"Now, who is the mad scientist who is messing with my homeland? Because I have a wheel tire sandwich with his name on it!" - Flint

"That guy." 

Who said that? I think it was everyone present that was not named Flint or the Invention Lord. 

The dark dwarf, the Invention Lord, turned pale as Flint started warming up his monster machine's engine, only for another person to jump out of it before he could start the roadkill. 

"THAT'S IT! I'm never hitching a hike with ANY of you Voyager ****ers ever again!! Ugh, does anyone have a barf bag?" - ???

"BOOOOOOSS!!" - Breaker & Scarecrow

The two robots, a little worse for wear after having fallen off Gugalanna before, but still functional (unfortunately), shouted joy when they saw the slightly nauseous individual. Yes, I remember now. That is the Black Baron. Why is he with Flint?

"Hey, guys? Those guys are gone." - Grangron

"What are you-, WHAAAT?! They're gone!" - Blaze

The blockheads are right! The Inventor Lord, that black knight, and those foolish creatures I have the dishonor of calling "sisters" have all disappeared. Why!? All that remains where they were standing is a bunch of black smoke.

"This isn't good. The knight must be a teleporter." - ???

Now someone else is jumping out of Flint's car! How many people can that thing hold anyway? 

The newcomers are a rabbit dressed in fancy clothes and a samurai-wannabe spider that I again have the unfortunate of knowing. Lord Flamel and that wacky Lunatic spider. Also, a red-haired, blue-skinned girl came out alongside Lunatic. Wait, that's...

"Regina?! When did you turn out to be a zombie!?" - Noire

"Hey, Noire! And get with the program already." - Regina(?)

What is going on here? I believed she was working for the Demon King, not us! 

"Noire, Regina was killed when she was leading an attack squad against Damavand." - Flint

"More like SACRIFICED!! That ****ing Demon King is gonna get it up in his *** if I get my undead hands on him!" - Regina

"Hey, I am Blaze. Your name was 'Regina', was it?" - Blaze

"I sure am, girlfriend! Wanna hit the bar after this?" - Regina

"*Angry spider samurai noises*." - Lunatic

Lunatic started waving the chain connected to a coffin that was stored in the back of the car, the same thing she'd been dragging on ever since we entered the Gorge, after hearing Regina's attempt of hitting on Blaze. Ah, so that's it.

"You were resurrected by Onyx, weren't you?" - Noire

"That is what was said during the Dungeon meeting after we all returned to Damavand. Noire, didn't you attend to it?" - Flint

"I did, but I couldn't be bothered remembering it." - Noire

"Why you..." - Flint

"People, FOCUS! We need to figure out what is going on here!" - Shen

One of Grangron's little friends tried to turn our attention to him. If this does not include any plans on annihilating a certain demon that was sent westward just a few minutes ago, then I'm not interested. 

"It is not that difficult. We won. Miss Lunatic, do you mind going looking for the treasure of this Metal Treasure Tower?" - Flamel

"*Affirming spider noises*." - Lunatic

"Be careful with it! We don't want another berserker on our tail!" shouted Flint at the spider's back. And what did he say just now?

"What's this talk about a berserker? Because we have one regular one, and one when it comes to demons or her siblings." - Blaze

"HEY!" - Noire

"I swear, I only LOOK like a berserker! Honest!" - Grangron

"See!? This is why we have to pool our information together!" - Shen

"Fiiiine. Let us get this over with..." - Noire

"Mr. Grangron, can you keep a watch for hostiles? Having an enemy attack when we are trying to get on the same page would be quite troubling." - Flamel

"You got it!" - Grangron

I doubt he could contribute with any words of wisdom even if he tried. 

---

One information-sharing meeting later:

"My dad is WHAT?!" - Blaze

"Wait... Could you repeat that for us?" - Shen

"It sounds...impossible." - Sei

"Then let me try again: the treasure of the Ice Treasure Tower isn't an item of importance for the Scamming Lord. It IS the Scamming Lord, a type of sentient item that I have never encountered before. And that is saying something, I might tell you." - Flamel

I tried wrapping my head around what Flint and Flamel had been telling us. The Scamming Lord is a typical medal of honor given to important persons who have contributed to Solomar's safety and prosperity. But in reality, it is an item with a will of its own that can hijack people that possess its body or a copy of itself, then has said person act as the "Scamming Lord" in its place? 

