Chương 16: Delved

Enchanter Tornay and Lord Merchant Darmelkon stared at the dimly lit dungeon entrance in the cliff face in front of them. Darmelkon broke the silence first.

"Any chance it's another dungeon they just found here?" Tornay shook his head.

"This is much too far from the nearest settlement for a dungeon to spawn naturally."

"Hmm. If it's the same one in a new location, we should be cautious of traps." Tornay snorted.

"A dungeon this weak is no threat to me. I will handle whatever it might have." He stepped forward, and entered the dungeon. Purple was... enjoying? Yes, enjoying himself today. Talking with Amber was so interesting and fun! She was endlessly curious about even the most mundane details of his life, and he was finding that talking was a much more pleasant way to interact with people than trying to kill them. He was learning so much from her, too!

There were an incredible amount of things humans did when they weren't delving dungeons that he would never have guessed at. Nothing she had told him today was even remotely as useful as the knowledge of soul structures, but he found that even useless trivia was interesting to learn. As she mentioned more and more things offhand, he found his own curiosity growing, and the conversation swiftly became more bidirectional, with him asking as many questions of her as she asked of him.

As the conversation continued, he got more and more of a sense that there was some kind of structure, a set of rules, in how she talked itself. That, of course, prompted yet another question. [Talk structure. Rules. Word order. Explain?]"Oh, you mean grammar?" Purple noted the word, and the concept that came with it over the bond. It described the structure and rules he had sensed far more completely and precisely than he had managed to convey. [Yes. Exactly.]"It's how language works, how we can use words to describe very complex things. Do you want to learn it?" Purple considered only briefly. If he learned this, he would understand what Carlos and Amber said much more clearly and completely, and he would be able to communicate back to them more clearly as well. [Yes.]"Ok! Let's see, I'll start with the main types of words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs."

After explaining the basics, Amber started using her own explanatory sentences as examples to analyze and explain in detail. It was fascinatingly complex, and he got thoroughly absorbed in it. But not so absorbed that he wouldn't notice another person stepping into his dungeon area. A man had just set foot inside the tunnel entrance at the cliff face, and Purple immediately turned all his attention to the intruder. This man was filled with and surrounded by mana, far more mana than Carlos and Amber combined.

More mana than Purple, even. A lot of it was focused on various items he wore. Rings, an amulet, shirt, shoes, belt, and more. After a moment of consideration, Purple realized he had seen this man before. He had been in that large building with all the mana-filled objects, and Carlos and Amber had talked with him for a few minutes. Maybe Purple could talk with him too? Then again, maybe not. Carlos had been unusual even before his wish enabled the dungeon core to talk with him.

Purple had sensed while asking for the wish that Carlos hadn't actually been seeking a wish in the first place, and definitely had no malice or hostile intentions. It was why Purple had refrained from transporting him away as part of the wish, instead using the mana to grant his wish more thoroughly. This man had a familiar look on his face, though. A look Purple had seen countless times on the faces of greedy ambitious delvers who wanted to gain whatever they could at Purple's expense.

He double checked and made sure all the traps were armed and ready. The man walked forward confidently, right up to the edge of the first pit trap, but stopped just before he would have triggered it. He snorted contemptuously, and muttered something. Purple used his bond with Amber to run the words through her comprehension aid, just as he had done with Amber's words and Carlos's comprehension aid back when Carlos had been the only one he could talk with directly.

"Heh. The nexus of dungeon mana always gives it away." A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The man stomped hard on the surface of the pit trap, and it fell away while he watched safely from the edge. Then he... stepped forward and walked on air to cross it? What? Purple saw the mana in the man's shoes flaring, supporting him with magic for the short walk to the other side of the trap. Purple felt afraid. This was much more than he was prepared for.

The man resumed walking down the tunnel. He glanced at the trigger wire for the dart trap, and stepped directly on it. The deadly sharp darts sprang out, perfectly on target... and bounced off an invisible barrier around the man. This was bad. This was very bad. Purple had nothing that could hurt this man, and he was so powerful already that he probably wouldn't care about any wish Purple would be able to grant. Maybe he was here seeking Carlos or Amber? That wouldn't be so bad. Except... Purple would miss them.

