Chương 20: Puzzles

"You've fought bog demons before?" Crevus asked as they wandered the room. Tebor and Talnax continued to talk softly as the mage used the magic cube to repair both their armors.

"Sort of. It had an attack like that," he said.

"Would have warned you, but my muscles have always been a bit faster than my brain." The priest laughed.

"I have the opposite problem." He began inspecting one of the pillars. It was decorated, like most things in this dungeon, with geometric patterns and snakes. I hope that's not related to the solution. It would be just his luck if the way to solve the puzzle meant knowing some esoteric gorgon lore. While the priest studied the carvings, Malachi looked about the room. There was that beam of light coming down from the ceiling, illuminating the bog demon corpse in the center.

He couldn't tell if it actually led outside or was some sort of magic that replicated a sunbeam. There were the four pillars. The warrior lord and mage sat by one, and the priest was looking over the other. The motifs looked about the same on all of them. There were the various vines dangling down from the ceiling, blocking the view of the whole room. There were several stone doors on the outside of the room.

"Don't do anything without asking. We want to be ready for a fight before we trigger one," Crevus called.

"Got it," Malachi replied. He circled one of the pillars. The central image was pretty straightforward. There was a gorgon shooting a bow on one side. The arrow was represented as a beam. On two of the sides, there was some symbolically represented battle or story, and on the side opposite the center, a gorgon holding up a circle. The rest of the pillar was done in relief, but the circle was carved deep into the pillar. Huh, he thought. That gave him an idea. Malachi started looking around the rest of the room.

There wasn't much. The outer walls were covered in moss and more vines. There were several prominent doors that stood out. Malachi figured that was where monsters would come out as they progressed the puzzle. Crevus had mentioned that happening in the canal room. He looked back towards the center of the room. By now, the bog demon's body had mostly dissolved into motes of light, revealing a pile of, well, junk. He wandered over to the priest.

"Do they always leave behind stuff like that?" he asked Crevus.

"Yes, in the wild, the bog demons coalesce around abandoned magical items and are built up by shadow elementals and decaying plant matter. This one was created by the Warden, but it still uses the same principles. They leave behind the items they formed around. Unfortunately, this one seems to have formed around someone's refuse." Malachi inspected the trash. There was a sword, so rusted that 'nothing' was quite literally the better option. There was a pair of gross looking gloves that were more hole than glove.

Also not usable. There was a large piece of broken mirror, some rotted branches, some pottery shards, and what appeared to be a deck of playing cards some worms had burrowed through. He looked around the room. The motifs on each pillar were the same, but they were rotated ninety degrees from each other. The solution to the puzzle was obvious. These guys need to play more Zelda, he decided. Delaying them would be tremendously easy; he simply needed to do nothing.

Crevus had opened up his pack and was studying a thick tome. Tebor and Talnax were still chatting. Malachi sat on the ground next to the junk pile and listened in. He still was intensely curious about the Maatugivi Empire. Dr. Chavez had thought they were important, and clearly, they were mucking about in the realms doing something. Besides, it might help him blend in better.

He supposed if he'd seen someone like them walking on Earth, dressed in normal clothes, he wouldn't have looked twice, which explained why they weren't interrogating him. The System Units doing the translating helped immensely. Idly, he wondered what they would sound like without the translation.

"…tutor has me learning how the estate is managed. No dungeons in the family, so the income is farmland and hunting. If I never see another land tax policy document again, it'll be too soon. The hunts are bringing in a lot more than the grain. Don't know why we bother, but Father says it's always good to have a 'good foundation.' He's trying to get a second portal mage, of course, but until then, we're still paying fees to the guild." That made Malachi's ears perk up. Tebor shook his head.

"And all because my grandfather took out an inadvisable loan. But enough about all the drudgery. How's your side of the family?"

"Well enough. Uncle Siedus married again, and he's doing well. My own father is put in a venture with a joint company that's given some of those lizards the run-around. He's convinced them it's one of the other tribes who cut off their route to the iron mines. They're desperate for weapon sales, so we're selling them at triple markup. That new realm that opened up is apparently full of easy pickings. He gifted me a human slave. Oh, she's a fine specimen.

