The Newt and Demon - Book 7 Chapters 4,5,6 (Patreon)

Chapter 4

Giant Flaming Toad Monster

Theo’s plan to bring some drama to the event wasn’t just about drama. He had a way he thought he could take care of the monster by flooding the chamber with water, but that came with its own set of problems. Where would the water go after it extinguished the smoldering beast? Would it flood the caverns below, causing problems for his town down there? He couldn’t predict that, so he came up with a more dramatic plan.

“You’ve been practicing your running, haven’t you, Tresk?” Theo asked.

“That question is so pointed,” Tresk said, looking slightly offended. “I don’t need to practice my running. I’m naturally good.”

One of the many projects Theo had worked on involved a set of staircases and ledges to the southwest, right through the rocks near the mine and out, giving a view of the open ocean. Digging a tunnel between the cliffs and the chamber wouldn’t be too hard. Leading the monster down that very same tunnel would be just as easy. Normally, he would be concerned about convincing Tresk to take on the task, but she seemed strangely eager. Maybe she was bored.

Although Sarisa and Rowan had come along, their roles in the event fell to being mostly observers. Although Theo wouldn’t decline their help if things went wrong, his plans often went wrong. But the strength of a Broken Tusk was their adaptability.

“Perfect,” Theo said, pulling himself from his thoughts. “Let’s get to work.”

“You’re going to get to work,” Tresk said, folding her arms. “I can’t move this much stone.”

“You can’t move any stone,” Theo said. “Look at your little noodle arms.”

“Hey!” Tresk shouted. “I love my noodle arms.”

Near the entrance of the mines, another tunnel led off to the cliffs Theo had worked on. The tunnel was angled slightly, heading upward, but only to provide drainage. The original idea was to run a railroad track down this way, looping along the cliffside and down onto a causeway in the sea. That’s because we had failed spectacularly, although Theo still didn’t know the reason. The party edged along the cliff, finding an area they thought might give them a straight shot to the chamber.

Using his earth sorcerer’s core, Theo sensed the rock, piercing it with his shadowy aura to determine where the chamber was. His senses delved deep, finding strange openings in the rock passages he wasn’t aware of and other interesting things. But soon he found what he was looking for. The massive opening in the rocks felt hot to his senses. He could feel the fire of the monster burning brighter—perhaps brighter than before. Reaching out with his will, he grabbed a cube of rock, pulled it back, and tossed it down into the ocean below.

“You know,” Sarisa said, tapping her chin. “Feels as though you could use that power more often. You know… to crush things.”

“Seriously, imagine getting one of those tossed at you,” Rowan said, shaking his head.

“I’ve done it before,” Theo said with pride, sticking his chest out, only to be smacked in the back by Tresk.

“Memento mori, my good friend,” Tresk said.

“We’re pseudo gods,” Theo countered. “I’m not sure death needs to be a concern of ours.”

“You know what I meant,” Tresk said.

Carving a new tunnel from the rock was easy enough, and if things went wrong, Theo could plug it back up before the monster got to them. He pulled countless stones from the wall, realizing after a bit that he could put Ziz out of business.Manipulating the stone with his core was almost effortless. With his willpower so high, he could reach out and make intricate shapes if he wanted. He could pull a sheet of rock from the cliff face and turn it into small, useful blocks. That aspect of the power had never appealed to him, though.

 “Getting kinda hot, isn’t it?” Tresk asked, fanning herself.

Theo looked back, seeing that both Rowan and Sarisa were sweating. It was easy to forget he was wearing the Coat of Rake, which made most environments tolerable. He looked back to the wall, realizing that as he reached out to the new bit of stone, it was hotter than the last. Falling into his thoughts had made him stop paying attention to the heat, and he could only think that they were getting closer to the chamber.

“Is it really that close?” Theo asked, looking back at his companions and concerned. “I thought we had at least another hundred feet.”

“I’m up, baby,” Tresk said. Her daggers appeared in her hands, and she assumed a combat position in the darkened tunnel.

“There’s no need to fight this thing,” Theo said. “Not until it’s in the water, then we can get it.”

“Wait, there’s a part two to this plan?” Sarisa asked, looking slightly shocked.

“You two wanted a fight, didn’t you?” Theo asked.

