A Dungeon’s Survival

Connie

So much for that.

“My apologies, mistress. It would seem that the negotiations have fallen through.”

Not your fault, Archie. You did well. Thanks for trying.

While the other awakened monsters were busy fighting the adventurer group, Archie and I were also discussing matters on the side. In truth, I wasn't overly invested in the fight itself. More than anything, the group had just annoyed me, and I wanted to make them think twice before trying to go up the shaft again. The knowledge Archie had uncovered was just an unexpected bonus.

Do you think we could get that information out of Lawrence? I asked him in regards to the permanent enhancer recipes we'd heard about from Lance.

“Directly, no. There'd be little to no chance of it. He is immensely loyal to his master and wouldn't reveal his secrets haphazardly. Perhaps, if we were to employ Stein's Memory Eater, then–”

–I'd rather not, I cut that idea off before it could actually be considered, That just feels like a good way to piss off the insanely powerful alchemist. Plus, there's no guarantee that he actually knows the recipe. Then, there's also the matter of whether or not we could even trust Stein to extract the right information from him, and we'd only get one chance at that. Really, it feels like too great a risk for how little a chance there is of it paying off.

“That is fair, and I can see your points. Hmm, I don't suppose there'd be any chance of us stealing away his master's secrets directly?”

Ha! Nope. I've heard all I need to about his house, and with those defenses, there's no chance. We'd probably have better luck breaking into an actual fortress than his home, and Noctis can't even get close to the man without being detected. That road is a lost cause as far as I'm concerned.

“A shame, indeed.”

Maybe if we–ooh! Oh. Ugh, that looks like it hurt.

“Once again, though I can sense it, I feel no actual pain.”

Um, I wasn't talking about you, Arch. I meant his hand.

“Ah, yes. That probably would've hurt.”

In the room below us, Lance, was still fighting back against the Trenti. Considering the fact that he couldn't see and didn't even have his weapon on him, his showing was honestly impressive. Currently, he was latched onto the large goblinoid and was repeatedly pounding his fist into its mouth. The mushroom goblin was down a considerable number of teeth at this point, but it was the human's hand that seemed to be taking the brunt of the exchange. It was a bloody mess.

“Hmm, I don't believe my proxy will be able to continue dialogue in its current state. A shame.”

Forget that. Talks already fell through. More importantly, can it still fight?

“Certainly. Pain is not a variable here, and it is quite resilient. There should be no issue in it fighting until its final breath. I only regret my inability to utilize its capabilities to their fullest, but the fault there is none other than my own.”

Hey, that reminds me; let's shelve the talks about enhancers for now. While you're still using it, are there any adjustments you'd want made if I were to make more proxies like that one for you in the future?

“Hmm, that is a hard question to answer,” Archie said after a brief pause and with a contemplative look on his face, “I would much prefer a magic-based vessel, but currently, I wouldn't be able to utilize it even to the same extent as this one. Perhaps, if Pee and I were to find success in developing our magic further, that would be enough to make such a change viable, but for the time being, I can think of little that would make a notable difference.”

Um, Archie?

“Yes, mistress?”

It's not moving.

“Ah, yes, you are correct. My bad. I seem to have gotten distracted.”

In the room below us, the Trenti Archie was remotely controlling had frozen in place, allowing Lance and Dan to carry out a solid offensive against it, undeterred. After that, in spite of how well it had done so far, I couldn't see it winning against the pair. It would certainly still be able to put up a fight for a while longer, but actual victory didn't seem to be on the table for it.

“My apologies. It would seem that I need more practice.”

No worries. So, changes? No? How's your new ability working, anyway?

“For the time being, I don't believe any changes are necessary. As for the ability, it is,” Archie paused as he made the Trenti below swing its weapon at Dan, cleanly knocking the beastkin onto his back, “odd. Functionally, controlling it feels natural, but mentally, it is quite taxing.”

Well, its mind stat is nearly as high as yours. I'd say its impressive that you can even control it in the first place.

“Indeed.”

Initially, I hadn't even realized that he could control others of his kind. The level twenty-four monster fighting down below had originally just been something I'd whipped up for the sake of having an extra combatant to throw at the adventuring group. Archie's being able to pilot it was nothing short of a stroke of good fortune for us. It also went to show that I'd neglected proper testing in regards to some of the abilities my monsters had, the most egregious of which seemed to be his Mycokinesis.

The ability he'd recently acquired but had yet to do much testing with allowed him to control mushrooms after overwhelming their minds. I knew he'd managed to get the ability to work on his Spore Wave spell ahead of time, but after creating the Trenti, I figured it couldn't hurt to have him try to exert some sort of influence over the partially mushroom-based monster. Mostly, I'd just been hoping it would count as a symbiotic relationship, triggering the buff from his Symbiotic Power ability. As it turned out, while it did end up having that effect, the ability allowed for so much more.

