Chapter 511 - Cowardice
In a dungeon deep within the Galeburst territory, there was an ongoing battle. The members of the raid party were facing a tough oponent however, the scenery was not pretty.
“Give me another heal! Come on!” Alastor Galeburst, the eldest dynast of this generation, shouted with bloodshot eyes. Blood coursed down his sword arm as he glared at the ferocious creature before him.
A pale looking woman stepped forward with shaky arms and a ring of light shot out towards Alastor who was swiftly thrown back just before it had a chance to even touch a hair on his body.
Seeing this, one of his party members grit their teeth and shouted a plea.
“Prince! We should fall back, the artifact! We still have that artifact!” His thoughts were normal seeing how hopeless their battle was but…
“No!” Alastor quickly shouted in response as he emerged from a pile of rubble and tattered plants.
“Foolish” The fearsome beast before them said mockingly.
The scaly monster had sword-like claws and teeth. Its reptilian eyes showed deep wisdom and the shimmering green scales suggested its attunement to the element of wind or nature. Judging by the boss room which was covered in greenery it was likely the latter.
“I won’t be bested by a young dragon!” Alastor said angrily. A few of his party members had already perished and the healer of the party was already at the verge of collapsing.
Alastor struggled to take a step towards the mighty beast before throwing up a mouthful of blood.
“Agh…” He muttered silently feeling pain assaulting his body.
“I can’t be bested by the past!” There were rumors of Augustus’ feats. There were attempts real or false to downplay his achievements. They said that he only managed to beat an infantile or hundred-year-old dragon.
Putting aside the reality of those claims, it was a fact that if Alastor couldn’t beat the dragon before him that he would have failed to live up to his own expectations. Most notably, he might very well fall out of favor with his father.
“That’s why you are foolish” The dragon said never having taken them seriously. When Alastor’s team first entered they could be considered a small threat but as the dragon killed a few of them off and their stamina and mana ran dry their threat was non-existent.
“Who says I am just a young dragon?” The dragon before them had brilliant scales and exuded the mighty aura of a dragon yet its size was a bit disappointing. It was only normal that Alastor would take it as a still growing dragon.
“That’s very far from the truth” This was a dragon that had lived for at least a thousand years. Frankly, it had lost count. Well, not that it ever bothered to count. The boss room of this particular dungeon did not have any indicator of day or night.
“I’ve been here since the very start” This was a boss that had not left its room for centuries. The only thing it could do was feel the growth and expansion of the dungeon with knowing anticipation until it finally connected with the real world.
“Hahaha, you’ve ventured in here yet you try and measure me through common sense” It laughed suddenly.
The dragon’s body did not grow as a result of being a boss monster. These boss monsters could be compared to wraiths or spirits of the past. But even as a ghost, no, rather because it was a ghost its strength was augmented when compared to normal dragons. Whether it had died young or not, the fact that it was strong could not be denied.
But Alastor did not despair at the news. Rather, he looked at the 5 remaining members of his party.
“One last time! Let’s give this one final shot!” He shouted to them who looked haggard and drawn. His voice was full of fighting spirit but his teammates were nowhere near as enthusiastic. They only looked at him dully.
“It’s over…” One said in anguish as they dropped to their knees.
“Prince…” A man said looking at him with imploring eyes.
The young prince glared at the man knowing his intentions. The dragon watched on amused. It’s duty as a guardian of the dungeon was to kill the wanderers but these were the first visitors the dungeon had in an excruciatingly long time. It couldn’t help itself!
“What now?” It asked expecting the show to continue a little longer. Unfortunately for the dragon however, the prince brought out a device from within his armor.
“Take it!” Alastor shouted before tossing the small device over to his remaining party members.
“I am, NOT, a coward!” He screamed out reaffirming something. To whom? Only he knew.
“GO! Escape!” He said to them before turning to face the dragon.
“I’ll buy you the time! If you need it!” Alastor added.
Boss rooms usually locked themselves by the will of the dungeon when entered by adventurers. The purpose was obviously to prevent the prey from escaping. But how could the Galeburst dynasty not have a few trump cards against that?
