The Divine Dungeon Complete Series (The Divine Dungeon #1-5)

by Dakota Krout

When the warhammer cut into the being’s chest, the force enhancement Runes activated and attempted to send the creature into orbit. “Four!” Tom shouted gleefully as he watched the creature shoot upward, only to be caught in the crossfire of A-rankers battling above them. There was a flash of black fire, and the demon was banished. Painfully. “That’s the fourth demon I’ve landed a hit on today!” “Ah, I was wondering what that meant.”

Turning the stumble into a roll, Dale jumped forward and was suddenly face-to-face with a befuddled necromancer. Utilizing his training to its maximum, Dale delivered a full force punch to the man’s slightly open jaw. The Mage stumbled back, not hurt in the slightest but still thrown off and confused by Dale’s actions. As he straightened, something clinked against his teeth… from the inside. His eyes widened a fraction as the pre-crushed beast Core Dale had shoved into his mouth gave way and detonated with all the stored Mana Manny the Manticore had once contained. Headless, the smoking body of the necromancer toppled to the ground.

<Dani, I’m so sorry.> If Kantor, the Dungeon Core, was being used as a ritual component, that meant he was already gone… as was his bonded Wisp. Another thought tickled my mind even as I tried to comfort Dani: if the Core of an S-ranked dungeon was being used for this Runescript, it would be far more potent than I had originally credited. If this Runescript were fully powered… there would be no stopping it.

“I go by The Master now, Madame.” The Master’s voice had lost a bit of its frigidness, and a touch of sadness had entered his tone. “We were all wrong. We were manipulated, we lost sight of everything we had hoped for, and all of the world events in the last five hundred years that brought us to this point were calculated and plotted.” “What? Who would…?” Chandra’s voice faltered as Xenocide waved at them lazily. “That was me! Thank you for the recognition! Do you have any idea how hard it was to convince the entire world to hate each other? Alright, fair enough, not that hard, but still, it is nice to be noticed for your dedicated efforts.

My attention turned to my entrance as The Master walked in. You could have heard a pin drop as the tension mounted in the air between us. I created a pin and dropped it on the second floor to test this theory. Yup. His head twitched as the tiny noise reached him.

“Was it you?” Dani whispered darkly. Her colors were icy blue, and she was pulsing like a poorly created Rune. “Were you the one that killed them?” The Master looked down at the ground. “I can neither confirm… nor deny that statement. I pledged to never speak of it, and so I cannot deny it without breaking my word.”

goodreads seems to have lost the formatting, deny is italicized which makes it much clearer that he is giving an answer without breaking an oath.

“What we need to do is find a way to stop those Runes from working, stop the moon from crashing into us, and find a way to survive Xenocide through all of this.” “That sounds difficult!” Xenocide chimed in from hundreds of feet above them. “However will we make it happen?”

“How likely is it that he is actually going to go through with this? He is going to die too if the planet is destroyed!” Brianna growled with a tired voice. “He would have to be-” “Insane?” The Master finished for her with an arched eyebrow. “I think that has been established.

“She was playing with the Golems, and one of them broke.” Dani growled as the fireball hopped away. “She started playing with the broken chunks, and…” <Hold on, Dani. Stop trying to kill that.> I was watching the fireball hop around and got more and more excited. <This is it! This is what I’ve been trying to figure out!> “What are you talking about, Cal?” Dani was trying to kill the fireball by staring at it, I could just tell. She didn’t like Grace playing with ‘dangerous’ materials. I decided not to tell her about the lightning room I had built to train Grace’s dodging abilities. <I have been trying to decide where to go after Golems weren’t cutting it anymore. Look at that fireball, Dani! It is a Core surrounded by pure Scarletite! The mineral that has the highest fire corruption potential!> I waited for a response, but I’d have been there all day if I’d have waited for a comment. None was forthcoming. <Ugh, Dani! I’ve been making them into humanoid creatures, but why? Because that’s what I was used to! This one is tiny and weak, but if I do it like this…> I pulled a Core filled with water corruption and Mana over and wrapped it in Gallium, then modeled the pattern of Mana release from the tiny fireball. <Boom. Water elemental.

