Chapter 60 – Dungeon Seven

"Oh my fucking God, my legsss!"

"You're right to complain Ikarus, that was a tiring trip"

All the other four have already made it up here already so they had a chance to rest their legs for a slight while, me and Petra have only just arrived at the top section of the Yggdrasil tree.

The trip up here was so long, it actually took literal hours of nonstop walking up on a branch that spirals up around the outside of this tree circling around the carved-out centre of it as well. This was hell but I guess it helps with leg muscles, gotta be making them gains.

My complaints are more than justified though, how the hell do the elves think it's okay not to try putting in some easier way to get up and down from this place? For God's sake, there's even homes carved inside the hollow tree up here as well, imagine spending hours going down a tree to work and realizing you've forgotten something and need to head back up. This is just so impractical, why even bother living up here? At least living in the bottom levels seems more practical, maybe it's extremely cheap housing costs up here?

I think this tree provides them with food as well, at least I've seen the occasional elf eating leaves and stuff up here. It is weird how a somewhat hollow tree can also grow leaves and stuff inside it but tis the world of fantasy magic. I swear elves are vegetarians as well but I couldn't give two shits enough to ask. I've always got meat hidden away, in my storage I mean, my third leg has been missing for over two years now.

The place we're currently at right at the top of the tree trunk is in a small little section that seems to be dead end, there does look to be something behind a large curled off branch at the end of this part but there seems no way to climb over or under it.

"If it's blocked off, why just not cut through it? It's only wood after all"

"Impossible Ikarus, most of this tree is enchanted. A part like that isn't going to open by normal means"

Oh, so I guess Petra has already gotten an idea on what's the problem. I'm guessing us two might be taking the lead then, those two elves who have joined us don't seem to have a clue why it won't open either.

"So how do we open it then?"

"All we have to do is walk up to it"

"Huh? If it was that easy, wouldn't it already be open?"

"Have faith Ikarus"

Petra walks over to the branch and wouldn't you know it, it starts uncurling up leaving a gap for us to fit in. That was easy.

(Alexander) "How the hell did you do that?"

(Alexstrasza) "What type of trick was that?"

The brother and sister elf clearly seem shocked from why the magically closed off area just opened; it's clear Petra has some more tricks up her sleeve.

"Just an ability received for completed a set number of dungeons, this one just wants to see if you're worthy or not"

Wait, has she already completed ten dungeons? Is that why she has that ability she just used? No, it's probably something else, she's probably completed even more than just ten thinking about it, six-hundred years of life and all. There can be hidden rewards in dungeons after all, at least for people like us. Not always otherwise I'd have loads more abilities.

"Well let's go in then"

"It better be in here"

'I'm really getting tired of the male elf always speaking first now'

The two elves clearly lacking in patience skills push ahead of us into the potential dungeon opening itself, I'm not too fussed if they want to be the guinea pigs and test to see if there's any traps ahead of us, Petra seems also alright with this arrangement.

Our party of four follow the eager elves and we come across a wooden corridor made from branches, leaves and tree bark. We also find ourselves very quickly past it entering a somewhat open room at the very top of this tree trunk.

"To think it's actually here!"

"So many years of searching and finally our hopes and dreams can come true!"

In this kinda large open section at the top of the tree, it is slightly rounded in nature, has a similar design to that corridor we just left and has a wooden looking pedestal in the centre of the room. On that pedestal, is a golden chalice covered in jewels and looks beyond stunning. This very clearly seems like a trap putting something like that there...

"Wait! Don't touch that!"

The elves ignore Petra's advice and run ahead to grab the golden looking cup or chalice and that was a terrible idea, us four knew that but these two idiots didn't.

(Ikarus) "You freaking idiots!"

(Petra) "*Sigh*"

"What's happening!?"

"Shit, Alex!"

As they take it off the wooden pedestal, the section we're currently in starts shaking, leaves start falling all around us and bits of the bark on the outsides of the room turn charcoal black, this tree did not like that in the slightest.

Branches as well start unfolding completly blocking off our entrance and now exit, it's clear this seems to be a boss arena that these two idiots have just initiated. For fuck's sake, I like shiny things and all but couldn't they just have left it? At least till we had gotten fully ready.

A womanly form then starts growing from behind the pedestal as well, this is going to be the boss I reckon.

"Ikarus, priestess and knight, get ready. This isn't a foe I've encountered before"

"Okay Petra-sama, summon"

(Nathan) "Yeah, my sword is ready"

(Ikarus) "Okay okay"

We don't even need to ask what's about to happen, that woman clearly looks dangerous, her breasts alone could cause an earthquake if she was to fall over. I make a joke but her face does look pretty angry, at least from what I can barely see from the growing woman, should check something before she grows fully out from the tree.

