Boss Battle #1
When Taylor found herself an empty world upon the defeat of Zion she didn't have much plan being living out the rest of her life without letting her growing power-driven insanity harm the people of the world.
By finding a world without humanity the risks were all but non-existent.
And so of course Contessa, one of the few remaining members of Cauldron, the organisation that for decades had been trying and failing to stop Zion, followed, with a gun to fully end the risk Taylor, the one responsible for Scions destruction in the end, could potentially pose.
A couple of bullets through her brain, aimed at the formations the Shards used to connect to people to grant them powers, were destroyed, and Taylor was taken to a different exile.
At the same time, an echo of her mind, caught in the connection at the moment it was lost, was cast into the ether between worlds.
It was this Taylor, unbeknownst to anyone from either origin or destination, that was detected by the magic of the race that came to be known as 'Undersiders' or 'Shadows' by the peoples of their world that banished them from the surface and used their retreat 'underground' as reason to see them as evil, and from this detection selected as Master of one of the Dungeons that served to protect their realm from being invaded from the worlds surface or lost to Oblivion.
The strength of will of this echo of Taylor was enough that, instead of being reincarnated as a 'mere' Dungeon Master, she was incarnated as a Demon Lord, one of the strongest guardians of the Undersiders Dungeons.
The first week of this new Dungeons existence saw it protected from detection and invasion, giving her time to develop its initial protections, after which it was soon discovered by a party of adventurers.
The way the leader of said party made it clear that he was intent on nothing more than increasing his own rank as an adventurer, setting his prestige at a higher priority than the parties safety, reminded her less than happily of a 'hero' from her own world, the man responsible not just for setting her on the path to becoming a 'villain' but for the deaths of multiple people under the protection of a truce, for which the penalty of breaking said truce was an instant death sentence.
Given how said 'hero' was allowed to continue in his role, it was hardly surprising that she would direct her Dungeons minions, various kinds of spider on the first and currently only floor, to mark this man so alike in attitude (to the point he'd likely consider himself a hero for his attempts to eliminate the people who chose to retrrat and hide themselves rather than face the persecution of the worlds other peoples) with the label 'IDIOT'.
It was this act, she'd later decide, that made the knight so intent on confronting her rather than retreating.
And so it was that, barely a week after appearing in this world, that she stood ready to fight once more, this time against a party of adventurers seemingly designed to overcome the defences of her Dungeon.
But then again, she had hardly become the 'Queen of Escalation' for running from a tough, or even logically impossible, fight.
[The present]
Her initial attempts at diplomacy were broken down completely as the knight charged, sword in two-handed grasp.
"[Berserk Sword]," he cried, presumably his second 'trump card' as they'd called them.
Her reincarnation had not been without its perks, such as her now demonic nature leaving her all but immune to purely physical attacks, and so rather than dodge as she would while using one of her identities of 'Skitter', 'Weaver' or even 'Khepri' in her past life she allowed the attack to connect, the game-like status screen that had become her ever-present companion since waking up within the Dungeon confirming a complete lack of damage.
"I am still willing to accept your surrender," she said into the stunned silence created by her no-selling their fighters strongest attack.
"I had heard that demons were resistant to physical damage," the mage, Valerie, managed, "but this is ridiculous."
"Your enchantment, the burning sword," the knight, Damien, ordered, reinforcing the impression they'd given that they'd been adventuring as a party for some time.
"Right, fires of the sun, heed my call. [Flame Sword]!"
At her chant the sword the knight was holding erupted in fire, now potentially able to injure Taylor.
"If you're going to use magic, allow me a spell of my own. "Dungeon Teleport."
It was one of a few spells she had obtained from her position, others including one to create a wall of spiderwebs that could be mistaken gor a wall (used to try and trap them in the maze) and a spell to cause feat in invaders (used when they faced the floor boss).
Rather than removing the knight, and rendering the mages spell a waste of magic, the randomly targeted spell sent the priestess, Cynthia, out of the room… and to the very start of the Dungeon as it turned out.
Meaning that their main source of healing and status negation wasn't going to be around to help for a while.
"Spirit-" Valerie began a chant, only for Taylor to use her newfound speed to close, almost certainly a blur from their perspectives.
"Your greatest weakness is your reliance on your chants," she stated as she struck the mage with her shield hand, sending her flying back.
"I'll take this," she added as an afterthought, claiming the mages staff, throwing it to the side of the room out of reach.
"Raagh," came the sound of the knight charging her, only for his sword to meet her shield, the energy of his strike spent to no advantage.
A quick strike at his armour with her sword and the strength of her new body sent him flying into the wall, a scar marring his previously flawless armour once more.