Hans and Rose were walking toward the tavern together. What had happened down there? She must have taken a blow to the head.

As they got closer to The Master, Tom stepped forward, glaring at the powerful man. “Can I hit you?” “What?” The Master seemed taken aback by this question. Tom started pulling his warhammer out of his bag. “One of my friends died down there to prevent your summoned creature killing all of us. I would like a free hit.” “Ah. A Northman. I understand and will allow this in thanks for the time your people saved me from the Valkyries.” The Master nodded, pulling open his tattered robe and baring his chest. “This will end things between us?” “As is custom,” Tom ruefully agreed. “Hans! Rose! Come over here before you do other things.”

he enhanced his body to the absolute maximum he was able, got a running start that would make him into a blur in front of an average person, and swung his hammer with all the force he could possibly put behind it. Clang. The Master was hit in the chest, and though the warhammer bent and warped from the force, there was no visible damage to The Master. He did allow the force to turn into momentum and was launched off the ground and upward several hundred meters. He slammed through a granite building, reducing the wall to rubble and a cloud of dust. As the people watched the dust mushroom into the air, The Master spoke from beside Tom. “Let this matter between us be settled. My mistakes will haunt me forever, but you have proven that my scars must remain mental.” Tom nodded deeply. “I have proven that the strength of my arm cannot match the depth of my loss and so lose my claim against you. May we move forward in peace and prosper

“Cal, just a hint of what this might entail. We are going to be attempting to send those Runes off our planet, to draw the moon away from our world. We would be pooling all of our most rare resources and esoteric knowledge to make this happen. I have forbidden Runes, dark knowledge that humanity was forbidden from ever learning for hundreds of years. Would you like to be a part of this venture, or should we do it ourselves… somewhere else?” Water was pouring off of the ceiling near them, a visceral reaction that I stopped as soon as I noticed it. I don’t think I had ever drooled before.

<I was thinking of splitting the world like this. I’ll create seven very different sections and arrange them to be free-floating under my control. That way, I can make wild variations of climate, resources, and training zones. A dungeon literally within a dungeon!> I paused and waited to see what Dani’s reaction would be. She pondered long enough that I was concerned about her final decision. “I like it, but you are missing a lot of details. What about the oceans that you will likely need to bring along with you? What if you make six landmasses, then another area that is ocean? You can freeze portions of it, boil others, and then you can always use it as a source of easy water if you need to instead of creating it fresh every time.”

“Your Majesty, permission to collect pollen?” The Moon Elf Elite that instructed Dale on fighting stepped into the room and bowed, a team of four others matching the movement. Brianna nodded and spoke, “Permission granted-” “Gomei.” The Moon Elf interrupted her. “It is something Dale started calling me that I thoroughly enjoy, and I would like to be known by this name in this location if you would allow it.” “Understood. Is there any significance to the name?” Brianna noted The Master’s eye twitching as he held himself back from commenting on the derailed discussion. “Ah. Yes.” Gomei almost smiled, and even the slight twitch showed more mirth than Brianna had ever seen from him. “Dale calls me ‘Grumpy Old Moon Elf instructor’ under his breath and turned it into an acronym. He thinks I don’t hear him,

Gomei started leading his people along a strange staircase leading downward. The stairs had hard turns that hid what was both above and below, making him feel itchy, like a trap was awaiting him. Gomei glanced at everything portrayed along the walls, knowing that the dungeon liked to offer hints toward what was coming. “Turn back! Only death awaits!” “Yoo-hoo! Big summer blowout!”

What actually bothered him was the utter lack of information on the walls. There were oddly-glistening spiders etched into the walls, strange abstract shapes that held hints of knowledge. Spotters would be trapped here for weeks if they ever managed to reach this level, only looking for the ‘hidden meaning’. Gomei shook his head in disgust. Seeking knowledge for no purpose, only to suppress that knowledge anyway? Pointless.

