Chương 27: EXPLOSION !!!

Nythera pulled hard on her hyper-flux pool. It was thick, dense, almost like honey, she had to rip it out to use it. The system fought her, trying to pull in her regular flux pool instead. Sadly I don't have enough Hyper-flux to form the Culverin out of it. What would that even do? A super Culverin? Nythera allowed her cannon to form before her, barrel pointed straight down at the monstrous centi-golem. She forced the Hyper-flux into the shell, careful not to interweave any into the Culverin itself.

Each shell is only 40 flux, so I should have enough to replace it entirely with hyper-flux. Insanely overcharged flux poured out of her hands and into the cannon, a blinding purple to her [Flux-sight]. Dominic and Kennick turned to her with a look of shock and confusion?

"What the flux are you doing girl? Are you ok?" Dominic whispered rapidly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why? What's wrong?" she replied.

"The air around you feels… wrong. Something just changed." Dominic whispered back, his eyes darted around searching for something. Nythera frowned, but kept focus on pushing the hyper-flux into the cannon, the shell was nearly formed. Once it formed, the difference became apparent, the flux in the dungeon spread around her cannon and avoided it, giving it a wide berth. Oh well. The details don't matter, now let's see how much damage this thing will do. … By thunder, I really want to scream FIRE!

Nythera pouted in silence, signaling to the others that she would launch. Kennick hid behind Hugh's tower shield and the rest backed up towards the entrance. FIRE! Her will flew into the cannon. The cannon sat there. Huh? Is it broken? Did I put too much into it? The cannon was glowing purple, the barrel specifically. Ah shit! Nythera dove behind Hugh's shield. The air stilled, the cavern somehow becoming even more silent. Then the cannon detonated.

The shockwave threw Dominic and Ludwig against the walls, the flux throughout the cavern bending and warping violently. A high-pitched whistling scream pierced the cavern. There was no cavern anymore, just a massive cloud of dust and debris flying in every direction. Nythera was thrown into the wall by a wave of force, Hugh was tossed above her into the ceiling. Maybe I should have tested this in a less confined space. I need a blast resistance skill ASAP. As the dust settled the party climbed to their feet.

"By Kronan's Third eye what was that?" Hugh complained.

"Everyone ok? I'm not sure what happened but prepare for the boss, it's no doubt awoken." Dominic said. They all looked towards the center of the room, hands ready on weapons. Except, there no longer was a center to the room. The pit and the pool where the centi-golem waited had been turned into a crater dozens of meters across. There was no evidence that the centi-golem had even been there. Everyone turned to Nythera.

"Your… strata 0 right? Lance told me you're strata 0, just classed a few weeks ago…." Dominic trailed off into his own thoughts. Kennick and Ludwig just stared at her. Hugh came up to her side. Nythera braced for a scolding.

"That was fucking amazing, say can you do that to every dungeon we go to? I wish you had used something like this when we were fighting off Karaveth. I don't know how you did it, but we need more of it." Hugh laughed and patted her on the back. The group circled around to the back of the room to look for the reward, Kennick and Dominic surveying the devastation of Nythera's cannon.

"That cannon… this outclasses the destructive force of every tier one or tier two I know of, it might be stronger than a tier three in terms of raw energy. Do not use this lightly." Dominic warned. Nythera simply nodded. The chest they found was much bigger than the last room with a flat, stone lid. Ludwig kicked it open. Three embers, a glittering quartz band, and a jagged purple quartz axe awaited them.

"Alright, you know how this goes men." Dominic said, looking at everyone. Ludwig looked crestfallen. He turned to Nythera "Can we have the axe? You could sell it for sure, but there's no way you'd use it, we would really appreciate it." he said and rubbed his neck sheepishly.

"Ludwig here would really appreciate it." Huh? They think I want to keep the axe?

"Go ahead, I have no use for the axe, is everything else mine?" she asked. Dominic nodded.

