《Shelter (An Eldritch Dungeon Core Slice of Life Story) (With Evolution and Kingdom Building)》


 Chapter 1 | Awakening

    The dungeon stirred, its pulsating core waking up for the first time as it was. A stone room deep underground contained the core of the dungeon, and the dungeon was becoming aware of each room, each hall, each stone and carving. It began to see itself, and with that vision it saw the rest of the dungeon. The dungeon was simultaneously something else, like a shell it inhabited, but a part of its body. Or it''s body entirely.


    The dungeon felt it was forgetting something. That he was forgetting something. "Who am I?" The dungeon thought, trying to reach for something just outside its grasp. But the answer never came. There were bodies. Remnants of weapons and armor, some ruined and some whole. He wondered what happened, and the answer seemed to claw at him, but he couldn''t reach it. He stopped observing them, feeling as if he''d go mad trying to force the answer. Something about them seemed familiar, but they made him angry. A deep sense of hatred and dread filled him when he saw their ruined faces.


    Instead he focused on the living things. Deep in the cavernous depths of the dungeons, where the walls became narrower and less defined, were some sort of creatures. Little humanoid animals, with sightless, or perhaps nearly sightless eyes. They had been hiding in a room that was through a long narrow hall they''d recently dug out. They were huddled together in this room, some still clawing at the walls trying to expand it.


    But when his gaze was upon them, they began to relax. Those quivering in fear began to stop shaking. Those frantically digging began to take their time and perfect the walls. It was as if they could feel his sight upon them. Was there a connection between himself and these creatures, or did they simply feel safer upon feeling his presence? But if so, why?


    He couldn''t figure out why these creatures reacted like this, but he''d guessed they ran away from the fighting. Creatures that were made for working rather than combat. Cave dwelling creatures that dug out tunnels. The species seemed familiar to him. He vaguely recalled reading about them in a book. Seeing the illustration. But when had he read these books?


    The answer didn''t come to him, so he began directing his thoughts to these creatures. He tried telling them it was safe now, and they could leave this room. A few of them started moving toward the opening and leaving. The others, he told to leave the room, and they did. At first swarming it, but then forming a bit of a line as he began directing them to relax and take their turn.


    Something about them reminded him of children. Human children. That''s right, was he a human? He thought that perhaps watching them would reveal more information, fragments of his memory that seemed locked away, or scattered.


    He wondered what these little things ate in their cave, and so he directed them to go eat. He watched them cautiously make their way through the halls of this place, until they came upon a place with little tables and chairs, branching off into rooms containing crude kitchens and livestock.


    Some of the livestock were large grubs, others were fat flightless birds that sort of looked like chickens. He observed the little creatures making food, and eating. After a while, he remembered what they were. These are troglodytes, nearly sightless creatures that live underground digging tunnels. The birds were dodo''s, fat flightless birds renowned for the ease of cultivating. No need to clip their wings. Walking meat.


    The grubs he couldn''t recall ever having enough interest in to read about. The troglodytes had walked through the halls to get here, pushing past bodies, a few human, many various monsters and demons. If he ever knew the exact kinds of monsters and demons, he couldn''t recall. But something about many of the fallen creatures seemed demonic. But what is demonic, what is a demon? It''s something that''s summoned from another plane, he remembered that much.


    Sometimes mages summoned demons, among other creatures, and sometimes, if a dungeon became powerful enough, aware enough, it could summon creatures itself, demons among the list of possibilities. So had he summoned them?


    No, he was sure he hadn''t. He could feel the mana within himself, within his soul, as he always had. That familiar feeling of power welling up within him. He remembered always having a lot, a fact that brought him great joy and great sorrow. But now, he felt it expanding along with his new form.


    "That''s right, I wasn''t always the core of the dungeon, I was something else." But what?


    Wait, he felt he was the dungeon, but that means he¡¯s a dungeon core. What kind of core? For the first time he chose to focus on the large room at the bottom of the dungeon, and he felt the thing at the bottom of the large stone pit was the source of his consciousness now. A large mass of white-gray flesh, writhing tentacles covered in golden eyes with black slits for pupils. It had huge maws with rows of razor sharp teeth.


    He knew this was an eldritch dungeon core, something that came here through a rift in dimensions. Something drawn here by the mana flowing from the earth at the bottom of the dungeon. It merged with the dungeon, to take the mana for itself and become more powerful.


    He made his consciousness enter the dungeon core, or rather return to it, and he looked through its eyes. He was the dungeon core, this was his body now. But he knew this wasn¡¯t always the case. He tried racking his mind for what happened just before this. But nothing came. He returned his sight to the rest of the dungeon.


    He could only faintly sense the halls and rooms further away from his core, and he could only barely see through them, especially as they got further away from the core. But he could see very well with rooms full of these living creatures. Their life forces giving power to his eyes and ears throughout the dungeon.


    After a while, he reached out to sense more, and he noticed smaller creatures. A certain kind of spider, the largest among them no bigger than a human fist, though there were many much smaller. Many were near the entrance, where they must wait for prey. Their webs had been torn, and most were hiding, waiting until it was truly safe.


    He gave them the command to start building their webs again. Not just so they could eat, but to dissuade any would-be raiders. Many people were scared of these spiders and their venom, though he couldn''t quite remember what they were. There would be enough room for people to walk beneath the webs, if they didn''t fear the spiders, but few people with enough intelligence to realize the threat would dare, upon seeing the red and blue color of the spiders.


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    But what should he do about the bodies? Should he feed them to the spiders? He sensed his body, whatever it was down in this hole that had been crudely carved out deep in the cave, needed matter to rebuild and grow. It needed the lingering mana on the bodies, especially the demons and the caster, to replenish its own new maximum quickly. There could be other threats, and though he couldn''t recall how to use it, he knew he would need to use it again soon.


    First he considered how to get rid of the troglodyte''s bodies. He posed the option of giving their bodies to the spiders for food, thinking they would find it morbid if he himself were to consume them. He spoke this to their souls, their consciousness, rather than with words. He knew not their language. This filled them with fear, and it was as if they were begging him not to command them to do so. He suggested burying them, or burning them perhaps, but still they were against it, though not quite as much so.


    Instead, he suggested bringing them to his core, to be consumed by himself. This brought ease and comfort to them. They were relieved to feel this suggestion. Perhaps it''s what they''d always done, maybe they considered this the best method to give their own people, or all other people a proper resting place? To be consumed by the core of the dungeon.


    He commanded the troglodytes to begin bringing the bodies to the room with the dungeon core. Some monsters and even a few humans were already in the large room, and he reached out for a body nearest to the deep pit his body was in. A writhing mass in the shape of a tentacle, or at least something resembling a tentacle, came out and wrapped around the body of the demon, and dragged it into the pit.


    Once it was brought down to the rest of the mass that composed his body, he began quivering and pulsating, and a great maw opened up, consuming the body, destroying it and devouring the mass and vital essence within it, making it part of his own. He didn''t taste anything, but the act of consuming was comforting to him, he felt as if he was gaining something, growing. Damage in his body he only scarcely felt before became more apparent as he felt it healing itself.


    A few troglodytes had reached the room, with a few nearby bodies. He commanded them to remove the metals and clothes that covered the human''s bodies, as well as some of the demons. They got busy removing everything inedible for his convenience, as well as taking the weapons laying on the floor. He had them bring it to a nearby room, one which could hardly be called a treasure room, though it did have a few small piles of coins and metals, as well as rare stones and other things of value.


    One of the weapons he had them take away, he recognized as his own. Or rather, it was a staff, meant to amplify healing and protection magic. That was the only magic he was allowed to learn. But why? The answer wouldn''t come to him. He continued consuming troglodytes, demons, and humans, as he pondered this.


    This went on for some time as he kept consuming the bodies, as they brought more to him, piled up against the walls, and as they brought more metals and other valuables to the treasure room. Cloth was taken away to use for scrap.


    Eventually he''d eaten his fill, at least for now, and he needed time for his body to grow, he also needed rest. The troglodytes had long since stopped bringing bodies. Though first, he felt something within himself. He spit it out through a long tentacle, onto the floor. It was bits of clothes, and a necklace. It was his tag, he remembered it.


    This was so everyone in the party, even newcomers, could easily learn each other''s names, or at least address them. And so the bodies could be identified should they fall in combat, or through other means. This was his name.


    Dominik. Slaves only had a first name, and each group only had a few slaves, to make sure they didn''t try rising up against the rest of the group. He''d come here with this small militia, he''d made his way to the dungeon core with the rest of the group, the few remaining members.


    He remembered being attacked by the monster, he was the last one still alive. He''d been healing and protecting the others as much as he could, with the limited spells he was allowed to learn, though he still had plenty of mana left.


    He''d been grabbed by the writhing mass that was the dungeon core, it was trying to pull him in and consume him itself. The thing''s limbs couldn¡¯t breach his personal barrier, but it had wrapped enough of its limbs to bring him down with it, even with the barrier. He wasn''t allowed to learn a barrier spell that damaged the attacker.


    He was brought down into the monster. It spent its energy, and its mana trying to destroy him, but it couldn''t. He kept the barrier up, and kept himself alive with support magic. The same magic that let them breathe underwater allowed him to breathe in the barrier within the monster.


    This beast tried using some sort of strange magic to attack his mind, to push into his consciousness, to take him over. But this, resisting mental attacks, was something he was allowed to do. Resisting these things was important for the one meant for a support role, and even protecting others from it, or dispelling the effects himself if they were already caught by it.


    This alien feeling, unlike any he''d ever felt before, began seeping in even through the barrier. But he soon stopped it, and not only started pushing it out, he began pushing himself into it. For the first time, he was attacking with his power, not only was he taking it over, he was destroying its consciousness. He put everything he had into this. Even after the barrier fell, even as his body was being consumed, his consciousness had already transferred to this thing. He took over its body, and its mind, he tore out its consciousness and soul, he tore it apart and consumed it, just as it had tried consuming him. Then, he slept.


    Memories flooded in, a lifetime of being owned. He''d been sold by his mother, an impoverished noble of a low house. He had shown promise, a great amount of mana, but instead of investing into him, they sold him to gain a large amount of money in the short term. They didn''t wish to live for decades in poverty, hoping for one child to grow and bring them out of it eventually. They were in ruins, no longer interested in regaining the glory they may have once had.


    When he was six years old, just after he''d started basic lessons, his great pool of mana, and his aptitude for magic had been discovered. He was sold to the king''s family, he, and many others, were kept as indentured servants, but really no more than slaves. He and the other children and teenagers were educated and trained for the role they would serve to the royal family and their forces. They weren''t allowed to learn anything dangerous, especially one such as himself, with such a great amount of mana, an aptitude for magic. He was only allowed to learn to cast healing and protection spells. To resist and protect. They didn''t want the slaves to rise up against their masters. And they were expected to be grateful for this. To be given such training, and to be given a role in the royal guard.


    Still, when he was allowed to leave at sixteen and begin adventuring, even as a slave, he took his duty seriously, even if most of the others around him hated the slaves they''d taken with them. This went on for some years, until now, at the age of twenty, he''d been killed by the dungeon core. The eldritch entity that controlled, that made up this dungeon. Or rather, he''d killed it.


    His mind was overfilled with all of the memories. A lifetime of captivity, all the anger, the pain from being beaten and whipped for resisting, for speaking out of line, for glaring at them. And the slave collar. He''d needed to rest again to set things where they should be, it was too much to take in at once in a conscious state. He fell into a fitful sleep, his body growing and convulsing, lashing around in the pit, shaking the very room he dwelled in.


    But he remembered his name was Dominik Jaeger Ostragoth, he was a child of house Ostragoth, the house he hated the most. The house that sold him. He hated the whole kingdom, or really, he hated the world. Everyone was evil. Everything was evil. There was nothing good about the world. Dominik lay there, baptized in his second life, in a pool of his own hatred and misery, as his consciousness solidified within this new form as the new dungeon core.

 Chapter 2 | Fleshcrafting

    Dominik woke up again, more whole than he had been the first time, but still scattered. For now he chose to focus on his new life, rather than focusing on the old. He didn¡¯t mind being this new creature, laying in here, deep within the dungeon, but he wished to explore the dungeon directly, rather than through his new sight. Perhaps he¡¯d even step outside the dungeon, where he could barely see as things stood.


    He focused his body and his magic on fleshcrafting. He hadn¡¯t been allowed to do much research on the various types of creatures referred to as dungeon cores, and especially not those considered eldritch, ancient and alien in nature. Things from a plane more warped, or perhaps only more unknowable than hell.


    He felt there was more he would be capable of in this form, but for now he focused on creating something he could use from afar, something he could dwell within. He wanted to create an avatar.


    Dominik couldn¡¯t clearly recall all of his memories, especially not the finer details, but he could clearly recall images. His face, his height, even his anatomy. This creature¡¯s body had consumed him just as he took its mind over, and ripped apart its soul. He had retained its extensive knowledge over the body it consumed, as well as that of the anatomy of the various other things he¡¯d recently consumed.


    Dominik went about recreating his previous body. He made improvements to the skeleton, minor enough to go unnoticed without being torn apart and thoroughly examined. He did away with unnecessary organs, and made improvements to the ones he kept. Most importantly, he made a crystalized core on the right side of the chest, to contain excess mana. He would pour extra mana into this avatar as he neared his maximum.


    This was a far more efficient human being, especially for a spellcaster. More importantly, if the body was destroyed his consciousness would simply be forced back to his main body, the dungeon core.


    He spent hours, or perhaps days, perfecting the first body, even creating an artificial consciousness to take over when he brought his attention back to his main body. Perhaps similar to necromancy. It could stand, sit, continue remaining completely innocuous should he remove his consciousness fully.


    This way, if the cave were attacked, and his full attention was needed while the body was very far from the cave, he could simply leave it without drawing too much attention. Assuming he were in some sort of human settlement or other sort of gathering. Though he found dividing his attention for short amounts of time to be achievable. Perhaps extended periods could be achievable as well with enough practice.


    Unfortunately he needed clothes, and the creatures within his cave didn¡¯t seem quite intelligent enough for advanced tailoring. Only wearing crudely stitched together rags themselves, if anything. More importantly, they were nearly blind. He instead had them bring clothes that were only slightly oversized, which had belonged to one of the more advanced demonic denizens of this cave. Some clothes had been stored thankfully, as the ones worn by humans in the attack were very much ruined.


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    After the troglodytes brought the clothes, he got dressed with his consciousness in his new avatar. He didn¡¯t need to use a mirror, he just observed himself from his main body. He looked very human, as he remembered being, but with much better skin, and a fixed skeletal structure. Even the ligaments were improved.


    The troglodytes didn¡¯t seem to have any reaction to his new form, recognizing him as the same being immediately due to some sort of connection. Clearly they had entered some sort of spiritual contract with the eldritch dungeon lord, which had carried over after he had taken over its body and consumed what was left of its soul.


    This gave him easy command over them, but it also allowed a connection beyond the physical which would allow for more elaborate alterations. He considered making improvements to them, but because they were living creatures, it would need to be much slower. Especially if he wished for the changes to carry over to future generations.


    He¡¯d like to increase their intelligence. As of now, they were only slightly more intelligent than dogs. He¡¯d also like to increase their longevity. But he thought he should try something simpler, and more easily observable. First, he would try improving their eyesight, both in light and in the dark. Eventually, if he made them intelligent enough, they would be able to read and write if their vision was better. So it would all come together eventually for them.


    He went up to the couple of lizard-like creatures that had brought him the clothes, and he pet them. They seemed happy and they wagged their short tails.


    He wandered through the tunnels, or rather crawled for the most part. The tunnels were a bit short. He gave the command for the troglodytes to start increasing the height of the various tunnels they¡¯d recently built, except their safe haven.


    Other rooms and tunnels were larger and more refined, clearly other creatures had taken care of the finer details. But he had no intention of summoning demons. At least, not unless he needed to. But for now, the cave had not been attacked again, and there was no pressing need. In fact, a large gathering of weak, uncontrolled demons wreaking havoc on the area near the dungeon when he was sleeping may have drawn more attention.


    When he reached the entrance of the dungeon, he¡¯d tried giving the spiders more complex commands than simply not attacking things linked to him, something they could sense as beasts contracted to him.


    He would like for them not to attack children, infant animals that still needed to grow, and anyone who approached that didn¡¯t seem like a threat. Like maybe a weary traveler. But the spiders weren¡¯t intelligent enough to understand or interpret such things.


    They would need to be his first test subjects on improving intelligence, and their brains were simpler than that of the troglodytes, so he found it to be a good choice for a trial run. Even their generations would be faster, and more numerous, so the effects of the evolution could be observed quickly compared to that of the others.


    He focused on the link between them, and subconsciously put forth the effort to slowly increase the mental capabilities of the spiders. The mana used for this was sent from the dungeon core, from his main body to the spiders here. This process would take place slowly over time.


    Satisfied with the development he¡¯d set in motion for this clan of spiders and troglodytes he¡¯d taken under contract, and the relatively small amount of mana needed to do so for such numerous creatures, he set out from the cave to explore the surrounding forest.

 Chapter 3 | The First Contract

    Dominik walked through the forest. He couldn¡¯t quite remember how to tell where he was going. Something about the sun and the stars. Mostly he remembered using a compass. There may be one somewhere in the cave, but he didn¡¯t think it was worth looking for now.


    He could always just chart his path based on the direction of the dungeon, and how close he was to it, and of course he could always find his way back. At all times he could sense the dungeon.


    However, he couldn¡¯t recall any nearby towns. Maybe they never even visited a nearby town, maybe they¡¯d only set up camp for weeks or months, though the latter seemed unlikely. He¡¯d forgotten to take any coins from the dungeon though, so he figured it would¡¯ve been unlikely he could do much even if he went to a human village.


    Still, he could explore the forest, and more importantly, try and figure out how to create a contract with other animals. If he¡¯d made a contract with spiders, or rather, if the previous dungeon overlord had, then could he make a contract with bees? A source of honey would be beneficial for the troglodytes, and any future denizens of his dungeon. But growing flowers in the cave seemed unlikely. Could they put it in jars themselves and carry those tiny jars to the dungeon?


    But who would protect them? Dominik considered evolving the bees, fixing a flaw wherein the bees died after stinging something only one time, because the stingers broke off. And their arms were too weak to carry jars of honey. He considered the potential changes he could make to bees as he walked forward, only altering his path slightly as the terrain demanded.


    Eventually he realized he wasn¡¯t going to make much progress on foot, especially having no real idea as to where he wanted to go. But he realized he didn¡¯t have to continue on foot. It would be much better to survey the surroundings from the sky. He would need to go back to the dungeon to retrieve enough biomass to create wings, and it could take some time to figure out how to do so.


    He¡¯d also just made such a great human looking avatar, just like he¡¯d looked before, but so much better in all the details of his biology. Did he really want to ruin it before really trying it out? Or take the time to make a second flying avatar?


    He¡¯d passed by several birds, and while their meat and eggs were of no great interest, and while they couldn¡¯t produce honey, they could be great scouts. They could help him chart his surroundings. With the right tools he could create a great map of the surrounding area with what they could see.


    He spent time walking around near the dungeon, looking at the birds in the trees, trying to find the best birds to welcome into his dungeon, or near his dungeon, as scouts for his forces.


    The dungeon was at the foot of a mountain, and while he considered looking for some sort of eagles for scouts, they¡¯d stand out too much.


    If he found a lake, he could find ducks, but they¡¯re too loud. They¡¯re funny, sure, but that would only hinder their ability to be the sneaky spies he needed to watch over the forest.


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    Owls would be great at night, but for now he needed spies for the daylight hours, when most human activity occurred. He chose crows, and managed to find many roosting together in the mild weather. They don¡¯t stand out too much, and from what he¡¯d heard, they¡¯re already very intelligent, for birds anyway.


    Now he could only ponder how to form a contract with them. The knowledge of how to do this wasn¡¯t there, so he finally gave up and just tried reaching out with his consciousness, offering the connection to his power.


    The crows became loud, but they didn¡¯t fly from their roost. Hesitantly, he felt the first of their souls respond, and the rest followed suit just after. Soon the clan was under his command, and he could see through their eyes as he offered them mana.


    Under his care, this clan of crows would become stronger, faster, smarter, and overall, just better than other crows. Should there be a storm, they can take shelter in the dungeon. But for now, he had the murder of crows fly and scout out the area, as he tried to create a mental map of their findings. It was all coming together.


    Soon the entire forest, and the whole mountain, would be part of his dungeon, directly or otherwise. He wouldn¡¯t make the same mistake as his predecessor and let humans into his core to try and slay him. Nor would he let them harm the innocent lizard dogs of his dungeon they called troglodytes. He¡¯d also try to think of a better name for them after they evolved a bit.


    He sat down and watched through the crows¡¯ eyes, taking in the entirety of their sights combined as one whole entity. A mass of scouts reporting as one. He enjoyed the view, the forest was quite nice looking, it seemed to be fall, the various colors were painting a beautiful picture as the birds flew over the landscape.


    He had them fly forward from the dungeon, from the rightmost side, then he¡¯d have them fly back on the other side. Eventually though, they came upon a human settlement. It was a small village, maybe just a few hours flight from the dungeon. The birds were getting tired, so he had them fly back shortly after that.


    Dominik walked back to the cave entrance, occasionally stopping to take in the surroundings from the crows¡¯ sight, but he made it back before they did. He had a troglodyte bring a few fat grubs to the cave entrance in a cloth sack.


    The troglodyte expressed apprehension over approaching the sunlight at the entrance, so he walked forward and petted it, then took the sack from it.


    He sent the troglodyte back and waited for the crows. After they returned he let out the grubs near the cave entrance and let the crows eat. They¡¯d done a lot of work and needed the food. Protein would be good for them to build strong wings. After they were done eating, he had them line up so he could pet them. He pet each individual crow, and eventually came upon one with a hurt talon. It was holding up its leg, not wanting to put too much weight on it.


    Getting closer allowed healing spells to waste less mana, so he put his right hand near the injured crow and healed its injured talon. When it was fully healed he pet it again and continued down the line until he¡¯d pet them all. Then he let them fly back to their roost to rest for the night. After they¡¯d slept they could continue their scouting at a more leisurely pace.


