CHAPTER 75: CHAPTER 75 - IN OUR FAMILY, WE DUNGEON DELVE ON SUNDAYS

CW: some descriptions of gore.

"Here we are. The entrance to the Laughing Crypt."

It looks like a mausoleum in classic Greek style, albeit it’s lined with statues in a style more akin to late medieval cathedrals.

"What monsters can we expect to find inside, Mom?"

"Undead. Of all kinds."

Undead, huh? I’ve only seen some once, in Lovelace’s dungeon. They are creepy.

"I’ve fought some low-level skeletons before. They were scary but easy to deal with."

"You can expect more than simple skeletons in there, Aurea."

She sighs.

"Listen, Aurea. If you really want to come in, please start taking this seriously. You still sound like a kid on vacation."

Oopsie.

"I’m taking it seriously, Mom. I can’t really help sounding excited, because I am, but I am taking it seriously. I promise."

She sighs again, shaking her head.

"I’m probably going to regret this, but let’s head inside."

:::

The first level has only skeletons and the cookie-cutter zombies. Nothing too interesting, except for some beautifully detailed frescoes and stone coffins.

Everything looks like a mishmash of Earth’s architectural designs of different eras and cultures. I’ve never seen anything so uncanny in this world.

We make a small pause right before heading to the next floor so we can catch our breath and check for any injuries.

"Was this dungeon originally a proper crypt where people buried their dead and then became a dungeon, or was it created as a dungeon from the beginning?"

"It was originally a crypt. If the information I have is true, the undead started appearing after the goddess took over."

"That’s not true, Lady Lillian. There were already some undead back then. Though I’ve never seen anything like this before."

"What do you mean by anything like this?"

"I mean, these numbers and autonomy. Back in the day, they would have to be raised by a proper necromancer and lasted a few minutes at most."

"Necrowhat?"

"Necromancers, Lady Lillian. The mages who specialize in raising the dead and dealing with that kind of stuff."

"I’ve never heard about it. But the Church forbids any magic to be applied on dead bodies, without mentioning anything specific."

"Necromancy was also forbidden back then. Some crazy people would appear from time to time, and we were often tasked with ending their activities."

"I suppose that to raise the dead you would need a blend of Dark and Spirit elements, right? One to stabilize the decaying corpse, and the other to animate it."

"You’re right, Aurea. That’s exactly how it works."

"I see... So nobody hears about necromancy today because it depends on two elements that aren’t talked about."

"That’s probably right. But it doesn’t explain this place."

"Let’s keep going; the real loot is downstairs."

"Right, Lady Lillian."

"Okay, Mom."

:::

The first four floors are too easy. The loot consists of some coins and low-grade weapons. At some point, we find a small emerald.

"I think that this is enough to get us through to the capital."

"But, Mom, we might get some more on the next floor. We’ve been going smoothly, and it never hurts to have some extra cash."

"There’s a boss on the fifth floor."

"All the better. A boss means serious loot."

"Lady Lillian. I agree with your line of thinking in principle, but I also agree with Aurea’s evaluation of our current situation. We are overleveled for this dungeon, so we can go one more floor."

"Urgh. Okay, you two. Just one more floor, okay? We kill the boss, take its loot, and head out."

"Yay!!"

"Good."

"Sincerely, you two..."

Mom sighs but goes along with our eagerness.

:::

"You know that if this was an anime, you would get a cease and desist in your face, right?"

I say to the monster in front of us.

It’s a tall and strong skinless zombie. It looks like those drawings of the body with the muscles from anatomy books and is too similar to the 50 meters tall titan of a popular anime.

It’s ugly. Terribly ugly.

The drawings in the anatomy books and the anime don’t convey the reality of seeing the real thing.

Muscles contracting and relaxing as it moves, with lots of fluids going around, including the arteries and veins full of blood that sometimes just drip and trickle down.

Sometimes it’s possible to see some of the inner organs in between the muscles.

But the worst are the eyes. We can see the muscle responsible for moving the eyeball around, and it doesn’t have any eyelids, so it’s always staring. An empty, cold stare.

And the stench is horrible. A smell of putrid blood and bile that makes me want to puke.

"This is no time for joking around, Aurea."

Mother takes the lead, thrusting her spear, clad in a cloak of wind, into the thing’s chest.

I follow up by launching a controlled lightning bolt.

I’ve been training to restrict my lightning spells so they might be usable in group combat situations like this one. It loses a lot of power, but it’s still effective.

At the same time, Lovelace finishes her aria, tugging at the dark element forces that are responsible for sustaining the thing together.

With just these three attacks, it comes undone. In a very literal sense, it falls to the floor in a pile of flesh, organs, and bones.

This is really gruesome. I wonder what monsters are on the next floors. But I know that Mom would never agree with going there.

"Now that I think about it, this was the boss who sent those adventurers packing, wasn’t it, Aurea?"

"Ohh, you’re right. I remember them talking about it. Well, the thing needed our three attacks to fall down, so it must be strong, for the normal standards."

"Yes, the Colossus is considered quite strong. It normally takes a party of at least six experienced adventurers to take one down."

"Really, Mom? Damn. I knew that we’re strong, but this puts a more concrete perspective on how strong."

Mother is looking baffled herself, her gaze switching from the monster to me and Lovelace.

"In any case, the chest with the loot is back there."

"Oh, you’re right, Lovelace. Let’s see what waits for us!"

The chest has a very nice sword, an amulet, some cool jewels, and a lot of coins.

"Now we’re talking. This is what I’m here for!"

"Aurea, greed is the bane of adventurers. Rein it in."

"Okay, Mom. But look at this."

I immediately cast Object Appraisal on the sword.

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Eternal Song

This sword hums a melody when attuned and unsheathed. It strengthens any air magic of the wielder and will further strengthen the air magic that is imbued in the sword.

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"This sword is perfect for you, Mom. It strengthens air magic!"

The blade is elegant, and the metal has a very faint bluish shine. The handle is neatly adorned with twig and leaf patterns and some flowers and inlaid with a few very small gems.

If sold, it would fetch a big price, but I think that we’ll be better off by using it than selling it.

Mom spends the next half an hour examining the sword. In the meantime, we backtracked all the way to the outside of the dungeon.

Yes, she was with her eyes glued to it even when we were walking through the corridors of the dungeon, so engrossed she got.

I guess she has with swords what I have with dungeons, huh? I’ll make sure to have a word about it the next time she tries to dissuade me from going into a dungeon.