Shadowcroft Academy Year 2 - Chapter Forty

The night of his Offensive Dungeon Design class, Prince Chadrigoth of the Diabolus Diaboli, of the Eritreus Elite walked through the stone corridors of the Bloodrock. Yes, he knew exactly why the fungaloid and his crew of freaks were fixated the dungeon. It was a place of rock, fire, and power. Chambers of red rock, dusty bridges spanning craggy fissures, where burbling magma flowed like liquid Apothos. All in all, the abyss lord felt very home there, which put him in a very good mood. His plan was coming together perfectly.

Chadrigoth would soon know true victory. He was going to give that mushroom moron and his dumb moth girlfriend the pounding of a lifetime. Or was that the pounding of deathtime? Yeah, it was that last one.

Once Chadrigoth advanced to A-Class, that would send the Azure Dragon clans points soaring, and they would easily win the clan competition. Admittedly, Logan had given them a ton of points by advancing to B-Class, but even dead, his points would count. Ed the Rot Troll’s points were still on the board, even though his core was a pile of dust.

Rockheart was far from happy with how things were going. The Azure Dragon had been trailing the Crystal Tigers for most of the year, and though the points were close, they still had a pretty big gap to overcome. A few of those Crystal Tigers were almost impressive. But not really. If the Azure Dragon clan won—all thanks to Chadrigoth’s impressive efforts—he would be the rector prime’s favorite again. He and Rockheart could hang out, have some drinks together, maybe play cards. They’d be buddies.

He’d finally have a true friend. Not a simpering bootlick like Magmarty. A peer who respected him, and he could respect in turn.

For now, the abyss lord had big plans for the Bloodrock Dungeon, nestled deep in Arborea’s Heckish Hills. He was going to put in some cool Corinthian columns in the inner sanctum, perhaps add a few magma geysers and oversized skull decorations for ambiance. Maybe he’d do a statue garden because those are always cool. Oh, and a bone throne. Always needed to have a good old-fashioned bone throne, because nothing scared a prospective enemy more than a chair made out of literal body parts. Not only was he going to win, he was going to do it in style.

He’d learned a few things from Professor Arketa over the past couple of years. Bone and fire were always a good choice, especially when you had hellions and hell spawn.

Once their final started, it would Chadrigoth in the Bloodrock versus Logan and Inga in the Winterdark Halls. One of them would create the Null Arena—though that was still a coin toss to be determined by Professor Zantho or that doddering old Threshing Tortoise—and then it would be dungeon versus dungeon.

They’d gone over the creation of the Null Arena over and over because it was such a complex process. In a very real way, you used your Apothos to create your own portal, tied to the Tree of Souls. You then carved a wormhole through space-time in order to temporarily bind the entrances of the dungeons together. You then had to shape that Null Arena in a very precise way to stabilize the bridge and terraform it into a battleground that favored you. It took a lot of power. Very few of the dungeon cores would’ve been able to do it at all the year before. Chadrigoth could’ve, but then, he was so much more advanced than everyone else.

There were pluses and minuses to creating the Null Arena. You lost a lot of Apothos, but if you were the one to create it, you could add various offensive capabilities, or defensive structures, depending on your strategies. For example, Ji-Soo had added pillars and alcoves to shelter her forces, so they could ambush the dumb summoner guy when he wasted most of his minions in a direct frontal assault. What an idiot.

Chadrigoth generally despised school and learning—he’d trained his whole life for this and it was beneath him—but, he had to admit that his O.D.D. class had been worth the price of admission.

A month after Melvin’s death and no one had discovered the nature of Chadrigoth’s plan. Not the fungaloid, not Rockheart, and not Skip Shadowcroft. The headmaster had yelled some at Chadrigoth and the First Cohort but it boiled down to a simple warning about the Arcandor Initiative.

As if Chadrigoth would be afraid of a bounty hunter. Ha. That was a laugh. Especially now that he knew their tricks and could properly defend himself.

Nothing was going stop Chadrigoth from executing on his master plan, and the abyss lord was feeling better than he had in months. And the good news just kept coming. Rumor had it that Inga had been on the edge of advancing for days now. There was a good chance she would advance that very night. Without her Apothos and minions, the fungaloid would be toast. Mushroom toast.

It would be just one more murder. And clearly the staff didn’t actually care about murders. Not that Chadrigoth blamed them. What was the big deal? Becoming a dungeon core was dangerous—you signed up for the job knowing it would be constant warfare against frickin’ dungeoneers who wanted to destroy the universe. It was living on the edge, a battle every minute of every day you were alive.

Chadrigoth was all in when it came to Cemoyre’s Constant—the strong survived to protect the weak. End of story. He was going to be the strongest. And he was going to show that fungaloid he’d made the mistake of his life by coming to Shadowcroft in the first place. Mistake of his life? Ha. More like the mistake of his death.

He would stomp out the troublesome mold, and that would finally be the end of it. There would be some hand wringing, sure, and perhaps a sternly written warning or a note in his transcripts. The Professors would likely hold a funeral for the sanctimonious Urothling—Chadrigoth wasn’t looking forward to people honoring the little turd, but that was just the way things went. In short order, though, everything would move along and Logan would be forgotten while Chadrigoth ascended and became one of the most revered Dungeon Cores in living memory.

The abyss lord walked over a simple stone bridge, arching over a bottomless that smelled vaguely of roasted almonds. The wind was hot and dry. That wind would be useful when it came to the screeching hellish hordes he’d populate his dungeon with. There was another thin bridge over a lava river. He’d stick a Dungeonaut or two over there.

