~ Chapter 10: The web of lies ~

[Tuberculus’ point of view]

One would think that there was not much to do on a single dungeon floor and that in a couple of days, at best, they would be able to learn it by heart, however, this was only the case for a regular one that was almost mathematically calculated to end up like this. In case of this place, however, you would be forgiven if you believed that it was the result of a natural formation.

According to my observations so far, most of the fauna and flora were concentrated around the central island, which had a surprising large radius of around 16 km. It was surrounded by a big-enough moat to be considered a lake by some; 60 meters wide and 40 meters deep. Then there were the four most important zones that were defined by their unique environment: the Ornak zone located in the South-West, the Automaton zone located to the North-West, the Ellyarian zone located to the North-East and lastly the Hero Temple zone located to the South-East.

Each of these zones had their own unique climate that spread across an area of around 40 km2, leaving the space between them to have a more moderate temperate climate. The only strip of land that was unchangeable in all cardinal directions was the Pringin Plains, which surrounded the moat and had the shape of a ring more than 10 km wide. Thus, surrounding the Ornak village we had Umancek Hill, which was covered mostly in grass and with a few trees popping up here and there, it was made so that this place was more humid and would benefit from more rain than any of the other nearby areas. As we moved to the North, we had the Border Plains, where Yandrea’s Hidden Grove of cute and fluffy animals was located, right next to the Cutoff Forest. 

Around the Automaton Labyrinth Village we had the Steros Woods, which formed from trees that were very resilient against cold weather. This place could see drops of up to 10 or more degrees when compared to the other areas. Apparently, the automatons functioned better in the cold and worse in the heat, with many of them risking shutting down and becoming inactive if they lingered too much around the Ellyarian Village. That place was surrounded by the hot Sensibar Desert, which provided all the heat they wanted. The Krisp Plains acted as a barrier between the desert and the other area, keeping most of the heat in at the expense of the flora. There were no big trees planted there. To reach this place from the Automaton Village, you would need to cross through the North Forest, which hid the Northern Entrance to the upper levels.

Now here was the weird part, further South from the Krisp Plains, the Triage Forest could be seen, and this one had some of the most beautiful and flourishing plants and wildlife out of all the forests here. What was weird about this forest was that it was similar to the Kimbian Forest when it came to its flora and fauna, but both of them were very thick and difficult to pass through, unlike the other forests which even had wide-enough places for carts to pass through. It was almost as if these two were designed to keep intruders from reaching the two villages.

The most peculiar thing about this area, however, was the way the Hero Temple zone itself was built. Surrounded by the wide Metinas Plains, it was a perfect location for something like an army to settle into. There were barracks, residences, even an entire palace a little further in the back. Then, while the other forests acted as a barrier, there was a direct and clear path from this place to the center of the floor, where Yandrea’s pyramid was located. This strip of land was even called The Path of the Sword.

Normally, I would not have been suspicious of the Hero Temple zone if not for the restrictions placed upon my visits. When I wanted to go there, I would always have to let Yandrea know about it first, then I had to make sure to NEVER get separated from the Automaton assigned with guiding me. I was not allowed to look inside the buildings and explore the area as I wished. I was not allowed to step close to the Slave Quarters or the Palace in the back. To make things even more weird, I was not allowed to approach either the Kimbian or Triage Forest on certain days. Yandrea would make sure to tell me this in the morning or have the message sent through the Automaton escorting me.

Ever since I became Yandrea’s husband, I have not been able to go to the Hero Temple zone more than eight times and there were even Automatons placed at the entrance to the Path of the Sword, the Triage Forest, and the Kimbian Forest that would deter and turn around anyone who tried to go in, be it Ornak, Ellyarian, or me. Even traveling around through that area of the Pringin Plains was forbidden.

This in itself would not have been weird if that was a strategic military location where the army of this floor was supposed to be gathering to execute complex strategic moves, but there was no one there with the exception of the Automatons. When I asked Yandrea about this, she refused to talk about it, quickly changing the subject, but the sad gaze in her eyes appeared again.

So far, I was beginning to think that rather than an area for training the combatants on this floor, it was more suited to be called an area for welcoming a delegation or even an entire new civilization. It was a bit worrying that I did not know what was happening there, but this was just one of the many strange things I had discovered.

Because of my lack of means to conduct a thorough investigation, I was resumed to only observing and deducing from afar. After all, my current Power Level was of only 210 according to Yandrea. I have grown a total of 7 levels, which was quite a lot considering the fact that I was not killing any monsters and simply training on my own. The Magic Energy was dense near Yandrea’s Crystal Body and incredibly pure inside her Inner Mind. Still, how many decades would I need to reach the level of a Supreme? I was already getting close to 70 years old, a little more, and I would count my age in three digits!

