeon instead uses mana to create energy, feeding its inhabitants what they need to survive. In a sense, the dungeon was the energy-recycling-and-creating-plant in this relationship.

So, why does a dungeon need to create habitats for its monsters? Why were certain floors so similar to ecosystems, then? Comfort, that was the reason. Monsters created by a dungeon were similar to natural monster spawnings, which made monsters feral and unintelligent for a certain amount of time after their birth, even if this effect would eventually subside as the monsters gained intelligence. A living organisms’ needs must be fulfilled.

Although a dungeon could imprint certain commands like “Do not attack the dungeon master” or “Protect a certain floor” into these monsters as instincts and priorities, the dungeon and its master still had to care for them as a tamer would. That meant stimulation outside of handing their food on a platter. Leveling up, procreation, hunting, fighting, entertainment, socializing, and other examples. The monsters were all independent-thinking beings, similar to Belzac, at the end of the day, and many would rebel if their needs weren’t fulfilled.

While the dungeon possesses an external source of mana in the form of a dungeon master or other visitors, it could create stronger defenses to protect its heart, the dungeon core, but the downside was that, with stronger monsters, a higher maintenance cost would be incurred.

“Gathered some fruits and got some water from the nearby river. We turning the meat from that raptor into soup tonight?”

“Nice, good job! I’ll get to that in a minute. Woo, good thing that wasn’t another knopbrie raid, right Naden? Haha!”

“Shut it, you idiot! Just make the soup already… not like it’ll taste anywhere near as good as a girl’s…”

Naden, the young adventurer Hestia and Aurora met last week, was once again back inside the dungeon with his usual party, Questing and hunting to earn money and experience. Despite almost dying against the barkwraith protector, all he needed to do to regain his confidence and sense of adventure was a good night out with the boys and a tearful confession of love to his family, all fueled by one or two too many tankards of mead and ale.

Now back to work on floor six, Naden and his party were preparing for a good night’s rest, only, something seemed to be unnerving the young man.

“Oi, what are you shaking your leg for, Naden? Come help us cut down these branches for kindling,” one of Naden’s party members voiced out.

“Ahh, leave the fool alone. Idiot thinks he has a chance with those girls from last time,”

“Hahaha! Oh, you mean the girl that came rushing in like a knight to save your ass? Oh shit, I thought the mead was just making you talk, but you actually are thinking about her? Shit, man.”

“Shut up...” Naden replied to his laughing friends before his mind returned to the young blue-haired woman from a week ago. Equipped with a well-crafted sword, the woman appeared before him, as if she was transported there by the wind itself and slew the beast aiming for his life before confronting the viscous barkwraith and horde of mushroom knopbries with her party members, striking the monstrocity down.

Although Naden was just a commoner who could barely read anything more than a few keywords necessary to live inside a city and to pick out Quests, the concept of a knight in shining armor wasn’t entirely foreign to him. Of course, he didn’t have the financial freedom to buy a book, and even if he did, he lacked the education to read it. Like many other young aspiring adventurers and would-be heroes, tavern talk, adventurer stories, and bards were his main source of fantastical heroism.

Similar to how fairy adventurers from before the War for the Fae would create incredible tales sprinkled with small exaggerations when they returned home, bards and drunk adventurers would do the same. Adventurers rescuing villagers from grimgarians, defending noblewomen from bandit raids, or even slaying a powerful B rank monster. These wild tales wouldn’t even stop when it came to recalling famous adventurer parties and squadrons defeating earth-shattering A ranks.

Some were called out for their lies, easily distinguishable by veteran fighters or worldly travelers, but Naden had been born into a worker family and grew up in the middle district of Cedaraille. He was fascinated by stories of adventurers bringing home fortune from the nearby dungeon or from foriegn countries. With so many people visiting his home city, Naden developed a dream to become just like the tales he’d grown up on, an amazing warrior strong enough to protect his home… and maybe somebody he fancied.

But she was so much more amazing!

In his moment of need, when the barkwraith had severely injured him and the knopbries were about to devour him, it almost seemed that his prayers to Aurena had been answered when Ellaine swooped in to protect him. Like a dashing knight, she appeared with the wind flourishing her well-combed hair around. Armored in quality gambeson and pieces of metal armor, the young woman had enthralled Naden. At that moment, she was his savior, the person he wanted to become one day.