It had to be said, that if a future ever came where dungeons ruled the planet, humans were resourceful and might very well continue to cling onto life. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
The dragon’s eyes now looked sharp. They glared at the device with fury and the plants in the boss room reciprocated this fury.
“Die!” The dragon shouted. Immediately, all sorts of flowers bloomed spreading toxic gas into the room and vines and roots wriggled towards the position of the humans with unbridled fury and blood thirst.
“F*ck! Hurry!” A man shouted while tightly gripping a blade with his remaining arm. He slashed at the incoming greenery.
“Don’t hurry me! Give it a second-! Quick, huddle!” The man said angrily before the device finally activated.
A bright purple light suddenly enveloped the boss room.
The dragon squinted and saw as the bodies of the adventurers disappeared into nothingness alongside the plants it used to attack them. Assuming the device worked, they had definitely escaped…
“Hehehe… You’ve been abandoned!” The dragon said hiding its fury. But Alastor would not miss its expression of pure hatred. Nevertheless, Alastor did not reply to this taunt.
That was partly because his body was covered in vines and his mind was focused on something else.
‘I failed…’ He thought lamentably. He had failed himself and the armor he currently donned. It was a treasure of the Galeburst dynasty and a stigma that would now forever follow his name for generations to come.
The Dynast who lost the legendary Augustus’ dragon scale armor… That would be what the Alastor Galeburst name would become synonymous with.
“No! I can’t accept that!” Alastor shouted from within the trashing of spiky vines with which the dragon continued to torture his body. The pressure increased at that moment.
“Accept it and keep me company for the rest of your pitiful worthless life!” It would make sure to have fun with the human until its last breath!
Outside the boss room, the figures of 5 people appeared. They all fell to the ground holding ugly expressions on their faces.
“We are going to get in trouble for this” It was a heat of the moment decision to beg Alastor for his only method of escape but that was obviously something that went against their purpose in accompanying the dynast.
Their duty was to protect Alastor. How did they get out alive then? Shouldn’t they be the last to live?
“The real story doesn’t have to get out…” A person holding a broken bow said with some trepidation while looking at the roots and vines that were teleported alongside them.
“Right, Alastor valiantly protected us his subjects even at the risk of his own life” Another of the Alastor’s knights said affirming the words of the other.
Very quickly, it would become known that Alastor fought valiantly against a dragon and in his final moments bought time for them to escape. This was something not too far from the truth, and who would call them out on it?
Just as the small group prepared to rest and then depart they heard a dragon roar past the sturdy dungeon door. They were frightened out of staying near that door any longer and quickly fled for their lives.
***
Much later, in the Bosque Kingdom, at the border city of Rift.
The young emperor of Volcan was enjoying a cup of hot chocolate when one of his agents in the shadow delivered him some news.
“Ha, how stupid!” Mite said with a sneer hearing the new intel. The news of the dynasty’s failure got out despite their attempts to cover up the occurrence.
“I can’t believe they are our Empire’s rival” Mite said with disdain. They couldn’t even cover up their failures!
All kingdoms in the continent were paying attention to the happenings of the Galeburst dynasty. There were therefore many spies hidden within Galeburst society. Most of these spies were not very high up in the Galeburst dynasty given that dynasties tended to belong to just one ruling family.
It made infiltrating outsiders into the dynasty difficult but at the same time, why wouldn’t you be able to buy a family member? There was no reason to suspect that.
Thinking about it logically it made sense that the news spread out but Mite was still not letting them off.
“Your Majesty, should we help spread the matter?” The assassin Shade asked.
“Spread it sure. Let’s also move forward with preparations to attack the dynasty” Mite instructed. Shade did not say anything but one of Mite’s close knights happened to hear the matter and audibly exclaimed in surprise.
“The army hasn’t yet settled the riots of the nobility in Bosque!” He exclaimed clearly expressing disagreement.
“We are just putting on a little show” Mite said before smiling. Applying some pressure to the dynasty right now seemed just fine.. They would soon need to start tackling dungeons inside both Volcan and Bosque so making sure foreign affairs were settled was a wise move.