"And that leaves the rogue, using his super secret stealth specialty to hide from my eyes," she mused, unable to resist the alliteration. "However…"
She spun suddenly, using her insect magics ability to emit a stream of insects from her mouth (which would have really freaked her out before her time as Skitter) straight at the formerly invisible rogue, Garret, before finishing her sentence.
"In my Dungeon I don't need my eyes to know where you are," she concluded. "Not to mention the experience my teammate gave me of dealing with someone you cannot detect."
The rogue wasn't exactly listening, too busy panicking over the insects covering him, until she relented and rendered him unconscious with a careful blow.
Before she had a chance to relax she had to move again, dodging the knights attempt at a surprise attack to land a blow on his sword hand, her enchanted blade cutting through his gauntlet to leave his hand useless for wielding a weapon.
"This is the consequence of your actions," she told him coldly, even as he cried out in pain and the mage in shock. "If you poke your head into the lions den you can't blame the lion for biting it."
"[Fury Overdrive]," the voice of the mage said from behind her, clearly the mages second trump.
Even as Taylor turned, surprised at the mages actions, she detected the much stronger than previous spell she was casting, and acted quickly, using one of her new abilities she would have particularly appreciated possessing in her last life, a set of insect wings emerging from her back to allow her to hover in the air above the pillar of fire the mage cast at her.
This first spell, after a delay, was followed by spell after spell in quick succession, which Taylor dodged without too much worry, occasionally taking an opportunity to blast Valerie with the same insect breath as she'd used on the rogue, which each time met a much weaker spell in answer, destroying the insects before they had a chance to live.
Behind her the knight struggled to his feet, his normally two-handed sword clutched in one hand, the other held against his armour.
"Val, renew the enchantment," he commanded, and soon his sword burned with fire again.
As soon as he saw the spell was ready he charged once more, raising his sword despite one of his hands uselessness.
Taylor let herself return to the ground, avoiding his clumsy strikes. "You won't surrender," she asked softly.
"Never! I would rather die first!"
"So be it," Taylor sighed, and snapped her fingers.
At this signal a spell she had been keeping in reserve activated, the floor beneath the knight collapsing into a pit, from which the head of an antlion emerged.
Taylor forced herself to watch as the knight was bitten in half, the remains of his body dropping to the ground.
It wasn't the first death she'd seen, nor the first she'd caused, but it was the first time she was driven to kill without being able to disperse her emotions into a swarm.
They were willing to invade the world I am here to protect, she reminded herself. If I was unable to stop him many more would have died.
There was a wail of grief behind her, and the mages attempts at killing her redoubled.
Closely followed by the priestesses return.
Even as Taylor continued to dodge the mages fire, she kept an eye on the priestess as she tried to do… something.
It wasn't clear what she was trying to do, only that it wasn't working, and Taylor made use of the opening the priestesses distraction, and mages reducing spellfire, provided to dart in and render the mage unconscious like the rogue.
"And then there was one," Taylor commented, hoping that the priestess could be convinced to surrender now that there was only the two of them.
"What have you done to my connection to the Lady Lumina?"
Taylor raised an eyebrow at the priestesses demand. "Nothing. It is simply that, within my Dungeon, your 'Lady Lumina' is unable to interfere directly. Here, my power is supreme."
Which wasn't an exaggeration if her 'skills' description was accurate.
"I will smite you in my Ladys name and avenge Damien!"
Taylor couldn't help sighing. "Your friends are unconscious or dead, your final trump card is useless and you're facing a Demon Lord. There is courage and then there is foolishness. Trying to fight further is the latter."
"You will not deter me from following my Ladys path," the priestess answered, her mace starting to glow with holy light as she charged Taylor.
"Then may you be gifted with the embrace of your goddess in the afterlife," Taylor told her, preparing to meet her attack.
The first sign that things weren't going her way was the expression on the priestesses face as she caught the mace upon her shield, the separation between her and the weapon enough to allow her new physiology to withstand the impact without harm.
"You made one mistake," the priestess stated, her vicious grin setting off alarm bells in Taylors head.
If she hasn't taken the time to brag that could have been it for Taylors second life, but instead she was already leaping back when the priestess acted.
"[Divine Wrath]," the priestess called, channeling pure magic through her body and into everything close to her.
In this case Taylors shield arm.
It felt as though her arm was being turned inside out.
Within seconds the spell was finished, and Taylor could tell her arm was useless.
Hopefully it wasn't permanent, but right now she was going to have to fight one-handed.
Fortunately the priestess was not unscathed, trembling on her knees from the aftershocks of her magic, her armour smoldering and blackened.
Realisation crossed Taylors mind.
"You deliberately lied about your trump cards. Did you know I was listening?"
