My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem - My Dungeon Life – Chapter 1346-1348

Chapter 1346

As we moved through the city, I began to make out a massive building. It had to be the palace, the home of King Diorite. It wasn’t built of stone. It was built of crystal. It caught the light and glimmered in a way that even seemed to push back the darkness, allowing me to get a good look at the massive building. Many of the houses from before had been carved into the walls. The fronts of them looked to be built like your typical square home, but the backs sunk into the stone walls.

The palace was an exception to this rule. The entire massive cavern that made up this city carved out enough space that the palace could be placed in the center. From top to bottom, it was completely exposed and could be seen from every side. I realized that that the palace seemed to sit in the center, with a circular street around it, and an extension running off from every side. Although it was hard to tell because of the encroaching shadows, I was guessing the city had the shape of an asterisk.

I was still walking forward when I felt Sapphire’s hand slip from my back. I stopped and turned back, but there was no one there. I was immediately caught by surprise. Sapphire had only just let go of me a second before.  She wouldn’t have had time to chase after me.

“Sapphire?” I called out, the lack of echo making this place feel strangely menacing.

She had just been beside me, yet she disappeared now. She was my direction. It had been clear we were heading to the palace though. Should I continue, or should I check the buildings and look for her? As I was making such a decision, the door to the palace began to creak open. I immediately took a step back, and then pulled out my sword.

I was able to summon the sword from my blessing like normal, but since my inventory was in my soul world, I didn’t have it. As for my inventory rings, I had kept them in my soul world… because I didn’t want to risk losing them. From now on, I would keep goods and supplies with a ring on my body, and more food and supplies within my soul world. That way, whether I had my body or soul, I had access to supplies. As it was, I had been worrying a bit about food. Had the journey taken longer than a few days, there might have been trouble. Thankfully, it had only been a few hours.

As the sword appeared in my hand, it felt strangely limp. It was the same metal as before, but they’re just felt like something was off about it. It felt heavier and less nimble. It was the difference between picking someone up who was awake and picking someone up who was a dead weight. Without Alysia, the sword was just a lump of metal. I hadn’t thought about it before, but now I was reminded just how much weaker I’d be without her. I thought as long as I had the blade made of powerful alloys and forged by a master, it’d be fine, but it was nothing without the Osterian princess that came with it.

The door finished opening, a crack that leads into darkness. At least, I couldn’t see any light spilling out from within the palace. After a brief moment, a head popped out. It was a head filled with red hair, and I immediately recognized them.

“Garnet?” My eyes widened.

“Master! You found us!” She smiled.

Just like that, I had found Garnet.

Chapter 1347

“Garnet…” I took a step forward. “Are you okay?”

She waved her hand. “I’m fine, Master. What’s wrong?”

She glanced at my blade and her expression dropped before her eyes flickered back to me, the smile returning to her face.

“Where is Terra?”

“She’s in here.” She chuckled. “Come, Master. Hurry.”

I took another step forward. “What happened? Why haven’t you returned home?”

“Master, there is far too much treasure and supplies in here to take home!” She responded. “We needed Master to come and help us carry it all.”

“I’m… not in a position where I’ll be able to help carry as much,” I admitted.

She shook her head. “That doesn’t matter. Master will be enough. Come, Master.”

There was something suspicious about it, yet my feet kept moving me forward. I halved the distance between the door and myself. I carefully looked at Garnet, and even used skills to check her. There was nothing suspicious. I activated my dungeon store and rearranged my skills to give me Illusion Immunity. She was still there.

“Show me, Terra,” I instructed.

“Master… you’re being silly. Terra is right here.”

Another head poked out, which was undoubtedly Terra. “Hello, Master. I’ve missed you.”

“Terra… you’re okay?”

She smiled, beckoning with her hand. “Everything is fine. Master worries too much. Come on. Come in.”

My feet kept moving forward. Was I under an effect like Provoke? Whatever it was, I didn’t seem to be able to stop it. I was getting closer and closer to the door. I was getting closer and closer to the darkness. Furthermore, I was walking there of my own will.

At that exact moment, something fell from the ceiling. I didn’t even dodge as a rock struck me hard in the head. It was quite large, and the fall had been substantial.

“Ahhh!” I cried covering my head as it throbbed.