But there was an issue with his fantasies. “Ah, cut it out already, Naden. You’ve seen those girls. I bet all my savings that they were a noble’s party. Not too sure about the priestess or elf woman, but the way the swordswoman carried herself and spoke was exactly how some of those stuck-up noble adventurers do.”

“Yeah, exactly. Besides, have you seen how you look? She’s out of your league, in both social rank and looks. Even if she were willing to speak with you, do you honestly think you can stay calm enough to speak a single word? Ha, as if!” Friends were friends, even if they were trying to dissuade him from thinking about Ellaine in a rather rough way.

Damn, idiots… Still, why haven’t they come back yet?

It has been over a week since he last saw Ellaine and the rest of Aurora. When he heard them mentioning that they were going deeper into the dungeon, he thought they would do some slime felgheist hunting for a Quest and then return to the surface. He understood they were strong, so he wasn’t worried about them. Warning them about the dangers when they probably were experienced enough to know it themselves would be considered rude, something he learned during his first three months as an adventurer.

However, the problem was he hadn’t seen them inside the adventurer guild or anywhere else in the city since. Naden’s infatuation for Ellaine made him want to see her again, so he was constantly looking out for her this past week. When his party decided to venture back into the dungeon two days ago, Naden came along with worry in his heart.

Did they come into danger?! Shit, I heard floor 10 and beyond are just kill zones. You could die if you were careless for even a second.

But these worries vanished the moment multiple explosions blasted off in the distance. The four young men preparing tonight’s camp inside a tree’s trunk jolted their heads up at the sound, witnessing the massive inferno engulfing trees from afar. As the fire spread, one of Naden’s teammates came running back from scouting, cold sweat drenched his face.

“In! Get in!” he shouted, jumping over the traps he laid down himself before pushing his friend into the tree. Pressing his finger on his lips, Naden and the others understood they needed to be quiet.

In Naden's mind, he questioned what was happening. Considering the local monsters on floor six, he couldn’t think of any monster able to spit fire or create flames naturally, meaning it had to be a fire mage or a firebomb. However, when Naden peeked his head out, all he could see were fiery bodies moving past trees like skittering insects. Without batting an eye in any other directions, the horde moved onward.

What the hell are they?! I can’t see-Wait, where are they going?!

His question was quickly answered when the ground began to tremble. As if triggered by his thoughts, the burning trees in the distance began to disappear, no, they were falling down somewhere. As the seconds continued, Naden’s ears finally picked up the screams of people all around him, witnessing the same sight as he did.

What in the-?!

“F-F-Fuck!!! Dungeon break!!!”

“Shriiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkk!!!”

Trees and rocks flew into the air like a fountain rain, scattering flaming boulders and tree trunks in the surrounding, igniting anything not already on fire. The sound of the earth cracking echoed through the floor as a giant reaper’s scythe-like legs emerged from the dust and chaos. Like a flower opening its petals, eight house-sized spider legs stomped the ground before the beast fully showed itself to all the adventurers. Everybody on the sixth floor could see and witness this creature, no matter where they were.

Armored in a black exoskeleton harder than a crustacean-type monster, flaming spider silk covered this behemoth of a spider-like a ballroom dress, giving it an enchanting appearance from afar. However, from up close, this titan-like monster with a body about as large as a blue whale, was like an active volcano. Heat permeated after her appearance, causing sweat to pour down Naden in mere seconds.

G-Goddess!

Naden thought death was looming for him once again; however, whether it was the prayer he just gave or through his impeccable luck, the giant spider ignored anything before it. The skittering sounds underneath her were her children, all of different sizes and ranks. The only being they would ever listen to was their mother. To them, the dungeon was just a home.

As the spider queen moved forward, her massive legs crushed trees, boulders, and even her own children in her wake. Her eyes were glued to the ceiling and the path her children were taking. Dungeon walls were hard, almost indestructible by common means if the dungeon wished for it. For the spider queen to break through the ceiling and move from one floor to the next, she needed to find areas meant to be destroyed. For example, the holes meant for dungeon breaks.

Escape, prison.

That was her only thought. The [Molten Core Rachonoid] wasn’t a normal monster, but a creature the dungeon had specifically spawned to protect its core. The dungeon boss, the creature serving as the last hurdle before the dungeon room. The most threatening monster you could find. And she was escaping her home, aiming to leave the dungeon for the surface.