There was the hollow sound of laughter from the priestess.
"I couldn't let Damien know I was stronger than him," she said, forcing herself to her feet. "His last relationship fell apart because he couldn't keep up with her. I wasn't going to let that happen to us."
"So you decided to build a relationship upon a lie?"
"It was the only way we could be together, but now…"
The unthinking rage she'd expected earlier was present upon the priestesses face.
"It is my advantage," the priestess whispered, before launching herself forward, aiming her mace, it's glow starting to fade, at Taylors weakened side.
Taylor lent back, under the blow, before swinging her sword up at the priestess.
Rather than fall back, as she'd expected, the priestess continued pushing forwards, as if she hadn't noticed her attack miss, letting Taylors sword pierce her neck.
And so the priestess, Cynthia Taylor reminded herself, fell at her hand as well, her face strangely peaceful.
Taylor sighed.
"And what was even the point of this," she couldn't help asking herself, before getting a hold of herself. "Now isn't the time for that."
With a thought she activated the Dungeons ability to absorb foreign matter, the fallen adventurers and their gear fading, along with much of the gear of the surviving pair.
Much to Taylors relief, when she realised that their gear was being affected too, their clothes were not claimed as well.
She glanced through the notifications her Dungeon provided, dismissing them once she was sure there was nothing important.
"And what to do with you," she asked herself, turning her attention to Garret and Valerie. They weren't bad people after all, and she didn't want to kill them if she didn't have to.
She needed somewhere to contain them, separate from the Dungeon proper and her quarters within it…
Special Room available
Prison
A new notification informed her, getting a shrug.
"That's convenient," she couldn't help commenting, reading through what the Dungeon interface could tell her.
It seemed that anyone within the prison would be unable to escape without outside interference, so Taylor felt that it would be safe enough to place within her section of the Dungeon, rather in the main section where they could be more easily found and rescued. On top of that, the prison itself would act to keep the prisoners alive, with the added benefit that the prisoners would increase the Dungeons MP generation, allowing her to grow it faster.
The mention of the Dungeons MP made her check to see what its current level was.
160/60.
That… wasn't exactly reassuring, given the warnings about letting the mana exceed it's cap.
Then again, this was enough mana to add another floor, a process she set in motion as quickly as she could, navigating through the Dungeon interfaces menu hastily.
Second floor under construction
With the notification appearing the MP dropped to within safe levels, and she turned her attention back to her 'guests',
With the prison escape-proof there wasn't a danger in putting it in her private area of the Dungeon, so she created a new corridor within it and added a room at the end, using the basic rectangular shape provided.
With the prison constructed she transported the adventurers inside, carrying them one by one, before examining the rooms upgrade menu.
The battle with the party of adventurers left her able to easily afford all the upgrades, split between keeping them safely contained without needing her personal attention to letting her speak with then without having to enter the cell, so she went ahead and bought them, watching the room alter itself around them.
With the threat of the adventurers dealt with the 'button' to reset the Dungeons perils became available on the interface, so she took the opportunity to 'press' it.
Within seconds the Spider Floor was as it was before the adventurers visited, and all without any MP cost thanks to the 'theme',
That was definitely something to aim for on later floors, if she could just find out what requirements each theme had without trial and error she could save the Dungeons MP for expansion.
A thought crossed her mind.
The party had managed to reach her, even with their obvious unpreparedness for Dungeon delving, and if they had brought more people they could easily have overwhelmed her.
There had to be some way to prevent the Dungeon being overwhelmed…
A search through the room menu found an answer.
The entrance hall, a room that didn't count towards the floor limit and was free to construct, allowed a level of control over what adventurers were allowed into the Dungeon at one time.
She set it to construct at the beginning of the Dungeon without hesitation, using its settings to limit adventurers to one party numbering no more than six in the Dungeon at any time, the strictest settings the entrance hall allowed.
A final check of the Dungeon and she retired to her chambers to sleep, hoping that her arm would recover overnight.
Otherwise she could have a problem.
AN: And as it turns out, transferring chapters from phone to the site via laptop is easy once you know how, even if the spell-check on the word processor didn't actually work.
This chapter was quite a bit shorter, as the focus was on the boss battle, but later chapters will likely be longer again, aided by flashbacks to the creation of the first floor that was more or less skipped over, due to being mostly the same as in the original Plot Bunny. I have tried to workout the MP limit and generation rate from the original, but if you think I've made a mistake please contact me with your workings.
On to the contents of the chapter and Taylors injury... just because the party was unprepared for what they actually ended up facing doesn't mean she should just get away without injury, and the priestess being last to fall did leave her as the best choice for a 'sacrificial attack', one that doesn't quite count as a 'trump card' given the consequences to using it.