Elsewhere

After a week of intense training, the four stood ready to enter the fourth level again with renewed fervor. They had each trained in ways that fit their own style but would be helpful to the group as a whole.

Baslin had spent his time brewing potions. He knew that he should have made a bunch already but there were so many other things he wanted to craft. He had ingredients! eHe finally had dozens of healing and Mana potions for each of them. All were in special storage belts that would allow for easy access and unbreakable storage. Duke had declined most of the potions as his regens were so high.

Elaine had spent much of her time in her bear form learning how to control the immense power-boost she had received when she tiered up. She now had the Ability to grow into a massive dire bear that stood three meters at the shoulder. Her blows in this new form reduced even the enhanced training dummies to splinters with a single swipe of her ten-centimeter claws. She found that even steel armor would shred before her enhanced form.

Grat could now control massive plant constructs grown from a single seed in seconds. These constructs could entangle enemies with vines of their own and had limited control over other vegetation. He could grow and control as many as five from a single seed. His crowd control capabilities were growing.

Duke focused on his TELEPORTATION. He pushed it as much as he could, attempting to TELEPORT larger and larger objects to himself, increase the rapidity of repeated TELEPORTs, and TELEPORT other objects with himself. In the end, he achieved what he had been hoping for – a two level increase:

***Congratulations, you have increased your TELEPORTATION to Adept 1. This comes with a monumental increase in the Ability’s scope and power. You are now able to TELEPORT up to 25 other individuals with you. Your range has increased to 200 kilometers. ***

With great confidence and a “damned fool of a plan”, they entered the fourth level of the dungeon yet again. They received the message that they were expecting.

*** You have two paths. One, you can return here and escape the level. Two, you can extinguish the beacon and finish the level. As the previous incursion into this level failed, the difficulty of the level has been increased by 5% ***

"Five percent increase. Not as bad as we had discussed. Are you all ready?” Duke looked each in the eye as he prepared to execute their plan. He received nods and nervous smiles. Duke took that as an indication that they were all ready. As he waited for their acknowledgement, the undead had started filling the valley exit and were starting to crowd towards the group at the exit.

Duke grinned mischievously and TELEPORTED the group above the middle of the valley. Baslin finished casting a wind spell that pushed the undead back from the central point and Duke TELEPORTED the group to the cleared point on the valley floor. The undead reacted to their presence, clacking and moaning their way to bury the group in their number. Duke activated one more Ability, and everything changed.

As planned, Duke poured 20,000 Mana into RESTORE and the Ability fired off as intended. When he had put 500 Mana into the Ability the last time they were here, the radius had increased from 5 meters to 25 meters. With this infusion of Mana, the radius increased to 2,000 meters – it had scaled perfectly. For two kilometers all around them, undead turned into soldiers.

Over the course of the next several seconds the soldiers stared pushing the undead back and organized themselves. It did not take long for the soldier’s commanders to find their way to the center and present themselves to Duke. Over the course of that time, the barren ash they had been standing on had started to sprout grass and the occasional shrub and tree.

The command cadre approached with an armored knight of some sort in the lead. It was astride a massive white horse that stood over two meters tall at the shoulder with thickly muscled legs and massive hooves peeking out from below its barding. The rider wore gleaming plate armor that seemed exceptionally well-made and thicker than normal. As the knight approached, it removed its red-feathered helm and allowed golden hair to flow freely down her shoulders.

“Greetings and thanks, my Lord. Long has the Cursed Legion been trapped in those wretched forms. You have freed so many of us that we may yet stand a chance against the Vile King that cursed us all. We are at your service.”

Elaine, as was now her “thing”, spoke up. “That’s Duke.” Duke rolled his eyes.

“Apologies, Your Grace. I was unaware of your title.” The Rider responded.

Duke ignored the interaction and cut to the core of the issue. “How are you known?” There, that sounds like something a noble would say.

“I am Aurealia, The Golden Warrior. It is my shame that I led this legion into the terrible ambush that left us all cursed. How, if I may ask, did you break the curse?”

“Breaking curses is kind of-“

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Aurealia. I am Baslin the Best. This lovely young couple is Grat and Elaine. We have particular skills in curse-breaking and other magics. What can you tell us about the Vile King that would help us defeat him?” Baslin interrupted Duke.

“Yes, the Vile King. He was once the right and just Mage King. He ruled for centuries, and the kingdom prospered under his rule. Peace was made with our neighbors and the kingdoms in the region grew to depend on each other for trade and support. It was truly a golden age. The Mage King’s spells kept the crops growing, the rivers full, and the weather temperate. He did never sire an heir however and even one such as he could not halt the eventual ravages of time.

He grew old and more and more desperate for his legacy to live on beyond him. He bedded countless maids in the attempt. The greatest healers in all the lands were called upon to heal him but the simple fact was that he was infertile and there was naught they could do especially given his advanced age.” She paused, looking around at the troops and shouted a few words of encouragement as well as issued additional orders to her command group who then set out to carry out those same orders.

