Chapter 135

AN: Actually edited and complete for once! Please let me know If I missed anything!

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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The Twelfth was vast. It was, far and away, the largest space I'd worked with so far. A cavern the size of Europe, Ii was a blank canvas, begging an artist to paint it. Exquisite in its raw potential. And I had so many ideas. First, though, I needed to establish the mood. The vibes must be immaculate.

Where the Eleventh was akin to the Odyssey writ small, the Twelfth would mimic the Journey to the West. Guilders would take months to cross it from end to end, and they must do so multiple times in their quest. Each quote-unquote 'corner' of this floor would house a temple, a barrow, a tomb. Huge complexes would take weeks to explore, exhaust, and complete. Not just tunnels and rooms but hidden chambers activated by puzzles concealed in plain sight. Each would culminate in a miniboss battle, where the death of the miniboss would release part of the seal on the final complex.

The final complex would rest in the center of the inland sea, which was filling with water and life.

This sea would be wreathed in an eternal storm, discouraging any from sailing and navigating far from the shore. Only after the last seal was released would the storm cease and allow passage to the island it defended. The island would be entirely covered in battlements and keeps, seemingly designed to keep something in as much as it would keep intruders out. The floor's boss would be behind a final vault door emblazoned with the symbols of each miniboss slain. 

Honestly, I was highly tempted to make that final boss a dragon. Not Cadmus, though, since I didn't really want to chain them to a single room.

The final boss would be a mad dragon. Not capable of speech, nor would it wish to communicate. It would have an animal cunning, sheer strength and size, instinctive magic, and of course...

It was under no obligation to remain in its arena once released.

Every complex would house multiple warnings and hints about the Calamity sealed, and the minibosses would desperately attempt to convince the guilders to abandon their mad quest. If they saw it through, released the seals, and opened the vault, the Calamity would be unleased.

Not in the dungeon.

But on the world.

As a final line of defense, I would descend as my avatar in the final arena and attempt to convince the guilders not to do this. That doing so would doom us all.

Someone who'd made it that far was that determined... they'd be akin to Hallmark in their mad desperation to get at my core and destroy me. Any attempt to warn them that killing me would doom the world would likely fail. But faced with a being, a creature they can face... which then conjures a portal, laughs mockingly, and crawls into the world above?

If they were heroic, they'd desperately follow and return to the surface to fight the being they'd unwittingly unleashed. The Calamity would have instincts to fly away from Atlantis, and once it passed that 5-mile barrier, I would lose the ability to guide it. It would truly be out of control.

Hopefully, it would cause a problem far larger and more immediate than continuing to attempt to shatter me. If not, if these guilders pushed forward to reach my core despite everything being put in their way, the world would be doomed anyway.

If it wasn't obvious, I didn't really have plans for a Thirteenth floor. I could work on the twelfth for months, perhaps years. Sculpting, expanding, decorating, hand-crafting the mountains, carving streams and rivers...

At most, the thirteenth chamber would be where my core would rest. If I ever decided that the twelfth was complete... I could make a world. An entire world, not just a continent. And I wouldn't make it obvious, nor leave any ruins or hints. 

I could hide my core within that world, somewhere unobtrusive, in the middle of nowhere, where no one could possibly find it without centuries to millennia of exploration. I was under no obligation to leave my core on the surface. As with my dungeon above, finding the entrance was step one, but what about two through ten?

But that was all in the future. 

With the initial planning stage complete, it was time to get to work.

I pulled on some pre-made enchantments and watched as a mountain range rose from the ground. It ran from the northeast corner of the floor, around the northwest side of the inland sea, and trailed off into the foothills as it reached the southwest corner. Its highest peaks sat dead north of the sea, eerily similar to the Eighth floor. Hundreds of streams, fed by snow-capped mountains and 'springs,' would run down the slopes, feeding a dozen small rivers. A hidden world of dinosaurs and ancient creatures would guard a vine-covered temple deep in the northwest corner.

To the north, nestled under the absolute ice and stillness of the triple peaks, would rest a fiery hellscape. Multiple layers of lava-filled chambers and caverns, inhabited by creatures both seen and yet to be made.

To the east, I carved a canyon from the rock that would be cut by a stream leading to the sea. It would lie hidden within a desert of dunes, and in the far southeast corner of the floor, I pulled up a single, lonely, twin-peaked mountain. I would craft a ruined city of absent lights and tattered cloth at its base.

At this point, you must understand what I'm going with here.

In the rolling foothills of the mountains, that forest of giant trees and fauna I mentioned earlier would rest. In the far southwest corner, rising from the core of the forest, The World Tree would dominate the landscape. It would bear an entire civilization nestled in its branches. To the south of the sea would be rolling plains, cut through by one or two large rivers, the most peaceful area by far, and one I expect will be extensively inhabited by my Children. 

In the northeast, where the mountains met the desert, ruins of a different nature would lie.

A shining city of steel and glass, cut down in its prime, is an entirely different challenge to navigate and explore. At the edge of that city, rising from the sand, would be an oxidized head, shoulders, and an arm with a torch raised high. 

