Chapter 72

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Chapter 72: Human Dungeon

Tasmanian, the war is at a stalemate.

A few days ago, the human army tried to extend the railway of Ribe Lake towards the southeast, but they were constantly stopped by the forces in the southeast corner. However, they couldn’t advance the railway into Angaso Forest from that side, and they couldn’t remove the heavily guarded railway from the wilderness on this side.

After several small-scale skirmishes back and forth, the battle reached a stalemate, and both sides were at a standstill. The sentinels on both sides constantly watched the railway section, even in the dark night. The Amazon warriors remained hidden in the trees of the wilderness.

The hollow tree, with the Druid’s tricks and the Amazonian’s camouflage skills, allowed warrior woman Hettie to blend in perfectly. Her disguise was so clever that not even the brightest moonlight could reveal her, and the herbal juice masked her scent, making her undetectable to the hunting dogs. Hettie stood still and silent like a tree branch, her eyes scanning the shadows of the troops by the railway. The people seemed unusually alert tonight, which put the Amazon warrior on guard as well.

She held a signal flare in her hand, ready to launch it at the first sign of trouble. The army at the southeast corner was divided into several groups, with others on standby, ready to move once the signal was sent, even in the deep night like now.

As the night grew darker, it was almost time for a shift change, and even Hettie felt a hint of weariness. Just then, a sound came from a distance.

Wooo—

Heading southeast towards Angaso Forest led to the steep coast, and the Amazon warriors, who grew up here, were familiar with the sounds of the tide. At first, Hettie doubted if she heard the untimely sound of the sea waves, but the sound grew louder and more rough, sending chills down the spine of every listener.

The ground trembled.

Flares had already soared up in other locations, indicating that the sentinels there had probably spotted the incoming enemy attack. Even without the flares, it was clear that something was wrong – the enemy’s movements were too loud: countless wheels hitting the railway loudly, numerous chimneys hissing and spewing white smoke, creating noises that could wake the dead from their graves. The steel serpent on the railway was rumbling forward, it was coming! It had arrived!

Amazon Sentinel took a deep breath and quickly calmed down. The dungeon master had predicted the arrival of the "train" several days ago, and the rough image and relevant descriptions had spread throughout the entire dungeon. It was a machine, no different from what Craftsman Dwarf could make, so there was no need to be afraid even though it looked huge and intimidating. Hettie’s location had not been exposed yet, so she didn’t retreat; instead, she stayed low observing the approaching train.

A towering train, as tall as several people, approached, painted in black metal that barely reflected light, as if swallowing the faint moonlight and all gazes falling upon it. Even though it was known that it wasn’t a monster, it still looked quite frightening, like a steel dragon exhaling hot steam all over its body. This endless behemoth seemed faster than a galloping horse but slowed down as it reached closer.

The brakes were pulled, and the iron wheels scraped against the tracks, creating sparks that lit up the night briefly, illuminating the slowing monstrous train. It came to a thrilling stop at the end of the tracks, before the smokestack extinguished, the carriage was already opened, and soldiers rushed out.

Hettie drew her bow.

A tree stood close to the motionless train, with soldiers just a few meters away from being within arrow range. Inside the hollow tree was a retreat path; it wasn’t too late to take a few lives and retreat. Hettie patiently aimed at the busy soldiers, waiting to give them an Amazonian welcome.

Their movements were much slower than she anticipated. For nearly five minutes, the soldiers were busy going in and out of the carriage, seemingly unconcerned about wasting time or alerting the enemy. With moonlight obscured by clouds, the only source of light came from the soldiers’ lanterns. Amazonian couldn’t see what was happening in the dark without light. It was strange; soldiers wouldn’t usually carry lanterns in combat, why would these humans, who couldn’t see well in the dark, choose such a night?

The doors of the train swung open, and the people inside finally emerged.

The soldiers with lanterns stopped near the train, dispersing on both sides to create a wide passage. Instead of more soldiers, huge puppets appeared.

They were so tall that they had to bend down to crawl out of the train carriage. The rocking movements of the train caused the red-eyed monsters to jump down below, their large feet sinking slightly into the ground. These living iron masses were quite heavy, visibly powerful and mighty – their weight alone could crush a person into pulp. They advanced step by step, their heavy footsteps seeming to weigh a ton, crushing the green grass beneath them into mud.