    For now, he made his way to the human village. He began running, faster than he could recall running as a human, going much faster in his improved human form. He followed the mental map he¡¯d made, running toward the human village. Nearly halfway there, running in the dark, he¡¯d realized he¡¯d forgotten to bring any money, but he continued on anyway. Today would just be for scouting.


    Unfortunately, by the time he arrived near the village, it was still night time, so he had to wait until morning. Arriving at night might seem suspicious, and no one would be up anyway. So he sat down near a tree and tried to rest. Not that he seemed to need it.

 Chapter 4 | The Village

    Dominik focused on his original body, and realized he¡¯d still left several corpses uneaten. Some of the lesser demons were starting to fall apart faster than even the troglodytes. He began eating the rest of the latter, but some of the lesser demons didn¡¯t look too appealing, even for his tasteless maw.


    Some of the demons had clearly been altered by the previous dungeon core, but it had been done crudely. Just adding tentacles and mouths all over, seemingly in random places over the body. Hardly the best way to improve something.


    Obviously you should focus on the strengths of the base and improve that, and try to make up for or get rid of the weaknesses. No wonder they were falling apart so fast, if anything they were overall worse than their original form, or at the very least less stable.


    Thankfully the surviving troglodytes seemed unaltered. He focused on them again, and tried looking through their eyes, without using his own sight to improve the view. They were very nearsighted, and even then, it wasn¡¯t very clear. The sensitivity to light wasn¡¯t great either.


    He focused his efforts on improving their eyesight, and doing away with their oversensitivity to light, while making sure to do it slowly, so as not to cause them any pain.


    He had the troglodytes take away the rotting corpses of the lesser demons, to be fed to the grubs and the spiders. The grubs will eat the demons, and the troglodytes will eat the grubs. The circle of life.


    Soon the morning light had come, time passing faster as he administered his dungeon. After all of the corpses were taken care of, he left his main body to rest and grow while he returned his consciousness to his avatar.


    He walked toward the village leisurely, as if he were just someone taking a walk through the forest in the morning. There were already people up and about working. He received glances, and ¡°Good Mornings.¡± Which he returned. Otherwise, he just wandered around and observed. It seemed like his creation was as well made as he thought.


    Soon he came upon a man doing manual labor, who¡¯d limped over to a bench to rest. Already working up a sweat in the cold morning. Since the man was resting, he thought he¡¯d ask him a few questions.


    ¡°Hello fellow man.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°Could I ask you a few questions about this area?¡± The man looked at him strangely for a while, then he smiled and replied. ¡°Oh sure, I don¡¯t mind. I¡¯m in no rush to get back to work. Could use a bit of an excuse not to get back to work right away. Where are you from stranger?¡±


    Dominik hadn¡¯t been prepared for this question, but the answer came quickly. ¡°I¡¯m from the mountains.¡± He said as he pointed toward the mountains he just came from. ¡°I live there.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Said the man. ¡°Don¡¯t get many folk from the mountains, must be hard living up there.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Dominik replied. ¡°But we make due, right now I just make sure everyone¡¯s well fed and healthy.¡±


    ¡°Oh.: The man said again. ¡°You some kinda lord or healer or somethin?¡±


    Dominik smiled and said. ¡°Yes, I am their ruler in a sense, and I am the only healer as far as I know. Do you want me to heal your leg? I healed a bird¡¯s leg just yesterday, it¡¯s no problem.¡±


    The man looked hopeful. ¡°It¡¯d sure make things a lot easier, but I don¡¯t have much money. That¡¯s why I never went to the big town down south, that and I couldn¡¯t really make the trip.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t need money for something simple like that. But could you tell me where to find the town?¡± Dominik knelt down and healed the man¡¯s leg, it only took a few seconds. Then he stood and listened to the man¡¯s explanation of where to find the town, and places of interest in the general area.


    The mountains were to the west, and the town was therefore just to the east of the mountain. It would likely be a longer trip than getting to the small village, but if he ran straight there from the dungeon, he should be able to get there in just a day or two. He¡¯d considered searching the dungeon¡¯s treasure room for a compass, but he¡¯d like to make sure he had one.


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    ¡°Do you know where I could get a compass? I think I might¡¯ve lost mine.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s all you need?¡± The man asked. ¡°Shoot you can have mine, it¡¯s the least I can do. Now that I can work properly again it¡¯ll be no problem gettin myself another one. Not that I really need one anyway.¡± Dominik followed the man back to his house, and was given a compass as thanks for being healed. He tucked the compass away, and as he set out, the man asked him one final question.


    ¡°Who are you?¡±


    Dominik thought for a second. He¡¯d already told the man he was a ruler in the mountain, and a healer. Is there more he needed to know?


    ¡°I¡¯m a human.¡±


    ¡°Right.¡± said the man, laughing. ¡°But what¡¯s your name stranger? It¡¯d be nice to know in case we ever need to go lookin for a healer up in the mountains.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Dominik.¡±


    He¡¯d learned, or perhaps remembered, a lot from his encounter in the small village. Now instead of introducing himself as a human, he knew to introduce himself as Dominik the human, a much more specific thing.


    ¡°Well mister Dominik, don¡¯t suppose you have time to meet with the mayor of this fine town? We¡¯ve been getting some attacks recently, and I think maybe you could help us with it, I¡¯m sure he¡¯d be willing to pay you a bit too if you¡¯re interested.¡±


    This could be a good opportunity to find some new creatures to bring into the dungeon. ¡°I¡¯d like to hear more about it. Take me to your mayor. I think I can help.¡±


    The man brought him to a somewhat large house, at least compared to the rest of the houses. Another pudgier man in slightly nicer clothes welcomed them in and they sat around a large table near a fireplace.


    ¡°So, what can I do for you today?¡± The mayor asked, looking back and forth between the man, as he wasn¡¯t quite sure of who he was asking the question to.


    ¡°Well.¡± The other man began. ¡°This here is Dominik, he¡¯s a holy man, healed my leg in no time at all. I think he might be able to help with that witch that¡¯s been causing trouble.¡±


    ¡°Ah, the dark elf.¡± Said the mayor, leaning back and relaxing, seemingly glad to have a solution to this problem.


    ¡°A dark elf?¡± Dominik asked. ¡°Where?¡±


    The mayor sat up again and began his speech. ¡°Well, she should be somewhere in the general area, she came by about a month ago to trade for supplies. It¡¯s not often you see a dark elf around human civilization, especially not a friendly one. We were worried she might be a scout that came ahead of a group meant to enslave us, but it seems the truth isn¡¯t much better.¡±


    He continued. ¡°She¡¯s come by about every week or so since then to trade for supplies. But ever since her first appearance, we¡¯ve been getting attacked. Small demons with horrible tentacles growing out of them have looted our village.¡±


    Oh, that sounds a bit like it might¡¯ve been from the dungeon. ¡°Succubi have drained the energy from men, leaving them unable to work for days.¡± He was pretty sure he¡¯d seen female demons with hooves, quite possibly succubi.


    ¡°All sorts of terrible things have been happening. We have no one who could stand against such a powerful witch, so we tried appeasing her. Our merchants might have been a bit unfair with the first deal, and we thought she might be punishing us.¡±


    The mayor took a deep breath then continued. ¡°But we¡¯ve been practically giving away supplies the past three weeks. Only the past few days have been peaceful.¡± Yeah, that would be when Dominik took over the dungeon core. ¡°And we fear she may be planning one final attack to destroy the village. Please, if you can, please stop her. I¡¯ll pay what I can for this village¡¯s protection.¡±


    Dominik couldn¡¯t help thinking this was partially his fault, despite knowing he wasn¡¯t even in charge of the dungeon at the time, and despite knowing he hadn¡¯t summoned any demons himself. He was glad at least, that no dark elf had been burned at the stake for no reason.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s necessarily the dark elf who¡¯s to blame for this.¡± Dominik said, trying to diffuse the situation. ¡°It could just be a coincidence. Maybe sometimes demons just wander around you know? In fact, there were some demons in the mountains, and I helped kill them too. Maybe that¡¯s why you¡¯ve been getting less attacks the last few days.¡±


    The mayor¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°You¡¯ve already killed the demons? But what if she summons more? Please at least speak to her and see for yourself if she¡¯s innocent. Perhaps, if there is another source for the demons, you can find it? We can¡¯t weather many more attacks, we¡¯ll need the rest of our crops for the winter.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll go look for her. And I¡¯ll search the forest for any more demons too. If the dark elf woman returns, don¡¯t attack her, just ask her to stay until I return, I¡¯ll speak to her. In fact, has she really been coming every week?¡±


    ¡°Yes sir.¡± The mayor replied. ¡°She should be back again today or tomorrow if she continues on some sort of schedule. Though I can¡¯t be sure if she¡¯ll bother coming this week, with so many supplies.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll stay near the village and keep an eye out for her. If she doesn¡¯t come in the next day or two, then I¡¯ll look further out. And if any demons are still around, I should be able to find them and kill them. You can all rest easy for now.¡±

 Chapter 5 | The Dark Elf

    Dominik Summoned the crows to the village, having them hide out in the trees all around it, and to fly around patrolling the general area, on the lookout for a dark elf.


    He wandered around the forest, or rather ran around the forest, looking for her himself. The crows could only see so much under the dense foliage of the forest.


    Finally, a bit after the sun had set, his crows spotted someone in the forest, making their way toward the village. He ran to her, hoping to intercept the dark elf before she made her way to the village.


    He¡¯d been given a name by the villagers, so he¡¯d be able to properly greet her. Once he found her and he¡¯d gotten within eyesight, well, within the sight of his avatar¡¯s eyes, he saw her ears twitch. Clearly she had better hearing than the humans. She turned to look at him and he began walking toward her at what he guessed would be an un-alarming pace.


    ¡°Hello.¡± He called out, his voice booming out into the forest. Speaking loudly enough for her to clearly understand him before he reached her. ¡°I am Dominik the human.¡±


    The woman had dark skin, and her hair was long and white like moonlight, almost seeming to give off a glow in the dark forest. Her eyes were like gold shining under her long white eyelashes.


    He lowered his voice as he drew nearer. ¡°Are you Franderosa the dark elf?¡±


    Her eyes went wide, she must be surprised that he knows her name even though she¡¯s never met him before. He decided to explain once he was within arms reach, as he switched to a normal speaking voice.


    ¡°I was told about you by the other humans of the village. They think you¡¯ve been summoning demons and attacking their village for some reason.¡±


    ¡°What!? I¡¯ve done no such thing!¡± Franderosa said, the apprehension on her face turning to outrage and incredulity.


    ¡°I know, I told them it was just a coincidence, and I¡¯ve probably killed all the demons anyway, and the source of the demons. But they wanted me to talk to you anyway, and to look for any other demons that might¡¯ve gotten away.¡±


    Her face softened and she spoke in a calmer voice. ¡°I¡¯ve been attacked by demons too, I¡¯ve been living in a small cave near here. They try to take my supplies. I use arcane and elemental magic. I¡¯m no summoner, certainly no devil summoner.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Dominik responded. ¡°But you really do use magic? Could you teach me some spells? I¡¯ve never gotten to learn any sort of destruction magic.¡±


    The woman paused for a moment then replied. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I can just teach you spells, learning these things takes time, a lot of practice, they¡¯re quite complicated.¡±


    ¡°You said you¡¯re living in a small cave?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Dominik smiled. ¡°Then you can just come live in a bigger cave at the mountain, I¡¯ll have them make a little living area for you and everything. You don¡¯t mind spiders right?¡±


    The dark elf woman, now fearing she may be kidnapped, hesitantly responded. ¡°No, in fact I can give partial command to lesser spiders, as many of my kind are capable of. But I came out here to be alone, not to live in some large colony of humans.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Dominik said. ¡°There¡¯s no other humans in the cave, just me, some troglodytes, and some spiders. They won¡¯t attack you or anything either, as long as you don¡¯t attack them of course.¡±


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    The dark elf gave him a quizzical look. ¡°And how long have you been living there?¡±


    ¡°Just a couple of days I guess, ever since we killed the demons and everything. The caves all cleared out now, don¡¯t worry. And there¡¯s plenty of dodos and grubs to eat, now that the population is much smaller.


    The prospect of getting some meat sounded good, but this man was clearly mad. She almost felt as if she should run, something about his skin almost looked too perfect, at first she¡¯d almost thought he was a high elf, but even that wouldn¡¯t be quite right, assuming you ignored the ears. However, she¡¯d heard how fast he was moving, so she knew she couldn¡¯t outrun him. And she didn¡¯t think starting a fight would be sensible.


    ¡°Oh, well, I¡¯d really need to get back to my place. You see, my mule was attacked by the demons, so I was going to try and get medical supplies to take care of her, after I get them I¡¯ll have to go back and-.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Dominik said, interrupting her. ¡°I can just heal your pet. Do you not know any healing magic?¡±


    He said this as if it was strange. ¡°No, I never really had time to learn, I don¡¯t think I really have a knack for it either, judging by the short time I¡¯d spent trying to learn a healing spell when I was younger.¡±


    ¡°Well that¡¯s okay, I can just heal your pet for you. Do you need anything else from the village, or should we just go straight to your pet?¡±


    ¡°Uh.¡± She wasn¡¯t sure if she was entirely comfortable showing him where she lived. But then again she wasn¡¯t any safer out here alone in the forest than she would be at her cave. More importantly it didn¡¯t sound like the village would be very hospitable right now.


    She¡¯d thought it was strange how generous they were being with their crops the past few weeks, especially compared to how she was treated the first time she came to their village. She finally relented to his offer.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯d appreciate it if you could heal my mule, but I can¡¯t offer much in return.¡±


    He smiled. ¡°You don¡¯t have to pay me anything.¡±


    With that they started back toward her cave, right when she was nearly to the village. She began getting tired, and her movements were noticed by the man.


    ¡°If you¡¯re tired I could carry you, we could get there a lot faster if you hold on tight.¡±


    Visions of being smashed against a tree at superhuman speeds played through her head. She¡¯d rather get there slower. ¡°Oh that¡¯s okay sir, I¡¯m far too modest for such a thing, and we¡¯ve only just met.¡±


    He accepted this and continued on. But after a while, she began to regret this, as the walk took its toll. Normally she would¡¯ve rested several times on the way back, but she was too proud to ask to be carried, or even to ask for breaks. She¡¯d hoped the man might ask for one, but he never did, he never seemed to get tired. Until finally, after studying her carefully, he stopped.


    ¡°Oh right, I forgot, I have spells that can help replenish your stamina. Here you go.¡± He said as he put his hand near her back. The relief was immediate. She no longer felt tired as she felt his magic restore her stamina. Then she felt another spell relieve the soreness and the aching in her body.


    ¡°And here¡¯s a buff too.¡± He said as he cast another spell. She felt more energy than she¡¯d had since she was a child, and she felt faster.


    ¡°Wow, thanks Dominik, you really are a good healer.¡± she was no longer trying to avoid being attacked, she really was grateful for the help. And now she was sure he could heal her mule.


    ¡°No problem.¡± He said. ¡°I just wish I would¡¯ve thought of it sooner. I¡¯ve been a bit groggy lately, some things have slipped my mind. Having you around seemed to have helped though.¡± He gave her a warm smile, that was maybe just a bit too wide.


    The way he moved was graceful like a high elf, or a forest elf, but also somehow¡­. Unnatural, especially for a human. His body would bend in ways that just didn¡¯t seem quite right. Yet he seemed perfectly comfortable.


    Other than that, he was tall, even for a human. He had very light skin that almost seemed to glow in the dark of the forest, and thick dark hair that coiled around his face. His skin was free of any imperfections, and his facial structure was so well made, it almost seemed sculpted.


    She thought perhaps he was some sort of nobleman, despite his cheap, rough clothing, and apparent lack of shoes. He seemed out of place here. But then again, she¡¯d guessed she would seem even more out of place here herself. And her once fine white robes weren¡¯t in much better shape.


    ¡°Well, now we should be able to get there a lot quicker.¡± She said, as she began walking so quickly, she was almost running. Though she knew she wasn¡¯t agile enough to truly try running through the forest like the man had.


    ¡°Oh.¡± She turned and looked at him. ¡°And you can call me Fran.¡±

 Chapter 6 | The Journey Back

    Dominik and Fran soon made it to the small cave she¡¯d been living in. There they found the wounded mule, laying on the grass, with her leg bandaged. The mule gave a theatrical neigh as it saw them approach, to show the suffering she had endured while her owner was away.


    ¡°I¡¯d really be screwed without my mule, she¡¯s been bringing supplies to and from the village for trading. I could live on my own from scavenging for a while, but obviously it¡¯s much better to have some real food. Among other things.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll heal her up good as new.¡± Dominik said as he approached the mule. He put his hand near her injured leg and used a healing spell. Within seconds the mule was fully healed. He then cast a spell to restore her stamina, and she soon started trotting around happily.


    ¡°Wow, that was quick.¡± Said Fran, surprised at the speed. ¡°You make it look easy, that was a major injury.¡±


    ¡°No problem.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°But are you sure you don¡¯t want to try staying at the dungeon for a little bit? You might like it better than this cave. And you¡¯d be safe, we could even make a contract if you want.¡±


    Fran looked at him strangely. ¡°I thought you said it was a cave?¡±


    Dominik returned the look. ¡°Well yes, the dungeon is a cave under the mountain. It¡¯s probably fine to tell you this, so I will. I was a human, but then I took over the eldritch dungeon core after my group attacked it. I was the last one left, I ate their bodies, bla bla bla, and then I made an avatar, and here I am.¡±


    Fran didn¡¯t say anything for a while, so Dominik continued. ¡°Since I¡¯m the dungeon core now, I thought it¡¯d be neat to add some more people to the dungeon. But I don¡¯t really want to summon demons. And I¡¯d like to learn other kinds of magic, so it¡¯d be perfect. I¡¯m even making the spiders more intelligent, so eventually, maybe you could even have a conversation with them. What do you say?¡±


    Fran stared at this man with wide eyes. She¡¯d thought he was harmless, and maybe he was. But now she realized he was completely insane. She considered asking him to leave, though she now feared retaliation even more.


    But she considered, what if she lets him leave, and this man goes and lives alone in some cave? What if he goes on and tells the villagers something like this? How long can this man keep living alone, as mad as he is? After he¡¯d helped her, she¡¯d feel terrible about leaving him alone to die.


    After some consideration, she finally had her answer. ¡°Well Dominik, if you really have a nice place to live, maybe I could go visit you, and I could have my mule bring some food, we could cook up a nice meal. Does that sound good?¡±


    Dominik found this agreeable. ¡°Alright, but if you end up liking the place, you can stay the night, I¡¯m sure one of the demons had some sort of bed you could sleep on, and I can have the troglodytes help dig out a nice place for you to stay.¡±


    ¡°That sounds great Dominik.¡± Fran said, smiling. She¡¯d figured with the two of them together, they¡¯d be able to easily fight off any demons that may be wandering around, and she could see if he would at least be safe wherever he¡¯s living.


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    After packing the mule with some supplies, they all set out for the mountain, and this time Fran followed Dominik. As they traveled, they continued to talk.


    ¡°So why are you out here?¡± Asked Dominik. ¡°I don¡¯t remember seeing a lot of dark elves when I was a human.¡±


    She contemplated this for a second, wondering if she should tell him the whole truth, before deciding there was no harm in it. ¡°Well, I guess I could tell you, but don¡¯t tell anyone else. Please.¡±


    ¡°Of course. Just you, me, and all the birds.¡±


    She smiled. ¡°Okay, the birds can know everything too. Anyway, I kind of didn¡¯t choose to come here. I was in line for royalty, in a small underground kingdom. My eldest sister was already queen, but then the next in line was murdered. Then the next. At that point, I was already planning on leaving. But then when the third was murdered, somebody framed me, the youngest sister.¡±


    She waited for a comment on this story, but he didn¡¯t interrupt. ¡°Anyway, there was only one sister left other than me, so it was either her, getting rid of the competition and framing me, before she takes out my eldest sister and claims the throne for herself. Or it was my eldest sister getting rid of potential threats. But I don¡¯t see why she would¡¯ve left my older sister alive before she framed me.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Either way, I didn¡¯t have many people close to me. I mostly studied magic, I didn¡¯t do a lot of socializing. I never planned on taking the throne or anything. But a few people believed me and helped me get out before I would¡¯ve been executed. But not with much.¡± She gestured to her mule.


    ¡°What about you? Before you became the dungeon lord I mean.¡±


    ¡°Before this.¡± Dominik began. ¡°I was born to a lesser noble house, but they¡¯d run out of money. When they found out I had a lot of mana, and an aptitude for magic, they sold me to the royal family as an indentured servant. Then I was trained in healing and support magic until I was sixteen. I wasn¡¯t allowed to learn offensive magic. They were afraid I¡¯d turn on them. Then from sixteen to twenty, I fought in their militia taking out threats until.¡±


    Dominik paused, recalling the fight in the dungeon, the clearest fight he could remember. ¡°Well until they got wiped out, and I took over the dungeon core. We always called it a core in the royal guard, it was to minimize the power people viewed it as having, to make it seem like an object rather than a living thing.¡±


    ¡°Oh that¡¯s¡­. Interesting.¡± Said Fran. ¡°I mean it¡¯s terrible how you were sold by your family. Not that mine¡¯s much better of course.¡±


    Dominik gave her a strange smile and said. ¡°Well, at least I have all the little creatures in the dungeon, and the birds. And you¡¯ve got your mule.¡±


    She couldn¡¯t tell if he was serious or not, but she gave a sad smile and agreed. ¡°Yes, at least we have that.¡±


    Fran couldn¡¯t tell if the part about his past was true, given everything he¡¯d been capable of. Maybe this militia he mentioned had been wiped out, and something happened in the dungeon. This made her more worried that there really was a dungeon near where she¡¯d been staying. It¡¯d explain the attacks from the demons.


    But she didn¡¯t want to just sit around and wait for the demons to attack again. She¡¯d rather see the place for herself to see if it¡¯d really been cleared out. Or at least if they¡¯d rid the place of the dungeon lord and the demons of course.


    As they continued, Dominik told her about his insane ideas to give troglodytes better eyesight, to make the spiders more intelligent, and to make crows into incredibly strong spies that he¡¯d keep around the forest.