A little over halfway down, one of the Elves stopped and nodded, indicating that this was as far as he felt safe going. Gomei tried not to be disappointed, but he understood. His students were fresh into the A-ranks, and Gomei himself was only at A-five. These… things were strange and attacked in nerve-fraying ways. Not a single one of them followed the same attack pattern, which was frustrating to the logical Assassin. Another Elf needed to stop a short while later, and a third was forced to stop by Gomei when the Elf began sweating. That was a reaction he hadn’t seen on an A-ranker in a long time and showed the massive strain he was under.

“Cal has killed us all,” Dale whispered as he saw the planet wither. The creatures and people that somehow survived the shards of moonstone, survived the freezing of the planet from long decades of winter caused by the ash and dirt in the air… they all died of Essence starvation as all loose Essence was torn out of the air and forced through Cal’s ley lines. “Not. Just. Yet.” New images appeared, humanity living on. The other races, the races that needed Essence and Mana to survive… none of them walked the earth again. Humankind thrived, though they were reduced to a dark age. Years - centuries - passed. All the while, humans improved themselves. Needing to progress, they took a different route and began learning all new concepts of technology.

do you know what the single greatest threat to a Mage is?” “I don’t,” Dale mumbled with a downcast face, not certain how he felt about this revelation. “Burnout.” The sunlight Mage chuckled at Dale’s expression, which soured further at thinking that the old man was playing with him. Artorian continued fondly and unperturbed, as this was an expression he often saw on students. “Oh, I’m very serious. Did you mean to detonate the entire yard? Collapse the entire tent-housing district? Are you interested in having conversations with people at a regular speed or a leisurely walk in the afternoon with someone?” Artorian offered the answers when Dale didn’t speak, “The way we do things has been reversed. Mages don’t need to learn how to empower things, they need to be able to reign in their Mana expenditure and learn control.”

I made what I’m calling ‘Rune-forged Cores’!> We watched the Elemental war playing out and the new abilities they now activated passively. It was fun! There was something about having an army of powerful beings between you and things that could hurt you that really made you feel secure.

“Here we go then. Cal!” Dale called into the open air. <I. Have. Been. Summoned!> Dale rolled his eyes at the theatrics.

will give you a place where you can live and thrive. I will do my best to let you continue to grow, and as people bound to me; you will never permanently die while you are in my care.

“You alright? It isn’t like you to abstain from gloating.” Dani flew closer to me, putting her game on hold for a moment. “Are you sick? Can you get sick?” <I want to say ‘no’? I’m a powerful and pretty rock.> I finished what I was doing and focused on her. <I’m… actually kind of having a crisis. I’m pretty sure that this is the first time in my existence where I am moving toward an end goal that I chose. Everything else was either an accident, the work of an outside party, or coercion. It feels strange that the first thing I really chose would be what amounts to a rescue mission.>

“What was that all about? Did you just marry us? Did he have Runes tattooed on his body? That doesn’t work. Why did that work?” “That was me guaranteeing that the three of you wouldn’t tell other outsiders what happens in this domicile from now on. If you do, I will be honorless, and all The People will know it.” Tom swallowed deeply. “Please watch your words carefully.” Rose stopped in her tracks. “Tom… in the past I’ve heard you say ‘my honor is my life’. Did you mean that literally?” “Yes. Just like a Mage, if I gave my word and it was broken, then I will suffer. In this case, I’ll die. Please keep what you see here to yourselves.” Tom looked at a thunderstruck Hans. “As for the markings on his skin… our people have followed the path of Runescript further than any other. I told you, when it comes to Runes, there are none better than the Northmen.”

