Freya hugged me with an angry groan that slowly turned into a screech that ended with something comparable to the whistle of steam leaving a kettle when the transmission was terminated.

"I'm sorry." She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to my side with a sigh of frustration. "I messed up. I should have taken another approach..."

"What would it change?" I embraced her with my right arm and pulled her down as I dropped to the fluffy pillows she preferred sitting on. "Sooner or later we would have to tell him about the war with Vestargo. At least, now, we are prepared for conflict instead of scrambling forces in a panic if he turns hostile after considering him an ally. There were a lot of feelings he tried to hide. Jealousy, pride, and a stubborn immovability to name a few..."

She shifted to a more comfortable prone position by my side with her head on her crossed hands on my chest. With a defeated sigh she rolled her eyes. "It's going to bother me for a while regardless..."

I rubbed her back and she smiled. I put my other hand under my head and hummed. "It would be too good, honestly. A Dungeon we could reason with without fighting?"

She chuckled. "Sounds crazy, right?"

"Thor and Balin managed to get away from the Dungeon of Falcia. I could, probably, try to subdue Roan with the help of Thor, but I don't think the people would accept it." I sighed. "I don't see how we could convince the people of Falcia to trust us. They weren't exactly eager or happy to see Tuul'kara and Arletta so I don't think playing the gods' chosen hero would work this time."

"Yeah... I noticed it as well." She slowly nodded. "You think Roan will stop his Mortals from joining his conflict?"

"I had to try. I really don't want to kill those people. It's different from killing Cridians or Bernans." I sighed while she simply tilted her head and waited for my explanation she knew was coming. I chuckled seeing her adorable expression. "We have no just cause like toppling a monarch who supported the forces of Chaos and Void like we did in Cridia. We are not liberating slaves and bringing justice to lands rotting with prejudice and cruelty like we did in Berna. This time, we are the evil guys."

"Well..." Her smile slowly faded, replaced with an unhappy grimace.

"To the people of Falcia, we invaded their country and threatened the only entity that protected them for centuries," I added with a stoic voice.

"I don't like it..." She sighed sadly and closed her eyes for a moment.

"We may not like it but it's still true. Or part of the truth? It doesn't matter..." I smiled and patted the back of her head. "It's only natural they would try to protect him. Our people would do the same for us... But there is an immense difference between him and us."

"We tell our people the truth?"

"Yes, but more importantly, our people are ready and prepared for war. You saw the people of Kowaar standing on their walls with pitchforks without proper armour. Only a handful of them had any acceptable armour. The people of Falcia are mostly farmers, hunters, and a handful of adventurers. Their knights would be a laughingstock for even our junior trainee sailors. Hell, even C-grade adventurers would probably steamroll their entire battalions." I sadly exhaled. "If those people try to stop our forces, we will have a replay of the time the Bernans used their slaves to fight our Immortal Legions. Each death will cause resentment and desire for revenge..."

"But we can't leave him to be alone and risk Vestargo forcing him into submission!"

"Of course, we can't. Especially if Vestargo is aware of Dungeon Movement skill." I sighed. "There is one more thing I noticed. We... The Dungeons, are very social beings. We shouldn't be isolated and left to our own devices. Alone we fall, together we rise..."

"It's true... I have changed so much already but I wasn't as hopeless as Ceallach. But saying that he was hopeless is unfair. He has changed from a wild beast to a refined gentleman." She chuckled. "What do you want to do with Roan and his kingdom?"

"To be honest, I would like to just leave them alone but, if not for Vestargo, I would gladly do just that. However, I don't plan to kill him or even interfere with him and his people... At least, too much. Once I subjugate him, I will let him self-govern. Of course, they will have to form a proper Mortal government and begin a normal exchange with their neighbours."

•••

"Ummm... So the Central Command decided that as long as the Mortals of Falcia don't join the battle between the Dungeons, we wouldn't be needed?" James Wildhoff rubbed his temples.

