It was like the Light Hunter, this elven Crown Princess, had completely forgotten that she was covered in goo. And yet she had successfully adjusted her aim and pull to compensate for its presence as her arrows were hitting their exact target once again.

That, combined with her apparent decision to stop pulling punches and saving resources, meant she was dealing a good deal of damage to my Boss with each attack. And as she was only using Skills and not spells, I couldn't even hope for a lucky burst of Wonkyness.

The Boss only survived as long as it did due to its ridiculously high Toughness Score.

There were 4 minutes left on the clock when my Boss fell and turned into light.

More than enough time for her to slaughter the entire Tribe, should she decide to.

I could only hope she would hesitate.

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Nerok had originally planned on standing with the frontline. As a Chief it was his responsibility to defend them, after all!

But when he suggested this, it was pointed out to him that a leader needed to focus on leading more than fighting.

He still intended to fight of course! But he would place himself more centrally in the group as suggested.

The sounds of fighting had stopped and the subtle clinging of a Dungeon creature turning back into mana could instead be heard.

It was time. Nerok didn't need to tell his Tribe this. They had all been quiet as they listened and waited. The frontline could - just like Nerok - see the disappearance of the lava tail which had been guarding the Core Room as well.

There was no need for words. They all knew what needed to be done.

Despite Nerok's position in the middle of the battle ready Tribe, a line of space had been left open so Nerok could see the incoming enemy. This line would only be there temporarily and had been put in place as a response to the order of the merciful Dungeon of Karma: 'Try diplomacy first. It might delay her long enough for the Brainwashing to wear off.'

And if diplomacy were to be attempted, Nerok had to be the one to do the talking.

I doubt anyone else could keep a cool head while talking to a threat to our loving Dungeon.

… I honestly doubt I'll be able to…

If diplomacy failed, the line of sight would be closed off, leaving Nerok in the middle of his Tribe, ready to lead them.

The hooded and masked intruder stopped in her tracks at the sight of the Tribe, clearly taken off guard.

Nerok couldn't fault her for that. The Tribe was in the Core Room, so they couldn't be Dungeon creatures. Yet, they were many more people than any Dungeon would normally ever allow into its depths at once, so - in her mind and by normal logic - they couldn't be sapients either.

The intruder kept staring confused at them, not saying a single word.

That was perfectly fine with Nerok. The goal here was to delay her as long as possible, so the longer she stayed quiet the longer it would take before diplomacy had to be attempted.

And Nerok wasn't sure how long he could mask his hatred of those who wanted to hurt his savior!

…

At least the Tribe had decided to follow his lead and wait quietly as well.

Yes. We'll let her make the first move.

And please. Do take your time to process this. It only means I need to distract you less.

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Talindra Delonix-Regia had stared at the confusing sight for more than a minute before she regained the thought process to formulate a question. At which point she had concluded three things:

One: The herd of beastkin couldn't be Dungeon monsters or some form of puzzle due to their presence inside the room commonly known as the Core Room. The room in which a piece of her goddess was trapped.

Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that Talindra assumed this was the last room of the Dungeon, as she couldn't actually see the crystal piece of her goddess due to the herd in the way. But even if it wasn't 'the Core Room', it was after a Boss Room, meaning it then had to be a Safezone.

Meaning the beastkin still couldn't be Dungeon monsters.

Two: They couldn't be actual beastkin. Even if the Dungeon had at some point allowed several dozen people to enter at once, when Talindra had entered it had been at 6 and Dungeons rarely ever changed the allowed amount. And for Talindra to be able to enter the 10th Floor - let alone her now missing teammates -, the Dungeon would have had to change the number to be high enough to allow all of these beasts as well as Talindra and her teammates. Otherwise they would have been blocked from going forward, and would have either had to turn around and leave the Dungeon or wait for the 10th Floor to be emptied before continuing.

And even with semi-sapients only counting as half a sapient when it came to entering Dungeons, the number would still have to be ridiculously high to have allowed all of these beasts inside at once.

Three: It was possible the entire herd was an illusion trap as traps were the only defense a Dungeon could place at its center. A direct reflection of the trapped piece of the goddess in the room.

But while it could be an illusion trap, it could also be some sign from the trapped goddess. She had been able to communicate with them through writing throughout the Dungeon, after all.

And while the trap option seemed the most likely, it was best to confirm it first.

"What are you doing here?"

The old bear beastkin in the middle of the group, which those in front of him had parted for, took his time answering. "We were saved and now serve our savior."

A savior? The goddess perhaps?

Really, who else could it be given their presence here!

But why haven't they freed her yet, then?

No. It's still more likely to be an illusion.

… Let me try another question, just in case.

"Who is your savior?"

"The Great Mother."

… Could be the broken goddess, but still. Why not free her?

"You say, you serve this Great Mother. How do you serve her?"

"However they wish."

Huh?

"They?"

The old bear beastkin nodded slowly before replying. "They prefer to be referred to as 'they' and so we comply with their wishes."

"Yet you call your savior 'Great Mother'?!" The slight change in subject was greatly confusing to Talindra. The broken goddess was a goddess, after all. It implied a female gender.

But is her soulmate, the holy System, truly a male? It was actually a bit difficult for Talindra to consider the System as either male or female. The System seemed… above such things, somehow.

It made somewhat sense his or maybe their or perhaps its soulmate wasn't male or female either.

"Their children call them Great Mother, and so do we," replied the old beastkin.

