Locating Maria proved more problematic than Jake had first assumed. He naturally started by asking Miranda if she knew where the fire archer was at or had a way to contact her, and she did as Maria carried one of Arnold’s walkie-talkies.
So that was good.
However, when Miranda tried to reach out, she went straight to voicemail. Okay, there wasn’t actually any kind of voicemail; the device just never established any connection, meaning Maria wasn’t answering for some reason.
So that was bad.
Luckily, it was known Maria had gone hunting earlier that day, and she had even done so on Earth, so they had a rough estimate for her location.
Back to being good!
The place she’d headed was one where a dungeon had been located just recently, one that was definitely one of the highest-level ones on the planet, with a requirement of 300 to enter, and she had, in part, gone to check out the dungeon and report back what the place was all about... after snatching up the Pioneer title for having the first clear, of course.
Now it was suddenly back to being very bad... as one very good explanation for her not answering would be if she was currently inside the dungeon. If that was the case, she could easily be in there for weeks, if not over a month, dependent on how difficult it turned out to be. Far too long a wait for Jake.
Jake had been ready to head out to where Maria should be, but he quickly concluded she was in a dungeon – something Miranda tentatively agreed with – meaning that would just be wasting his time. That’s when he got an idea of the one way he could potentially still reach her, even if she was inside a dungeon.
Without further ado, Jake reached back out to Miranda. “Are there any other members of the Crimson Flame besides Maria on Earth or just in our budding alliance?” Jake asked, his plan pretty simple. If Jake and the other mortals couldn’t reach him, surely her Patron had to be capable, right?
Also, sure, Jake could ask Villy to reach out, but he wanted to avoid that if possible. If he had the Malefic Viper act directly, it could be easily interpreted as Gwyndyr doing the Viper a favor and not just Jake acting like his usual spoiled self and ignoring regular conventions of how a Chosen was supposed to act.
“Let me check...” Miranda said as she was silent for a good ten seconds before she got back. “Two others beside Maria, both of them blessed by other members of the Crimson Flame Pantheon. Neither of the two are natives of Earth, but both are currently assisting us in wiping out the remaining loyalists of Ell’Hakan. Contacting them should be easy enough.”
“Great,” Jake said with a smile. “Can you reach out to them and ask if it’s possible to contact their Patrons with a message from the Chosen of the Malefic Viper? Say that I urgently need to meet with Maria and may need a divine message to reach her.”
“Do I need to tell you that it may be unwise to involve gods just because you want her to help you to get a new bow?” Miranda shot back.
“Nah, you don’t. Anyway, will you reach out to those two?” Jake smirked.
“Already sent Lillian to do it,” Miranda sighed, knowing Jake so well.
Having sent that message, Jake knew it would take a little while for Maria to get the message, and if she was inside a dungeon, getting out of it again also wouldn’t be instant. Jake considered heading to the dungeon in question, but he didn’t actually know where exactly it was, and chances were it would be faster for Maria just to get back herself than Jake trying to find her.
With some time on his hands, Jake decided to go check out something this entire dungeon thing had kind of reminded him of. He totally hadn’t forgotten that Jake and the rest of Earth currently had a dungeon under construction – and quite a large one at that.
Jake headed out from Haven and toward a small budding city that was slowly being built, centered around a certain dungeon. One that was currently being constructed by a certain someone Jake should really go check in on, lest the frightening All-God Legion get mad at him.
It didn’t take long to get to the town that only had about five hundred people when they began construction, but the second Jake appeared, it became clear it now had at least ten to twenty times that.
This was deep in the territory controlled by the Noboru Clan, and the mountainous terrain had quickly gotten filled out with structures as many of the factions with a presence on Earth also wanted to let themselves known in a place that would no doubt become an important gathering place on the planet in the future.
Jake didn’t really care much for any of this, though. He had gone to the city already in full stealth mode, and he had no plans of revealing himself to anyone but Minaga.
The construction site looked much like it had when Jake initially put down his statue there all that time ago. It was still a wide open area with no one allowed to build in a large area around it, and a magic barrier to detect anything intruding had even been put down to keep the area clear.
From the looks of it, there definitely wasn’t an entrance to the dungeon quite yet, but Jake still felt the vague presence of Minaga upon the statue. Assuming he could still be contacted through it like when they began construction, Jake quickly snuck into the barrier, quite easily passing through it without even being noticed.
