Part Eighty-Six

In a shocking twist of events, I did eventually get to sleep. A light, shallow sleep so fitful, I may as well not have even tried. It did me more harm then good considering the nightmare I had.

Thankfully I hadn’t bolted upright screaming, or I’d have inconvenienced those in worse shape than me. In fact, no one even noticed that I’d had a nightmare, which was kind of sad now that I think of it. Not that I cared.

By the time I’d woken up, my left arm was fully healed, and my shoulder seemed to have nearly finished stitching itself back together. I still wouldn’t quite be able to fight with it, but it looked like the worst of the damage had healed. A few Recovery Tonics should finish the job.

Taking that as an opportunity, I flagged down one of the NPC healers and convinced them to let me leave the infirmary, though they applied one last [Heal] before I left. I was grateful for the extra healing, but I could do without the tingling it caused.

All right! Let’s go see what Alicia’s doing since she never came back and all. She’s probably gotten wrapped up in something stupid. Or dangerous. Or stupidly dangerous.

I made my way through the fort towards our rooms, figuring that that would be a good first place to check. I hadn’t seen either of them in a few hours, so I was prioritizing them over anything else at the moment. At least, I was.

“Oh, young man. Just who I was hoping to see. May I have a word with you?”

“A-Archmage? Well alright, not like I have much choice.”

“Excellent. Then if you’ll just follow me.”

My luck just never got better. Running into the newly-reborn Archmage was just plain bad luck. I didn’t know why he wanted me, but I just knew it wasn’t for anything good.

Our destination was a bit of a surprise. Or maybe it really wasn’t if I thought about it. I’d accidentally discovered a key part of the fort's infrastructure. Obviously the NPCs would want to make sure I wasn’t going to mess with it. He’s not gonna try to kill me, is he? Cause I don’t think I can fight him off.

“Beautiful, isn’t it? Finding such pure Life-attributed mana is nearly impossible, and yet here it is. Though I suppose it must feel a little uncomfortable to you.”

“Er, is it supposed to?” I mean sure, the light coming off the Gate was a little too bright for my tastes, but it wasn’t that bad.

“Hm, maybe you’re not as sensitive as others? Most Dark Mages would find the copious levels of Life-attributed mana here to be painful, or at least disquieting. Come to think of it, you’ve been to the infirmary a number of times, so perhaps you’ve built up a tolerance to it.”

“Archmage, why have you brought me here?” if he was going to try and kill me, I wanted him to just get on with it. I certainly was not upset at the idea of me being more tolerant of Life-attributed mana because I got injured often.

“Impatient as ever I see. Very well, I’ll tell you. This is what the monsters are after. The only reason they’ve attacked the fort is because their leader wants the Gate, or what powers it at least.”

“What? So they’re not just trying to kill everyone here?”

“No, they’re doing that as well. But I believe their original goal is the Artifact powering the Gate of Rebirth. With it, the Monster Army would essentially be invincible.”

Holy flipping cow! When did this Dungeon become so complex? But an Artifact? Could that be the reward for killing the Sub-Boss?

“Alright, well that at least explains why the monsters are here in the first place. But why are you telling me?”

“Because I’d like your help. Back when the Army first appeared, a single monster managed to sneak into the sub-space connected to the Gate in an attempt to steal the Artifact. Given the nature of the monster in question, we were ill-equipped to deal with it at the time, and so sealed it away.”

“And you’d like me to deal with it. By myself? Really?”

“Of course not. You may recruit others to aid you in this task. Though truthfully, you do not need to do this. The sub-space it is trapped in is inescapable. It would require a Spatial Mage of my caliber to break it out. But eliminating it will go a long way towards relieving the situation. Even now, the Monster continues to rampage in an attempt to escape.”

That made sense, to a certain degree. If the Archmage was somehow maintaining this spatial prison, then he was probably committing some of his resources to do so. Removing the threat would free those resources for the battles yet to come.

“So how do I open this sub-space? Do you just do it for me, or is there some trick to it?”

“A trick, obviously.” Then, the Archmage pulled out a gold disk from his robes, one identical to the one I’d found before.

“You’ll need this, as well as the one already in your possession and a token from the commander, in order to open the sub-space. And before you say anything, making it this complex makes it that much more secure.”

He then flicked the disk over to me, before heading towards the door. But just before he left, he stopped and addressed me once more.

“Ah yes, I almost forgot. The commander will be holding an assembly tomorrow morning. If you’re lucky, you’ll get the token you need then.”

Why does this have to be so needlessly complicated? It’s like they’re trying to infuriate me!

***

I honestly didn’t know what to do. I wanted to open the Gate to try and take whatever rewards were hidden away, but things just got a whole lot more complicated. From what the Archmage just said, I would have to give up if I didn’t get this token from the commander tomorrow. But even if I did get it, did I still want to try this completely optional fight? Getting a group together was essential to it, since I doubted the three of us could win alone. But bringing others into it carried its own dangers.

