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MAZE - Chapter 1095 - A new Discovery
🕑 Added 2025-08-09 06:48:29 +0000 UTCHera spent most of the night performing various experiments on the ghosts. More specifically, experiment to see how the Specters behaved around the roots. But that was still not enough to solve the underlying issue of their very existence. After all, to figure that out, she was going to need a clue to something much different.
What could be the source or the force that was creating those ghosts?
That was a question that she didn't have an answer to. Still, it was something she wanted to discover. Or at the very least, she wanted to understand the conditions for the ghosts to appear in order to make sure she wouldn't be dealing with them all the time while exploring Deakoshara.
Moving away from the guard tower once the sun came out, Hera returned to the exploration she was doing before, trying to see if there was any other place nearby that could seem interesting. Starting from that one broken-down pillar that was eaten by the tree, she continued to methodically clear every single area of the plateau.
There was a part of her that was seeing this as a bit boring. After all, she was just flying on top of Nimbus over a sea of trees. But another part of her understood that this was truly what she needed to be doing. Exploration was not always exciting and full of discoveries. That was just the fun part. There were many parts where exploring was just about doing this, going into empty spaces hoping to find something that caught her attention.
Almost as if the MAZE itself was answering her prayers, she noticed in the distance something a bit different. There was this tall pillar forming a tip, almost like a very long pyramid, although the actual top of the structure was mostly destroyed.
Hera approached, and with a quick look was able to recognize that the terrain here was different. Yes, the vegetation had taken over, as it had done in many other places. But there was something else. She could see a hole going inside a large rock that the vegetation didn't seem to cover. Beside that rock was the tall obelisk.
Her experience told her that this was something special. If she were to step into that cave, she would come out on the other side in a dungeon. It wasn't just because of the odd appearance of the place. The density of mana in the surrounding area told her so.
It had been quite a while since she went to a new area and found a dungeon. Because of that, she had forgotten how the density of mana around those places was different. Mostly due to the fact that in well know places there were so many things messing with her senses.
Nearby people, the use of spells, newly made structures. Pretty much everything would cause a disruption in the mana flow. Even if they were not actively hindering it, more often than not somebody with mana abilities would be making changes to the mana of the surrounding area.
The Empress wasn't expecting to find a dungeon in a place like this. In hindsight, she should have asked Bonnie for her spyglass. That could have been a good way to speed up this exploration since the spyglass would guide her to the various dungeons in the area. With that information, it would be much easier to find more settlements. After all, even in ancient times, people tended to flock to dungeons.
Who wouldn't want to be close to a source of unlimited natural resources?
The Empress quickly sent a text to her friend asking if she could borrow the spyglass, even though right now she wasn't in range of the message connection. Later, she could have Nimbus fly her over to the doorway to see if she could at least check up on everything back home.
Still, right now, Hera had a decision to make. Was she going to attempt this dungeon or not?
On one hand, it felt like the right thing to do. After all, this could be a historic one, one that revealed some of the things that happened in this area. Even if it wasn't, she would be getting some rewards for completing it. Not to mention that dungeons could appear out of nowhere. They could eventually be found by someone and they could emerge pretty much anywhere. There was no set rule saying that a dungeon couldn't appear right in front of you if you were in the right place at the right time.
Sure, the number of people who had seen that happening with their own eyes was in the single digits, and that wasn't something that she was saying lightly. That was a number that she pulled from reliable sources. The guides themselves told her during one of their many conversations.
Across all the history of the MAZE, less than 10 people had seen a dungeon appearing in front of them. That was how rare such an event was. The Empress was under no illusions that she was in such a special club. She knew that this dungeon should have been here for a while, especially considering how the mana behaved around it. It moved naturally, blending together, as if it were all part of the same thing.
"What do you all think?" Hera turned to her court. "Should we go in?"
The new blades all quickly agreed with the suggestion. She could feel their excitement with the mere prospect of combat. But the title blades were more careful in their approach.
"I mean, we are in a place where monsters could be high level. But because this area has such a wide range, we could be going to an easy dungeon or we could be going to a very difficult one," Viper replied.
"Yes, but that doesn't mean we will be required to fight anything. There are dungeons that don't ask that," Lurize added.
"Everyone, we are just overthinking this. Let's go. It's not like dungeons already toss us into the thick of it. We're going to have a chance to see the level of the monsters before we decide anything," Livy spoke up. "Besides, do any of you remember a normal mode dungeon that forced us to finish it? That didn't give us a chance to just turn around and run away at any point?"
Everybody paused and looked at each other, and no one could remember something like that. Hera herself also understood where Livy was coming from. A normal mode dungeon would always give you a way out, no matter the circumstance, no matter the location or how far along you were in a dungeon. You always had the option of simply escaping.