Children?

"And who are these children?"

Instead of answering immediately, the beastkin took the time to slowly raise his gaze. Only when he looked back into Talindra's eyes did he answer the question. "They were once a part of the world, only to be crushed by the greedy and power-hungry."

What was that look for? And why is he being so cryptic all of a sudden?

"Yes… But who are they?"

"The System didn't want them to end up forgotten and so placed their being in the care of the Great Mother and their kin."

"Kin? What kin?" The broken goddess didn't have any kin as far as The Order of The Broken Goddess knew.

But who could truly know everything about their god or goddess…

The bear slowly nodded. "The Great Mother has many siblings. Thousands. None of which they have ever met, nor shall any of them ever meet."

"Why not?"

"They can't. The System made them unable to do so."

Separating his soulmate from her siblings?! No! The System would never do that!

This is not a follower of the goddess! It's just another trap set by the Dungeon!

But you won't fool me that easily!

"Good try Dungeon." The Crown Princess stated, coldly and with a deadly monotone. "But you can't fool me that easily. The System would never separate his soulmate from her siblings. She doesn't even have siblings in the first place."

In response to her threatening words the beastkin opening closed, blocking her sight to the bear spokesman. The herd got ready to defend against her attack, as if the illusion actually could.

Maybe it's not an illusion trap, but something else? This Dungeon has been weird enough, I can't tell for sure.

But before she could fully commit to her attack against the beastkin herd, which may or may not be corporeal, a thought intruded her mind:

Why do I care?

Huh?

…

Why do I care?

… I don't, right? I can't change the acts of gods, and this part doesn't involve me, so I don't care.

…

Divine beings can't break! Why did I ever think they could?!

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While the hooded intruder was stunned silent, Nerok had finalized his plan of attack.

Verbal attack, that is.

As he only needed to distract her for 4 minutes, he would allow her to ask the questions and 'control' the conversation. Nerok would simply make sure to answer slowly - really emphasizing his old age, which he hadn't felt since his Dungeon-blessed tier up -, while being as cryptic as possible. Things which could be misunderstood were preferred.

The merciful Dungeon of Karma had been kind enough to tell them what little they knew about their opponent despite them having been in the middle of combat with her. The knowledge that she worshiped this 'broken goddess' due to the mind control was what Nerok mainly planned to use against her, by making it seem like the Tribe worshiped the same goddess through his vague answers to her questions.

And the plan seemed to work! At least in the 'keep her distracted' way.

It didn't seem like she truly believed him at any point, but it was enough to make her doubt.

Using the kobolds' name for the Dungeon turned out to be a smart idea. The Tribe usually went for long flowery titles, though the shortened 'Karma' had gotten traction lately.

And while 'Karma' might have worked, 'Great Mother' seemed like it had a closer resemblance to this 'broken goddess' she worshiped while Brainwashed.

When she started asking about the kobolds, Nerok had to think hard on what to answer. The most immediate answers would reveal their nature as Dungeon creatures and he still had 1 minute and 19 seconds left he had to distract her in.

Luckily, he remembered what they had learned about the kobolds when the Hero Monk and his unicorn Familiar had visited.

They had once been a sapient species, only for them to end up slaughtered by the other sapient species.

And that was something vague and mysterious he could tell her which wouldn't reveal their current nature.

Nerok did find her sudden shift to a cold monotone quite scary, and he clearly wasn't the only one to think so.

But as his Tribe closed in around him, just before they blocked his view, he saw the timer reach the last second.

And he knew they would be fine.

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Sarzina Acacia had successfully gone through the dreaded call with her mother and had taken the time to calm down and reflect on it.

It went surprisingly well! Probably due to the lack of other people. The need to be presentable in other people's presence was often what set her mother off.

Reputation and status has always meant more to mother than happiness and love.

When Zina finally stopped shaking she went back to what she had been doing when she learned about the state of her Crown Princess. Namely learning about the plans of the ex-cult members and deciding if she should try to stop them.

Just as she had suspected, most of them simply wanted to return to their families. Which Zina naturally didn't see any problems with.

Mister Alvarado, the male human clearly dressed as the Tough of the group, expressed a desire to return after his family reunion and 'repay his debt to the Dungeon'.

Which, while odd, Zina had no immediate problem with. It depended on exactly how he intended to repay his debt - something he didn't yet know himself.

Then there was Mlartlar. The angry one. Surprisingly, he wanted to stay. He wanted to stay in a place filled with the elves he seemed to hate.

Well technically he wanted to stay in a tent at the edge of the town, and he planned to stay out of sight of the townsfolk as much as possible while occasionally popping out to explore the Dungeon. He had learned that besides being able to undo mind control, it was also only aggressive towards bad guys, which had fascinated him.

The hybrid additionally didn’t have anywhere else to go as he had been a slave himself before the cult. He only told the shortest of summaries but the emotions behind it made it clear how much he blamed elves for every bad moment in his life.

And it was that last part, which convinced Zina to let him stay under the condition that he behaved himself. If he had any grievances he was to go to either sheriff Fraxinus or herself with them and not punish people himself.

He reluctantly agreed to the deal, while Zina hoped he would slowly learn that not all elves needed that kind of hatred aimed at them.

With that done, Zina was back to worrying about her Crown Princess.

If she died the crown would be without a clear heir and that was never good.

Whether she survives or not, at least this means the Queen will have to take the threat of the cult seriously.