"Which makes the 'current' Scamming Lord..." - Noire

"His majesty, King Loitan." - Flamel

"NOOOOOO!!" - Blaze

Blaze went into a fetal position while screaming in pure terror. As his daughter, she must know firsthand how dangerous this A-rank dragon king will be as an enemy. Honestly, my dignity is all that prevents me from doing the same. Or act as Flint, who has been busy all this while fixing up his vehicle for a quick escape.

Still, how did the medal end up inside a Treasure Tower in that lake? I'm just joking. All those Solomar guys needed to do was throw the medal into the lake, then wait until this whole mess of a war started. It's pretty clever, truth be told. I wonder how they managed to make that thing in the first place. 

"This is impossible..." - Shin

"Now, now. Not all hope is lost. Fortunately, I was present when his majesty was taken over." - Flamel

"How is that lucky?" - Noire

"Because, as an alchemist, I know about both creating and destroying items of dubious natures." - Flamel

"Did you destroy the Scamming Lord?!" - Blaze

"No, just weakened it. But considering it is trying to control his majesty Loitan, that should be enough." - Flamel

Flamel revealed a vial of a strange, rust-colored potion. It is supposedly a liquid with abilities similar to an Extra Skill known as [End of Civilization], which could destroy even Extra-rarity items.

Yes, if this dragon king is as strong as the rumors about him have it, then a weakened mind-controlling medal should not be able to control him for an extended period. It must have struggled to take control over him in the first place, seeing as it didn't have him go on a rampage on day 1 after the king obtained it. 

"Meaning, if we just let his majesty tire out the medal, this rust-potion-thing may make that brainwashing item fall apart?" - Shin

"Yes..., but I doubt it will be that easy." - Flamel

"The whole Loitan army is currently busy trying to weaken his majesty as we speak! He's trying to get down here for some reason!" - Flint

That's not good.

"Then shouldn't we escape? Like, now? Please let me escape! My dad is horrifying enough when he's mad and NOT controlled by a diabolic medal!" - Blaze

"Are you stupid, lass?" - Black Baron

"What did you say!?" - Blaze

"*Ugh*, stop chocking...meeee..." - Black Baron

"Let him go, Princess Flammete. The Black Baron, while lacking in manner, is stating a good point. Fleeing would not help us. The moment the army cannot stall his majesty any longer, he will be able to do whatever he wants. We need to stay and distract him until the Scamming Lord is destroyed." - Flamel

"*Cough, cough*, that's right! And we have all the technology here to do it!" - Black Baron

...Fair point. This island is filled with the machines the Inventor Lord left behind when he fled the place with that knight and my so-called "sisters". 

"So, we're not going to run?" - Flint

"Yes, we are not. Things have changed, Flint. We must now use all these materials to build the mechanical fortress of our dreams." - Flamel

"Sweet!" said Flint as he threw the wrench in his hand back into his toolbox. Boys...

"But what about that black knight working with the Inventor Lord? Seeing as we are occupying their lair, I do not think they will leave without a fight." - Shin

"There's also that ****ing devil jerk." - Noire

"Now, now. Watch your language, Miss Noire. And they are just more justifications for preparing this fort. Whether the Scamming Lord is working alongside the Inventor Lord and Avalar, or the Irritation Lord and Solomar, we will still have to face 2 or more enemy forces down here in this diabolical underground sea. Better be as prepared as possible, no?" - Flamel

"Alright, you can build your little fort. But you better prepare an anti-devil cannon for me." - Noire

"I can do that. Just stick to your part of the deal, Flamel." - Black Baron

"And something that can stop my dad!!" - Blaze

"No, that is impossible, lass." - Black Baron

Blaze fainted when she heard that. But I'm not so sure if the dragon king is the worst of our problems. 