To the west... the 'coastline' of the Eleventh. The entrance to the floor.

The Eleventh's final area, where the exit lay, was against the wall opposite the entrance. And it was much the same as that, a rough semicircle of land, with the enchantments upon the walls making it seem as if the coastline extended on forever.

After passing through the exit and a short tunnel into the Twelfth, they would emerge at the peak of a hill, with a view behind that mimicked the Eleventh. Ahead, their right would be dominated by the World Tree. Their left would be dominated by primeval, dinosaur-filled forests and mountains. They would see the rest of the floor only after climbing the mountains or passing through the Giant Forest.

I cracked my metaphorical fingers. More than a week had passed as I carved the landscape, and just as I was about to get into crafting the enchantment for the illusionary sky, I was pinged.

The young Isekai'd heroes had reached the Second's Boss.

I hadn't watched any fights with the Second's boss since they'd evolved into The Perfect Predator. I wondered how this would turn out as I prepped the boss's music, especially for them.

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The Boss Arena, The Second Floor, The Dungeon

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Trying his best to ignore the familiar dramatic music half-dampened by being underwater. Tamesou Akio raised his shield, putting in extra effort to move quickly. With a slam, the second-floor boss crashed against the shield and pushed him back with a grunt. That was gonna bruise. Amaterasu retaliated as they'd planned, with a concussive flash of light in the monster's eyes. The fish was only stunned for a second, but it was enough for Akio to slash his sword. An arc of light lashed out, slicing into the monster's thick scales. Before he could do more, it moved, and he was on the other side of the room in seconds, out of reach of anyone.

This thing was a nightmare.

It'd been hard enough learning to fight underwater, how difficult it was to slash and even move. No, the boss just had to have the unique skills of all three major fish monsters. Jet-like propulsion to rapidly strike and escape, scales that shed and left clouds of glittering, sharp, impassible space. It was also huge, roughly eighteen meters long from tip to tail, as far as he could estimate.

If it'd only been a meter long or so, it wouldn't have been a problem, even with its abilities. They could corral it and overpower it. But at almost twenty meters, it was more like a shark than a fish, a dangerous predator that only needed one luck shot to bite off limbs. He'd heard stories of guilders that'd only regained their limbs thanks to the very experienced healers.

Akio kicked his feet, launching himself up just in time for the boss to get beneath him in an attempt to bite his feet off. He lashed out again as it moved past him, leaving yet another slash mark against its scales. There were more than a dozen now, and they weren't affecting it much.

Akio breathed through his enchanted mask and signaled the rest of his team.

Bruce nodded back and started waving his arms about. The dust and particles in the water started spinning around him, defining the whirlpool he now floated, unaffected, in the middle of.

Sophie started taunting the boss, appearing in its shadow, stabbing it, and reappearing in its field of view. The fish was smart, or at least that's what the guidebook had said. Everything Akio'd seen had proven it right so far. The fish knew Sophie had attacked it, and It knew she was taunting it. But that didn't mean it wasn't infuriated by a foe that could attack it with impunity but couldn't touch. 

It lunged at her, but she turned to shadow as it got close.

Instead, it slammed into one of the pillars of the arena, causing a light quaking. The pillar visibly cracked. Random rocks broke off from the ceiling and sunk to the ground. Maybe bringing the arena down on them wasn't the best idea. Akio signed the next time he caught the rogue's eye, and she nodded. No more of that.

From the corner of his eye, Akio saw Bruce signaling. His part was ready.

That entire side of the arena was now a trap designed to funnel the monster and trap it in conflicting currents. It should be unable to swim, thrown around at the whims of the currents. Sophie's next taunt had it swim into the fish trap-like entrance to these currents. One could enter but not escape.

Just as planned, the monster was trapped. Bruce held a hand, signaling to wait as Akio moved into position. He watched the currents slam the monster into the floor, the ceiling, the wall, more and more stunned every time. At Bruce's thumbs-up, Akio cast his improved laser spell. Unlike the previous one, which rendered him almost blind as the beams burst from his eyes, a single beam emitted from his forehead this time. The yellow light was directed by his eyes and impacted exactly where he focused. He glared intently at the point just above and behind its eyes; its brain.

The water bubbled and sizzled as his laser beam heated it, cutting right through and disrupting the currents Bruce had crafted.

As his mana ran low, Akio cut off the spell.

The boss remained still against the floor, eyes staring unseeing and immobile.

It was dead.

Akio swam over to Bruce and gave him a high-five, then gave one to a proudly smiling Sophie. The Second had tested them, even with the guidebook explaining all the known traps, signs of them, and how to avoid them or trigger them safely. They'd been delving without Haythem and Bertram for a week or so now. Though it was initially harder, he'd worried about not having that safety net...

Akio could tell they'd grown faster in the last week than the entire time they'd been on Atlantis and an order of magnitude faster than during the months of training and travel across Theona.

