"This is not what I thought when they said underground labyrinth." Cyrene points out when they enter the dungeon.
It's actually very similar to the one Cain built under the Guild Castle, with carved stone walls covered in paintings, glowing moss on the roof, and solid stone floors cut to look like reddish tiles. It's more like being in the interior hallway of a building than anything Cain would associate with mining.
"There will be large caverns spread through the labyrinth. That's where the mining comes into play, and where the largest number of Beastkin will be." Paige informs them, looking at a point on the wall near the entrance.
"Mary, call all your summons and merge them into a single copy of each type. That will avoid overcrowding and give us some strong backline defense." Cain suggests, and the Puppet Master summons and then Merges what they can, taking the bodyguard type summons into herself for the extra durability.
"Cyrene, do you see anything?" Cain asks quietly, winding how effective the new Ancient Quality item will be at improving her visions.
"There's a boss in the first big cavern, A Hippo type Beastkin. I am sure he gets his face smashed in by a large pale Demon." Cyrene answers after going vacant for a moment.
"Well, we have our mission. Demons it is." Cain smiles, patting her head, and Summoning a full set of Demons before transforming into the Progenitor form to triple their and then merging them to half their maximum numbers. The dungeon simply doesn't have room for more summons to fight.
Sending the Demons ahead to battle, the group carefully makes their way through the winding tunnels of the labyrinth, stopping now and then to check on good spots to collect valuables.
Not everything of value is buried in this dungeon; some of the gems are embedded in the walls as statues' eyes or simple decorations. Gathering them slows progress, so by the time they reach the first cavern, where Cyrene saw the vision of the death of the dungeon boss, it is already dead and the Demons have moved on.
An abundance of minerals is visible in the walls and floor, though, which reminds Cain of the Giant's dungeon where the Gold Vein that provided the group with much of the Guild's wealth was found.
He quickly makes four Mountain Troll Puppets with pickaxes and sets them to work on the various deposits around the room. Most of what they're digging up, Cain doesn't even recognize, he just accepts it because the System says it's valuable. Still, since it's either blue or epic quality ore, Cain gathers it and instructs the Maid Puppet to pull it from his inventory and deposit it into the Guild Bank using the newly installed circle in the apartment.
After a bit of surface digging, the trolls finally come across something Cain vaguely recognizes.
[Raw Divine Mythril] Legendary Crafting Material. Mythril ore that was imbued with divine energy throughout the millennia since the planet's formation.
There's quite a bit of it, too, hundreds of kilos. Cain wonders how long it will take for anyone to notice, so he has the Puppet deposit it into the Guild Bank without any warning, alongside the Shadow Silver that one of the other puppets had just unearthed.
"Wow, having miners above level 200 is incredible. Especially Trolls, they're pretty good at that." Princess Paige cheers, watching them work.
"I have created the bodies with master-level mining and the [Earth Manipulation] passive that makes it easier to dig. I didn't want to create a whole army just to get the dungeon cleared out." Cain answers her unspoken question about the reason for their efficiency, while the pickaxes of the Puppets ring through the cavern.
They've cleared out all the detectable loot from this cavern, leaving Cain with a dilemma. There are multiple exits, and Cain doesn't know what direction the summons went. He instructed them to clear the dungeon, and he can tell what direction they're in now, but he doesn't know what portions of the labyrinth they've already done.
Minor oversight.
"Cyrene, are their monsters down the left tunnel there." He asks, and the Lamia shakes her head.
"I don't think so; I don't get any visions of battle when I focus on that direction."
"Off we go then. The Summons must have cleared it already.
This section of Labyrinth has a very different motif. Somewhere between Ancient Egypt and Elvis Presley in fashion sense. There is gold everywhere, precious gems as well as some very bright-colored carpets, and statues with rhinestone encrusted suits.
Paige is about to grab a solid gold statue off the wall when Cyrene suddenly wraps her up to stop her. "This entire area is cursed. Taking anything puts a deadly curse on the whole group. Plus, it's not real; all this wealth is fake, just part of the curse."
It's a good thing they have her along; that could have gotten ugly, even with Misha's advanced abilities to remove curses.
