Deathwhisper part I
Part 1
At the base of the slope near the entrance to Malachite Keep, Zal and Sandro was facing each other.
Sandro, in her full skull armor, was gathering a tremendous amount of magical energy, causing the atmosphere around to warp.
Zal stood not too far away.
A small dragon, his minion, positioned between them.
“You might want to step back a bit…
Actually…
You better take cover inside the keep…”
“I wouldn’t be able to see anything from there…
Let’s just stay around here.”
Zal ran up to the entrance of the keep, took cover behind a pillar at the door, then turned back to speak to Sandro.
Once she saw that the other had retreated enough, Sandro began to cast her spell.
“…Death Sentence…”
Suddenly, a green light beamed down from the sky, bathing the little dragon and the surrounding area like a spotlight shining on an actor in the middle of a stage.
In the blink of an eye, a dense magical beam shot down, engulfing the area bathed in green light, like a giant waterfall.
The green beam, rather than exploding, streamed from the sky to the ground unimpeded.
When the light ceased, the area had turned into a massive pit with unfathomable depth.
Zal tried to peer into the abyss, but saw only darkness.
“Wow, nothing left, not even the ground.”
“How about that?…”
Hearing Sandro’s inquiry, Zal pulled up the structural diagram of his dragon minion’s summoning circle to check and saw no changes.
“No issues, it’s still intact.”
“Hmm…
So the shock from the avatar’s death didn’t affect the original minion in the circle…
Originally, it was just meant to transmit experiences and feelings…
For a minion without sensations, it shouldn’t matter…
But I want to make sure.”
Concerned that the powerful spell that killed the avatar Zal had discovered might cause the original in the circle to die, Sandro suggested that he should try summoning the minion to withstand an attack, but it seemed everything was fine.
“From now on, we’ll have to change our schedule a bit…
We’ll start learning about dungeon creation first…
and then come back to the mage and summoner lessons later…”
Once finished, Sandro changed back into her usual attire and teleported the both of them back to the library.
In the central hall of the library, there was a large table cluttered with books that Zal had been researching, and nearby stood a large board for drawing rough theories to teach him.
Zal took his usual seat, while Sandro stood next to the board like when she was teaching him a magic lesson and began to review his basic knowledge.
“Alright…
What do you know about dimensional dungeons?…”
“Hmm…
There are closed dimensional dungeons, which are separate dimensional spaces from the real world with entrances connecting the inside and outside, and open dimensional dungeons, which are located on real-world terrain and change the environment without having an entrance.”
“Correct…
And do you know how dimensional dungeons are formed?…”
“Dimensional dungeons arise from twisted dimensional spaces created by magical stones, which then gradually expand until they become dungeons…”
Zal answered languidly with a hint of annoyance, feeling like he was being tested on knowledge that every adventurer should already possessed.
“Creating a dimensional dungeon isn’t much different from creating a dimensional storage room…
Just create several rooms and corridors connected to each other until it forms a dungeon…
The magical power used is drawn from a magic stone, which we’ll designate as its core…
Okay, let’s start by creating one dimensional room and inscribing a magic circle with this structure…”
Sandro spoke while pointing to a summoning circle pattern she had drawn on the board as a template.
After Zal created the dimensional room and drew the circle, Sandro handed him a magical stone the size of a fingertip.
“Now place this magical stone in the center of the circle…
and activate the circle…
That will create the core of the dungeon.”
Once the circle was activated, the magical stone slowly levitated from the ground and remained suspended in the air while the circle on the ground gradually faded.
Moments later, a wave of energy spread across the walls of the dimensional room.
Then Zal felt that the room no longer maintained itself with his magical power but sustained itself autonomously.
“The design of the dungeon structure can be freely modified…
but to save time, let’s build it according to this blueprint first…
When you have free time, you can try designing a dungeon yourself…”
Sandro tapped the board, and the image on the board changed from the summoning circle draft to a rough structural layout of a dungeon, appearing like a dungeon map viewed from above.
Zal looked at the sample blueprint and created additional extensions as seen.
He found that creating rooms and corridors was as easy as drawing them; just imagine and decide the size and the location of the rooms and the type of corridors as connectors.
The structures would then appear one by one, and soon the entire dungeon was completed.
Seeing that the dungeon structure was finished, Sandro then instructed how to decorate the interior of the dungeon.
“For this dungeon, I think I would place the entrance in a forest…
so the interior should also look like a forest to avoid suspicion from the person who entered…
Focus on the core of the dungeon and imagine the environment you want to transform the dungeon’s interior…”
Zal thought of the dungeon where he first encountered Sandro, thinking it would be suitable.
He concentrated on the core of the dungeon and thought of that place.
Suddenly, the interior of the dungeon transformed into corridors and rooms formed by dense rows of trees.
“Wow, that was easier than I thought.”