<Abyss, I’m giving people a better chance to succeed and survive than this scammer is!> “You sure are, you mass-murdering people eater.” <You say the sweetest things.>

To call them barbarians, to scoff at their lack of advancement and militaristic society… it was obvious that their methods of hiding information were effective. Then watching Tom being beaten, whipped, and healed slightly just so they could restart the process again and again? The dichotomy of this nation was making his head spin.

As far as I could understand it, and using this lure as proof of concept, a Ward was a Runescript that contained a pattern. Then whatever pattern had been affixed to the Runes would have the intrinsic ability of the creature, usable as the creator saw fit. Seeing as how a pattern was used to create a creature an object from pure energy—such as a dungeon monster—it was highly unlikely that simple creatures like the humans below me could have unlocked the secrets needed to create this. This made my theory of a dungeon working with them far more plausible.

I started to build my defense, selecting Runes that should specifically counter the lure. This was harder than it should have been since I needed to go through every single Rune I had and determine which would be the most effective. This is one of the real issues that I faced with using Runes. Right then and there, I decided to start classifying all of them by type and give them a name. As it stood, Runes only had an effect listed. For instance, if I were to put a Runecrafted weapon with a fire effect out into my dungeon, it would be called a 'flaming sword' or some such nonsense. From now on, every new Rune combination would get a specific name, and I would save that for future use! Otherwise, I had to do everything by memory or remake it entirely.

How? How did a dungeon that must have survived for so long and housed an entire nation, end up staying in the A-ranks? Then again, perhaps it was for the simple fact of the matter that it only had access to a single type of Essence.

I would make five rooms on this floor, and to progress to the next in the series, you would have to complete them in order. The Wards would be designed to increase the flow of Mana and Essence in an area. If a technique was executed flawlessly, there would be no leakage of Mana or Essence. Unfortunately for most Mages, they did not bother to perfect their techniques, focusing on learning to push out more power rather than getting good at what they did. Typically, they would simply flood the spell form they were attempting with power, knowing that it would do what they wanted it to do in the end. I planned to take advantage of their laziness by doing nothing except making the power draw increase by double in each room. Since there were only five rooms, the maximum I could get away with was increasing the cost of a technique or incantation by thirty-two. Even so, I could increase the strength and power requirements of the object they needed to destroy as well as the object they needed to fill with Mana.

Another orb came around, revealing itself to be an explosive Elemental by detonating in her face and sending her flipping toward the edge of the chasm. She got herself under control and forced her feet to the floor only a few feet from the edge. She flipped her singed hair out of her face and glared at the creature blocking their path. “Alrighty, now you’re more than just an obstacle. Die.”

“We already know that the dungeon has near-human intelligence. Why is it so surprising that it can come up with new, more powerful monsters?” her opposite drawled. I suppose he was correct if by 'near-human intelligence' he meant far, far smarter

I laughed at that; in fact, the only thing I like better than annoying someone with traps was hearing them groan from a bad pun. That’s how you knew that a pun was mature, after all—when it was full groan.

if a Mage burnt out in here, the result would be explosive, and I needed to have a way to release the pressure. Before even that, I needed to make sure the blast was contained. Celestial, but it was getting difficult to eat people quietly.

“Hey. How did this city get named Fek’koff?” “What do you mean?” Tom blinked a few times; he had been lost in thought. “You told us when we got here that we were about to crash into ‘the Wards of Fek’koff’. How’d the city get named that?” Dale waved at the glowing, dome-covered crater. “It didn’t, this is Outpost Alpha One.” Tom rolled his eyes. Dale was funny sometimes. “The Ward system is named Fek’koff. Every time someone did find this place or asked too many questions about it, the only response was ‘Fek’koff’. The nickname stuck.” “What the…?” Hans grasped at his chest. “You mean to tell me that the Northmen have a sense of humor? This might be the most startling discovery of our entire stay here!” “And you wonder why the place is named Fek’koff,”

the only impediment to this plan of relaxation and debriefing was when a blurred figure slammed into Dale and sent him careening into the stone of the mountain a hundred paces away. The rock shattered, and Dale flopped bonelessly to the ground. “You think that just because you reached the B-ranks, our agreement is complete and you no longer need to show up for your training?” Gomei was already standing next to Dale. He picked the human up off the ground by the neck, then threw him toward the training arena. “All it means is that I no longer need to coddle you!” Gomei turned to look at the other members of the returning party. “What? Don’t you have something to go report, or do you want to participate?” The three people started walking away without missing a beat, staring straight ahead and allowing the suddenly pouring sweat to trickle down their faces unabated.

