What Do you Mean All Dungeons are Girls!!!? Enhanced Edition

Phyllis looked out the window at the wall, she’d known she was with a dungeon, but seeing it was certainly something else. Walls like that usually took years of work to build, magic certainly helped save months of work, but it still took a long time to build such walls. Quarries were needed to supply stones which then needed to be cut, lifted and placed with precision. The enchantments of a proper wall were particularly difficult as it took hundreds of skilled enchanters working on each and every stone placed to properly produce the network of enchantments that a proper city wall needed. Honestly, enchanting the stones was the biggest bottleneck in the creation of a city wall.

Yet, one erected in a day stood in view of her window, by every metric it was impressive. It gave her a new respect for Misaki and just went to show why dungeons were as powerful as they were. That kind of magical ability was almost godlike and for the first time she suddenly understood why the people of the past worshiped dungeons, why some of the gods came from dungeons. To think she was only in the second tier. It made her wonder what Misaki would be capable of once she reached the third tier, once she evolved.

She sighed and glanced up at the moon, her gaze swept over its familiar blue and green form without really seeing it. Her hand fell to her belly, she could feel the little one moving. A reminder that she was getting closer to having her child, a child that would never know its grandfather. A tear graced her eye, why did the world keep taking from her? She couldn’t help thinking back to the day her sister had lost her husband. The faces little Megan and Celine had when they learned he wasn’t coming back. Megan had been so young she didn’t really remember it now, but Celine had been devastated. Every time she’d seen them for months after that, she’d hurt. It had been harder on Emily, but at least they knew who’d done it. Perhaps the worst part of it was they’d never been able to hold a proper funeral, as they’d never had his entire body, just pieces.

A hug suddenly embraced her from behind, “You okay?”

She leaned into it, “I’ll be fine.”

“You sure? You were spiraling.”

Phyllis smiled, shifted and kissed the other girl, “I’m sure, you are here, aren’t you?”

Misaki giggled, “Let me guess thinking about your father again? Why don’t you tell me about him?”

Phyllis sighed, “He was more than my father, I didn’t just love him, I looked up to him... I... respected him.”

Misaki pulled her down into a chair, “So he was your hero.”

“I guess you could say that,” she glanced down, “I wish our girls could have known him.”

Misaki fidgeted a bit, then said, “They still can, maybe not directly but you remember him.”

“It... wouldn’t be the same and I can’t ask the gods to bring him back.”

Misaki turned her and looked her in the eye, “Maybe not, but Goddess Dewari would have judged him fairly. I’m sure he’ll be born again to a good family, who knows maybe you’ll meet him again?”

Phyllis sighed, “Maybe...

Suddenly she felt weird, the very air changed. Phyllis looked out, it was almost imperceptible at first but with every passing second the strange mana in the air grew more potent. With it came strange impressions and she glanced at Misaki as her stomach roiled, “It’s here isn’t it?”

Misaki had a worried look, “How do you feel? Any um... strange urges?”

“Not yet, but...” Phyllis held her head, it was worming into her mind she could feel it. Worse it was winning, even so she said, “I can handle it, go! Fight that thing, I’ll be fine.”

Misaki nodded and ran off. Phyllis watched her go with a smile, she knew the girl could do it, but part of her wished she didn’t have to go. Alone she turned back to the window and looked down at the streets, they were peaceful with not a soul in sight. Being so late, most people were asleep or at the least in their homes. Yet she knew that wasn’t going to last, the... the serpent needed their kids... she shook her head that wasn’t right... she needed to give in. Phyllis bit her tongue, the pain helping her focus. Curse that thing.

Misaki hurried down the road, even as her senses stretched out. In the same breath she was trying to shield the town, she could feel the thing worming into their minds, trying to worm into hers. It was like an oppressive weight bearing down on her chest, she could almost picture a house sitting on top of her. Suddenly a force hit her, not physically but it sure as hell felt like it. She grunted and moved forward, looking for that damn creature's physical body.

Reading about them was one thing, but now that she could feel it pounding at her mind, she understood all too well how so many mothers could willingly feed their kids to the thing. It was a struggle to keep that thing out of her own mind, and protecting the others was straining her to her limits. She didn’t know how anyone else could withstand that, especially while sleeping. Still she had faith in Phyllis, she could see the other girl was fighting it and that gave her the strength to keep fighting. Misaki pushed through the force being battered against her and kept going, she wasn’t going to let that thing harm a single child. The entire species was detestable, but she’d settled for ending this one at the moment. 

A figure emerged from a side street, a hand on their head. For a moment she thought she’d failed someone but then she took in the familiar naked features.

Aidera smiled, “Hey Misaki.”

“You okay?”

“Not really, no. I can barely keep that thing out.”

“What brought you this way?”

“I was out late seeing a patient, when he suddenly fell asleep on me. That was about the same time I felt this. I’m worried about Amy and Thomas.”

“Just get home, I’ll deal with it.”

The girl nodded clearly worried, but Misaki didn’t stick around. She hurried on, it wasn’t long before she reached the gate she’d built just a few short days ago. Misaki blinked at the sight, the night guards were there, but she could see them slumped in their armor. Not far from them was a young woman, the only one on the shift. She looked dazed, her armor on the ground.