“We were willing to fight,” Rowan corrected. “Not like we were looking for one. Not least of which against a giant beast like that.”

“You two should make your way down to the coastline. Just wait for our signal. If we need to, we’ll lead the beast back to the city, and the guns can take care of it.”

“I’m about to head off to the tavern,” Rowan grumbled as he walked away with his sister.

Theo estimated the time it would take to walk down to the coastline, counting it out in his head as he thought about all the ways this thing could go wrong. He and Tresk both had backup plans so they wouldn’t be in immediate danger. The only problem would be if the beast somehow managed to avoid their trap, not slipping from the cliff and turning to attack the miners. At least they could send up a general alarm to the town.

“Are you ready?” Theo asked. He felt Tresk’s eagerness to prove herself flood through him.

“Ready!” she shouted, daggers still in her hands.

Of course, it was awkward when it came time to remove the last few blocks. Dreskin Theo walked the blocks back from the far side of the tunnel, tossing them over the cliff. A few more blocks later, and the heat was almost unbearable. Theo felt as though the stone he was pulling might go molten at any moment. And he didn’t remember the monster within the cavern being this hot.

“Oh, I have a feeling something’s going to go wrong,” Tresk said, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

“Terribly wrong if our luck’s anything to go by,” Theo said. He considered the last block he had to pull, looking back on the long tunnel and realizing something about his plan.

The beast very well may follow him through the tunnel as he pulled the last block. Well, he had made sure that the passageway was large enough for the monster to follow. He hadn’t counted on it following immediately after the block was pulled. Since he was effectively cutting the stone from the rock, it would be mobile after he made this last cut. Tresk might have been right in her predictions that things were going to go wrong.

“Ready?” Theo asked.

“Stop delaying,” Tresk said, bouncing with excitement. “I wanna jump off a cliff!”

“Is Alex ready?” Theo asked. Tresk’s impatient grew. She simply responded with a series of grunts.

The moment Theo pulled the last large block from the wall, he felt something press against it. He held against it with his willpower, working with his core to try to hold it in place, but the force on the other side was too great. Although he had no physical contact with the stone, his feet slid back, scraping against the stone floor. Tresk chirped with excitement, making strange noises as she laughed. The alchemist simply let the monster push him, sailing towards the light on the far side of his hewn tunnel. His companion ran as fast as she could.

No matter how much willpower he put into it, the Oak couldn’t hope to stop the monster. It pushed him until, what felt like moments later, he was sailing through the air. He couldn’t remember when the darkness of the tunnel had given way to the light just above the ocean. But the next thing he remembered was a sensation of falling. The sky above and the ocean below spun in a dizzying display that was impossible to understand.

Tresk hooted with excitement as they fell. The wind rushed by, deafening Theo to everything but the excited chittering of his companion. The only other sound he could hear was the roar of the flaming monster above them. Alex dove, scooped Tresk from the air, but left Theo to his own plan. Except he didn’t have a plan. He hadn’t thought this through as well as he had expected. Most people would consider him paranoid for keeping so many utility potions on him. The alchemist preferred to think of himself as prepared.

There were a few potions Theo could drink to get out of this situation. There was the unfavorable Return Potion. That potion would bring him back to the place he was born, which either meant he would return to the destroyed Earth, or more likely, to wherever the body he inhabited was born. But he had a better potion for the job. The Retreat Potion, imbued with the Elemental Wind property, would see him through.

As Theo fell, he angled the potion awkwardly, trying to get the contents to drain into his mouth. He drained the liquid from within the vial through great effort. The effects of the potion were immediate. Several things happened all at once. Theo shot backwards with more force than he thought his body could handle. If not for his enhanced Vigor, he might not have recovered from the whiplash alone. A gust of wind burst forth before him. The sound of the whipping wind became intense enough that he couldn’t even hear the creature roar. Once he stopped rocketing backwards, he felt the next effect of the potion take hold.

Theo drifted about 50 feet above the waves below, the feather fall effect from his potion carrying him harmlessly. He watched as the monster crashed into the water, massive gouts of steam issuing as its body was extinguished. He still couldn’t get a good look at what the thing looked like under that steam, but he saw dark flesh. It was as though the monster was made from coal, some embers still burning as it sank below the waves. Tresk hooted with excitement from somewhere above. Alex’s excited honks joined her shrill voice.