“For a summoner, a class skilled in creating things through imagination, it’s quite straightforward…
Now add this set of magical structures into the summoning circle of the minions you want to appear in the dungeon…”
Sandro tapped the board again, and the image on the board changed to a set of runes.
Zal copied the runes and added them into the summoning circle of all his minions.
“This set of runes is called ‘Dungeon Bound.’ It links the summoning circle to the dimension of the dungeon created with the same set of runes…
This allows you to summon minions to any location within the dungeon without having to be there yourself…”
“Wow, that’s awesome!
I didn’t even know there was such a method.”
“Next, we need to place the dungeon entrance in a suitable location…”
Sandro touched Zal’s shoulder to teleport along with him.
The walls on every side of the floor were open, providing a panoramic view.
In the center of the room, there was a large stone pedestal surrounded by six smaller ones in a circle.
Zal, having seen such magical equipment before, remarked,
“Is this?
A teleportation stone?”
“Yes…
I have placed teleportation points at various locations for travel…
Follow me…”
Sandro led Zal into the magic circle surrounded by the stone pedestals.
As Zal followed her in, Sandro touched the large pedestal, and suddenly, the magic circle on the floor began to emit a blue light, enveloping the area within the circle like a glass tube, and then both of their forms vanished.
Part 2
When Zal opened his eyes again, he found himself and Sandro standing amidst the ruins of what seemed to be an ancient fortress that was damaged and abandoned.
More than half of the walls were collapsed, allowing a view outside.
They were now on the second floor of the fort, providing a clear view of the surrounding area.
In front of the fort was a desolate plain, but an old road interspersed with grass growing through the stone gaps could be seen.
It stretched to a main road not far away.
“This teleportation circle is really convenient.
This way, getting around is easy.”
“It’s not that simple.
The Peace Keepers have a network to detect teleportation magic, to prevent unauthorized teleportation, guard against undesirables bypassing checkpoints, and prevent smuggling and tax evasion…
Long-distance teleportation can cause ripples that might arouse their suspicions and could lead to investigations…
So, for safety, it’s best to use the teleportation circle only for short distances…”
“Can’t use it for long distances, huh?
By the way, where are we exactly?”
“We’re in the western region of Lentia…
just south of the entrance to Malachite Keep…”
“Lentia!?
That’s on the other side of the kingdom!
Did we really travel that far on that day?”
Lentia was on the far western edge of the Juris Kingdom, about nine hundred kilometers from Ejis, which was on the eastern border.
Zal was shocked, as he had not expected to have traveled so far in just one day.
“I also used teleportation at night in some segments, which saved a lot of time…
If the teleportation is not more than 150 kilometers, it won’t be detected…
But just to be sure, I never teleport more than 120 kilometers at a time…”
“I’m really surprised.
I didn’t think we’d come this far.
It’s my first time traveling so far.”
“You’re too dense…”
“Sandro didn’t tell me!
Are we going to build a dungeon right here?”
“No…
We need to travel a bit further…
We shouldn’t have adventurers wandering around an area with a hidden teleportation circle…
Follow me…”
Although there were no stairs, the rubble formed a slope allowing them to descend from the second floor.
Once they reached the road, Sandro brought out a carriage for further travel.
After traveling on the rough old road for a while, the carriage entered a main road.
Zal parted the carriage’s curtains to look at the scenery along the way, while Sandro quietly read a book.
Soon, the carriage reached the edge of a forest.
Sandro used magic to conjure a map of the area and looked for a while before deciding to stop the carriage at one edge of the forest.
“This area should be good enough…”
Sandro stepped out of the carriage and stored it in her dimensional space.
Then she led the way into the forest, with Zal following closely.
While walking in deeper, Sandro looked around for the perfect spot to place the dungeon entrance until she found a large, long-fallen tree with a hollow trunk.
“Hmm…
This tree hollow might just work…”
After finding the suitable spot, Sandro drew a magic circle in the air for Zal to see.
“This is the magic circle for creating the dungeon entrance…
See this set of runes?
They’re used to identify the dungeon’s signature…
If these runes match the one used to create the dungeon, the entrance will connect to that dungeon…”
“Oh, so it’s the same set of runes you told me to add to the summoning circle for the same reason.”
“Yes, if the runes match, you can summon minions directly into the dungeon…
But if they don’t match, it won’t work…
So, if you create a new dungeon, don’t forget to add the new runes set…”
“Got it.”
Zal took out a small notebook to jot down what Sandro taught, then drew the magic circle in the tree hollow and activated it.
After a moment, the circle faded, and a dimensional twist occurred in the hollow, turning it into a dungeon entrance.
“There’s just a little more to do…
Follow me…”
Sandro led the way into the dungeon, and Zal quickly followed.
Upon entering, he saw that Sandro had drawn another set of magic runes in the air, waiting for him.