The cores seem to have issue translating their barbaric language, but she's easy to train." Malachi felt his teeth clenching. His hand had curled into a fist involuntarily.

"Oh that's good, well deserved. I got two from one of the trade caravan, my sister bought me them as an early initiate's gift, and you're right about the stock. Very fine. And so docile! A bit primitive, though, they seem not to know the first thing about everyday tools." Tebor paused to take a sip from his waterskin.

"There's mutterings about this new realm in the backrooms. Saying it's another sphere-realm. If that's true, it might be that the pickings just started. The high priests are already in consultation." Malachi could feel the anger rising in himself like white hot lines of fire that were making his hands tremble. All he could think about were those last texts he'd gotten from his sister. Dr. Chavez had been right. The people the slavers were capturing—they were being funneled to people like this.

People he was in the same room with. He steadied his breathing. Now is not the time. Wait. Be patient. At least the lord and his cousin had settled the question of his loyalty with absolute finality.

"That's not the only rumor I've heard," Talnax said, oblivious to Malachi's emotional state. They were still talking casually about everything, like it was the weather or a nice car they'd seen driving by.

"I think I know the one. You don't believe it, do you?" Tebor said. Malachi could hear clinking as he tested out the repairs on his armor. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"The implications are interesting, if they're true. Might get people to rethink Tyrmachus's Realm Cosmology."

"A secret that big that can't be kept."

"It absolutely can. Secret societies do it all the time. The professionals of the Ku'zi Inquisitors can no doubt do better. They kept the orcs in the dark, didn't they?" Tebor snorted.

"Keeping an orc in the dark is as simple as tossing a blanket over it." The mage laughed.

"Too true, too true!"

"Crevus! Any progress?"

"Some, my lord. There's a historical reference here, a bit obscure." Talnax stood.

"I know my Dark Mire history well enough! Let me take a look." As they wandered that way, Malachi took the mirror out of the pile. Briefly, a beam of light flashed towards one of the pillars, a bit too strong to be natural, and then it was out of the central beam. Malachi glanced back to see if they'd noticed, then wandered over and began examining himself in the mirror, rubbing off the remaining bits of grime and using his fingers to brush his hair. He looked like a hot mess.

Oh that's so gross, I don't want to look at it. Why do they have the tiny transparent piece of bone at the tip? SERA? What the hell's going on? Walk a bit farther over there. The more distance between me and the other System Units, the better. Malachi raised an eyebrow. Does this have something to do with Arisone mentioning that most System Units don't chat? No! Well, yes. System Units have to communicate through ethereal data transfer.

If we didn't, all the hooting you apes are doing would sound exactly as simian as it is. Turns out, the Somkrian language has changed a lot in a few thousand years, and their System Units wouldn't know English if I hadn't forked it over. The good news is, I've been getting reams of terminology updates, which will help with item and monster IDs, but the problem is System Units are supposed to 'check' on each other. Like I need checking on!

Anyways, the short of the matter is those units are uptight jerks who hate fun. Fascists, all of them! Right. Got it. But you don't care about that. Your current plan is as toasted as a rat stuck in a space heater. I need to tell you how Dungeons work so your new plan can succeed! I don't like how easily you're reading my mind, Malachi thought. He'd only just thought of his new plan for dealing with these Hadaun slavers and didn't like the idea of SERA instantly picking up on it.

Oh, it's not easy you disgusting ape. So. Dungeons! The Wardens the boss. Overseers, like that thing you just fought, are mini-bosses. I didn't autotranslate it like I do for a term like 'Dark Mire' because you shouldn't be thinking them quite the same as the video-game concept, but it's a valid analogy. Malachi's shirt was so full of holes and covered in filth that he decided to just ditch it. That revealed more grime for him to pick off, which was an excuse to keep using the mirror.

He was now also watching the three others as they gathered around the pillar talking as they examined the reliefs. The Warden creates the Dungeon, the trials, the monsters. There's small treasure chests every so often in a room, plus hidden ones if you can find the secrets. But the real prize is at the end. Defeat the Warden and you get the good loot. In this case, a Tier 1 combat class. That's the lowest, but everyone's got to start somewhere. Also some aetherite. Uh, let's see, what else were you thinking about?