Drifting awkwardly towards the harbor, Theo crossed his arms and shook his head. He watched the boiling sea, trying to spot any sign of the monster below. But as he grew more distant, he found he was unable to see anything worth noting. It was an undignified thing to be propelled by one’s own momentum, unable to change course, especially when the ocean came rushing up to meet him.

Theo wasn’t the strongest swimmer, especially not with the river dumping into the harbor, creating large eddies near the defensive towers they had built. Fortunately, the builders of those towers had enough knowledge to put little ladders along its length on both sides. Pumping his legs, the alchemist finally reached the ladder, grasping the rusted metal and pulling himself onto the stone causeway. He sucked in a breath of fresh air, coughing and spitting out a fair amount of water.

The causeway rumbled slightly as Alex and Tresk landed next to him.

“That was pretty cool,” Tresk said.

“It could have been cooler,” Alex honked.

A tres cat away of celebrating before fights were over. Theo rose to his feet, ringing out what parts of his clothes he could see. Water dripped onto the causeway as the defenders stationed there looked on in confusion. They were all prepared for the lizardfolk to attack. But Theo was more concerned about the giant monster thrashing in the water about 200 feet away. It hadn’t died from the fall, and extinguishing its fire seemed to do little to temper its rage.

The alchemist now had a better view of the monster, who seemed to learn how to swim after a few moments of thrashing around. If the creature’s proportions weren’t so strange, it would have almost been cute doing a little doggy paddle towards the defensive towers of the town. It had a big lumpen body, arms and legs almost like a toad’s, and a squat face to match. If the creature had eyes, a nose, and a mouth, he couldn’t see them.

“Round two. Fight!” Tresk shouted.

Theo looked up at the nearest tower, smiling to himself. He knew that it wouldn’t be much of a fight, not with the Sandscourge Company on deck. Zan’kir took his job very seriously. The towers he commanded bristled with weapons, both constructed by the local artificer, Throk, and those generated by the system. He heard orders that spread through their ranks: loading rounds, aiming the weapons, and preparing to fire. They were just waiting for a command from their officer. While the alchemist could give that command, his eyes were locked on the monster in the water. He couldn’t stop thinking about what it was, or what it was doing down there in the mine.

Eventually, the order came, and the deafening snap of several railguns firing at the same time echoed across the harbor. The beast flailed in the water as more rounds were fired. It didn’t last long against the might of those weapons. And Theo was reminded that perhaps this was another exploit that should be patched. There were just too many things to track.

“That went well,” Sarisa said, approaching an out-of-breath  from the far side of the causeway. Her brother was close behind her.

“I shot an arrow at it,” Rowan said, striking a heroic pose.

“And I’m sure we’ll never have a problem with giant flaming toad monsters again,” Theo said, smiling to himself.

Chapter 5

A Crown for a Goose

Dealing with the flaming monster was therapeutic. Theo felt a lot better about himself after taking care of it. It was dangerous, but he needed a little excitement after things had calmed down so much. While he would be the first to claim that he enjoyed his quiet life in the Alliance, the small spurts of exciting moments became something he looked forward to. It felt odd, but those spats of danger were often highlights of his time here.

Putting himself in dangerous situations wasn’t just about the adrenaline rush. It had more to do with seeing his hard work pay off, observing the effects of his potions, the teamwork of his people, and how efficiently the town was being run. Zan’kir’s people were able to respond to a strange, flailing, flaming monster. Within about 30 seconds of spotting it—sure, they were already on the lookout for a fleet but still—they aligned their weapons and fired with expert precision. After the last void-infused dungeon wave, it was nice to see them take on something slightly more challenging.

Theo, Tresk, Sarisa, and Rowan walked back to town. They all exchanged their memories of the events. Of course, in classic Broken Tusk style, the tale grew taller even before they reached the walls. The alchemist had to put a stop to it when Tresk greatly inflated the number of flaming beasts they dealt with. It was one thing to claim that it was as large as the mountain itself, but two, and three of them? That was too much.

Thinking about what had happened with the last dungeon wave, Theo was hesitant to retrieve more space elves. Everyone was on high alert, expecting something strange to happen with the dungeons. After reaching the town proper, lingering in the market for a while, the alchemist inspected his dungeon information readout.