Once inside the magic circle, Jake subtly created a stable arcane barrier so as to not be disturbed or noticed when he hopefully had a little chat with Minaga. There likely would not be an official entrance to the dungeon before it was fully finished, but Jake still knew the Unique Lifeform detected Jake the second he entered the area.
Yet nothing happened as Jake just stood there for a solid ten seconds before he stopped shuffling around impatiently.
“Minaga?” Jake asked out loud, still clearly feeling himself being observed by something unseen. “I kind of know you’re here. You can’t really be anywhere else.”
“You don’t know that. Maybe Minaga left because he felt alone and forgotten.”
“Nah, Minaga is a strong and independent god. I doubt he would even notice if left alone for a few thousand years,” Jake waved off the notion.
“Not all Minagas are the same, and some of them can totally get lonely... especially when they’re cut off from all the other Minagas except the ones they’re already trapped with,” the Unique Lifeform spoke again, still refusing to reveal his projected form.
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“This is the middle of a city, though, and Minaga should be able to at least sense the area around where he’s making his Labyrinth. So he really shouldn’t get lonely with so much company around,” Jake argued.
“... yeah, but what if they’re all super boring and don’t really count as proper company?”
“Well, I’m sorry that normal people are normal,” Jake said, shaking his head. “Oh well, I guess I should leave if Minaga isn’t interested in talking. I would have loved to hear all about how the best and most talented dungeon engineer in the entire multiverse was doing creating this marvel of a labyrinth.”
“If you insist, I can ask for the project leader to update you on the progress,” Minaga quickly said, and after having his ego glazed, instantly summoned a projection as the god appeared with a bright smile on his lips.
“To be clear, I do find it rather rude to just leave me alone like that for so long,” he said first thing, crossing his arms. His voice was also still infused with power, but Jake noticed it was of a different variety than usual. Rather than make his voice louder or more intimidating, it was instead infused with the intent to make it more directed, making anything he said only something Jake could hear. If it was necessary or not with Jake’s barrier, he didn’t know, but he doubted it could hurt.
“Yeah, not gonna lie, things have been pretty damn busy between the Prima Guardian event and everything that went down with Yip of Yore and Ell’Hakan,” Jake said, not really apologizing as he felt like his absence had been well justified. He also knew speaking about the First Sage would be a waste of time, so he didn’t mention his recent vision adventures.
“Did hear chatter you killed the Prima Guardian and stuff,” Minaga said casually. “Totally a bummer system event, by the way. Feels super weird being cut off from all of the other mes in other universes when it’s not even like I’m stuck in a dungeon or anything like that. Not that I will be stuck in this dungeon when it’s completed. Sure, I can’t leave it, ever, but at least my consciousness won’t be sealed away, so that’s something.”
“That is something indeed,” Jake nodded. Minaga remaining in tune with his other selves was halfway a requirement for this special mega Minaga Labyrinth to work, as said labyrinth would require him to send clones in the future to help maintain it.
“Anyway, what was that about Yip of Yore? He finally got his act together and decided to not try and fight a Primordial before at least taking down a few more gods to properly build his legend rather than trying to go for the final boss right from the get-go?” Minaga asked, the question confusing Jake quite a bit.
“I thought you had listened in on the city residents and stayed up to date with things?”
“Eh, at most, I picked up a little here and there, but as I said, they’re super boring and it does take some focus to observe the outside world. Definitely not worth it just to hear more about builders talking about bricks,” Minaga shrugged. “Why? I get the vibe that something big finally happened.”
“Well... I kind of teamed up with Valhal and Yip of Yore’s side and openly insulted and called out my Patron to the entire multiverse. Called him a manipulative piece of shit and a stain on the history of the multiverse, among other things. Was a pretty big deal,” Jake said.
Minaga stared at Jake for a few seconds. “You’re messing with me, right? You must be because you’re still his Chosen.”
“Not messing with you whatsoever,” Jake answered with a smile. “But I am definitely teasing you. It was all part of the Viper’s plan to really make Yip of Yore think he had a big advantage... oh yeah, this roasting session of the Viper happened with Yip of Yore present over Primordial-4, having slaughtered his way there in a quest to finally fight the Malefic Viper. Something he did shortly after.”
