Worthy Core

"Ha! I have not enjoyed myself like this in decades!"

At least one person seems to be having fun on Floor Eleven tonight. The Dragonlord's wing of the expedition had done far better than the other two, entirely thanks to the dragon's own presence. The former dungeon seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to guessing where traps and ambushes might be laid, and few of them could withstand the power of a dragon's brute force solutions. Several ambush squads were killed or terribly injured before they could even reveal themselves, torched by dragonflame as it blasted apart the walls concealing them.

That's not to say that Xenia's tricks didn't have any success. The tyrant could only cover so many people at once, and a shift to focusing on his wing's rearguard did claim quite a few Domain souls. Still, when the dragon arrives at the Floor Eleven boss arena they do so with their personal contingent of Scale Wardens entirely intact, and two dozen other soldiers at their back.

None of those other men and women are actually taking part in the combat, however. When the Dragonlord discovered an arena large enough to contain both their 'true' dragon form and the artificial copies of several of the dungeon's other floor guardians, they quickly took advantage of the opportunity to cut loose. Clones of Pizola, Parker, Yulia, Valkyrie Brightsky, and even Sevastion as the Wandering Boss of the previous floor stood together to bar the intruder's way...and the tyrant saw in them only entertainment.

"These are not the true guardians they appear to be...you've unlocked the Boss Rush achievement then, have you? Wonderful! My warriors, stand back! I shall engage these foes!"

To some degree, it may have been better for Xenia to forgo the large arena and to keep the dragon locked into their smaller, more humanoid form. However, not only would that have only marginally reduced their strength, and kept the false guardians from combining their forces...but the Arachne Queen form of Yulia is perhaps the only monster in the dungeon capable of comparing to the dragon on their own scale.

That's not to say that the massive spider-woman is actually much of a threat to the dragon. Her sharp-pointed legs do nothing to the tyrant's hide, and her agility is hard-pressed to avoid the worst of the dragon's blasts of flame. She is, however, quite effective at keeping the intruder occupied as the other guardians launch their own attacks. Valkyrie Brightsky soars onto the dungeon's back, slicing at their leathery wings, while Pizola casts arcane webs to try and slow their limbs. Sevastion joins in where he can, scrambling over the dragon's massive form in search of weak spots but finding few.

Ultimately it soon becomes clear why the tyrant considered this to be a fun engagement rather than a true battle. Even a full-strength Pizola would not have been able to weave webs capable of holding a true dragon, and her copy's spells fizzle against them faster than she can cast them. Brightsky and Sevastion cause little more than scratches before the Dragonlord eventually catches and crushes them, and Yulia in time becomes little more than a toy for them to break. The clone of the woman doesn't go easily, howling in a way that shocks the souls of the mortals in the room as the dragon disables her limbs one by one, but to them she can ultimately do nothing.

It all manages to buy time however for the clone of Parker to complete their Fear Mimic transformation. As the Dragonlord turns their eyes onto the metallic sphere, they're just in time to see it transform into...the form of a slender, black-haired woman. Some of those observing wonder for a moment if the Dragonlord's greatest fear might be Xenia herself, but instead the sovereign laughs and greets the mimic by another name.

"Dice! Goddess of Games and Rules! A pale mockery of a god you may be, I wonder if there is anything of substance to you at all. The true guardian on their home floor would barely be able to imitate the true powers of a divine, but a mere clone of a mimic? Ha! What challenge do you have to offer me, shapeshifter?"

The alabaster-skinned woman smiles back...and closes her eyes. Those watching on noticed that her face was covered in black spots, but they're shocked to observe as those spots suddenly rearrange themselves, appearing, vanishing, and sliding from point to point upon her skin. Eventually they settle down and the woman opens her eyes...and her smile grows even wider.