[Swamp Dungeon] L30 Dormant

[River Dungeon] L19 Dormant

[Mountain Dungeon] L3 Dormant

[Hills Dungeon] L-1 Dormant

[Ocean Dungeon] L1 Dormant

[Cave Dungeon] L45 Dormant

Theo stopped looking at the things on display by the merchants, reading over the list several times. The Hills Dungeon was at level negative one. His brow furrowed as he thought about what that meant. The dungeons had started draining power the moment Void Energy was released into the town. While he didn’t understand exactly what Void Energy was, he had only assumed that it would siphon what heavenly energy those dungeons had accumulated. Dungeons grew in power when their level increased. So what would happen with a dungeon that went into the negatives for its level? Something tickled in the back of his mind, something to do with computers back on Earth, but he couldn’t remember what it was.

“I need to talk to some people,” Theo said, turning to look at Tresk. She had just bought some grilled fish from a vendor and was shoving it in her face.

“What about what?” Tresk asked, through a mouthful of fish, bones and all.

Theo only frowned, opening his administration interface and sending messages to the appropriate people. He set up a meeting with the town’s leaders, as well as Xol’sa. Of course, the resident’s space elf was incredibly busy, but he would come if the alchemist said it was an emergency. Anyway, the man had a Dungeon Engineer’s Core. He would want to hear about this if he hadn’t already noticed.

 There was no better place for a meeting than Town Hall. Since they had expanded the building, it had many rooms for meetings, comfortable chairs, and a buzzing atmosphere. Sarisa and Rowan return to the shadows, providing Theo with their watchful, unseen gazes. As expected, the town hall was as busy as ever. Junior administrators moved around the first floor, helping citizens and foreigners alike with whatever questions they had. These were matters that were below the top brass of the governmental structure.

Theo and Tresk found their way to the upper floors, entering a large meeting room and settling into a pair of chairs. Alise was already there, drumming her fingers on the table as she looked between the two of them.

“What have you done this time?” she asked, her eyes flitting between them as though either Theo or Tresk would break under her stare.

“Don’t look at us,” Tresk said, slightly offended. “We actually didn’t do anything this time. Blame the void.”

Elise kneaded her temples, letting out a heavy sigh. “We’re busy enough as it is,” she said, seeming to calm down. “Do you have any solutions?”

Theo smiled, nodding to the door as Xol’sa stepped through. “Just the man I wanted to see.” He gestured for me to take a seat.

“Yes, yes,” Xol’sa said, taking his seat and shaking his head. “I saw the energy of the dungeons changing. Well, I felt it mostly, but then I checked the interface. I really don’t know what it could mean.”

“You really don’t know?” Alise asked, looking between Theo and Xol’sa. “I thought you two were supposed to know the most about this.”

Of course, it wasn’t that simple. Introducing void energy into the mortal realm was a risky thing. It was hard to predict what would happen since the void belonged in the void, nowhere else. This was similar to how the space elves had doomed themselves by creating their island in the void. The effects of constant void exposure had on the island were unpredictable. Theo would have assumed that the entire place would be destroyed, but it was likely the power of the shards that kept it afloat.

The alchemist explained as much to Alise. While he didn’t expect her or Xol’sa to do anything about it, he thought it would be prudent if they knew.

“So, do we have a plan of action?” Alise asked.

“That should be fairly simple,” Xol’sa said. “We treat it just like anything else. Assume that the Hills dungeon is now very dangerous. We should keep a close eye on it and make sure that there are plenty of troops ready to respond if it attacks.”

“We should also consider sending adventurers in,” Theo said, nodding to Tresk. “People who are strong enough to withstand a high-level dungeon, but who are also smart enough to run away if the need arises.”

“So you need someone who is both strong, and a coward,” Tresk said, nodding in her sage-like way. “Interesting.”

“We need to understand what the dungeon is,” Theo said, correcting Tresk. “We need to know what ‘negative one’ means when it comes to a level. I don’t really know if anybody has encountered that in this world.”

“None that I am aware of,” Xol’sa said. “In all my studies, I’ve never heard of anything going below level one, let alone into the negatives.”

“Could we destroy the dungeon?” Tresk asked. “Maybe blow it up or something. With a nuke. From orbit?”

“Destroying a dungeon is slightly more complicated than that,” Xol’sa said. “I’m not sure if we could use explosives or not.”

