Chapter 96 - Aggressive Gardening Strategy

I didn't like the looks of this. I was surrounded. Smitty was guarding the harpies, Eira was trying to help Cori and Myth, Mariana had gone to the knights, and gods above and below knew where they were.

The pounding got heavier and heavier, the wood of the door beginning to crack under the assault. It was a marvel that it hadn't simply disintegrated due to rot like so much else in this ancient manor.

"Oh, goody, you brought friends to help you? I was afraid this would be far too easy." The sultry voice of the dryad purred, sending a sick chill down my spine. I didn't care for weirdly sexy trees, thank you very much.

Then it occurred to me what she just said.

"Wait, those aren't more of your minions?" I blurted out.

"What? Why would I-" The dryad was interrupted as the door exploded inward.

In the doorway, framed by the light of the sun, was a familiar face, with a wicked grin full of pointy teeth, carrying some kind of strange contraption in her hands. It was Danica, the researcher we had tried to free from the guard station before our little adventure here.

"Knock knock, you deciduous bitch! IT'S PRUNING TIME!" She cackled, and her device launched something through the air with a poomph sound. The strange cylinder landed at the dryad's feet with a rattling clank.

The dryad stared at it for a long moment.

"What the hells kind of attack is this? That was just sad." The green woman huffed and put her hands on her hips with an indignant tilt. "I was hoping you could do better than that. And what is that ticking sound?"

Danica just grinned in response before covering her mouth with a scarf.

The cylinder made a thick thud and exploded into a cloud of mist.

The dryad sputtered and coughed in the strange fog. The cough turned to retching and then screaming. It was a horrific sound as the creature's voice quickly turned from one of a human quality to something truly monstrous.

The mind-controlled people dropped their weapons, falling to the floor, clutching their heads in pain, their screams mimicking the dryad's. I winced as I saw some of them begin to bleed from their noses, eyes, and ears. Thankfully, not all of them.

"You piece of filth! You are unfit to fertilize the weeds of a swamp!" The dryard emerged from the mist, her human guise looking pitted and wilting, and in its place were tentacle-like vines that thrashed angrily as it lurched towards Danica and me.

"Yeah, that was all I had, Alta. I guess I need to tweak the formula! I'll help get your friends out of here. You gotta fight her! Sorry again!" She dashed away and helped Eira grab Cori and Myth, ushering Smitty and her charges outside.

Great. I hated fighting by myself. And against a monster, I had zero idea how to fight. I hadn't even seen a dungeon version of a dryad before.

That said, despite looking like a courtesan of the gods below, she was still a plant. Plants had two major weaknesses. Fire and Ice. I mean, logically speaking. I really hope I wasn't wrong about that.

I didn't have enough time to consider any more strategy as the dryad lunged forward, trying to wrap her tendrils around me. I was not having any of that.

I swung Ice Moon, which cut the wooden tentacles with ease. That was one advantage to magic swords: they kept an edge through tons of use and abuse.

The tendril regrew where I cut it. That was not what I wanted to see.

My displeasure doubled when I felt it hit me like a leaden whip.

It threw me off my feet and into a nearby wall, which I punched right through.

I coughed and winced at the pain, and struggled to stand, but I quickly dragged myself to my feet.

I had half expected to be tossed out of the building or into another room. Not a hallway. A stone hallway, just like the dungeon we had just been in. This definitely was not the same corridor, though. This time, I could feel some dungeon mana. Proper dungeon mana.

I had a lot of questions, but no time to think about them further. The dryad filled the hole that I had made, and her tendrils began to snake along the walls towards me, and she growled and roared something in a language I didn't understand.

I probably didn't want to. I'm not keen on learning what a tree considered a swear word.

I quickly moved down the hallway, not caring about what I would find down there. I had to get some distance so I could prepare a little surprise for her.

As I got a little bit away, I heard her roar with irritation. She was being assaulted by skeletons. I guess this dungeon was active, which was good for me. It probably decided she was the bigger threat and focused on her. I'm not sure if that's how dungeons worked.

I decided to give them a little help.

"Winter's Gale and Bitter Chill, cause my enemies advance to still!" I said, my mana flowing out of me, causing the floor around her to turn slick with ice, and causing her tendrils to become sluggish.

"Ha! I was right! You can't handle the cold! Get frozen, idiot!" I taunted as I ran further. I turned a corner, her curses following behind me.