"What do you know, rolled a nat twenty! Was it your bad luck, or the dungeon's good...hells, in a place like this even I gotta wonder sometimes. Now you're right, you oversized rock, this is a pretty poor vessel I'm borrowing. But considering this clone ain't even got a soul in it, and it wears my skin pretty damn good, I suppose I can pop on in long enough for a conversation. You know, DL - can I call you DL, I think that's catchy - I am awfully flattered that I am your greatest fear in the world."

The dragon narrows their eyes before scowling. "Dice - it truly is you. This is no place for your kind, god. Return to your plane, and leave this battle to mortals. You shall not influence the outcome of events here with your damned random chance."

"You're right, that'd be pushing things too far - and I am the Mistress of Rules after all. Just thought I'd drop in for a few final words, given there may not be another chance." She pauses before giving the tyrant a disappointed look. "You never understood what I was doing for you."

"Doing for me?" The dragon unleashes a frustrated roar. "When I grew too powerful, those foolish crafter and war gods brought you in to clip my wings! I would find a success, and you would take it away from me! I would find an avenue to grow, and you would bar it! The dungeons born today under your rules are pale mockeries of what I was at my height!"

"It was never about power, you damned rock! It was about the challenge! Even aside from that dragon squatting in your mountain, limiting access, how long did it take you to become damn near unbeatable to anyone who tried you? A year? Honestly less, considering there was no Association of trained Challengers back then! The rules changes made you a better dungeon!"

"Ha! You genuinely believe that you were doing me a favor?"

The goddess rolls her eyes. "More than one, actually. You ever wondered why the gods didn't smite you for quitting your job and taking off - and making as much of a godless society as you could get away with after you did? I'll tell you why - I didn't let them."

That statement does bring the dragon to a halt in their growling. "...You held the others back in my defense? Why?"

Dice crosses her arms. "Because you did follow the rules that were placed on you - it's not your fault that the rules were badly designed and full of exploits. You were told to grow, and you did. We didn't have the Guides back then, and you had to figure it all out on your own through trial and error. When a game plays out that badly, blame the gamemaster, not the players. I only changed the rules to improve things, not as a punishment. You didn't do anything wrong."

It takes the Dragonlord a moment to respond, and when they do it's actually with a slight hint of respect in their tone. "...You are a woman of principles, I will grant you that. But what now? What of this conflict? Will you tilt the scales in this late hour?"

The goddess shakes her head, and stares at one hand as it begins to dissolve into golden energy. "Nah - just wanted to say my bit and clear the air. Looks like this body's breaking down from even that much, so me-forbid that I actually try to impact events around here." She grins one more time, first at the Dragonlord...and then shifting her gaze elsewhere, towards someone invisible. "May the best dungeon win. I'm looking forward to seeing the outcome!"

With that said the mimic-avatar finally burns away, and the Dragonlord takes one more deep breath. "Unexpected. But the Core Chamber lies ahead of us now and the dungeon's defenses are spent - the outcome here is not in the least bit of doubt."

As he moves to take a step forward though, the dragon pauses. "...Really? Again? Now? Ha, very well, Worthy, I am in a good mood and you have my curiosity." The tyrant turns their serpentine neck back towards their followers and growls out an order. "I shall be...stepping away for a moment. Hold the line here - unless you are attacked in my absence. If so, you have my blessings to destroy this dungeon." As the Scale Wardens affirm their orders, the Dragonlord touches the core in their chest and vanishes once again.

When the dungeon shifts back into a new reality, they find it to be someplace somewhat new, yet still with a feeling of mundanity to it. They stand on a road of reasonable width, made of an interesting material that would be impressive if it wasn't so poorly maintained. Clearly it would have been unusually smooth when it was first laid down, but now it's pitted with large holes, and cracked at regular intervals. Meanwhile to either side of said road are houses which likewise show signs of wealth and yet also at the same time, poverty.

They're only one or two stories tall but generally larger than the average farmer's cabin. Their windows are large and filled with surprisingly clear panes of glass, something which generally would be a mark of a very high income. Yet the paint on the houses is faded and chipped, the lawns are poorly maintained if at all, and there's something about the neighborhood that says that if it ever had glory days, those days are now at least three or four decades in the past.