I really don’t know if I want to do this now. This is a monster that the NPCs are reluctant to fight, so it must be pretty damn strong. Maybe I should ask for some details before I commit to one thing or the other.

Sighing to myself, I looked up at the slowly darkening sky. We were now minutes from dusk, and less than a day from a large scale battle. Which only reminded me that the events of today were just an appetizer, the main course was still waiting for us.

Things are coming to a head awfully quickly. It all started when I killed the Orc General. It just blew the pacing of the Dungeon to smithereens. I’m still certain that that’s what provoked the offensive we face tomorrow, as well as the Wyvern’s assault and the Void Wolf’s attack. Though neither was specifically directed at me for once.

But that brings another problem to mind. If I manage to get this token tomorrow, and I decide to go through with it, when would be the best time to strike? While I may have a strike force in mind, getting everyone onto the same page won’t be easy. I’d say we should act as soon as possible, but then we run the risk of not being fully rested during the offensive. And if we wait until afterwards, who’s to say we won’t be attacked repeatedly the next day? It might be best to get several other opinions before I decide.

To that effect, I finally arrived at my room. Alicia had taken my gear here, so I’d come to get it and re-equip myself. Only, I was astonished by the sight when I opened the door.

“What were you thinking!? Why would you hide this from us? Do you, I just, raaaa! Why!? Explain what you were thinking when you agreed to do this without asking either me or Michael!”

Alicia was practically screaming at Cameron about something, and the bigger man was just sitting there taking it. It was extremely odd to see Alicia so upset at Cameron. It was usually me she got angry at.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the hell is going on in here? Alicia, why are you screaming at Cameron? Also, why are you doing this in my room?”

“M-Michael!? Aren’t you supposed to be resting!? Kalia will be livid if she finds out you’re out of bed.”

“Don’t try to change the subject. What’s going on here?”

Neither of them would look me in the eye after that. Something was happening here, and they didn’t want me to know what it was.

“Haaah, he’s not going to leave it alone lass. We might as well tell him.”

“I, oooooh, fine. Fine, you can tell him, but neither of you are getting involved. There’s no point to doing something like that this late in the game.”

“That’s up to him to decide lass. Come sit down Michael, this isn’t a short tale.”

Whatever this was about, it was serious. Cameron had been acting rather odd the last few days, and now Alicia was angrier than I’d ever seen her before. She hadn’t been this livid even after the mess with Finnél had started.

“Ehem. A couple days ago, Braddock approached me asking for some help. This was after we came back from fighting the Orc General. He told me that those he’d recruited for this Dungeon were becoming dissatisfied with his leadership, to the point where it wouldn’t surprise him if they just abandoned them. It was apparently due to the repeated casualties they were taking.”

“So they were just blaming him for their failures? Typical, no one likes to take responsibility for their flaws. I’m not surprised they looked for a scapegoat.”

“It gets worse lad. After the sabotage operation and subsequent attack by the Wyvern, most of Braddock's core group is dead. This has made the others bolder, and Braddock fears they may try to kidnap Kalia before they escape the Dungeon.”

At those words, my mind went cold. I may have had my differences and issues with her, but I still liked Kalia. I had no mercy for people who wanted to hurt my friends.

“Come to think of it, a couple of them came by the infirmary earlier looking to cause trouble. Heheheh, if I’d known it was this bad, I wouldn’t have left it at a simple menacing. I would’ve hurt them.”

For whatever reason, I had no qualms about hurting people, or just straight up killing them. I’d always been willing to get into fights, but this was taking it a step further. I’d actually developed a theory that this was an effect of the Murderer Title, like some sort of psychological unshackling. It made me more willing to commit violence against those of my own species.

I already know that there’s hidden clauses to the Titles and Skills the System gives out, so it wouldn’t surprise me if I’m right about this. Though the fact that the System can mess with my head greatly worries me. But that’s a bigger issue. I should deal with the problem in front of me.

My little outburst must’ve scared the both of them, as they’d slightly edged away from me. I had to get a grip on myself, and direct this conversation back on track.

“So I assume that there’s more to this? Alicia wouldn’t have gotten so upset if that was all.”

“Eherm, yeah, there’s more alright. Cameron went and got himself involved in a conspiracy to help solve this issue. Why don’t you just tell him what’s going on, hm?” Oh, she’s pissed.

“…We decided that the best way to deal with them was to isolate them from the others, and then capture them. There’s a woman named Camilla who holds just as much sway over the others as Braddock, if not more. She’s agreed to keep them busy until tomorrow morning, which is when we’ll trap them and forcibly eject them from the Dungeon.”

“That’s one heck of a slipshod plan, not to mention how reckless it is. Honestly, I can see why Alicia’s so upset with you-.”

“Thank you! See Cameron, even Michael agrees with me! Why won’t you admit that it’s a ludicrous plan-!?”

“Alicia, enough. Let me finish. While I don’t think this is exactly smart, I do see the necessity of doing something like this. And I have one thing to say to you. Take me to Braddock. I’m getting to the bottom of this.”