"That's correct, Admiral." Captain Fiona's cheerful smile was slightly distracting.

"Excuse me, Captain, but what's so funny that you can keep a smile? Our presence here is fairly pointless..." He finally asked.

"Thanks to that order, we can prepare ourselves for the next mission, Sir." She explained and picked up her cup of fresh juice. "The mission of the First NATO Fleet was to help in the subjugation of the Falcian Dungeon and then we were to proceed to map the northern forest and divide uninhabited lands between Iceleon and Ebrus."

"Ohhhh... Right." He nodded.

"You seriously forgot about that, James?" Rear Admiral Christian Volke raised his brow from over his cheesecake.

"Not really... But I postponed it mentally after we left the Cursed Lands." He shrugged with a faint grin. He looked at the empty chair at the table and slowly shook his head. "So the Prince won't be coming?"

"I think he is still a bit bitter about not being appointed as the commodore." Captain Ravenna shrugged. "By the way, have you taken a better look at the Ebrusian ships?"

"Not really... I noticed they were faster than they should be but it's still a far cry from what Arcadian ships are capable of." Admiral Volke shrugged and took a few sips of his coffee.

"Hmmm... They seem to prefer smaller vessels over the larger ships we employ. More than that, I haven't noticed anything else." James said thoughtfully. "But Ebrusians themselves struggle with keeping formations and manoeuvres as a fleet. That indicates a huge role of individualism among their people and probably their idea of leading a fleet is pointing in the general direction of your target and yelling attack."

"Their shields are fairly advanced. More advanced than Metakans and Iceleonians before you started working together and got a few pointers from Lady Stella." Fiona smiled and took another bite of her strawberry cake.

"A few pointers..." James gave her an incredulous stare and shook his head in disbelief. "Those 'few' pointers pushed us nearly five hundred years in development if our scholars are not underestimating your help..."

"ANYWAY..." Fiona smiled and her ears twitched in amusement. "If I'm correct, Ebrusians took another approach in their construction principles. As you know, our shields disperse, dissipate, and eventually nullify enemy spells and physical attacks. Ebrusian shields partially absorb attack power and use it to charge their mana storages."

"Well... It wouldn't be treason to tell you that Metaka already tried that." Admiral Wildhoff shrugged. "I'm sure that Arcadians already know it and Iceleonians, maybe, had their own research on the subject but, I'm sure, King Victor Iceleon told you about the shortcomings of that technology."

"Indeed. It's inefficient and, in very specific conditions, might prove catastrophic." Volke nodded. "However... Our scholars are trying to use it for ground installation shields. Contrary to airships, cities don't have sails or whatever Arcadians use to power their ships..."

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"I can't confirm or deny anything." Fiona smiled sweetly. "But it's true. In specific conditions, enemy attacks can overload their shields and blow up their ships."

"Yes, but those shields are also far less dense or effective than the shields developed by Arcadia and, subsequently, the shields we use. While our shields will hold until they break no matter what, their shields might be pierced by a sufficiently powerful attack." James poured himself a cup of coffee. "It's an unanswered question of what it takes to actually pierce such shields-"

"Tier six and higher spells." Fiona interrupted him with an innocent smile.

"Tier six? Huh... That's even worse than I thought. I thought tier eight or even higher would be required. Anyway..." James shook his head and cleared his throat. "Our Magic Corps recently achieved levels allowing them to cast tier six spells as a general rule rather than exceptions. Our cannons indeed use tier five spells but that is just the best ratio of mana to power."

"The same is true for us." Christian shrugged. "Well, the CIWS is a different story..."

"ALERT!" Victory's voice boomed in the room. "The ships of the first fleet are being targeted by the city defenders!"

"Activate combat protocols! Shields up, I want a lock on their cannons." Fiona ordered, calmly finishing her juice and sighing in disappointment. "So they are going to fight us, after all..."