'I think I already know what she is, status'

[Name: Ria' Nyda | Species: Dryad | Level: 400]

[Health 20,000/20,000]

[Stamina 20,000/20,000]

[Magicka 40,000/40,000]

'I was right, she's a dryad, wonder if we can reason with her but seeing that Petra also has her blade out, this doesn't seem the way'

Seeing all four of our party get our weapons out, the elves who decided to touch the golden chalice now realize they should prepare and get out their weapons of choice, both of them take their bows from their backs.

Just before the woman has fully grown, I whisper something in Petra's ear.

"Petra, should we hide some of our abilities?"

My reasoning is simple, she clearly doesn't trust these lot so using something that literally one hits might be a bad idea, we barely have any clue who these two elves even are, revealing how much power we hold could prove a potential problem in the future. Magic should still be fine though since they already know about that.

"Good idea Ikarus, we'll save anything too powerful in case something goes terribly wrong"

I'm really starting to like being praised by Petra, it's not the time for stupid thoughts though, a fight is potentially upon us. Ah, need to speak to priestess too.

"Priestess, don't use anything overkill"

"Okay Ikarus-sama"

Reason being for her is that the orbital later might cut through the tree here, just destroying the elves world tree might be a very bad idea. Her laser beam that shoots from her sword should be more than suitable, there are six of us after all.

"WHO DARES TO LAY A FINGER UPON THE HOLY GRAIL!?!"

A feminine scream roars from the fully formed dryad's mouth, she clearly is very, very pissed right now. Dogs from miles away would've heard that being how high pitched it was.

As for how she looks, she has bright green long hair, green eyes, her breasts might be as big as my mother's and she is barely clothed, it basically looks like a green fetish bikini. I know dryads aren't supposed to wear much clothing from my Earth knowledge but still, a handful of leaves would probably cover her body more. This is even more perverted than my bikini that has now turned into a sweetass uncomfortable dress.

'Wait, holy grail? Damn it, not the time Ikarus'

After she finishes speaking, the two elves ready their bows and fire two arrows into the woman, both hitting her in the waist.

"YOU DIRTY LITTLE FUCKING ELVES!!"

None of us four have even stepped forward to join the fight just yet, somethings not right here. This dryad woman hasn't even counter attacked against those two, they're readying another arrow as well.

"Petra, why do I feel like attacking her is a bad idea?"

"..."

"It does seem like a bad idea Ikarus-sama"

(Nathan) "We might be forced to defend ourselves anyway"

Petra clearly can't give me a response either, should we just watch? We very quickly will have an answer to that question though.

"Are you four not going to join in?"

"She's needs to be destroyed"

Both the sibling elves fire another round of arrows into the dryad, this time she's not having anymore of it though.

"ALL YOU FUCKING TRESSPASSERS CAN BECOME FERTILIZER FOR THIS HERE TREE!!"

Then something strange happens, the interior of the tree starts glowing and thousands of projectiles start shooting towards us from every direction, every single one of us six try to take cover but none of us can stop receiving damage from the attack.

"HE-HE-HE, FEEL THE UNGODLY PAIN OF A THOUSAND SPLINTERS!!"

(Ikarus) "That hurts!"

(Charlotte) "My Lord is not best pleased with this perverted lady"

(Nathan) "What type of attack was that?"

(Alexander) "Urgh, that attack was odd"

(Alexstrasza) "Bloody splinters!"

(Petra) "..."

All of us have something to say on the splinter attack except Petra, that attack has made every part of my body hurt.

'Damn it, I actually feel like I've got a thousand splinters in me, status'

[Name: Ikarus | Species: Phoenix | Level: 67]

[Health 29,449*/30,000*]

[Stamina 8,426*/10,000*]

[Magicka 20,000*/20,000*]

[You currently have 3500 unassigned points]

'It's done about a hundred damage, that's it!? This woman must be similar to that lich we came across a while back, her combat ability seems shite'

"FEEL MY UNHOLY WRATH AGAIN, YOU STUPID THEIVES!!!"

Seeing that she's attacked all of us getting splinters in every single body part, it probably makes sense for us to join the fight even if this doesn't feel right killing her. All four of us get ready to attack before she has the chance to do another splinter attack.

The priestess aims her sword at the large chested dryad and a beam of light shoots from her sword piercing the tree woman in the chest.

The knight rushes towards her and swings his broadsword at the woman landing a large cut across her chest also.

I fire a large fireball towards her and it lands causing a small explosion hitting the top of her legs.