A lot. He had only known them for a couple of days, but they had already made his life far more interesting than ever before, and he didn't want to lose them. Another man entered the tunnel behind him, this one richly dressed and heavily muscled, but stayed well behind, idly watching the first man from a distance without getting involved. Purple searched his memories, but was pretty sure he had never seen this one before. That probably meant he made the situation even worse, though Purple wasn't sure how.

At least this one jumped the pit, rather than walking on air across it. Purple frantically racked his mind, trying to think of something to do that might help. He didn't have much mana available. He could rearrange the tunnel a bit, but that would only gain a short delay at most. Wait, the man had commented about a "nexus of dungeon mana" giving away the traps. What if...

Purple quickly placed several spots of concentrated mana, about the same amount as was passively present in a pit trap, in the floor and walls right before and around the second pit trap. He didn't have enough to actually make another pit trap, but maybe he could confuse the man's senses. The man exaggeratedly yawned as he paused and stomped on the floor where Purple had put the first improvised fake trap, and frowned when nothing happened.

He straightened, summoned a magnifying glass filled with mana from somewhere, and took a closer look. A few seconds later, he chuckled.

"Ha! A fake mana nexus. That's rare. And usually found only in dungeons old and powerful enough to be of interest to people who can sense them, come to think of it. This dungeon core keeps getting more interesting." The other man, waiting behind him, crossed his arms and scowled.

"No need to put on a show here. Get on with it already." The first man waved dismissively back at him.

"I will, but this bit of cleverness actually calls for a small modicum of caution. Have patience, the dungeon's not going anywhere." He scanned across the walls and floor with his magical magnifying glass, identifying and dismissing three more fake traps, then walked forward to the edge of the real pit trap.

"Ah, here we go." He stomped, and the concealing cover of the pit fell away. He took a few more seconds to examine the area, then walked across and stepped directly on the second and final dart trap's trigger wire, once again triggering a volley of darts to bounce off of his barrier. Purple turned his attention back to Amber, who was in the middle of saying something.

"-thing wrong? Hello? Why aren't you talking? Come on, please?" [Hello. Man in dungeon. Two.] He thought for a moment on the grammar lessons that had been interrupted, and corrected that message. [Two men in dungeon.]"How are they doing? Have the traps helped?" [Traps beaten. Outmatched. We are outmatched.]"Shit! It has to be Darmelkon! Dammit, I thought we'd ditched him!" Carlos stirred from where he had been meditating.

"Hmm? Oh!... Crap. We should have made an escape route." Amber shook her head.

"It wouldn't help. If he's caught up this far, running when he's this close would just mean we'd be tired when he catches us."

"Indeed, I imagine so." The first man, who'd beaten all the traps so handily, strode confidently into the cave, and the second followed a moment later. Carlos groaned.

"Enchanter Tornay. I knew you were plotting something." He looked at Amber.

"The other one's Darmelkon?"

"That's Lord Merchant Darmelkon to you," the second man interrupted.

"And you are Carlos and Amber, of course." Tornay looked over at Purple's crystal, and Purple pulsed in fear.

"Now that introductions are done with, let me get straight to business. The Enchanters Guild wants that dungeon core." Carlos raised an eyebrow.

"Are you setting up shop here, or are you saying you have a way to move it? Everyone knows dungeon cores are immobile." Huh? Carlos knew perfectly well that Purple could be moved, what was he saying? Purple was confused.

"We know that this one can be moved, because we know you moved it." Carlos gestured towards Purple.

"Feel free to try. Good luck with that." He silently added, [Please hold on to your mana and resist him.] [Is... Is safe?] Purple sent back uncertainly. [Should be. He doesn't want to destroy you.] [Ok.] Purple kept his usual grip on all his mana and territory, and tentatively reached out with his standard initiation of a wish as Tornay approached, but Tornay slapped aside the wish offer with his mana and took hold of Purple with his right hand. Tornay pulled, but Purple didn't move at all.

Darmelkon spoke up from near the cave entrance.

"Well, now that the Enchanters Guild has acquired this dungeon core, I believe it's time to fulfill your side of the contract and pay me."