Reincarnated as a Phoenix

Chapter 77 – Dungeon Ten

(Ikarus) "Seriously, which way do we go?"

(Zeki) "The fuck would I know?"

(Ariza) "This place isn't very nice"

"…"

We've already entered the last dungeon and we already know what the theme might be, clearly it must be based around escaping or something similar. The second we walked through the entrance into this place after heading through the cave, the walls closed up trapping us, then it almost felt like an elevator going deep into the earth. It's stopped now and none of us know which direction to head in, there are four different doorways around us in this cube looking box to go through but this clearly isn't going to be easy if it's a dungeon, at least from what we know right now.

There isn't much to describe though, the cube just looks slightly metal, maybe steel looking and the doors look the exact same, that's really all about it.

"I swear I've seen a movie like this before"

"Really? How did it go orangey?"

"Erm… pretty sure only one person lived and the rooms kept moving about as well"

…

Well I've just killed our spirits, we'll be fine though! We're immortal phoenixes after all, maybe not immortal but compared to most humans we are. That's really the only thing I remember about that movie though, it was one of those films where nearly everyone needed to die because of 'plot' reasons. Forget it, need to focus on the situation, Petra seems to be concerned on something now.

"There is another problem though, pretty sure this place is slowly killing us"

"What do you mean older sis?"

"Uh huh?"

"Yeah, what Petra?"

We all ask her what the issue is but none of us seem to know the reason why Petra said that.

"Can feel a slight effect, almost like my health is draining but it's also not"

As soon as Petra's says that, Aesa can't help but confirm something.

[<-User's- health is currently being affected while in current dungeon>]

'Lemme check my status then'

[Name: Ikarus  |  Species: Phoenix  |  Level: 97]

[Health    29,370*/30,000*]

[Stamina    7,816*/10,000*]

[Magicka 30,000*/30,000*]

[You currently have 3500 unassigned points]

'Huh? I swear that's how it should be; my health hasn't lost any more than it should've'

[<-User's- current health has an unknown effect adding to it, effect doesn't allow any lost health to regenerate while under dungeon conditions>]

'So I can't regenerate health down here? I guess Petra was a little mistaken then. Does healing counter it?'

[<Unfortunately negative, target -Ariza- or potion -healent- will not counter the stagnant regeneration>]

Well that adds another risk element to this place, it seems me and Petra aren't the only people who have this effect also now.

"Uh, I feel that as well now"

"Err, couldn't you have told me that a second ago? You fucking idiot!..."

Ariza seems to understand what the effect is and Zeki's clearly having a go at his system voice.

"… What do you mean you didn't know? It literally is your job to know!..."

'Damn, he really doesn't get on with his voice, remember there was a time I was kinda like that'

"… Oh, whatever you useless piece of shit... Older sis, your voice is wrong, it's just a regen effect that brother won't be able to fix unfortunately"

I don't know why Zeki said that, Petra said she felt an effect on her, not that her voice said it. Hang on, does Petra even have a voice? She has a system like us but I'm sure she's never mentioned it speaking, Ariza rarely mentions it as well but she has told me its name once or twice, not that I remember it. I really need to ask her about it but once again, getting sidetracked here, need to focus on what's ahead of us right now.

We can stand around here doing nothing or we can try to find a way out, it's not exactly like we know the way out right now.

"Look, should we just pick a direction and just try that? There's not really much we can do right now in here"

My questioning gets swiftly rejected by who know who though.

"Hang on a sec orangey. Sis, can you detect the way out?"

Oh yeah, Petra can detect the other sides of cards using her 'sight' so does that mean she can see through walls? No, I doubt that, it would be a little OP if that was possible as well.

"Heh Zeki, it really doesn't work that way especially through metal"

Thought so, Petra can't 'see' through walls, that would be a little over the top. Cards definitely.

"Well that sucks, I thought you were like an X-ray machine or something but I guess that plan's out the window. Let's do what orangey said and just wing it as we go"

That's not what I said but he's agreeing with my main point so I won't argue with him.

"Uh huh"

"…"

I guess we're all kinda in an agreement? Thankfully we have someone in our party who doesn't understand the concept of risk and literally will jump into danger head first even when we know regenerating health isn't possible in here.