“This spell is for moving within the dungeon…
The dungeon’s owner can use this spell to teleport anywhere within the dungeon…
Try using it to teleport to the dungeon’s core…”
After finishing, Sandro touched Zal’s shoulder, waiting for him to cast the spell.
Zal reviewed the dungeon’s layout to locate the core, then cast the spell Sandro had given.
In an instant, they both vanished and reappeared in the room that housed the dungeon’s core.
It’s really convenient, isn’t it?”
Zal was excited about teleporting by himself for the first time, while Sandro seemed less interested and began drawing another magic circle on the floor beneath the magical stone that was the core of the dungeon.
Confused about what Sandro was doing, Zal asked,
“Huh?
What are you doing now?”
“This spell is called ‘Soul Prison,’ an advanced form of ‘Soul Trap’ that captures the souls of living beings and stores them in soul stones.
If this spell is cast at the dungeon’s core, the entire dungeon will affect any soul with ‘Soul Trap.’ Any creature that dies here will have its soul captured and stored in the soul stones we designate…”
“Huh?
But Sandro, you already have plenty of magic stones, don’t you?
I don’t see why you need to do this.”
“You’re mistaken…
It’s precisely because of this that I have plenty of magic stones…
I use this method to create high-quality soul stones and then forge them into magical stones.
If we’re lucky, we might even get a magical stone of a higher grade than the one used as the dungeon’s core…
And we can use it to build more dungeons or for other purposes…”
“Huh!
I didn’t know you could make magical stones like this!
Wait, so basically we’re not losing anything at all, and we’re even making a profit!
That’s amazing!”
“It’s not always that simple…
If only few monsters wander into the dungeon, we might end up collecting fewer souls…
But usually, just having five or six monsters die in the dungeon is enough to generate souls for an F-grade magical stone…”
Once the activation of the spell was complete, the circle on the ground slowly faded away.
Then Sandro led Zal back out to the dungeon entrance before drawing another set of runes in the air for Zal to see.
“The final step is this…
This is the ‘Monster Lure’ spell…
It temporarily intensifies the magical energy in the area…
It can attract monsters and magical creatures within several kilometers to come closer…
Try casting it…”
“Eh?
Why do we need to attract monsters?
Isn’t this dungeon meant for my minions?”
“If the dungeon only contained summoned minions, it would be conspicuous…
People would realize it’s a man-made dungeon…
Plus, it’s their souls that we’ll capture with ‘Soul Prison’…
If no monsters enter, we can’t create any soul stones…”
“I see, I was wondering where we would get the souls from.
I was really worried for a moment there, thought you were going to make me kill adventurers who stumbled in.”
Hearing this, Sandro turned back to Zal with a slightly more serious expression.
“Just to be clear, you must not kill people…
and make sure no one dies…
or even gets seriously injured inside…
”
Sandro’s insistence surprised Zal, as he thought Sandro was the type to do anything to achieve her goals and not care much about people’s lives.
“Huh?
That’s unexpectedly kind…
I thought you’d see human lives as no more than fish and vegetables.”
“I’m not interested in their lives…
But if someone were to die or get seriously injured, it would elevate the dungeon’s danger level, and higher-rank adventurers might be sent to clear it…
They could wipe out the dungeon immediately, reducing our use of it…
In the worst case, it might even draw the attention of organizations to investigate for abnormalities…”
“If adventurers find it, wouldn’t the dungeon be cleared immediately anyway?”
“According to the basic rules of adventurers, it should be…
But in fact, most adventurers prefer to just clear out the monsters and leave the dungeon intact for a while…
They do this so they can return to hunt monsters in the dungeon again over the following days…
They wait until just before the mission deadline to clear the dungeon and then report back to the guild…
So, unless we run into those in a hurry to complete their missions, this dungeon should be usable for about a week before it gets cleared…”
“Huh?
Intentionally leaving a dungeon like that is against the rules, right?”
“That’s how adventurers are…
They prioritize their own benefits…
Especially if the dungeon has monsters that drop rare materials, some might let the mission timer run out to pick up the mission again…
That way, they can farm rare materials longer…
The reason for luring wild monsters into the dungeon is also for this purpose…”
“But won’t the wild monsters attack my minions?”
“Your minions are created with a circle that shares the same runes as the dungeon…
They will emit the same frequency as the dungeon…
The monsters will see your minions as ‘residents’ of that dungeon and won’t harm them…”
“Ah, I see…
Then, let’s get started.”
Zal immediately cast the Monster Lure spell.
He felt a clump of air gather in his palm before it dispersed into a gentle breeze blowing in all directions.
After everything was completed, they walked out of the forest.
Upon reaching the road, Sandro brought out the carriage again and climbed up to her usual seat, with Zal joining her excitedly, eager to see the completed state of the dungeon.
“So, after this, we just go back and wait at the keep, right?”
“No…
We have one more place to visit…”
“Eh?
Where?”
“The Adventurers’ Guild, of course…”
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