Excise: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (Ether Collapse Book 2) Page 8

  Maximus was silent for a moment but then answered in a very monotone voice, “Are you suggesting placing me as one of your four Cardinal Dungeons?” The way he said the last bit made Rocky raise an eyebrow as he realized Maximus had just used “Cardinal Dungeon” as a proper name.

  What the hell does that even mean?

  Sela had begun walking over to him and so had Zippo and Joe. They had been hearing one side of the conversation this whole time, but the last thing the Dungeon had uttered must have perked up all of their ears.

  Sela was, of course, the first to speak, and it wasn’t to Rocky that she directed her question but the Dungeon, “Listen, Dungeon, what is the meaning of ‘Cardinal Dungeon’, and what are you proposing?” Sela’s voice was very stern, and Rocky’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline.

  Sela had killed numerous Dungeons in her past life and, for some reason, had an inherent mistrust of the constructs. Rocky hadn’t had the time to ask her about it, but he could tell by her tone that she hadn’t gotten over that particular aversion and probably wouldn’t anytime soon.

  “As I have told Rockland Barkclay, my name is Maximus, and I will be addressed as such,” Maximus responded glibly, and Sela’s face turned a deep shade of red. Her jaw muscles hardened–

  Before it got out of hand, Rocky interrupted, “Maximus, I understand that calling you Dungeon must be considered rude as there are many of you. However, I need you to understand that the lady you are taunting is one of my closest companions.” He paused for a moment before adding under his breath, “She is also extremely dangerous.”

  Sela smiled wickedly, and her eyes softened slightly at Rocky’s words. Rocky wasn’t much of a mediator, but he knew which side he would lean to if this ‘Cardinal Dungeon’ nonsense wasn’t above board. The sound of shifting stone suddenly sounded, and Sela was encased in a cage of hardened brick.

  Turns out it can hear pretty well… Honestly, LFD was so much more open and pleasant than this pompous hoplite!

  Rocky’s face went ashen, and he groaned. He turned the groan into an exasperated tone, “I think we have gotten off track here, Max. Just answer her questions and let her out. Otherwise, I don’t think I will even consider whatever it is that you are proposing with this cardinal nonsense.”

  The glare Sela gave him through the bars she was now attempting to break apart with her hands could have melted metal. Her teeth were bared preternaturally, and her face would have made a thundercloud jealous.

  After a long pause, the rock cage receded slowly, which caused Sela to let go of the bars. Rocky looked at her pointedly to try to rein her in.

  Max answered, despite the staring contest, “Stupid humans, I am young and know very little of this world, but I do know that every Territory can make an alliance with up to four Dungeons. These Dungeons are called Cardinal Dungeons as they are placed in the North, South, East, and West of a Territory. It is a mutual agreement between leaders and the Dungeons. That is all I know from the readings I have access to.”

  Sela closed her mouth with a click and then obstinately asked, “Why have I never heard of these Dungeons then? If every Territory can have them, why have I never seen them?” She looked at Rocky with an expression so torn he could literally feel raw emotion radiating from her. What the full range of that emotion consisted of was hard to determine, but he could see the hurt in her eyes.

  “I don’t have answers to that question, angry woman. All I can tell you is that the documents I have access to claim that it is of great mutual benefit to both Dungeons and leaders. It implies that all Dungeons should strive to become one of these Cardinal Dungeons.”

  Joe and Zippo had been standing together, looking out of their depth through most of the conversation. Now though, Joe looked at Rocky and Sela before adding imploringly, “This could be really good for the Territory, don’t you think?”

  Rocky just raised a hand to forestall any further discussion and motioned for everyone to gather in a circle to talk. Looking over his shoulder at the hole, he apologized, “Sorry, Max, we are just going to discuss this really quick. Would you mind giving us a little privacy?”

  “I’m kind of aware of everything that happens inside these walls, Gladiator, but I will try to be… elsewhere for a time.”

