Agnisotra: Origin Tails

I got hit with an instant déjà vu. It was unusually dark in her.

Please not another shadow behemoth…

I connected with the underground leyline currents and used [Fire dragon Festival] to light up the place. These students stared.

What? Did you not know that I have a high fire affinity?

It seems not everyone knew that. Not that affinity matters with Dragonvein but I’m not telling them that.

This place lit up just like a normal dark space so at least I don’t have to worry about fighting shadow behemoths. My supply of poison is still safe, not that I would have issues on dumping it. I do acknowledge that it has some uses. At the moment all it’s good for is defeating shadow behemoths, making ice cream and becoming my secret weapon if that noob god reappears.

Someone adjusted his glasses. “This place is fascinating!”

I disagree with Francis; it is just a large pyramid shaped room. It has some impressive decorations but that’s all. Is this all this dungeon has to offer? Where is the treasure? I feel a bit scammed. I can do without the obnoxious stuff it will throw at us but there isn’t even writing on the walls, ceiling or floor. Just a pedestal with a strange statue in the middle of the room. It is suspicious as fuck but the students still approached it.

Guys seriously? There is nothing in this room besides that statue, getting close to it obviously a bad idea…

“But we came here for the dungeon, right?” This random student had a point but…

None of you seem ready to get into battle. I suggest to make sure you look around, see what you want to see while avoiding that statue in the middle. After that we will see what pain in the ass challenge this place has for us. Let’s look around for an hour.

“Hey! The entrance is gone!”

Very sharp observation Mo. This happens in every dungeon, nothing new. Now go look around and gather here when you’ve had enough.

I made some fire dragons circle around the statue creating an area where the students couldn’t get close to without getting burnt. The students went to look around in this room which was about 300 by 300 meters. I couldn’t find any signs of deception or any mechanism that could lead underground. The only suspicious object in this room was this statue of some strange monster. I don’t recognize it.

It looked as if a slime had taken up the form of something hideous. It had traits of a lion, a pig and a manatee. But it looked as if it was made out of slime or it was melting. Not a handsome monster. I couldn’t determine if it was a real statue or a real monster that was petrified to become a statue. I guess we will find out soon. The monster was quite small, maybe a bit taller than an average human.

This monster must be a royal pain in the ass because this place would be quite easy otherwise.

Hey ancient relic, do you know what that monster there is supposed to be?

“The only ancient relic here is that statue. And I have never seen such a monster before. I assume it must be extremely strong to guard this place by itself.”

I hope it’s just super strong.

“Why? What would the alternative be?”

It having an extremely obnoxious ability. I have fought many strange things but the most problematic ones weren’t the ones that were strong, it were those with obnoxious abilities. A stupid pink broccoli comes to mind. Defeating it was easy but it just grew back because its 7 roots needed to be destroyed first, and these were spread out and guarded by powerful guardians. Also, some barriers and obnoxious puzzles here and there, an invasion of shades and attacks echoing, and the whole ordeal became a massive pain in the ass.

“That does not seem pleasant. Let’s hope this monster is just exceptionally strong.” Teppei walked off and went to inspect the dungeon. I gave them an hour but there wasn’t much interesting to see. Most of the students returned after half an hour.

“Hey dude, do you think there’s anything interesting up there?” Randy pointed up.

As far as I can see there’s nothing interesting there.

“Whoa, you can see that far? Beast kin are something else!” I was wondering if all this space had a reason or if the ancients got lazy.

There were some cases where they got lazy just like my very first dungeon with all the corundum but there are also cases where they go above and beyond and make something like that obnoxious Labyrinth of the Breathless. I started to form layers of illusions on every student and spreading shadow clones through the room. They also had started to draw some magic circles. I am planning on letting the students fight this thing without my help but I will jump in when this thing is extremely strong or annoying. Teppei also seems to have a similar idea. He looks relaxed but he is ready to jump in at any moment.

“This isn’t an exam, is it?” Midget and brunette said as they sat down next to me.