What kind of power can make these giant spirit creatures move on their own? Amazon Sentinel wondered in amazement. She had heard about the Iron Golem before, but she couldn’t understand the terms "magic" or "technology". Hettie, finding it tricky, looked at the magic statue about to pass by her and felt like a mosquito trying to figure out a turtle, unable to find a way to act upon it.

The mutation occurred as the first magic statue approached the big tree.

It dragged its heavy steps forward, the slow pace suddenly changed when it was three meters away from the trees. One moment it was walking like a big zombie, the next moment it turned with astonishing speed, sprinted, accelerated in an instant like a speeding train, fiercely crashing towards where Amazonian was hiding.

Hettie didn’t even have time to react as the transformation from a clumsy iron block to a killing machine happened in less than a second. The night was so dark that by the time she noticed the magic statue, the big tree had already been hit. The trunk was struck as if by a big iron ball, starting to break and collapse from the middle, and the canopy along with Hettie on top came crashing down. Startled from shock, the Sentinel concealed herself among a large pile of branches and leaves, trying to fall towards the distance with it, making a quick escape.

She hid very well.

Amazon Sentinel always hid very well, her disguise in the trees seamless, and now her hiding was the same, even if ten lights were lit around her, human soldiers wouldn’t be able to find her. However, the Iron Golem that could find her in the darkness clearly didn’t rely on sight – at least not the kind of sight human have.

The palm-sized iron claw suddenly grabbed into the fallen branches and leaves, precisely catching Hettie’s leg, lifting her up and then slamming her heavily onto the ground. The difference in strength and physique was too great, Amazonian’s tall figure in the hand of the magic statue felt like a light doll, her bones breaking from the heavy blow, internal injuries causing the Sentinel to vomit blood. Archers were not known for their defense, her agility lost its usefulness when caught, and she could only awkwardly try to block with her longbow. The other fist of the Iron Golem followed, easily breaking the blocking longbow, seemingly about to smash the Amazonian below into a pulp.

Countless vines shot up at the crucial moment, flexible tendrils wrapping around the Iron Golem’s impending striking hand. The weeds and branches on the ground temporarily restrained the movements of the killer machine that was as quick as a rabbit, intercepting it momentarily. The seeds laid out by Druid attempted to save Amazon Sentinel from the jaws of death, but the steel fist clenched even harder, and Hettie let out a scream from her twisted leg.

The other magic statues also started to move. They weren’t targeted by the bindings, but simply moving aimlessly could break the vines off them. Like siege hammers, their huge fists hammered the trees, smashing the ground or swinging towards the sky, hiding Sentinels, and scouting spirit beasts forcibly unearthed from their hiding places, the Iron Golem didn’t need night vision, in their crystal eyeballs, living souls shone brightly like torches.

The vines broke with a crisp sound, and just as the next blow was about to land, Hettie gritted her teeth and pulled out her waist knife. Sword fighting was the archer’s last resort. The blade was helpless against steel armor, but it could at least cut through flesh and blood.

With the last vine severed, the Amazon Sentinel struck down with her knife, slicing off the leg that was being held. She fell to the ground in intense pain, as the Druid’s vines quickly carried her away.

Acting decisively saved Hettie’s life, but not all the other suddenly exposed sentinels were as lucky. Flesh and blood proved extremely vulnerable against steel, especially with the added trouble from the darkness. Even if the human army from the southeast corner pushed forward, they would likely just be walking into the reapers’ hands.

The southeast corner was not only occupied by the human army.

The sound of wings echoed from above as the Dragon Cavalry descended from the sky. The dragons and Dragon Knights were still recovering, but the trained Dragon Cavalry from these years were capable enough. Gripping the reins of flying dragons tightly, they assessed the situation in the darkness from the dragon’s subtle reactions, then issued specific attack commands. The Dragon Cavalry steered the flying dragons – the dragons’ senses extended to the cavalry. They dove down in the pitch-black night, spears striking to unbalance the Iron Golems, followed by the flying dragons’ claws gripping these wobbling iron lumps.