Petra also does a fireball attack, obviously black in nature. It's slightly larger than mine and it hits the top of the dryad's head, headshot.

Despite all the attacks we just did, this woman doesn't seem able to feel pain, at least that's how it seems, she didn't give a response to all that.

'Status'

[Name: Ria' Nyda | Species: Dryad | Level: 400]

[Health 9,247/20,000]

[Stamina 20,000/20,000]

[Magicka 35,000/40,000]

'Huh? Her attack used that much magicka and we've already taken out that much health as well? This screaming bitch is weak as hell, I was right'

Petra's eyes have also turned blue from the temporary status effect and she seems very calm now, we both see that this fight is stupid. Might as well get this over with seeing that there doesn't seem to be any alternative thanks to these damn elves attacking her first.

"You two are both mages outside that other dungeon too?"

"Not time for that Alex, let's kill this bitch!"

Both the sibling elves notice what we just did and fire another round of arrows towards the dryad, they make contact again but the woman is ready for another attack.

"I'M GOING TO DESTROY YOU ALL!!"

The crazy dryad woman lets out another splinter tree attack, we all try to avoid it once again but we can do nothing. It's impossible to escape this mild uncomfortableness this bitch is doing to us.

(Ikarus) "Ouch, this fucking bitch! I'm going to burn her to a crisp!"

This time I rush forward, I'm not letting her do that again. I start exhausting my flamethrower pouring the ungodly amount of flames all over the tree woman. I find after a second or two of doing it, a black flame combines with my attack obviously meaning Petra must be behind me adding more flame to my fire.

We keep this up for close to a minute while everyone else is still attacking and wouldn't you know it, the dryad has now collapsed and has fallen to the floor. Even though her body seems to be unable to be set alight, it's still turning to ash though and fading into the tree itself.

The branches covering up the entrance have curled back up open as well now, we're able to leave this odd tree like arena.

"What... a weird fight that was"

(Petra) "Agreed Ikarus"

"I thank the Lord for protecting us"

"I don't think he had anything to do with that fight Lotte, that woman was surprisingly weak"

Us four are just happy that's over, we've got to pick all these splinters out after all now, ouch, no idea if this or paper cuts are worse. Those two elves have a very different plan now though it seems.

"To think it was always here, the pure beauty and power we hold in our hands"

"It really is a work of beauty, isn't it brother?"

The male elf is holding the chalice with both of them drooling all over it, not literally but it seems that way. They really like the look of that, might because it's so shiny they can see their own reflection in the gold.

"You two know you can't leave with that"

Wait, does Petra want that golden chalice then? No, there's got to be a good reason she just said that though, monetary gains don't really affect her thinking.

"Why do you say that?"

"Yeah, why can't we take this? We helped out in that fight as much as you four"

Petra pauses from their responses, then looks to facepalm but stops herself from doing it halfway through

"If you take that, this entire tree will wither causing the tribe living here into starvation. You should've already known that seeing the chalice is what you were looking for"

"That's not our problem though"

"We need this to rebuild our own tribe, these lot living here are of no concern to us"

Ah crap, is that why these two want that holy grail chalice so badly? This is not a good situation then, both priestess and the knight understand this as well.

"Ikarus, this seems like a good opportunity for something, what do you reckon we should do? Shall we allow them to take the source of this tree dooming thousands or should we stop them from doing such a thing?"

Why is Petra asking me this? Is that what keeps this city alive and running, this tree? I know it provided them with edible leaves but still, I didn't realize how much they needed it. And it will destroy this entire thing taking that?

"It's not a decision you two can make, we're taking it without your approval"

"Just because you two are mages doesn't mean we can't handle fighting you four, you're no longer protected by your human army"

Did they really just say that? How stupid are these elves? Me and Zeki literally led the army from the front line! Maybe they've become blinded by greed or was always this stupid.

Of course, the tension around the place is on a knife edge right now though. All our party have no idea what to do me included but Petra is the only one who seems calm.

"Petra, why are you asking me this though?"

"Just want to hear your opinion Ikarus, can feel an extreme amount of power radiating from that chalice, do you reckon those two can be trusted with such a powerful artifact? Could be wrong but part of this tree has already withered when they took it. Whatever your answer is, that's the route we'll take"

That's what this is? Is this one of those situations like Petra has experienced loads of times before where a choice to save loads of lives comes up? Urgh. I want to set a save point down just in case I make the wrong decision here. If what Petra says is true, then it isn't much of a decision, at least for someone who has a sense of morality, I don't really though.