From one of the porches in front of one of those houses, a woman sighs. "Never thought I'd see this again. Wasn't sure I wanted to. Wasn't sure I should."

"Here in your true form, Xenia Worthy?" The dragon frowns as a thought occurs to them. "Don't tell me that this is the place of your origin? Although I don't know what else I should have expected."

Xenia slaps her cheek and mutters to herself. "Game face, girl. Mope after." Hopping to her feet, she makes her way down a cracked sidewalk and joins the dragon in the middle of the road, although at a healthy fifty-foot distance.

"Yup! I welcome you, Dragonlord, to one of the most terrifying and horrible places in the multiverse! Behold...Florida!"

"Eugh. Even the name breeds contempt. Why bring us here, reincarnator? We have made our stances quite clear, I believe. What now remains to be said?"

Xenia kicks a pebble off of the road. "Ey, a little patience, DL. First, I want to introduce you to somebody. Meet my kids - Nix and Nox." She gestures towards the house she just left, and as if they were hiding within the untrimmed grass a pair of winged kobold-like creatures emerge. They join their mother in the road, and the Dragonlord finds themselves for once at a loss to understand what they are seeing. "Say hi, kids."

The two speak in unison. "Hi, kids."

"...Fuck, they got my sense of humor."

The tyrant flares their nostrils. "I have seen all forms of dungeon creations in my time, reincarnator. Guardians, hybrids, divine champions, even ones granted by exceptionally rare achievements. But these...nothing about these two makes any sense to me. You call them your children?"

"Gave birth to em myself! Though I'll admit they practically raised themselves. They've got a few neat tricks they can do, though. Aside from being able to join us in here, they're able to bring along skillsets from my library, too. Y'know, I had one really cool one I traded away to Halith a while back. You remember her, yeah? Runs Poisonscale Dungeon, looks like a cross of a drider and a demon - ah, what am I saying. Dungeon memory, of course you do."

"Get to the point, Worthy."

Xenia snorts. "You're not that much younger than me, DL, surely you've learned some patience. Where was I? Oh right. So I traded this skillset back to Halith a while back and it kinda felt like it could really come in clutch here now, but damn that girl drives a hard bargain! Fortunately I've gotten a lot of Supreme-tier classes these past couple weeks, thanks for that, so eventually we worked out a deal."

The dragon narrows their eyes. "Halith has been dealing with you after the siege commenced? I shall have to raise that fact with her at a later date."

"Good luck with that." Xenia smiles as she gestures towards her children. "Now, Nix here's carrying Spirit Speaker, bit of an outsider class, bit odd in its usage. Meanwhile Nox here's been loaded up with Spirit Mage. Damned expensive for a mid-tier class, I'll tell you."

"That one I do know, though it is rare." The tyrant taps their claws against the asphalt. "You wish to speak to the dead, reincarnator? I hardly see how that's useful at this point in time, unless you're curious about what afterlife may be awaiting your guardians."

"Actually, the person I want to talk to isn't really dead. That's my theory, anyways." As the dragonlings begin casting a ritual, the dungeon master smiles. "Now, you might have hollowed out their brain or some creepy parasite shit like that, but your scaled buddy never actually died, did they? You've been keeping their body running on life support, because you need it. Not just as mobility, but because their mana is keeping you alive, isn't that right?"

The tyrant now looks somewhat more concerned. "What insanity are you speaking of, Worthy? I am the Dragonlord, and have been for over a century now!"

"Let's test that theory, shall we?" The reincarnator steps back and spreads her arms wide. "Take it away, kids!"

Nix and Nox speak in unison once again as they complete their ritual. "Betrayed and broken, stolen from your hoard, hear us now - "

The tyrant's eyes grow wide, but the decision to break their connection with the pocket realm comes a moment too slow.

"Take your vengeance, oh Dragonlord!"

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