A tense atmosphere settled on the Dungeon Core chamber as Somnus glanced towards the entryway where Emily and Arcadia stood. Well, Arcadia was pulled along more than actually standing there. The Priestess" vacant eyes were set somewhere in the distance, something beyond the walls of the dungeon.The arrival of two more humans startled the monsters cowering in the back even more, and they made themselves even smaller, all but folding themselves up. There were twenty or so of them and a majority of them were goblins. There was far more monsters than this in the dungeon, but they either did not hear the commotion, or ran the other way.
None of that mattered to Somnus. Not the presence of Emily and Arcadia, nor the presence of the monsters; in Somnus" eyes, there was only the Dungeon Core. To Somnus, the Dungeon Core held the answer he sought because it appeared to be the commanding officer in charge of this place—the place where Somnus appeared when he was put in this body. This a.s.sumption, to the former machine, was without a doubt correct. Unfortunately for the Dungeon Core, it was wrong.
Somnus bashed the Dungeon Core once more, but other than the first strike, these ones weren"t doing much. Somnus couldn"t figure out why—he used a fragment of the Dungeon Core which should have the same material density as the Core itself, yet with each blow neither his improvised weapon nor his target were damaged.
"Stop, Somnus!" Emily pleaded. "Don"t destroy the Dungeon Core!"
Somnus paused mid-strike to glance at Emily. "Provide reason. Comply."
"Dungeon Cores are good!" Emily said. "They provide mana to monsters which they need. Young adventurers will go into the dungeons, defeat the monsters and become stronger. You absolutely cannot harm that Dungeon Core!"
Somnus pondered the Dungeon Core.
The monsters in the back of the chamber, at least those that understood the human language, nodded their heads in agreement with Emily"s words.
"Please, master, do not destroys the Dungeon Core! We gives treasures to you if you spares the Dungeon Core," one of the goblins pleaded, prostrating itself in submission.
"Besides, that Dungeon Core has dozens, if not hundreds, of Spell Formations that make it immune to damage," Emily said. At first, she did not believe such a thing would stop Somnus, considering the caliber of creatures he had killed already, but now she realized that in this form Somnus may not be capable of such things anymore.
"These things?" Somnus asked pointing to a spot on the Dungeon Core.
Emily was too far to see it, but even if she was close she would see nothing there.
Somnus, on the other hand, saw it perfectly. He saw the flow of thin blue lines which pulsed with a hidden power. They were arranged in a way that reminded him of old electrical circuits printed on a board, but instead of leading into chips, the lines flowed into symbols. Somnus hadn"t paid any attention to them before, but now that he took a closer look, he realized he could even comprehend what the Formations were.
[Pain Suppression], [Physical Resistance], [Fire Resistance], [Wind Resistance]... the list of resistances continued on and on. [Levitation], [Balance], [Goblin Telepathy], [Orc Telepathy]...
Magic Comprehension rank increased.
For some reason, Somnus could understand what the Formations did—something he could not do before. His eyes discerned even the symbols themselves. In the [Levitation] Formation, for example, he could see symbols like [Ether Fusion], [Ether Collection], [Ether Conversion], [Type Alteration], [Backflow Limiter] and more. It was a very complicated Formation.
Seeing this, Somnus gained an understanding of how magic worked in this Formation. The ether in the surrounding area is harnessed through the [Ether Collection] symbols. Then, to limit the number of symbols like these, [Ether Fusion] is used to compress the collected Ether, and then it is pa.s.sed through the [Ether Conversion] symbol. There, the Ether became Mana, which went into the [Mana Amplifier], which was regulated through the [Backflow Limiter]. The Mana"s type is changed to Wind in the [Type Alteration] symbol, where it finally leads to an embedded formation he recognized as[Ground Repulsion] which provided the lift. There were a number of other symbols which further regulated the flow of mana and concealed them, but Somnus wasn"t interested in those.
Somnus reached for the [Ether Conversion] symbol and as his finger touched it, it vanished. Immediately, the flow of Ether went into the [Mana Amplifier] symbol, but due to incompatible types, a majority of the Formation stopped glowing.
Spell Destruction rank increased.
The Dungeon Core fell to the ground. It didn"t tip over due to the [Balance] Formation, which was now working overtime to keep it upright.
"I see…" Somnus said as a dangerous glimmer sparkled in his eyes.
Emily was stunned. Even Arcadia seemed to have regained some of her cognition as she stared vacantly at the Dungeon Core which was no longer levitating. The monsters in the back saw their only hopes of survival vanish just like that.
"You can… destroy magic formations?" Emily asked. She felt as if she was being punished for thinking that Somnus, in this form, was not as absurdly powerful as he was before. She realized how wrong she was.
"Designation Emily does not possess such an ability?" Somnus asked, but it was like he wasn"t even paying attention to her. Somnus was focused on the other spell formations.
Then he realized why his interrogation methods failed. It was not because they weren"t effective, but because the Dungeon Core did not have the ability to communicate with humans.
Somnus straightened up. How does a Telepathy Formation that works on humans even work? He never saw a symbol that corresponded with [Human]. There were symbols that targeted [Goblin], [Orc], [Ogre], [Dragon] and more, but not a single [Human].
Somnus contemplated the problem as everyone else just helplessly stared at Somnus. They were all under the impression that he was going to destroy the fortification spells on the Dungeon Core—it was obvious on their expressions. To Emily, it was a great loss, and to the monsters, it was their only lifeline.
"Present your Communication Jewel," Somnus suddenly said, turning to Emily.
Emily blinked and then nodded, retrieving the jewel from her belt and tossing it carefully to Somnus.
Somnus caught it, glanced at it, then chuckled and tossed it back. Somnus then pressed his finger against the crystal and closed his eyes. Instinctively, he knew how to create magic circles. Now that he has seen them, it was as simple as breathing. After all, he had the capability once to channel Gigawatts of power through his Omega superalloy circuits—channeling mana was no different.
A magic circle appeared before Somnus and he opened his eyes. Magic symbols began appearing inside the magic circle: [Mana Generation], [Type Alteration], [Language Comprehension], [Area Effect], [Thought Transmission], [Abstract Translation] and more. [Abstract Translation] was the important one. The Telepathy that the Dungeon Core used was crude. Each symbol which was related to the race of a creature existed so that it can translate abstract concepts to them. The Communication Jewel did not use such a crude and direct method, instead it used a symbol that translated the abstract thought directly, thus allowing it to work on a wide variety of creatures as long as they were capable of abstract thought.
The magic circle began to glow, then rotated, and then it disappeared; however, Somnus could see the magic circle imprinted on the skin of the Dungeon Core now. It worked.
< please="" don"t="" kill="" me!="" i="" will="" do="" anything!="" i="" will="" summon="" monsters!="" i="" will="" give="" you="" treasures!="" just="" don"t="" kill="" me,="" please!=""> the words penetrated into Somnus" thoughts—and not just his but even those in the chamber.
"Define location of my body!" Somnus shouted, bas.h.i.+ng the Dungeon Core once more.
< i="" don"t="" know="" what="" you"re="" talking="" about!="" please="" spare="" me!="" i="" did="" nothing="" wrong!="">
"Unnecessary threat of termination unless terms are met," Somnus retorted.
Achievement earned: Dungeon Yard Bully
Perk received: Dungeon Intimidation
"Why don"t you just create a new body?" Emily asked, blurting out the first thought that came to mind.