“Could you do that, though?” Alise asked. “Could you do some research and see if you can figure out how to destroy the dungeon? If you’re not too busy, that is.”

 “Facts have recently come to my attention concerning my attempts at the Tethers and Beacons,” Xol’sa said. “I think I’m at a point where I can say that they will likely work with Theo’s newest friend. I believe they will work. We’re just waiting on him.”

Theo turned to Xol’sa, his eyebrows raising. “Are you really almost done?” he asked. “Was Elrin’s information really that helpful? Did he tell you that much?”

“I only need this slightest nudge to go in the right direction,” Xol’sa said. “And yes, the nature of the shards, the tethers, and the beacons… have finally come under my understanding. I think.”

 “Great,” Tresk said. “Now we just need the scary guy with the halberd and the tiger. And everything will work out just fine.”

Alise  took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She nodded at each of them. “I appreciate you bringing this to my attention,” she said, sounding as though she was growing more tired by the moment. “Let’s hope we can handle it.”

“Just hold in there, okay?” Theo asked, trying to reassure his best administrator that everything would indeed be okay. “Once we go to Tero’gal, everything will be a lot easier.”

“You say that now,” Alise said, giving Theo an accusatory look. “But I know once we get there, there will be even more work for me to do. I’m managing an alliance right now, and you want me to manage a planet?”

“Actually, it’s a planet and a moon, which is also a planet,” Tresk said.

“You need to work on your tap talks,” Alise said, glaring at Tresk.

“I’m the peppiest around. Ain’t no one peppier,” Trask said, standing up with such force that her chair clattered to the ground behind her.

Theo could feel Tresk’s intent to go probe the new dungeon. Well, it was an old dungeon, but being downgraded to -1 made it a new dungeon in his eyes. He wasn’t sure how safe it would be, but sending somebody to investigate was a good idea. And the perfect person for the job was the angry little lizard.

This wasn’t the first weird thing the system spat out in recent memory. There were some old upgrades aligned with gods that displayed a messed up entry. But the group gathered in the meeting room had their own tasks to accomplish. Xol’sa would get back to working on the beacons and tethers, finishing up whatever else he needed to do. Tresk would investigate the dungeon. And Theo would get back to his lab.

As he left the town hall, watching as Tresk headed off on this newest adventure, Theo spied on her. He wouldn’t be ashamed of keeping an eye on his companion. If she got herself into trouble, he could help pull her out. Or at least send someone else to go after her. For now, he pretended to go back to the lab with nothing on his mind. Of course, Salire was hard at work up in the lab. Ever since Theo had lost his Champion status, she had closed the gap between them. It was more like he had closed the gap by going down in skill.

“Everything going well?” Theo asked, looking over the stills on this floor. There were still some more working on the second floor. “Smells good, anyway…”

“Yeah, I robbed a few free stills for some restoration potions,” Salire pointed at the ones she was talking about. “With the healers busy they’re more important than ever. I’m working with the administrators to figure out what we need most of.”

The Newt and Demon was the only organization providing healing in the region. There were tons of potions that normal people would find a use for in their everyday life. It wasn’t all healing and attribute potions coming out of the shop. But even now, they were unlikely to focus on anything but curative potions. Even stamina and mana potions were off the table.

“Troubling times, aren’t they?” Theo asked, inspecting the brewing essence. The quality was great, meaning they would produce some seriously good potions from this batch. His attention was drawn away from the lab. Alex was somewhere outside, having already dropped Tresk off at the dungeon. “Hold on. A dragon-goose is calling for my attention.”

Salire chuckled to herself, getting back to tending the stills. Theo made his way downstairs, walking outside to see his familiar doing circles in the sky overhead.

“I am bored,” Alex said. “Entertain me.”

Theo frowned up at the dragon-goose. “What is it, you goofy creature? Have I not noticed how much Tresk is your babysitter?”

“Perhaps,” Alex said, shooting an impressive stream of fire. That got a few cheers from the random people on the street below. “But I am bored now. You must entertain me.”

Theo scratched his head, rubbing his horns as he thought. Sometimes Alex could be quite the diva, while others she was completely chill. He let out a steady breath. There wasn’t that much to do in town besides work and fight monsters. With the dungeons acting strangely, they could really only work. That’s when he remembered he basically owned a nation and a few businesses that made a ton of money. He was rich.