“He grew more and more desperate, seeking to extend his life. It was a dark day when he was delivered an anonymous package that contained a single tome. It was this tome that taught him the vile magics that gave him immortality. But at such a price. His immortality is that of the unliving. And he spread the curse upon all the land. We were the last defense before his hordes but we were not enough to resist his magics. We were cursed to join his horde and have been unliving ever since.”

She paused again, scanning her troops and shaking her head. “Your Grace, I fear we will not be enough to stop the hordes as there are always more and more undead. We can hold them off for a time, but that is all. I am sorry.”

Duke acknowledged Aurealia with a deep nod. “Don’t sweat it. We’ve got this.”

“You bet we do.” Elaine added.

“Piece of cake.” Baslin responded. “Did I get that one right?”

“Yes, Baslin. Perfect.” Duke chuckled. “There are places that the undead come from, are there not?”

“Yes, Your Grace. The cursed shrines. The undead guard them fiercely. There are two dozen of them. To approach them is to court death. None of my soldiers have been able to even get close to them.”

“Then that is where we are going. Everyone ready?”

“I feel I must advise against this action. It is tantamount to suicide.” Aurealia implored.

“Don’t worry. I told you. We’ve got this.” Duke looked at his companions and asked, “Easy way or hard way?”

“I vote for the easy way for at least the first one to see how it goes.” Grat responded. “If it’s too difficult, you can come back here, and we will deal with it the hard way.”

Duke saw agreement in the others’ eyes. He didn’t wait for confirmation before FLYING into the air to spot the undead generators, or cursed shrines as Aurealia had called them. God, I love flying! From his vantage point, a kilometer over the peaks of the valley, he was able to see the shrines easily as undead continued to pour out of them by the dozens. He flew to a spot equally between two of the shrines and prepared himself.

Duke TELEPORTED to one of the shrine’s roof and activated RESTORE with another 20,000 Mana. The roof collapsed under his feet, but his FLIGHT took over instinctively, keeping him from falling. As he watched, the entire shrine crumbled to dust, leaving behind a glowing altar. Duke IDENTIFIED the alter as he watched all the undead in the area change back into soldiers.

*** You have found an Altar of Life. When in the light of this altar, all light and life magic is greatly enhanced while dark and death magic is suppressed. Creatures of death cannot approach the altar without taking damage from the Altar’s aura. Particularly powerful creatures of death or dark may be able to resist this effect. ***

Duke smiled and TELEPORTED back to the group. “One down and twenty-three to go. The shrines convert into Altars of Life. They have effects similar to your Life Infusion Spell, Baslin.”

“Excellent. So, the easy way worked?” Baslin asked for clarification.

“Very much so. It will take me a few minutes to regen my Mana but yeah, this works.”

“Then this is our best approach. We will keep our allies entertained while you slap down the shrines.” Elaine added.

“Yep, I’m going to go hit a few more and then come back to regen. See you all in a few.” Duke vanished.

“I do believe he is enjoying himself.” Elaine remarked.

“Rather quite.” Grat responded. “Shall we go find a front line and slap down some undead while we are waiting?”

“You two go do that. I’ll help Aurealia deal with the shock.” Baslin said.

Over the course of the next hour, Duke converted all the shrines to Altars of Life and all the undead in the valley had been restored to the living. They now stood at the head of the valley with more than 30,000 troops behind them. Their confidence had swollen with the quick and comically easy success. With that welling confidence, they strode through the passage at the end of the valley and onto the plain before the beacon with the commanders of the army at their heels.

The plain was absolutely desolate. There was evidence of vegetation, choked and desiccated or dead and turned to ash and dust. The dust of the remains of the land blew in their faces as the dry winds picked up. The air tasted of death and Duke could hear the soldiers coughing behind him. He activated RESTORE to see if it would have any effect on this area like it had on the valley below. Instantly, an area nearly 20 meters across suffused itself with moisture. Grass started to sprout from what had been barren ground and the chill of death faded from the air.

“Truly, you are a walking miracle, You Grace. We shall follow you to the ends of our days for granting us our freedom from that awful curse.” Aurelia said with gravity.

Duke made to answer her when he felt a flare from his chest as his PURPOSE resonated with the knight commander’s words. That makes no sense. These are merely dungeon creatures – they exist only by whim of the dungeon. Why is my PURPOSE activating? “Excuse me for a moment, I need to confer with my team. Aurelia, please wait here and prepare the troops for assaulting the Vile King and his remaining forces.”

Duke walked forward for a bit to get out of earshot and flared RESTORE again to clear the air around him and his team. Both Grat and Elaine looked to him with meaningful expressions, but Baslin looked confused.

“OK, you three seem to know something that I do not. Care to share?” Baslin asked.