"You killed the guardian singlehandedly, it's all yours to keep. Squad rules." he answered. Nythera grinned and pocketed the embers and the band. Anddd back to Borris when we finish up here. Dominic looked to be lost in thought and Ludwig was cradling his new axe like it was a baby.

"Nythera, can you do that again?" Dominic asked, one eyebrow cocked. She shook her head.

"Alright crew, let's go in further and see what the next guardian looks like, if it looks manageable, we could try taking it on, but I suspect Nythera is already sitting on a huge pool of levels, so no need to risk life and limb." Dominic said. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. They inched forwards, this time Kennick was given vanguard. He appeared to twist between the walls at unnatural angles and disappear into shadows periodically.

Who is this guy? Some kind of assassin? Nythera hadn't noticed anyone with Cult rings lately, but that didn't mean they weren't around. Kennick signaled to halt. He dashed back up to Dominic.

"There's a chamber ahead, definitely a guardian waiting, it's nearly twenty feet tall and humanoid in shape." Kennick whispered to Dominic.

"Humanoid? That could be a problem, anything else in the room?" Dominic whispered back. Kennick shook his head. The whole party clambered up to the entrance to the chamber and peered out. A goliath of stone and crystal was pacing around a great, flat expanse of jagged rock. The ceiling stretched up and up, towering above the golem that patrolled the center. A massive perfectly structured quartz crystal stuck down from the ceiling, tapering to a sharp point half way down.

"I am concerned, this room is not a normal layout and that is the second guardian of a strata one unexplored dungeon." Dominic's voice carried an edge to it. Hugh, Ludwig, and Kennick watched closely, waiting for his judgement call.

"Hugh and Ludwig go straight right 500 paces from the entrance, Kennick go left the same distance." Dominic ordered.

"Alright Nythera, you're going to hit that thing with your death cannon again, a regular shot will do." Dominic instructed. Nythera aimed her cannon towards the center of the room. The golem paced around the massive quartz stalactite constantly, as if guarding it.

"Careful with that thing hanging from the roof, I don't want you causing a cave-in." Dominic murmured as an afterthought. You know, my shells can go straight through stone walls… if in theory, I were to hit that crystal, the detonation might, in theory, knock it off the ceiling and in theory hit the golem. With no collateral to us… in theory. Nythera pivoted her cannon up, stationary crystals made much easier targets. FIRE! She commanded. The cannon roared to life. The goliath turned slowly to face her.

An explosion punctured the upper part of the crystal, white fragments rained down. The golem craned backwards to look up.

"You daft girl, what the fuck are you doing? You're lucky that thing didn't go down, it'd tear half the ceiling with it." Dominic scolded and knocked her on the head. Ouuuch. She looked wistfully up at the stalactite, hanging firmly from the ceiling. Oh well… It's a real shame it didn't go down. The golem was transfixed, simply staring up at it.

"You're very lucky, the guardian is distracted, take another shot and aim for its head." Dominic ordered. Nythera aimed her cannon again. Carefully aligning the shot with the center of the golem's head. Wait, wait…. NOW! She pivoted the cannon back up to its original position. FIRE! Her beautiful shell whistled through the air in a massive arc above their heads. I need to stop listening to my impulsive thoughts.

"Good, once it hits, reload and prepare to pivot for another volley" Dominic instructed. Lightning flux rapidly built up in the air around him. The upper part of the crystal exploded, raining down more quartz chunks.

"By thunder, are you doing?! I told you to hit the golem! The golem! Not the crystal." Dominic shouted. A massive crack spread down the side of the crystal, spreading into a web of smaller cracks.

"Shit, that thing is coming down!!" Dominic yelled, "Hugh, Ludwig, Kennick, GET BACK HERE NOW!" he bellowed. A moment later Kennick appeared in the doorway and shuffled to the back of the entryway. The crystal detached from the ceiling with a grinding shriek painful enough that Nythera had to cover her ears. It crashed down straight into the golem, the tip piercing through its shoulder. The rest of the monolith came down on top of it, smashing the body to bits between ground and crystal.