I mean, I shouldn't even have to think about it, both these two elves don't seem like the best of people and if our time in the war dungeon was anything to go off, then they can't be trusted. Who's to say they even have a tribe to rebuild? It seems dumb dooming one to start another up if true.

Of course, Petra could have an agenda behind this but she very clearly dislikes the people in charge here so it would be a bit odd lying about helping this settlement. I think she'd just come out and say if someone deserves to die or not without playing games, she's similar to me in that sense.

I'm not a heroic person though, doing something like saving people isn't even that much of a thought anymore... but, it seems a waste for all these people to stave since they rely on this tree for food, mostly down to the EXP lost. I'd rather keep them alive so if I do decide to turn to the dark side, I've got a vast amount of EXP just sitting there waiting for me.

In all honesty, I might be a bit tsundare when it comes to potentially saving people, I find superheroes annoying and being labelled as a hero for saving lives is something that I never want to happen, rather be hated than loved if I'm being honest. Why be a hero when something like a demon lord sounds so much cooler? But that's me just being dumb, this situation is pretty simple really.

"You can place that back on the pedestal, you're not dooming an entire city"

Petra gives me a slight smile from my response but the looks of most surprise come from the other two-party members travelling with us, did they really expect me to not do anything after hearing that? I swear, these two really know how to piss me off at times.

"Then you leave us no choice!"

"You must die then!"

Both the elves step backwards and ready their bows but before they even have the chance to fire, Petra be doing her thing.

"Heh, did you really think that would work?"

Her telekinesis sword art makes her samurai blade fly away from her and within a second, both of the bow strings are cut from their bows.

"As if we only rely on our bows!"

"You're fighting the wrong opponent if you think that will work!"

I'm a little surprised Petra didn't just slit their throats with her blade but my questioning very quickly gets answered.

"Ikarus, make sure you get the final hit"

"Okay okay"

EXP is EXP after all, thank the Gods Petra is so generous with me.

The elves both put out their hands and fire off a new type of magic I'm yet to witness, wind magic. Two small looking sideways cyclones shoot from their hands towards Petra but she just stands there and takes the attack head on. Their magic must be absolute shit for Petra to not even have a reaction.

Both the other two-party members don't have a chance to do anything though, both those two aren't best suited for ranged attacks, priestess obviously is but Petra and I are kinda in the way for her beam of light to work right now, this is our fight anyway.

"Crap, we'll fire again!"

"Another round Alex!"

Those two may think that but it's time for me and Petra now, we both start releasing flame all over ahead of us. Most of it misses since these two elves love to run around a lot but it still does do some damage, especially to the female elf who is now partially charred and has fallen to the ground. It's clear Petra held back a lot then to help me out.

'Status'

[Name: Alexander | Species: Elf | Level: 174]

[Health 5,801/7,000]

[Stamina 3,294/6,000]

[Magicka 3,800/4,400]

----------

[Name: Alexstrasza | Species: Elf | Level: 128]

[Health 421/2,800]

[Stamina 2,159/5,000]

[Magicka 4,400/5,000]

Before she has the chance to stand back up, I charge towards her not giving a chance to re-join the fight, this is my EXP!

"Wai- ARGH!"

My vampiric blade stabs right through her back killing her basically on the spot, my knife finally got a chance to taste blood, I feel almost a little happy for it.

"SISTER!"

The brother elf screams and charges towards me as well as firing another strong gust of circular wind, it does makes contact with my chest but it barely hurts in the slightest, I can see why Petra thought this was shit.

I don't want to take chances here though; I'm killing him now.

'Aesa, activate you know what'

[<Confirmed, -aspect of gigantomachy- is now in use>]

The elf charges towards me, pulls out a hidden dagger and filled with blind rage tries to slice my head clean off. I instantly see through this; duck avoiding his attack and ram my blade into his stomach.

There was something I forgot about since I was caught up in this fight though...

The elf explodes in pieces from the attack going all over the room but most of him seems to explode all over my face, I'd want to puke if it wasn't for something else.

(Petra) "You didn't have to use tha-... Ikarus!"

After the fight, a strong feeling like a rush of blood comes to my head and I fall to the ground, why do I feel like this? My stamina was perfectly fine yet I feel like I'm about to pass out.

"Urgh..."

Petra holds me from the slumping on the floor, there's an annoying robotic wife in my head who might have a clue for my collapse though.

[<-User has gained 30 levels>]

'Hang on, those two were both in the hundreds, how did I forget that? Oh my God...'

__________

---You won't be getting a chapter tomorrow unfortunately, had a viral nearly all week and yesterday a migraine came on as well so I've lost some progress, still been writing through most of it but have now lost at least a day of work. Will be back the day after though!---