“Baslin, you are the only one of us that know any lore on dungeons at all. Strange things are going on here and I would have your opinion on them. When Aurelia spoke about me freeing them, my PURPOSE flared. And, from the looks…and nods…from Grat and Elaine, they both felt it too. How could my PURPOSE be reacting to freeing dungeon creatures from another dungeon creature?”

“That is bizarre for sure. My knowledge on dungeons is limited to the single ancient tome that tells spurious tales at best. I do not remember anything about dungeon creatures being able to leave a dungeon but it may be possible in some way. I am afraid this is all beyond my knowledge. But I am going to have such fun figuring it all out.” Baslin responded.

“I can perhaps answer your questions in this case.” Sam appeared as a glowing humanoid figure with a hazy outline. This was the most substantial they had seen the dungeon’s entity form. He continued. “The troops behind you are not truly dungeon creatures. They are the souls of the countless adventurers who have died trying to get through this level. The mere presence of the souls of sentient beings inside a dungeon provide additional sustenance to the dungeon. When they die in here, an imprint of their soul is formed and I can use that imprint to create a new living body for them. This body is powered by a soul but does not carry the memories of that soul. I implant memories that align with the design of the level.”

The four stared at Sam as he explained. Eliane was the first to speak. “Sam, why are you telling us this?”

Sam turned to her. “Because if you fail here, you will be joining the soul imprint library. Although it would be wonderful to have new and powerful souls added to the library, I really do not want you four to fail. And beyond that, what you have done here.” He turned to Duke now. “This is not something that anyone has ever done before. You have restored these beings to life. Not constructs of mine, but true living beings. In all my existence such a thing has never happened. I do not know what will happen, but I am exited to see. When you finish this level, something is going to happen and even the Overmind is unsure of the outcome. The beings behind you are alive but bear few memories of their past lives. It could be that they become fully restored to their past selves. It could be that they are fully reborn again and can create their lives as they wish. All the eyes of the Overmind’s children are upon you. It is only with its permission that I have been able to tell you this much. Do not fail.” With the message delivered, Sam rapidly faded from view.

“Well, fuck. That’s heavy.” Duke remarked.

“We cannot have them join the fight.” Elaine added.

“What? Why not?” Grat seemed confused.

“Because they are alive. They are real people. They will really die. I cannot have that upon my conscience when we can finish this on our own. We have grown beyond the bounds of this dungeon level and with Duke’s Ability, we can finish it without risking the newborns.” Elaine implored.

“When you put it that way, I should just fly over to the beacon, RESTORE the area, and kill anything that isn’t living afterwards.” Duke answered with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“Would you?” Elaine asked, her eyes glossy. “Save the children.”

“You’re serious?” Duke asked incredulously.

“I am.” Elaine answered.

“I am surprised to find that I agree with her.” Baslin said with a wistful shake of his head. “People reborn after eons. The knowledge lost alone could be worth it.”

“They may not regain their knowledge.” Grat reminded the Archmage.

“Even still, is it worth risking them in this fight if there is a chance at freeing them all?” Elaine’s wording caused Duke’s PURPOSE to flare hotly, causing him to flush with energy, his skin reddening.

Grat spoke again, “You feel it. Our PURPOSE is shared, and we all can tell that this is the correct path. Prepare yourself and go finish this evil off, Duke. We will prepare to back you up so don’t get too far ahead of us. But don’t hesitate to finish it if you can.”

Grat didn’t wait for a response. Instead, he began growing his plant constructs, quickly forming all 25 that he could control. Baslin also cast his Life Infusion buff and prepared additional spells. Elaine transformed into her dire bear form and gave a ridiculous attempt at a thumbs-up which really doesn’t work out when you don’t have an opposable thumb.

Duke broke off from the group and made his way back to Aurelia. “Aurelia, we are going to go ahead and confront the Vile King. I need you to hold this pass with your troops. If we lose those Altars of Life, we may well lose it all.” It was a wildly convincing lie. Duke felt like he even believed it himself. Aurelia saluted solemnly then turned back to her commanders to relay orders while Duke returned to the group.

“OK, let’s walk on over to the beacon. I’ll keep casting RESTORE as we head on over so we should have a clear path. With my regen right now, I can pulse it with 500 extra Mana every second and not even feel it. That will give us about a 100-meter radius a second.”

“Your growth is frightening.” Baslin remarked. “What is your mana regen?”

“It’s about 51,000 a minute.” Duke replied.

Baslin stumbled. “51,000 and you are only a Tier Two! That’s insane. How much Mana do you have?”

Duke checked his stats. “A bit over 125k.”

“That’s…that’s not possible at your tier. Just. Wow. You are a monster. I am glad that you are on my side.” Baslin’s voice faded off as he contemplated just what Duke’s growth could mean.

The group set out into the plain to finish the fourth level.