“Why doesn’t everyone leave their full-powered Mana in their bodies at all times?” Gomei shouted over the meaty sound of two bodies crushing each other. “They don’t want to damage themselves and the people around them!” Dale snapped back thoughtlessly. Gomei appeared next to Dale and slapped him across the face and into a huddle of the lizards. “Wrong! Try again!” “Leaving the body stuffed with Mana can cause burnout!” Dale turned the slap into a corkscrew dive, drilling through the chest of a lizard and emerging coated in blood on the other side. Once again Gomei was next to him, and this time, Dale was whacked straight into the ground. “Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! The real reason… is that most Mages don’t take the time to learn how to actually control themselves at all times! They only act as a true Mage when it is convenient or when they are in battle! This. Makes. Them. Weak!” Gomei was shouting in his winded trainee’s face. He flickered and vanished, giving Dale a view down a lizard’s open mouth as it lunged for him. Dale reached out and gripped the jaws closing in on him, tearing the mandibles off the Beast’s skull. “I don’t understand.” “Correct!” Gomei laughed from his position by the levers. “Do you think Moon Elves leave their bodies undefended, weak, barely perceptive? What is even the point of being a Mage if you are going to act like a C-ranker in your normal life? Today’s lesson is this: you will have your Mana flowing through you at all times. Control it. Control y...

“But how will I get anything done in the next few weeks?” “What have you been training with us for?” Gomei closed his eyes, remembering that Dale was a human and needed more hand-holding to reach a conclusion. “Use the martial forms for movement. You’ve been working to learn our habits and footwork. Use them. You think that the silent steps are only used for murder? Apply them to all your motion. They are crafted to create minimal impact on your surroundings, keeping you hidden. Moving in such a way will reduce the risk you have of blowing down the camps with a sonic boom, at the very least.” Dale coughed, trying not to blush from the less-than-subtle jab. He hopped in the air and twisted, flinging off any blood that hadn’t already dried on him. “What about speaking or listening?” “I won’t lie—it’s going to be boring listening to people speaking at what feels like half speed. It’s going to be hard not accidentally hurting someone.” Gomei was now inches from Dale’s face, seeming to have flowed across the ground to arrive. “I cannot express how important it is to have fine control as a Mage. Even the dungeon has started to recognize this, much to our amusement and the near-death of multiple Mages.”

“I think you have a solid grasp on what we were trying to teach you today. Ignore societal norms. Be better than those around you. They are lazy; you are not. If you are lazy, we will fix that.” Dale swallowed deeply and nodded. “Not lazy, teacher! Not lazy at all over here.”

“Dale.” Hans grabbed Dale’s hands and pulled him down into a seated position across from him. “Dale, I need…” “Yes, Hans?” Dale was trying not to laugh out loud. “Are you finally going to confess your deep and true love for me?” “How did you know?” Seeing Dale’s shocked expression, Hans slapped him

I need to advance again. I want to be able to spend forever with her, and I am aging by the day. Sure, it’s slow, but I don’t want to look like Mr. Wrinkles—Artorian that is—by the time I’m a Mage. Can you help me?” “Woof.” Dale shook his head and grinned. “That’s pretty rough, Hans! Have you tried this little blue potion I’ve been hearing abou–”

“Well,” Dale started as he kicked open a chest and pulled out the tokens it contained, “if I do survive the transition, I’m looking for resources, weapons, armor, and land. I want to make an Academy, maybe put it on a mountain that doesn’t fly all over the place and get into dangerous situations? It sounds appealing.” <It sounds boring.>