Of course, the dungeon itself did not like this. It couldn’t afford to lose its last guardian and all the mana it invested into strengthening it. While the dungeon wasn’t completely sapient, it still acted on its survival instincts. Unfortunately, without its dungeon master, the one responsible for covering the dungeon core’s slow actions, it was unable to stop the rachonoid. Without its master, the dungeon could only helplessly watch its finest creation advance upwards.

“Shrrrriiiiieeek!” With a loud shriek, four mandibles opened up, revealing the inside of the spider’s mouth, glowing yellow from magma. Using its mandibles, the spider tore into the wall above the location her children were taking to escape to the surface, before drilling her way through it with streams of magma.

Her scythe-like legs began digging, quickly enlarging the hole until it was large enough for her to move into. Her progress was fast, the dungeon standing no chance against this natural disaster. For a B rank, the rachonoid wasn’t fully developed yet, but the amount of destruction she could wreak would be far more devastating than what the High Ogre Hestia fought against could do. In addition, she wasn’t alone.

Floors five, four, three, two, one, all floors were no match for the queen of the Emerald-Flare Forest Dungeon. “Dungeon break!” the adventurers all screamed in panic as they witnessed the destruction happening before their eyes. Adventurers like Naden who were lucky enough to avoid the wave of spiders managed to run up the next floor to warn people, but the spider’s rapid advancement couldn’t be stopped.

No one was brave or foolhardy enough to fight against this spider scourge. Naden, as a simple E rank adventurer in his second year, was nowhere near strong enough to intervene. His party members were powerless against this force. The adventurers who witnessed the spider ascent up from floor nine couldn’t do anything but run. Nobody wanted to get in the way of the spiders on the first floor.

All they could do was the one lesson the hunter’s guild and veteran adventurers told them: “Run and call for help.”

On this peaceful night, most adventurers and guards only wanted to go to the tavern, drink and eat until they were full, and return home or to their inn. It was midnight, it was time to rest… Sadly, the spider horde wouldn’t allow it.

“RUN! RUN!”

“Shriiiiieeeeeeeekkkkk!!!”

While the ceiling of floor one was as sturdy as the rest of the dungeon, the problem was the entrance. The dungeon by itself was a realm created through space-time magic by the Divine System. It was kept outside of Peolynca so as to not interfere with whatever location the dungeon spawns into. Entering a dungeon was similar to entering Hestia’s [Storage Magic], a pocket of space the System ruling over Peolynca created.

And that was the issue. Needing something to anchor itself to Peolynca, the entrance into the dungeon was the only location that had to be left unchanged by the dungeon itself. If everything inside a dungeon was like the inside of a person’s body, then the entrance on floor one were the lips. Anything inside the dungeon could be manipulated, but not the outside.

The rachonoid cracked open the entrance, squeezing itself into the staircase before literally crushing through the adventurer guilds’ entryway. The dungeon walls might have been tough for the rachonoid queen, but the mountain the dungeon was situated under was like paper in comparison.

Adventures and guild staff alike had already evacuated, all running towards Cedaraille to warn the populace there. Small manatech birds were already sent to officials inside the city to call for backup, but would they be able to stop this creature?

“Shriiieekkk!” The rachonoid queen gazed into the sky. Her eight eyes caught the attention of the snow-white moon, a sign it was still WinterMoon. She had no way of knowing, but the following night, at midnight, the moon would turn completely green, signifying the coming of SpringSun.

However, that was irrelevant to the queen. The simple thoughts she held before, screaming to her to escape from her prison and reach the surface had finally calmed down. The fog holding her mind back was clearing up as she witnessed a sky she could have never seen from within her home. She did wonder why she would have ever dared to escape from her home, recalling how her goal in life had always been to protect the home she was born into. The spiderweb she created, the eggs she laid, the monsters she defeated. Those were memories now.

“Shriek.” Her gaze then wandered into the distance, to Cederaille. This new world was strange to her, but she knew if she wanted to fully escape the dungeon, she had to make a new home for herself and her children. Instincts drove her forwards; like a flaming Christmas tree, the rachonoid advanced. And with her, her children.

Food!

