A glowing light appeared near the ceiling. As it pulsated, the orb slowly worked its way down to our level, stopping in the center of the room. The lore of the dungeon had been released. That meant that the dungeon’s boss was defeated and the dungeon was effectively done. I instinctively winced, but there was no flash of light. The orb didn’t suddenly shoot towards me and wrap around a piece of my body.

Of course, that would be the result. It looked like you didn’t need to completely defeat a boss to make the lore reveal itself. As long as the boss’s hostility was ended, whether it was through negotiation, death, or even a magical enslavement spell, the protected lore was released. Once the lore was destroyed, I didn’t know what would happen. Would the boss be released upon the world? In the case of the guardian or the Fairy Queen, who wasn’t made by the curse itself, that was probably true. If the curse was involved in the boss’s creation, then it probably disappeared with the dungeon.

That was just one way of ending things. To truly complete the lore, Terra’s soul would have to be inserted into the dragon to complete the lore that her parents started. It was much better if we simply destroyed the lore. The thought of that innocent girl being placed in that ugly dragon made of gears hurt my heart a little bit. Furthermore, I couldn’t say how long we could stay in the dungeon after the lore was destroyed. Once we were ejected, we’d need to deal with the Bandit King, even if dealing with was just escaping. Thus, we needed to handle the dragon situation before we finished off the lore.

Even though the mechanical dragon had calmed down thanks to Carmine’s efforts, I couldn’t relax just yet. It had broken away from its creators in the first place, so even under Carmine’s control, it couldn’t be trusted. There was no saying that it wouldn’t betray Carmine in the same way it would betray everyone else. The Bandit King was just outside this door, so it was a bitter truth to accept, but it was how it had to be.

“Carmine…” I sighed, looking up at the powerful creature. “Order it to destroy itself.”

There was still a chance it wouldn’t obey. For all we knew, ordering it to kill itself is what set it on a rampage originally. Maybe, it was designed to protect itself at all cost. Maybe it was self-aware. Anyone could guess what the next action the dragon would take would be. If we were lucky, it would just fall apart and the magic formations that kept it together would automatically undo themselves. A second option was that it attacked itself and caused some damage, but then grew enraged and out of control because of that damage, viewing us as hostile. The worst-case scenario is it immediately attacked us, ignoring the restraints completely.

That was why I wanted her to destroy it now, while we still had it contained in this room. If destroying the lore did free it of the curse, it’d be just as bad as bringing it to the surface. However, if this didn’t work, I thought the better option would be to flee towards the portal and teleport to the 1st level. We’d abandon the monster and the lore as if we hadn’t even challenged it. It would allow the Bandit King a chance at the monster, but I didn’t think we could take it out. Once again, if we’re lucky, the Bandit King will die trying to subjugate the dragon for their own.

While I was busy considering every possible outcome, the worst one I had considered suddenly occurred. Carmine didn’t destroy the dragon at all. She turned to me, and when I finally caught the look in her eyes, my gut began to sink.

“So… you decided on betrayal, after all.” I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but I couldn’t say I wasn’t still a bit hurt that it came.

“I’m sorry…” She responded, “I won’t be destroying this dragon. The guardian is mine!”