Other than to observe and train, there was literally nothing that I could do...

[Three months and two days after Tuberculus became Yandrea’s husband]

Lately, my wife has been acting suspicious. She was coming back late at night and barely had any energy left to engage in our usual chatting. In the morning she would fly up towards the upper floors and upon returning would speak nothing of what she did.

Of course, normally, if a husband saw this sort of behavior from his wife, they would think that she was off cheating on him with some no-good bastard from who knows where! However, my wife was a Godlike Dungeon. Her physical body was located at the center of the golden pyramid at the lowest floor of her dungeon. When she flew up there, she was only in the form of a golden orb of light that only her spouse, slaves, and directly spawned monsters could see unless she made herself visible to them.

In other words, she had no way of cheating on me in the actual sense of the world. This led me to think about the other possibility, which was more credible considering everything that I got to learn about her so far.

Yandrea was off doing some odd job that she could not tell me about for various reasons. I was guessing that she was either afraid about how I would react, or that I would end up learning something that was dangerous for my wellbeing. Either way, this was not the only uncomfortable thing that happened lately with her.

For the past week or so, she prevented me from going out on my usual training session and instead asked me to stay on the pyramid island. Although I could order the Automatons to step aside given my status as her husband, I was smarter than that. Sure, everything looked suspicious, but a relationship with a natural Godlike Dungeon was all new territory to me. Illsyore was someone I considered no different than my own son. I gave him life by assembling his Crystal Body from the various broken crystals I found in my days as a wandering adventurer. Sure, he was probably smarter than me and did not see me as his own father, but the bond was there, unquestionable in its form.

I was an expert among my peers when it came to Godlike Dungeons, but I was a completely foolish and inexperienced man when it came to love and relationships... After all, I was the fool with an unrequited love for decades.

Now, the Golden Pyramid zone itself was not that bad when you thought about it. Sure, it was lonely and could get boring, but it was still an area with a radius of 16 km. It was no cramped up room in the middle of a huge city to say that I was confined to a small space. As for the pyramid itself, this was no small building either, I measured that it had a base edge of 1500 meters and a height of around 750 meters, just 350 meters short of reaching the ceiling. It was a giant construction that could be spotted from any part of the dungeon. Unlike the surface of the land, which was curved, the entire area of this floor was a perfectly flat surface.

Even though I was an Emperor Rank Adventurer in a younger and healthier body, just looking up at all of these stairs gave me a headache and made me want to quit. From up there, on top of the pyramid, the view was absolutely gorgeous, a true work of art. The entire floor was enormous, I could not even begin to wonder just how many years and how much effort it took Yandrea to dig up all of this material, not to mention the upper floors as well. When you reached the edge, you were not met with walls of dirt but rather with several layers of granite and cement that were bound together and enchanted with magic to make it highly resistant to impact, erosion, heat, cold, and acid.

Looking up at the ceiling, I would not have been surprised if there were large beams of metal passing through it in order to support the weight above. This area was a marvel of engineering in its own right.

The pyramid’s interior was designed akin to that of a fortress with several areas for summoning powerful monsters, terrifying traps and various methods of hiding the core. It was a form of last stand because if worse came to worse, she had nowhere to flee.

Thus, upon learning of such a fact, of course I was a bit confused as to what could make the one who built all of these marvels react like she did. Why would she keep things from me? Why would she lie to me? Why was she unable to trust me?

These were the questions that were bothering me right now, and I felt like everything was connected somehow. The strange way this floor was built, the Temple of Heroes that made no sense for me, the large areas that seem to be capable of welcoming armies, the moat which would be more useful against an army rather than a single group of brave adventurers who managed to reach this far.

One day, when I woke up early in the morning, Yandrea did not take me out of her Inner Mind.

“Tuby, I’m sorry but for the next five days, I can’t take you out. There’s something happening... and I want you to be safe here, please... understand.” she told me as she lowered her head, begging me.

There was sadness and fear in her eyes; her body was shrunk down; shoulders lowered; arms glued to her chest; embracing herself; her right hand gripping her left shoulder; her usual smile radiating of joy, confidence, and strength now gone.

What happened to her? I wondered and then pulled her close into my embrace, she trembled, but I did not let her go, and she did not push me away “I’ll wait here if you think it’s for the better, but if there’s anything I can do to help you let me know. I am your husband, after all. For better or worse, I’ll be by your side.”

In this life of mine, in which I had an unrequited love for a woman for so long, it was only through a miracle that I managed to become her husband. I probably did not feel ‘love’ for her right now, but when I saw her like this, it did make me want to protect her. Maybe it was all a lie, maybe it was an act, but would a powerful Godlike Dungeon like her even need something like this? I was inclined to believe that she did not.