"I call dibs on going first, this place better be dangerous"

Zeki opens up the doors and jumps into the next cube room without even giving it an inch of thought, the door seems to be on a latch closing behind him just after as well.

"ARGHH!!!"

However very quickly after he enters, we hear a spinetingling scream from behind the door, just what the fuck has happened to him?

We all try to rush in to the screaming Zeki and find the door hasn't locked behind him thankfully enough. Unfortunately, the only thing we see in the next room is Zeki rolling about on the floor laughing his head off.

"Ahahahahahahaha… can't believe you lot fell for that, as if a little bit of fire would hurt. Oh yeah, it shot fire like orangey's flamethrower there"

He points to the ceiling while talking about comparing the flame he just received to my flamethrower, there does appear to be four nozzles in the corners of the room, this could've harmed anyone who is resistant to fire, the floor does look pretty burnt thinking about it.

(Ariza) "You're such a dick Zeki"

(Zeki) "It's not my fault you lot are idiots, ahahaha"

"…"

'This kid really doesn't care'

Ariza gives him a slight kick while he's still on the floor laughing, he really is a dick at times, this isn't the time to piss about. Petra also gives a slight facepalm from what he just did, he deserves to die if he's gonna do shit like that down here.

There's no point questioning his sense of humour though, let's just continue on otherwise we'll be here all day. I wonder who'll go next, hopefully Zeki again and he'll come across something that hurts this time.

I'd kinda like to hold hands down here with Petra as well but danger comes first and all, I am in a weird mood today though so my mind keeps wondering.

"I went through the first door, who wants to be guinea pig next?"

Before I have the chance to volunteer, Petra has to be her overprotective usual self.

"Ikarus and Ariza, stay back and allow me and Zeki to rotate going first"

"Err, that sucks sis but it kinda makes sense"

(Ariza) "Wait, why Petra"

(Ikarus) "Yeah"

I think I have an idea on why Petra is looking worried here, it's all for our safety after all. Her and Zeki would have much higher health pools than us two seeing that their levels are in the hundreds, both me and Ariza haven't even hit a hundred yet.

"We're a lot stronger than you and this place could be very risky if other things were to appear, no one would care if Zeki was to get hurt as well"

"Hey! The hell was that for?"

Guess I was right, me and Ariza both can't help but smile at Petra being nasty to Zeki though. I'd want to discuss it more with her but I can already tell I'd lose, she really does have overprotective tendencies at times, kinda like mother thinking about it…

Okay, that's a comparison I'm NEVER making again, I love both of them but in VERY different ways. Wait, did I just think… forget it, it's this dungeon! This dungeon is making me feel weird today, blame the dungeon.

Petra ignores his response though and leads the way into another room, should probably point out by now that all of us are in human form, these cube-like rooms aren't exactly big enough for phoenixes to be in so human is best, I'm also in feathered-human form but I normally choose this over the other form, the only reason not to use this is if we're in public or it's hot so just assume it's this one most of the time now.

She opens the door, steps in and it closes behind her. I can't help being extremely worried as she does this though, what hell could potentially await behind that door?

"It's safe, looks like this one if the right path"

We all go through and this time around however, no effect like fire or any danger happens, it could be the trap malfunctioned on this one, the person who made this place forgot or we are on the right path. I'll be optimistic and go with Petra's view on it.

"You're a lucky bastard older sis, I better be luckier next time"

And so Zeki charges off ahead into the next room, let's see if his luck is better next time around.

'I hope this doesn't take forever…'

__________

"I fucking hate dungeons!"

"At least all of us are alive Zeki"

"That doesn't help me brother, these places must be purposely designed to torment me!"

"..."

'Even I'm starting to feel a little sorry for him'

We've been doing this cube-to-cube thing for what feels like hours now and Zeki's luck stat must be terrible to be getting so many rigged rooms, I used to think all dungeons were against me until watching the hell he's facing, this must be the world applying karma to him or something, he can't be this unlucky normally, right?

