Magical Engineering

Chapter 289: A Jester Outpost

Maud“I think we should bring the cats,” Maud said, looking over at John. She saw the worry across his face, but wasn't entirely sure how to ease that. She understood the dangers more than he did, but the bond she had with the cats these days and with what she had learned from Daisy, she just knew that they were important.

“I'm not sure that's a good idea. But if you really think it is, I won't argue,” John replied.

“Thanks to how I've pushed myself, I think we're just stronger together and we're going to need everything we can get if it comes to rescuing William. Those jesters are terrifying, John, and we have to fight something stronger than anything I faced in Alexandria. I need the help.” She attempted one of her trademark wacky smiles, but instead it only came out sincere.

“Okay. You're the fighter here. If you say it's what we need, it's what we need,” John said, returning her smile.

Maud opened her mouth, ready to continue the conversation, before a calm voice interrupted her from the ship’s intercom. She still had no idea how that thing worked. But she wanted something like it back home. “Alright, everyone, we've managed to dock successfully. I want the boarding team at the airlock in the next 10 minutes. Be prepared.”

The voice had belonged to Squidlen. It was missing some of the usual confidence Maud had come to expect from it. That worried her more than anything else so far. Just what fresh hell were they about to walk blindly into?

“Alright, I guess preparation time is over. Big, Hecate, come on, let's go,” Maud said, putting confidence into her voice she didn't feel.

“It's going to be okay, Maud. We're going to do this. Alex is counting on us, so we can't fail,” John said reassuringly, while placing his arm gently onto her shoulder, and giving a small squeeze.

“And we're gonna kick jester ass while we do it!” Some of Maud’s Bluster had finally returned. Only half of it was forced. She hoped that was a good sign. “I'll let Dave and everyone know back in Alexandria.”

She left the idea that it might be their final message unsaid. She also worried about what would happen if it were. While Dave had, in theory, stayed behind because of his duties to the city and empire, she knew the truth. It was only because he trusted in the people who had gone after William, and if they all died, he would come after them, and there was no way to stop it.

Maud: Well, we've just docked at the chaos dungeon, and in theory, this is where the jesters have William. Hopefully, we're able to catch up to them before they make it to the other side. Wish us luck. :)

Dave: How many guests are you guys expecting? I thought you were just chasing the ‘Best’.

Maud: We don't know. The key problem is they've been using this chaos dungeon as a transport to speed things up, so we have no idea how much infrastructure they've set up inside of it. But I'm going to trash it all. :)

Saud: Yeah, kick their ass, Maud!

Karlinovo: Having both of you here is certainly an experience.

Dave: We’re about to get to the competition ourselves. The preliminaries are tomorrow. So we may be slow to respond, but try to keep us up to date on any changes there.

Alpha: Believe in Maud. See you and William soon. Hoary marmot well. Check Orca soon.

Maud: Thank you, Alpha. :)

Maud closed out the chat window as they reached the airlock. “That everyone?” Yorela asked.

Maud looked around at the people gathered. The only one she found a bit surprising was Mel's new student. She wasn't sure bringing a kid like that into this dungeon was a good idea. But she also wasn't willing to argue with the Cloudform. If he thought this was best, he had to have a good reason.

John, on the other hand, apparently was willing to ask. “Mel, is it a good idea to bring Vrilk along? Isn't he kinda young?”

“Nah, it's a terrible idea. But the ship ain't gonna be any safer. I'd rather keep him under my own eye,” Mel responded. He couldn't hide the worry in his voice from Maud. She had heard it too often. Any time the man started drinking, it seeped right in.

“Mel is right. This ship is probably toast if we all die, so let's not do that. Get your asses moving,” Yorela ordered as the airlock came open.

With a shrug, Maud followed everyone through. And that was when the voices became much louder in the back of her head. They had been there since the docking had started, and she thought that was as bad as it would get, but no. Now they couldn't be ignored.

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So instead, she tried something different to distract herself and pulled up another chat window.

Maud: Holy crap, guys, I had no idea the voices that happened in chaos dungeons. Is this what it's like to be a dungeon core? Corey, do you just hear weird voices any time you're inside of a dungeon?

Corey: Yes and no. I no longer do, but that is thanks primarily to my bonding with Dave. I am not sure if that is true of the others entirely yet.

Beta: In the Antarctic Dungeon, I can still sometimes hear its voice, the great corrupting force, but I fight, and if it dares to try to show its presence, I will fight harder.

