I Hate Dungeon School

"Do we even have time to gear up?" Myth asked as the door started to buckle.

"C'mon, Regis, or whoever the hell you are, please tell me you have some kind of plan." I pleaded. His smirk was gone now, and replaced was a face of determination and will.

"Of course I do. The royal guard is going to corral these monsters in the grand ballroom, where we'll have more room to fight. As for you lot, I need you to go and find any civilians still in the building. Most of the guests of the inn were here for the wedding, but I don't want the staff getting caught up in this." He said firmly. He was clearly used to giving orders.

"You don't need us to help fight?" Eira asked, with a tinge of disappointment in her voice.

"No offense, ladies, but the royal guard are a bit more experienced than a bunch of first-year dungeoneer students and their teacher. Clear the civilians, get your gear, and back us up if we haven't gotten things handled by then. Got it?" He ordered.

"Let's do as he says, ladies. You all are good fighters but let's leave this to the professionals." Andritch said.

We all uttered affirmatives and moved away from the action. We rushed down the halls till we found ourselves at the grand foyer.

We quickly sketched out a plan. The six of us could cover the inn floors relatively quickly. We would find as many as we could, get them to the grand foyer, hand them off to the guards outside, and go and grab our gear and get stuck in with the royal guard.

I volunteered for the most dangerous job, checking the kitchens. They were closest to the scene of the fighting, but I was confident I could do it.

Eira gave me a kiss for good luck, to which the others tittered a bit.

I shot everyone a glare before we split up.

Navigating the halls of the inn in a wild panic was in many ways worse than a dungeon. While the lighting was much better, I found myself getting confused by the layout. The decorations were so monotonous that I lost track of where I was. This was not helped by the kitchen's being sort of secreted away to keep from offending noble sensibilities.

Stupid nobles. They want servants but don't want to be reminded that servants exist. Idiocy.

Another thing that complicated matters is that I was unused to running around in a dress. The skirt that I wore with my battle wear, while admittedly mostly there for fashion reasons, was short enough not to get in my way, my legs kept modest and warm via leggings. My lovely dress for this shit show of a wedding was almost to my ankles and i was unused to that. I was tempted to try tearing some off, but I really liked this dress, and I was hoping to keep it for a while. So I found myself running with it bunched up in my hands.

I likely looked as ridiculous as I felt.

I soon found the kitchens, shoved the doors open, and scanned around quickly.

I found a group of maids and cooks hunkered underneath work tables. They were huddled together, and one was crying. They reminded me so much of the girls at the Atelier, I could feel my protective instinct kicking in.

"C'mon, I'm here to get you out of here! Follow me and listen to what I tell you!" I said to them, trying to keep my voice low, just in case.

"Who are you? What's going on. We heard shouting and crashing and screaming!" One of them said, their voice shaking with fear.

"My name is Alta. I'm with the royal guards. I'm here to get you all to safety." I lied, though admittedly it wasn't technically false in a roundabout way.

"Aren't you one of the wedding guests? i swore I saw you when I brought the soup out." One of the cooks added.

"There's no time to worry about that. We have to move! Things are getting really bad in a hurry, and I want you all to get out of danger. We can save questions for later." I snapped at them.

"Should we grab-" One started to say.

"Just bring yourselves. Your lives are more important than things." I said. "Now follow me. Now!" I commanded, raising my voice at them. They all nodded and followed behind me.

Thankfully, I remembered the way to the grand foyer. They followed closely behind me as we made our way there, pausing when I checked corners, and waiting when I said to wait.

The monsters seemed focused on the ballroom area, thankfully, so it was a quick process. My group made it to the foyer, where my other party members had gathered their lot.

"Every sure we checked everywhere?" Andritch asked. We all nodded.

"Everyone who was here today has been accounted for." An older woman added. I assumed she was some kind of manager or something.

"Good. I'll get everyone out of here. The rest of you get your stuff and see what else we can do to help." Andritch instructed. We all nodded and began to run for our rooms, where our equipment was stowed.

"And don't forget! I'm still grading all of you on this!" She shouted after us.

"Oh course we are!" Cori groaned as she joined us, running up the steps.

We split up, going to our respective rooms. Quickly stripped out of my dress, tossing it in a pile on my bed. It felt good to get out of that silken thing, as nice as it was. No time to change out of the underwear. I just had to hope silk lingerie would keep up with me.

I had practiced getting in and out of my battle gear in a hurry, just in case of an emergency, and I was glad I had. The entire building suddenly rumbled with the noise of whatever combat was unfolding in the ballroom beneath us. I steeled my nerves and grabbed Ice Moon from its case.

"Time to get back into action, buddy. Maybe I'll get to use your real powers this time!" I couldn't help but grin widely.

And then the world fell out from under me.