Oh yeah, if you have a Magical Core and you die, someone can harvest essence from you related to the Conduits you have, but not the Core itself. … with one very notable exception. Malachi knew what SERA was going to say before it said it. Celestial Cores can be yoinked. That's the technical term? You know it, baby! And you are a baby compared to a lot of the monsters and classed fighters out there.

It should be obvious to you that each of these overgeared morons who can't figure out a seriously basic light puzzle have more abilities at higher levels than you. They may not have a class yet, but that won't stop them from kicking your ass. This is when it's useful to know how trials work. Uh… okay. How do trials work? Wardens are smart. They're not going to talk to you, but they understand anything you say. You can't kill them, they just put on a show for you when you 'defeat' them. Combat Trial is easiest.

The default. Everyone whacks each other with spells and sticks until the Warden or the apes win. Yawn, boring. Been done. But there's also Endurance Trial, Agility Trial, Stealth Trial, and Novice's Trial. Arisone's certainly trying the Stealth Trial, inadvisably. The Novice's Trial is designed for people without Cores. But you can't remove a Core while the person has it without killing them, so the Warden just levels the playing field. Low level conduits can be suppressed by certain high level spells. You get it?

So I need to get these guys in the boss chamber. Before it's defeated. Bingo. Malachi started reformulating his plan. He looked at Lord Tebor. He'd gotten a glance at the armor thickness when the bog demon had rent open one of the plates. It was thicker than anything he or his team had worn. The visor also had a fairly large opening compared to the medieval suits he'd seen. Designed with giant monsters in mind. Yeah, he could take advantage of that.

"Hey, I think I figured it out. Get ready to fight," he said, and brought the mirror over to the beam of light. Best they think I'm a loyal member of the team. All three of them turned to look at him. Malachi took the mirror and stood in the center of the light beam, then held it so the beam reflected directly into the hole in the first pillar. Threads of light crawled through the designs, illuminating the pillar. In the center, the orb the carved gorgon was holding aloft had become a sun.

"What—?" Tebor said.

"Of course!" Crevus said.

"It's referring to the myth of the sun archer and Sheothalia. I should have known." One of the doors rumbled open. Two salamanders the size of crocodiles wandered out. [Ember Salamander] - A big reptile that breathes fire. Slow on land, just like Earth salamanders. That fire mage is going to struggle to do damage, but the lordling can easily take them both. You might as well help.

Malachi conjured a lightning javelin and hurled it at the first salamander, while Tebor unsheathed his longsword and approached the second one. This fight was significantly shorter. Tebor raised an aegis each time the salamanders tried to use their fire breath. When they approached, he just slowly retreated while using harassing strikes to cut at their heads.

When they were worn down and bleeding, he came in with a forward thrust right through the mouth of the first one, raised an aegis to block a gout of flames from the second, then closed the distance and cut a deep slash through the second salamander's neck. The second salamander stumbled around, breathing fire again as it bled out, but the fight was over. Malachi had done a little to help with the javelins. Crevus and Talnax had just sat back, not even pretending to help.

As the corpses of the beasts began to spark and dissolve into motes of light, Malachi spotted another silver mirror poking out of the rib cage. From there, it was simple enough to use the first mirror to send a beam of light to a person holding the second mirror and hit the hole in the second pillar. The next opponents were three crocodiles that breathed poison. This time, Tebor stood back while Malachi and the mage pepped them with bolts and javelins. Again, there was a silver mirror in one of the beasts.

Positioning for the next pillar was slightly tricky because they had to pay attention to the veils of vines dangling down. The last swarm of monsters was four swamp rats. They all died almost immediately, revealing a glittering emerald. Tebor took it and stashed it in a pouch at his belt.

"Onto the next room," Lord Tebor announced proudly. Neither he nor Talnax looked at Malachi. Crevus gave him an appreciative nod, but that was all. Malachi had endured corporate meetings. This was nothing. He gave the priest a big fake smile back. Let's see what the next room holds.