    It all sounded insane, but she¡¯d remembered seeing a lot of crows just before he found her. And she¡¯d wondered how he found her, he ran straight to her, as if he knew where she was. No, he must¡¯ve been running around the forest looking for her. The alternative, that¡¯d he¡¯d actually been telling the truth the whole time, was even crazier. And as they ventured closer to the mountain, she started to wonder if she¡¯d gone crazy herself, living alone in the forest for so long. That and her lack of sleep today, as she made the trek to the village, and now on through the night to the mountain, were the only explanation for this growing feeling of unease.

 Chapter 7 | Welcome Home

    The walk to the dungeon took quite a while. It took a whole night and day in fact, walking was much slower than running it turns out, and the mule wasn¡¯t very agile when it came to jumping or climbing.


    Dominik had restored their stamina, but eventually they would need to sleep, stamina restoration could only go so far before the body started shutting down, regardless of whichever spells you use.


    Dominik himself felt fine, because this avatar didn¡¯t really need sleep, nor did his main body need much. Probably. Though clearly it still played some role, especially with memory recollection and physical growth. It also seemed to help with repairing damage, physical and otherwise.


    Unfortunately the dark elf woman had been walking to the village since about midday, then they had to walk back to her cave after sunset. So she¡¯d have been walking for over a day by the time they reached the dungeon. Her mule had clearly lost weight from the trek, carrying several pounds of vegetables, and a bedroll.


    More importantly, the mule had been attacked that day. So there were still a few demons wandering around. He¡¯d thought they would¡¯ve been called back. He didn¡¯t feel any connection through some sort of contract. Were they out of range when he took over the eldritch dungeon core¡¯s body? Does it work differently for demons? Or was there really something, or someone else summoning these demons?


    Dominik found it unlikely that Fran would¡¯ve summoned a demon, injured her own mule, then walked to the village herself to get supplies to help heal the mule. And there¡¯s no way she could¡¯ve planned all of this anyway. So there must be something else out there. He¡¯d have to ask the villagers if they¡¯d seen tentacles on the demons in the last attacks, or any. That would be important.


    Soon, they reached the dungeon, just after sunset again. Dominik sent a mental command to the spiders not to attack the dark elf or the mule, but they couldn¡¯t really understand what these were. Normally the creatures under contract could just sense each other, and avoid causing each other problems in that way.


    But because they weren¡¯t under contract, he had to manually tag them with his mana, as something to avoid attacking. If he left a sort of mark on them, it would function in the same way. But it wouldn¡¯t last forever, eventually he¡¯d have to pour more mana into it to maintain the mark. He really hoped the spiders would begin evolving soon so he wouldn¡¯t have to keep doing this. It¡¯d be impossible to have many guests otherwise.


    While their poison individually was unlikely to kill any large creature like a humanoid or a horse, with many of the spiders biting one person or animal, then it very well could. And there were many spiders in the cave.


    ¡°Welcome to the dungeon.¡± Dominik said, as they walked through the entrance, ducking under the occasional large spiderweb. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve marked you and your mule, so they shouldn¡¯t attack you. Make sure you don¡¯t disenchant yourself though.¡±


    Fran hadn¡¯t noticed any sort of enchantment, she hadn¡¯t even seen him cast a spell, but she was too tired to ask any questions. The lingering stamina effects only made her feel sick with its stark contrast to her physical and mental fatigue. Something beyond the wear and tear of the day¡¯s arduous trek across the forest. She simply said. ¡°Okay.¡±


    Dominik led her and her mule down a gradual slope to the second floor. Away from the rocky terrain and the spiders on the first floor, to a softer area mostly covered in dirt.


    Dominik sent the troglodytes to retrieve some water from a source deeper in the cave. They filled a bucket for the horse, and a pitcher for the woman and the man. Several of them came over with the water, as well as some overly ornate goblets. Dominik brought the woman to a small table in the corner, with crude chairs, and they sat down.


    The mule began drinking from a bucket, and the woman gratefully poured water into a goblet and drank several cups. ¡°Thank you.¡± She said to the troglodytes, after drinking her fill. Domminik gave a mental command and the troglodytes made an attempt at some sort of bow.


    ¡°Should we feed some of the vegetables to your mule before we go eat? I¡¯ll have the troglodytes start cooking some grub and dodo meat for us in their little kitchen.¡± Dominik asked the dark elf, as he helped her up from the small chair she felt she had just sat down in.


    ¡°That sounds good.¡± She said. She hadn¡¯t had meat for a while, and some roasted grub sounded like just what she needed. Dodo seemed like a strange choice though.


    As she stood there feeding carrots to the mule, as Dominik pet the small horse, she thought it was strange how the spiders didn¡¯t attack them. She hadn¡¯t even tried giving them commands. They just back away, as if clearing room for them. And now that she thought about it, being waited on by troglodytes didn¡¯t really make a lot of sense either.


    And then it dawned on her, what if Dominik was telling the truth, and she was in an active dungeon, speaking to an eldritch dungeon lord, possessed by a human soul, controlling a human avatar? This thought woke her up more than anything, but simultaneously made her want to lie down.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Dominik asked?


    ¡°Oh, yes, I¡¯m just really tired, that¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°Well let¡¯s get something to eat first. Did you want to find a bed somewhere in here, or did you want to use your bedroll?¡±


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    ¡°I¡¯ll just use my bedroll tonight.¡± There was no way she was sleeping in a bed a demon might¡¯ve used, and the dirt on the second floor seemed like it¡¯d be soft enough under the bedroll anyway.


    The dark elf followed him into the kitchen, where they sat at some slightly larger chairs, at a slightly larger table. Eventually the troglodytes brought out plates with grilled grub and dodo meat, and they finally ate. Other than a bit of salt, there wasn¡¯t much else for flavoring.


    ¡°How is it?¡± Dominik asked. He was eating slowly, but fran had nearly inhaled her meal


    ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± She said, ¡°It could use a bit of seasoning, but the meat¡¯s good. Even the dodo¡¯s good. We don¡¯t normally eat much poultry where I come from.¡± She said all of this, in between bites.


    Dominik signaled for the troglodytes to bring more food, mostly grub, but a bit more dodo in case she wanted a bit more. ¡°From what I remember, poultry is common in most human settlements, and grub is actually uncommon.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s weird.¡± Fran said after swallowing a mouthful of meat.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s because humans mostly live above ground, and dark elves usually live below ground. Different types of food are more common, so people¡¯s tastes adjust accordingly.¡± Said Dominik.


    ¡°Yeah I guess so,¡± said Fran. ¡°I didn¡¯t really meet with a lot of foreign dignitaries or anything, because I¡¯m the youngest. Maybe I should¡¯ve tried some different kinds of food when they brought stuff over though.¡±


    ¡°How old are you exactly Fran?¡± Dominik thought she looked to be around his age, maybe a few years older, but he knew dark elves, like all elves, aged more slowly than humans. But he couldn¡¯t remember, if he ever knew, how much more slowly they aged.


    ¡°I¡¯m two hundred and eighty exactly. I actually Had my two hundred and eightieth birthday here in the forest alone. Well, just with me and my mule. Normally decades are a big milestone. It¡¯s a shame about being exiled right before my big two hundred and eightieth birthday party. Not that I like big parties or anything.¡±


    She was starting to speak full sentences before eating or drinking water as she was getting full. ¡°How old are you Dominik?¡±


    ¡°Twenty.¡± Dominik said.


    Fran stopped mid bite. ¡°Actually twenty? Like just twenty?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°How long do humans normally live?¡± She asked.


    ¡°They can live to be about a hundred.¡± Said Dominik, stating this fact as if it was uninteresting to him. ¡°How long do dark elves live?¡± He asked.


    ¡°They can live about a thousand years. Though it¡¯s not very common with royalty.¡± She said plainly. After pausing for a moment, she continued. ¡°So for a human, you¡¯re pretty much two hundred in dark elf years right?¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± he said.


    ¡°Then I guess we¡¯re around the same age kinda.¡± She said, attempting to say it cheerfully.


    ¡°We are, by conversion, so it wouldn¡¯t be weird if-.¡± He cut off his sentence suddenly, and his eyes glazed over, as if he was focused on something else.


    ¡°Dominik? Are you okay?¡± Fran asked, while he stared off into space. After a few moments he finally responded. ¡°Sorry, we have a visitor, but they¡¯ve already been taken care of. The spiders worked fast. I¡¯m gonna go check the body before they wrap him up.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡± Fran said, taking a bit of the last bits of her food. ¡°...Wait, what?!¡± Fran decided to join Dominik as he went to check on his new guest, rather than staying in the dining area being stuffed by troglodyte chefs and waiters.


    ¡°Somehow he made it pretty far into the first floor. I didn¡¯t even notice him until the spiders attacked him. But by then he was so full of their venom, there really wasn¡¯t much to do. He would¡¯ve died even if I ran here. It¡¯s too bad, if he¡¯s an enemy I could¡¯ve at least interrogated him.¡± Dominik knelt over the body, opening various pouches and examining his belongings.


    ¡°Why do you think he was an enemy?¡± Fran asked, not really knowing what to do in this situation.


    ¡°He snuck in, he¡¯s got to be some kind of rogue. They¡¯re just spiders, but to get so far in without being detected, with all these eyes watching. Either he was just looking for treasure in a cave, or, more likely, he was checking on the dungeon. Probably a scout sent by the nearby town after our group didn¡¯t come back.¡± Dominik emptied all the pouches on the man¡¯s belt until he found a small folded up paper.


    ¡°Found something.¡± On this paper were coordinates for the dungeon, and instructions to check if it had been cleared, or to at least check for survivors. Lacking that, he would also be paid for any tags retrieved from the bodies. A list of names was on the back.


    ¡°Can you read Gothik?¡± Dominik asked the dark elf.


    ¡°Yes, though I¡¯m probably a bit rusty.¡±


    He handed her the paper and let her read it herself. ¡°You were right, they were a scout. Why would they only send one person? Are they stupid?¡±


    Dominik considered this and said, ¡°Possibly, but keeping a group small in tight corridors can be important, especially for stealth. Maybe this guy was the most skilled rogue they had available in town, so he didn¡¯t want to bring other people. It¡¯d be a liability. Although he clearly could¡¯ve used a protection spell. The spider bites wouldn¡¯t have been strong enough to breach it.¡±


    He remembered casting it himself, and his party members easily ignoring the spiders, while a mage cast a simple fireball to clear large swarms. He quickly remembered how weak the defenses of this dungeon were for a powerful party, especially one with well balanced roles. But he¡¯d thought he¡¯d have more time.


    ¡°I thought they¡¯d be too afraid to send anyone for at least a few weeks after the first battalion of the royal guard didn¡¯t return.¡± Dominik said, staring at the man¡¯s body, now stripped of useful materials, as it was taken by the spiders, wrapped in silk, soon to be fed upon. He thought the spiders had done a good job, they deserved to have the meal all to themselves.


    ¡°Sometimes not knowing the result is worse, even if they could¡¯ve guessed. Being sure one way or the other must¡¯ve seemed more calming to whoever''s in charge. And maybe the people from your country put pressure on them to find a definitive answer too.¡± Fran said this as she put a hand on his shoulder. Partially subconsciously, and partially to avoid falling over as lethargy began setting in after the big meal she¡¯d had. After walking more than one whole day.


    Dominik thought for a moment. ¡°Then let¡¯s give them the answer. I can say I found the note on his body, that I found the tags too. Only on the first few floors of course. If we tell them the dungeon seems too impossibly deep to simply wipe out, then they¡¯ll mark it as a permanent dungeon, and we¡¯ll only have to worry about regular groups, rather than whole militia¡¯s coming to wipe it out.¡±


    Fran wobbled on her feet and listened. ¡°That sounds good. But please can I sleep first?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah.¡± Dominik said. ¡°Of course. Even if I ran there while you were sleeping, it¡¯d seem suspicious if I got there too fast. And it¡¯ll seem more believable that I survived if we go together.¡±


    With that he led Fran down to a comfortable room on the second floor, and had the troglodytes bring her sleeping roll. He helped lay down and tucked her in.


    He thought she should have a room on the lowest floor, just to be safe, but for now, they were unlikely to have any visitors. With how exhausted she was he¡¯d most likely have at least ten or twelve hours before they go to town, so he got started on gathering what he needed, and making some improvements to the dungeon.

 Chapter 8 | Earthen

    As Fran slept, Dominik Made his way to the treasure room. He gathered all of the tags from the royal guard, including his own. Though his had been badly damaged, it was still legible. He put them all into a large pouch, along with the simpler dog tag of the guild¡¯s scout, and tied it off.


    Next he went about making a room. He kept slightly more than half of the troglodytes on day shift, letting them sleep at night. They needed about ten hours of sleep. The rest he kept on night shift, so he could always have workers and watchers throughout the dungeon.


    The dungeon had twelve floors, with the dungeon core being at the end of the twelfth floor. There were various crude rooms and hallways dug out before that, which had all been filled with various altered demons, covered with tentacles.


    He¡¯d brought the troglodytes to begin digging a tunnel past his room, so she could be at the end of the final hall. Hopefully if anyone ever made it down here, they¡¯d go for the dungeon core, rather than continuing on to kill the rest of the denizens of the dungeon. And if Fran did choose to fight, as a mage, she¡¯d benefit from the range anyway. Casting spells down the hall, from beyond the door, rather than in front of it, would work much better.


    As the troglodytes dug, they made the tunnel nice and wide, as he¡¯d instructed. But because the troglodytes were only a bit over three feet tall on average, the ceiling wasn¡¯t very high. Clearly the previous overlord used some sort of magic or demons for this. The troglodytes didn¡¯t even have pickaxes, nor did he, instead using their clawed fingers to get through the soil, and digging around rocks, to then be carried away and stored in one of the empty rooms.


    Dominik thought he should make them taller as well. But for now, he¡¯d taken a large warhammer from the treasure room, a previous possession from one of the members of his battalion, though he couldn¡¯t remember their name.


    After the troglodytes had dug deep enough, or encountered a large rock, he would have them move out, and dig any remaining dirt and rocks out at his height, just over six feet, and slightly above his head. He slowly dug out an arched hallway. Either he or Fran could comfortably walk down the middle, but the sides would be much lower.


    After he felt he¡¯d dug a long enough hallway, to avoid having adventurers attack her, he¡¯d set about digging out a room on the side opposite of his. He made the doorway large, though as of this time, none of the rooms had doors, he, as well as the troglodytes, began digging out a room.


    This entire process took several hours, but at the end, they had expanded the hallway, and created a decently sized room for Fran. He¡¯d made sure to dig out any hard rocks on the floor, leaving only soft dirt.


    However, the ceiling of the new hallway being soft seemed like a problem. He was sure he¡¯d read something about how dungeon cores solidify walls of freshly dug hallways and rooms. Some sort of advanced earth magic that, it was posited, they all had access to. Possibly because of their connection to the dungeon, they made it part of them and, therefore, had a close connection to the earth.


    He had the troglodytes take a break as he focused on this new magic, and focused on the earth around him. After some time, he felt the connection. In fact, it seemed easier to do even from far away with his consciousness in his main body, but it still seemed possible through his avatar, though it would be a waste of mana going through an extra person.


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    Clearly the main body being directly connected had something to do with it. Obviously he¡¯s achieved the ability to do it, but the main body seemed to do it more easily, with less wasted mana. It was far more efficient when cast from the main body, and it seemed to work all over the dungeon with no extra mana cost based on range. It only worked a bit more slowly from farther away, especially on the first floor. The mana must be flowing perfectly through the dungeon, and the only difference based on range is the speed travel for the mana, or rather for the spell using the mana.


    Dominik found this fascinating. He had a lot of ground to cover, so he used his main body to cast the spell. He watched as the floor, the walls, and the ceiling of the newly dug hallway began to harden and solidify, becoming nigh impenetrable through normal physical means. Hence why adventurers don¡¯t simply dig their way through. And he had yet to meet a mage skilled enough in earth magic to counter this spell. Though he himself found he could soften it if he needed to expand it.


    Clearly dungeon cores were the masters of earth magic, and such mastery could only come through a close connection to the element itself. Perhaps eldritch dungeon cores are also masters of alteration, as he¡¯d never seen such massive and depraved alterations made to the creatures of other dungeons. Only with the eldritch dungeons.


    Though these dungeon cores tended to lack any reason with their changes, as opposed to the careful alterations he had planned. Nor did their dungeons contain any sort of synergistic creature structure, it seemed as if they summoned things at random. It was quantity over quality.


    Perhaps, Dominik thought, the eldritch creatures were only trying to make the creatures more like them, and it wasn¡¯t for the sake of just making them stronger, no part of a strategy. Some creatures simply seemed to handle the rapid alterations better, while others fell apart quickly.


    Dungeons started because powerful creatures were drawn to the mana deep within the earth, pouring through these ancient ley lines. Some simply journeyed to these dungeons physically, and others, it was possible, simply created a rift between this plane and theirs, using the instability of these ley line locations, and seeking the power for themselves. Or perhaps, the power wasn¡¯t the point, only the ability to come to the plane. This was the case for the eldritch dungeon cores, and for any others not from this plane of existence. Though the part about simply wanting to enter this plane rather than seeking power was only Dominik¡¯s theory.


    He thought the way this eldritch dungeon core had gone about everything was simply too illogical for something seeking to gain power, or even something simply seeking to survive. But perhaps its great ability tells of its ultimate goal. Alteration. It simply wishes to change the other planes, even the demons it summoned.


    There are those who¡¯ve told tales of people going mad upon seeing an eldritch dungeon core, or even just the inhabitants of an old core¡¯s dungeon. Dominik thought this was overblown, but it was true that some people found these changes horrific. Perhaps these eldritch beings found creatures from other realms, or perhaps the existence of these other realms, horrific themselves.


    Perhaps they sought to enter these other planes and change them. Using their powerful magic, with enough eldritch dungeon cores, on a long enough timeline, it was hypothetically possible. If they were successful enough to spread to the surface and take over the earth. But because of their madness, their illogical need to change everything into something more like themselves, or perhaps the creatures of their plane, they weren¡¯t very successful, despite their great power.


    Dominik went looking for paper in his avatar, and eventually found some from the previous adventurers, as well as an expensive fountain pen, and began writing his theories on eldritch dungeon cores. His mind constantly coming up with more questions, and possible answers, until he¡¯d used up most of the paper he¡¯d found, and had likely run low on ink as well. He¡¯d need to get more when they go to town.


    He¡¯d noticed it was morning, and he checked on Fran through his sight in the dungeon. She was still sleeping soundly. He decided to get cleaned up and to find some clean clothes before their trip. And this time, he made sure to put some coins in a pouch, right next to the other, so he¡¯d actually be able to buy something.

 Chapter 9 | The Morning After

    Fran woke up looking at a strange ceiling. She felt she was lying in a different direction than she was used to, and as she looked around, she realized she was definitely in a different place. She quickly remembered the long journey here, and that she was most likely in a dungeon, after having become acquaintances with a dungeon lord. Albeit a human soul that had taken over an eldritch dungeon lord. So all things considered, not that weird.


    That didn¡¯t stop her from panicking however, but she remained seated on her bedroll, breathing in and out, trying to calm down. A troglodyte came over carrying a cup of water, and presented it to her. She thought it¡¯d be rude not to take it, and she was thirsty, but as she drank the water, she thought it must mean the dungeon lord had seen she was awake. The room was empty when she first woke up, yet there was a servant to meet her needs.


    And just shortly after the servant had taken her empty cup and left, Dominik arrived. He was wearing new clothes that also seemed more raggedy and rough than the last set of clothes he¡¯d worn. Though it did make her realize the state of her own clothes. She had a few other sets of clothing, but she hadn¡¯t thought to bring everything here. Her poor mule probably couldn¡¯t have made the trip anyway with much more weight, at least not in one trip. Even with Dominik¡¯s magic.


    She¡¯d decided she would buy a new set of clothes at town today, though her funds were getting low. She¡¯d spent quite a bit of it to get as far away as possible.


    Dominik spoke. ¡°The troglodytes are making breakfast, after we eat we can set out for the town. Make sure to bring the vegetables for the mule, and your bedroll. We may need to rest on the way there, it¡¯ll be at least another full day¡¯s walk to the town.¡±


    Dominik and Fran sat at the table and ate again, then they fed the mule, and packed their things. Dominik took a few pouches, containing the tags of the others, and some funds. So hopefully, Fran thought, they¡¯d be able to stay at an inn when they got there.


    For now, they made their way toward the town. It was northeast of the dungeon, and it would¡¯ve been only half a day¡¯s walk from the village to the town, opposed to more than a day from the dungeon, even going straight there.


    As they walked, very quickly with a buff from dominik¡¯s magic, and with no lack of stamina thanks to that as well, they talked about various things related to this particular situation they¡¯d found themselves in.


    ¡°What do you mean by permanent dungeon by the way?¡± Fran asked.


    ¡°I guess you don¡¯t know much about dungeons.¡±


    ¡°Of course not, I wasn¡¯t training to be an adventurer or anything, I only studied magic. And other things like language and math of course, but nothing about dungeons.¡± Fran responded.