Alpha: No voice. Have not heard long time.

Gamma: I have not heard it since I first bonded with Dave as his second core. Perhaps that is a solution to help Beta as well.

Dave: Hmm, we'll have to consider it. I didn't know Beta was still actually hearing it. I'm sorry. I would have tried to help you already if I did.

Beta: The Empire has bigger problems. My fight with a small voice should not be your priority. I will fight against it for the Empire. Do not waste resources on me.

Maud: I don't think you get to make that choice anymore, Beta. And knowing Dave, he's plotting right now how to help you. :)

Dave: I am. I, in fact, added it to a priority list already.

Apollyon: The key is to challenge it. Make it clear that you are far more powerful than that voice and its nagging. Do not let it come to you in the dark.

Dave: Alright, adding Apollyon to that list of people who may need help as well.

Maud closed out the chat window. It had done what she needed to do. The distraction had been enough to help her get a hold of her brain.

“Everyone doing okay? Just don't focus on the voice. Focus on everything around us. That's going to be the trick,” she said, spotting some of the group having more trouble than others.

All of the animals looked fine. As did Yorela, Alex, and, surprisingly, Vrilk. It looked like Mel had been right about the kid.

“Maud is right. Focus on everything you can see with your eyes. Right now, ignore what you can hear unless it's one of our voices. And if you look straight ahead, I'm sure you can already see what I can see,” Yorela ordered.

Huh, Maud wasn't sure how she had missed that. There were several flying creatures coming down the passage toward them. Each one was roughly the size of her head, with one giant eyeball and a pair of wings. A weird red drool was dripping from their mouths.

A halberd flew from beside Maud, crashing through the lead, one pinning it to a wall. “Well, that's one way ta get my brain on the game,” Mel yelled, several more halberds are appearing around him.

Not wanting to be shown up, Maud immediately went to work herself. In one hand, she threw two blasts of lightning while she started forming a dense ball of gravity in her other. She was still working on refining her gravity magic, but she had some of the smaller spells down for recall. And what better time to test them than on flyers?

While she kept the monsters focused on her direct magical assaults, she could sense her cat sneaking around behind them. Hecate was far more stealthy between the two of them, but they were still both cats, And before she even had her blast of gravity ready to go, each of them had already launched their own spells, pulled directly through their bond.

Several more halberds, A few well-placed lightning bolts and finally her own release of gravity ended the fight before it even really started. Strangely, there was no System notification despite the fact that they had beaten the enemies. Was it held till after the dungeon was over?

“Um, why aren’t we getting experience?” she asked.

“This isn't System space. Its ability to track our progress and growth is stunted out here. It will catch up eventually, but don't expect anything to happen on time,” Yorela explained.

“I don't remotely like how easy them monsters were. They didn't even seem like core beasts, and with a dungeon this big, how the hell ain't they core beasts?” Mel asked some anger infecting his questions.

“That's cause it ain't over. Maud, can you get your fire strong enough to incinerate their corpses?” Yorela asked.

“Uh, probably, I guess. Is that something we need to do through the whole dungeon?” Maud had never tried getting her flames that hot, though she had seen Dave do something similar.

“Hopefully that's all we have to do,” Yorela replied.

Maud decided it was best not to ask her just what that meant yet. There was plenty of time for everyone to become terrified out of their minds the deeper they went. There was no sense wasting it now, so soon. Instead, she carefully heated a small ball of fire in her hand as she walked towards the corpses of the monsters.

It took more mana than she had expected, but within a few minutes, each of their corpses was long gone. The cats had appeared next to a purring halfway through. Their total lack of fear was almost inspiring.

As she turned back towards the group, she spotted something down one of the side corridors out of the corner of her eye. There was a building. From what she knew of dungeons, there were generally buildings in them.

“Ugh, guys, there's a building over here?” she said questioningly, as she pointed down the path she had spotted it.

“Hmm, I think we might have found a jester outpost. Never seen one in person though, so can't be sure. Any guesses, Mel?” Yorela asked, joining Maud near ashes of their fight.

“Hard ta say from what little info there actually is about the jesters. And what little there is I ain't sure I'd call accurate. Hell, with what Dave has already learned, it seems like we don't really know shit about these monsters,” he answered through gritted teeth.

“Doesn't matter if those are jesters; they die,” Alex said, walking past us without hesitation in her step.

Elemental Mana Sources by Henjen Klank