Hmm I just realized that it might look like one but it isn’t don’t worry.

I got up and addressed everyone. Right guys! I just got a very good question. The question was if this is an exam. It is not! I just want that you guys get some real-life experience. Most of you already had some by fighting the monsters in the jungle but those aren’t a match for you so it is not much practice. This thing however is going to either be strong or annoying so it will put you to the test. Normally 61 students against 1 monster is overkill but the adversaries in dungeons tend to be really strong so I hope 61 is enough. Teppei and I will jump in whenever it is too much. Just try to apply everything you have learned, not just from my course but also from others. This thing will kill you when it has the chance. Help each other. This is not a competition. Work together and put this ugly thing out of its misery and kill it.

“Let’s go!” A gutsy student seemed excited. I think her name was uhh Peach? Petrolia? Something with a ‘P’.

“We’re ready!” Said the guy that looked the least ready but that’s fine.

Cool, let me activate this statue then. I’m sturdier than you guys so if something happens it should be fine.

I approached the statue, covered myself in frost and touched it. It let out a mana pulse which seemed to be harmless. I slowly backed off as the statue was slowly coming to life.

The petrification was completely lifted but the creature didn’t move. It just looked around. The students kept their distance and were wary. It seemed to lock on the students that showed the most fear. Please let it just be able to detect fear and not have a stupid ability that feeds of fear.

It let out a shriek and exploded into black fog. The fog filled the whole room.

“Did it… self-destruct?”

Well, it did die but I bet my tail that it left an obnoxious effect behind.

The fog drowned out the light of my fire dragons, shadow behemoth style. Obnoxious effect in 3…2…1…

“Aaaah!”

And it’s here, let’s see. Hmm, a scene is playing in front of us. It’s one of my students giving a presentation in her underwear. The student who’s portrayed here seems terrified. Hmm, is it playing their deepest fear or… The scene morphed into her walking alone and still being in her underwear and other people laughing at her which is strange because she is a bit petite but it’s quite pleasant to look at. But the scene has some strange things going on. The scene disappeared and another scene appears and it's about another student he is just talking to his friends in a park but suddenly started falling. It’s not just the scene that’s falling. It put everyone in this room into freefall.

“Aaah! This is just like my nightmare!”

The guy seemed to have told me what this is. This dungeon is replaying nightmares similar to fears but not quite.

I had to save these students before they fell too far from me. I was still falling as slow as ever. I beckoned the fire dragons to me and shifted my stance to [Wind Dragon Festival] and sent them to pick up the falling students. The ground was approaching them swiftly and I managed to save everyone. I did save Teppei as last though. He was 2 meters away from hitting the ground.

Aren’t you a wind user old fart? Falling should be no problem for you.

“Are you insane? How am I supposed to break my fall with sword fighting?"

Ever heard of magic?

“I am not as gifted with magic as these young ones.”

Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know that. Hey guys listen this dungeon replays nightmares!

At that moment the room turned dark. The scene showed Randy sleeping in his bed and a strange yet creepy cat jumped on the foot of his bed. The room was dark but it’s eyes shone through the darkness. The cat then flashed a wide and creepy smile that could be seen even in the dark. It had very sharp teeth and the cat started to glow and grow. Randy seemed to be unable to move and run from this monster cat. It then escaped from the scene and started to attack the students around it.

The students were surprised but Francis recovered fast and took the lead and started issuing orders. I sat down and looked on as how the students organized and fought the monster cat. I think this dungeon assumed that only a small group or only 1 person would enter. The person who has had that nightmare would be most likely be paralyzed with fear or limited in his or her effectiveness in fighting it off as Randy was demonstrating. But this monster cat isn’t anything special. The students were struggling a lot at the start but once they got used to this unusual creature, they started restricting it’s movements.

The cat did throw shadow skills around but the students that could use light magic made short work of it so the cat had difficulties moving and could hardly attack.

