Harvest Dungeon

A white field appeared between us preventing Seth from reaching me. Thankfully the shield I had hidden within the spell I cast on myself worked as I had intended.

To my shock Vanessa wove her way through Seth"s coils heading for the core. I wasn"t sure what would happen if she reached the core, but I didn"t think I wanted to find out.

Vanessa was only a couple steps away from her goal, I was about to use the keyword to activate the restraint I had hidden within the spell I placed on Vanessa, when a gray blur appeared by her side. With a growl Elisia leapt at Vanessa, jaws clamped down on Vanessa"s throat then with a twist of her head there was a spray of red blood.

It all happened so fast I couldn"t react to it. I stared in horror as Vanessa"s eyes widened in fear her hands coming up to cup the hole in her throat as Elisia fell to the ground exhausted.

I could hear a faint wheezing as Vanessa tried to breath but failed.

Seth tried to attack me several more times, but I didn"t pay him any attention.I was sure my shield would be enough to keep him at bay. Instead I panicked as it quickly dawned on me that Vanessa was about to die. So I rushed past him to Vanessa"s side hoping to make it in time to save her with my magic.

Reaching her side I tried to draw on my mana to form a healing spell to save Vanessa, unfortunately in my panic I wasn"t able to grasp my mana. I tried over and over again while staring down into Vanessa"s eyes, her fear clearly shown. With every failed attempt seconds slipped by as Vanessa tried vainly to breath through her ruined throat. With each of those pa.s.sing moments my panic rose making it even harder to grab hold of my mana, yet I couldn"t break free from the panic. Finally I stopped a few minutes after Vanessa breathed her last tears streaming down my face. With each moment Vanessa had met my gaze, her own full of fear yet hopeful I would succeed. I despaired as I realized I failed her.

Just as I had my suspicions about Seth given the way he joined us, I also had my suspicions about Vanessa. She didn"t behave like a woman in the situation she had described. I couldn"t believe a woman who feared what would happen to her family if she lost her virginity, thereby decreasing her value, would flirt with a man. Let alone willingly seek out a runemaster to apply the succubus charm. Instead I would expect her to keep her distance and maybe get a male repelling charm instead.

Then there was her other self. The way the second Vanessa treated herself when they were supposed to be one mind in two bodies gave me the hint that there might be conflicting thoughts within her. Her conscious thoughts and her subconscious were in a strong disagreement with each other.

So rather than believing she had knowingly betrayed me, I was positive that she had been brainwashed. Zephirah had been alluding to it, and if her recruiter knew someone who could apply a succubus charm, even if it was done badly. He should be able to find someone who could alter her mind.

I had prepared for the potential betrayal, and as I didn"t think it was her fault I had set up the restraining field within the spell I cast on her to keep her warm against the ice mana. It was supposed to activate automatically when her recruiter appeared and ordered her to attack me. I had never even considered the possibility that someone else would attack me while she went for the core. Then again I wasn"t even sure what the point of it was, except that it wouldn"t have been a good thing for me.

I didn"t know what to think as I stared down at Vanessa"s body. Twisting around in my mind was grief and guilt for being unable to save her. If I had better control over my magic, she would still be alive right now. There was also anger and hate at Seth, a powerful desire to tear him apart for placing me in this situation and for all that had done to Vanessa before this. As he had the keyword to order her to do as he wished, he must either be her recruiter, or someone who worked for him. There was also conflicting emotions of anger and relief at Elisia for her actions. I was sure I could have stopped Vanessa by activating the restraint spell, if she had waited just a moment longer she would have seen Vanessa being restrained, but there wasn"t a moment left to spare. Vanessa was nearly to the core, Elisia acted swiftly and decisively to protect my dungeon, I couldn"t fault her for attacking someone she perceived as an enemy, not logically, but I wanted to anyways.

"NO!" Seth yelled waking me from my confusion.

I turned to survey the room. Seth lay on the ground unmoving a golden band three inches wide had appeared around his neck. I couldn"t be certain but I had the feeling the golden band was related to his broken allegiance.

Laying close to my side was Elisia. She seemed completely unharmed as she watched me warily as she panted tiredly.

"What just happened?" Lilian asked.

"I am not completely sure, but I would guess Seth made a move for control of the core." I replied as I pulled myself together. I wiped my face then moved closer to Elisia. She didn"t move or say anything as I got closer. Just watched me. If I were to guess I would a.s.sume she had used whatever energy she could to stop Vanessa, but I doubted that. I was sure she could still defend herself if she needed too.

"That doesn"t look comfortable, I am going to move you back onto the bed." I told her then scooped her up into my arms before standing up and setting her back down gently on the foot of my bed. Despite my mixed feelings on the issue I had decided not to hold Vanessa"s death against her. She did it to protect the dungeon so I shouldn"t reciprocate her efforts with hate. "Thank you. Are you alright?" I asked.

Elisia nodded her head tiredly in reply. I was relieved that she hadn"t hurt herself. Then I turned back to the cobra and the fairy.