    Dominik sighed and began his explanation, somewhat shocked that he had to explain anything to a two hundred and eighty year old dark elf princess. Who was also a mage. ¡°When a dungeon is too deep and powerful, and a full clear seems impossible, or simply not worth the cost of trying anymore, it¡¯s deemed as a permanent dungeon. When that happens, adventurers are paid to cull the creatures on the first few floors, to make sure the population doesn¡¯t grow too large, and the monsters don¡¯t become too powerful.¡±


    Dominik helped Fran and her mule up a steep walkway then continued. ¡°They pay more for killing more powerful creatures deeper in the dungeon, and bringing back proof. But it¡¯s no longer advised to try going too deep. Everything¡¯s done just to make sure the creatures don¡¯t start spreading out over the land and attacking people.¡±


    ¡°And.¡± For just a moment, Dominik paused. ¡°I think it¡¯s to get people desperate for money sent in as food, to satisfy the monsters of a dungeon we can¡¯t clear. If they¡¯re fed enough, they might be less likely to leave if the food comes to them. And for the rest, they hope some people will become strong enough to cull the creatures.¡±


    ¡°That seems a bit morbid.¡± Fran said. ¡°Is the pay really good enough for something like that?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know the rates for normal adventurers, I wasn¡¯t exactly paid.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°But you could also sell some monster parts, for crafters and alchemists especially. And you might find the belongings of other adventurers, maybe some extra coins or good gear to sell, or to use yourself. So you could get lucky and find some good things. Especially if the creatures are intelligent enough to craft things themselves, though that¡¯s somewhat rare.¡±


    After some time walking in near silence, Fran hesitantly asked. ¡°Are you sure they won¡¯t just send another squad while the dungeon¡¯s weakened?¡±


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    Dominik smiled, and quickly responded. ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re going to explain everything to them. I¡¯ll tell them how dangerous it is. As long as they believe me, the royal guard won¡¯t keep sending battalions into the meat grinder, it¡¯s too expensive, and it¡¯d leave them vulnerable if they lose too many elite squads. We weren¡¯t always just used to fight monsters. We killed other people too.¡±


    He sighed, thinking back wistfully on the scattered memories he could reach out to, of fighting wars against his fellow man, and other human-like races. The look of surprise in their eyes when they couldn¡¯t cut through a poorly armored soldier¡¯s neck, thanks to his barely perceptible golden barrier surrounding their bodies. He¡¯d made small armies into monsters, and he couldn¡¯t wait to use his power on protecting his dungeon.


    ¡°The only people we¡¯ll need to worry about.¡± Dominik continued. ¡°Is the adventurers they send to cull the first floors, or to at least scout them out. If they realize the dungeon isn¡¯t quite so dangerous right now, they¡¯ll send a kill squad no doubt. Once they receive confirmation. So we¡¯ll have to make sure the adventurers don¡¯t make it very far.¡±


    After several hours, having walked the whole day, they found a clearing and made camp for the night. Which is to say they fed the mule, and Fran laid out her bedroll.


    As Fran ate and drank water from her canteen, Dominik spoke again. ¡°Alright, when we get there, just let me do the talking you¡¯ll be the silent type right?¡±


    Fran nearly choked as she sputtered out a response. ¡°Why don¡¯t you want me to talk? You think I¡¯ll be the one to say something crazy?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s just.¡± Dominik began. ¡°A lot of humans don¡¯t really like dark elves, and they don¡¯t really trust them either. They might be a bit irrational if you try to explain things to them. A human with a dark elf companion might be viewed as untrustworthy, but if it¡¯s clear I¡¯m not a slave, they might also view that person as strong. Which would make the two of us surviving long enough to grab these tags more believable.¡±


    Fran thought for a moment as she finished chewing, then she asked. ¡°Is everyone hung up on the slavery thing? It¡¯s not like we taget humans specifically, we take slaves from a lot of villages, from all other races really.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s part of the problem, most races either fear or hate dark elves.¡±


    ¡°But why?¡± Fran asked. ¡°Other races take slaves too, even some of your human kingdoms. You were even technically a slave!¡±


    ¡°Yes, but most people are hypocrites, and more than that, they fear an outside threat. Better the devil you know. More importantly, dark elves are the most prolific, I remember stories of nearly whole towns being taken. And the idea of being locked underground in slave pits, kind of seems more horrific than the average human situation, with less hope of ever escaping or being set free.¡±


    Fran took in this information. ¡°But you don¡¯t mind living underground right?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Dominik said. ¡°From what I remember, I was kept inside the castle. I studied, I trained, practiced magic, I was kept in that place, not so different from a dungeon itself, until I was a man. I was kept in captivity for most of my life. But most people live out in the sun, they find the idea of being locked up below the earth terrifying.¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± Fran said. ¡°I¡¯ll just speak a bit if I need to. Do we have a backstory?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re my wife.¡± Dominik stated this plainly, as if he were mentioning the chance of rain on a cold fall day.


    Fran nearly choked on her food again. ¡°That¡¯s a bit forward isn¡¯t it? We¡¯ve barely known each other!¡±


    ¡°Well you can¡¯t ever mention your real backstory.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°Not only would your family send out assassins if word got out, but plenty of people of any given race would love to kill or kidnap dark elf royalty, or any royalty, for the chance of a reward. Whether that¡¯s for killing you or selling you to your family.¡±


    ¡°So instead, if you ever need to tell anyone.¡± He continued. ¡°Tell them you were raised by various humans until you were about a century old, then you lived alone, wandering around. And eventually, now, you met me. We live out in the forest together, bla bla bla, you study magic, I¡¯m some healing druid, we love the forest and all of that. Things that won¡¯t make them ask too many questions.¡±


    Fran took it in and considered it all. ¡°That¡¯s fine I guess, but are you still going to be a human in your backstory?¡±


    Dominik¡¯s face contorted, perhaps a bit too much for a human, with such fine attention paid to the creation of every small group of muscles, and he said. ¡°What else would I be? I made a perfect recreation of my human body. I even made it better.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Said Fran. ¡°But maybe you made it too perfect. When I first saw you I almost thought you were a high elf. I think you¡¯d pass better for a half elf. Half high elf, half northman. Some half elves look more like elves, some look more like humans, so it¡¯d be a perfect fit, you wouldn¡¯t even need to change anything on your avatar.¡±


    Dominik¡¯s shoulders relaxed and he seemed to be accepting this, so she continued. ¡°And there¡¯d be less questions about your origins. Some half elves can live nearly as long as elves. So if you were two hundred years old, no one would be around, at least in human settlements, to remember you. So no one could really confirm or deny if you¡¯ve been wandering around the forests of these lands.¡±


    Dominik thought for a moment and considered this. ¡°That is the perfect backstory.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Said Fran. ¡°And it¡¯d give us plenty of time to become acquainted and to get¡­ married. I think both of our backstories sound perfect.¡±


    Dominik breathed in the cool night air, then stood. ¡°Alright, now that we¡¯ve got that taken care of, you can try to get some sleep. I¡¯ll keep watch and work on my dungeon now and then. We¡¯ll want to be prepared as soon as possible.¡±


    Fran yawned and stretched her arms before standing herself. ¡°Alright, this could be a lot of fun if we don¡¯t get killed in town. Good night.¡±


    ¡°Good night.¡± Said Dominik, as he let his consciousness return to the dungeon.

 Chapter 10 | The Town

    Dominik focused on the dungeon, and decided to rethink the spiders'' evolutionary track. He was already increasing their intelligence as much as he could, he could only focus so much on one aspect. So along with developing their brains and slightly increasing cranial capacity, he would also focus on increasing the potency of their venom, and the quantity they could produce and store at any one time.


    For now, they were his best fighters, and keeping them small would allow more of them to jump onto a target and start biting, as well as getting in between armor. Being hard to hit was also better than trying to increase the strength of their chitin. So staying small was important. Increasing their bite strength to go through strong armor or magic barriers of course, was a fool¡¯s errand. If such a target shows up, the spiders should back off and let something else handle them. Hopefully when they become intelligent enough, they¡¯ll understand that without him having to give them the command.


    He also wanted to slightly increase their strength and speed, to increase jumping height and distance, and make them harder to hit. As well as allowing spiders that had spent their venom to get away.


    Just these changes, he could feel, was starting to have a strain on the spiders. He lowered the speed of the changes just slightly, and allowed them to slowly improve. The difference should be more perceptible through the generations. And then, perhaps, he could work on longevity for the spider clan under his dominion.


    Next, he worked on the troglodytes. They were similar to lizards, but they were warm blooded. Improved eyesight was a must, but he also wanted to increase their height slightly through the generations, and overall strength. He¡¯d slowly improve the skeletal structure as well over the generations, as they¡¯d evolved to hunch over, a posture which would become less than beneficial, as if they were devolving to walk on four legs yet again. Their claws could be a bit stronger too, as their last line of defense.


    He considered adding venom, or some sort of poison, but if anyone got past the spiders, there would be no point in giving a weaker effect to the troglodytes. They were mostly meant to be workers anyway, not fighters. So anything that only benefited the role they were less than suitable for would be pointless.


    He¡¯d also planned on giving them spears to defend themselves in their own tight corridors, as well as making them capable of crafting basic things for themselves eventually. So to benefit both labor, crafting, and dexterity, slow twitch muscle fibers would be most important. Perhaps after they¡¯d evolved over several generations, they could even begin cultivation high up on the mountain, once their eyes could handle the sunlight.


    For now his two essential forces were heading down the right evolutionary path. He¡¯d consider what to do with the crows, beyond speed and stamina, later.


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    After this he continued checking on Fran, and improving the strength of the dungeon¡¯s floors, walls, and ceiling on the upper level, to assure no one could break through, and to make sure it appeared more developed than it was. The first few floors would have to convince any groups sent in the coming weeks to turn back before going any deeper.


    When he returned, he would consider making a body more suited for combat in the dungeon. The final enemy between them and the dungeon core, his new real body.


    Soon it was morning, and Fran stirred. The dark elves, he noticed, seemed slightly unaccustomed to the light as well. Likely from generations living for so long underground. Thankfully it wasn¡¯t debilitating, but she clearly didn¡¯t handle the bright sunlight in the day nearly as well as humans when they were out of the dense foliage of the forest.


    After making sure she¡¯d had enough to eat and drink, and he¡¯d pet the mule, they continued on to the town.


    When they reached the town, it was already sundown. They brought the mule to some stables for the night. Then they¡¯d asked around for the adventurer¡¯s guild, and thankfully it stays open late. Apparently it¡¯s open all day and night to accommodate schedules, though various services are only available at certain hours. Dominik vaguely remembered visiting this town, but he didn¡¯t recall ever entering the adventurer¡¯s guild.


    They mostly kept to their own camp outside the town, and only ventured over here for supplies. The slaves weren¡¯t meant to do much speaking to the townsfolk, and the free noblemen of the king¡¯s line were more loath to speak to peasants than their own slave soldiers. The mixture of common birth, and perceived weakness and cowardice sickened the higher ranking members of the royal guard. And the cheers and adorations the men with a slave army would receive sickened him as well. Whether it was through their own ignorance on the matter, or purely from relief that someone was coming to their small town to do something, it made him nearly as revolted as the rest of them.


    He¡¯d felt anger bubbling up, just below the surface. He¡¯d been so calm, almost happy in the dungeon, even wandering around the forest. The small village wasn¡¯t so bad either. But these people around staring at him, at the both of them, all their inane babbling and cloying presence, it made him feel a familiar hatred.


    He couldn¡¯t speak to them yet, the anger he was feeling would shine through, and it would seem misplaced for the man he was trying to portray himself as. He ordered some tea and they sat down. He drank it slowly and tried to re-acclimate himself to be around so many other humans. It would be natural for travelers to need a drink after such a long walk anyway, especially before having a discussion about such a topic.


    Fran was staying quiet, sipping her tea, playing her part well. Even with the glares she was getting, she gave off an air of indifference, as if she was unconcerned with it, though he was sure it bothered her.


    They couldn¡¯t wait too long, or else it¡¯d seem suspicious. But he supposed two elves, each a couple hundred years old, might have different gauges of time and importance, especially concerning human lives. He was glad she¡¯d suggested this backstory.


    He focused on his dungeon for a bit, watching the troglodytes play in the cave, watching the others sleep, and he relaxed a bit. Soon he had finished his tea, and he felt he could continue his role.

 Chapter 11 | The Adventurers Guild

    Dominik led his wife to the counter for administration. They waited in line behind one person, and then they could start.


    ¡°Hello, welcome to the adventurer¡¯s guild, how may I help you.¡± Said a chubby woman in a floral dress. Clearly not a very strict dress code, at least for this town¡¯s adventurer¡¯s guild. After a moment though, Dominik thought it strange to look down on this place for its dress code, when he wasn¡¯t wearing shoes, and he was wearing torn up clothes he¡¯d most likely taken from a demon, who had mostly likely taken it from a dead adventurer. An adventurer it likely killed. He tried being friendly, and considered finding a cobbler, and a tailor, at least some time tomorrow.


    ¡°Hello, I am Domin.. Us.¡± Somehow they¡¯d forgotten to think of fake names. How had they forgotten to think of fake names? All that time spent on the backstories.


    ¡°And this is my wife Fr.. Eya.¡± Hopefully that¡¯s different enough.


    ¡°Is that Domin¡¯us and Fr¡¯eya, or¡­.¡±


    ¡°No, I was just trying to be clear. Many scribes are particular about properly spelling names among humans.¡±


    ¡°Are you.. Not human?¡± The woman asked.


    ¡°I am half high elf, and half northman, but many see me only as a human. My wife and I have been living in the surrounding forests for some time, we are not members of this guild. But we came upon something.¡± With that he brought out the pouch with the tags, and the note he¡¯d found.


    ¡°That note was on a scout that had been killed by spiders. I cut the webbing open. He was killed on the first floor of the dungeon. The rest I gathered from the first few floors. Though their bodies were mostly gone.¡±


    The woman¡¯s eyes went wide as she listened to his whole story, and as she read the note. She looked through the tags, and saw every name from the first battalion of the royal guard. ¡°It was a full wipe.¡± She said, most likely to herself.


    She began writing things down, scrambling for documents, and stamping papers. ¡°Sorry sir, just a moment, I¡¯d like to get more details.¡± She continued writing madly, her handwriting becoming increasingly frantic and illegible.


    ¡°There¡¯s no rush, we can stay for some time.¡± He put his hand on his wife¡¯s shoulder lovingly, and his wife placed her hand on his. Soon she had called someone else over, likely a higher up, and finished writing for the most part. At least for the time being


    A middle aged man in a slightly more refined dress shirt and slacks came over to them, and began asking questions. ¡°Sorry sir, I¡¯m the manager of this branch of the adventurer¡¯s guild. I may ask you some redundant questions, but we need all the information we can get. Can you tell me how far you went into the dungeon to retrieve these tags?¡±


    ¡°The scout¡¯s tag was on the first floor. The others started appearing on the second floor, down to the sixth.¡± Dominik didn¡¯t think it¡¯d be believable that they didn¡¯t make it at least this far. But he didn¡¯t want people thinking they¡¯d nearly finished clearing the dungeon either. He figured even without knowing the total number of floors. Six didn¡¯t seem very promising, and they wouldn¡¯t try throwing more bodies at the dungeon. At least not valuable forces like a battalion of the royal guard. Especially not so far off to the west from the kingdom. A small town and a village being attacked was a more acceptable risk than losing too much power for the northern kingdom.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t dare go any lower, and I would¡¯ve been killed without my barrier as it is.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry sir.¡± The guild manager said. ¡°But what do you specialize in?¡±


    ¡°I am a druid, but I focus on healing and protection magic. My wife is a mage, and she focuses on offensive magic. We barely made it out alive as it was. Although there were still many demons, with strange eldritch alterations on their bodies. It seemed as if the dungeon wanted them replaced.¡±


    The guild manager frowned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Dominik continued. ¡°This large group must¡¯ve been wiped out some time ago, and the forces on the upper levels could have surely been more numerous. There was also a loud noise coming from below the sixth floor. I feel as if a shift was coming. Perhaps the dungeon was simply letting us cull the remainder of its failed creations. I would not try delving to the sixth floor again. It may be down to timing that we were even able to survive.¡±


    The woman began writing again, and the man sighed out very deeply. ¡°I¡¯m afraid dungeon shifts do happen from time to time, especially when major events happen, like the first few levels being mostly cleared out by the royal guard.¡± Said the guild manager.


    ¡°Yes, but I think the spiders are being kept on the first floor. They seemed mostly unaltered, and their population was quite numerous.¡± said Dominik, playing the role of a wise druid.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± The manager responded, trying to sound more hopeful. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure an anti-venom is recommended to any future scouts or groups.¡± Dominik thought a barrier spell would be the real requirement, as, if they needed antivenom, it would most likely be too late. But he kept this to himself. He didn¡¯t need them getting too far into the dungeon too early.


    ¡°You said you¡¯re not registered with the guild.¡± The guild manager started to give his speech. ¡°We could really use the talents of you and your wife, now that there¡¯s a permanent dungeon near the town. It¡¯s not all bad either, as long as the dungeon population is culled on a regular enough basis, the extra income could be useful for the town.¡±


    ¡°And.¡± The guild manager clasped his hands together. ¡°I¡¯ll offer you the full price for the tags we offered the scout, plus a bit for their tag as well. It¡¯s very important to have these, for the royal family, and important for the town to have this information. There¡¯s no pressure to join the guild right away, but if you do, we can start you out at the second rank, based on your work even that¡¯s a bit too low, but that¡¯s as high as I can go at the start.¡±


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    ¡°I appreciate the offer, we could use the funds, my wife needs supplies, and we could both use some new clothes. But what¡¯s the benefit of being in this guild? And what difference do ranks make?¡± Dominik asked.


    The guild manager smiled, pleased that he was bringing in some strong adventurers. Now that their town was in such danger, it was important no doubt. ¡°Well the first ranks have to pay a fee, and keep doing enough missions each month, or else they have to pay to have their memberships renewed. I¡¯ll waive the fee for you and your wife, and as second ranks, you could take your time, just take any missions that strike your fancy.¡±


    He continued ¡°The main benefit of rank though, is you can take any mission of that rank without putting anything down, and one rank higher at a low rate. This system is to stop low rank adventurers from taking jobs they can¡¯t really complete, so people capable of taking the jobs have easy access to them. Although we tend to discourage very high rank adventurers from taking very low rank missions, unless no other more suitably ranked missions, or no more suitably ranked adventurers are available. Not that you and your wife will have to worry about that right now.¡±


    He paused for a moment then finished. ¡°We also make exceptions for people with specialized skills, like hunters, especially hunters specializing in a certain type of beast, as their effectiveness might be reliant on their specialization.¡±


    The guild manager smiled again and said. ¡°We can fill out the paperwork in a few minutes, and get you your tags right now, what do you say?¡±


    Dominik turned to Fran and asked. ¡°What do you think honey, do you want to try joining the adventurer¡¯s guild?¡± He thought it was worth joining, not just to secure payment for now, but for a possible means of investigating the adventurer¡¯s guild activity if they needed such information, and for information about the surrounding area. He didn¡¯t know why he asked, but he could only hope she agreed with him.


    ¡°I go where you go, husband.¡± She didn¡¯t need to lay it on that thick, but at least she agreed.


    ¡°Then we¡¯ll join.¡± He said to the manager.


    ¡°Great.¡± Said the manager as he clasped his hands again, this time with a very audible sound.  ¡°Now if you could just tell us your first and last name.¡±


    They hadn¡¯t thought of a last name either. He didn¡¯t even know her real last name, though he suspected she didn¡¯t want to go around telling people which kingdom she was from, or telling anyone else as much as she¡¯d told him. He¡¯d have to make up something vaguely elven sounding for their backstory.


    ¡°Al.. Uh.. Shar.. Uh..¡± He hoped that sounded like a real last name.


    The woman at the counter asked. ¡°Alashara?¡± Thankfully she was used to his way of explaining the pronunciation of their names already.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Alright so that¡¯s Dominus and Freya Alashara.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Great, you¡¯re a druid focused on healing and protection magic, your wife is a mage focused on offensive magic, any specific element?¡±


    ¡°Honey?¡± Dominik asked.


    ¡°I dabble in most elemental magic, I like to find balance. And a jack of all trades but a master of none, is oftentimes better than a master of one.¡± Said Fran, keeping a quiet stoic disposition, settling into the role of wise elves living outside of civilization.


    ¡°Oh, of course.¡± Said the woman. ¡°I¡¯ll write that you have an affinity for most elements. We¡¯ll only need to get specific if you start climbing to higher ranks, but for now it¡¯s enough information.¡±


    They continued answering a few basic questions, or they declined to answer if they felt it was too personal or unimportant, and with that, their adventurer¡¯s sheets were filled out. They were brought their second rank tags, and a large pouch of gold and silver, then they turned to leave, but Dominik remembered something he thought was important. For himself and the town. He didn¡¯t want them thinking the dungeon was overrunning the town or the village with demons.


    ¡°One more thing.¡± Dominik said as he turned back, bringing a look of sadness to the person behind him.


    ¡°We saw demons in the forest. They¡¯ve attacked us, and the local village. The villagers even suspected it was my wife before I returned. Unlike the demons in the dungeons, these demons had no alterations, certainly nothing that appeared eldritch in nature. The alterations to the demons in the dungeon were quite obvious. And there were no demons outside the dungeon itself, or even near the mountain from what I saw. Only near the village and a cave my wife was staying near.¡±


    The woman looked to be near tears as she began writing again, about nothing especially good. The manager¡¯s eyes went wide and he asked. ¡°Are you sure? What do you think would be causing this? Are you sure they¡¯re unrelated?¡±


    ¡°My wife and the villagers have seen them, but I myself haven¡¯t. From what they¡¯ve said, these were normal demons. There¡¯s no way lesser demons like what people have been seeing could¡¯ve broken out from the dungeon lord¡¯s control, and the attacks seem too minor to be an overflowing dungeon anyway. On top of that, my wife was attacked just a day before we reached the cave. That group must¡¯ve wiped out many of the demons on the upper floors before that. So it¡¯s quite possible there¡¯s another source.¡±


    The guild manager seemed more bothered by this than the news of the new dungeon. Though that makes sense, not only is it unknown, but there¡¯s no real benefit to the town. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s a cult?¡± The guild manager asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know much about that.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°I don¡¯t know much about what¡¯s going on here either, that¡¯s why I almost didn¡¯t say anything. I have no real leads. If I would¡¯ve been around, maybe we could¡¯ve tracked them through the forest, but if they don¡¯t lead us back to their master, I¡¯d have no way of finding their source. And I don¡¯t want whatever this is hiding under the guise of it being attacks from a new dungeon. It almost seems coordinated, as far as the timing. As if someone, or some group, is trying to use the growing power of the dungeon as cover for their growing horde of demons.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s hope it¡¯s nothing so organized.¡± Said the guild manager, as he dabbed his face with a handkerchief. ¡°I¡¯ll inform the lord and the authorities right away.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°If it¡¯s a few people with some group in the forest, I may be able to find them of course. But if it¡¯s a group operating from a human settlement, sending out demons remotely, then I doubt I could find them. That would require an investigation on your people¡¯s part. But I¡¯ll return if I find anything more interesting.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± Said the guild manager. ¡°We¡¯ll send a team to question the villagers in a day or two.¡±


    ¡°You may want to send a guard as well.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°They told me they were running low on crops from all the raids, and the men were becoming too tired to work. They may not be able to survive the winter if it continues like this.¡±


    ¡°Of course sir. I, Alphonse, will do my best to inform the lord and the authorities of this, and of the pressing need to protect the villagers.¡± The guild manager gave a partial bow and then hurried to fetch his coat and leave. It seemed like this was too much terrible news to wait, and the woman got up from the counter, chasing after him with the papers.