“I have to say it does look like the students are bullying that monster. I’m sure it could give experienced adventurers a run for their money.” The ancient relic seemed to be impressed by the students performance. He was extra impressed with Crissy’s performance.

Well cc’ing your opponent is not that different from bullying so you’re correct.

The cat gave a monstrous cry as Randy finished it off with a [Flaming Kick] to its head. “Wow, that actually felt quite good. This nightmare won’t scare me anymore, thanks guys!”

The solidarity in the group seemed to have increased. They braced themselves for the next nightmare. Luckily most of the students were wimps and had nightmares about embarrassing scenes or strange phobias. Having them fight 61 monsters would be much to ask. The next nightmare was about some student drowning. it changed the area and put everyone underwater. I put the wind dragons, who were on standby, to work and save everyone and bring them to safety.

I dried everyone off to prepare them for the next nightmare and went to sit down beside Teppei. “What nightmares does a mythical beast have?”

I dropped the snack I was eating. Shit! My nightmare will also appear, won’t it?!

“Uhh, I assume so.”

I thought about it. What nightmare would appear, when we lost Hourai? When we lost Ted? Or…

I heard Hayley scream and saw her collapse on the floor. Her nightmare seemed to witness the weddings of all her friends and her staying single forever. There was no threat but it seemed to do emotional damage to Hayley and Crissy was comforting her.

The next 5 nightmares had strange monsters too. The students got a break from looking at their friends emotional traumas and fears and got to fight something.

The next nightmare was strange. It was Crissy at a wedding. Teppei turned pale. It played Crissy marrying someone who looked like a criminal but he morphed into someone who looked like a loser. Crissy seemed extremely embarrassed and Teppei looked terrified. I knew he was a doting grandparent but this just confirms it.

The next nightmare was a problem though… it also involved Crissy. A scene popped up where a guy confessed to Crissy and got brutally rejected. It was embarrassing for him and Crissy. There was one problem though.

“So, this is the guy you told me about!” Teppei got furious and drew Kazeshini.

Oh shit!

I shifted my stance and turned the wind dragons into [Ice Dragon Festival] and used them to restrain Teppei and block cuts he sent at the unfortunate guy who got his heart crushed by nightmare Crissy, got publicly embarrassed and earned the ire of Teppei. This must be the worst day of his life.

Calm down Teppei! It’s just a nightmare! He might not even like Crissy!

“Oh, so he thinks my Chris is ugly!”

I seemed to have pissed him off more. Nono! Nobody thinks Crissy is ugly!

“Oh, so he wants to wife her up!” He got even more angry.

I don’t think anything I could say would calm him down so I turned him into an ice cube. It was a temporary measure. Ugh this is rough.

More monsters. One was quite a challenge for them. Some students got hurt but not severely. Teppei had cooled off and helped the students land the killing blow. They had managed to pin it down. It couldn’t do anything but it just wouldn’t die so Teppei one-shot it. I held him back because they could use this time to rest up a bit and reorganize because the next nightmare would start when the monster dies.

The next nightmare started and Crissy screamed, ran at me and clutched my tail. It seemed to be her nightmare. Some creature that looked like a mixture of Woofus and a Breathless was chasing her through the labyrinth. She was terrified. It followed her nightmare version but she was cornered because she ran into a dead end. This is where the Breathless Woofus broke out of the scene and started attacking the students.

Hayley seemed to be taking an active role in fighting this thing because it also liked to disappear in bubbles and reappear and shoot lasers. This was their first challenging fight. They couldn’t lock this monster down.

I decided to help them after 15 minutes and froze the asshole so he couldn’t form into bubbles. After this it became easier for them. Hayley ran toward me, looking quite exhausted.

“Hey, can you freeze that monster so that we can rest? We’re exhausted. And how’s Crissy?” I looked over at Teppei who was comforting Crissy and froze the Breathless Woofus.

She just needs a bit of time. Go tell them to take a break. I will arrange for some food.

I took a buffet out of my dimensional pocket and let the students rest. After they defeat Breathless Woofus, they will have 12 more nightmares left.