Chapter 60 – Dungeon Defense.

“Hey, did you feel that?”

“Hm?”

A small group of adventurers stopped in their tracks as they noticed something unusual. They had been searching for a specific bronze suit of armor that had wandered into this dungeon area. Their search had been unfruitful, and they were considering moving away from the boss chamber where the monster had previously vanished. However, before they could decide on a plan, something strange started happening – the whole dungeon quivered for a moment, as if an earthquake was taking place.

“Yeah, is the dungeon supposed to do that?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Could it have something to do with that monster?”

“How would that thing…”

Before a female adventurer could finish her sentence, the dungeon shook again. This tremor was more intense than the previous one. Pieces of rock started crumbling, along with dust from the castle’s ceiling. The adventurers instinctively crouched, glancing at each other with worry etched on their faces. The dungeon’s usually stable structure was now trembling like it had never done before. They could sense that something was wrong and that perhaps, they needed to leave.

Unbeknownst to this group of adventurers, the source of these tremors wasn’t far away. Behind some rocky walls, there was a large cavern with the monster they were searching for. Rusty was his name, and at this very moment, he was slicing at seemingly empty air with a glowing longsword. Almost every time he made a sweeping motion, another small shake occurred within the cavern.

“STOP! LEAVE!”

“I won’t leave until you release me!”

Rusty shouted, attempting to communicate his desire to the Dungeon Heart. The being he was up against had created him, and he was tied to it. Unless this entity released the bond they shared, he would not be able to leave this place to save his friend Gleam. However, his actions were seen as threats, and the connection to the dungeon was what kept him at bay. To the Heart, this bond was the only thing preventing this rogue monster from reaching its center and keeping it safe from harm.

Thanks to his newly attained mana sense, Rusty could see the energy threads connecting to the dungeon core. With the help of this skill, he was able to imbue the longsword with his own energy and damage the threads. One by one, these mana tendrils were sliced off, and as they were severed, he could feel the voice’s power over his body waver and decline.

He didn’t want to kill the Dungeon Heart. It had created him and given him life; in a sense, it was like a parent. His guides had also informed him about the potential collateral damage of doing so. The entire dungeon required this being for its survival, and the whole structure depended on its magical power to retain its form. If it were destroyed, the place would likely collapse on itself, potentially trapping Rusty inside. His aim was to scare the being into letting him go and severing the connection, but he wasn’t sure how to communicate his intention.

The cavern continued to tremble as Rusty swung his sword, each strike aimed at the glowing mana tendrils that connected the Dungeon Heart to its surroundings. His strikes grew more precise and he pushed onwards, one step at a time. Each time these mana veins were severed, they would turn into small energy bubbles that quickly burst. He could see them trying to reform themselves into place but the process was quite sluggish.

“I don’t want to destroy you, but I need to be free, just let me go already!”

“NO… H-HELP, PROTECT!”

The voice of the Dungeon Heart grew more frantic, its tone shifting from commanding to desperate. It seemed that it was becoming frantic, unable to stop Rusty from getting closer. This chamber was devoid of any monster guards, traps or defenses. It seemed that the Dungeon Heart was at his mercy but that was not true.

“These tremors… they are getting louder… wait, is that pillar moving?”

In the middle of the chamber was the Dungeon Heart, it was between two thick pillars with the one above it now moving. The pillar started to move upward, slowly at first but then with increasing speed. Rusty wasn’t sure what was happening but it was probably nothing good. He had seen hidden chambers and traps within the dungeon and this was giving him the same feeling.

The pillar accelerated, grinding upwards with an ominous rumble and came to a stop. He could see its circular form on the ceiling, turning around for some reason. The sounds were strange to his metallic ears as if some large hidden cogs were grating against each other. Eventually, the sound stopped and to his surprise, an opening started to appear. The pillar was sliding to the side, revealing something hidden inside.

“Monsters?”

After a small crack had formed, a monster slipped out. It was a rather loud sounding goblin and it came falling down from above the Dungeon Heart’s location. It was not alone as once the opening got bigger other beings came rushing out. There were skeletons, living armors, zombies and even slimes. All the monsters the monsters he had seen on the other dungeon floors were coming out and they were probably here to defend the dungeon core from harm.

“Protect…”

The Dungeon Heart’s voice was no longer as intense, but to the other monsters, the command was like gospel. They identified the enemy trying to attack their creator and threw themselves at him. Rusty’s grip tightened on his glowing longsword as he prepared to face the oncoming horde.

The goblin hit the ground first, snarling as it drew a rusty dagger. Behind it, skeletons clattered down, their hollow eyes glowing with a faint blue light, and zombies shambled forward, their decaying bodies emitting a foul stench. Slimes oozed from the ceiling, forming a wall of gelatinous mass that crept toward Rusty.

Rusty quickly assessed his options. He was outnumbered, and although his new form offered him more agility, he couldn’t quite use it properly. He lacked a few skills to make the most of it, one of them being dual-wielding capabilities. However, he could make use of another form that would offer him much more protection.

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Previously, he had created a few loadouts with prepared weapons to fit each form. Soon, his body was shifting and growing in size. His helmet became rounder and wider as he shifted into heavier parts. In his left hand, a massive tower shield appeared. Normally, it would be too heavy for the other two suit variants, but for this one, it was perfect. For his main weapon, he chose a new type that fell under blunt weapons but still had some piercing power – a war pick.

The first wave of monsters reached him. Rusty brought up his massive shield to bash a goblin away and followed it up with a strike from his hammer to a nearby skeleton’s cranium. Two monsters were down but many more appeared to replace them, their weapons, claws and fists collided with his body but none could damage it. To Rusty’s surprise, most of these creatures couldn’t even lower his health pool by one measly point.