Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

The infinite dungeon was larger than Olympia but small in comparison to any of the twelve provinces. Travel across territories didn't take very long since randomly spawned demons were far fewer in number than those that spawned in dungeons.

Sorin and company arrived in an empty field near one of the Kepler Clan's herb gardens. There, they found a blue orb floating at chest level. A chain could be seen jutting out from the orb and piercing into the clear blue sky.

"This should be it," said Sorin, reviewing the coordinates he'd been given. "Sorin Abberjay Kepler and Team We Don't Need a Life Mage at this moment request passage to the reserved basic dungeon." A white orb floated out of Sorin's chest pocket and merged with the blue orb.

"Acknowledged," spoke a grave voice. "Initiating transportation process. Brace yourselves for spatial travel."

"Spatial WAAAAAA—" exclaimed Lawrence as their team was launched into the sky at several times their maximum running velocity.

Everyone, including the magic users, was subjected to intense and uncomfortable pressure. Fortunately, air resistance was not a problem, thanks to the blue shield that had popped up around them and adhered itself to the dungeon chain.

"This… is most uncomfortable," groaned Daphne.

"I'm going to puke," agreed Stephan.

"Dwelling on the sensation is counterproductive," said Sorin. "That said, I can offer some medicine that will dull sensations of vertigo and nausea."

"Yes, please!" said Lawrence.

A cloud of poison rushed out of Sorin and entered his companions' nostrils, eyes, and ears, reducing the sensitivity of their bodies. It also reduced the functionality of their inner ears, which in turn reduced the intense nausea they were experiencing.

Ten minutes later, the atmosphere thinned to reveal black, star-speckled space above and an impressive land mass below. The land mass was none other than the inner city, which was connected to over a hundred smaller land masses and one larger land mass via golden chains.

It took them another ten minutes to arrive at a landmass protected by a blue and gold atmospheric bubble. The divinity and corruption in this place are intense, thought Sorin as they entered the bubble. There's also something else in here. A sort of incongruity that's triggering Nemesis.

Their shield dissipated as their team landed on solid ground once again. "The White Tower Group's representatives in the city told me unclaimed dungeons were different that claimed ones, but this is like night and day," commented Daphne.

"Let's approach this cautiously, " said Gareth. "I can't explain it. It's like everything in this place is out to get us."

Stephan sniffed the air. "This place smells like a challenge. I wonder what the rules are?"

"Rules?" asked Sorin.

"You know," said Stephan. "The dungeon rules."

"I think I found them," Lawrence called out. He was standing in front of a large bronze stele. White words had been etched on the stele's mana-resistant metal surface. "What in the… these rules are pretty different than all the other dungeons we've entered before."

Sorin approached the stele and agreed with Lawrence's assessment.

The harpies of Mount Pleasant have existed in isolation for centuries. Thanks to the residual power of the Erinyes located in the Temple of the Furies, they have taken up the roles of judge, jury, and executioner on this landmass. All residents of this space, demonic or otherwise, must follow the sacred rules. Those who defy the harpies must pay the price in blood.

Main Objectives:

Clear at least 10 harpy nests located on Mount Pleasant.

Offer one harpy egg from each cleared nest at the Temple of the Furies to summon the lingering energy in the Temple of the Furies and defeat the Temple Guardians. The strength of the guardians will scale with the number of unique eggs offered.

Claim the dungeon core and offer it to the Savior of Humanity, Lord Hope. The offering may be submitted on behalf of a team or individual for an appropriate reward from Lord Hope. Alternatively, the offering can be consecrated in the name of a clan or organization. Rewards will then be up to said clan or organization. Note: All dungeons claimed by teams and individuals will be put up for auction in the Thunder and Lightning Auction House.

This much made sense to Sorin. What surprised him was the bonus objective.

Bonus Objectives:

A small pocket of human survivors has offended the Furies by consecrating an offering to Lord Hope. They and the rest of this land's human inhabitants have been rounded up and are currently imprisoned on the Cliffs of Perdition. The harpies of Mount Pleasant will slay ten individuals every hour to appease the furies until all humans have been slain. Free the humans and show them the bright light that is Lord Hope. Mark the survivors for safety and extraction. Rewards shall be based on the number of survivors. Any lost inheritance discovered by the Temple of Hope will be copied and awarded to the participants.

Sorin looked to his companions as he finished reading the briefing. "Thoughts, everyone?"

"We should obviously try to complete as many objectives as possible to maximize our rewards," said Stephan. "It's not just divine crystals we can obtain, but silver light."