“Wanna go shopping?” Theo asked, smiling up at the dragon-goose.

A hard beat of her wings sent a torrent of air rushing down. Theo watched as Alex tracked a path straight to the market, descending before he had a chance to catch up. He broke into a jog, following her to the open-air market. With a giant dragon-goose-thing roaming the market, people kept their distances. She might have been known to them, but Alex rarely went on the ground and mingled with the locals. The alchemist found her honking at a random foreign vendor, although he couldn’t understand what she was saying.

“Uh, can you make a big version of this one,” Theo said, gesturing to an ornate cloak.

“What?” the human man asked, his back pressed against a wooden pillar.

Theo snapped his fingers a few times before pushing Alex away. Of course, he couldn’t move the massive creature. She just moved under his command. “The pretty cloak there. Can you make one dragon-goose sized?”

“Uh… Yeah?” the man said, his eyes twitching. “Is it gonna eat me?”

Theo looked between Alex and the vendor. “Not likely. Unless you’re a dragon.” He tried to chuckle to defuse the tension, but it didn’t work. Instead, he negotiated for a price. The man working the counter could apparently make another version of the cloak big enough for Alex to wear.

“What else?” Theo asked, looking around.

“Uhm… Hrm… A crown?” Alex said, her voice echoing through Theo’s mind.

“A crown it is,” Theo said, eager to distract the goose for as long as possible. “Let’s find you a crown.”

Chapter 6

The Giant Doom Beast Named Frank

Alex had very particular tastes when it came to crowns. Theo wasn’t shocked by that fact. What gave him pause was the amount of vendors in his town selling crowns. He hadn’t seen people walking around with crowns. Ever. Not in all his time in Iaredin had he seen anyone wearing a crown. He was certain Hanan had a crown, but he hardly wore it. Yet there the vendors were, selling more crowns than any person would reasonably suspect.

“Why exactly is this one so expensive?” Theo asked, gesturing to one crown.

The elven merchant gave Theo a nasty look. “Because this is no mere crown, dronon. This is a mythril crown done in the Veostian style. A style that is now extinct.”

“Kinda looks like crap,” Alex said, speaking exclusively into Theo’s mind. “Oh! Let’s go look at that dwarf’s crowns!”

Theo waved the merchant off, heading to a stall run by a dwarf. Not only were the crowns cheaper here, they looked cooler. Instead of the elegant designs of the Veostian crowns, those here were cut from blocky forms. Looking back at the shape of Alex’s weird dragon-goose head, he wasn’t sure if anything would fit her.

“Do you have anything that would fit a five-thousand-pound dragon-goose?” Theo asked, looking over the assortment of crowns. Unsurprisingly, the gold ones weren’t the most expensive ones. There were many made from various alloys, most of which the alchemist had never heard of.

The dwarf behind the counter puffed his chest out, swelling with excitement. “Each crown we produce comes with a resizing enchantment. So long as your feathered horror is moderately sapient, it can wear one.”

“I am extremely sapient,” Alex said, flapping with excitement. Several items blew over in nearby stalls.

“Do you also sell strings so I can tie it onto her head?” Theo asked.

“Ah-hah!” the dwarf said, pointing a finger into the air. “We can also bind the crown to her, activating our Magnetism enchantment. It won’t fall off no matter how hard she tries.”

“Go on, then,” Theo said, nodding to the table of crowns. “Pick whichever you like.”

“I like the Dragoniron ones,” Alex said, poking her bill at a few. They were made from the mixture of iron and mythril, most with gems set into the front. Broken Tusk produced that metal here, but they didn’t have crowns. Well, Throk could make a crown if he tried hard enough, but that wasn’t the point.

“You can only have one,” Theo said.

Alex took a bit to decide. Theo didn’t care, since he was waiting for her cloak to be completed. She eventually settled on one that was more round than the others with green gems set into the face. The alchemist forked over the money for both the crown and the ritual required to bind it to the dragon-goose. It wasn’t nearly as expensive as he thought, only costing about as much as he paid for common seed cores.

“There she is!” the dwarf said, placing the crown onto Alex’s head. Both the dwarf and Theo watched as the crown resized itself on her head. “Give it a try. Bet you can’t shake it off.”