"It looks so." Admiral Volke sadly shook his head but grinned at Fiona as he finished his drink. "Thank you for your hospitality, Captain Fiona. The cake was delicious."

"I appreciate the coffee, Ma'am." James Wildhoff flashed a smile with a playful wink.

"You are welcome any time!" Fiona smiled as they left her office.

•••

The ships of the Navy ignored the incoming fire from the city. The enemy only had a few magi cannons and the remaining catapults weren't dangerous, just annoying. Until one of the gunners of the Red Phoenix stumbled upon the brilliant idea and they started using the incoming boulders as target practice. The fleet was split to cover movement of the ground forces and, fortunately for everyone, the city remained closed. It was painfully obvious that the Falcians couldn't stop the NATO forces but the navy wasn't even remotely interested in fighting them. Their goal was simple: assist the ground forces in reaching the Dungeon and keeping away the Mortals if they arrived to help Roan. They left the range of the city almost an hour ago and, so far, no one has chased them.

"The entrance to the Dungeon of Falcia is a fairly small graveyard with a mausoleum in its middle. Once our ground forces enter the graveyard, all our ships will form a ring outside the Dungeon perimeter with the Spirit of Lion acting as our rear wall." Admiral Wildhoff pointed at the map with the carefully assembled ships to form a ring. "Thanks to Victory's calculations, we are sure that this unit placement will provide us with an impenetrable wall. Prince Islur, your vessels will have the most important mission."

"Oh?" The Bearkin looked at the Admiral with a moderate interest.

"Prince!" Goddess Arletta scoffed at him but Tuul'kara just put his hand on her shoulder, making her gasp and turn red.

"Prince Islur is not being disrespectful, Goddess Arletta, but, on the contrary, he wants to fit but his rank as the crown prince causes inner turmoil. He doesn't want to tarnish the good name of his house but he doesn't know how to proceed. However, that's expected since no one taught him this protocol." Tuul'kara smiled and both Arletta and Islur lowered their heads awkwardly. He let go of the Goddess and slightly nodded at the Fleet's Commodore. "Please continue."

"As I said, I want to entrust the most important mission to Ebrusians, since only you can do it... Well, maybe, other than Victory. We are aware that your magi cannons have a non-lethal setting, Prince Islur. Is it safe to use them against Mortals?"

"Yes. We use it against pirates and bandits. I know that other NATO nations scoff at slavery but we can't really allow ourselves to lose work power. Once we stun criminals, they will serve their sentences in mines or other particularly dangerous places." The Prince answered with an awkward sigh.

"That's not slavery, Prince Islur." Admiral Volke shook his head. "That's a fitting punishment if you ask me."

"And legal in all NATO countries." Captain Ravenna smiled at him.

"I want you to use your guns to stun anyone who attacks us. Or at least anyone powerful enough. The ships forming a defensive wall are going to raise their shields and just endure until the JDF army finishes the Dungeon subjugation." Admiral Wildhoff looked at the prince with a serious facial expression. "Can you do it?"

"You can count on us, Admiral!" Prince Islur honestly smiled.

"Victory, Captain Ravenna? Can you...?" James looked at Fiona who simply shook her head in denial.

"We are still developing safe methods of crowd control, Commodore." She shook her head. "However, it's not even on our priority list given the circumstances... As far as we are concerned, there is no need to take bug prisoners."

"Right... In that case, I want you in the air inside the circle. You will be covering us with lethal force from the Dungeon monsters that might be trying to open the path for enemy reinforcements."

"Yes, Sir!" Fiona saluted.

"We will help reinforce the shields of the ships serving as the wall." Tuul'kara nodded at Arletta who smiled in excitement.

"Naturally!"

"All right. Once you return to your ships, we will start the operation." James nodded with a smile and looked at Prince Islur. "The grounded ships won't be able to use their weapons without lowering their shields. At least, not with the methods we plan to use. Our shields are different from yours and have other limitations. In the air, we can fire our cannons without any issue."