“Huh, I really did miss out on stuff... or, well, this Minaga did,” the Unique Lifeform said before sighing loudly. “So... Yip of Yore is dead. He was a talented one and it’s kind of sad to see him go. He could have gone far if he’d been more patient and know how to temper his ambition.”
“Can’t say I’ll shed any tears,” Jake shrugged. “Anyway, with Yip dead, I went straight for Ell’Hakan, who’d done a ritual with the help of the Holy Church to become a Usurper. The fight was a bit tougher than expected as the guy was dangerously delusional, but I got him in the end.”
Minaga looked surprised as he thought for a bit. “I really shouldn’t comment or get involved in all that stuff... but I take it the Holy Church are kind of pissed you took out the guy before they could make use of him?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Jake sighed, briefly explaining how the soul had been stolen and all that.
“Does sound like a messy situation indeed,” Minaga nodded. “Oh well, nice to hear stuff has been fun for you recently, and for the record, I definitely won’t feel sad that little manipulator got killed. I found his Bloodline super creepy. Anyway, now onto something far more important... the labyrinth!”
Minaga spread out his arms in a grand gesture as he grinned.
“It’s not done yet.”
“I... I know it isn’t, but how is the progress?” Jake asked, not really sure if he would get a serious answer.
“It’s as expected. I’m pretty good at this, you know? Even if this is my first time making a dungeon in this particular fashion. But I’m really making some cool stuff here and even trying out some new things, so keep your expectations high!” Minaga said, not explaining much while still trying to hype Jake up. “Oh, and before you ask, no, I’m not going to commit to any deadlines. I never keep them, and I don’t care for them. It’s ready when it’s ready, period.”
“Can you at least give me a rough estimate?” Jake asked with a sigh. “Will I be able to experience it while in C-grade, or will I be B-grade before it’s done?”
“Now that’s just cruel. How would I know when you’ll evolve? Based on your speed so far, you could be B-grade in a couple of years, for all I know. Or, you know, you could get stuck on your evolution quests for a century or two,” Minaga said with crossed arms.
“So you’re committing to it being done within a century?” Jake asked teasingly.
“... you’re really putting me on the spot here, but I can give a temporary estimate that it will be done within the next 100 years. No promises, though! My work always suffers under pressure, and in my defense, I’m used to working on timelines roughly the length of how long this universe has existed,” Minaga kind of gave a commitment.
“Fair, fair,” Jake said, though he really hoped the Unique Lifeform wouldn’t actually take a full century to finish the dungeon. He didn’t think Minaga would take that long either, but all he could really do was wait.
“You’re about to leave again, right?” Minaga asked, knowing Jake so well.
“Yep,” he said with a smile. “Thanks for the update, though. If you really do get bored, I can have some people check in intermittently or maybe come by myself a bit more often... but truthfully, it does kind of feel like a waste when I can’t – and probably shouldn’t – give any feedback or help with anything.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. The system event is just annoying, and I would like it to be over sooner rather than later,” Minaga waved Jake off. “Now go and have a nice chat with the Holy Church and solve the conflict in the most diplomatic fashion possible.”
“Did you know I also ended up destroying Ell’Hakan’s entire planet?” Jake said with a bright smile.
“... maybe don’t do that this time?”
“I don’t plan on it, but you know, accidents happen when people act carelessly and make bad choices.”
“Sometimes you act like a complete heretic, and at other times, it’s really easy to see you’re the Chosen of the Malefic Viper,” Minaga just shook his head. “Now shoo. Get out of here, and don’t involve me in your war or whatever. You’re not even wearing a hard hat and shouldn’t have entered the construction site to begin with while lacking proper safety equipment. This is a clear safety violation, and I don’t want another unfavorable inspection from health and safety.”
Jake looked at the wide-open area all around him and just chuckled. “Fine, I’ll leave in a safe and orderly fashion. I need to leave anyway, just got a message I had been waiting for.”
“... wait, did you only visit me because you were waiting to hear back from someone and wanted to kill some time?”
“What? No, of course not!” Jake said, acting all offended. “I only visited you because waiting to hear back from someone reminded me you were even here in the first place. Anyway, see ya!”
With those words, Jake headed off, Minaga yelling after him as he left to finally meet up with Maria.
“I’m definitely leaving a mean reference or easter egg about you in the labyrinth! You mark my words!”