    As Dominik and Fran left, the man who¡¯d been waiting behind them went back to his table and slumped into his chair, defeated.

 Chapter 12 | First Job

    Dominik took stock of everything, while his lovely wife sat down on a bench just outside of the adventurer¡¯s guild. He was pretty sure he¡¯d told one person in the village his name, maybe even the mayor. It didn¡¯t matter if his disguise failed, at least, it probably didn¡¯t. He doubted they would jump to the conclusion that he''d taken over the dungeon core, but he¡¯d prefer not to lose this identity as an adventurer. It could give useful information, and it could be a valuable source of income, should he need it.


    He¡¯d taken over the dungeon core¡¯s body, and even consumed its soul. The dungeon core was clearly trying to take control of him too. So maybe he could learn some magic to manipulate someone¡¯s mind. Maybe he already could if he¡¯d tried. If not, he could try and learn through some sort of spellbook, especially with Fran¡¯s help. He should¡¯ve been taught at least basic telepathy, as someone in a support role, but he hadn¡¯t been allowed to do so. They didn¡¯t want the slaves speaking to each other with their minds. Only the free men were allowed to learn, though few were capable of grasping it apparently.


    His mind was racing a mile a minute. More importantly, he¡¯d have to find some sort of creature to summon. The prospect of evolving animals, especially animals suited for fighting in the dungeon would take too long. Especially breeding and growing them. Perhaps there were other things to summon besides demons? Perhaps he could intuit the possibilities with enough time, if the eldritch dungeon core had done so. Assuming it had done so. But it was also likely much older than him. How long would that take? He¡¯d never been able to study summoning spells, but surely they could find a book on summoning. Even just a book on monsters to refresh his memory, maybe there¡¯s something he could summon if he just knew what he needed to summon, and from which plane.


    ¡°Dominus, could I talk to you somewhere privately?¡± Fran asked.


    ¡°Sure.¡± He said, and they walked down a few paths to a more empty area of the town. ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t say anything in the adventurer¡¯s guild, because I didn¡¯t know if it was part of your plan. But¡­. The demons I saw were eldritch in nature. They had tentacles and extra mouths. I¡¯m not sure about what the villagers saw, but there was a bounty on eldritch demons in the adventurer¡¯s guild. So they might have gone there and asked for help.¡±


    Dominik thought for a moment, and tried to recollect his memories of the conversation. The man, the compass, demons, and the dark elf. Had he just lied unnecessarily?


    ¡°I was more focused on you than the demons. But I do remember feeling vaguely responsible even though I didn¡¯t summon them. Maybe that¡¯s why. I thought about it not being something I did, and since I didn¡¯t summon them, that means they weren¡¯t from the dungeon. Even though they were probably from the other dungeon core.¡±


    They stood there in silence for a moment, before Dominik said. ¡°I guess we¡¯re screwed now. There goes the new identities.¡±


    Fran responded. ¡°Maybe there¡¯s still some way to salvage them. If we go back in and request to lead the investigation, we can just report something more in line with the story we¡¯ve told. And I can cast minor illusions. They¡¯re not very believable up close, and they¡¯re worse if I try to cast them on a living target. But from far away I could convince the villagers that other demons are attacking.¡±


    Dominik smiled and said. ¡°Fran you¡¯re a genius! If you weren¡¯t my wife I¡¯d kiss you right now.¡±


    Fran¡¯s face scrunched in confusion and she asked. ¡°You mean if I were?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Dominik and Fran made their way back toward the adventurer¡¯s guild. But before they entered, Dominik said. ¡°They still haven¡¯t come back, they¡¯re at some big house down the street. I had the crows follow them, just to see who they¡¯re reporting to. We should catch them before they make their report.¡±


    Fran nodded and followed Dominik as he walked quickly to their location. They knocked on the door, and a man wearing a suit opened the door. ¡°Are you here to see the lord as well?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°It¡¯s about the demons and all that.¡±


    ¡°You can wait in the parlor with the other two. I see you¡¯re from the guild as well.¡± He said as he led them to the parlor. ¡°Would you like some tea while you wait?¡± Dominik looked toward his wife, and she answered. ¡°Yes please.¡±


    They met up with the guild manager and his assistant, and sat down at a couch in front of theirs, near a nice dark wooden coffee table. ¡°Hello again.¡± said Fran, starting the conversation.


    The guild manager looked surprised and asked. ¡°Did you remember something important about the case?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Said Dominik. Which was true, he hadn¡¯t remembered. ¡°After talking to my wife for a bit, we decided we¡¯d like to monitor the village and manage this case, at least around the area in the forest. Though you can still send some guards if you want. My wife felt bad leaving things as they are, since the villagers clearly gave her a bunch of free supplies out of fear. She¡¯d like to at least return the favor, even if it wasn¡¯t intentional.¡±


    The guild leader, who had feared hearing more bad news, let out a sigh of relief. ¡°That¡¯s good to hear, we could use some strong adventurers willing to help the villagers, especially someone with healing magic. Would you be willing to stay and help us speak to the lord of this town?¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°Though I¡¯m not sure we¡¯ll be of much help.¡±


    The guild manager quickly responded. ¡°Having the ones assigned to the village investigation should be beneficial, especially a druid and a mage so familiar with the forest. It should help us present the case for aid, if it doesn¡¯t seem like much investment is required.¡±


    ¡°Then we¡¯ll do whatever we can to try and help.¡± Said Dominik. Though he was beginning to think this lord wouldn¡¯t be too generous, considering the way the guild manager seemed to be worried.


    After waiting for nearly an hour, mostly sitting there in silence, occasionally idly chatting, the lord finally came, or called them in to be seen. They were led down the hallway by the butler, and led into a large study. A short frail looking man in fine clothes sat there, with his hands clasped on the desk. He unclasped his hands and gestured for them to sit in some nice chairs near the desk.


    The guild manager and his assistant began explaining everything they¡¯d been told, and introduced Dominus and Freya. They explained that there had been reports of eldritch demons a few weeks ago, but now the demon sightings seemed to be completely whole and non-eldritch in nature. This, along with Dominus¡¯ claims that the dungeon seemed to be shifting away from using demons, at least on the first several floors, led them to believe their may be one or more people, possibly an entire group or cult, summoning demons, using the sightings of eldritch demons from the dungeon as cover for their activities.


    Dominik was glad they¡¯d tried to piece this all together, but he couldn¡¯t help feeling this was all somehow his fault. Soon the lord they were speaking to gave his thoughts, after it had all been explained to him. ¡°After your adventurers have investigated the village, if they still think a major threat is likely, we may post a few guards there, though I think the people of the village should have been able to defend their crops from a few minor arrows. Do they not use bows and slings?¡±


    The guild manager tried defending the villagers, and saying he would make sure they were well trained in the matter, then requested supplies be brought to the villagers in order to help them do so.


    ¡°I suppose they can have some older equipment from the guard, maybe a bulk purchase of a few bows from a local merchant. That would ultimately be cheaper than stationing a small militia of guards. Don¡¯t you agree Dominus?¡± He posed this question to the druid, perhaps thinking a man who enjoyed such self-reliance would agree with him. In this situation, he was more right than he possibly could have guessed.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Said Dominus. ¡°I think spending the extra money that would¡¯ve gone to the guard would be more wisely spent on supplies for the villagers to defend themselves. And for training. My wife and I can hopefully track down any lingering demons from the dungeon¡¯s first batch, and any newly summoned demons from whomever¡¯s responsible. I can even provide healing to the villagers if they¡¯re injured in any attacks, at least when we go to check on them.¡±


    The lord of this town, who¡¯s name escaped Dominik, smiled and quickly said. ¡°Great. We don¡¯t need to send any guards then. Does your wife happen to be skilled at archery?¡±


    Dominus looked at his wife, and she responded. ¡°Yes, I have practiced archery, though mostly as a hobby for several decades. I¡¯ve also practiced a bit of sword fighting.¡±


    When she finished speaking Dominus answered for himself, guessing where this was most likely going. ¡°I¡¯ve mostly practiced melee combat myself, mainly blunt weaponry, but I¡¯m proficient with anything from axes to spears myself as well.¡±


    The lord¡¯s smile broadened. He was glad they were on the same page. ¡°Amazing, then while you¡¯re there, could you perhaps help teach them how to defend themselves as well? I¡¯m sure a few pointers and some practice would suffice. And I can pay you both for your time of course. I¡¯d simply like to keep most guards and such protecting the town. For the greater good of course, I¡¯m sure you understand.¡± He said this last part while looking at the guild manager.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Said the guild manager, with a forced smile.


    ¡°We¡¯d be happy to spend a day or two near the village training them, and we¡¯ll check in as needed.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°Though hopefully we can take care of everything ourselves, and they won¡¯t need to defend themselves from anymore demon attacks.¡±


    ¡°Then it¡¯s all settled.¡± Said the lord. ¡°I¡¯ll send supplies along with you, and of course some workers to bring the supplies, I¡¯ll pay the two of you for your work, and the guild manager can pay you for any demons slay. Would you be willing to go toward the village the day after tomorrow?¡±¡±


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    ¡°That sounds fine.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°We¡¯ll just spend today and tomorrow getting some supplies. We can come back here when we¡¯re ready to leave the town.¡±


    ¡°Excellent. I¡¯ll have my servants bring your pay before you leave so you can be well equipped. And thank you again for bringing the tags. I¡¯m sure the royal family will be most pleased to have them, or at least to know.¡±


    Dominik and his wife agreed, and the guild manager along with his assistant said a few niceties as they left with them. They returned to the parlor and waited. ¡°Are you sure this will be enough?¡± Asked the guild leader.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it will be, my wife and I were serious about taking care of this ourselves, or else we wouldn¡¯t have come back to help at all.¡± Said Dominus.


    He continued. ¡°As long as the supplies are of good quality. They should only need some weapons to defend themselves from a few of the stragglers when we aren¡¯t there. I¡¯m sure the villagers being able to defend themselves will be more useful in the long term too.¡±


    The guild manager relented. ¡°I suppose you¡¯re right. You were only suggesting the guard when you were going to leave it up to the town right? I¡¯ll trust your judgment. But I¡¯ll make sure to inspect everything bright and early before they send you to the village.¡±


    ¡°Do you distrust the lord of this town?¡± Freya asked, the question somewhat surprising the guild manager and his assistant.


    After a pause, and a look around, he finally answered in a quiet voice. ¡°It¡¯s not necessarily that I don¡¯t trust him, it¡¯s just that I think he¡¯ll prioritize protecting this town, and himself, more than protecting some small village. News of the permanent dungeon and a possible cult of demon summoners near the town might convince him to save everything for the town. But if he¡¯s not going to spare any men, he could at least make sure the villagers are well supplied to defend themselves.¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± Said Dominus. ¡°We¡¯ll let you deal with details here then, and we¡¯ll deal with the village. We¡¯ll only come back to report on everything if something major happens.¡±


    The guild manager seemed a bit apprehensive and said. ¡°I know it would take time to come report, but it would be nice to be updated at least weekly, at least for the first few weeks, so we know everything¡¯s still good out there.¡±


    Dominik seemed apprehensive, not wanting to have to make the trip to the town and back so often, or at all if he wasn¡¯t interested. He looked around the parlor and then said, in a low voice. ¡°Don¡¯t tell anyone, but I have some crows in my employ. I could write a note every week or so, and report on anything interesting.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great.¡± Said the guild manager. ¡°After you¡¯re paid I¡¯ll show you my office on the second floor. Just have your crows come up and tap on the window. They can sit on the patio if I¡¯m not in for a while, I¡¯ll make sure to check over the next few weeks.¡±


    After a few more minutes, a servant came with a small bag of coins. It seemed like a fair payment to Dominik, not that he fully knew the value of these things. He hadn¡¯t managed any expenses before. They went to the guild manager¡¯s office, and he brought a few crows in through the window, pretending he was letting them familiarize themselves with the area. He wasn¡¯t sure how deep a druid¡¯s connection with their familiars was meant to be, so he¡¯d rather make a show of it, in case they were more like animals the druid had trained. He thought he should perhaps read a book about druids. Or speak to one sometime.


    For now though, he¡¯d have to find a place for himself and Fran to stay the night, and they¡¯d have to find a cobbler and a tailor, probably tomorrow considering the time, before they¡¯d be let into any reputable shops. There was also the matter of dignity, and while it may match the druid persona he¡¯d made, he was now a fairly wealthy druid.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go try to find some clothes Freya, and if all the shops are closed, we¡¯ll find a cheap place to sleep.¡± Said Dominik as they left the adventurer¡¯s guild.


    ¡°Why a cheap inn, don¡¯t we have enough money to stay somewhere decent?¡± She asked, sounding disappointed. Clearly she wasn¡¯t happy with only sleeping on a bedroll in the dirt, in a cave, or out in the forest.


    ¡°Well if we don¡¯t find some better clothes, I don¡¯t think any better inns will let us stay the night.¡±


    She sighed and relented. ¡°I guess you¡¯re right. Let¡¯s see if someone¡¯s willing to at least take our measurements now and start first thing tomorrow.¡±


    They walked through the town. Dominik Had brought a few crows with them, and he used them to scout out the city. After a while, they found a few small shops, that were also residences, that were willing to take their measurements and start first thing tomorrow morning. A few people had been hesitant when they saw a dark elf enter, but they were more concerned with making ends meet than being enslaved by one woman and her human husband. They made sure to use their fake names for this. The prominently displayed tags they wore around their necks also seemed to put them at ease.


    After that, they made their way to a cheap inn that wasn¡¯t very busy. They didn¡¯t seem to mind their disheveled state. They rented out a room with one bed, so as not to seem suspicious. It¡¯s not as if Dominik¡¯s avatar really needed to sleep anyway, and he could keep watch over her better if they stayed in the same room too. They went to a cheap restaurant and got something to eat, then went back to their room at the inn.


    ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t need to sleep?¡± Fran asked.


    ¡°Yes, this avatar can use food for partial fuel, but it mostly runs on mana. My main body doesn¡¯t feel tired. I don¡¯t know when it¡¯ll need to sleep again, or why it does and doesn¡¯t need to sleep. Maybe it mostly gains sustenance from the mana in the dungeon too. But I¡¯m not sure about that. But I¡¯m sure leaving you unattended in this city would be a bad idea. Many people would probably like to kill you, and others would just like to rob us.¡±


    Fran seemed unbothered, and just yawned as she moved back the covers and laid down. ¡°Well, just tell me if you do need sleep at some point, and I¡¯ll keep watch.¡±


    The night passed uneventfully however, and he simply made improvements to the structure of the dungeon, and had the troglodytes work on digging out more of the sixth floor. He had plans for it. He couldn¡¯t let anyone get past the sixth floor, or ideally even survive if they got to the sixth floor. It would ruin his story about the first battalion of the royal guard being wiped out there. He¡¯d wait to begin fleshcrafting until he could give his full, undivided attention to it in his main body.


    Soon the morning had come, and Fran turned to her side to avoid the light filtering through the side of the curtain. He let her sleep in for as long as possible. They needed to do whatever they could to pass the time for now.


    Eventually after meandering around town, purchasing some sewing supplies, and of course some bedding for Fran, their clothes were done. Dominik finally had a pair of socks and a pair of leather boots that fit him, and Fran likewise had a pair to replace her worn leather sandals, which she chose to keep. They gathered their new clothes by mid day, and stored the extras in a bag they had purchased. The clothes were simple, but they fit well.


    Then they finally made it to a bookstore, with various books and scrolls on magic. He¡¯d been against summoning demons for some reason, a lingering hatred he couldn¡¯t quite remember from his past life. But he realized he wouldn¡¯t even know how to summon those either, even if he wanted to.


    Obviously though, nothing on summoning demons was available to the public, at least not at a shop run legitimately and available to the public, and any sort of inspectors. The practice of things such as demonology and necromancy were forbidden in most human civilizations, at least in the north. Only books on countering these things were available. Though this could give enough knowledge to him, so as to be able to summon them. At least, he thought it possible. He felt as if he only needed to know what he was reaching for in order to take it.


    Buying books on the subject would even make sense for his story, because he¡¯d told the guild manager about the demons, and said he was looking for the source of the demons in the forest. It would all make sense even if they tracked his movements and investigated him.


    He bought the books on countering demons, rather than summoning them, and added them to the bag. More importantly, he found a book on arachnids, and books on various other animals he may be able to use in or around his dungeon. There wasn¡¯t much to do with summoning in this bookstore, in a small town, even in the magic section. He supposed this town was only big to the villagers, who nearly lived in squalor.


    He filled his bag with books, and had to carry his clothes instead. They went and purchased another bag. They also bought writing supplies, and a few large blank scrolls. Then they went to a much nicer inn, probably the nicest one in this town, and rented a large room for the night, though it was still day.


    Dominik was eager to start reading, and Fran had purchased a few books on magic herself. The books were fairly expensive, and ate into the money they¡¯d gained quite a bit, but Dominik thought it was worth it. He¡¯d have to make a nice dry room at a decent temperature to store them in. He could even carve the bookshelves into the walls.


    However as he kept reading about spiders, he was disappointed. Apparently it could take weeks for a spider to lay eggs after mating, then weeks for them to hatch, weeks for them to grow. Though he was shocked that some could live for around twenty years, some rare species have apparently been recorded as living up to forty years. This was hardly the constant generations he had expected, but perhaps it was better this way.


    The more he continued to read about various animals, the more he considered the food required to feed these creatures. Demons, at least most demons, could mostly or entirely live off of mana, similar to how his avatar could. Some powerful demons, especially those with an affinity for magic, or simply especially large ones, as well as some rare species of animals he couldn¡¯t recall, had mana crystals.


    Mana crystals were generally small, and actually soft squishy round things inside the creatures, though firm enough not to break apart. They could be repaired, if damaged, by mana, so it was self-sustaining. He recalled reading much about these things related to dungeons, as these could be rare commodities, used in alchemy and even in creating jewelry. As, after the crystal was left outside the living creature¡¯s body for long enough, especially if treated properly, it would harden like a crystal or a gem, and could store mana. Very popular with mages, especially those with low mana capacity. Though very expensive, especially for one able to store much mana, as to be useful for casting any number of spells.


    What would happen if the creatures in his dungeon couldn¡¯t get enough food? What would happen if the dodos and grubs couldn¡¯t get enough food to eat? What do they even eat?


    Dominik didn¡¯t want to summon demons, and more importantly, he didn¡¯t think he even knew how to summon them, even if he needed to, but he still needed the creatures of his dungeon to be able to live mostly, or entirely off of mana.


    As of now, he may be slightly supplementing their energy reserves with it, but they couldn¡¯t live off of mana alone. That might have been why the eldritch dungeon core was summoning so many demons, aside from the spiders at the entrance which were self-sustaining, and a few other creatures like the troglodytes. Which seemed at least intelligent enough to secure their own food supply and cultivate it in the cave. Though he did wonder where they got the dodos.


    The troglodytes and the spiders might¡¯ve been residents of the cave, or at least from the local area considering the large mountain it was sitting beneath. That might explain why the eldritch dungeon core didn¡¯t have any interest in altering them. It might¡¯ve only offered them a contract because they were already there, and it could see some use for them. Clearly they didn¡¯t align with its strange vision though.


    Rather than summoning demons, he just needed to evolve the creatures of the dungeon to be able to live off of mana, and to create at least a small mana core for the creatures, in case they ever needed to leave the dungeon, so as not to starve.


    His soul regenerated and stored a massive amount of mana, and from what he felt of his main body, the many eyes all over it seemed to act as a sort of mana crystal too, allowing him to store a massive amount of mana. The dungeon itself permeated mana, the mana flowed through the earth into the dungeon on the bottom floor, right where the dungeon core had entered through a rift in the planes, where it had set up its room. But it couldn¡¯t absorb all of it, and the mana continued to flow up and around the dungeon.


    As long as he didn¡¯t fill the dungeon with too many creatures that needed too much mana, which should be impossible, either the dungeon itself, or he himself, could provide the mana for their sustenance. For whatever food they required in addition to that, he could simply make the food sources survive on mana too. Plants, animals, everything could be a being capable of being sustained on mana. If he could only evolve them enough. He¡¯d done it with his avatar, so it was possible.


    Soon he focused on the dungeon again, and began altering the body and souls of the dodos, in order to be capable of living entirely off of mana. They would be nutritious piles of meat walking around on two legs, soaking in the mana from the dungeon. And they¡¯d even produce a small mana crystal as well. Eventually.

 Chapter 13 | Bounty

    The Dodos produced an egg nearly every other day. Dominik noticed the troglodytes liked to eat them raw. They seemed aware of this difference in male and female, and by sifting through one of the oldest troglodyte¡¯s memories, he found that the birds bred around summer. The troglodytes seemed to understand the difference between fertilized and unfertilized eggs, and made sure they raised new dodos, which themselves matured in about a year, in time for mating season most likely. It seems like the troglodytes were smarter than he thought.


    He¡¯d like to increase their egg laying to every day, or nearly every day. Aside from trying to increase this capacity, he set out on changing them to take in mana as nutrition. To use it in order to produce all the nutrition they needed, all of the calories for sustained life, and to sustain a healthy level of body fat. He brought his consciousness fully into his main body after checking in with fran, and had the troglodytes bring him dodos. He consumed them and broke down their biology, even testing the properties of the soul. They were very simple, but stable.