  Rocky addressed his next question to Sela, “What is your issue with Dungeons, Sela?”

  Sela clenched her jaw and looked away before answering with heat in her voice, “I lost a lot of young recruits to Dungeons. Friends, family, and even lovers.” She looked back to him. “Rocky, I get that this isn’t the same world, but it was gospel when I lived that Dungeons were evil invaders of Gaia. None of the Dungeons spoke to us, for example…”

  Sela drew in a deep, exasperated breath. “No one would ever consider letting one live. There were rumors that farming them for Etherience made them stronger. If this mutual pact existed, I can’t understand why the leaders of my time were in a perpetual war with the Dungeons.”

  Licking her incisors, she added, “Every time I entered a Dungeon, I knew it was life or death. The Dungeon knew it was life or death. I just can’t believe that the leaders…”

  Rocky was taken aback at the vehemence in her voice. It was clear she was angry not only at the Dungeon they stood within but with the memory of the people she knew. Either they had lied to her all those years ago, or something was drastically different in this new world.

  “Sela, do you not want to get to the bottom of this? Why would this Dungeon lie to us? If it is lying, we would just destroy it once it sets up in our Territory. I truly think that having Dungeons in Algonquin Valley will only benefit everyone inside. I mean, if handled right, it should be a safe training area for everyone, including the Non-Power Classes you mentioned.”

  Sela waved her hand at Rocky, telling him that she didn’t want to answer the questions or that she didn’t have good answers to the questions. Rocky looked to the remaining two. “What do you two think?”

  They both glanced at Sela with concern and then at Rocky. Zippo shrugged like a typical teenager looking longingly at Azoth playing in the back of the cavern. Joe, who was very much interested in the outcome, mused, “I think I agree with Rocky,” a look from Sela made him hastily add, “but let’s see what this process would entail before we commit to anything?”

  Rocky shrugged and called out to the Dungeon. For the next half hour, the group listened and asked questions of Maximus. Sela brooded the entire process but kept her animosity in check because that was what Rocky wanted. She had asked a few questions of her own and had even used the Dungeon’s name, which he also appreciated.

  It turned out there was a contract of sorts between the Cardinal Dungeons and the Leader of a Territory. In the contract, the leader could specify terms, and the Dungeon would be forced to follow them. The Dungeon had standard terms that must be upheld, as well. The Dungeon shied away from a great many questions, which made Rocky skeptical, but because of the implied benefit, it didn’t stop him from being interested.

  At the end of the conversation, they had reached a point of wait and see. The group was going to bring the core to Algonquin Valley with them, and they would decide whether to form this agreement after they saw the terms of the contract. Otherwise, Rocky agreed to fly the Dungeon core far enough away from the meltdown.

  I wonder what has become of LFD if this Dungeon is in such dire straits…

  Chapter Seven

  After the agreement was reached, the Dungeon, as its last act inside of its former body, opened the back passageway, and Rocky collected the strange, opalescent stone that rose to the surface in front of him. It was very beautiful but also raw and uncut. It reminded him of a baseball-sized piece of salt with its smoky interior and rough, cloudy edges. However, it glowed a vibrant indigo-blue that he was forced to look away from.

  Rocky had placed it in his backpack and had worn it for the remainder of the trip to Algonquin Valley. He wasn’t wanting to put such a unique and precious, possibly liv
ing thing in his bag of holding, not trusting that the space would keep it alive or that it wouldn’t react poorly with the construct. The passageway exited a good kilometer away from where they came in, and Joe sent a team to collect the tanks and the soldiers inside them who had been left by the main entrance. Luckily, with the tops closed, the tanks were watertight, and while the soldiers were a little shaken up by the ferocity and sounds they’d heard, they hadn’t lost any.