"I agree," said Daphne. "Bonus objectives like this are rare. Though clearing the bonus objective will require us to risk combatting larger numbers of harpies with less information, I believe that we should be able to pull through."

Sorin looked to Gareth, Lawrence, and Astley next. "Your reactions are more normal than theirs, so I'd like to hear your thoughts. Astley, did the Order of Fantasia share any information about these kinds of situations?"

Astley shook her head. "I'm as surprised to hear about these human survivors as you are. The same goes for the Temple of the Furies and the fact that myths have survived so long on this floating land mass, let alone humans."

"What floating landmass?" Stephan scoffed. "This is a dungeon. A scenario."

Sorin, however, wasn't so sure. "I don't have a lot of information, but I'm certain that claimed dungeons don't produce humans. I've also never heard of a temple to a deity other than Lord Hope located inside a claimed dungeon."

"Or anywhere else in human territory," added Lawrence. "I mean, this whole thing is weird, isn't it? We just happen to arrive when these prisoners are getting executed by the big bad bosses. The storyline seems a bit forced."

"It's bad writing," agreed Daphne. "But not unheard of. There's always the possibility of finding humans in unclaimed dungeons, so I've been told. Saving them can lead to all sorts of rewards. Teams typically try their best to complete these bonus objectives if they can."

Gareth finally couldn't take it anymore. "Are you seriously still thinking of these humans as objectives?"

Daphne raised an eyebrow. "This is a dungeon, Gareth. These humans aren't real."

"That's a pretty strange insistence," said Gareth. "What if they are real?"

"But they're not," cut in Stephan. "That's common knowledge to anyone who has been in the city for a sufficiently long period."

Sorin placed a hand on his head as he felt a wave of amnesia wash over them. Lawrence's eyes glazed over, as did Gareth's. Astley's, however, remained unchanged.

"Actually, scratch that," said Lawrence. "There's literally a stele explaining the dungeon rules. This is obviously a scripted encounter."

"Now that you mention it, no other explanation makes sense," said Gareth.

Sorin wanted to protest, but Astley put a finger to her lips. Frustrated and confused by this development, Sorin could only rephrase his thoughts in the most productive manner possible. "I think it's important that we complete this Bonus Objective as soon as possible to minimize casualties and maximize points."

"I agree," said Astley. "The sooner we're in and out, the better."

"Lawrence and I will lead the way," said Gareth. "We'll try to pick a path that avoids aerial scouts to reduce step potential for reinforcements. Lawrence will also dip in as he can to obtain some preliminary information on these harpies."

"I'll keep an eye out for magic," said Daphne. "From what I've heard, harpies excel in charming adventurers."

Sorin lingered at the back as the rest of the team went ahead and waited for Astley to join him. "Any idea what that was about?"

"I'm not sure," said Astley. "The order refused to tell me anything about unclaimed dungeons but stressed that historical amnesia was a very real threat here. I honestly didn't consider coming here, but I hit a snag in my research. My supervisor suggested I investigate these unclaimed dungeons firsthand since I was unusually resistant to historical amnesia."

"For what it's worth, I'm also interested in what's going on," said Sorin. "These chains, these landmasses, these so-called dungeons. But first things first—let's get those humans out of here."

"Agreed," said Astley. "If we're lucky, they'll have an oral history they can pass on to us that will shed some light on one or more of these mysteries."

***

Mount Pleasant was a jagged mountain with three peaks. The tallest peak was cut flat to accommodate the Temple of the Furies, while the other two peaks were occupied by two species of harpies: one with violet feathers that specialized in illusions and another with white feathers that specialized in aerial combat.

"The white-feathered harpies I scouted wore light armor, while the violet-feathered harpies didn't wear much of anything," explained Lawrence. "According to a conversation I overheard, the white-feathered harpies are warrior-caste harpies that are fewer in number. They hold a high position in harpy society and mostly keep to Punishment Peak.

"The Cliffs of Perdition mentioned in the bonus objective are located on their mountain. We won't be encountering violet-feathered harpies on Punishment Peak since only white-feathered harpies are permitted there in the first place."

"How many in total are there?" asked Sorin. "And did you manage to snatch a feather-like I asked?"

"I almost forgot," said Lawrence, pulling out a pair of feathers. "One white and one purple. I have more if you need them."

Sorin injected a stream of mixed poison and corruption into each feather and observed how they reacted. To Sorin's surprise, they were somewhat resistant to corruption—or maybe it was just the forms of corruption Sorin controlled.