The flying dragons were not strong enough to carry the golems into the sky, but they could tug and drag them, throwing them to collide with each other. The neat formation of the Iron Golems quickly fell apart, allowing the Arborist to rescue many sentinels and animal companions. The ground cracked in the darkness, and the Headless Horseman emerged from the mass of undead, with his Undead Warhorse trampling ghostly flames beneath him. The warhorse neighed, standing up like a man, and the knights wielding giant swords charged into the midst of the golems.

Iron Golems continued to emerge unceasingly from the train, as the human military seemed determined to end it all in one fell swoop. Similarly, reinforcements from the dungeon had also arrived.

Marion gazed down from the hill, the night shining as bright as day in her eyes, with the Iron Golems appearing as if they were right in front of her. She saw those pairs of glowing red eyes, the steel monsters rampaging on the battlefield, their powerful fists even able to bring down flying dragons, blood and flesh splattering, creating a gruesome scene. This scene suddenly overlapped with her memories, and Marion recalled that on the night when her entire tribe was wiped out, steel monsters had also invaded their settlement.

Human torches shook around, monsters with glowing red eyes killed in all directions, spears and swords breaking on their iron skins. Human soldiers swung their cleavers at the fleeing and vulnerable, while the tribe’s finest warriors faced off against a golem. All attacks on it seemed futile, while every swing of its hand left behind motionless flesh and blood. The father’s roar was abruptly cut off by the giant steel hand… The hellish scene tangled with the many childhood nights, were they too terrifying or did time mix memories with nightmares? Marion forgot the truth of that night, viewing the steel beast as just a monster from her dreams.

Now she remembered.

Marion’s heart was pounding, her body trembling, blood boiling beneath her skin, but it wasn’t out of fear. Anger ignited a fierce fire in her bones, capable of burning everything in front of her to ashes.

She didn’t wear the necklace, it was carefully placed in the dungeon belonging to Marion’s room. Her room held her mother’s teeth, gifts from friends, a wardrobe crafted by Craftsman Dwarf, a sachet sewn for her by Mavis using herbs, a sheath made by a sibling and recovered during an Orc traditional festival, a coat put on her by a noble upon one of her transformations… Her home held her treasures.

Once again, the nightmare from her childhood that shattered her homestead stood at Marion’s doorstep, this time it was her turn to step up.

Marion had grown, countless people and events shaped her powerful body and soul now, she was no longer helpless. She had sharp teeth and claws, along with family, friends, siblings. This was Marion’s refuge and resting place, her homeland and paradise, she would defy the world for it, sacrificing everything without hesitation.

This time, she would win.

Mother, the she-wolf in her heart used this term to address the two women who changed her life, I will not be afraid anymore.

With a crackling sound, a massive wolf appeared on the hillside. Her pure white fur had no trace of color, shining like moonlight, and her incredible size rivaled that of a golem. If there were still Shamans of the Worgen tribe alive, this massive wolf’s resemblance to the Worgen God’s image would surely shock them.

"Worgen Marion, multiple natural baptisms have made her bloodline revert, she can get extremely close to the Worgen progenitor during her wolf transformation – that powerful Silver Wolf revered by primal tribes as a deity or demon. Without the light of the sun and moon, she can still transform, a Druid scholar who once studied this mysterious creature said: ‘It’s not the full moon calling the Silver Wolf, but the Silver Wolf calling the full moon.’"

A wolf’s howl pierced the night sky.

Suddenly, the clouds covering the sky parted, revealing a full moon hanging high in the sky, illuminating the fierce battlefield and the hill full of soldiers. Following the wolf’s howl, the Orcs behind Marion, who had undergone a natural transformation, were turning into beasts. The Shape-shifter Druid cast a spell, while the spirit beast companions of the Beast Speaker were eager to join the battle.

Various predators stretched their claws under the moonlight. Grass-eating rhinos, goats, and buffaloes lowered their heads, charging with more ferocity than heavily armored cavalry. The second wolf’s howl signaled the charge, led by the giant Silver Wolf, the team rushed towards the battlefield.

——————————

The golem fell with a loud crash.

Tasha pulled out the curved blade from the golem’s head, frowning at the blackened marks on the blade. By the time she dismantled the sixth small golem, her blade had worn to some extent. Perhaps a polearm would be better for dealing with these tin cans.