Or rather, the floor did. I came to in a cloud of dust and debris, and my ears were ringing. I shook my head, and as the ringing subsided, I heard groans of pain, the cries of the injured and the roars of fury of those locked in life or death combat.

I finally got a glimpse of what we were dealing with, and I didn't like it one bit.

At first glance, they looked like humans, but large, overly muscled, and eyes glowing. But I noticed their limbs were too long, their skin a reddish color, lines of runes etched into their very flesh, all radiating from a gemstone embedded in their chests.

I recognized the face of one of their number. Cavendish. Even turning into a monster hadn't improved the insufferable look upon his face.

I scanned the scene as I picked myself up. No time to check for injuries, I'd have to hope I hadn't broken anything, and that the pain I was feeling would subside.

The royal guards seemed to have done a fair job incapacitating the other Knight Monsters, but Cavendish was something else. The royal guards were no slouches, just like Regis had said, but whatever was empowering Cavendish was on a whole different level.

I tried searching my brain for what that gem was; it looked terribly familiar. Really familiar.

It then clicked. A core. It looked like my dungeon core. Kind of. It wasn't right, though. The wrong color green? A tear drop instead of a sphere?

No time for solving mysteries like that. Cavendish tossed one of the guards aside like a rag doll, and locked eyes with me.

There was no intelligence in there. Just rage, and something else not entirely human. I wasn't entirely sure this was Cavendish anymore. It seemed more like something wearing his body.

No matter, I'd enjoy kicking his ass yet again. I got into a fighting stance and charged forward, closing the distance between us in a flash.

I swung Ice Moon at him in tight, controlled arcs, testing his defenses. He didn't even bother to block or evade. I backed off in a couple of short leaps as he made a swing for me, a wide, lumbering attack.

I saw the faintest trickles of blood when I had struck him, but just as quickly they healed up, the spilled blood hissing into crimson steam.

That was less than ideal.

I tried thinking of a spell that might help, but I couldn't think of anything.

There was really only one thing to do based on my dungeon training. Shiny gem equals weak point. I hoped beyond hope that this continued to be true.

I had to be pinpoint accurate. It wasn't the first time I had to thread a proverbial needle in a fight but it was always difficult.

I focused on the gemstone in Cavendish's chest and dashed forward with a thrust, Ice Moon going straight and true.

As I flew through the air from a backhand swing that was far faster than I expected, a thought occurred to me. I really should not be fighting a monster like this by my lonesome. That thought was further punctuated by my body crashing through two different sets of wooden doors.

I was getting incredibly tired of coming to in a pile of rubble, and I was pretty sure I had splinters in my rear and a broken rib or two as a side dish.

I dragged myself painfully to my feet and realized where I had been tossed. I was back in the reception hall. The guests were still frozen in whatever spell Regis had thrown on them.

"Seriously? No one came to get everyone out of here? What the hell were the guards doing, other than getting their asses kicked?!" I wondered where Regis was during all of this, on top of everything else.

I heard a growl coming from the hole I had made with my body. It was the Cavendish monster, and he was making his way to me. I couldn't let him get in here.

People were going to die in the collateral damage. Sure, they were awful people, but they needed to suffer in a way that didn't include death.

I was scrambling mentally for something to do. I was still unsure of my magic power since my mana returned, and I didn't want some kind of magic side effect making things worse.

The creature let out a roar of sudden pain. I soon saw why. A glowing arrow, shining with a white light.

"You alive in there, Marchesi?" I heard Mariana yell from outside. That meant it was one of her holy arrows. Whatever magic she was using on it was doing more than my sword did.

"I'm alive! Can you do a few more of those!" I shouted back.

In response, he roared as more glowing lights stabbed into his body. Those wounds still healed, but slower than my sword strikes had. I saw more things sticking into his joints. Bolts. Cori's bolts. A good strategy that hasn't steered us wrong yet.

From a side door, I saw Eira and Myth burst through.

Without a word, Myth dashed up to me, and I felt my pain subside as she whispered her chants.

"Are you ok?" Eira said, holding her face close to mine, her hands on my cheeks. Which would normally be romantic as hell, but the gauntlets she wore were a bit of a mood killer, I had to admit.

"I'm ok, just very, very, very, very sore," I said, wincing as I felt a bone slide back into place as Myth worked her magic.

Eira scowled and looked over at Cavendish, still struggling to move with all the arrows in his joints, the magic stone glowing more intensely as it tried to heal his wounds.

"We found Regis when we came to look for you and saw the hole in your floor. He says the trick is in the stones in their chest. A bit typical if you ask me." Eira explained quickly.

"So break the stone, break the spell?" I asked.

"Sort of. The others were able to be weakened enough it could be removed, but Cavendish's seems different. Its like it was feeding power into the others. Whenever their crystals got broken, he got stronger. That's why things got so bad." She continued.