Near them, a door slowly pushed itself open. The way through to the Third. And Loot. They'd gotten the prime slot today, the first delve of the day. The loot chests reset daily, and they were the first to reach this one. They swam through the exit, then up into fresh air. Bruce was kind enough to wring their clothes and armor dry, though he couldn't do anything for the slightly salty crust left behind.

In the center of the room was a battered-looking chest, one that wouldn't look out of place in a sunken wreak. Akio opened it, revealing the loot within. He pulled out a pair of fish-scale gloves. Despite being bone-dry, they felt wet. He shrugged and handed them to Bruce. They probably had water magic in them. They could get the enchantment appraised when they got back to the surface.

Other than that, there was a bag of Talons they could exchange on the surface and a weird pair of glasses. Akio looked through them, but they didn't seem to do anything but make his friends light up in weird colors. He shrugged; maybe someone would pay for them at the guild or the market.

The Third Awaited!

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The Creator, Atlantis, The Kalenic Sea

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I quickly returned to the Twelfth floor, for I had so much work yet to do, and I loved it.

After a while, a day maybe, I noticed Taura, Wave, and Cadmus flying through the mostly barren cavern. Cadmus had apparently told them about seeing the cavern expand, and they wanted to see what it looked like so far. It was definitely still a work in progress. Water was still filling the sea, and clouds had begun forming as the moisture evaporated under the daylight of the biggest manastar I'd made yet. 

Unlike other floors featuring one of these false suns, this one was immobile in the center of the ceiling. Another enchantment redirected the light it gave off, bending and projecting it from the appropriate point for the time of day. At night, the light would be filtered through a second enchantment that changed it into moonlight at an appropriate intensity for the phase. Of course, the moon was just an illusion, as was the rest of the sky, but I ensured it would act as a moon was supposed to, appearing during the day when appropriate.

I've had a lot of practice with sky illusions over the last four floors, and this one was the best yet if I do say so myself. I might have made some quick modifications to my older ones when this one turned out so well.

At night, the sky was alight with stars. The Milky Way was detailed and vivid, as were the half-dozen visible nebula, lit from within as they were by even brighter stars. I was still working on the sunrises and sunsets. I wanted an element of randomness in the colors and variation so it wasn't just the same old sunset every day.

With that done and the rough shape of the mountains, valleys, the canyon, and other features ready, I decided it was time to add some soil and greenery.

The 'Thirteenth Floor' was already getting quite large as I excavated it for materials.  And I hadn't even started on the desert yet. 

Alongside the whole overwhelming plants with mana trick to make soil, as I'd done with the Tenth and Eleventh, I had an additional resource available to me.

Life Manabeings.

Yes, that's right. I want the ferny, tropical seeds in the northwest, the more temperate tree seeds in the southwest, large grassy plains to the south, and the boreal forest seeds in the mountains. You know the differences, right?

"Of course, Contractor. You can count on us!" The bubby manabeing answered her moss-green form, almost entirely surrounded by sprites and pixies who also chimed in.

Excellent. Oh, by the way, did you want a name? I know you only reached spirit level relatively recently, and some prefer to remain nameless.

"I don't have one yet... Names are hard." The mossy spirit answered. Her humanoid form was remarkably familiar, with mossy skin and long dreadlock-like moss hair that trailed behind her. Darker, 'looser' patches of moss gave her the illusion of clothing. It was interesting, particularly because she was the first manabeing with the illusion of modesty without prompting or inspiration from seeing humans or my Children walking around in clothes. "Could you give me one?"

I can, indeed. If you have no complaints, I would name you Te Fiti. It was only appropriate, given the Deja Vu her appearance gave me.

"I like it! It's got a very interesting sound to it. Teeee Feetee. Yup! It's mine now. Anyway, we'll get right on it!"

With a mental nod, I 'stepped back' and watched the manabeings as they spread out from the floor's entrance. It'd only cost me a slightly increased upkeep cost, and they'd spread the seeds for me, using life mana to speed along their growth and propagation. Life mana was far, far, far more efficient at growing plants than the mostly even mix I'd been using as 'neutral' mana. One burst from a sprite over there had a swathe of trees spring up from the rock, the ground around them visibly turning into soil before grass and other plants sprouted.

Of course, It wouldn't be a quick process. There were only so many of them, and I was leery of summoning them en mass. After a week, they'd covered maybe a quarter of the southwestern forest. The life manabeings spreading vegetation, and the water manabeings filling the sea definitely sped things up. But that still left a lot for me to work on personally.

With the sky ready, green spreading, and the sea filling, I focused on the desert. It was... going to take a long fucking time to make all the sand I was gonna need. Not only that, but from experience, I knew this would be incredibly boring. But it needed to be done. When I got too bored, I would switch to something else, but until then, I was resolved to make as much sand as I could.

A steady stream of sand flowed from the future Thirteenth floor and deposited itself in the future desert. 

Slowly, ever so slowly, dunes rose from the flat expanse.

So, fucking slowly.

Urrrgh! I hate this already!

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