After ferrying the remaining soldiers and Rook back to the 8th floor, the entire party began their exploration of the unknown level.
"Do you know what’s on this floor?" Karl asked the Dullahan.
"I have no slightest idea, my lord. Most of us don’t," the Dullahan replied, his voice a low, hollow sound. "Only the inquisitors and ancient gatekeeper demons know what lies here. and the rest of the 66th Knight Legion were exiled here."
"Exiled?" Karl’s interest was piqued. "Why? And what are ’gatekeeper demons’?"
"We actually do not know," Libera said from behind.
"But if I had to guess, it might have to do with my superiors and other knight legion commanders," the Dullahan mused.
Karl, with his business acun, realized the reason instantly. "Ahhh... I get it. Jealousy?"
"Sort ot," the Dullahan nodded. "I defeated my superior, a Knight General, in a duel. He didn’t inform beforehand that it was supposed to be a performance."
"So you won when he expected you to lose," Rook summarized, a hint of admiration in his voice.
"Isn’t a duel a sacred, honor-bound tradition? Whoever loses or wins must accept the outco and learn from it?" Leo questioned, confused by the Dullahan’s statent.
"That’s how it’s supposed to be," the Dullahan said, his voice tinged with regret. "Later, I learned that they assud I would lose. The duel was supposed to be a performance to curry favor with one of the cardinals."
"Ahhh... classic," Karl said, a cynical smile spreading across his face. "It’s one of those monts where your superior shows off his skills to the higher-ups by beating his weak subordinates, but you unexpectedly won."
"Yes," the Dullahan said. "Had I known, I would have purposefully lost."
Karl moved to the next topic. "Now, what about these gatekeeper demons? Tell about them." The system’s mission to defeat a gatekeeper on the 10th floor had made Karl intensely curious.
"Gatekeeper demons essentially guard the underworld," the Dullahan explained. "No one can get in or out of the lower floors, except for the inquisitors, who know the main egress platform and how to avoid them. The church views them as demons who look like machines."
"Machines, huh?" Karl’s interest grew exponentially. "That sounds a lot like what I’m thinking. Tell more. What do these ’demons’ look like?"
"I actually haven’t seen one, nor faced one," the Dullahan admitted.
"Not that anyone has survived to tell more about it anyway," Libera added, a grim chuckle in his voice.
"But they do exist in the Book of Eternity," the Dullahan said.
"’Eternity’?" Karl asked.
"Yes. All the words that have been spoken, and are yet to be spoken by our lord god Thanatos, are in that book," the Dullahan explained.
"Ahhh... a bible," Karl said. "Yes, go on. What does the book say about them?"
The Dullahan closed his eyes for a mont, recalling the ancient text, his voice a rhythmic chant.
"Behold the Wardens of Iron, whose sinews are not bone, whose marrow is not rot, but whose fras are forged of the ancient artifice."
"We are the dead, yet still we walk; but they are not the dead, nor the living, but the Machines, cold and endless."
"They wield no sorcery, yet their hands are scourges; and whole hosts of ghouls and kings of shadow have fallen before a single one."
"They learn the craft of war in the midst of battle, as if hunger itself drove their limbs, and none may strike them twice alike."
"I, myself, calleth them abominable, for they heed not prayer, nor pact, nor death, but are demons unbent, who guard the Gates beyond ti."
"Woe unto the legions that draw near, for their skulls are shattered as dust, and their black fire is quenched as though it never were."
"Why is the scriptures so... vague and archaic?" Karl muttered to himself. "But I guess I can imagine what they look like." His mind began racing, connecting the dots. Are they actually battle androids? It wouldn’t be far off if they are, since this ’dungeon’ is actually a large underground facility. But how do these undead live here in the first place? And why do they call it an ’underworld’ and not an ancient underground facility? Is there a correlation here?
"Anyway, let’s hurry," Karl said out loud, leaving the topic to brainstorm for later, pulling up his 3D map. "We’re still far off from the next vent."
