Chapter 143 Dungeon Core: “The Eternal Training Ground”

Pov Dungeon Core

Ace came and wanted to talk to me, but I didn’t answer as I didn’t want anyone to know that I was able to fake a breakthrough. He had expected this, but they were still incredibly worried.

Almost all of them were certain that the Pixies had taken control of me. Ace wasn’t so certain because he still told everyone that the connection with me was whole and he didn't feel anything wrong.

The majority of the war died down in a few days, but once again I didn’t end the quest for two reasons. One, it might give people a reason to think that I might be conscious and second, technically the war actually wasn't over. There were almost 300 way stations still under the control of the rebels, so until all of them were cleared out I didn’t want to end the quest.

Everyone also thought that this quest was automated, but it wasn't. Setting something this complex up to be completely automated would be way too complex. However, they didn't need to know that. Then came the question of what I would actually tell Ace when I woke up from my fake breakthrough.

At first, I wanted to tell them how the Pixies had attacked me and hopefully make it so that they could never get even close to my dungeon again, but I have been informed that it might not be the best option. I am used to ruling my dungeon however I want to, so political maneuvers are truly foreign to me. Fortunately, they aren't foreign to my denizens.

Too many questions would be asked about my defense and my strengths if I told anything remotely close to what happened with the Pixies. So, over the course of a few days, we decided on a course of action that would hopefully convince most, if not all, to leave me alone.

Just in case, I needed to do some adjustments to the labyrinth as the plan we came up with was actually a decent trap to deploy in the labyrinth. About every eight hours, Ace came and tried to speak with me, so on his latest try, I waited for him to be halfway out of the dungeon before I spoke with him.

"What happened? Explain? Everything hurts and my core has cracks in it!" I yelled through our connection, which actually took Ace to his knees while he held his hands to his ears.

"We think a device called a dungeon melter was used multiple times in an attempt to reach your core," Ace quickly said when he recovered a bit.

I lowered my tone. "Sorry, it just hurts so much. I panicked as soon as I gained consciousness. Now that I look back on it, there were indeed a lot of adventurers who invaded my core floor and even used those devices to make it deep into my core floor."

There was a short pause before Ace asked, "Did the Pixies attack you, and how far did they make it?"

"Do you mean those disgusting small flying creatures that made first contact with me? If so, then no, they were adventurers, but there were a lot of them. They made it pretty deep, but that was their downfall; they fell into a large area trap, and they were all killed." Ace swallowed in nervousness when he heard that.

"I am sorry to hear about everything that happened, but I need to ask more questions as there will be a lot of questions directed at me that I need to answer. First, what trap, and how did those attackers die, and how did they get to your core floor?" Now came the lying, something I wasn’t too good at, but hopefully, Ace wouldn’t pick up on it.

"They teleported there, but I will fix that problem immediately. In fact, I should limit teleportation in a large portion of the dungeon. Those skills and devices are getting a bit too common at gold rank.”

“The trap was a combination of multiple ones: a large area pit with a huge dungeon stone slab that would fall on top of that pit. The pit itself is filled with water and a truly nasty water monster. Do you want to see?" I asked, and before he could say no, I made this particular monster appear in front of him.

The way he yelled and backed off was hilarious. The monster, however, was basically useless on the ground, but in the water, it was magnificent. Its beginning pattern was a fish called a Pike. Normally, they hunted by swallowing their prey, but this particular pattern needed to start hunting larger prey, more specifically bite pieces out of them.

They had multiple rows of viciously sharp teeth and a strong biting force to use them. An adult was 3 meters long, but it varied quite a lot; they could eat a full-sized adventurer in just a few seconds if there were enough of them.

Ace needed to defend himself, as even I was surprised when the fish figured out that it could somewhat jump, and of course, its target was Ace. The monster was easily defeated, but before he could say anything, I spoke up. "This was its weakest form, but the pit was filled with thousands of these monsters at gold rank. Nothing survived for more than a few seconds in there."

Ace seemed to be looking at the monster in complete horror, and I could only guess that his imagination was running wild. "Thank you for answering my questions," Ace eventually said. He then started to leave, still in a little bit of shock.

That was good; things worked out as I hoped they would. "It will take me a while to fix my core, so if you can't communicate with me, that's because of that," I finally said just before he was about to leave the dungeon.

I didn’t go back to what I was doing but continued to follow Ace as he left my dungeon. My sight now was diminished, and by a lot. Still, it was better than most adventurers'.

Soon, Ace was surrounded by guards and advisors. I was glad to see that it looked like the deception worked, but everyone was even more confused about my explanations. "It still must be the Pixies; they just died before having a chance to escape," one of the advisors said.

Absolutely everyone seemed to believe that the Pixies attacked me, which was completely correct, but if they knew for a fact, I was certain that a lot of investigations would be launched, and the whole Pixie faction would openly try to crusade against me. Now, they were politically hampered unless they admitted to their actions, which would possibly be even worse.

They could try this tactic again, but with how many resources they used up, I didn’t think that they could try again anytime soon. “What if the pixies had a way to disguise themselves perfectly? That would explain so much. Otherwise, the Guild Master should have picked up on their presence.”

Another adviser said when they had discussed this for a while now. They were clever people, I had to admit that.

There was a chance that the pixies might send some of their strongest members here, but the few masters, including the Adventurers Guild Master, seemed to be making their own moves as there were now a few more masters here and what looked to be a lot of their subordinates.

It seems like they were taking me seriously now, and I had no doubt that they would be able to deter any open hostilities from the pixies.

So if I understand my advisors correctly, all of this should mean that I should be protected and shouldn’t have to worry about the pixies for a really long time, and if I continue to advance properly, when they could finally act against me, it would be way too late.

The only thing now that could change that fact would be if some more information about me came to light. That was why I kinda regretted making a few quests that could lead adventurers into the 19th-floor playroom.

Fortunately, adventurers seemed to like to keep their secrets, so I think I should be safe for a while, and once again, like with the pixies, the more time I get, the stronger I become.

It was now time for me to actually advance. Yet out of all this unpleasantness came a lot of amazing memories that I was going to cherish for a long time. So many amazing fights and, of course, seeing Pixies perish in so many horrible ways was a true highlight.