[Achievement: Puppet Master

Description: One of your monsters has fully mind controlled an individual.

Reward: The monster has gained the Puppeteer ability!]

[Ability: Puppeteer

Description: You can perceive the senses of and perfectly manipulate individuals under the effects of your mind control.

Effect: When using mind control, you can perceive your subjugated target's senses. Your control over them also becomes perfect.]

The result of Mycokinesis being paired with the new ability he'd gained from using it on a Trenti was him being able to remotely control its every action. In a way, it was similar to but better than what I'd managed to pull off with the Bloodthorn Vines on occasion. His ability did allow for instantaneous control, after all. For me, on the other hand, there was a delay between any orders I gave the boss monster and their execution. Still, the core principals were the same, and his controlling them seemed to result in a massive improvement to the monster in question.

Technically, the Trenti he controlled didn't actually get much stronger. It did benefit from ten percent of his stats thanks to his Symbiotic Power ability, but considering the facts that my fungal alchemist was still only at level six and I hadn't modified him anywhere near as much as Vie, Pee, or Adraugon, that wasn't a whole lot. What his control did do, however, was allow for a mindless monster to act with the intelligence of an awakened one. Base stat totals aside, that alone was a deadly difference.

The only drawback seemed to be in the amount he struggled to concentrate on multiple things simultaneously while using those abilities, but it was still too early to tell if that was going to be a constant problem he'd be facing. Considering the fact that its mind stat was only a few points lower than his and the specific details of Mycokinesis, that could have easily been the root cause of the problem. We were just going to need to experiment more with his abilities later on to know for sure, preferably with less monstrous test subjects. I had made the avatar he was currently puppeteering as powerful as I could, after all.

At level twenty-four, the Trenti fighting in the boss room underneath us was a force to be reckoned with. Not only had I sank practically all of my available DP into it, I'd also risen the monster to the highest level it could reach without me breaking through to the second tier of power first. In order to do so, I'd needed to use the bulk of the pooled Trenti experience and most of my available mana, but the results spoke for themselves.

Even without any extra aspects and with it relying purely on levels and minor modifications that didn't cost Dungeon Points for power, it easily placed within the top five monsters I'd ever summoned in terms of the threat it posed to enemies. With an Elixir of Minor Strength, the extra stats it got from Symbiotic Power, and the upgrades it had gotten alongside its levels added on, I was confident it was stronger than any of the adventurers present in the room below, purely in terms of base stats, if nothing else.

Then, there were the specific upgrades that I'd gotten it. Three out of four of its level up bonuses I'd used to enhance its Bark Skin ability. In total, its base ten percent damage reduction from physical attacks had skyrocketed to a full thirty percent, and with the forth upgrade, I'd gotten it a new ability, Giant's Might. As odd of an ability as it seemed for a goblinoid of all things to get, it was impressive, awarding an additional ten percent bonus to its STR.

Thanks to all of that, the creature had turned out to be a nightmare for melee combatants, like the two it was currently facing. On the other hand, I had no doubt in my mind that any fire-based magic Lawrence could throw out would have been enough to crumple it in no time. It was fortunate that he was too busy keeping Vie and Pee's venom out of the rogue's system to help with the goblinoid at the moment, which brought me to another problem, aside from my Dungeon's seemingly growing weakness to magic.

Is it just me, or are Vie and Pee losing momentum?

On closer inspection, that didn't seem to be quite right. They were still handling themselves well and fighting with both their normal calculation and ferocity. Flur, on the other hand, was the one who'd changed. A disturbing grin had spread across her face, and her movements were leaving almost no room for error. She was dodging attacks by mere inches and leaping over walls of fire.

She rolled, lowering her frame below the remnants of the shadowy blazes Vie and Pee had left around the room, obscuring herself from view in the process. Then, she pounced from angles that the pair of snakes could barely be expected to account for. All the while, she seemed to pay no attention whatsoever to either of the other awakened monsters in the room, leaving them to a pair of her allies to handle each. The seeming trance she'd entered vaguely reminded me of the Berserker, and not in a good way.

Wow, that is unsettling.

“Hmm? Is there an issue?” Archie asked.

Oh, it's just Flur. She actually seems to be giving Vie and Pee a run for their money. You might have company soon. I'm going to make sure things are good up here in case they do try pushing their luck again after all of this, not that I think even they're stupid enough to try that.

“Ah, worry not, mistress. I am confident I can dissuade them should things come to that. You need only leave it to me.”

Thanks, Archie. I'm still going to make sure I'm ready to mount another defense, though. Can't be too careful. Ah, I might also need to recall Adraugon here soon. I'd rather have him alive if there's a chance of us going another round. Could you prepare a health potion for him?

“Consider it done.”