My Dungeon Life – Chapter 1728-1730

Chapter 1728

I worked my way to my feet and started stumbling toward the stairway which was now a bit tilted. I made my way out onto the deck where I could see most of the girls were holding onto things to keep from sleeping off to the side. Only Celeste seemed to be able to manage just as well as if the ship was strait.

“They’re pushing us into the Abyss?” I heard Rea’s voice from behind us. “That wasn’t part of the… ahem… they’ll kill us all!”

“The assassin’s guild is ruthless,” Shao spoke up. “They don’t accept failure. After they failed to get their target in Chalm, it probably became personal. The assassin’s guild will do whatever it takes this time to succeed.”

“That…” Rea looked away, the expression on her face hidden. “She’s right.”

The group of us all turned to Shao. Her face flushed.

“Master said to read up on our skillsets! I do read sometimes!” She cried out defensively.

“We can’t go into the Abyss though… anywhere but there!” Rea declared.

“We won’t if I have anything to say about it!” I responded, taking a single look at the massive black crack which was growing closer by the moment. “Alright, Celeste, use the wind to slow or redirect the ship. Shao, kill as many assassins as you see. Terra, get onto their ship and tether a line between the two. Miki, see if you can’t inflate their fear of the Abyss. Lydia, get in their ship and take out their engines.”

“Yes, Master!” The girls moved into action without a word.

“Master, what should we do?” First asked.

“Help me retake the bridge!”

The lionesses all broke into toothy grins. I had often abandoned them in the heat of the moment, so they were quite pleased I was taking them with me. We didn’t have very far to go. The assassins who had come with Rea had broken into two groups. One group had been there to distract me and Rea, while the other had taken over the bridge to help facilitate its drive into the Abyss. The thing with Rea had been a feint from the beginning, or at least that’s what I thought.

Their real play had always been to leave everyone distracted until it was too late to do anything about it. As soon as we broke into the bridge, the captain stood up with an outraged look on his face.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Take them all down!” I ordered.

They could barely react as the lionesses swarmed in and attacked. A few managed to draw their soul-reaving daggers, but they were quickly overwhelmed and put down. It was only then that their disguises that made them appear as one of the crew began to slip.

“H-how did you know?” Rea was stunned by it.

“There were far too few crew members on the deck. Furthermore, they aren’t doing much to resist going into the Abyss.” I explained.

Both of those two things were true, but the main reason I knew that they were enemies was that the Life Sense had marked them red. As soon as I noticed red on the bridge, I realized it had been taken over. If their deception had been a little bit better, I wouldn’t have realized the assassins had knocked out the crew and were wearing the likenesses. Then, even if we stopped the other ship, it might have still been too late. Assassins were truly a dubious breed.

Chapter 1729

“Alright, ladies, take your positions.” I declared, moving up to the wheel.

“Wait, have you ever flown an airship before?” Rea asked.

“Nope.” I spun the wheel away from the ship that has been putting pressure on us.

However, rather than turning like a car, the entire ship started to rotate 90 degrees. I heard shouts of surprise outside, and I just managed to turn it back before we ended up flipping upside down. I coughed awkwardly and then tried it again a bit lighter, tilting the wheel as well. This time, after the ship wobbled around for a bit, I finally got it turning for me.

“What do you think you’re doing? You’re turning us toward the Abyss! We’re going in faster!” Rea cried out.

She wasn’t wrong. We had been approaching the Abyss at perhaps a 30-degree angle before, but now I had turned it so that we were going straight at it. At our current speed, we’d reach it in under a minute.

“Girls, let me know when you complete your mission,” I ordered through my Slave Communication. “Celeste, right before the Abyss, I’m going to need a major updraft.”

“You’re going to trap us in the Abyss!” She cried out, trying to grab the wheel. “I won’t go back! I won’t!”

Back? I blinked as I watched several lionesses pull her away. I was surprised to see that there was a genuine terror on her face and tears in her eyes. She continued to shout desperately as she fought unsuccessfully against their grip. I reached out and put a hand on her head. As it touched her, her shouting died down as she looked up at me.

“It’ll all work out. You just have to trust me.”

“You don’t understand. Nothing ever leaves. Nothing can leave. Once we’re above it, we’re doomed.” She spoke quietly, her voice filled with emotions.

