[Soul Sleep] resisted.

[Soul Sleep] resisted.

[Soul Sleep] resisted.

[Soul Sleep] resisted.

[Soul Sleep] resisted.

I look at the message appearing in my vision. A simple message informing me that I have resisted the status effect. A very powerful and deadly status effect using the rarest and most difficult magic to utilize and defend against. Soul magic.

The thing about soul magic is that it bypasses physical and mental defenses. Even those who have a domain cannot defend against it unless their domain specifically deals with the soul. But, it has a significant cost. For one, any skills or spells that target the soul have an enormous cost requirement, an extremely long cast time, and it can still be resisted by someone with a strong soul.

I look at one of the messages popping up and then expand it to get the full detail.

Anima Nebula casts [Soul Sleep]

War of Souls activated.

4000 vs 4151

[Soul Sleep] resisted.

Yup, still barely resisting it.

I try to look around as I continue onwards, but gray clouds my vision. I can barely see my feet, let alone where I’m going.

“At least it’s a one-way tunnel,” I say as I continue heading downward while muting the messages as they pop up in my vision.

As time passes and I continue going down the tunnel, the tunnel slowly begins to expand. Eventually, I enter into a massive cavern and hear their cries.

“WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.”

Far above me are the shadows of monsters swimming through the fog. For a moment, the mist clears and I can glimpse the fin of a whale parting the clouds.

Anima Nebula- Level 200.

Created by the dungeon INAEQUO, these massive beasts fly through the air through use of gravitational magic. They spew clouds which inflict [Soul Sleep] upon those that are in its presence.

I look at the things level and can only decide that they are stagnant. Created by the dungeon for the sole purpose of casting [Soul Sleep] and nothing else. Effective against practically all entities, and yet, they haven’t been able to reach past level 200.

Without giving the monsters much more thought, I continue walking the general direction and am awarded with another tunnel going further down. I take the tunnel, heading down for a good half hour. Then, all at once, the fog instantly disappears and my bare feet touch cold ground.

I stop and look out at the tenth floor.

“So that’s where all the metal went.”

The tenth floor is a gigantic dome created purely of metals. No signs of life can be seen anywhere. The only thing of note is an imposing metallic tower in the center of the floor.

“Getting some serious sci-fi vibes here,” I comment, examining the skyscraper that stands over a mile high. At the top of the tower are four glowing pylons that supply the light for the floor. From my current distance, I can’t tell if the pylons are made of metal or crystal.

At the bottom of the tower, I can see a simple, unwelcoming, metal door.

I once again look at the floor around me, then I turn and look at Joker who has been loyally following me the entire time.

“Well, my expectations were thwarted.”

I frown, finding the floor’s lack of… well, everything rather uncanny. It’s all incredibly ominous.

I shrug and begin trudging towards the evil-looking, mad scientist’s wet dream.

As I get near the tower, my skill [Eyes of the Reaper] activate directly on the tower. The result leaves me gawking.

Babel Level 37561

Babel is an artificial dungeon created by Mimir for magical and biological experimentation. The tower is capable of absorbing ambient mana to power its capabilities, a similarity shared by all dungeons.

“Oh, what in the fuck. It’s over nine thousand? I just got done with the sky narwhal, and now the threat level’s risen to infinity? That’s not fair.”

I shake my head and continue walking towards the tower, eventually coming towards the door.

“Really? A door knocker? You have the power to create a goddam dungeon the size of multiple continents underground, and you can’t afford something more advanced like a buzzer?”

I sigh as I near the door. I look over the metal knocker for any oddities, but don’t notice any. I lift it and then let it hit the door. The sound it creates is loud, especially when you take into account the lack of sound in the area.

After a moment, nothing happens, and I debate whether I should try again. Unfortunately, one was enough.

The sides of the tower begin to melt and expand, allowing dozens of turrets to mold out of the structure, all of which quickly focus on my position. They then begin to glow a dark purple, the same energy as my [Corrosive Annihilation] skill. Except, the mana in each turret exceeds my entire mana pool by a considerable margin.

“Well then, this looks bad…” I say, looking around at how utterly fucked I am.

“Commencing scan.”

A sound comes from the tower, one that sounds robotic in nature. Similar to Mule when he deigns to speak.

“What?” I say but am completely ignored as metal parts above the door and an eyeball emerges from the hole. It looks directly at me and glows for several moments.

“Several divine marks found. One divine mark accepted.”

The doors open in front of me.

“Chosen of Hermes. Your presence is 18273 days late. Please enter and deliver your package to Mimir.”

The fuck?

The turrets immediately power down and melt back into the tower. Even the eyeball melts back into the tower, but the door continues to stay open.

I look down at my legs and the tattoo feathers on my shins.

“Heh. Loki, I wonder how far you planned this,” I chuckle as I enter the tower.

_________________________________________________________________________

With a slight bit of trepidation, Quasi walks past the open doors and enters a small circular room. He frowns as he looks around at the dark interior. The only light being produced is from the open entryway.

Then the door closes and the [Hero] is left without any light.

Quasi snorts, “And now the magical bullshit begins.”

Not even a second passes after his words before the room comes to life. Magic formations on the wall illuminate the room as they are infused with power. Quasi is surrounded in arcane sigils for three seconds before his body vanishes in a flash of light.