Huge chunks of stone crashed down on them from above as the cavern shook, Nythera couldn't even stand anymore. Dominic and Kennick clutched the walls. The body of the crystal crashed through the flooring, piercing deeper and deeper into the earth. All that remained of the golem was its massive head, knocked off the crushed body. Ludwig appeared in the door, grasping at the walls.

"Hugh, he's pinned, we need help." he yelled, eyes bloodshot. Dominic bolted out the entrance, Ludwig in tow. The top of the crystal disappeared beneath the earth, sinking ever deeper. What…what have I done? Chunks of the cavern floor disappeared into the depths along with the gargantuan crystal. The shaking floor settled until only periodic rumbling remained. Ludwig and Dominic suddenly turned the corner with Hugh braced on their shoulders.

"Blasted rocks got my leg." he said. They set him down on a rock and examined the wound.

"Fractured bone, this'll take at least 50 health to heal." Dominic declared. Nythera looked on, confused. What have I done? I could have killed someone, or everyone, or even myself. Blood drained from her face. Kennick wrapped a splint in fabric around his leg.

"It should heal in about an hour." He said. Dominic turned toward Nythera "Explain yourself, you disobeyed orders twice. I have half a mind to turn this entire group back to Grandport right now."

"I heard you, ok, It's my fault, I picked the crystal." she looked down "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it would do that much damage, I just thought I could handle it like the Centi-Golem." she muttered sheepishly. Dominic knocked her on the head with his knuckles, but it didn't hurt. Much.

"Don't do it again, ok? We are here for you, trust us with our job. If you can't trust us, we can't trust you." he said and walked off into the cavern. What? How did I get off so easily? For killing the guardian?

"Let's move! The guardian drops are bound to be good!" Dominic called out. Kennick and Ludwig propped up Hugh and hobbled across the shattered cavern floor, weaving between strewn rubbles and opened fissures.

"Come on lass! Loot awaits!" Hugh called to the sulking Nythera. She ran to catch up. They arrived before the Golem's head, it was massive, easily fifteen feet tall and many feet wide. Dominic stood before it staring straight into its dim crystal eyes.

"This thing is worth a fortune, come on crew, you know the drill." Dominic ordered and clapped his staff on the ground, calling forth lightning.

"Ludwig, crack it." he added. Ludwig swung hard at the side of the head, but his hammers were a foot short of the head. As they crashed together a small shockwave sent Nythera's hair fluttering about, A strange new flux type jittered through the air. Is he going to open it or not? The head split open, straight down the middle, cleaved into two perfect halves. The insides of the head were full of hundreds of pieces of glittering quartz.

"By Kronan's bank account, this is the motherload! The blacksmith's are going to have a feast." Hugh whistled.

"Whatever you can carry is yours!" Dominic declared, greed dripping from his voice. Everyone scrambled into the head, Ludwig and Kennick grabbing choice bits near the cut, Dominic tried to fit a giant piece of blue quartz into his bag and Hugh was shoveling in as many pieces as he could into his backpack, splint be damned. Welp, I'll just wait a bit then. Nythera thought, pretending to examine pieces and pocket a few. Kennick and Ludwig departed from the head, satisfied with their haul.

"If only I had more bags, or my shield had a backpack on it… oh well." Hugh muttered as he hobbled out. Dominic was the last to leave, "Don't spend too long here, we are going to make our way to the guardian loot at the end of the room, come meet us there." As soon as Dominic was gone, Nythera whipped Boxy out of her cloak. I have no idea what's actually valuable, so I'll just take it all. The grin painting her face would make a banker blush.

She shoved as many pieces as would fit in the box lid, with its increased size, everything except the biggest went straight into the box. Before long most of the loose pieces she could reach from the split were scooped up and she found she could actually crawl further into it. She checked over her shoulder to make sure no one was there. Nythera proceeded into the front half of the head crawling through a tight space of jutting quartz. It soon opened into a wider, miniature crystalline cavern in the forehead.

Is that the brain?