“Thank you, Tuby...” she spoke in a whisper and then gently kissed me on the cheek.

With a soft smile, she pulled back and then left her Inner Mind.

I was left here, alone, to wait for her return whenever that might have been.

Time seemed to flow by as if it was dragging behind it every second like a mule would an overloaded cart. The wait was long and anguishing with little to do in this vast space except for staring off into the distance, sleeping, and talking to myself. The latter part happened more than once, to the point that I was starting to get concerned.

When I went to sleep, I expected to wake up to see Yandrea next to me, however, when she was not there, my disappointment grew. Maybe she did come and sleep but only for a bit, and I was unaware of her presence. Maybe she went to sleep in another part of her Inner Mind so as to not find herself in the predicament of being forced to answer my questions.

Two days went by like this, then the third, and the fourth, and finally the fifth. Then, on the sixth day when I opened my eyes in this vast empty space, I saw her cuddled in my arms.

That fluffy pink hair, those pointed ears that twitched cutely, her soft touch as she was nestled in my embrace, Yandrea was back.

A sense of relief and joy washed over me more so than I initially believed it would. Without realizing it, rather than looking at her from the perspective of an old man with an unbound curiosity towards Dungeons, I found myself gazing at her in a strange and different way. It was all new to me, but I liked it.

I missed Yandrea... I missed the moments when we were talking together about everything... I missed sleeping together with her like this, without looking at her in a perverted way, just enjoying her warmth and embrace.

I guess the saying is true... You don’t know how much you care about someone until they are actually gone... I thought as I stayed like this, embracing her and just looking at her sleeping face.

A few hours went by, but this time I barely noticed. Time passed too fast.

“Unn~ Good morning, Tuby...” she said as she slowly woke up, pulling back from my embrace, letting out a cute yawn, and stretching her arms a little.

“Good morning, Yandrea.” I replied with a soft smile.

Unlike during our previous morning, we remained like this, caught in an embrace, for a longer period of time. Seconds and minutes passed by without either of us saying a single word, but even if I was itching to ask her what happened and why she was so late to return, even if I had a million questions that I wanted to ask her, I would keep my mouth shut and just let her enjoy this moment.

“I missed you...” she whispered as she buried her head in my chest.

I gently placed my hand on her head and caressed her.

“I know you want to ask me a lot of things...” she said, but I did not stop my hand or pulled out of her embrace. “I know it must be hard to keep waiting for me like this... but one day I’ll tell you. One day... until then, I can’t. I’m sorry, Tuby.”

“It’s alright, I won’t force you...” I told her, but in my heart, I knew that there were some exceptions out there.

There was a limit to waiting patiently for her, and there was a limit to turning a blind eye to any possible predicament she might have found herself in. If I were to find out that she was in any kind of trouble, I would naturally try to help her out, to be there for her in any way I could.

Unfortunately, what her action of abstaining from sharing her troubles with me meant was that she did not trust me yet. I have not done, maybe, anything that could make me earn her trust, but a the same time, I did not fully trust her either.

Illsyore was a special case, and I could not say for certain that all those other Dungeon out there would act out in a kind and generous manner or abstained from their natural instincts. I could not trust that she was a ‘good’ Dungeon when there were so many hidden secrets standing between us... and lies that have been told since the beginning. Personally, I had no recollection of actually keeping any truth that I knew from her. Everything was coming from her side.

Eventually, she allowed me to go out of her Inner Mind, and I could finally see the morning artificial sunlight generated by a giant crystal in the middle of the ceiling! I also shed a tear, but I quickly recovered as something quickly caught my attention.

From the corner of my eye, I saw something on Yandrea’s usually flawless body... a crack... that was slowly healing.

“Tuby, it’s alright for you to go roam around, just promise me that you will stay away from the entrances to the upper floors and the part with the Temple of Heroes, alright?” she asked me with a cheer.

“Yes, I will... I’m going to head off now. Have a good day!” I told her with a smile, pretending that I did not see the crack.

“You too, Tuby! See you later when you get back!” her light sphere form jumped around and then flew off.

As I walked out of the main room of the Golden Pyramid, I began to hasten my pace, heading straight towards the entrance to the upper floor.

What was that thing on her body? A crack? A crack that was healing? But that can’t be right...  I thought as I jumped over a fallen tree and passed through some bushes.