It seemed the damn thing was getting to her, it didn’t help that it was so powerful. How could one mind be this strong!? Misaki didn’t know but she let out a breath as she drew closer, a spell already formed. She touched the female soldier, and she slumped down. It was a sleep spell and she honestly felt they’d be safer right now if they were sleeping. The Lizarna lured its prey to it, and it wasn’t known for eating adults, just children.

Heading through the gate, she followed the path out into the farmland and then a grin touched her lips, “Found you!”

There it was, the serpent was in the fields on a hill a couple kilometers south of town. Somehow it had gotten past the palisade unnoticed, but somehow she wasn’t surprised. The guards likely didn’t even bat an eye as it went past. Never even raised an alarm. Misaki could just imagine their minds being battered into submission before they even saw the thing.

Having found it, she focused on the nearest tower, and began channeling magic through it. Thousands of points of mana and even her own attributed energy were channeled into the crystal at the top of the tower. The sky was suddenly split apart with a thunderous roar as a pink-tinged ray shot across the night sky.

Then a primal roar filled the air. Through her dungeon sight she could see the result of that shot, the beam had torn across the distance in the blink of an eye and burned right through the thick scales of the giant serpent. It was huge, easily bigger than the house she shared with Phyllis, but even with a gaping smoking hole in its side the damn beast wasn’t dead, worse it was angry now.

After letting out a roar, it uncoiled from the hill, even as some of the pressure on her mind let up. Just a moment before it suddenly slammed into her with such force she had no words to describe it. Her head ached like a thousand nails were drilling into her skull. Misaki gritted her teeth and drew on her energy. Cool relief flowed through her, as the magic soothed the pain and helped her fight back, at least for a moment but that was all she needed. Internally she cursed the thing, it certainly felt like that mental blow was strong enough to cause physical damage, but she wasn’t bleeding.

Misaki pushed forward, watching as the Serpent started moving, it was fast. Very fast as it surged over the road weaving around a few farmhouses and cutting across several fields leaving a furrowed trail in its wake. Blood leaked from its wound as well, but the beast ignored it.

It burst into view before she’d gotten very far and roared again. She grinned and a second crack split the sky, only this time a magical shield absorbed a good chunk of the blow. The beast glared at her, as more of its dark blood spilled onto the ground from a second wound. Several tendrils around its neck were raised and it shot forth a volley of spines.

Misaki reacted, several wards shifting into position, as the training Arrieta gave her kicked in. The spines bounced off her magical wards, in the same moment she was somersaulting out of the path, a spell in her hand. One of them grazed her shield, but didn’t go through leaving her avatar unharmed as she unleashed her spell. Numerous flaming bolts shot from her palms bombarding the large beast. Its own shield flared, absorbing the bolts, but she had known they wouldn’t do much.

The serpent shook its head as smoke and dust obscured its vision for a moment, and she moved quickly to the side of it as another thunderous crack split the sky followed by a second. Each one elicited a mighty roar from the creature. Then she felt the weight of its mind slam into her with the force of a meteor. She reeled a bit from the pain, just before it’s tail slammed into her.

Misaki grunted as she picked herself off the ground, her dress was covered in dust now and she could feel more than one scratch. She’d prefer a good tussle with Phyllis over this but there were no changing facts. She glared at the thing, and unleashed another spell. This time a stream of lightning tore into the serpent and it replied with another barrage of spines.

Long barbs fell upon her from above, a couple quick wards helped deflect the worst of it. Several more pierced her however, and she grunted as the long spines penetrated deep into her body, thankfully only a couple in her arms and one in her thigh got through. With a grunt she pulled each one out, her own mana rushing to the wounds. The flesh knitted closed in seconds, one of the advantages of being a dungeon was that she could fuel powerful regeneration spells like this without worry of running out. 

Sadly she wasn’t the only one with large reserves. That serpent was not only huge, it apparently had the capacity to take a real beating. Thankfully, its magic was limited to mind magics. Which basically boiled down to telekinetics, barriers, and that damn potent telepathy. How much mana did it fucking have?

She grunted as another hammer hit her mind, followed by a second attempt at a tail swipe. This time she avoided it and retaliated, the sky cracked not once but twice with a thunderous roar. Pink light burned into the serpent it's tough scales were meaningless to the magic, but it still found the energy to fight more. It surged forth fighting through the pain and sending boulders flying towards her this time, followed by more spines.

Misaki cast several wards as she maneuvered out of the path of the deadly projectiles. Several more spells flew from her palms as she moved, fire and lightning tore into the serpent as the battle shifted into a deadly dance punctuated by primal roars and thunderous cracks. The land tore beneath them both as they shifted positions. Rocks slammed into plants and fences with great force.

Then finally she saw a chance, the sky cracked and a pink beam punched through the thing's skull. It roared as its body collapsed, a glare focused on her and it shot forth more of those nasty spines. “Damn! What does it take to kill you?” commented Misaki as she deflected and avoided the spines.

Thankfully the serpent was moving less, so the moment she had the chance she let loose with the towers. The sky cracked once, twice, then thrice before the serpent finally stilled.