"Hey, Flint? What was that talk about not getting in contact with Damavand anymore?" - Noire

After everyone had left to collect materials for the fort, I went up and talked to Flint regarding a little something he hadn't been so interested in going into details with.

"Eh, what? Damavand what?" - Flint

"........." - Noire

"...Okay, fine! I'm a bad liar..." - Flint

"What happened?" - Noire

"...The Dungeon got eaten by something!" - Flint

"...What the **** are you babbling about?" - Noire

"I don't know! One day, it was there, then the next day, gone! And all this earthy, dirty counterfeit of the Dungeon suddenly started appearing all over the continent! With the epicenter being in the Sekarot Desert!" - Flint

Huh, so that is why all those earth buildings that suddenly appeared while I was busy with Gugalanna's Extra Trial looked so familiar.

"And what else happened? That crazy spider is alright." - Noire

"Yes, that came as a surprise to me. All the other Dungeon monsters were said to have disappeared like a poof of smoke!" - Flint

"...Garami is not going to be happy about this." - Noire

"No, she is not. Aww, we're so going to get it! I can already imagine her preparing some freaky ritual in an attempt to resurrect the Dungeon...with us as the sacrifices!!" - Flint

...Not good. Definitely not good! But how can you fix a destroyed Dungeon!? We don't even know what did it-!

"Psst. Hey, over here." - Breaker

It's the less stupid of the robot duo. What does he want?

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation, but is it true that you are having problems with the Earth Disaster?" - Breaker

"Disaster? I doubt things are that bad-." - Noire

"*Bad innocent whistling*..." - Flint

"...A Disaster? For real? You write off a ****ing Disaster as a common 'something'?!" - Noire

"I only know that it is a Disaster, not what type of Disaster it is!" - Flint

"Disasters will always be Disasters! There are no types or classifications for them!" - Noire

"People, please! Calm down! Things are not as dark as they seem-" - Breaker

"We're talking about one of Terra Sol's 12 Disasters here! It's darker than outer space!!" - Flint & Noire

"W-wow... Fully harmonized..." - Breaker

The wheel-bot took a step back when he was faced by my and Flint's obvious and rightfully justified outburst.

"I understand your point, but that is why I, or rather, the Black Baron can be of assistance." - Breaker

"Yeah. We're jumping out of the pan known as letting a Disaster having eaten Damavand into the fire, aka working for Garami's most hated baron." - Noire

"That antagonism the Black Baron and that demon have for each other is quite childish, indeed. I am not asking for much. I think the Black Baron has already requested the same from Rivert Flamel in exchange for his cooperation in the first place." - Breaker

"What? You want a second insurance that you're getting your deal done?" - Flint

"...If Flamel is okay with it, I think the rest of Babel will be it too, no matter what Garami says." - Noire

"Great! We got protection then. Go on, tell us what you got." - Flint

"Very well. The Black Baron has visited this continent several times already due to a mishappening with a former business partner of his. To put it plainly, this former partner worked up a big debt to the Baron and refused to pay it back." - Breaker

"Uhu. And?" - Flint

"And, this individual was illegally modifying his Dungeon's Dungeon Core. Therefore, the Baron had prepared a special weapon to reset the Dungeon Core, leaving the former partner with nothing left." - Breaker

"...I am starting to see where this is going." - Flint

"Now, the Earth Disaster is infamous for eating anything and adding it to its own body. In other words, it is now a Disaster that is illegally modified with a Dungeon Core. Flip this perspective on its head, and you could call it that your Dungeon's Core was illegally modified with a Disaster. Soo..." - Breaker

"So, whatever the Baron had prepared against this 'partner'-" - Flint

"It can be used against the Earth Disaster and return Damavand to normal!" - Noire

"Correct! Or, I hope so. We would need to reconfigure the weapon to not harm the Dungeon itself. Also, we would have to find out how to hit the Disaster with it..." - Breaker

If this is about the Earth Disaster, then I have a good hunch on where to find it. And get a certain devil's head alongside the title of having defeated it. Things are coming up Noire now~.