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MAZE - Chapter 1065 - Dark Whale
🕑 Added 2025-05-31 18:09:37 +0000 UTCHera and Atlas watched as the whale grew darker and darker. It slowly stopped radiating bright light from its body and instead almost absorbed it. The more Filigree continued to heal the creature, the more the environment itself seemed to change.
Although calling it a creature might not be correct, since even now Hera was unable to use [Observe] on it. Still, she remained confident that this was the right way to go about it. Or at least one of the right ways. Her thoughts were only confirmed as the darkness from the whale started to also affect the environment.
Once the small outline of the fish below became apparent, Hera was sure she was on the right track. Mostly because it wasn't just as if the whale was leaking or something. It was as if its mere presence was capable of changing the look of the dungeon. The fish that swam below didn't look like they were being covered in a strange type of oil or something. They were just gaining some shades of various colors that blended perfectly with their bodies before moving along, letting others take their place and receive the same type of blessing.
The whale shifted again, this time even waving its tail, but more out of a reflex than to hurt anyone. Filigree took a step back, but she still kept her healing going, unsure if she should stop or not. But Hera had just given her confirmation that she was doing the right thing, or at least what the Empress was asking for.
Once more, the whale twitched, this time moving almost its entire body, causing everybody to step further back. In the third motion, the whale jumped into the air and crashed back down, slamming its body against the ground. But instead of stopping as if the surface of this ocean of light was solid as it was for Hera and Atlas, the whale splashed the light all around it, warm and calming light that washed over everybody in the area. And then sank deep into the waters.
As the whale moved, the fish and other creatures below gained shadow. They were no longer just bathed in light, but they also had lines over their bodies showing their features. Fishes with large eyes and tentacles that wrapped around their bodies or multiple fins coming from the sides of their tails.
The large creatures below either crabs or octopuses and even other types of large fish, but no whales. There was only a single pair of whales in this dungeon. The light whale that was still jumping, and it was still on the upper ocean, and the dark whale that was now swimming below, spreading its darkness to the rest of the sea creatures.
Eventually, the dark whale started to go up and jumped out of the lower ocean, splashing all over this middle ground. At the same time, the light whale did the same, flashing the light all around it. But going from the sky to the ground instead. For the most part, all Hera could see were small pieces of liquid darkness and pieces of liquid light being tossed around. But there were a couple of drops that hit each other, exploding in rainbow colors for a moment before vanishing.
The whales continued to swim and the area now became completely different. No longer was it that white void, but now a mix of shadow and white that blended everything seamlessly, creating a beautiful tapestry. Like a painting made with only those two colors.
The light and the shadow continued to mix together and they couldn't tell which was more prevalent, the white brightness coming from all the light or the deep shadows created by the dark. The two whales jumped again at the same time, almost forming a gigantic yin yang sign in the middle of the room. As they impacted the waters, two waves exploded, going outwards towards where they dove, and once the water finally settled, there was a lighthouse where the waters meet location. A completely towering white lighthouse, not just the entrance of one.
Hera and Atlas exchanged a glance and slowly started moving in that direction. Still being sure not to do anything that could trigger the monsters below and above, but they felt more confident that this was now the right place to go to. It didn't take too long for them to reach that lighthouse and the place worked exactly like the first one they arrived at.
Once they opened the door, and saw the same structure as the first lighthouse. But this time, the lights were not as aggressive and the shadows felt more natural and less dominating. They slowly made their way up towards the actual light as it was the only way they could go and reached the top area with the lights still turned off. There was a big lever to the side. That was the only thing in the entire lighthouse that was not present on the regular version of the dungeon, so they just shrugged and pulled the lever.
The light inside the glass dome ignited and, with a flash, they were transported outside of the dungeon entirely. They were now standing in the forest by that large entrance that they had seen before. But strangely enough, Hera could see colors again. There wasn't any effect that could stop her ability to see actual colors. She opened the notification about the quest, which was still available on her tablet, to see if there was any reason for that.
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You have completed the dungeon quest.
By healing the whale ruled over by darkness in the lighthouse, you were able to restore balance to its structure.
For that, your rewards have been altered.
Lighthouse heart's gift -> Gifts from the lighthouse heart.
1 000 000 gold -> 1 200 000 gold.
The lighthouse's blessing. When walking through the Blackwood Forest, you will be immune from the color sapping effects for a period of 30 days.