They make their way past cluttered hallways and side rooms full of wealth and dead bodies until they finally get to another cavern. But the moment they step inside, Cyrene goes blank and then turns to Cain.
"Incoming boss fight. I must have missed it because of the Curse. I'm sorry."
Any more apologies will have to wait, because she had been cut short by the appearance of a burly Felian man, covered in silk and jewels, most of which manages to clash with the pieces worn next to it—a genuinely tacky boss for a truly gaudy dungeon zone.
With a wave of the Felian's hand, gates appear and block all the exits to the room, preventing retreat. Mary sends all her Summons into combat, while Cain orders the Trolls to stand back while he waits for an opening to engage.
Though they might not have gotten all the bonuses that Cain's summons do, and her gear isn't optimized for Summoning damage, a fact they will have to rectify later, Mary's summons are doing an excellent job of holding the boss and chipping away at its health despite the level difference.
Cain waits until the creature's bank is turned and lines forward with his spear, driving it into the boss Beastkin's back.
[Damage Reduced By Ability]
The single hit took roughly a tenth of Felian's health, but it has some ability that caps damage per strike. That's alright, though. They have plenty of time to take it down and boss hasn't used any magic yet except on his claws and to block the doorways, so he's not a direct threat to their more vulnerable members.
He might have more tricks, though, so Cain orders the Trolls to surround the group and prevent ambushes with their massive bodies.
Between Cain and the Plague Demons that Mary chose, they've managed to effectively pin the boss, every attack leaving him open to more critical strikes. Just as he falls, a Quest Notification comes in.
[Can't Be Fooled] Find and destroy the source of the Felian King's Power. Reward, one random choice per party member.
"Well, you heard the Quest; let's see what was powering the Boss," Cain instructs, and the Trolls get to work digging up the room.
Trolls have got an intuitive sense of treasure, so they should do a pretty good job at this quest. For now, though, they're only finding low-quality ores, mostly silver and iron.
With the Boss dead, the spell blocking the exits has faded, and it's not long before Cain's Demons join them. They've gone through the Labyrinth and can't find anything else to kill.
Cain thinks about the most efficient way to complete this quest for a moment and then makes two dozen more Mining Trolls. Two for every Legendary Demon.
"Take these guys with you and go mine out everything you can find in the dungeon. You're looking for whatever might have powered that last boss, but everything you get for the Guild is a bonus."
The Demons split into groups, bringing their Trolls along and hoping to spring more traps while Cain and the others search. The first for battle is never truly satiated for the higher level Demons.
There was nothing in the first room, so they moved on to another. This one had better loot but still wasn't showing them any signs of the quest objective. At least not until Paige grabbed a two-meter tall Jade statue and placed it in to her inventory.
Usually, such things are just part of the dungeon, decorations that will reset after a day, along with the instance they came from, but this one had an item name, so she grabbed it to decorate her room at home.
When she removed it, a translucent white Jade Pillar lifted from the center of the cavern floor with a glowing golden orb trapped in the middle.
[Stone of Kings] grants the ability to create wealth with mana. One Gold Bar for every 50mp expended.
[Quest Item Located]
"Wait, we're supposed to destroy that for the quest? But it's money. Free Money. You only need to add MP, and you'll be wealthy forever." Paige points out, moving to stand between the group and the pillar.
"You saw the wealth it created in the tunnels. It's not real; the stone is a cursed item." Cain points out, trying logic to convince the Princess that the quest wouldn't have the orb's destruction as a condition without good reason.
"You only say that because you want it for yourself," Paige growls, sounding far less threatening than intended.
"You understand, right Mary? With a stone that creates gold, we wouldn't ever have to tax anyone again. We could buy everything the city needed." Paige pleads her case to her best friend.
"There, there. Don't worry; we'll get this all sorted out." The Elven Puppet Master declares, pulling her friend into a hug and nodding at Cain.
Cain sends the Trolls around back, and with a single blow, they shatter both the Pillar and the stone to bits before happily picking up the pieces of Jade to send to the Guild Bank.
[Quest Complete]