  The group left the Dungeon just before noon, Rocky estimated. They had decided to have a quick breakfast while still in the safety of the walls of the Dungeon, and now with everyone fully rested, no one complained. He glanced back at the group of survivors and reconsidered their silence. While he met many individual’s eyes, more often than not, those eyes were unfocused and unseeing. Each individual was reliving the night before, and he wondered how many were numb to it like he felt?

  He faced front and then craned his neck up into the sky to try to see Sela’s raven form through the interspersed canopy of trees. It was getting a bit too dense to make out her or Azoth up there, and he considered calling them back. He dismissed the thought shortly thereafter, knowing that at least one of them was able to make that decision for herself. Rocky bit his inner cheek; they’d already been walking for a few hours and were extremely close to the edge of Algonquin Valley, but he was unsure exactly how far.

  Something in the distance caught his eye, and he held back a curse, thinking it was movement. Squinting and tilting his head, he became surer nothing was there, but something was definitely strange. Tongue tracing his incisor, he tilted his head to glance at the tree he was walking under and then quickly looked forward about two hundred meters. Next, he tried looking for what trick of the light or shadow was causing the trees in the distance to look brighter and more vivid.

  Unable to discover it from this distance, he continued to lead the group forward. About halfway to the destination, Sela and Azoth crashed through the canopy, one of them gracefully landing beside him. The other shook the ground with his uncoordinated, bulky frame.

  Sela changed back to her human form, and although he had seen it many times, he watched with fascination. Her feathers receded, and large raven wings suddenly began to take on the shape of human arms. Since her raven form was quite close in size to her human one, she didn’t enlarge or shrink noticeably, but within a few heartbeats, her eyes and beak had changed to become the beautiful and familiar face of Sela. Rocky was entirely unsure what happened to her armor and clothes during the transformation, but every time she returned to human, she had them on.

  Are you disappointed with that?

  Luckily, as soon as she had a human mouth again, she interrupted his thoughts with a statement, “Those greener trees up ahead denote the boundary.”

  Rocky’s eyes widened, and his head snapped forward, then he hesitantly queried, “Why are they greener, though? What has happened to these trees?” He motioned to the trees nearest them.

  Sela looked at the tree he had indicated. “Two reasons I can think of. First, Algonquin Valley benefits from certain bonuses that will aid growth of fauna and resources. Secondly, I think the Ether Storms have been raging in this area for a while now. So, the lackluster appearance of these trees may indicate that they are struggling to continually cleanse themselves of the corrupted Ether.”

  His jaw clenched, and he nodded solemnly, recalling the Red Quest to investigate the area that was most likely responsible for this. Perhaps leaving it for later all those weeks ago was a bad idea. A quick look back allowed him to dismiss that errant thought as they resumed walking. He’d saved all these people, even if they weren’t his family.

  Sela pushed his mind off the depressing thoughts a moment later, “I am out of charges for shape-shifting for the day.” At his raised eyebrow, she smiled. “I stopped in at Algonquin Gorge and told them we would be there around dinner time. I also dropped off a good portion of the meat we had collected into the Territorial Inventory. I believe they will try to prepare an impromptu feast and celebration, if I read the mood right.”

  Rocky felt his shoulders creep up his neck. Speaking for himself, having a party seemed like a horrible idea.

  What would they celebrate? All the death? His failures?

  But Sela’s smiling face made him pause. Sela noticed his change in mood and shook her head. “In war and life, you must always find something to celebrate. If you fail to see the positives that surround you, your soul will wither and blacken, until one day, the whole world is against you.”

  Rocky blinked. “Where did that come from?”

  “My father used to tell me that when I was in a poor mood,” she somberly added and looked up through the canopy towards the sun. “I think it applies to our current situation. There are going to be a lot of unhappy people in the days to come.”

  She slowly lowered her head and came to a stop right at the dividing line between the healthy trees and the rest of the forest. She brought a hand up and wiped a sparkling tear from her cheek and continued, “You have brought them to an unbuilt and unmanned Territory. If you think our struggles are over, I think you will be very disappointed. But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the accomplishment!”