With their mother finally released from the effects of the rebellion orb amplifying her desire to escape, communication between the queen and her children was stabilized. Her only command was to move with her, leaving them enough freedom to act by themselves. Having moved tirelessly for two days without any rest or food, the Rank C and D rachonoids began to eye the local wildlife.

Including the humans and beastmen.

Battles began around the dungeon entrance and the nearby woods. Hunters and mercenaries alike would fight against the incoming rachonoids, but no matter how skilled they were, they were unable to stand against the number of monsters. While Rank G, F, and E monsters were mostly within their capabilities to slay, lion-sized D ranks and elephant-sized C ranks quickly overwhelmed the numerous, weaker, adventurers around. Unable to hold them back, even the defenseless guild staff were mercilessly devoured by the horde.

Hope seemed lost for Cedaraille.

Naden, who had just barely made it to floor one with his party members, finally succumbed to exhaustion. Running from floor six to floor one as a normal human was even more tiring than running a marathon, especially with the fear of death looming over him. The adrenaline keeping him running wore off and he fell onto the ground, breathing heavily and ready to fall to sleep. Although his friends tried to pull him up, Naden’s consciousness slowly drifted away. Darkness began to cloud his eyes… but it was still clear enough to witness them.

In the burning landscape of floor one, spiders still crawled out of the hole their mother made for them. They were eagerly moving forward, desperately wanting to reunite with their mother. That was when it happened, a loud roar echoed through the hole they were moving through. It wasn’t one made out of anger or rage, it sounded more like somebody panicking and shouting in desperation.

Just seconds after the spiders heard this cry, their consciousnesses vanished. It wasn’t because they fell asleep or fainted; it was because they died. Not burned, sliced, or turned into a pincushion by arrows, no, it was something nobody could expect.

“Kriiahahhahahahhaaaaaahahhhh!”

None of them expected to be squashed by a dragon’s butt.

“Hestia, fly fucking slower! Waaaaaaaaa!” A white dragonewt on the back of a crimson dragon shouted, desperately clinging onto a blue mana thread to hold herself onto the latter.

But the dragon couldn’t. Streams of fire exploded from the dragon’s wings, all coming from scale-dust hidden underneath the wings. A powerful [Tailwind] was assisting the dragon during her flight while two human wind mages, a young man with glasses and a young blue-haired girl, continuously used [Wind Blast] to redirect the dragon’s flight path. The cyan-haired wind elf woman casting [Tailwind] had to momentarily stop her spell to aid the former two, panicking from the dragon’s erratic flight.

While the dragon hadn’t planned this, her inability to control her flying speed caused her to crash land onto the ground, pushing her body forward with her rocket-like wings. She was brute-forcing it. With cries of anxiousness, the dragon made it out of the hole, revealing herself to everybody on the first floor.

The adventurers naturally panicked. While the dragon wasn’t as big as the rachonoid, she still was as large as a mammoth. As his friends dragged Naden away, his eyes were glued to the dragon. Suddenly, a blue magic circle appeared under the dragon before releasing rain upon the burning woods, quenching the fire caused by the spiders.

The moment Naden’s eyes closed, the dragon once again smashed into the ceiling and then crash-landed, eventually making it to the entrance while destroying any spider in her path. Despite how absolutely lackluster this supposedly cinematic sight was, she somehow managed to do what she aimed for.

From the rubble, the surviving humans and beastmen on the surface witnessed the ascent of the dragon, blasting out from the dungeon before spreading her wings in the sky. As the crimson flame from her wings disappeared, white flames replaced them, healing the wounds the dragon had sustained. With a roar loud enough to quake the earth, everybody’s attention was directed to her.

Not because they were scared. At this very moment, the dragon’s features were being hidden by the white flames in the sky, appearing like feathers in the distance. Deluded by the horrors they faced that night, they couldn’t help but kneel and pray.

“Please, Goddess Aurena, we beg you to save us!”

As the white flame-covered dragon began to fall, a translucent dragon appeared next to it. With its wings spread for a second, it quickly descended downward.

“Nordor Style: Silver Dragon’s Skyfall!” With a voice almost as loud as the crimson dragon, the translucent dragon slammed against the rachonoid queen. The impact shattered the trees and ground around them.

“Shrieeeeeeeeekkkk!”

Their prayers were answered.