Dungeon of Niflheim

189 Chapter 189: Conflict with Bala (3)

Frost’s question caused all the other Dungeon cores, Gobuske included to look towards Dark, curious about his answer as well. Dark had already absconded Bala away somewhere, so he probably had a plan in mind.

“Haaaaaaaaa” Dark sighed, before turning to face Gobuske who was by his side. Though he truly wished to just eliminate Bala and be done with it, it wasn’t his call to make. He was Gobuske’s guardian, and he was the one that suffered under his yoke. He already made the error in teaming the two of them up in the first place and felt that he shouldn’t be the one to decide.

“Gobuske, I leave his fate up to you, my error in judgement has caused you to suffer and for that I am sorry.... I will not force a decision on you again, allowing you to choose. Whether you wish for him to be spared, killed, or punished will be up to you, as will your choice for another guardian. If you so wish, I’ll place a barrier around your core for the rest of the year if you chose to not have another.” Dark looked towards his son with guilt, his heart full of remorse for his negligent actions. He really didn’t believe that the situation was so bad between his son and Bala, but today’s events proved that their relationship was irreparable, and Bala had forgotten his place. Though he himself was an elder iron dragon, one of the most powerful and higher life forms existing in Nova, he was nothing compared to a Dungeon core.

Gobuske even though he appeared like a goblin and had goblin like specialties his strength did not have such a limit plus he had to ability to harness divine energy just like his 99 siblings. For all intents and purposes, he was a demi-god, a being of much higher quality than a simple dragon, he just needed time to come into his own strength.

Gobuske looked up towards his father and the many silent Dungeon cores in the distance and then to Frost, Yami and Aqua, Frost in particular. These siblings of his were willingly to stand up for him against his guardian, Frost himself even punched the man. He felt nervous having the decision tossed to him, his stomach quivered, and his neck felt itchy having all these people staring at him in wait. He had the sudden urge to dig a hole and bury himself in it, he was still timid by nature and disliked being the centre of attention. However, he knew that this was no time to cower.

Taking a deep breath and thinking long and heard he spoke. “Though Bala acted as such and I truly hate him....he never did anything too over the line, therefore father I request that you spare him. Allow him to return to his life before he was a guardian as though this situation never happened.” Gobuske spoke with a determined tone, this was what his heart was telling him. He could feel Bala’s hatred and disgust towards him, yet it only resulted in mocking and insults, Bala never raised his hands or legs to physically abuse him so he could forgive him. Gobuske was a kind person at heart and believed that Bala had already suffered some severe punishment that made up for his ill treatment towards himself. Though it may not satisfy everyone here this was what he wished to happen.

A few disgruntled complaints came from the audience and frowns adorned Yami and Frost’s faces but that was all, they didn’t contradict their sibling’s decision. It wasn’t their place after all.

Dark looked down towards Gobuske with gentle eyes, understanding his son’s kindness. “Are you sure Gobuske?”

“Yes father, please banish him back to his regular life so I won’t have anything to do with him anymore.” Gobuske nodded his head with conviction, sure of his choice. He then gave a gentle smile towards Frost. “Thank you, big brother, for stepping up on my behalf, I’m truly grateful and will remember your kindness today. Hopefully you can agree with my decision.” He bowed his head in gratitude towards Frost. Out of everyone here he really only cared about Frost’s opinion on the matter since he was the most involved.

.....

“....Haaaaaaaa it’s your choice Gobuske. He was your guardian, and you were the one to suffer so whatever happens is up to you, I just hope you don’t regret it.” Frost silently gazed at his younger brother with a frown before eventually releasing a sigh and smiling gently his way. Although he didn’t completely agree with Gobuske choice it wasn’t his place to intervene, simply hoping that Bala appreciated the kindness shown by Gobuske here today and not chalk it up to some kind of goblin weakness.

“I won’t” Gobuske raised his bowed head and spoke with confidence, his back straightened, and he looked directly at Frost, the butterflies in his stomach even dissipated somewhat.