That little trick probably scored me a minute or two of reprieve. I had a deeply stupid idea. So stupid, I had broken Myth's nose to prevent it.

I was going to set off a fireball in a corridor. As big a one as I could manage. With luck, I wouldn't catch myself in the blast.

I stopped, making sure there was plenty of room in front and behind me. I needed enough space to aim, hit, and hopefully get knocked back instead of absorbing the explosion.

This was definitely in the running for stupidest things I've done, but I couldn't think of anything. That is the bonus to working at a party. Enough brain cells working in concert lessen the likelihood of doing stupid things in a panic.

I saw the tendrils, still coated in frost, turn the corner, followed by the dryad's head looking around at me. She snarled, her face twisted into some kind of primal horror as she glared at me with seething hate.

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"Inferno's Rage and Burning Storm, Set Alight This Creature's Form!" I shouted, forcing a surge of mana into my hand, focusing my mind to turn the energy into a ball of pure heat and fire. It pulled the heat out of the air and my body, filling my very blood with a deep chill as I tried to make it as intense as I could.

I needed to make sure this damn tree died. Painfully, if possible.

The dryad paused, and the look of realization of what I was doing spread across her face.

Too late, you leafy shit!

I released the fireball, which shot down the corridor like a burning arrow, straight at the heart of the dryad, which connected with a concussive thud that threw me off my feet, sending me through the air and tumbling down the long dungeon hallway. I did my best to roll with it and protect my head and neck, but I definitely heard something crack as I skidded to a stop.

I stayed there curled into a ball as I heard horrific screaming from the dryad, and I could smell the sickly smoke of burning green wood, meat, blood, and vegetation.

It was the worst smell I had smelled in a long time. Eventually, the screaming stopped. I lifted my head and saw that the dryad wasn't moving. No thrashing, no writhing. Just a burning body-shaped pile of coals and ash.

I stood away from it as I watched it continue to burn hotly and then reduce to nothing more than embers. I then watched as little tendrils of some kind of viscous fluid extended from the very stones to claim the coals, absorbing them into and dragging the bits into the crevices of the dungeon.

I was going to have to report this, of course. An undiscovered dungeon that had a brand new monster in it that would be challenging as hell? Yeah. Maybe they'd let me name this one, too.

That would look good on my record.

Gods above and below, I felt like absolute garbage right now. I'm pretty sure even my hair hurt. And my nose was running like crazy, and my eyes itched.

It was then that it occurred to me what had broken. It was the mask Cori had given me. I looked around for it and realized it was in dozens of pieces on the stone. It had even cut my face.

That was definitely going to leave a scar. I hope Eira thought scars were cool and sexy.

I picked up what I could and made my way back to the hole I had been thrown through. It was already starting to repair itself, so I slipped through the shrinking gap quickly.

I surveyed the scene, trying to figure out what had happened while I was fighting a pissed-off tree.

Eira and Danica had gotten Myth and Cori back on their feet, looking worse for wear from their efforts.

Smitty and the Harpies were safe. Mariana, Noah, and Adhara were there too, the captured enemy knights in tow.

There were others, most of which I didn't recognize. They were helping the recently freed minions of the dryad. A lot of them weren't in good shape.

I wasn't sure who all of them were, but I'd figure that out later. I had other things on my mind right now.

I quickly hobbled over to Eira, who stood and approached me. I all but threw myself into her arms, burying my face in her chest, armor be damned. She held me tightly for a long moment, and we said nothing, which said everything.

Gods above, below, and sideways, I was tired as all the hells combined.

"Glad to see you're all ok. Didn't quite expect all this nonsense, but I'm glad I got here quickly." Danica said, approaching me.

I lifted my head.

"We were going to try to rescue you later. How the hells did you get out of the guard station?" I asked, curious.

"I wouldn't be much of a researcher if I couldn't escape from a prison, now would I?" She said with her toothy grin. I decided not to pursue that anymore. I think the less I knew about that, the better.

"Alta, the City Lord is here. He'd like to speak with you." Someone said right behind me. If I hadn't currently been held by Eira, I would've likely jumped out of my skin.

"Dammi,t Farina, how do you keep doing that?!" I screeched in surprise.

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, the City Lord needs you. Now. He's outside with Walther." Farina said, holding her hand towards the door.

Different attendants were speaking with Noah and Adhara and directing them in the same direction.

I sighed and reluctantly released my grasp on Eira, pouting as I did so. Eira giggled at my expression and gave me a swat on the butt to get me moving.