Maybe this is why he dislikes going out so much, the world just keeps screwing him over, at least he's got a dryad's shoulder to cry on, I very much doubt Zeki could even cry though.

Some of the trapped rooms we've come across have been obviously fire, ice spikes, electricity, needles, metal spikes, these are just to name a few though, there's been loads of pretty annoying, slightly painful things. Keep in mind everything hasn't been lethal with all the attacks being small enough to basically shake off, it still will be surely draining his health though. For low levelled humans, they'd be killed off pretty quick.

Basically nearly everything has shot out of the ceiling as well and Zeki seems to always get most of them, Petra has been hit a few times by traps now but Zeki is the lab rat in this dungeon experiment it seems.

Thankfully, this amount of damage is clearly not enough to really visibly hurt both Petra and Zeki, maybe Zeki's health has drained a lot by now but me and Ariza can always take his role if it drops too low, Petra probably won't allow that though. He does look a bit mentally broken, charred and dirty by now, Ariza did try giving him a heal but it didn't work, we knew it wouldn't.

As for Petra, there's no point even talking about it, already tried and it ended up with her just teasing when I suggested that I should enter a few first. She does pick her moments to be overprotective though, I guess this dungeon is still pretty risky thinking about it.

The more I think on it, the more I realize just how impossible these places would be to normal humans though, I can see why the empire hated doing these especially when the rewards are normally shit too.

"It's absolute BS! I don't even have a luck stat and if I did, it would be in the minuses right now! Why does everything bad always happen to good people?... *Sigh*, at least it's your turn next older sis"

He's so unbearable at times, it's pretty weird we have similar thinking on some things like with luck but seriously though, does he actually consider himself a good person? Maybe he's not entirely evil but it wouldn't take a lot for him to turn that way, I dread to think what would've happened without Petra basically raising him.

This prophecy worries about me causing the end of the world, how the hell is it not related to the third phoenix though? He's a hell of a lot more likely to destroy the world than I but oh well.

"There's something different up ahead"

Petra standing by the next door in this current cube seems to be unsure on something, she's got her head pretty close to the current door, is she listening through it?

"Huh? You said earlier you can't see through walls older sis!"

'He really is an idiot'

"*Sigh*, can't see through it Zeki, feel an aura radiating through it, you should be able to tell as well"

'Oh, I guess I'm the stupid one then, thought she meant she could hear through it'

"Lemme get closer one second then… Oh, you're right, that's a strange feeling"

Zeki goes up to the closed door where Petra is at while speaking and seems to understand what she's on about now, auras have always been a little funny to describe but they seem to be attached to living beings and can be caused by things like extreme anger or other mixed emotions.

Pretty sure extreme jealously causes it as well but Petra will never admit to that, they also seem to only be caused by people or animals with extreme power though. Or at least some power.

(Ikarus) "Is there a boss in the next room then?"

(Ariza) "Is there?"

(Petra) "Maybe, let's take a minute to plan ahea-"

(Zeki) "Only one way to find out"

Zeki cuts off Petra and I swear he goes by the YOLO mentality, it's a potential boss room and he just charges in like that, we could've at least rested a little since his stamina might be getting low but clearly he knows no such thing.

We all follow him through afterwards and am a little surprised with what we find in the next room.

(Zeki) "That's disappointing, is that supposed to be the boss of this place? I'm sitting this one out, waste of time"

(Ariza) "Zeki's exaggerating but he doesn't seem that strong, at least I don't think so"

"Is he a sub-boss or the main?"

"Unsure Ikarus"

The room we've walked into is a lot larger than the rest of these cubes, this one appears to be more rectangular shaped and fits a giant looking creature sitting in the middle of it. This guy is a lot smaller than the giant previously encountered but still looks threatening enough, the reason why we don't seem that worried is because he doesn't seem to feel all that powerful, his aura seems kinda lacking. This is coming from me who struggles to detect auras if it isn't strong enough and I can barely sense that..

There also appears to be a gigantic, garage looking door behind him as well, I think this might be the way out, I'm guessing there will be a stairway behind it but it could easily still just be a side boss and more dungeon behind, no idea till we defeat this guy.