This was about a hundred to two hundred meters underground in the capital city, with winding tunnels and small golems patrolling. These golems were similar in size to humans, not particularly difficult for Tasha to deal with, but they were very annoying. If not dealt with immediately, they would call for reinforcements, possibly leading to bigger trouble.

However, Tasha still found this place better than the outer layers. The entrance guided by the witch was an informal path filled with collapses and debris. The lowest part of the cave required crawling, and the narrowest part could leave one gasping for breath. Tasha was not heavy, but her large dragon wings took up a lot of space in the narrow passages, making her cumbersome. Tasha couldn’t help but recall a movie she had watched before, where the main character struggled to move through narrow alleys, never imagining she would have such a day.

Thank goodness, that narrow passage had finally ended.

In the cave, there were marks made by people, and the wandering magical statues gradually increased and then disappeared. Passing through the area of the statues, there appeared a maze with many paths ahead.

"Strange…" muttered Victor, "This seems a bit too traditional."

"A traditional maze?"

"A traditional Wizard Academy," said Victor, "The human empire that rejects spellcasters has a very well-maintained traditional Mage Tower maze beneath its capital city, filled with wizard tricks."

"Can you unlock it?" Tasha asked straight away.

"Of course," Victor said, with a tone of disdain as if Tasha had just asked a math question to an Olympian.

Victor wasn’t lying.

This was a very complex maze, filled with various magic fluctuations. The concentration of magic inside was vastly different from above ground, becoming denser the further they went. With Victor’s navigation device, Tasha smoothly and quickly made her way out of the maze.

"That was unexpectedly smooth," Tasha said.

"Why, disappointed?" Victor rolled his eyes, "If you think the adventure is not exciting enough, you can step back right now, I’ll keep quiet this time."

"I mean, thanks to you," Tasha said honestly.

"Humph, it’s nothing," Victor boasted, "Even if it’s heavily damaged, for a great demon like me, this kind of small dungeon is just a piece of cake, I could guide you with my eyes closed…"

Suddenly, Victor stopped.

"What’s wrong?" Tasha stopped as well.

"Um… could you take a few more steps?" Victor said in a subtle tone.

Tasha took a few more steps, stopped, and nothing happened.

"So, do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?" Victor asked cautiously, "Any pain? Dizziness? Nausea? Any strange sudden urges? Is your heart feeling uneasy?"

Tasha decisively pinched the neck, or maybe the face, of the Book of Dungeons through the link, you see, it’s hard to tell the body parts of a book.

"Speak nicely! If you have something to say, say it nicely! I just helped you find your way not long ago!" Victor shouted, without much resistance – normally he would have caused a scene by now, but he seemed to be acting guilty this time, like he had something to hide. Tasha raised a book and Victor immediately surrendered.

"You crossed a boundary just now," he said softly. "You were talking to me, I didn’t notice."

"What happens when someone crosses the boundary?"

"Usually, this complicated and hard-to-break spell formation will eliminate anyone who enters without following the instructions, in a form of physical destruction," Victor explained delicately.

"…I actually had a momentary belief that you were reliable."

"My soul has been deeply wounded… Since you are safe and sound, everything is fine, right? I knew you would be okay!" Victor said cheerfully and adorably, maybe a bit too exaggeratedly, "Great Dungeon Nest Mother! My amazing master! Unparalleled… Oops!"

After finishing with Victor, Tasha carefully examined the place she had just crossed.

Observing attentively, she could indeed feel a division there, with several intricate waves restraining the space, maintaining balance but on the edge. Even though Tasha didn’t know much about magic, she could imagine what would happen if an outsider entered, like lighting a cigarette in a room with a gas leak.

But she had indeed entered, without even realizing.

"You have something accidentally met the criteria on you, and I can’t be sure what it is," Victor said, "but that is quite strange… If such a barrier exists, how could the creator of the barrier not have considered the possibility of creatures invading the dungeon?"

Let’s put that aside for now, the battle at Tasmanian is in full swing, and Tasha can’t afford to delay.

Outside the maze, there is only one path that leads straight to an unknown place. The magic lamps emit a soft glow, and the magic concentration here is even higher than inside the dungeon. Perhaps that’s why the magic lamps and golems have been functioning for so long.

