265. Survival in the Dungeon
"Your Holiness James...?" Ravenna whispered, the sound catching in her throat, the shock finally tearing through her exhaustion.
The realization struck her with the force of a physical blow: High Priest James had not been spared. He had been standing too close to the blast, and the subsequent mana wave must have consumed him.
In the distance, standing in a defensive formation near a narrow, twisting passage, Alice stood guard with a small unit of Kim Knights. Their faces were etched with fear, their rifles trained on the day sunlight of the above world were still awkward in this darkness. Alice rushed forward when she saw Ravenna awake, her own relief visible despite her professional composure.
"Ravenna, you were unconscious for several hours now," Alice reported, her voice strained. "The explosion... it tore open a portal directly beneath the observation room. We fell into the level of the dungeon that was already spawning here."
Ravenna looked around at the damp, enormous cave, its extent vanishing into the gloom. Goblins were still crawling out of small fissures in the rock, their shadowy forms twitching as they tried to orient themselves. Marie's grip tightened on her arm, confirming the cold, undeniable truth.
Still unable to fully process the loss of James, the man who had given her a key to the future and who had been loyal to the very end, Ravenna's voice was hoarse.
"Are we in a dungeon?" she asked, the question laced with the terrifying reality of the Cult's synchronized madness. "Did they... did they just spawn a dungeon in our city's northern harbor?”
Alice nodded once, grimly. Ravenna straightened, forcing herself to focus. She had fallen into the abyss, but she would not surrender to it.
“Do we know at what level we are at? And how many floors does this dungeon have?” Ravenna demanded, the steel returning to her voice.
Alice shook her head. “We have no idea. But seeing as how only low-tier goblins have showed up till now, and the size of the cavern suggests a localized tear, the Dungeon can’t be immediately catastrophic.”
Ravenna nodded, recognizing the thin line of hope. “Even so, we need to be careful. We might even be in a double-digit floored dungeon; the initial resistance can often be weak before the real challenges begin. We just have no idea.”
“We also don’t have much ammo left,” Alice added, her voice dropping. “We burned through most of our reserves fighting the initial wave of the magical beasts that erupted the moment we opened our eyes.”
Finally feeling stable enough, Ravenna focused inward, pulling up the one constant in her reality.
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A curse formed silently on her lips. “I don’t have enough points to enter the Origin Domain and get more ammo.” The threshold to instantly manufacture the thousands of bullets needed was far beyond her meager remaining balance.
She scrolled through her options, desperation biting at the edges of her composure:
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- Access to the Internet: 100 Points per Hour
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- Geographical Scans: 5 Points per 1 Kilometer
- Nullify Minor Poison Damage (Self): 250 Points
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- Copy Skill – Locked
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Taking a measured breath, Ravenna pushed the panic down. She took out her twin daggers, the metal gleaming cold in the faint light.
“We will conserve our ammo,” she announced, her voice firm and ringing with the authority of the Princess. “Who is the highest-ranking knight here among all of you?”
A tall, blonde-haired knight, his face smudged with soot and blood, snapped to attention, holding his Kim Pattern Rifle steady.
“I am Knight Kalahad, Your Highness. I am a squad captain,” the knight reported.
“What do you make of the current situation?” Ravenna asked, her gaze sweeping the cavern, settling on the knight who represented their last line of tactical defense. She was going in with daggers; she needed a plan that didn't rely on firepower.
Kalahad, despite his exhaustion, straightened his posture, his report precise and military. “Currently, we are trapped inside a dungeon that was formed by the infiltrated Cult of Absolution within the Herptian Church’s delegation that arrived. We have about eight knights, Your Highness, Lady Alice, and Her Divinity Marie stuck here.”
He hesitated, the weight of their isolation pressing down on him. “We do not know the depth or the number of floors this dungeon extends to. However,” he waved a hand toward one of the scouts, “one of our men found a crude stone stairway ascending into the darkness nearby while scouting the perimeter. That confirms this dungeon is not a single-floor one, at least.”
A flicker of sorrow crossed his face as he delivered the grim casualty report. “We also confirmed that about thirteen of our comrades died in the initial explosion. Your Highness and Saintess Marie were only able to survive because High Priest James shielded you both from the initial shockwave with his own body.”
Marie let out a choked sob at the confirmation of James's sacrifice. Ravenna took a deep, steadying breath, acknowledging the heavy debt they now owed the fallen high priest.
“His sacrifice will be remembered and honored,” Ravenna stated, her voice clear and resonant. She then shifted her focus back to survival first and foremost burying the grief. “We can be sure that those outside the dungeon are already working in full force to rescue us. They will know that we fell in this location. As long as we figure out the way up to the first floor, we should be able to meet with them and escape.”
“We were hoping to use a guerilla tactic,” Knight Kalahad suggested, his tone low and tactical. “We could move slowly and silently through the twisting passages toward the discovered stairs, minimizing exposure and conserving the few rounds we have left. Our survival depends on not drawing too much attention.”
“No,” Ravenna objected, her eyes gleaming with sudden, decisive intent. Her voice sharpened, cutting through the knight's practical suggestion. “I have a different plan entirely.”