'This guy only looks to have one eye as well, I bet I know what he is'

[Name: Bronas  |  Species: Cyclops  |  Level: 250]

[Health    33,333/33,333]

[Stamina 66,667/66,667]

[Magicka 0/0]

'Thought so, he's pretty pathetic thinking about it, just looking at that alone we should be alright. Aspect of gigantomachy should kick this guy's arse; does he have no minions though? He must have a secret ability like shooting a laser from his eye or something'

I take a quick look around, then towards Petra and see a little smile appear on her face, we obviously shouldn't take nothing for granted but when she's confident, things normally turn out pretty easily, is there seriously going to be nothing else form in this room though? The cyclops has gotten up as well now and looks to have noticed us, nothing else seems to be appearing.

"Petra, you think he's friendly? If not, should we just end this quickly?"

"That club in his arm might disagree…"

He now looks to be approaching us, I feel like someone's just copied and pasted this boss and just made him smaller with one eye, he really does look way too similar to that other guy in that gold dungeon on the island.

"… In all honesty though Ikarus, one use should be enough"

I really don't know why I keep questioning it, resistances seem to be really shit against this ability, maybe I'm just overly cautious at times and don't like to rely on it alone but it does seem to be broken in a good way.

"The allow me to take him on, you've done enough for me today"

"Bu-"

"No buts Petra, just help if needed, it's my turn now"

I can't help but give a little wink and smile to her while saying that, she's been protecting me throughout this dungeon so it's my turn to do something. We are a partnership after all, let me try and protect you every now and then even if you don't need it.

'The question is, should I take this slow or fast?...'

The phony giant is now getting even closer to us and I step forward towards it, Petra is clearly ready in case she's needed, Ariza looks a little stressed even further behind and off in the corner is Zeki sitting on the floor against the wall trying to have a nap! Seriously, is he actually trying to get some sleep right now!? Forget him, he's just crazy.

'… I've decided, there's no point dragging out a long fight'

I could train on this guy for a while but something I've learnt throughout my travels now, never underestimate anybody or you'll end up with a broken leg like in the goblin dungeon, I no longer care if the fight is easy or not, survival is key.

'Aesa, activate'

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

I unsheathe my vampiric blade and intend to end this in one hit, I move ever closer to the approaching cyclops and before I get in striking range, he takes a sideways swing towards me, thankfully there's more than enough room to dodge under it and narrowly avoid his swing, I actually reckon I might survive a hit or two from him but I'm not testing that theory though.

I'm honestly a little surprised he's not screaming like the other giant but that's unneeded, he'll have no time to scream when I land this hit. Now that I'm in striking range, the cyclops has no time to swing his club back around at me, I've got an easy chance here and I'm taking it.

My dagger finds itself swinging towards the cyclops and just like that, my hit connects with the top of his leg and within a second, his entire body freezes up, then comes crashing down off to the side of me. I want to complain but like I just thought, I'd rather ignore any pointless risks if I've got something that can kill this quickly, I've always got Petra to train me to fight more effectively anyways.

'It's over now'

I swing the blood of my blade and put my dagger back into its sheath, I'd say that looked pretty cool but I really couldn't care all that much. It also looks like a doorway is opening, it looks pretty light out there though, how is that even possible if we're supposed to be this deep underground? It's definitely the outside world, this makes no sense since we were supposed to be down here but forget it. Actually, that might be the ocean, that would make a bit more sense since that mesa island was kinda surrounded by a cliff face.

However, there was something I didn't realize, I'm getting a few odd looks from the other phoenixes, thought it was Petra checking me out at first but the other two look weird as well. Is there something on my face?

"Ikarus, are you alright?"

"You look a little white orangey"

"Uh huh"

What are those three on about? Do I look a little pale or something? That fight wasn't exactly difficult and I don't feel tired, maybe a little underwhelmed but I've felt worse before.

I ignore them for a bit since I want to confirm something with Aesa.

'I mean, I feel alright so forget it. Shouldn't I be getting a reward now and the curse being cured?'

[<…>]

'Aesa, you there?'

[<…>]

'The hell is goin-…'

With that, I feel a sudden rush of blood to my head and collapse to the ground.

"Ikarus!"