The road suddenly opened up not far away.

Tasha’s membranes flickered, her pupils contracted, taking half a second to adapt to the sudden bright halo. The narrow cave turned into a wide and high underground temple, with various items neatly arranged on both sides of the wide road, resembling a display room.

When she saw what those things were, Tasha was stunned in place.

Not monsters or any amazing weapons, not anything bizarrely frightening, Tasha’s shock was precisely because many of them looked quite familiar.

She had seen similar things, not in this world.

A row of oddly shaped test tubes, a metal box covered in rivets, a wooden clock with a glass screen, a cone-shaped switch lamp that seemed to light up with a touch, a small square box that looked like a radio, a large square box with a familiar screen… They seemed to continue the lineage of the magical technology of the royal city, but at the same time, they were astonishingly similar to many technological products in Tasha’s memory. If this corridor were described as technology from the 19th or early 20th century, many people on Earth would believe it.

It felt like finding a phone in an ancient tomb, leaving people stunned on the spot.

They all looked quite old, quietly placed in layers of display cabinets on both sides of the passage, stretching endlessly. Tasha used to think that Aryan’s magical technology specialized only in military affairs, with no progress in other areas, but now it seems not to be the case.

"I see." Victor’s voice drifted into her mind, "That’s why you weren’t stopped outside."

When Tasha looked up, she understood.

Embedded in the ceiling of the underground space was a familiar garnet. A Dungeon Core was enveloped by layers of runes, not as a boundary core, but as one of the component nodes, and probably more further away. It had become a part of the massive magic array above her head (the magic array was so large that only a segment of an arc could be seen in the distance), to the extent that Tasha herself did not feel it. The Dungeon Core was one of the materials used in setting up this boundary, so it naturally would not keep Tasha out.

This also meant that when this boundary was set up, humans probably no longer needed to worry about dungeons.

Tasha had an indescribable sense of foreboding. She quickened her pace in this passageway. The items stacked on both sides were pushed back, many of which were alarming (that huge thing with a bunch of tubes, could it be a primitive computer?!), moving forward, Tasha saw the repetitive things.

Everything on both sides of the previous corridor was unique, reminding her inexplicably of Noah’s Ark, where each creature had only one kind. But in this part, Tasha saw a large area of identical things, neatly arranged in boxes, one after another.

Muskets.

She suddenly remembered the big clock in the city center, where a cuckoo bird would come out at twelve o’clock carrying something, and a tin soldier would march out. Now, it turned out that the soldier was not holding something similar to a gun, but an actual gun.

During the time when that clock was made, guns were still used in battles.

Tasha asked Victor, and after receiving a safe answer, she pulled out a gun, awkwardly took it apart. She didn’t smell any gunpowder in the place where the gunpowder would go. Inside the gun barrel with strange patterns, there was a faint trace of magic left.

So, this was the reason they disappeared.

She dropped the gun, moved forward again, her heart beating faster than ever. The growing sense of getting closer to the answer made Tasha excited, she felt she was getting closer to the truth.

The truth of magic technology, the truth of humanity, and even the truth of this world.

Behind the gun, there were other strange things, a large number of bookshelves and scattered magic wands. "I’ve seen the owner of this thing before." Victor exclaimed at a beautiful wand, "My goodness, who dismantled the chief archmage’s orb from White Tower?" There was no answer in the vast underground space. How long had it been? How long was this path? After passing by a pile of wizard artifacts (or the remnants of wizard artifacts), Tasha finally reached the end.

Surprisingly, there was a very large door here.

A door without any magical fluctuations, just a beautiful wooden door.

Tasha felt she understood the reason for the existence of the large door subtly, it was out of respect – after a long journey, in the pilgrim-like emotion revealed by the designer of this space, the door was the revelation of the end, the conclusion of everything. Her hands pressed against the door, pushing it open.

The chatty Victor lost his words along the way.

Crystal coffins were everywhere, each containing a withered corpse. They formed a circular room like the Roman Colosseum, with no walls in sight, only coffins. In the grand underground chamber, surrounded by crystal coffins filled with bodies, on a dizzying magic circle, the corpse of a Blue Dragon occupied the entire room.