"All right." The Prince nodded. "Keeping the people away from you should be easy enough. Our cannons can take out a person for, at least, thirty minutes."

"Sailors and soldiers on the grounded vessels were instructed to use blunt weapons and attempt to stun any enemy who gets in." James looked at everyone and nodded. "We will reach the Dungeon in three hours. You should have enough time to distribute the exact orders for each ship. Let's get to work!"

•••

The NATO army reached the Dungeon without any obstacles. The graveyard was surrounded by a palisade but lacked any substantial defences. The Vampire mages and Skeleton archers were no match for the fleet's artillery which dispatched them with ruthless efficiency and shattered the gate. The Dungeon was ill-prepared for the invasion and lacked a field army to begin with. Ground forces quickly flooded the perimeter and the fleet began closing any route to the Dungeon of Falcia. HMS Victory hovered over the middle of the Dungeon and her cannons were prepared to cut down any monster attempting to break the siege. However, before that, the field army had to continue underground and complete the mission which was going to take a lot of time.

The corridors of the Dungeon were wide enough for a small party of the Adventurers to comfortably fight encountered monsters. For a marching army, it was painfully narrow. Up to six smaller-framed JDF soldiers could march side by side in the crypt corridors. Movement was, not only, going to take a lot of time but it was also going to mitigate their obvious numerical advantage. The first real obstacle appeared after the army secured the first floor. The staircase to the lower level was even narrower than the corridors, creating a bottleneck that slowed down the advancing army. However, no amount of brute force was going to help them tunnel through walls like they broke the stacked floors during the attack on the Mountain Dungeon. The floors were simply so thick it would take hours, if not days, even for the Ents. The army pushed downstairs and met fierce resistance. Roan's much more powerful Vampire mages and Skeleton archers killed the scouts sent to assess the situation.

The place was a perfect spot for an ambush. The staircase ended in a fairly shallow room. From it, three corridors, one on each wall, connected it with the rest of the labyrinth. The JDF forces had a problem with getting downstairs at all but, after two hours of careful planning, Kirin's Ents led the charge and managed to close one of the corridors. Their efforts allowed others to finally descend to the next floor. It was an ugly and brutal battle possible only for Dungeon denizens who cared very little if they lived or died. The layout of the labyrinth had been changed and the long staircase Thor and Balin descended last time was gone. However, Dungeons had to follow rules which prevented them from blocking all access routes to their Inner Sanctums. It was true even for Lord Theon whose inner sanctum was officially located in the Throneroom of Avalon. It was up for debate whether Inner Sanctums were even necessary for crystalised or personified Dungeon Cores but rules were rules.

Getting to the Inner Sanctum was the priority for the Arcadian forces. So far, the allied Scions had refrained from taking direct part in the battle, focusing on leading their forces in sweeping the Labyrinth. The enemy undead were strong but the allied denizens were far better prepared and much more experienced in subjugating the Dungeons.

"The most obvious trap points are like the ones we already faced. The staircases are a huge bottleneck that slows us down significantly." Rukla tapped her staff thoughtfully. "I don't mind moving slowly but I don't like that we haven't faced any enemy scions. He should have at least a few of them with that many spawners."

"Perhaps the Core might only have the Vampire Scion on hand while the rest of them were on expeditions. After all, we took Tristan from Kowarr." Balin said. "It's possible that his other Scions were protecting other cities or places of importance."

"Indeed..." The Kobold mage slowly nodded her head. "But leaving himself without the protection of Scions... Even Lord Theon always keeps a few of his Scions at Avalon."

"Indeed." Thor nodded with a chuckle. "But we protect the Empresses, not him. He is a Champion after all and is fully capable of protecting himself."

"Maybe the Core of this Dungeon is also capable of fighting?" Leo suggested.

"I'm certain he can put up a fight, but protect himself? No way." Balin shook his head.

"Indeed..." Thor smirked.

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