"No way! Not possible! No one does that! The repercussions for betrayal are harsh!" Lilian told me.

"That is what Zephirah has been telling me, but what if he succeeded though. If he did gain control of the core. Would he still be punished?" I asked.

Lilian hesitated for a moment.

"No." A male voice said as an older man with long gray hair appeared at my dining table. I never saw him enter, he just appeared there. "He would not be punished. The oath of allegiance binds him to the dungeon. If he becomes the master of the dungeon he obviously couldn"t have betrayed it."

I looked at the old man, I was sure I had never seen him before. Yet he put off a familiar aura of power. "Sire." I greeted politely.

The old man chuckled. "At least you are smart. Is she hurt?" he asked.

I almost thought he was asking about Vanessa, which should have had an obvious answer, but quickly remembered that the ancient dire wolf would only care for his daughter. "She is fine." I replied.

"Good. The shield was your work?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yes, the look of hate Seth gave me when we were fighting, before he pledged his allegiance, bothered me. So I took precautions." I replied.

"But not the girl?" he asked.

I hesitated on how to explain. "She had one as well, but I made a mistake. She was an odd circ.u.mstance. I had set the spell to activate when she attacked me. I believed someone had messed with her head, I just didn"t realize it was Seth. Zephirah has alluded that she was brainwashed or something similar, but refused to say it out right. Something about me having bad acting skills." I explained.

"Can"t be that bad. You set up a defense against the snake without him realizing you suspected him. Trust me, if he thought you suspected him and had protected against him, he wouldn"t have tried this. Then again after you took Elisia in he should have realized what would have happened to him even if he succeeded." The ancient dire wolf said.

"And what pray tell would that have been?" another man who appeared on the other side of the dining table asked. Like the ancient dire wolf I didn"t see him enter, he was just there.

"This was your work?" The ancient dire wolf asked stiffly.

"He is one of mine. Though the plan was his." the other man replied. He seemed similarly old as the ancient dire wolf, and gave off a similar sense of power. However that was where the similarities ended. The ancient dire wolf was muscular like a warrior while the other man was slim like a scholar. The ancient dire wolf wore his hair long and untamed, much like his fur, while the other man kept his hair cut close to the scalp, just long enough that he didn"t look bald. However the eyes were the biggest difference despite the fact that both were golden. The ancient dire wolves eyes were hard, unrelenting, but non judgemental. The other man"s eyes were angry and calculative.

"Congratulations human, you have thwarted a plan he has had in motion for over a year now. Ever since he came across that variant gemini." the new man that I now a.s.sumed was some kind of serpent told me.

I frowned. "So was Vanessa"s recruiter?" I asked.

"Indeed. It was a grand plan that would have worked incredibly well if he hadn"t gotten greedy." the man replied.

I frowned then remembered what Vanessa had told me. "He saw Melissa." I stated.

"Smart boy." the serpent man said with a smile. "I am sure you have more questions. Maybe we could work out a trade?" he suggested.

I shook my head. "No, not for information, and before I make any decisions I have to consult my sprite." I replied.

The man hissed but the dire wolf held up his hand. "He did not say he wouldn"t make a deal, just not for the information." he told the serpent.

"I am not an idiot you mutt, the human should be smart enough to take what is offered to him!" the serpent man replied angrily.

As if I had just called her Zephirah came zooming over from the orb to float beside my head while glaring at the serpent. "Liar!" Zephirah yelled. "You just want to cheat him while he doesn"t know how much he is ent.i.tled to." she yelled at the serpent man angrily.

"The little sprite doesn"t seem to know her place." the serpent man commented.
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Zephirah didn"t back down, instead she continued to glare at the man until he looked away.

Zephirah nodded to herself happily. I groaned, I was sure the man was a mediator, and positive he would find every possible way to mess with us from this moment forth.

"He can"t." Zephirah replied. "Since he is related to this case of blatant betrayal, his duty as a mediator will be shifted to another trial." she told me.

I shook my head. She didn"t even seem to consider the fact that he might be friends with some of the remaining mediators who could mess with us for him. Then again she also thought it was impossible for Seth to attempt to betray us.

"Sorry." Zephirah said aloud her expression downcast. Obviously she was following my thoughts and realized that if I hadn"t been paranoid and trusted her words, I would be dead, and the dungeon would belong to Seth.

"That is better." The serpent man said with a smile.

I didn"t bother to correct him.

"So these repercussions you were talking about?" I asked Zephirah.

"Oh right! Wait! Before that, you need to know that Vanessa isn"t dead." Zephriah told me.

I looked over at Vanessa"s corpse but was surprised to see that it had vanished.

"What?" I asked stupidly a sudden ray of hope shining down upon me.

"She is our champion. This is one of those perks I mentioned. As long as my core isn"t shattered she can"t die, neither can you, just so you know. She will reform in a couple hours with a level lose, and a migraine." Zephirah rea.s.sured me.

I nodded relieved, all my conflicting emotions vanished leaving just the anger and hate for Seth.