19: Firey Nostalgia
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19: Firey Nostalgia

Jessica’s view

“I’m a little worried.”

“Why? This was even more successful at repelling the hero than the previous dungeon, Jess.”

“Yeah, repelling me, whom isn’t interested in causing real trouble. Someone’s going to try and monopolize the silk, or capture and control the people who make it.”

… a few weeks later…

Adventurer’s view:

“Why are there naked people hanging from trees outside the silk shop entrance?”

“Read the sign: Trouble makers will be hung.”

“... that’s honestly a much tamer outcome than I’d expect from that phrasing. How long have you been here, sir?”

“Oh, I’m here all the time. I like it!”

“... uh, then how do you not starve or die of thirst?”

“They use a tube to feed me some kind of slurry once a day.”

“What about the others?”

“Oh, it’s just a one day punishment for first time offenders. They’ll be let go at the end of the day, and their stuff returned.”

“And people are just letting these monsters do this?”

“Well, you’re looking at the people who tried to kill ‘em.”

“How come you’re the only one not gagged?”

“Oh, I didn’t cause trouble, I just asked to be tied up.”

… I swear, adventuring attracts some of the weirdest people.

David’s view

“So, we’ve had a slime dungeon, a goblin dungeon, orcs, spiders… what’s next? So far it’s all been staple enemies from fantasy games in my previous world. Kinda makes me wonder when the water dungeon will show up.”

“Shouldn’t you already know all the dungeons by now? You are a pretty famous adventurer.”

“I forgot most of it… maybe all of it. My memories from before my 18th birthday are pretty vague, unless you count my former life’s memories.”

“You’re weird.”

“I’m very weird.”

Jessica’s view

“So, the theme of this dungeon is fire?”

“That’s right. Sadly, the original boss monster was slain, and no one is talented enough to make a proper replacement, so we just have a giant fire salamander right now.”

Looking over the existing dungeon designs of this new city, I found something that reminded me a lot of old games I used to play. Rooms full of lava with platform jumping required to clear them. Timed eruptions between the platforms to make it harder. Blocks that needed to be pushed to create pathways.

“Somehow… it doesn’t feel like I should be remodelling any of this.”

“We are rather proud of it. We’ve had to recruit all the best fire and earth specialists to properly maintain it.”

“You probably want me to make a new boss though, right?”

“Yes, that would be appreciated.”

David’s view

“These puzzles sure remind me of the games I once played.”

“Feels weird seeing you solve them so fast.”

“They’re all familiar to me. Though I’m not used to seeing them in first person. Video games I played had a top down view of the character I controlled.”

“Yeah, I really don’t know what you’re talking about, David.”

...a bit later…

“Hah! Now this is a proper boss fight!”

“It’s huge! How can you fight a golem that big?! We’re stuck on this tiny stone platform and it’s rising up from a massive pool of lava in front of us! We’re only seeing the top half, and it’s rising at least ten meters above us!”

“Like I said, a proper boss fight! First we have to withstand the bullet hell barrage!”

“What?! How in god’s name are you doing this? Those blasts could obliterate most adventurer teams! How are you simply deflecting them with that flimsy blade?”

“Then we dodge the stone hands as they try to smash us!”

“Those things are the size of carriages!”

“Now as it charges for a big blast, we pull out a bow and shoot the core!”

“... where did that bow even come from? You had a bow this whole time?”

“The shot makes the charge explode, and now the cycle repeats.”

“You do realize this isn’t something an ordinary adventurer could ever hope to defeat, right?”

“It just takes a bit of aura.”

“There’s like ten people in the country who can use aura.”

“... well, they shouldn’t challenge the boss then.”

“I’m gonna have to ask for a proper warning to be issued about this place.”

Jessica’s view

“The boss you made was destroyed!”

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s not really dead. The true core is down in the lava pool. It’ll just need a week to recover and be ready to fight again.”

“Oh… that’s good. So… we don’t need to worry about someone destroying it forever like before?”

“Not unless someone’s crazy enough to go diving into lava.”

***Author Note***

The first part probably should’ve been tacked onto the end of chapter 18. Oh well, it didn’t get written in time.

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