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You have helped Eli the exiled Orc to find and bind an ancient creature to his will, allowing the Orc to continue with his plans of vengeance.
Rewards: 2 500 000 gold
Golden Retriever's Ball.
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Hera was still shell-shocked after what happened. Eli was a bit strange at times, but she was never really expecting him to go full villain mode. Yet, it seemed like that's exactly what he did.
His entire plan was to unleash a goose that lay golden eggs onto something that she still didn't know what it was. And it was pretty obvious that there was no way of catching him right now. The dungeon was likely set up in a way that if he got what he was after, everything would be gone and people wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Even the city of Au Dorado had vanished after the baby goose swallowed it all.
Though still, the Empress couldn't help but feel so much frustrated with that, not just because she never thought it coming, but also because it felt like the dungeon didn't really need her. It was very similar to an old movie that was beloved by many. The twist was that without the main character of that movie, all the events would happen in the same way. And Hera was having a similar feeling right now.
"Were we really the background characters here?" she asked her Court.
"I'm afraid to say, but I think we were," Lurize replied.
The last dungeon where she saw an Orc was somehow similar. A dungeon about two girls learning how to fight. She was there just as a mentor of sorts. But this one felt particularly bad, like a movie with an unsatisfying ending.
The worst part was that she didn't even manage to get the hard mode, meaning that if she wanted to, she would have to come back here again and probably thwart Eli's plans. Maybe destroy the spell circle or bind it to herself. There were many options, but she wasn't going to think about them right now.
And it was only half because she was upset about being tricked. The real reason was that she was worried about the ghosts. They appeared in the dungeon, and while it seemed like right now it was still, she wasn't entirely sure what to expect. She didn't want to just step outside.
The Empress was considering her options. She could have one of her party members go out first and report back, but that would put them in danger if the specters recognized them. The best way to go about it would be using the snakes, but they were still outside, and it would take a few hours for them to get back here. And taking that long might not be the best option. After all, sundown wasn't that far away. Even if the ghosts tended to appear only at midnight, she couldn't act as if that would be the case everywhere.
But then she decided to check the dungeon reward. After all, the name was interesting, and maybe she would be lucky to get something that could help her.
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Golden Retriever's Ball
A golden ball used to play with a golden retriever.
By tossing this ball, you will be able to summon a miniature golden retriever to your side. The golden retriever will follow your commands and is able to understand everything the summoner can understand, although it is not capable of speaking. The golden retriever is proficient in the search of rare natural minerals.
Summon Duration: 1 hour.
Cooldown: 10 hours.
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"That could work, couldn't it?" Daskka said.
The Herald wasn't doing much in this dungeon since the new Court members wanted to shine, but more than that, she was starting to feel like she was lagging behind. She didn't have powerful attributes like the rest of the Court, and her healing abilities were now much inferior to Filigree's. For those reasons, Daskka was sulking a little bit. She knew that Hera would never get rid of her even if she could, but the fact that she wasn't helping as much was starting to bother her.
"I mean, maybe. We have no guarantee that a construct will be able to see those Spirits. We know snakes do, but they are more linked to me than a random summon, you know?" Hera replied.
"Yeah, but there's only one way to figure that out," Daskka said.
"You're right," Crimson agreed.
She gave the ball a gentle toss. But unlike what she was expecting, the Golden Ball started to bounce around, moving much faster than she expected. Eventually, the ball vanished between some bushes, and a second later, a tiny version of the golden retriever, which was very much just a golden retriever made of gold.
Hera stared at it for a moment while it dropped the ball in front of her feet and started wagging its tail. There was something that was making her feel strange about this dog made of gold because she couldn't quite wrap her head around it. The proportions were wrong. By the size, this should be a puppy. Yet the proportions were that of a fully grown one. It didn't have that cuteness that baby dogs used to have.
Instead, it just had the physicality of an adult dog. Not to say that it wasn't cute. Of course it was, but there was this strange disconnection between the size and what one would expect from it. It was adorable, and it had the same eyes with no thoughts behind them that the larger version had.
The Empress reached down and gave the dog made out of precious metals some scratches, finding that while it was hard and rough to touch, it was surprisingly malleable, even if it was nowhere close to an actual dog.
Hera gave a few commands just to see how well the dog would follow them. Small things at first, like sit and bark. However, the golden retriever couldn't make any sound. And while that did feel strange, it wasn't to the point where she felt the need to complain.
Then, she tried to give a more complicated request.
"I need you to go back there," she pointed behind a group of trees that were nearby, "and tell me which one of my title blades is holding up two fingers."
She didn't explain to the dog what title blades were or who it should be looking for, but she sent Vulcan, Lurize, and Crescendo back. The three blades would be using [Blade Accord] to create small fingers made out of cloud and chain to see if the dog would be able to understand who was holding up two fingers.
The golden retriever quickly went in the direction that she sent him to, and a moment later it came back. She asked which one it was, and the dog started looking around, unsure how to answer. It ran back towards the trees and started dragging Vulcan by his apron, which they had agreed would be the one holding up the two fingers.