Alex wiggled her neck, tossing her head to other side and looking like a crazed serpent. A few balls of fire shot forth from her mouth, all firing harmlessly into the air. When she was done, she flapped with excitement. Much to the displeasure of those around the dragon-goose. “I love it!” she shouted, more fire pouring from her mouth.

“Excellent work,” Theo said, nodding to the dwarf.

The dwarf bowed his head. “Thank you for the business.”

Theo and Alex wandered through the market. He knew Alex was already pleased with how things had gone, but there was no harm walking around for a while. Both stopped when Tresk sent a mental message through the Tara’hek.

“Absolutely vile,” Tresk groaned. “The inside of the dungeon is all messed up.”

“How?” Theo asked, opening his administration interface. He planned to transcribe the information for his administrators to see.

But instead of waiting for Tresk to respond, Theo simply saw through her eyes. He went from standing in the market to sneaking in the shadows. The ground beneath her feet was goopy, almost like sucking mud the way it clung to her boots. The landscape around her was weird, seeming to roll into the distance with no logical order. Crags, hills, and towers loomed all around her. The only thing they had in common was that they were all covered in a foul-smelling goop.

“Yeah, see what I’m saying?” Tresk asked, sensing that Theo had moved his vision to her.

She lingered on the spot for some time, watching as something moved above. It took Theo quite a while to figure out what he was looking at. But when he did determine what it was, he felt his heart beat quicker, eventually hammering against his ribcage. Tresk might not have been freaking out, but he was willing to do enough for the both of them.

“What the hell was that?” Theo asked.

“Oh, the giant doom beast? I call him Frank,” Tresk responded.

Frank wasn’t a good name for the creature. He watched as a monster loomed overhead. It wasn’t as though it clung to a cavern ceiling above her. No, the dungeon appeared as though it was in an outdoor area. What he saw was a thing the size of Broken Tusk, floating through the air as though swimming through water. It had some semblance of a structure, but not enough to be consistent. The best he could think was that it looked like a giant whale with a bunch of flippers and even more spikes coming from its body.

“I hate Frank,” Theo said, feeling the mental urge to withdraw his sight. “What Level is it?”

“Dunno, but I just watched it destroy a giant tower earlier. So, there’s no way I'm fighting it.”

Theo did his best to understand the scale of Frank overhead. As he considered their next move. He assumed his normal sight and opened his administrative interface. After adding an important note to the top of their important notes, he opened another section of the interface to send an alliance-wide message.

[Theo]: Please consult with Alise AND Aarok if you have questions about the dungeons. Until we figure out what’s going on, no one will be permitted to run any dungeon.

“That’ll make a few people mad,” Sarisa said, laughing at Theo.

Turning to meet her gaze, Theo shrugged. “I’m not sure you understand how bad it is in there,” he said.

Theo was thankful that he didn’t need to send Tresca a message to retreat. At first, he had been concerned that she wouldn’t be able to find the exit, but a few moments later, she appeared right next to him. Despite her bravado, she had been slightly shaken by the encounter, and he couldn’t blame her.

“Well, that was messed up,” Tresk said.

“We’re going to need more information for Aarok,” Tresk said, “How is the entrance? Were there any other monsters?”

“Do you remember those weird goblins that came out of the dungeons? Those mutated ones?” Tresk asked. “It was like that, except a bunch of different creatures, and I’m pretty sure they were all over the level range.”

It didn’t take long for Theo to get notifications from his administration interface. People from the administration team were asking him what was going on. Of course, this meant another meeting with them, but it couldn’t be helped. But he didn’t need to make his way to the town hall. Alise found him on the street, pulling him aside to ask what was happening.He explained the situation as best he could, although he found it difficult to describe the kinds of monsters they were dealing with. All he needed to relay was that the dungeons were messed up and nobody should go inside them.

“That works for me, I guess,” Alise said. “Although I’d rather have more information, I’m sure Aarok is going to be upset or excited. It’s hard to tell with him.”

Theo found it hard not to think about the monster in the mines. But just because he had never seen a monster like that didn’t mean that it was caused by the void and energy he had unleashed on the world. Well, it might not have been a great idea to bring so many space elves. It needed to happen if they ever wanted to leave. Only when those elves were gone from the floating chunk in the void could they finally bring the shards back.