Cavendish let out a roar, and finally shrugged off the magic arrows from Mariana and Cori's bolts.

No more time for talking. Myth said something in that strange magic language she used, and a wall of light surrounded the monstrous man.

"I can keep him trapped in there for a few moments, to keep the nobles safe, but you two need to figure something out in a hurry here! I'm running out of mana in a hurry!" Myth said through gritted teeth as she kept cycling her mana into the spell.

"Can you keep him busy while I aim? I got to drive Ice Moon into that gem." I asked I Eira. She gave me grin and thumbs up.

I nodded with a smile as we charged in, passing through the light wall with ease.

It was close quarters. Closer than I liked, but nothing worse than corridor fighting in a dungeon. Eira took the lead and did something I rather did not expect. Instead of punching him like I figured, she dodged under a punch and climbed up onto his back, and began punching him in the back of the head.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was venting some frustrations using his skull as the medium.

He flailed about like he was trying to swat a bug away from him. Most importantly, that meant he was distracted enough.

I didn't want to risk this, but I felt like I had little choice in the matter at this point. I focused my mana, pushing it into Ice Moon, and I felt the blade drink in my power, activating its runes. I could feel the deep cold in the air around it, deeper than any freeze nature could conjure. It was more powerful than it had been the last time I used its power, the last time I fought the bastard before me.

"Einfreiren!" I called out to it, and with a lunge, focused on the glowing heart of the strange magic possessing Cavendish, I shot like an arrow. Ice Moon and the gemstone met with a clank, and with a blue white flash, it was enshrouded in thick ice, that grew across his form like winter claiming a lake.

Eira jumped off as the ice reached out towards her, backing away quickly out of the field that Myth had been casting. I joined her not wanting to be swallowed in whatever was happening. This was much more than I had ever seen the sword do.

He roared in anger, then fear, his voice changing from monstrous to human as the magic drained from him, the runes etched into his skin swallowed by Ice Moon's touch. It left all but his head encased in freezing crystal.

He thrashed his head weakly, mumbling something. Mariana and Cori joined us but kept their bow and crossbows, respectively, aimed at him, just in case.

I felt the magic leave ice moon, and I felt absolutely drained. My body was trying to draw in ambient mana, but the stress of the day plus the amount of building I had been tossed through, was catching up to me in a big damn hurry. I looked at the sad sack of a human being that was named Cavendish.

He wasn't going anywhere. I decided to have some fun. I deserved it.

Walking over to what remained of the buffet table, I found a tureen of soup. Minestrone it looked like. Gods, I hated Minestrone soup. I lifted it. It had gone cold, sadly.

"I had planned on shoving his face in this when my sister's stupid plan kicked in, but this is fine," I said as I overturned the entire thing on top of Cavendish's head.

"Feel better?" Eira asked before lifting me up in a big hug and kiss.

"Yes, I think so. But I don't know if my ribs agree ow ow ow." I whined.

She put me down.

"You're getting waaaay to comfortable doing crazy things, beloved." She said with a smile, but I could tell she was genuinely worried.

"Alas, my sweet, tis this life of a dungeone- ow ow ow." I winced at the returning pain.

"Well, good work, ladies! The royal guard, thank you for your service!" Regis said as he poked his head in, a group of guards filed in behind him, grabbing the nobles, unbinding the spell that trapped them, gagging them, and leading them away in shackles. It warmed my spiteful little heart to see Cassandra and my parents that way.

"You'd better put a good word in with the king!" I said, sitting down on one of the few surviving chairs. It was astonishing that so many things could hurt all at once. Myth handed me a cup with some water in it, for which I was grateful. My throat had become friends with all the dust in the air from the battle.

"Well of course I can. He's me after all!" He said with a smile.

I proceeded to spit a mouthful of water all over his shoes.

"You fucking what?!" I coughed at him.

"I suppose I have some explaining to do, yes?" His smile faltered a bit.

"You bet your royal arse you do!" I continued coughing at him while Eira gently patted my back.

Broken ribs and a lung full of water. Why not? Perfect cap to whatever you called this debacle.

"Let's get you checked out first. All of you. Healers! In here, please. Get these ladies to a safe location and make sure they are hale and hearty. They're heroes after all!" He said, his irritating smile and laugh returning.

The more I looked at him, I imagined him with a clean shave and tidied up, and realized I did recognize him. From every piece of Burgotovan coinage I had ever seen.

"Son of fifty-five bitches, you are Andrej Burgotova aren't you!" I sputtered as one of the healers helped me to my feet, alongside Eira.

"That I am. Sorry, we had to meet this way." He said with a shrug.

To say I was irritated was an understatement. Yet another entry for the understatement of the year contest, which was becoming fiercer by the moment.

"You know what. I think I'm going to pass out now. Just kind of done with this whole thing. Consciousness is dumb." I mumbled.

And then I did exactly that.