“Very well then Gobuske I’ll follow your decision and banish Bala back to where he came from, you’ll never have to interact with him again, I promise.” Dark waved his hand casting some divine magic towards the place Bala was being held, swiftly releasing him, and sending him back to his original home -he didn’t repair his body and left a severe warning for him to never interact or even go near Gobuske in the future. “Well then what about another guardian? Or would you rather wait?” Dark was keen to set up Gobuske with another guardian so as to have him experience a happy friendship and not feel quite so lonely, but he understood that the trauma caused by Bala was still fresh. The problem being that without a guardian, Gobuske’s dungeon core and himself would be in danger. Leaving his home and interacting with the local towns, villages and or tribes would be that much more difficult without someone by his side.

Gobuske frowned as he was asked this question, memories of the looks of disgust he got from Bala flooded to the forefront of his mind, causing him to visibly tremble. Was he willing to go through something like that again, to once again be subjected to being viewed as a bug in his own home....he really wasn’t.

He was quite intelligent and knew that by not getting another guardian he’d be liable to fall behind his siblings in terms of DP and natural exploration. He was a bit too timid to embark on such a journey out with the confines of his own dungeon alone, so he was stymied.

The moment he was going to request some more time to think about it, Maya spoke up. She had recovered from her stunned state and Dark no longer portrayed his true form before her, allowing her to calm down.

“If I may be so bold Dark God-sama, I may have a suggestion for a guardian but there’s a catch.” Maya spoke nervously, she was in the presence of Dark after all, her object of worship.

Gobuske, Dark, Frost and the rest of the dungeon cores turned around to face Maya, keen to hear her thoughts. A few of the male dungeon cores couldn’t help but finally notice this stunning woman that was beside their brother’s side. Many felt incredibly jealous of his luck. Indra nodded his head in approval, seeing that Frost’s praises didn’t do her figure justice, she truly was explosive. He couldn’t help but compare her to Izuna his guardian, who was still a home.

She was a celestial fox a monster known for their charm and beauty. But Izuna was a rather rare case as well, her beauty was unrivalled but her body well, she had the lower hourglass figure down to a tee and then some, but for the chest area....the term washboard came to mind. Indra couldn’t help but compare their assets, Izuna was severely lacking in that department but luckily Indra was a leg man and really didn’t care about the size of one’s chest.

Dark frowned a little, still unnerved by Bala’s outburst his feelings towards guardians at the moment was a little rough but he nodded and allowed Maya to speak.

“Thank you, Dark God-sama......I would like to recommend my friend Charlotte, she’s a nature spirit with a very friendly personality and I think would partner well with Gobuske here.” She turned to looked towards Gobuske with approval. Though she tried to avoid peeking at the war’s progress she ultimately failed, plus with Frost and the phoenix kin children being so animated with the problems they encountered she couldn’t help but overhear his capabilities. Gobuske blushed slightly from her gentle smile, he’d never seen someone so beautiful.

Dark however frowned at her word. “Charlotte doesn’t qualify, she failed the initial checks.” He shot down her proposal almost immediately. Dark screened a great many candidates for the position of guardian and had some quite stringent qualifications, the first being strength.

The lowest guardian was at the very least quasi-S rank in strength, yet this Charlotte, though suitable in other areas was very young and only had early to mid-level A-rank strength. Below his minimum requirements. Guardians needed to be powerful for multiple reasons, first to defend the dungeon core from an entity that could spell death. Whether that’s something like a large group of D or C-rank opponents or even A-rank parties. An A-rank monster especially one not at the peak would struggle to defend the dungeon core and deal with an A-rank opponent. The strength requirement was even more important now that Light was against their existence. Who knows what kind of methods he’d choose to eliminate them.

Another important aspect is being able to train his children, sufficient strength is needed to be able to train someone with such high potential. Take a look a Yami or Aqua for example they’ve already breached into the B-rank realm. An A-rank teacher would still be stronger yes, but they’d not have as strong a foundation as an S-rank or as wide a plethora of skills.