    As he begun to make changes, he noticed that they seemed to have barely any reaction, even the living dodos, to being altered, though aside from creating a small mana crystal the size of a green pea, and the changes to their eggs, there weren¡¯t many major physical changes, at least none that most people would notice. He did this en masse, the whole flock of dodos kept in the cave were altered. The changes would be even more effective on their offspring, and even more so throughout the generations of dodos. For now, their uncomplicated existence allowed him to change much, and they could now massively supplement the gaps in their nutrition with mana. Though they would still need to eat and drink at least three fourths of what they had so far to live. For now. The changes would continue until dodos improved. Until they became the perfect self-sustaining food source. At least for poultry.


    The spiders were already under enough stress, and their small bodies and souls, already very complex for their size, couldn¡¯t take any more alterations. So he only planted the seeds for the next generations. Their offspring, when fully grown, would have small mana crystals, slightly smaller than a raindrop. They would be able to supplement their nutrition slightly with mana, though nowhere near as much as the dodos, especially not in the first generation. But they didn¡¯t need much either, and they were efficient at going out and hunting, jumping on their prey, or catching very small prey in their webs.


    The grubs they had eaten were large, as long as a forearm and very very fat. However, these weren¡¯t as big as they could get. The queen of the grubs was as large as a cow, though longer, with a pulsating abdomen. Most of the grubs were female, all able to mature and grow into the new queen should the old queen die, or become incapable of producing more eggs. A few males were produced every cycle, which were capable of growing and fertilizing the next queen¡¯s eggs.


    Their forms were also quite simple, though not quite as much as the dodos somehow, and they took to the changes well. They were nearly as efficient as the dodos, and their generations would come sooner, so perhaps they could even outpace the dodos evolutionarily. Especially if the queen continued to evolve at a good rate, or if they got a new queen. He¡¯d gleaned this information from the troglodytes memories, and he¡¯d read some of this information in one of the books he¡¯d purchased from the bookstore. It was a pretty nice store, there was very useful information in these books.


    The queen doesn¡¯t always produce fertilized eggs, she seems to lay the fertilized eggs on one side of the cave, and the unfertilized eggs on the other. Obviously she lays a certain amount of eggs each day, but she seems to choose which ones are fertilized. Or maybe it¡¯s random. The book didn¡¯t explain this kind of behavior. Maybe she¡¯s able to sense the available resources and space in the habitat, and she only keeps the colony at sustainable levels.


    Finally the troglodytes live for about thirty years, and mature in about three years. He began slowly introducing the ability to supplement their nutrition, and began forming a mana crystal in each of them around the size of a small coin. It would take some time to reach that size of course in a fully mature troglodyte. He also began working on their longevity, improving their biology, which would see even better improvements in their children and further into the generations of troglodytes.


    Perhaps he could begin teaching them Gothik soon, and then have their elders teach the younger troglodytes. It would be nice if everything of a certain level of sapience could communicate with each other.


    After he was finished with the dungeon, the sun was setting, golden light was coming in through the side of the curtain, and Fran was still sitting curled up with a book on magic, sitting in a comfortable chair by the bed.


    Dominik realized his mistake. He¡¯d done everything during the day. Now most of the shops would be closed, and there¡¯d be nothing to do. Fran would need to sleep, and he¡¯d need to keep watch until morning.


    ¡°Is there anything to do tonight?¡± Dominik asked.


    ¡°Well, we could go get something to eat.¡± Said Fran, placing a marker in her book. She likely hadn¡¯t eaten anything since this morning.


    ¡°Alright.¡±


    They ate at a nicer restaurant this time, but Domink didn¡¯t think it seemed that much better. They walked around and talked until Fran got tired.


    Later they¡¯d returned to the inn, and Fran slept. Dominik sat in the chair and watched her. Or rather, he checked in once in a while, but otherwise left the avatar on standby, to alert him if it perceived any changes in the room. Any loud noises or movement, to warn him in case someone tried breaking in. He spent most of the time in his main body.


    He played with the troglodytes. He had them come to his room, and he picked them up with his tentacles, and even played upsy daisy with a few of them that seemed to like it. The little ones seemed especially happy with their little play time.


    Other than that he worked on hardening the outer walls and the floors of the first several levels of the dungeon. But the rest still needed work. Generally a dungeon should be a maze, making the adventurers take the longest route possible to get to the end of the floor. That¡¯s the main benefit of having indestructible, or nearly indestructible walls, and being able to repair them. But the previous dungeon core seemed to do everything randomly. It was so inefficient. It just filled up large rooms with tons of demons and other such things, then had hallways built that led to more large rooms.


    He did this until morning, then impatiently watched Fran sleep, waiting for her to be ready. He¡¯d considered reading one of the books, but he¡¯d prefer reading the rest of them in the dungeon. After he¡¯d made a bookshelf.


    Finally morning came and they contacted the lord of the town and said they¡¯d meet his men near the stables. They brought everything they¡¯d bought to their mule, strapped everything on, and fed her some carrots. Soon the workers were there with their own mules and donkeys, saddled with supplies or pulling carts with weapons. They introduced themselves and Dominik cast speed and stamina spells on everyone, including the mules and the donkeys. He explained this would increase their pace, and they all made their way to the village.


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    They made it to the village by nightfall, not having to camp on the way there. They went to the mayor, who had just recently gone to bed, and began unloading supplies. Then they would request the mayor to provide some sort of lodging, or else they would set up camp near the village.


    ¡°Of course, I have a few rooms available, but at this time of night, some of you may have to set up a camp, unless you¡¯re willing to stay in the stables.¡± Said the mayor, standing at the door in his pajamas, holding a silver chamberstick with a white candle providing some light in the darkened doorway.


    Everyone was let in as the mayor began lighting more candles and started a fire. ¡°I¡¯ll bring something to drink soon, if you have any food supplies feel free to bring them in and use the kitchen.¡± The workers took the few available guest rooms, and the rest set up tents near the mayor¡¯s house after bringing the mules and the donkeys to the stables. Others began cooking supplies, using some spices offered by the mayor. While this was happening, Dominik and Freya had asked to speak privately with the mayor, to discuss their job with the guild, and the mayor led them to his study.


    ¡°I had no idea you were a member of the guild Dominik.¡± Said the mayor after locking the door and lighting a few more candles. ¡°Is this woman the one we happened to have¡­. Mistaken for the culprit of the demon attacks?¡± He sat down and looked a bit uncomfortable.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Dominik said. ¡°This is my wife Freya. I didn¡¯t mention that likelihood at first, as I was away for a while, and my wife came to these parts of the woods ahead of me while I took care of some¡­. Other matters.¡±


    Dominik paused for a bit and continued. ¡°Also, my name is Dominus, I just used the other name as an alias, perhaps being unnecessarily cautious. My wife told me she was attacked by the demons too. Though the ones that attacked her didn¡¯t have any alterations, such as extra mouths, or any extra tentacles or limbs.¡±


    The mayor took this in for a moment, then said. ¡°What does that mean, are there more demons?¡± He looked far more awake now, though he hadn¡¯t drunk any of his tea.


    ¡°There¡¯s good news and some bad news in that regard.¡± Dominik said. ¡°I believe the dungeon is changing, it seems to be getting rid of the demons, not refilling their rank. Though I don¡¯t know what it might replace them with, or if any attacks will continue. But the attacks deeper in the forest were most likely from a different set of demons, most likely from a different source. Possibly one person, or a group. The town is investigating the possibility of some kind of cult as well.¡±


    The mayor took a long drink from his tea and sank down lower. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like good news to me, but thank you for telling me.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not just that.¡± Dominik continued. ¡°The dungeon is being declared a permanent dungeon. So there should be adventurers to come clear out, or at least cull the number of the creatures on the first few floors. And if any creatures come out and begin raids, the adventurers will be paid for killing them and defending the local villages and towns. If they happen to notice any other demons in the area, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll kill them too. The guild will pay them for proof of any kills.¡±


    The mayor sat up a bit at that, and added a bit of sugar to his tea from a small cup. ¡°Well that is a bit better, and I suppose we might get some more business around here if adventurers start camping out around here a bit more often.¡±


    ¡°Yes. For now the mayor¡¯s sent supplies, bows, arrows, slings, spears, some older gear from the guard.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°We¡¯re also going to stay here for a day or two and help train the villagers to use them. I¡¯m sure you could help us find people interested in protecting the village.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± Said the mayor. ¡°We have some people who already practice with bows or slings. With a few more trained and supplied I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be more prepared for attacks now.¡± The mayor was trying to sound hopeful.


    Dominik smiled and finished his speech. ¡°Hopefully it will just be a precaution. I¡¯ll search the forest for demons, and my wife and I will slay them wherever we find them. You might just have to deal with a few stragglers.¡±


    They continued the conversation for a bit, then they joined the workers at the table for dinner. Then everyone went to bed, including Dominik and Fran, who had been given a nice room to stay for the night, and the next few nights.


    The next day, the mayor gathered up men and women who were either skilled with some sort of weapon, or willing to learn and take up arms to defend the village and their farms. Weapons and gear were distributed. Dominik gave instruction on spears, axes, hammers, and any sort of other bludgeoning weapon. He also aided Fran with the archery training, though his technique was less refined than Fran¡¯s.


    Fran taught archery of course, but also offered advice and showed proper technique with a few of the old swords provided from the guard. They spent most of the day training various groups. The villagers spent hours learning what they could, while they still had access to the trainers. Though of course the hunters were already quite proficient.


    Dominik had also asked for the sick and injured to be brought to him, or else to be guided to them if they were too sick or injured to come. After the morning training, and throughout the training as people came over seeking healing, he had cured the sick, and healed many injuries, even old wounds that hadn¡¯t healed properly. His healing magic was of such a level, it could even heal scar tissue.


    Later that night, they ate, read some books, and slept at the mayor¡¯s house. The next day they continued their training, and Dominik healed the last few people that needed it. The past two days however, dominik had also been scouring the forest with his crows. Eventually, they found a gathering of the demons further up to the north.


    The demons were very altered, clearly belonging to the previous dungeon core. Dominik felt no connection however, perhaps the connection had been severed when he took over the dungeon because they weren¡¯t in the dungeon, or because they were too far away from the dungeon at least.


    These demons seemed half mad, attacking trees, sometimes attacking others, wandering around aimlessly, or simply standing there staring at one spot. Clearly these were failed creations, and without the dungeon core¡¯s guidance, they were truly useless. Only attacking whatever they saw.


    After finding them, Dominik and Fran made their plan. Fran conjured up an illusion of several lesser demons, just on the outskirts of town at night. She had them make demonic sounds, similar to what she¡¯d heard from the demon that attacked her mule just a couple of days ago, but she made it louder so everyone in the village could hear it. They made a show of running after them and told the guards they¡¯d been training to stay back and keep the village safe in case more demons came.


    They chased these illusions deep into the forest, until they were sure no one could see, then Fran dispelled the illusion and they ran toward where Dominik had found the real demons from the dungeon. Most were gathered near each other. Dominik bashed their skulls with a hammer, while fran cast ice spears through them. They killed the bulk of the demons that had been gathered together, then went and killed the others near the area, which his crows had found.


    After this they cut off the ears and horns of all the demons as proof. Except for one head, which they found unaltered, though the same couldn¡¯t be said for the rest of its body. They cut off this head, to prove as an example of an unaltered demon. They cut the head off another that was very much¡­. Altered. Many of the ears and horns showed no clear signs of alterations, so they could stretch the truth as much as they wanted.


    They put the ears and heads in a bag Dominik had brought, stuffing it full with them. They waited around for some time and talked. Then they returned to the village.


    They showed the mayor, and several of the villagers that were still up and out, the heads and ears. The mayor didn¡¯t seem too happy to see them, but it was important that their story had witnesses.


    They¡¯d told the guards they trained, and the mayor, that they would go out and hunt more of the demons, then turn the proof of their kills into the adventurer¡¯s guild. The guards were meant to stay and protect the village of course.


    Dominik and Fran ran toward the village. Going about halfway before stopping so Fran could get some sleep. Thankfully they¡¯d brought a bedroll. While Fran slept, Dominik worked on improving the crow¡¯s vision at night, and their hearing. He also wondered what other kinds of animals would make good scouts for the forest. But mostly he watched Fran sleep through the night, making sure she was safe.


    In the morning, they continued on to the Adventurer¡¯s guild, and brought the proof of their kills up to the counter. They explained that three fourths of the ears and horns were from the altered demons, and the other quarter were from a group of unaltered demons. The guild manager was there, so they showed him the heads they kept at the bottom of the bag too.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to bring their heads too.¡± Said the guild manager. ¡°But since you did, I¡¯ll be sure to show this to the lord of this town, to make sure he knows the threat is very real for the villagers.¡±


    They were paid for the proof of their kills, then they went and bought some spices for the food in the dungeon, and made their way back.

 Chapter 14 | Summoning

    When Dominik returned to the cave, he quickly brought the books and extra clothes to Fran¡¯s room, then shaped a few large bookshelves into the walls. He placed the book on creatures into one, and the books on magic in the other. Eventually he¡¯d make more of a library, but for now he¡¯d put them in Fran¡¯s room. She¡¯d want some bookshelves anyway.


    Then he got started on his special project, the thing he¡¯d been thinking about since before they left town. Summoning an earth elemental, or perhaps creating one, however it worked. Since he couldn¡¯t find any good books on summoning, he figured, since he¡¯s close to the earth, and able to use some advanced earth elemental spells seemingly only available to dungeon cores, surely he could summon an earth elemental, or create one. And he¡¯d wanted a cute little earth elemental walking around the dungeon.


    He sat in the hallway and gathered dirt from the wall, shaping it into almost a sort of little snowman. It was around two feet tall, with a round body and a big head put on top. He shaped little ears on top of its head like a teddy bear, and gave it little hands like paws on a bear, with each hand having a little thumb, which would mostly likely be opposable. Probably.


    He hardened the earth a bit to hold its shape, then added legs after he laid it down on the ground. The legs were simple and got bigger at the ends, so the bear, or earth elemental could hopefully stand. Once it was brought to life of course. He put in eye holes with his fingers, and gave it a little mouth. Finally it was ready, but nothing happened. He tried focusing on summoning some sort of spirit, or creating some sort of spirit, and he almost felt as if something would happen, but nothing did. After sitting there in the hallway trying to summon an earth spirit, he decided to go to Fran¡¯s room and ask her.


    ¡°Do you know anything about summoning earth elementals?¡± Dominik asked.


    Fran closed her book and put it down. ¡°No, not really, but I know you have to create some sort of body for them.¡±


    ¡°I did, but it¡¯s not working.¡± He said as he gestured for her to come out into the hallway. There she saw a big stone teddy bear laying in the large hallway.


    After examining it for a while, she finally said, ¡°I think you need mana crystals for elementals. That¡¯s the physical aspect that houses their spirit in our plane. The element making up their body is controlled by that.¡±


    Dominik began to remember fighting elementals, though rarely. Attacking the body and having to destroy one, or multiple mana crystals to destroy it. Otherwise the body would just reform with the element that made it up, returning to its original shape. Some he recalled being filled with multiple mana crystals and using magic of their elemental affinity, and others were bigger, usually with only one or two mana crystals, and mostly just relied on their size and strength. They used their mana mostly for reforming their body. Those were much simpler elementals, and much simpler to defeat.


    He realized that must¡¯ve been what inspired him to make it small. Earth elementals fighting in a place filled with stone and dirt could use it to protect their bodies, and to attack. Having a smaller body to reform and protect was advantageous, if it could store enough mana in its mana crystals. Meaning he¡¯d have to give it some very powerful, very complex mana crystals to keep it safe and make it a strong caster.


    ¡°Alright, thanks. I think I remember now. I just need to make some mana crystals for it. I might even make another one so he has a little friend. This one will be a little boy, and I¡¯ll make a little girl. Then they can play together and keep eachother safe.¡± Said Dominik, as he picked up the little statue.


    He placed the statue in Fran¡¯s room, then soon returned with another slightly smaller bear which he said would be a little girl. Either a little sister, or a childhood friend, he wasn¡¯t quite sure. Fran wasn¡¯t quite sure why they were being stored in her room either, but she guessed that, since she had the bookshelf, it was also now the de facto room for magical creations as well.


    Dominik returned to his main body and began working on the mana crystals required for the earth elementals. He would need a lot of mana, and quite a bit of time to create them, especially the main cores he would put in their chests. These two cores he made the size of a fist, there was plenty of room in their chubby bodies for it. He made these the most complex, making sure they could store a massive amount of mana, and filling them with it.


    Then he created slightly smaller cores for the head. After that, he decided he¡¯d give them mana crystals as eyes. He tried creating something similar to the eldritch eyes on his body, eyes that could be more like mana crystals than eyes however. He thought the earth elementals should be able to see all around their bodies to some degree, like his sight of the dungeon, as they should be able to see through the element making up their bodies, but he thought perhaps these eyes would allow them even clearer vision.


    He made the first set of eyes a darker gold for the boy, and a brighter yellow for the girl. They both had dark slits for pupils like his own, but these were more crystal than biological, all of this was still repairable however, with mana.


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    He also made a small square crystal for each of their hands. He¡¯d put these into their palms so it¡¯d be like they had little paws. He¡¯d used a massive amount of mana not just creating these mana crystals, but filling them with mana. He could¡¯ve filled the cave with demons using that much mana. At least he thought, not that he actually knew how to summon anything. Other than earth elementals hopefully.


    Finally after several days, he¡¯d finished his creations, or rather the requirements for his creations. He brought them out into the large hallway again, and softened the stone in places to insert the mana crystals. Then he placed a hand on each chest, focusing on summoning the spirit into the mana crystals within the stone bodies.


    This time he felt it, the spirits from another realm, the beginnings of sentience in an elemental spirit. He brought these spirits forth, and bound them into the mana crystals. They felt willing to come here, eager to explore a physical plane. He bound the rest of the mana crystals in their bodies to the spirit, and the spirit to them. The spirits each recognized their bodies, their full forms, so they could recreate them if they were ever damaged.


    He left the earth soft and malleable on the outside of their bodies, and hardened the earth inside their bodies around the core mana crystals in their chest and their head. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t make them as indestructible as the walls of the dungeon.


    It seemed that, just as he couldn¡¯t seal off the path to the source of the mana at the bottom of the dungeon, neither could he seal off the mana crystals acting as the source for the elementals. This powerful earth magic had rules that could not break. Finally, after he finished setting their forms, finished creating their bodies, it was done.


    The earth elementals rose, and tentatively stood on their little teddy bear legs, using their hands to help them stand up. He could see a light in their eyes, and they seemed to prefer looking through their eyes as well, turning to face things that caught their interest. He picked up the little teddy bears, and carried them over to Fran¡¯s room to show them off.


    She was still sleeping, but he was sure she¡¯d lain down several hours ago, so it wouldn¡¯t be long until she was up. He sat down in her room and played with the little teddy bears, his newly summoned, and newly created earth elementals. He had the troglodytes bring them interesting rocks to play with, and picked up the little teddy bears and hugged them. They were happy little things, and they seemed to get along fine.


    Soon she woke, perhaps because she¡¯d gotten enough sleep, or perhaps because of all the movement in her room. She turned over and looked at them a bit, before being sure what she was seeing was real.


    It¡¯s not that she¡¯d never seen an earth elemental before. She¡¯d seen an elemental of every basic element. But she¡¯d never seen anyone make them into some sort of teddy bear, or give them eyes. Certainly not stones that looked like eldritch eyes, that seemed to glow. Most elementals are made by mages for combat, or for menial labor.


    As she saw him play with the teddy bears, and watched them play with strange rocks brought by the troglodytes, she couldn¡¯t help but think it was one of the sweetest things she¡¯d seen, but also one of the most unhinged things she¡¯d ever seen.


    Eventually she sat up, giving up on sleeping now that her room had become a play area for baby earth elementals. ¡°So you made them.¡± She said, ¡°I didn¡¯t think you could just make mana crystals like that.¡±


    Dominik smiled and said. ¡°I already made a big one for my avatar, so I knew I could. The eyes on my main body are already kind of like mana crystals too, so I thought I could make some for them.¡± He gestured to the baby earth elementals slowly rolling a rock back and forth between them, with their legs splayed out like toddlers as they sat there, engrossed in the activity.


    Dominik continued. ¡°After we eat breakfast, we¡¯ll go see what they can do. I¡¯m sure their magic will work well in this cave. I¡¯ll keep them on the seventh floor after they¡¯ve gotten a hang of using their magic. They¡¯ll be the secret bosses of the seventh floor, and I¡¯ll make it suited perfectly for them. They can take out anyone who might somehow get past me on the sixth floor.¡±


    After this, Dominik and Fran ate. She cooked eggs from the grubs and the dodos in a frying pan, and added some seasoning. Dominik thought it was very good. The earth elementals imitated them by making little things in the shape of the eggs with dirt, already shaping it a bit with their magic. They then put the food in their mouths and chewed it. Then spit it out. Because they don¡¯t need to eat.


    ¡°I¡¯ve found out why dungeon cores don¡¯t just wall off the entrance to their room.¡± Began Dominik, after finishing his meal. ¡°They can¡¯t, at least not with an impenetrable wall. The earth magic weakens if you try to seal it off, even if you try to make the doorways or the hallways too narrow. You have to have a clear path to the source of the mana. That¡¯s the only way you can use this advanced magic granted by a connection to the earth. You can¡¯t sever this connection with the rest of the planet though.¡±


    Fran considered this. ¡°It is powerful magic. More powerful, primal sorts of magic tend to have specific rules. I guess even dungeon lords can¡¯t get around that sort of thing.¡±


    ¡°But I can create a living area.¡± Dominik responded. ¡°I can seal off the parts of each floor we want to use, and have it only accessible at the bottom floor, down the hallway. Then when we want to leave the dungeon, I can create an opening at the top floor temporarily and seal it. As long as I¡¯m not sealing the main path to the dungeon it¡¯s fine.¡±


    Fran smiled at this and said. ¡°I guess we can really make this place into a home then.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°But I¡¯ll have a lot of work to do before people start coming. At least I should have another week or two, maybe three. That should be enough time.¡±


    With that they had the troglodytes take their plates away, and led the little earth elementals to the surface, to try using their new magic.