“Their engine is disabled!” Lydia declared.

“I’m ready!” Celeste spoke up.

“The assassins on our ship are done,” Shao said.

“They’re starting to panic,” Miki added.

“There ship is stuck to our ship.” Terra chuckled. “They are trying to cut the ropes but I won’t let them.”

“Alright, everyone get to our ship on my mark.” I looked out at the growing blackness; it was terrifying. “3, 2, 1… mark!”

I turned the ship away, just as an updraft struck the front. We suddenly jerked to the side, the ship starting to tilt, but I was better at accounting for it this time.

“Cut the rope!” I declared.

As we turned along the edge of the Abyss, the rope tugging their ship along snapped. The result was like a slingshot. We were thrown back, and they were thrown out across the Abyss. I kept turning, trying to get us away from the Abyss. I could feel a pulling sensation through like the Abyss was already trying to suck us in.

I looked out the observation window behind us to see the assassin’s ship. The men were screaming, some even leaping off the edge, but that only caused them to fall into the Abyss faster. The ship didn’t even have a chance to turn around. It was like all of the magic was suddenly sucked out of it. I fell from the sky, before sinking into the Abyss and disappearing into the darkness. With all the so-called escape skills of assassins, not a single person on board made it off.

Chapter 1730

“Master, I’ve found and awoken the crew.” Miki declared.

A few minutes later, the real crew appeared on the bridge. The captain was incredibly thankful, even shaking my hand. For the first time, the crew was less aloof. They took control of the bridge once again, but any sailor who tried to get an eyeful of one of the lionesses received a look that only made them quickly divert their eyes.

Before we left them to get us back on course without falling into the Abyss, I had the lioness’s check the assassins we had managed to knock out.

“All dead.” I sighed. “These guys are thorough.”

“Master, they had nothing on them except these tokens.” First handed me one of them.

I was curious about it, so I cautiously put a little bit of mana into it. Immediately, an image of myself appeared in my mind. It was a bit uncanny. I could not only see myself clearly but also knew little bits of information about myself.  This was the magical equivalent of a wanted poster. If there had been any doubt before, there was none now that the assassin’s guild was after me.

As I was leaving the deck, flipping the coin in my hand, I heard Shao’s voice-over Slave Communication. “Master, I managed to catch one of them alive.”

“Oh?” I quickly made my way to her location where there was an unconscious assassin.

The thing I immediately noticed was that he had a dagger in his heart. That was hardly what I called alive. Shao must have seen me eyeing his dead body, as she quickly spoke up.

“The soul-reaving dagger binds a soul to a body. It keeps him from escaping.”

“Yeah, but…”

“It’s one of my shadow abilities,” Shao explained. “It’s called Living Death. I’m keeping him in a state of suspended death. It’s very destructive to the soul, so we don’t have a long time. It was the only way I could be certain.”

“I see… then can you?” I asked awkwardly.

Sometimes, some of the things we did didn’t feel like the things a good guy would do. Then again, these were assassins and they had already come after us twice. Shao nodded, and then a moment later the guy’s eyes snapped open.

“Ahhh… Ahhhh! Glgllgllglll,” As he woke up screaming, I took out some Waters of Life and poured it into his mouth, causing him to choke for a minute.

“Answer me, who hired you to kill me.” I declared.

“E-even if I knew… I wouldn’t tell you!” The assassin declared.

“You feel that pain right now? That’s the feeling of your soul burning. If you don’t tell me anything, then I will make that feeling last an eternity!” I declared threateningly.

As I spoke, I could feel Rea’s eyes on me. She had been part of the assassins too. By all accounts, I could be torturing her this way. However, something deep down seemed to tell me that I shouldn’t hurt her. With luck, she learned her lesson working with the assassin’s guild. Rather than my threat having its intended effect though, the assassin turned his eyes to Rea, and then he gave a grim smile.

“Death comes for us all, and he will be the cause.” The assassin’s eyes rolled up in his head, and then he died.

Shao let out a gasp as she collapsed into my arms. “S-sorry I couldn’t give more time.”

“It’s fine… If we want to learn more, we’ll just have to wait for them to try again.” My eyes flickered to Rea and then back.

There was a lot I still needed to know.