I hobbled outside and winced at the light.

I had absolutely no idea what time it currently was. My entire sense of the day was completely shot from being in the dungeon and manor, and I had no idea where my timepiece was.

Also, I'm not unconvinced that I didn't have some kind of head trauma. Risks of the business, I suppose.

I found the City Lord, who was much less intimidating outside his office. Out and about, he was just a gruff-looking dwarf in overly ornate armor. Next to him was Walther, who looked like he always did. With them were Noah and Adhara, looking as tired as I felt.

"Ah, good to see you joining us, Miss Marchesi! Seems you've had a hells of a time!" Walther said, far too cheerfully.

"Yeah. You could say that." I grumbled.

"I'll get straight to the point, Marchesi. The knights here have given me a bit of an overview of what happened here. I commend you and your team for stopping things here. But the situation is far worse in the city right now." Lord cut in brusquely.

"Worse? Oh gods, what happened?" I groaned.

"The city has been overrun. By these dryads, their thralls, and they are backed up by these rogue knights and mages. Luckily, it all seems desperate and barely planned, but enough people have been enthralled that what few forces we have aren't enough to take it. This is where you come in, Marchesi." He explained quickly.

"I just...we just...me? Why? My team and I are exhausted!" I groaned, slumping in defeat.

"You see this group? It's all we got left. Some guards, a few researchers, students, and admin staff. We didn't have time to evacuate civilians, and a few stayed behind to fight. I hate to say this, Alta, but you're the most experienced dungeoneers available, and the only way back into the city is under it." Walther said with a shrug.

"I just wish I knew exactly who and what we were fighting," Lord grumbled.

"About that. I think I know. A lot happened in a hurry, so I didn't get a chance to report about this, but I think I overheard something that might interest you."

I quickly filled them in on the conversation I overheard between Knight Captain Carter, exiled Knight General Felestil, and an unknown magister. As well as the conversation the magister had with something monstrous. I even mentioned to Walther about the mentions of someone who had infiltrated the school and was responsible for the oddities in the training simulators, amongst other things.

I also filled them in on the things we found in the manor itself, the harpies, and as much as I could remember. I no doubt was forgetting things, but I did my best.

"That's a lot to take in. False dungeons, illegal reagent harvesting, plotting mind control to sway politics, spies, and more besides? Absolutely absurd and ridiculous, and I wouldn't put it past those bastards at all." The lord growled.

"I guess we've got a lot to juggle here. Farina, I need you to go and make your report to the Alliance intelligence network about this as soon as you can. Maybe they can send some help." Walther said. Farina looked shocked at his order.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, sir, I-" She sputtered.

"Don't insult me, Farina. You're too good at being a secretary to actually be a secretary. I'm not without my own resources as well. You did your cover job well enough; I let it slide. Dungeon School doesn't really have anything to hide after all. Nothing important anyway." He smiled at the bespectacled elf.

In response, she bowed and scurried off. I have so many questions right now.

"Now then, Marchesi. Let's talk about your next assignment." Walther said, turning towards me.

"Pay me," I said gruffly.

"Excuse me?" Lord said, taken aback. He looked as if I had kicked his dog and spat on his mother's grave.

"I said, pay me. I'm not doing a damn thing for free. Neither is my crew." I stood my ground. I knew this was important, but I wasn't going to be pushed around. I was happy to not be part of the political ptarm-shit in Burgotova, and I'd be thrice-damned before I let Revenstahd drag me in. I just wanted to explore dungeons, get rich, and love on my girlfriend. Maybe eat good food and wear nice outfits on occasion.

"Where's your loyalty to Revenstahd, girl? Where's your common decency? People need help!" Lord barked at me.

"I told you before. Loyalty doesn't feed me. Pay. Me." I locked eyes with him and gave him my sternest glare.

We stood there, in mental combat for a long, tense moment before Lord let out a laugh.

"Damn girl, you are the most mercenary of dungeoneers I've ever met! Ha! Fine. Platinum for each of your party if you pull this off without burning the damn city down around you." He held out his hand.

I took it, sealing the deal.

"Pleasure doing business with you. Now then. Let's get this little adventure planned, shall we? I have a city to retake, and a lot of heads to kick in before the day is out." I said, grinning widely.

If we pulled this off, we would be living the good life before we even made it to graduation.

We'd have to survive, of course, but that was something I could worry about later. Much, much later.