 Chapter 15 | Preparation

    Dominik, Fran, and the earth elementals exited the dungeon, and made their way for a small clearing. There, Dominik instructed them to use their earth magic to destroy a large tree. The earth elementals began shaping the earth, at first moving large piles and throwing the dirt at the tree. This proved to be mostly ineffective. After this they began solidifying mounds and lobbing them at the tree. This was slightly more effective, but the tree still stood.


    Eventually, the earth elementals learned how to solidify and shape the earth into spikes. Soon, they began raising spikes from the ground to pierce the tree. They began creating these spikes faster, and striking it with more force to pierce it. This is what Dominik was looking for, a deadly attack to pierce their enemies, even with dirt or gravel. After a few hours of practice in the clearing, and after felling a few more trees, Dominik decided this would be enough.


    He would work with the elementals over the next few weeks in the dungeon and help them perfect their combat abilities, including the creation of barriers to protect themselves. He would also practice moving the earth himself, though despite his connection to the earth, this proved more challenging for him than for the earth elementals.


    They returned to the dungeon, and he began working on everything required. He would only have a few weeks at best to prepare everything, and he didn¡¯t want the adventurers destroying the dungeon, so he made sure to solidify all of the structures he could, including the outer walls.


    First, he created benches and tables for the troglodytes, and for himself and Fran, in the dining area on the tenth floor, where the kitchen and the livestock were kept. He walled this off completely from the rest of the floor, and created a tunnel from the twelfth floor, through the eleventh to the tenth. He made sure the walls were near indestructible, so his minions could eat safely, and so the livestock would be safe.


    He worked on the seventh floor, and solidified only deep under the floor, and higher up on the ceiling. He filled the floor with dirt and rocks dug out from the walls as he expanded the dungeon. Using the troglodytes to begin digging, and his own earth magic to move large piles, and finish digging the halls and rooms. It was good practice for his earth magic as well.


    He focused his efforts on the end of the seventh floor, making several rooms into perfect, large arenas for his earth elementals, filled with their element. A mere barrier spell won¡¯t be enough to protect them from this, if they even manage to make it this far.


    He also used an axe to chop down trees and branches, and made them into crude spears, which he sharpened with some knives he¡¯d taken from the treasure room. These spears were for the troglodytes, at least the biggest and strongest amongst them.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    He would use support magic to strengthen them, and allow them to fight on the second floor, for anyone who managed to get past the spiders. This he hoped would be enough.


    After this, he created an avatar. This time, the avatar he made would be purely for combat. Something no longer concerned with looking human. He would make this towering behemoth the last enemy of the sixth floor. Or perhaps for now, the only enemy on the sixth floor. This he would control himself. But if anyone got past him, they would have to contend with the earth elementals on the seventh floor.


    After he dug out tunnels going all the way to the first floor, with small rooms on the first few floors in case the spiders or the troglodytes needed to hide behind nearly indestructible walls he could create, he focused the rest of his efforts on the sixth floor, and creating his second avatar.


    He¡¯d decided to make it large, ten feet tall, though he¡¯d have to increase the size of the main hallways and doorways leading up to the sixth floor for that. He made its skin strong, he gave it a thick hide like a beast. Hard to cut and pierce. He packed it with muscle, making it wide and strong, with plenty of fast twitch muscle fibers for speed. It would have the closest recreation to eldritch eyes possible, while still being fully functional with the frame. This would allow it to see perfectly in the dark, even in magical darkness.


    Its bones were thick and strong. He gave it a large powerful heart, and a large mana core. The mana crystal was mostly to store mana for support magic and healing spells. This would enhance its strength a great deal. After the third week, the dungeon, and the large beast in the shape of a man he¡¯d made as his second avatar were ready. Unfortunately he couldn¡¯t cover it with armor, and his attempt at creating armor with earth didn¡¯t work very well. It would only reduce its flexibility and weigh it down.


    He did however, cover the dead adventurer¡¯s large hammer in a layer of strong stone, to increase its size and weight, while leaving the steel as a center for it. A much more flexible center. This would be the perfect weapon for the second avatar, at least for now. Increasing his reach, and allowing it to be wielded with both hands if need be.


    He couldn¡¯t cast offensive spells directly. The only thing close to offensive spells he knew were for fighting demons, the undead, or for countering protections of the enemy. He could only even try to disenchant an enemy¡¯s barrier spell directly through an avatar. Even then, it would be more effective to cast a spell on his, or his allies¡¯ weapons to help them pierce through a barrier spell. This would be more effective than trying to increase the troglodytes¡¯ strength enough to pierce through it with pure force.


    Any heavily armored targets would, of course, likely be fine against their spears. This also applied to elemental armor, which required specific counters, meaning you needed to practice elemental magic. This sort of thing was left up to the mages in the first battalion of the royal guard. Perhaps he could learn to counter earth armor, but that was fairly uncommon as it is. But there was only so much he could do in a few weeks. Other types of elemental armor were less focused on offering defense and instead offered utility, or damaged attackers. He was less worried about this, as he would just fight them himself.


    Finally the dungeon was ready. Though he wished he could¡¯ve filled the other floors with other creatures of some kind. There wasn¡¯t enough time, and he didn¡¯t know how to summon anything else. Nor did he have enough mana stored to fill the rooms after creating the earth elementals and the second avatar. But his mana was slowly returning.


    For now, hopefully whatever ragtag group of adventurers were sent to explore the dungeon after the reported shift will be stopped on the first or second floor.

 Chapter 16 | An Offer

    Just after three weeks, he began to notice activity a few hours away from the dungeon with his crows. People were gathering, heading toward a large clearing near the dungeon. Only an hour or two¡¯s walk from the dungeon. They began chopping down trees and making the clearing larger. They built stalls and put up tents and other crude structures. Armed forces were brought as guards for the workers and merchants. Stables were built. Signs were made. They were preparing an outpost for the new permanent dungeon, and there were many people coming for the grand opening.


    However, he also noticed, over these couple of days, that slaves were brought to a camp just outside of town. They were mostly non-human. Dwarves, and halflings for the most part, with a handful of beastkin and humans. Overall, there were slightly over a hundred from his count. Though it was difficult to get a good headcount with them packed together in cages.


    Dominik heard they were to be sold to adventurers first, and any extra to merchants who needed help bringing back supplies. He knew some adventurers would be very willing to buy slaves. For carrying supplies, and carrying back proof of kills in the dungeon. Or simply for another body to throw at the enemies, with no need to pay them, even if they survive.


    He didn¡¯t want to just sit here and watch them be sold, and freeing them after the fact would be more difficult. If people chose to fight and die in the dungeon, then so be it, but being owned, and forced to die in the dungeon, or suffer other¡­. Indignities, was something he couldn¡¯t stand by and watch. What would be the point of being alive, and having this power, and this newfound freedom, if he just sat in this dungeon hiding, hoping not to rock the boat too much?


    Dominik began creating a mask. This would be a living mask, though without a consciousness of its own. The thick mask would fuse with his face and thereby perfectly alter his appearance, allowing him to wear it whenever he needed to act outside of his new role as Dominus.


    He made it the same as his eldritch flesh, more of a gray color than his original body¡¯s white skin. He put an eldritch eye on the forehead, and the mask would go down to his neck after fusing with his skin, it would even change his voice. He could simply put the mask back to its original state to put his avatar back in its original state as well. Other than that he¡¯d only have to change his hair color and eye color when he wore the mask, to make sure no one who ever saw him up close would suspect him of being the same person.


    He wished to make this identity into a sort of folk hero. Perhaps then, escaped slaves would come to the dungeon willingly seeking refuge. Or at least, perhaps information would come freely to him.


    He¡¯d considered making another avatar, maybe something more liked, maybe a high elf, but he decided he¡¯d rather not have people lured into the dungeon under false pretenses. Or at least, he¡¯d prefer to be somewhat honest about the true nature of the dungeon. Anyone willing to come live in the dungeon after seeing his face would be less likely to try attacking whatever is living in the dungeon.


    He would call this avatar, with the mask on, Salvator, a bit on the nose, but stories about folk heroes worked best when they were simple. He made its voice slightly deeper and raspier than his human avatar, so there should be no mistaking the two by appearance or sound. He completed the mask by morning and began running toward the slaver¡¯s camp near the town.


    He cast spells to increase his speed and cardiovascular stamina, and ran to the town. He made it there by nightfall, just on the outskirts of the camp, and he enacted his plan. Which was really just that he¡¯d brought a mace from the treasure room, and he began bashing the guards with it, who were mostly sat around a campfire. With spells cast to increase his speed and strength, and the already substantial physical properties of his avatar, he made short work of them. The gambeson some of them wore was of little use.


    He wasn¡¯t sure if these guards were part of the caravan or if they¡¯d been stationed here by the town, so he tried to keep most of them alive. Unfortunately, whatever merchants were in charge of this were likely sleeping at an inn tonight, or at least eating at a restaurant right now. Maybe he could kill them some other time.


    For now, he took the keys from the guards and opened the cages, letting the slaves out. They seemed thankful as he passed around the smaller keys for the cuffs and chains that bound them. Then he made his offer.


    ¡°I am Salvator.¡± He began. ¡°You¡¯re all free to leave, you can go wherever you choose. I¡¯ll even cast spells to increase your speed and stamina for a few hours in whichever direction you choose to go. If you seek shelter however, I can provide it, if you choose to come with me.¡±


    ¡°However, I am also a servant of the dungeon lord in the mountains.¡± This got some whispers and murmurs started in the crowd. ¡°I offer shelter in the dungeon for any who wish it. Anyone else may take their leave.¡±


    He cast the spells to aid the group, as promised, while they openly discussed this with each other. Arguments happened, people tried convincing others to leave with them to their homeland, or some safe haven they¡¯d heard of. Very few were arguing in favor of joining the dungeon.


    When all was said and done, most formed groups and left. But a few remained behind, exactly a dozen. Dominik thought perhaps there was meaning in that, and he was glad to see some stayed. The rest however, could spread word of the slaves being freed, and of this dungeon being a safe haven for them.


    Of the dozen, there were six dwarves, four men and two women. Two halflings, a male and a female. And four lizardmen, three men and one woman, from what he could tell. Perhaps they¡¯d get along with the troglodytes? But Dominik thought he most likely shouldn¡¯t voice this opinion. He also wondered why there were so few women among the slaves. But he could guess. Either they mostly brought men because the adventurers would mostly want combatants and manual laborers. Or most of the women had already been sold to customers of a different need. If they were lucky, only housework.


    The twelve remaining freed slaves mostly stood together with members of their own race, occasionally whispering to each other, but otherwise quiet as the other freed slaves quickly left the area. Soon it was just them, and the servant of the dungeon lord, who was in fact the dungeon lord.


    He realized he didn¡¯t understand what most of the people were saying, especially the lizardmen. Dominik had only needed to learn gothic, and a bit of some other human languages. Most of the translating required was done by other people. There was a man who spoke several languages very fluently from what he heard, but eating the man¡¯s brain didn¡¯t give him any knowledge of the languages he knew. He¡¯d hoped that¡¯s how it worked, but it didn¡¯t work that way at all.


    Dominik thought, since one of the lizardmen seemed to speak gothic, perhaps he could take lessons from him. But learning all of these languages seemed time consuming. Then he had a thought. If he could look through the troglodytes¡¯ memories, perhaps he could gain some knowledge of other languages from other people as well, after forming a contract. He sighed and relaxed, no longer having to worry about the prospect of learning several languages. At least possibly.


    ¡°Do you speak gothic?¡± Dominik asked the largest of the lizardmen. ¡°Yes.¡± He replied. ¡°I¡¯ve been translating the information, and I tried to get more from my village to join, but they were against it. These two seem willing to take refuge in the dungeon however.¡±


    ¡°Do the rest of you speak gothic?¡± Dominik asked as he looked at the others. There were words of affirmations from them, but some were said with very thick accents. Most taken from the general area had a good chance of speaking gothic, as it was the official language of the northern kingdom of man.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s get going, we¡¯ll want to be back by morning, try moving as fast as you can.¡± He gave them a moment to follow, and for the lizardman to explain to the others, but he soon picked up his pace. He was walking quickly with long strides, and while the lizardmen kept up fine, being about as tall as the average human, the dwarves and the halflings essentially had to run, maybe more of a jog.


    He¡¯d like to have slowed down the pace a bit, but he wanted to get back as soon as possible. He wasn¡¯t sure when the dungeon would be attacked, or how soon the village might send out trackers looking for the freed slaves, but he¡¯d like to have them safely in the dungeon, on a low floor near the bottom before then.


    This pace was somewhat untenable, and guiding them after they slept while the dungeon was attacked would be less than ideal. Nor was entering through, and exiting through the dungeon entrance ideal with so many people around. So he began to send commands to the troglodytes and the earth elementals.


    He would have them start digging through the wall inside the first floor of the dungeon. They¡¯d have to build a tunnel and extend the secret path straight through the mountain. Because part of the trip was around the mountain, to and from the dungeon¡¯s main entrance, it would save on time when entering and leaving. It would also allow them to rest inside the dungeon, or at least the cave if not the dungeon proper. It would be a more covert way of entering and exiting the dungeon, and it¡¯d be much closer to town.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    He mentally planned out the route and gave commands as he slowed down his pace a bit, and controlled his avatar almost subconsciously. Or at least, as an afterthought. The troglodytes worked to dig out the basic path, and the earth elementals helped take away the dirt, clear out the higher parts of the path they were all digging, and to move or break up larger rocks.


    They worked quickly, especially with the strength and stamina buffs he provided. But it still took longer than he¡¯d hoped. Soon morning was coming, and the path would still take a few hours at least to complete. So he picked a spot near some trees and other foliage, a slightly hidden area, but with enough unique markers to be remembered by others from the cave in the future, and he began breaking open an entrance. He focused on using his earth magic, and blunt force when needed to assist him. He had to focus on softening the stone, and then breaking it or moving it, depending on how resilient it was.


    He let the others rest, they seemed exhausted even with his spells replenishing their stamina. Soon he¡¯d dug out a tunnel, wide and tall enough to comfortably walk through, then a fairly large room for them to rest in, softening mounds of dirt for sleeping on. The troglodytes seemed happy with this change he¡¯d made to their sleeping quarters, but the rest of them didn¡¯t seem too happy with a lack of bedding. Still, they laid down and fell asleep soon after. He sealed the entrance off, leaving only small openings higher up to let fresh air in.


    Then he continued digging with his magic, moving piles of dirt out occasionally, reopening the entrance to the tunnel and shaping it all into large stones outside, which he supposed would act as markers for those who knew, but would otherwise look inconspicuous to other travelers, as he made it match with the rest of the terrain. Thankfully the freed slaves would be safe in here, even if search parties came.


    Soon it was much later in the day, and most of the freed slaves had awakened as he continued digging. Some tried to help, but without tools it was more for the sake of it. Not long after that, he met up with the others. The tunnels connected perfectly, as he had guided them. He¡¯d already marked the freed slaves, so they wouldn¡¯t have to fear the spiders on the first floor.


    He gave them some words of encouragement as he led them through the long tunnel, behind the troglodytes and elementals. It was a short walk compared to walking around the mountain, it took quite a lot of time to dig the tunnel out, but now it was saving the freed slaves a lot of time, and providing good safety during their travels. He strengthened the walls and ceiling a bit on the way, to ensure the stability of the newly dug tunnels.


    They reached the dungeon shortly after, and he brought them to the first floor to eat. ¡°We have dodo meat, dodo eggs, grub, and grub eggs. What would you like?¡± Unsurprisingly, nearly everyone opted for dodo meat or dodo eggs. Only the lizards seemed willing to try the grubs and the grub eggs. Save for one dwarf with a thick accent, who said he¡¯d try it all.


    There wasn¡¯t much space on the inner part of the first floor, or even for the first several, so he had some workers and the earth elementals start increasing the size to make a dining area. Once there was a bit more room, Dominik began creating benches with tables for his guests to sit at. Two was enough for now. He had them keep expanding the first floor, he¡¯d like to have the first floor, or maybe the first few floors, for guests such as freed slaves.


    Soon the food and water was brought out and everyone began to eat and talk amongst themselves. Dominik left them for the time being and went to tell Fran about everything. She was practicing her magic on the sixth floor, in the large area he¡¯d made for fighting with his sixth floor avatar when he approached her.


    She seemed startled at first but quickly relaxed. ¡°Hey Fran, it¡¯s me.¡±


    ¡°Dominik? Are you using illusion magic?¡±


    ¡°No, I just made a mask out of flesh that fuses with my face and changes my voice, then I changed my hair white and my eyes to a sort of orange, like the eldritch eye that I put on the mask. Pretty convincing disguise right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, better than I could do with illusion magic. Why did you need a mask though? She said, seemingly suspicious.


    ¡°I freed a bit over a hundred slaves, they were by the town for the grand opening of the dungeon. Most of them ran for their homelands, or wherever else, but twelve of them came here with me, so I¡¯m going to let them stay in the dungeon. They¡¯re on the first floor right now, food and drink are being brought up to them. I just wanted to warn you so you don¡¯t expose your identity.¡±


    Fran seemed to take a moment to process this before saying. ¡°Oh, I see. Do you have some plans for them?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Dominik responded.


    There was silence for a bit before he decided she wanted to hear more about this. ¡°Well, if you want you can come up and meet everyone, but if you want to hide your identity, I could make you a mask too, but we might need to make a contract first if you want it to fuse with your skin. I mean, so I can put it back to how it was before afterward.¡±


    Fran drew in breath when he was mentioning the flesh of the mask fusing with skin, and when he finished she soon responded. ¡°That¡¯s okay, even if we make a contract, I think I¡¯d prefer something that doesn¡¯t fuse with my skin.¡±


    Dominik thought about this for a moment, then responded. ¡°Well, I could make you a mask that just goes over your skin, and just wraps around you. But people might notice you¡¯re a dark elf if it¡¯s not thorough enough, which might give away who it is of course.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s okay Dominik, it doesn¡¯t need to be perfect, and I¡¯m not in a rush to interact with a bunch of people anyway, I¡¯ve been fine with just relaxing in this cave, studying, practicing, it¡¯s fine.¡±


    After a bit more convincing, Dominik agreed that, if he were to make her a mask, that fusing was unnecessary, and that he could make it at his leisure.


    He went back to the first floor and helped with the construction of his plan, making a hallway and several rooms, one for each of them. After they were made, he''d packed it with soft dirt for sleeping, though when he showed the people their rooms, they seemed somewhat reticent about sleeping there.


    He brought them back into the large living area he¡¯d made, and had them sit down at the two benches again. He had an idea of how to improve things.


    ¡°Would you all like beds?¡± He asked.


    They all agreed, the halflings agreed most profusely, while the lizardmen seemed reluctant to agree, as if they thought it was some sort of trick. But still, they said yes.


    ¡°Well I don¡¯t have enough materials to make it out of cloth or wool, though I suppose we could start making pillows out of the dodo¡¯s feathers at some point. For now though, I¡¯ll make it for you myself, and I¡¯ll start with my first guest, whom you haven¡¯t met. I¡¯ll have them all ready by tonight.


    After this, Dominik had the troglodytes and the earth elementals clear out the dirt from the stone bedrooms he¡¯d made for the freed slaves, and he returned to his original body to get to work.


    He crafted a large mattress out of flesh for Fran. He¡¯d made her room large, so there was plenty of room, and she could put her bedding on top of it and make things even more comfortable.


    The mattress he made out of his flesh, growing the eldritch flesh and meat to the perfect shape on the ground of the room containing the dungeon core. He made it living, though not sentient, so the flesh and meat wouldn¡¯t rot. He put mana crystals along the edges, in order for it to store mana and use it all for sustenance. The mattresses didn¡¯t need much to sustain their life, they were perfectly efficient, being made from eldritch flesh, and they were very simple life forms as well.


    He also made her a large comforter as well, in case she got cold even with her bedding. He made it soft and light, even foldable. It was as much like a comforter or blanket as possible, while being made out of eldritch flesh. He put the mana crystals at the bottom of the comforter. They were soft anyway, as they were still part of something living, but he thought it would be more pleasant if they were at the bottom. He was treating them like jewels being sequined into fine fabric for a rich noble.


    Dominik brought the bed to Fran, who had been reading a book in her room. ¡°Hey Fran, I made you a mattress.¡± He began moving her bedding, and he placed the mattress in the corner that she¡¯d been sleeping in.


    ¡°Oh thank you Dominik.¡± She said, ¡°It was better than the setup I had in the cave, but it still wasn¡¯t that soft. What did you make it out of?¡±


    Dominik finished putting the gray fleshy mattress down, and put her bedding on top of it. Then he finally told her.


    ¡°I made it out of my own eldritch flesh. Don¡¯t worry, the flesh won¡¯t rot, it¡¯s alive, it uses mana to keep itself alive, and it stores extra mana in the mana crystals. So you could even take it out of the dungeon and it¡¯ll stay alive for quite a long time.¡±


    Fran¡¯s eyes grew wide and she stared at him, then back at the bed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Dominik said, sensing her apprehension. ¡°The mana crystals are soft, and they¡¯re on the sides anyway. Go ahead and sit down on it, lay on it, you can see how soft it is.¡± He moved her bedding to the side so she could sit on the bare mattress.


    With some trepidation, Fran sat down on the thick mattress, which Felt slightly warm in the cool room. It seemed to conform to her weight, but support her. After this she laid down, and it adjusted to her bodyweight. She didn¡¯t want to admit it, but it was the most comfortable bed she¡¯d ever laid on.


    ¡°Do you like it?¡± Dominik asked.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s very comfortable.¡± Fran said, speaking honestly, but not sure if she should encourage him.


    ¡°Wait right there.¡± He said, and he went off to get her comforter. Then he realized he hadn¡¯t made her a pillow, so he spent some time making a large pillow to go along with the rest of her bed. He put a small mana crystal in each corner of the pillow.


    He soon brought her the pillow and the comforter. He lifted her up and put the pillow underneath her head and her neck. It soon contorted to perfectly support her head and her neck. Then he covered her in the warm comforter made from his eldritch flesh.


    Fran laid there, in her large living bed, with her previous bedding pushed to the side. She felt incredibly comfortable, but somewhat horrified as she lay covered in a living comforter. She almost felt as if her bed were breathing, but she couldn¡¯t tell if that was just her imagination.


    ¡°Try sleeping.¡± Dominik said.