Since those shards were the only thing holding the place together, it wouldn’t be a good idea to remove them before it was time.

 It wasn't long before Aarok found the impromptu meeting in the streets. He had apparently left the adventurer's guild in search of Theo and his strange message to the entire Alliance. He approached with the normal swagger of a half-ogre, placing his hands on his hips as though he were a stern father ready to discipline his errant archduke.

"You'll have to explain this really slowly for me," Aarok said, giving Theo a concerned look. "You're aware I have a team in another dungeon, right?"

"We only have to worry about the Hills dungeon for now," Theo said, nodding to his friend. "It's the only one at level -1."

Aarok’s eyes went slightly wide, but not wide enough for a normal person to register his shock. As always, he was stoic about these kinds of things. Holding it inside to put on a brave face as a commander. "You need to get better about bringing me in on these things," he said.

"We just figured it out," Tresk said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "Theo just put out the alert. Come on guys, get with it."

“And I didn’t even describe the full extent of that thing you saw. What did you call him? Frank?” Theo asked, shaking his head. “Well, it looked like a giant whale floating in the sky, roughly the size of the town, maybe even as large as the alliance.”

Alise gave Theo a stern look. "This is because of the elves, isn't it?" she asked, shaking her head. "How dangerous is this exactly? Should we be more concerned?"

“We should all be running and screaming,” Theo said, shaking his head. “But because we are apparently in charge, we're going to keep our cool and make sure everybody else doesn't panic.”

“Do you have a good reason why nobody can enter the dungeons?” Aarok asked. “Or is this just a precautionary thing? Can I send scouting teams? How much do you know that you’re not sharing?”

Theo looked to Tresk for guidance. She shrugged.

“The area was pretty dangerous when I entered,” Tresk said. “I think the biggest problem is going to be the monsters within being at such weird levels. They could either be level 1 or 100. It would be impossible to tell what a person would get when they entered.”

"Did you fight a level 100 monster?" Aarok asked, leveling his gaze with Tresk.

"A few," she said with a shrug, "but there weren't enough to overwhelm me, not when I drew on Theo's power."

"As concerning as this is," Theo said, doing his best to placate the group. "I don't think we have the manpower to send scouting teams."

"We could send stealthers," Tresk offered, with a half-hearted shrug. “They had a hard time detecting me. I don't think they have properly developed senses, and the monsters seem more like aberrations that just flail around.”

The consensus was flip-flopping before Theo's eyes. He wanted to heed caution, but maybe scouting was the best idea. Anyway, what was Tress going to do with her free time? She was bored, and he was pretty certain Alex could follow her into the dungeon. Although, with a goose's massive appearance, it might be impossible for her to remain stealthed.

“I need to leave this problem with you guys,” Leo said, gesturing to both Aarok and Tresk. “I don’t think it’s for me to decide what we do. If you guys think it’s a good idea to scout, then do it. Just be safe.”

“Just be safe,” Tresk said with a laugh. “After the stunt we just pulled, You want me to be safe? We dove off a cliff, Theo.”

“Yes, well, the cliff is hardly a problem for us. A city-sized whale, on the other hand, could pose an issue.” Theo kneaded his temples, trying to find relief from the mounting headache. “You two sort it out. This isn’t my specialty.”

"We'll work on it," Aarok said, nodding his head. "Come on, Tresk, we have some planning to do."

Theo watched them go, not envying the task that lay in for them. While it was true that the dungeons might be dangerous, they had to do something about them. They weren’t nearly close enough to solving the space health problem to just leave the planet, and he was fairly certain that they were stuck there until the very end. There were rules about taking mortals to the Ascendant Realms. Rules that wouldn't be broken until the world was ready to be reset. The gods were clear on that, at least.

But approaching the end of the world meant there were just more things for him to do. One thing he had neglected for quite some time was the favor of the gods. Without that favor, he would have to leave all the things he had built behind. And as time went on, he realized how much energy he had invested—literal energy held in the seed, town, and kingdom cores of the place.

Looking at the sun overhead, he didn't have the energy to visit the heavens. The place where the system called home was cold, cold enough to pierce through his coat. He'd rather stay down here, where, even in autumn—a thing they called the season of death here—it was quite warm. That warmth had become a comfort, and he didn't want to give it up for the day. Better just spend his time at the Newt and Demon.