There were several types of Dungeons that have been identified as far as I knew. According to their strength and complexity of their creations, they were known like this: Easy; Difficult; Ancient; Legendary; Heroic; Demonic; Ancestral; Demigod and lastly Godlike. Of course, not all of them have been found but reports about them within historical books were plenty to support their existence. Out of all of them, the Demonic, Ancestral and Godlike ones were the rarest and more elusive of them all. Demigod Dungeons, while they were also rare, there were many more accounts of them appearing on the Sorone, Shoraya, or the Allasn Continents than any other. Least to be said that the Easy, Difficult, and Ancient ones were the most often found, while Legendary and Heroic represented the peak for most Adventurers and were usually challenged by at least Low Supreme Rank.

As a former Emperor Rank Adventurer, I was among those who witnessed the might of such Dungeons. This was why I could tell that landing a crack on their Crystal Body was no easy matter.

So, I was certain that someone very powerful visited Yandrea and made her suffer, they harmed her...

The crack had barely finished healing after I got out, but we stayed inside for a long time, enough for her to finish healing a larger and far more noticeable crack. Someone did this to her... Someone... I thought as I finally reached the end of the forest.

As I was approaching the clearing, I sensed the present of other people nearby and quickly hid in a nearby bush.

There was a small group of what appeared to be Reiss, Forglore, and Negvar Elves. Giant rodents, bear-like bipedal monsters, and humanoid beings with pointed ears. They were wearing armors of a design I had never seen before, but which strongly reminded me of the Hero Statues back at the temple: thick plates with round edges and leather straps that tied them together, covering only a certain part of the body, with patches of fur popping up at the joints. The elves, while not having any fur, they wore silk and other types of garments underneath their armor to prevent the friction between the harsh surface and their sensitive skin. Unlike the armor of the Forglore and Reiss, theirs was covered with leafy patterns and had curved claws and fangs as decorations.

How are they here? They were not supposed to be able to reach this floor that easily. What’s going on? I wondered, but I kept my distance an tried to listen in on their conversation.

“This trip has been worthless...” said the elf who was showing an extremely displeased expression on his face.

“The Dungeon said she didn’t see him. So, he didn’t port here, must’ve dropped somewhere else.” said the bear man with its four jaws moving a creepy way, while his reptile tail moved to the left and right.

“Even with three eyes and you are still blind! Kikiki!” the oversized rodent laughed at him.

“What ya mean?” he asked.

“Oh, nothin’ much, but the Slave we brought, he looked rather annoyed by us, huh? Maybe they in on this together?” he smirked, showing his row of white sharp teeth.

“Are you saying that they know Gauss is dead but they are keeping it silent intentionally?” the elf raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yus!” the Reiss nodded.

“Hm, that big event is coming up, so maybe they didn’t want any trouble?”

“A powerful adventurer who suddenly vanished just like that in the middle of the Tamed Dungeon of the Royals, well, that would make for some interesting gossip, wouldn’t it?” he smirked.

“You are right... The slave was also very keen on quickly leaving this place.” the elf rubbed his chin.

“Yes. Maybe Gauss ended up down here, but well, he died and probably got mistaken with some random corpse. You know how Dungeons are, right? Stupid and foolish, nothing more than machines that help us rise in power and make goods!” he laughed.

“True. But this one is not like the other ones. I heard that her rank is a bit higher.” the Forglore said.

“She is the Tamed Dungeon of the Royals, as old as the kingdoms themselves. They say the ancient kings found her when she was still young and weak and turned her into their own obedient worker. That’s why the First Layer of this dungeon is like that.” the elf explained.

“The Endless Plains... where all the great kingdoms prosper. Keh! Those royal bastards are just keeping the good stuff for themselves!” the Reiss scoffed and then suddenly turned around, ears perked up.

Feeling the danger, I ducked and hid inside the bush.

“What’s wrong?” the Forglore asked as he followed his gaze towards the forest.

“Must’ve been one of them forest critters that we’ve seen roam around.” he shrugged and turned around.

“Stop wasting time! Now that we know Gauss is dead, we should think about how to replace him. The Slave of Yandrea was kind enough to bring us here, but if we did not make a fuss in front of the royals, we wouldn’t have been granted this chance. We should make sure to return and properly express our gratitude to them for allowing us this chance. It will be good for them and us too.” the elf told them as he quickened his pace.

“Yeah... in other words, we have to kiss their butts real good so they don’t send them assassins of theirs after us!” the Reiss spat.

“We do what we can to survive. As for Gauss... it was his bad luck.” the Forglore shook his head and with this, they all left.

I waited there for another ten minutes or so to see if they were going to come back or if anyone was following them. I had to make sure that no one saw me here. Once I was certain the coast was clear, I poked my head out of the bush and then slowly made my way back to the Pyramid.

After everything that happened, I had no desire to continue training or exploring this place.

“What in the name of all the gods did I just hear?” I wondered as I rubbed my non-existent beard.

My heart felt heavy, and my mind was foggy... a good long walk was going to be the perfect cure for me.