After casting a quick heal spell, I realized I felt something pushing against my chest. I opened my eyes and looked down to see Sapphire standing there. She was pushing against my chest with all of her might, her body at an angle into the ground. I could see scuff marks on the stone, where her feet and been forced back as I continued to move forward. I looked up to see the doorway to the palace only a few feet away. However, the door was not open, and neither Terra nor Garnet were present.

“Sapphire, I’m better now,” I reassured her.

The girl let go, nearly collapsing to the ground as she tried to recover. I did a quick heal on her too.

“Master…” She looked up at me, her eyes tearful.

“I’m sorry I worried you.” I sighed. “I take it I just suddenly couldn’t see you, and then started walking toward the palace.”

She nodded, a slightly angry expression on her face.

“And what about the girls. Did you see anyone else?”

She cocked her head for a moment and then shook it. So, it had been an illusion. Except, that it was one the highest tier of my dungeon skills couldn’t deflect. Did that mean that it was something that wasn’t an illusion, but like an illusion or something so powerful that even the dungeon skills couldn’t override it?

Chapter 1348

I knew that my free access in and out of dungeons was situational. There were instances were a strong enough force or a large enough distance could make Portal impossible. The blessings that kept my slave bonds from being broken could also be bypassed with a bit of cleverness. Nothing was all-powerful, even the dungeon blessings. Yet, the idea something could just mess with my mind like that left me feeling extremely worried.

Had that rock not fallen on my head, I wouldn’t have snapped out of it. What would have happened if I reached the door? It was closed at the moment. Wouldn’t I have just run into the door? Wait, was there a door. I kneeled and picked up the stone that had hit my head. It was weird that it fell randomly at this exact moment. That’s when I realized that it wasn’t a rock at all. It was another imager.

I picked it up, and then shared a glanced with Sapphire. I took a few steps away from the palace but kept a side-eye on it. Then, I activated the imager. An image was displayed, and when I saw the two familiar girls on it, my heart twisted into knots. This was a recording of the girl’s journey, the one that had made it to the surface. This wasn’t just a recording… it was the same recording.

The last time I had seen the imager it had been in my soul world. Allegedly, King Diorite had seen it. If that was so, why was it here? More importantly, why did it no longer show the signs of the damage that it had before?

“We made it. This is my home city, Argathea!” Garnet declared.

“It’s really dark.” Terra frowned.

“We’re in the Deep, Terra, everything is dark.”

“No… it’s just something else. I can’t put my finger on it.”

“Ahh… well, we won’t stay long. Just enough time to get the metals I need! I’ve already managed to collect several rare metals, enough to help Master build several magic weapons.”

“It’s too bad Master couldn’t give us any more inventory rings.”

“Ah… well… we sort of have a bad habit of getting them destroyed.” Terra coughed.

“D-destroyed! Inventory rings are notoriously hard to destroy! What have you guys been doing?”

“Things come up!” Terra cried, and then noticed Garnet looking off, a frown on her face. “What is it?”

“There is something wrong.” Garnet frowned. “This has been far too quiet.”

I realized this was the full recording from a fragment I had gotten before. I could find out more about what happened. I leaned forward, listening carefully.

“Well, the city has been abandoned.”

“No, you don’t get it. This cavern was built in a very particular way. The Deep Dwarves weren’t just good with Earth, they were also prolific singers.”

“Singers? Are you trying to compete with Celeste now?”

“That’s not what I mean! This entire cavern moves sound in a very particular way. Not just sound, but light. During the day cycle, a rainbow of colors would float in the sky above. The sounds of people would create a cacophony echoing off the walls which would bounce back and forth until it created a sweet melody. It was a beautiful place.”

“Garnet, you’re saying that like you’ve been here.”

Garnet stiffened for a second, looking back at Terra. “Right.”

“You told Master that you’ve never been to the Deep. You said you were brought up on the surface.”

Garnet lowered her head. “That’s right… I did.”

“Garnet…”

“Terra, I want you to keep a secret.”

“What?”

“This stays between you and me. I don’t want to… I don’t want Master to know.”

“Garnet… this…”

“Please, promise me.”

“O-okay, I promise.

“Turn off the recording. This stays between us.”

“R-right.”

The image flickered out.