Within the bowels of Babel, a circular formation begins to glow before depositing the [Hero] above a comfy, fluffy, carpet…

Quasi falls twenty feet and lands on the carpet with a painful thud. He lies groaning on the rug.

“Oh for… Ugh. Fucking stupid magic. Why teleportation? Why can’t you just use stairs like normal people? Why the fuck am I on a carpet? Why the hell is it fluffy?”

He pauses. “Actually, this is pretty good. Whatever Mimir’s done, he’s got a fantastic rug maker.”

“Chosen of Hermes. Mimir is waiting for you in the Laboratory section of the tower. Please make your delivery with haste.”

Quasi stops groaning, takes a moment to process the voice coming from the tower. A deep, males voice that sounds like a butler combined with a machine.

With a sigh, the [Hero] stands and looks around, only to freeze as his eyes look to the ceiling.

A crystal the size of a football field in both height and width is hanging from dozens of huge chains that come from the wall and circle the crystal in its entirety.

“Shit, that doesn’t look normal,” the [Hero] mouths as he notices the chains, many of which look to be damaged and cracking.

As he continues staring, the crystal begins to glow a second, and then it releases a pulse of mana that violently surges down the chains in arcs of light, reminiscent of solar flares. The mana travels from link to link before reaching the tower’s walls and traveling somewhere else within the construction. The chains rattle for a few moments longer before going silent.

“Yeah, someone should fix that.”

“Chosen of Hermes. Mimir is waiting for you in the Laboratory section of the tower. Please make your delivery with haste.”

“Shut up and let me get my fucking bearings, you disrespectful shit,” he growls in reply, but the tower gives no answer.

He sighs before looking around. The room he is in is huge, circular, and relatively boring. Other than the crazy crystal above, nothing else catches his eye. The [Hero] looks at the doors on the wall, finding no labels to where they lead, nor any hint to where they might lead.

“Chosen of Hermes. Mimir is waiting for you in the Laboratory section of the tower. Please make your delivery with haste.”

“I heard you the first time. You can shut up now. Mimir waited fifty years, he can wait a bit longer.”

“Chosen of Hermes. Mimir is waiting for you in the Laboratory section of the tower. Please make your delivery with haste,” it replies.

The [Hero] growls as he glares at the crystal and allows himself to imagine a dangerous fantasy, one involving his entire mana pool and the spell [Corrosive Annihilation]. A lovely fantasy in which him, the tower, and perhaps the entire dungeon, would be destroyed in a glorious explosion that would consume a continent.

Unfortunately, suicide is not a high priority for the [Hero].

“Chosen of Hermes. Mimir is waiting for you in the Laboratory section of the tower. Please make your delivery with haste.”

“Fine. Whatever. I doubt I can do anything to Mimir anyways. Whatever, where’s the laboratory?” he speaks.

At his words, one of the closed doors opens. Quasi walks to the door and then groans.

“Fucking teleportation,” he says as he enters into the small circular room with a teleportation circle on the floor. Not a moment later, it begins to glow.

This time, when the [Hero] drops onto the floor, he lands with a roll and quickly takes a standing position. He then frowns as he looks down and finds that the cloth covering his hips has disappeared.

Speaking of which, where the hell is Joker?

The [Hero] attempts to sense the undead, but other than knowing the connection still exists, can’t do anything else, not even give orders.

“Right. I’m naked, minion-less, and currently strolling through a borderline hostile tower that has enough destructive power to destroy continents. And now I have to go meet the ruler of such a tower in my birthday suit. Oh yeah, this just gets better and better.”

“Chosen of Hermes. Mimir is in the arcane forge section of the laboratory. Please make your delivery with haste.”

He sighs, looks around, then chokes at the size of the laboratory. To one side, monsters in various stages of disassembly are preserved in crystal. Whole specimens preserved in tanks sit by their dissected innerparts. On the other, kennels, cages, terrariums (some quite large), and stasis tanks hold critters of advanced age or decay. Myriad tables and surgical beds fill in the rest of the lab. Many still hold the corpses of restrained monsters in various states of vivisection.

The [Hero], curious, begins walking, studying at the various experiments, many of which are gruesome and disgusting. Most of the monsters in stasis tanks have malignant growths or extra limbs. One of them even has two heads. The experiments range from minor exploratory surgeries to outright biological torture.

Quasi wanders over to the reference side of the lab. He peers with fascination at the innards of the various monsters. He spends some time flipping through glass panes of a thinly sectioned lamia.

“Huh,” Quasi muses aloud, “A cloaca. Who knew?”

Eventually, after a few minutes of sightseeing, he finally reaches a structure that looks like a nuclear reactor.

Arcane Forge [Legendary]

Created by the [Demigod] Mimir, the Arcane forge is a structure that drastically reduces the cost required for enchanting.

Reduce enchanting mana cost by 99%

At the base of the arcane forge is a pedestal, and near the pedestal, on the walkway, is a body laying on the floor.

Quasi reaches the body and finds a human skeleton.

Mimir [Demigod] level 3620

Mimir was a former god who chose to take mortal form.

Strength

270

Dexterity

890

Stamina

488

Perception

2260

Endurance

764

Vitality

∞

Mana

1734567

M/regen

62364

Affinity

29

Intelligence

2836

Willpower

N/A

Soul

N/A

Charisma

1270

Resistance

49