"I can't be completely certain, but judging by these two feathers, the harpies will have very sturdy bodies," said Sorin. "This is largely due to the high amount of divinity they contain." He used acid to melt away the feathers to produce two golden specks. "If we assume that they are similar to other avian demons, half their power should be in their feathers and half should be located in their cores. Assuming these feathers are representative of their species, each harpy should contain enough divinity to produce a crystal the size of a fingernail. It will take ten harpies to produce a standard rough crystal."

There were other demons on Mount Pleasant other than the harpies, but thanks to Lawrence and Gareth, they were able to avoid most of them. The few they did fight only contained small amounts of divinity. Everything is concentrated on a single species. The only question is how they obtained this divinity. Did they do it by worshiping the Furies or by absorbing it from their environment?

"The Cliffs of Perdition aren't far," said Lawrence. "Unfortunately, the best way to get there is by flying. The sun is currently shining on said cliff, so we won't be able to sneak in."

Stephan shrugged. "Hiding is for chumps. Straight-up combat is the way to go."

"And how exactly were you planning on fighting a flying enemy?" asked Gareth. "Though we can technically fly due to our cultivation bases, we don't have wings. And by the looks of it, those white-feathered harpies use spears. Given the velocities they can achieve while flying, I'm not optimistic about our chances."

"How strong are the white-feathered harpies in your estimation?" Sorin asked Lawrence. He had a sixth sense for this sort of thing and could be relied on in situations like these.

"I don't know, maybe the same level as a middle sanctification cultivator?" said Lawrence. "Maybe thirty percent sanctified?"

Lawrence, Gareth, and Sorin were the only members of their team who had yet to sanctify any of their flesh beyond their initial sanctification of 5-10 percent. Both Stephan and Daphne had obtained divine crystals from their families and had reached thirty percent sanctification, while Astley was a little behind and had only sanctified twenty percent of her flesh despite Sorin's warnings about the side effects of absorbing divine crystals.

"If we were on the ground, I wouldn't hesitate to fight them, even if they are myths," said Gareth. "But in the air, it's a completely different story."

"Is it really so complicated?" asked Daphne. "Tell me, Gareth, what's the difference between fighting in the air and fighting on the ground?"

"Aside from having a stable surface to pivot off of and assist movement?" said Gareth. "I'd say the main benefit is that we don't have to worry about an entire dimension. They can only attack us from above and not from below."

"Then I don't see why we shouldn't fight them on the cliffs," said Daphne, summoning sixty-four tiny fireballs and orienting them as a vertical plate. "In the end, isn't fighting on a cliff basically the same as fighting on rocky soil for a Flesh-Sanctification cultivator? Don't think of gravity as an absolute. Think of it instead as a force-field we'll need to adapt to."

Gareth considered this. "What do you all think?"

"I think my needles will fly just fine in any direction," said Sorin. "As long as you can all buy me enough time to analyze their body structures, I shouldn't have any issues killing all of them."

"I don't see the difference either," said Lawrence. "I guess my main problem is that I'll only be able to use my crossbows to fight. Timing their dives and swoops will be too difficult."

"I have summons capable of flight I can use to buy us time," said Astley. "They're cloud elementals—not the best in this situation, but they should be able to provide us cover. What's more, Stephan isn't completely useless in this situation. He probably won't be able to hit them, but I'm sure he can provoke any harpies that draw near us and protect the prisoners if need be."

"I make an excellent pincushion," Stephan agreed. "All we need is for our fearful archer to step out of his comfort zone and realize that this is something he should be good at. Hunting birds is a very archer thing to do."

"Fine," Gareth said, throwing up his hands. "We're in a rush, so charging in is really our only option. My main concern is how we minimize risk to the prisoners. What's preventing the harpies from killing them the minute they see us?"

Sorin thought about this for a moment and realized he had the perfect tool for the job. "While none of us can fly properly, we do have a reliable mount who can."

"You mean…"

"Lorimer," said Sorin, patting his chest pouch. "He's a very good flyer."

"I don't recall seeing wings on him ever," said Daphne doubtfully.

"That's because he doesn't have them yet," said Sorin. "Lawrence, didn't you say these harpies are divided according to hierarchy? Can you find us some nests lower down the mountain that we can clear on the way?"

"We have twenty minutes spare," said Lawrence. "There's a total of four nests along the way with five weak harpies each."

"You think you can extract what you need out of twenty harpies?" Sorin asked Lawrence.

"Ree!" said the rat. He wasn't a hundred percent confident, but he was willing to try.