<Hey, Dale? Want to try a new technique?> “What?” Dale popped to his feet, excitement glowing on his face. Oh, wait. That’s body heat from overuse of Mana. “Someone lost a technique in here?” <Mmm,> I murmured noncommittally. Which one, which one? I’ve been using this a lot recently—let me quickly turn it into a memory stone, add in the constraints needed for moving through flesh, and… <Here you go!> A memory stone dropped out of the air, quickly caught by Dale. He pressed it to his head, looking up in confusion after letting the information flow over. “That’s odd.” Drat. He’s on to me. <What, ah, what’s the matter, Dale?> “This must have been from a super amazing memory stone crafter. There aren’t any emotions attached to it, no strange memories of the actual creation process. Just… pure information.” Dale looked at the stone in his hand in amazement.

Dale stopped using his Mana, staring at the remains of the Basher in shock. “What just happened?” <I learned how to make techniques is what happened,> I informed him smugly. <All you have to do is move your Mana through your meridians in a certain pattern, then hold that pattern out in the world, right?> “Right?” <What you are actually doing is creating a Rune and converting Mana into the type of Mana or Essence needed for the Rune to work!> I shouted in excitement. <That’s why not everyone can use every type of technique, why they need to have a certain amount of ‘affinity’ for it! That must also be why you can’t put Runes on flesh—it distorts the natural meridian pathways below! I’ve just made a massive breakthrough, Dale! I can’t wait to start experimentation on people!> “I’m happy for you.” Dale looked at his hand and then the Basher once more. “What was that? What did I do?” <Ah. It was a gravity… spell? It’s a Rune, not an inborn ability, and ‘technique’ sounds silly after I finally know what they actually are. Since you are ‘spelling out’ the Rune in your body and pushing out what you ‘spell’, I’m calling it a spell now.>

<You made the bunny too heavy. It went squish. Do it again to make other things go squish. Add more Mana to make the squish harder and faster.>

“Why was this so much more effective and efficient than the other memory stone techniques I’ve studied?” <Spells,> I corrected him, getting an eye roll in return. <If you want to know why things work correctly, use the words I use. The reason it was better was that I know exactly what needed to be done, and this was tailored directly to your meridians. Using someone else’s spell—that they created for themselves—will always be inefficient.>

As she spoke, Madame Chandra’s voice sped up, allowing Dale to have a conversation at a normal pace. He smiled in relief as she did so; everyone being so slow had been making him grumpy. Maybe that was why Mages had always seemed so arrogant in the past?

<I ranked up! I’m A-rank one now!> Dani was excited for me, and I was able to guess the answer before she asked the question. <I needed to provide the basics for life! Now that life is sustainable, I’m betting that my Soul Space has been recognized by Acme!> “I hate to be a pill, but you forgot to add water to your world?” Dani paused for a moment, and I chose not to fill the silence.

“Cal… what other basic things does your world need? Have you added Essence to the place yet? Free-floating Essence, that is, not just what was used to make land?” Celestial. Fecal. Matter. <Do you really…?> “Think that it’s needed? Yes. Yes, I really do.” Dani watched me closely as I reached into myself and started allowing a portion of the collected Essence pour into the air. Some unconscious part of me relaxed, and I could feel my world actively growing instead of remaining stagnant-yet-perfect in the state I had left it. <I don’t understand…> “Did it help?” My silence spoke for me. “Well, it was a power-rich place. Mana rich, Essence rich, but there were no resources available to expand with. I’m betting that it was like every bit of your soul was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. Like being paranoid at all times.” <I didn’t even realize how horrible it was.> Relaxation was flowing through me, and the strange bottleneck I hadn’t realized even existed vanished. <I feel good. What’s next?> Dani started to list off a few things that needed to be done, and I diligently worked my way through them.

Thank you Dani