In the rare cases where that didn't happen, it was because the dungeon itself had some sort of event that could not harm you in any way. Like what happened in the hard modes of the martial arts dungeon. Hera's participation in that very last fight against the Heavenly daemons or whatever the name of the boss was, was something that she was supposed to lose.
No matter the circumstances, her last attempt at stopping that enemy would fail, and the other members of the dungeon would step in to fix it. That was double for normal mode dungeons.
"You know what, you're right. Let's at least go. Worst-case scenario, things don't work out as we were hoping, and we just leave. Is everybody in ok with that?"
The Empress turned to her court, all of whom nodded in agreement. The new blades were excited at the prospect of actually getting into a fight. In reality, Hera was too. She wanted to see what this new version of her court could do.
Still, she didn't rush inside but instead double-checked everything she had. Among her supplies were also a couple of recovery pills that she could take in case she got hurt. Another thing they had already tested was the fact that Filigree's skills could improve her regenerative abilities. In essence, Filigree could work as a first aid kit if things went south.
The Weaver had also learned a few actual healing spells from some of the dwarven healers and the harpy healers while Hera was busy. Filigree also used the Internet to get some ideas. She had discovered a rather thriving community of conceptual mages who kept sharing ideas about new spells and kept trying to help each other come up with solutions. Even Hera wanted to participate but she couldn't find the time to join them yet.
Once all of her gear was set up and she felt ready to start, the Empress walked into the dungeon, making sure to leave marks behind her just in case something were to happen and she failed to return in a timely manner.
The Empress slowly walked into that cave, following a path. At first, it started to move upwards, and she thought this was in fact a tunnel, a simple passage from one point to the next in this jungle. But the moment she came out on the other side, that was confirmed as she was sure they had arrived at the Dungeon. Not because she sensed mana differently or anything of the sort, but because the view was entirely alien compared to what she was looking at before.
Instead of a sea of trees and thick vegetation going in all directions, clinging to the ground, here she could see sparse openings with scattered trees, lush jungle to her right and left, and a few mountains in the background. There was even a waterfall at the edge of her sight towards the left. A massive waterfall that seemed to be coming from a cloud. But the cloud was moving so fast that it quickly revealed the top of a mountain, a dome-like mountain from where the water was coming.
"This is beautiful!" Nimbus said.
"I have to agree with you on that one. It almost makes me feel bad for how the actual area looks like," she paused. "Almost."
Deakoshara was an incredible place, and if she was considering only the plateau that she was exploring, yes, this place could look better. But if she was considering the entirety of the area, then things changed. The mountains, the poison lake, the desert below, each of the plateaus, even the beach were all incredible when placed all together.
Hera looked around to see if there was anything indicating where she should go, and the only obvious thing was a path in front of her. Not really knowing what to expect, Hera simply walked forward, hoping that the dungeon quest would reveal itself, which was usually the type of thing that would happen in a place like this.
Almost as if to confirm her suspicion, a sound came from the forest to the side. First, it sounded like a monster, something that was grunting and trying to get closer. But as the sounds grew louder, the Empress heard something else.
"No, get off!… Damn it… Stop!"
It was a strangely rough voice with an accent that the Empress was almost sure was Australian. Coming from the middle of the tree line, the owner of the voice appeared. It was a man with dark green skin, brown pants, and a long-sleeved t-shirt. He was also wearing what looked to be a vintage explorer's cap in the same beige tone as his shirt, with brown straps the same color as his pants.
"Oh, hello there!"
The man turned around, revealing a pair of large tusks protruding from the lower part of his jaw.
"I was not expecting to see anyone here."
The Empress blinked slowly, trying to process the fact that she was looking at an orc. It somehow felt strange that she was, once again, in a dungeon where orcs were the NPCs she was dealing with.
"Hi there," she replied. "Are you okay? What are you doing here?"
"Looking for adventure. I heard about a mysterious city deep in this jungle, and I wanted to see if I could be the first to find it. Rumors say that it's an entire city made out of gold. Au Dorado!"
"You have got to be kidding me," the Empress couldn't help but gasp.
That wasn't a new story. Pretty much everybody knew about the city of gold back on Earth, and she wasn't expecting to find a variation of this here. As if confirming her suspicion, a notification appeared in front of her.
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You have found the dungeon quest.
An orc explorer is searching for the lost city of Au Dorado.
Assist him on his journey.
First time rewards: 2 million gold.
Artifact from Au Dorado.
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#### Author's Note ####
Hehe.. AU Dorado, Get it? and don't worry even Hera is going to cuss me out for that one.
Comments
Perizou
Oh god... have I reached teacher level jokes?
Lillith Ophidia
Reminds me of an old science teacher I had. When trying to get us to learn the periodic table he told us this pun, "A U (hey you)! That's my gold!" Followed by "AG (ah, gee), its only silver"