They continued their journey, jogging through the stone tunnel networks that flickered by the light of their torches. The 8th floor was eerily peaceful.
"Isn’t this place too silent?" Rook said out loud, observing the lack of hostiles.
"Let’s be grateful that it is and move on to the next floor," Karl said.
As they neared the end of the long hallway, the Dullahan and Libera drew their swords. Rook, Schalezusk, and Leo also fell into a ready stance. "What?" Karl asked.
Blocking their path in the hallway were two hooded skeletons, dressed in ornate red armor with red capes and a golden symbol of death on their chests. They were wielding double-edged swords.
"Inquisitors," the Dullahan whispered, a note of fear in his voice.
"This is getting too annoying, isn’t this floor supposed to be a peaceful floor." Karl said as he saw their levels.
[ Level 45 Duumvari ]
"That’s so high level shit right there. Unfortunately for you, I’m in a hurry." Karl muttered.
The two skeletons spoke in unison, their voices a chilling echo. "Eoghan Dullahan, Knight Commander of the 66th Legion. Libera Fulham, Knight Captain of the 31st Squad of the 66th Legion. Why have you strayed from the eternal path forged by our lord god Thanatos? Explain your heresy, or..."
One of the skeletons suddenly got blasted away. Its armor was carved away like butter, its core exposed and partially lted. Everyone was taken aback.
Karl raised his hand, a small, compressed ball of energy glowing nacingly in his palm. "As much as I’d like to hear your proper delegation shit, I’d like for you to get the fuck out of my way or face the sa fate as your companion."
"Who are you to commit such acts?! you despicable!" the remaining Duumvari shouted in anger, dashing towards him.
Another compressed bolt of energy shot from Karl’s hand, lting the Duumvari’s frontal armor and continuing on to lt through its core. The skeleton’s bones splattered on the ground before it could even get close.
Everyone was stunned into silence. Karl continued walking, and they all followed, an awkward quiet descending upon them. As they arrived at their destination, they watched Karl typing at the pedestal console at the next utility platform, Leo and Rook understood the reason for his ruthless actions.
Their ntal link to Karl’s thoughts gave them a glimpse into his impatience. He wanted to end this all, but they were stuck. The main egress platform had malfunctioned, forcing them to clear the entire -5 to -10 floor in a single run. Clearing the -10th floor was their only choice to fix the main platform.
In Karl’s mind, their forces had to be in tip-top shape and battle-ready to face the gatekeeper. He couldn’t afford any variable that would cause them to be defeated just because so inquisitors had managed to inflict so damage on his forces. Not when the scriptures said the gatekeeper could defeat entire legions.
As they descended to the 9th floor, the utility platform took a long, silent ti to descend. When it finally arrived, Karl and his party were stunned to see a large chamber containing a lush, thriving forest. An artificial light on the ceiling illuminated the canopy, and a gentle breeze made the leaves sway.
"W-what?" Leo stamred, his eyes wide with amazent. "How is there a forest here?"
"Is this so sort of artificial biosphere?" Karl asked, equally amazed. His mind, a whirlwind of calculations, tried to comprehend the technology at play. The air was fresh and humid, and the flora was vibrant and healthy, a clear sign of a sophisticated, self-sustaining ecosystem built on a scale he hadn’t thought possible. It wasn’t just magic; it was an intersection of biological engineering and ancient, arcane science.
"This must be an isolated region of the underworld," the Dullahan explained calmly. "There’s only a trace of natural mana here, which is why it has been able to maintain itself. Such regions are rare and considered sacred by many of the more nature-aligned undead, as they are free from the pervasive influence of Thanatos’s dark magic."
"Could it be another church experint?" Libera wondered, his gaze drawn to the vibrant greenery that contrasted so starkly with their pale bones.
"No, there’s a demonic structure up ahead," the Dullahan said, pointing to a tall, alien-looking silver building that towered above the forest canopy. Its design was sleek and unsettling, a stark contradiction to the natural environnt.
Karl, who had already noticed the strange structure, turned to the Dullahan. "The underworld looks like this?"
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