  Rocky felt his chest tighten around a lump in his throat. He couldn’t even imagine what she was going through. He was about to reach out to… squeeze her shoulder, hug her, something, but people walking by them and the notification changed the mood.

  Welcome back to Algonquin Valley, Leader.

  Level 1 Territory

  Current Population: 128

  Would you like a rundown of the events that have taken place since you were gone?

  Significant events: 2

  Minor events: 0

  Yes |

  He watched as the current population climbed higher. Every individual who passed over the threshold bumped it up, and the system reacted in spurts. As he watched, he continued to move forward but glanced over his shoulder to see people’s reactions. Each person who crossed the threshold reacted differently, but all of them seemed surprised for a moment, and then they made strange hand gestures at something in front of them. When they finished, they would look up and around themselves with a wide smile plastered on their face.

  They had made it!

  Once Joe at the very back of the group crossed the threshold, a corner blinked at him once. He did a quick check of the final population and had mixed feelings. The current population had stopped at 3,992, and while he was happy to have made it back with a large group, he was slightly discouraged by not holding up his promise to himself. He realized that making it back with everyone was impossible, but that didn't make him feel much better.

  Rocky closed the welcome message without recapping the significant events. He was already aware of both the rape and the trial that had followed. The reminder only made his teeth hurt as he ground them together. A thought opened up the new notification that had come in.

  Congratulations! You have completed a Quest!

  Escort Quest

  Group Quest

  Escort the Ottawa Survivors 1

  You have escorted a total of 3,865 of 8,043 to your Territory. As the original quest only specified 10% survival rate and you have managed 48.6%. You will be given an extra 386% Etherience. Great job!

  Rewards:

  7,563,600 Etherience Awarded.

  44,359,549 Etherience remaining until level 23.

  —

  Ether Protection

  Time of Ether assisted protection for Territory: 6 days, 6 hours, 45 minutes, and 22 seconds.

  The timer made him grimace. What would happen when it ran out? Would the storms be able to enter the Territory? Would there be a massive monster attack? The storms were unlikely because of what Sela had told him, but the second worry might be possible. He recalled that first day, Sela had definitely explained it was a passive defense that steered sentient creatures away from the Territory, but it wasn’t perfect. If the monsters t
hey’d been facing on the way back from Ottawa were going to enter the Territory, Sela was right; they had lots of work to do.

  As the caravan continued into the Territory from the threshold, he sent up a prayer for the losses of so many people, but then he forcefully changed his mood, remembering what Sela had just related.

  Well, you did just increase the population of your Territory by an extremely large margin. Your goal is to make this place a safe haven and grow it with more survivors. Hopefully, your family will be included in a population increase one day soon.

  He refused to consider the possibility that his family hadn’t survived. If that was the reality, he would be forced to deal with it when it was confirmed. However, he had firm hopes that his family had been on a University or College campus when this had begun, possibly attending a banquet or awards ceremony.

  Fingers crossed. Now stop being maudlin.

  Sela took the lead at that point, as Rocky had never been to the Grotto, and she was the only one present who had. The group walked along through Algonquin Valley, crossing paths with lower leveled wildlife that while definitely evolved was nowhere near as dangerous as what the Ottawa hunting groups had been facing. Due to the large group of survivors, even the predatorial creatures just watched from a safe distance.

  When they reached the sheer cliff wall an hour later, Rocky assumed they would turn and walk around it. Instead, Sela seemed to walk into a crack that he hadn’t initially seen. The entryway was hidden exceptionally well due to one side of the cliff jutting out and continuing while the other side retracted and stopped. It made an excellent mirage that the cliff face was unbroken. He smiled at this added layer of security for his people; Sela had made an excellent choice, it seemed.

  Upon exiting the far side of the passage, Rocky was greeted with a pleasant sight as he looked across a nearly circular clearing which was vast in its dimensions. Near the center, hundreds of logs were stacked and waiting to be processed for building material.