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That last part of the reward would likely be the one that caused the most frenzy in the area. Sure, finding out that there was a hidden dungeon with some technically good reward was already interesting enough. But the ability to see colors in a place light this would be game changer. Hera could already tell that groups of people who would be hired just to take their workers into the dungeon. With the requirement to complete the healing quest in the same way that Hera did so they could gain that buff once a month.
Still, now that they were out of the dungeon, there was one more notification the Empress needed to take care of.
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You have leveled up.
Current Level: 59
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Hera wanted to check her attributes, but considering they were still in the middle of a forest with the body of a Wendigo in a box, she felt it was better to get out of here first.
The Empress called Helena and gave a quick explanation of what happened as they were walking back towards the city. The mage couldn't believe that this place had that type of dungeon, and she was really interested in the idea of running it at least once to see if her shadow powers could have any effect on things.
The Empress wasn't opposed to joining her friend, but she made it clear that she wanted a break today. It was one thing to run a dungeon for fun, another to run it while chasing a wild Wendigo. Despite the creature not really hurting anyone, it took a mental toll on both Hera and Atlas.
They quickly moved out of the forest and the Empress called Nimbus to take them back to the city. Atlas accepted and the two of them started to talk conversation while the Sentinel moved across the area.
"Thanks for having my back there," Hera spoke up through the communicators since, despite her louder speech, the wind was still too much for them to hear each other.
"I don't really think I did much, but you're welcome," Atlas replied.
"Still. Thank you," Hera said.
"You could say I'm wrong, you know," the men huffed, causing the two to laugh.
"I'm not going to lie to you. I'm pretty sure I could have handled this myself without any issues, but I appreciate having someone watch my back. Even if I wasn't fully trusting you at first," Hera continued.
"Don't worry about that. In your shoes, I don't think I would be trusting me either. Also, I don't even know if I trust myself. I was gullible enough to believe in what the guild was doing. Who's to say I'm not going to do that again if someone else shows up."
"Well, I think that if you left a cult, it makes it harder for you to enter another one." Hera replied.
Atlas paused. "I'm pretty sure there are a number of psychology professionals who would disagree with you. Besides, I'm pretty sure I've heard about people who keep joining cult after cult."
"I don't know about that one. But either way, you're at least trying not to join a new cult. You gain points for that," Hera looked to the side as they were passing by the pig farm.
"Thanks," Atlas chuckled. There was a pause, and the man asked, "Do you think I'm at least doing the right thing? Helping with making amends by helping with Helena and her project when they go hunt Wendigos and stuff like that?"
Hera nodded. "I do. Your heart is in the right place and you are doing things that actively help. And while we were trying to find a way out, you didn't try to be the hero at any point and get in the way. I think that's very important. Because it's one thing to try to compensate for your mistakes, another to make more mistakes while you're trying to fix the others,"
She paused and added, "But you could push back a bit harder. Sure, I was right with the hidden dungeon whale, but if you really believed that was going to get us killed, you could have actively tried to stop me. But I have a feeling you would do that if that was the case."
Atlas shook his head but realized that Hera couldn't see him since he was on the back. "Honestly, I don't know. If it was someone else, then sure, I would have stopped them, but you're the Aspirant Hero. I feel really bad about disagreeing with you."
"Sure I'm the Aspirant Hero. I can do no wrong," Hera rolled her eyes. "Seriously, I'm just a person. I was about to say human, but I'm not a human anymore and there are a few phrases that I still struggle to adapt to my current state. But either way, you're doing fine. Just keep it up like that, make sure not to fight more than you can handle, and you'll be just fine."
"Thanks. And by the way, do you know if I could become an Ophidianite?"
Hera let out a long sigh. "I still don't know how that works. And I don't mean the literal process. I mean, how I'm going to decide who's going to join. And for now, no, you can't join. You still helped the guild try to wipe us out. You're on the right path to making amends. But until you finished that, you can't join."
Atlas chuckled. "You know what? That's fine. I didn't really want to, but I felt like since I had this chance to talk to you, I might as well ask."
Hera laughed and couldn't really blame the man. If the roles were reversed, she would likely do the same thing. "What were you going to do if I said yes?"
"Politely refuse the thing that I asked without being a dick."
Hera just shook her head, and the two continued to talk about small things until they reached the city. She knew that she was likely going to do that dungeon run with Helena again and they would share the rewards that she had to check.
But now that she was up another level, she realized that it was time she thought about changing her court once more. And the first step was to decide if there was any of her blades that were going to stay.