Then a thought hit him that gave Chadrigoth a moment of pause. What if Inga advanced and Logan replaced her?

The fungaloid had done his mid-term with Tet. He just might replace his insect girlfriend. Maybe he’d bring in the dumb goat boy. Chadrigoth had no respect for satyrs at all. And while the abyss lord didn’t care much for Treacle Glimmerstupid, the minotaur was actually pretty impressive. He and Inga maybe could’ve made something of themselves, but they’d chosen to align themselves with weaklings and utter morons. Both the fungus and the drunk goat were awful. In the words of Chadrigoth’s father, they weren’t worth the breath in their lungs. They were a waste of wine.

Chadrigoth had learned early that he never wanted his father to say that about him. Chadrigoth’s mom? She said it all the time.

Lady Nobleblade constantly compared him and his brothers, and always, always, always, Chadrigoth was at the very bottom of the list. Even below Brian, which was just unfair, since Brian was brainless, like an empty suit of armor—it might look good, but there was zero motivation inside to do much of anything. Brian was a waste of wine. In many ways, Logan reminded Chadrigoth of Brian. A useless, talentless waste that everyone seemed to love and adore and fawn over, even though Chadrigoth was better in every objective way.

Chadrigoth would show Mother, he’d show his brothers, he’d show Greta, that Chadrigoth was the best of the Nobleblade brothers. Both Greta and Toddrick could kiss his big, blue butt.

But Chadrigoth also had to be careful. Logan had tattled to Rockheart, and Rockheart had pulled Chadrigoth aside. The Rector Prime didn’t exactly tell Chadrigoth not to kill Logan, but Rockheart did echo Shadowcroft, talking about Arcandor bounty hunters.

Chadrigoth wasn’t afraid of cores like Ji-Soo, but he didn’t want to get a bad reputation, and so he wouldn’t murder Logan out right. The Psuche Powder was the key. It might have worked on the Bharoosh field trip if Melvin hadn’t come in to save the day. It had been a pretty epic fight. Melvin had apologized and said that maybe he should’ve let the abyss lord kill the fungaloid. That kitchen ghast had a definite dark side to him—and Chadrigoth could appreciate a good dark side.

And Chadrigoth missed the cherry turnovers. Still, all those funerals and memorial services? What were they all thinking? It was an embarrassment. Plus, the kitchen ghast’s food hadn’t been that good.

Chadrigoth strutted into the Bloodrock inner sanctum. It was bare rock for now, but he’d soon change that.

He approached the pedestal.

Perfect timing.

A voice echoed through the gallery. “Hello, Chadrigoth! This is the Threshing Turtle. I alone will be proctoring your ODD final versus Logan and Inga. I see you are in the Bloodrock Dungeon, while your opponents are in the Winterdark Halls. You can start on your dungeon. You will have six hours. Good luck!”

Chadrigoth leaned back his big horned head and called out. “Thank you, Professor Ikgix. I’ll get started.”

The abyss lord inhaled and felt the Apothos of the Celestial Node fill him. Yes, he was close to the Tree of Souls, and he felt it in his bones. His black gem left his belly to drift over the top of the pedestal, floating in the air on currents of potent power. He bonded with the Bloodrock, feeling every corridor, every hall, even the bottom of the bottomless pit. He adjusted the stone bridge to be a few inches narrower. He then created his bone throne, behind the pedestal, so the dungeon center was like a footstool for his awesome chair. He also added stalactites and stalagmites, making the entrance to the sanctum look like the jaws of some fearsome slumbering dragon. A small stream of magma and wisps of white steam added to the overall affect. An interior moat lava sequestered off the central area from the rest of the room. If he had time, he’d throw in a statue garden.

That done, he pushed his mind outward. Slowly, his awareness spread from the Bloodrock to the other dungeons on Arborea. His master plan had given him a special awareness of all the Arborean Nodes, especially the four cardinal dungeons. He could feel how swollen they were with power.

Out of all the stories of how the realm had been created, Chadrigoth knew the truth. Arborea was the handiwork of the Onyx Tortoise, forged after the other three Celestial Ancestors had been killed. It was the Onyx Tortoise, who had finally vanquished Billy Scales. He then used the raider’s vast amount of energy to forge a little reality for them to train dungeon cores.

And the energy of Billy Scales was still present in every piece of dirt, every grain of sand, and every ounce of water. Chadrigoth wanted to be the good version of this Billy Scales and thanks to his master plan, he’d be well on his way.

Everyone was so stupid not see what Chadrigoth saw. Then again, the abyss lord had always known he was special, no matter what parents said. After he executed his plan, Chadrigoth’s father, Norman the Unholy, would never call him a waste of breath. And Mother would be forced to put Chadrigoth at the top of her list. She wouldn’t have a choice.

Chadrigoth hoped that he’d win the coin toss. He’d let Logan create the Null Arena. The abyss lord could see the benefits of being on the defensive. He was feeling out the Bloodrock, and he could see what he could do to the fungaloid and his moth girlfriend.

Yes, it would be even more delicious once he completed his master plan. He was close now, so close.

He’d aced all of his finals, and there was only this one last test. It would be the culmination of months of work, and an untold amount of effort and patience—two things he wasn’t well known for. But it would be worth it. Chadrigoth had even come up with a unique spell, thanks to the power of his special project, to keep at least a part of his final hidden from outside eyes. That would be important to avoid any trouble with the Arcandor Initiative.

All that was left to do now was wait. And when the time was finally right, Logan Murray and Inga Thosa Therian would finally get what was coming to them and would Chadrigoth. He would ascend and assume his rightful place as an A-Class Jade Leaf Cultivator.