"Way to go, Bosco," Forge said with a smile as he walked together with the golden retriever.
"Bosco?" Hera asked.
"Suits him," Forge replied with a shrug.
"Fair enough," she said, already confirming that the related item description had changed to add the name.
"Now, Bosco, I need you to go out of the dungeon and see if you can find any specters or ghosts. When you come back, you need to make a line on the ground using your paw. It means no ghosts. Two lines for ghosts, and three lines for ghosts that are not Naga."
Bosco tried to bark, but no sound came out, and then nodded before rushing out of the dungeon.
"Say, mum, do you think there might be a problem if he comes out of the dungeon? Maybe the connection breaks or something?" Daskka asked.
Hera paused for a moment, then shook her head.
"I don't think so. I mean, it doesn't really make sense for that to happen since even my snakes can get into contact with me. Besides, there's not really a connection. It's just an item that I'm telling to do something."
"Yeah. I guess you're right," Daskka replied.
Hera waited five, then ten, then fifteen minutes, and she started to get worried.
"Did you remember to tell it to only look the surrounding area? Maybe it understood as look everywhere for the Spirits," Viper suggested.
"I really hope it didn't do that," Hera said.
"Don't worry. I am sure it will perform its duties to the utmost of its ability," Avalon tried to cheer her up.
"Thanks, but I'm now starting to get—" Before she could finish the sentence, Bosco came running back from the entrance of the dungeon. The golden retriever stepped closer to her and spun around three times before sitting and staring at her for a moment.
"Did you find anything, boy?" the Empress asked.
Bosco tried to bark again, unable to do so, and drew a single line using his paw.
"One line means no ghosts, right?" Crescendo asked.
They all nodded, and Hera thanked the golden retriever by giving it a few scratches on the back of its head.
Trusting what the construct said, Hera walked towards the entrance of the dungeon with her Court by her side. Once outside, she started to move back to the guard tower that she was using to spend the night. The place was just as she left it. No presence of specters, ghosts, or anything really. She had yet to see any monster in this plateau, which was starting to bother her. Unlike the plateau with the poison lake, there was no reason for the lack of monsters here. Unless the Spirits were actually attacking any creatures that lived nearby. But she had not gotten any signals from her snakes, which was starting to make it even weirder.
"Say, mum. We know this tree works to stop the ghosts, right?" Daskka asked as they walked inside.
"Yeah, we do," Hera nodded.
"And there are a lot of those roots in the ground, like spreading out, right?"
Hera turned to the snake on her neck and asked, "Where are you going with that?"
"I'm thinking. Don't you think that we could grab a bunch of wood and take it back to your dad? He's really good at working with that kind of thing, isn't he?"
Hera blinked slowly. "Why didn't I think about that?" she said with a frown.
"You were just too busy," Daskka replied with pride in her voice, happy to be able to contribute something to the exploration.
"We should really get some of that wood then," Hera said while already moving outside.
Filigree looked up at the sky as they left. "I don't think we have enough sunlight to get back to Zaxalam before sundown."
"Unless..." Nimbus glanced at Vulcan with a smirk.
"You are not wrong. If I awaken you, we can probably make it back with even more wood," Forge waved his hammer.
Hera let out a sigh. "At least I didn't eat anything." Any time she took Nimbus's Awakened form for a spin, she ended up feeling very sick. At the same time, she also realized she needed to awaken Filigree for the first time, and the new Court members, so she could understand their new abilities while under that state.
A couple of hours later, Hera and the Court had managed to get enough roots for what they assumed to be enough for armor for two people. They had to dig up some of them, and then, using her blueprint skill to create a large net. Then, to double down, she also used [Blade Accord] to reinforce the net with the metal strands.
While that was going on, Nimbus was awakened by Forge. The Sentinel grew a few centimeters, becoming his empowered version surrounded by small clouds that followed his limbs. He quickly changed to his Griffon form, which was now bigger and with longer wings. Hera tied everything up around his waist and climbed up on the mount.
The Empress took a deep breath before Nimbus jumped into the air and started flying. The Ophidianite held on tightly, hoping that this would end soon as the speed the Sentinel could reach was incredible. He even asked Hoop to stay outside, on the Ophidianite's waist in order to gain some benefits of his buff. That allowed the Sentinel get over to 200 km/h in a few seconds, and his speed kept growing.
In just a few minutes, they arrived at the doorway to Zaxalam. But more than that, Hera received several messages from her dad in the past couple of days. There were about 50 of them, ranging from Eridan saying he needed to talk to her, to more urgent messages stating that he needed her help right away. Most of those messages were sent within the span of a few minutes.
Only in the last one there was an actual explanation:
"Hera. Sorry for freaking out on you. I actually need your help with something. The System gave me a quest. I can become an Ophidianite now."
Reading that, Hera quickly crossed over and rushed back home. It was early evening, but he should still be up. The message came last night, and the Empress could only hope that her dad didn't start the whole process without her.
#### Author's note ####
Finally someone else get's to be an Ophidianite!
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