    ¡°It¡¯s only noon.¡± Fran responded. She wasn¡¯t sure of the exact time, but her bodily clock knew it was too early to go to sleep.


    ¡°Just try taking a nap.¡±


    Fran laid there and tried to relax while Dominik stood near her, watching. The aches and pains in her back from the months of travel and poor beddings seemed to be soothed, and although she didn¡¯t actually mean to, she soon fell asleep in the bed Domminik had made for her out of eldritch flesh.


    Domminik was pleased with this result, and went back to his main body, leaving his avatar, still wearing the mask, to sit on an earthen chair in Fran¡¯s room.


    He soon made beds for the lizardmen, the dwarves, and the hobbits. All of the beds were a bit taller than their subjects, and at least twice as wide. He returned to his avatar hours later, after he¡¯d finished making the beds, and had the troglodytes help him bring them back to their rooms, along with the comforters and pillows he¡¯d made for each bed.


    Once they were all placed in the stone rooms he¡¯d made for the freed slaves, it was getting quite late, and they were tired enough after getting a poor night¡¯s sleep the day before, and for who knows how many days before. None of them asked what the mattresses or the bedding were made of, they just thanked him and went to sleep.

 Chapter 17 | Grand Opening

    After he¡¯d let the freed slaves go to sleep, Dominik considered what to do to fill the dungeon. He¡¯d decided to try creating life, perhaps just a few more creatures to help fight off anyone who came to attack them in the dungeon.


    He made a simple human being, a perfect brain, with blood pumping throughout the body, but even though it was technically alive, it didn¡¯t seem able to actually think. Not with the same curiosity and randomness of a child, or an animal. It would only do what it was set to do, a list of actions set into its brain.


    There was no soul in the body. He could feel the souls of the animals contracted to him, but he couldn¡¯t feel any such thing from this body. Nor could he seem to create a soul, he couldn¡¯t even fathom how to go about creating anything like a soul. Only a cheap imitation of one, set reactions in the mind.


    The only thing he could use these biological machines for is predetermined actions like manual labor, or as traps. Perhaps rather than filling the dungeon with physical traps like some dungeons, he could create biological traps. Things that detect pressure, or movement, but programmed not to attack anything tagged with his spirit. Perfect traps to protect his dungeon.


    He began filling the third floor with basic prototypes. He created holes in the walls and filled them with creations of flesh and bone, long tentacles with spikes, bones, claws, everything he could create. He did the same with a few spots on the floor.


    For the time being, he focused on filling the third floor with traps, and refining them, he even added a few to the second floor. He began pre-programming basic types of traps he had made with the same basic responses, refining the process itself. And creating a maze on the third floor. It was as good as he could do without any real testing, and with only so much time left before the grand opening of the newly formed dungeon.


    A few days later, one month after he¡¯d told the guild about the new permanent dungeon, and brought the tags to them, the outpost was ready.


    Being some of the first to explore a permanent dungeon, especially after a shift, was dangerous because of all the unknowns. But it could also bring good money and glory of a sort. The bragging rights of being among the first to explore a new permanent dungeon. The people seemed a bit too happy in Dominik¡¯s opinion, treating this like a festival.


    In just a few days, they were all set up, and the adventurers started flooding in. Most of them at least seemed to be amateurs based on their gear, but a few did seem a bit more experienced, or at least wealthier. Thankfully more advanced forces like the royal guard were either used for attempting to fully clear a dungeon, or to protect the area outside of a permanent dungeon that had been sending out powerful monsters. Dominik wondered if the demons could be coming from another dungeon, but there shouldn¡¯t be another one so close by. He also hadn¡¯t seen any more activity from them in the forest, though he hadn¡¯t been paying very close attention, preoccupied with other things. Nor was his spy network very advanced yet.


    There were still adventurers and merchants with slaves, but only a few people or groups had them. It seemed to be an accepted activity in this area, at least by legal precedent, but not well liked by everyone. Though this was only based on what could be gleaned from the sight and hearing of his crows.


    Most of the slaves wore a magical bracelet on their wrists, which would require a key to unlock, if the key wasn¡¯t already destroyed, or a powerful magic user to disenchant the seal. From what he recalled, it was mostly used to torture slaves with shock magic if they disobeyed an order from their master, or anyone named as a temporary owner by the master. Or it could have more complicated mechanics to ensure certain behaviors, even without command. It could also work if the slave got too far, or too close, if the master gave them a command to stay within a certain distance of themselves or within a certain area. And of course, it was a brand marking you as a slave, so even if you somehow escaped, you¡¯d likely be rounded up and branded as a criminal.


    Others preferred the subtlety of an ankle collar, and a few others preferred a much smaller, more expensive collar around their slave¡¯s neck. The royal guard preferred a less direct form of control, being one of the few forces that employed the use of slaves, without collars. There were exceptions with unruly members of battalions being sent to others that did use collars, though they were unofficial, acting as reserves to back up others.


    The royal guard prided itself on its training methods, and the loyalty of its slaves in that sense. Though they did employ what they called training collars on unruly slaves after they¡¯d been bought. He remembered it when he was a child. Those memories seemed very clear, and there was no lack of them. The more he watched these things, the more of these memories came flooding back.


    He remembered this going on from when he was six, to when he was twelve. When he fully realized that his family didn¡¯t want him. That no one would come to help him. And that no magic he ever learned would be enough to get away from the royal family. When he barely cared to speak anymore, and he only enjoyed reading and sleeping, that¡¯s when the collar finally came off. When there was no more point in torturing him. That¡¯s when the trainers at the castle, at the training facility, finally considered the training a success.


    As he looked at the people all around, smiling and laughing, pretending everything was normal. Pretending everything was fine. He felt a deep sense of hatred. He was too disgusted to keep watching the people on the surface. So instead, he checked everything in the dungeon again, made sure his avatar was ready on the sixth floor. And he waited.


    When Dominik finally looked again when he noticed they¡¯d started to move closer to his dungeon. There were healers and support mages near the entrance to the dungeon, barely half an hour¡¯s walk from the dungeon. They dared not get closer, or they simply wanted to waste time, so they could charge for spells with a longer duration. They sold casts of spells, with more powerful spells, and longer durations costing more. This was of course to make sure everyone had a fair chance of receiving beneficial spells. Unless they had no money of course.


    The prices were outrageous. He wondered how many parties would contain healers when they could make so much money without having to enter a dungeon. Mage¡¯s abilities to counter spells often needed to be used in the fight, and their elemental armor tended to have more specific use, or more limited duration, though there were still a few standing near the dungeon offering their spells.


    There were a few potion sellers nearby too, with stalls and tents, waiting to sell supplies to those desperate for something they¡¯d forgotten in town, or in the main area of the outpost.


    Many groups drew near the dungeon, and guards came to make sure people formed a line and gave others a chance to go in and make progress, so as not to crowd together too much and get trapped between a swarm of enemies.


    The first of the parties entered that morning. Finally he cast spells to increase the speed of the spiders, and even a spell he¡¯d been testing out to increase the efficacy and regeneration of their venom. The party of four entered, choosing to opt out of paying for a barrier spell. They were all human, and lacked much if any resistance to venom or poisons. They were swarmed by spiders just after entering the dungeon.


    The spiders jumped on them as they entered the dark. The humans swung weapons and torches uselessly, missing everything, and soon fell. One managed to reach into their pouch and pull out antivenom, but they didn¡¯t manage to take a sip before they were killed by the spiders¡¯ venom. Another managed to run to the entrance, despite the pain and the minor paralytic effect of the venom, but he dropped down dead just outside of the entrance.


    Dominik had some of his fastest troglodytes, made even faster with his support spells, run to the bodies just inside the entrance, just out of sight and out of the light. They quickly stripped off the belts and searched for valuables as he instructed them. They grabbed whatever weapons they could, and then ran back deeper inside the dungeon, depositing the loot into a hidden cache he¡¯d made in the wall. One of many he¡¯d made in the first and second floors of the dungeon.


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    The group of troglodytes, three male and three female, possessed the greatest speed and agility among their people, and he¡¯d had them train for this in the past few days. They were becoming like rogues. Focused entirely on property recovery of course, rather than assassinations. Dominik had beds to buy for the freed slaves, and for Fran. And he¡¯d need many more books too, for himself and, again, for Fran. She sure loved reading.


    The man that made it outside had his body hauled away, and his valuables taken. Some would be used to pay for the fee of moving the body wherever it was requested at. The rest of their possessions would be given to whomever was named as their beneficiaries at the guild. If no one was listed, then the guild would take their possessions, and pay for a funeral for the possibly unknown adventurer. He was a novice adventurer. He might not have given them any real information.


    Most of the other parties standing around near the entrance, after realizing the rest of his party wasn¡¯t coming out, decided to go pay for a spell to protect them. Either a barrier, or some sort of venom resistance, or possibly both. The healers, the potion sellers, and even some of the mages made much more money that day. A few parties remained however. They were either prepared, or overconfident, but another party, this time five halflings clad in dark clothing, made their approach when called.


    They had clearly paid for a barrier spell, and they all quaffed some sort of potion, likely to increase their resistance to venom for a time, just to be extra cautious. They entered, and some of the spiders tried to bite them, but they couldn¡¯t pierce the barriers. Dominik couldn¡¯t cast a spell to let organic matter pierce through the barrier either, and as their fangs were part of their body, there was no way around it. Two of the seemingly rogue halflings cast spells. One cast fire spells, and one cast shock spells. These hit multiple spiders, and killed most they struck. He commanded the spiders to flee to the holes he¡¯d made in the walls, into the small tunnels to protect themselves, and he healed the few that managed to resist the elemental magic enough to live through it all.


    Simply living through it was enough for him to be sure he needed them to reproduce in the summer, and considering they¡¯d already used some of their venom during the previous attack, he allowed them to remain hidden. There were many more spiders for the coming enemies.


    The halflings made their way to the second floor, growing hesitant at first when they realized the spiders had retreated, as they walked through the first floor, then they grew confident again when they saw their next opponents.


    It was the troglodytes. Mostly current and future patriarchs of their clan, wishing to protect their families, though there were several female warriors among them too. They were all the strongest and most skilled among them with spears and sticks. They were the largest among their people.


    Dominik had made them crude stone armor, shaped perfectly to their bodies. It wrapped around their chests, over their shoulders, he wrapped some around their legs in various places, some around their arms, and he gave them large helmets. This armor restricted their movements a bit, and weighed them down quite a bit too. But they could still stab with their spears, and the armor would protect against most slashing and stabbing attacks, especially attacks aimed toward their vitals. Keeping them alive long enough to heal them was the most important part.


    They were thirty strong. Most wielded their spears with two hands, but some were given large shields to plant on the ground, to then attack with one arm if able. Their greatest weakness would be strong attacks from blunt weapons, as it could shatter their earthen armor. With the spells cast upon them, their strength, speed, and stamina were increased. They¡¯d even had barrier cast on themselves. They were a powerful, if small army, but they still stood taller than most of the halflings, and they had far greater numbers.


    This power didn¡¯t seem to shine through to the halflings, who all laughed at the sight. They all lunged forward with their daggers, which for them were like short swords. Or perhaps they really were short swords, made by halflings. The largest of them wielded a real short sword, and carried a buckler shield, which was large for a halfling. The two magic wielders each carried one knife, and the other two halflings were dual wielding, likely the true rogues of the group.


    The troglodytes held their positions, as they¡¯d been trained for the past several weeks. Ever since they¡¯ve been given their spears by the dungeon lord. Though one halfling managed to get through the spears, with the help of the largest clearing a path with his buckler. The dagger strikes from the halfling didn¡¯t even break the barrier, though they were aimed perfectly at the troglodytes¡¯ necks. His speed and agility was great, he was much faster than the warrior troglodytes, and he exploited the gaps in their armor quite well. If only his daggers were enchanted to pierce a barrier enchantment.


    He was struck with a spear, then another, but he was wearing strong chainmail under his cloth armor. These halflings were quite wealthy, though apparently not quite wealthy enough. Or at least, not prepared well enough.


    Soon though, as he retreated, one powerful spear strike from a two handed spear wielding troglodyte warrior pierced through his chainmail, though it didn¡¯t go very deep. The halfling retreated and the largest halfling charged in to pull him out, getting stabbed many times himself, even as he smashed several spears away with his shield in the small first room of the second floor of the dungeon.


    Once he¡¯d been pulled out from the range of their spears, the two spell users cast their elemental magic. First lightning chained between the troglodytes, which did hurt them. The barrier provided no protection from this, and the earth armor did little to shield them from its effects either. Then the other cast a cone of fire, which burned them. The earthen armor offered some protection, and their scales were somewhat resilient to this as well. And they wore no cloth armor to be set ablaze either. But between the two spells, the frontliners were badly hurt. The wants in the front were taken or to the back lines as Dominik cast healing magic on them.


    The other counter, of course, would be powerful spell casters. Especially elemental magic, as he himself had no counters for it. He¡¯d tried casting a proper earth armor spell, but he had no idea how it was meant to be cast, or even made, so he settled on creating the earthen armor.


    As they were just finished healing in the back line, more spells were cast. These magic users weren¡¯t able to cast spells without invocations like Dominik had, so it gave the troglodytes some time to retreat, but the other two halflings kept the troglodytes back for them while the injured halfling drank a healing potion, which would slowly treat the wound. He stood in the back near the entrance, and threw a few throwing knives from his uninjured side while he healed. Of course, these knives didn¡¯t pierce the barrier either, but they were aimed very accurately. If he¡¯d had a proper counter spell cast on those knives, he would¡¯ve likely killed, or badly injured many of the troglodytes among them.


    The halflings that weren¡¯t preoccupied with casting spells were shouting something at each other, having some sort of frantic conversation. They were likely wondering how the troglodytes¡¯ were able to pierce their barrier spell with their spears. Or how the troglodytes seemed to have a barrier spell that they couldn¡¯t pierce. Dominik guessed they hadn¡¯t expected the eldritch dungeon lord was casting barrier spells on the warriors in this dungeon. Or that he could cast enchantment spells on their weapons to pierce barrier spells.


    It wasn¡¯t something you should expect from an eldritch dungeon to be fair. This would likely all be blamed on Salvator, assuming the guild had heard about him. Some of the guards were still alive, and a few of them might have been conscious, so they likely had. Especially if they caught a few of the slaves, they¡¯d likely have told a full account to any search party that was sent after them, to try and keep themselves or their friends safe. But maybe they¡¯d managed to escape on their own with the buffs from his spells.


    The fight continued on, with the two spellcasters electrocuting and then burning the troglodytes, as the other two fought them off to protect the spell casters, while the troglodytes moved the injured back, and brought the healed fighters to the front. Dominik¡¯s healing was faster than their casting, and the two frontline fighters were taking damage, which wasn¡¯t being healed at all. Soon their leader, mostly healed from his injuries, gave word to his fellow halflings, and they retreated back up to the first floor. This was after the casters had clearly run out of mana. Dominik thankfully had a very large supply of mana, and it was regenerating quite quickly.


    He let some of the spiders jump onto them again and try biting them, but the barrier spell held. His enchantment spell only let the weapons pierce through the barrier spell, not destroy it. And the halflings hadn¡¯t cheap out and paid for an extremely short duration of the barrier spell.


    The halflings managed to live through the fight that went on for several minutes. Though the troglodytes did manage to get several throwing knives as a payment.


    The troglodyte that made most of the attacks that pierced the halflings¡¯ armor stood proud in front of the other twenty nine troglodyte warriors, and they all cheered.


    Dominik was proud of the troglodytes, and he named the strongest of them Mighty Troglydytus. He was now the leader of this group of thirty sort of trained troglodyte warriors. Dominik tried conveying this thought to the troglodyte, and while he wasn¡¯t sure it fully understood, it seemed to understand it was being praised, and it cheered even louder, rallying the other warriors, increasing their morale even more. Hopefully this would help them get through the battles ahead. They would need this kind of spirit to get through this long day.

 Chapter 18 | A Strong Party

    Dominik considered what would happen if someone was too strong for the troglodytes, and if he failed to kill them, or to at least drive them away with his second avatar, he wondered if the earth elementals would be enough to stop them. Ideally, he would¡¯ve filled these floors, and all the floors before them, but things hadn¡¯t gone that way. Filling the dungeon was going to be much more time consuming than he¡¯d thought. And he spent a lot of mana creating the earth elementals, along with everything else.


    He might¡¯ve been able to make a few simple earth elementals, but they wouldn¡¯t have been that difficult to defeat for any group that was able to beat his second avatar, and they wouldn¡¯t buy the casters much time.


    So he decided to move his second avatar to the seventh floor with the earth elementals. They were the last line of defense. He opened up a path from the third floor to the seventh, allowing them to get through the maze easily. He wouldn¡¯t want them getting tired of going through the maze, going up to the surface, and telling everyone that the rest of the floors were empty.


    Soon, after a few weaker parties tried and failed to get past the troglodytes, a party he¡¯d had his eye on approached. The warrior¡¯s armor was mostly plate, and he was protected by a long barrier spell from the priest near the dungeon, as well as some sort of fire spell surrounding him, cast by their party¡¯s wizard.


    They all had barriers, before he could even command the spiders to retreat, the wizard cast a fire spell, like a dragon¡¯s breath, it poured into the cave and killed dozens of spiders even as they retreated. Most of the spiders were likely too ruined to even turn into the guild for a reward, though only the poorest parties tended to try collecting the bodies of the spiders.


    One spider managed to live, even when caught in the middle of the spell. Or rather, her soul held on to her body, which had barely  even remained. The little soul clung to it, and he felt her there, still trying to live, yearning to kill them herself. Dominik healed her body through the flame, and fully restored her after the spell ended. Then, after her body was fully healed, he used his power to help her soul back into its mortal shell. The connection felt more tenuous to him, as her soul was still reconnecting itself to its body, but she was truly alive again.


    He cast spells to increase its ability and had it quickly retreat to the small entrance to the inner part of the first floor, then he sealed it shut and hardened the stone.


    This wasn¡¯t necromancy, commanding a soulless husk. He had just performed a true resurrection. Though he wasn¡¯t sure how long he would¡¯ve had to revive the spider before its soul left its body, he had still done it. Something thought to be impossible by the academics writing their books and theorems on the subject. It was possible, at least as a dungeon lord, with something he¡¯d made a contract with, it was possible to fully revive something, or someone.


    Though it was only with certain souls able to hold on clearly, at least so far. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was possible to do this with the others yet. For now, this spider would be one of his most important residents, and he marked it to keep track of it, and to protect it at all costs until its soul had fully settled in its body again.


    For now, he commanded the troglodytes to retreat as the next party made its way to the second floor. He returned to his second avatar on the seventh floor and watched them. Dominik opened a path almost straight through the third floor, not bothering to test his traps on these adventurers. After they reached the third floor, the forest elf, some kind of rogue, began to get nervous. The human warrior and wizard, as well as the man in the strange garb, seemed unbothered, or rather emboldened by their easy descent. Dominik could¡¯ve sworn he recognized the garb the fourth man wore, but he couldn¡¯t quite recall what it was.


    On the fourth floor, on through the fifth and sixth, the forest elf began protesting, softly at first, but more strongly by the fifth and sixth floor.


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    ¡°Doesn¡¯t this seem strange? No monsters, no maze? It¡¯s almost like the dungeon wants us to go further.¡± He said, as his teammates laughed and shrugged it off.


    ¡°I think we should turn back. The previous reports said something seemed strange on the seventh floor, so they never went in. He thought it wanted him to go there. We should go back.¡±


    But his teammates refused, saying he was paranoid, saying they might be able to clear the dungeon if it was empty. Soon they reached the seventh floor, the floor filled with dirt and stones, gravel and sand.


    They came upon a large monster, ten feet tall, standing in the center of the floor, with two small creatures standing behind him. The mage cast a fireball at the monster, but a large earthen wall rose to protect him. The creatures in the back had surrounded themselves in earthen spheres as well. They protected themselves in layers of earth and hardened it.


    The warrior charged to one side, and the rogue, as well as the man in the strange garb, charged to the other side. As soon as the warrior passed the other side of the wall, a huge hammer covered in stone smashed into his chest, breaking through the barrier, and his platemail. The warrior went flying back as his chest caved in. Fire had shot out of his chest in retaliation, but did little to his avatar¡¯s flesh.


    The two others stepped onto sunken earth, and were surrounded by earthen spikes, going straight toward them. The man in the strange garb channeled mana, stopping and taking the hit head on, and the spikes failed to break through his skin. Dominik recognized the technique, he was an eastern monk. They focused on physical cultivation and enhancement through magic. Something more effective than simply casting a buff, though the masters tended to be capable of that too. They were focused on perfecting their own bodies and spirits rather than supporting allies, or focusing on elemental magic.


    The rogue performed such dexterous feats, he avoided all of the spikes, even when he could barely move his legs out of the earth. At that point Dominik brought his hammer down on the monk¡¯s skull, but somehow the monk remained standing. As the earth elementals released the rogue, they focused on crushing the monk, surrounding him with earth, squeezing it tighter, crushing and grinding it against his body, leaving only his shoulders and head exposed as Dominik kept smashing his hammer down.


    Soon another stream of fire came from the wizard, enveloping Dominik. The flames did little damage to his flesh,  but before he could bring his hammer down again, the warrior charged in and grabbed his arm, wrestling him away even in his ruined armor. There was no way a healing potion could have healed him that fast, but he fought through the pain and the damage.


    The monk¡¯s power finally failed, and there was a sickening crunch as his bones began to break. The earth came in and crushed his body, and his screams rang out through the empty room.


    Dominik grabbed the warrior by the neck, crushing it through the chainmail coif. He ripped the man off of his other arm and continued crushing his neck. The warrior pulled out a large knife, and began tearing at Dominik¡¯s arm. He was strong enough to pierce through Dominik¡¯s barrier and his flesh, and the warrior¡¯s fire armor burned him with the close proximity, but before his grip could loosen, the warrior¡¯s neck snapped.


    At that moment the rogue was on his back, stabbing into his neck with large daggers of his own. They bore some sort of enchantment, and Dominik could feel poison coursing through his avatar¡¯s veins. The poison had little effect, though he could tell it was strong, it wasn¡¯t intended for such a thing as what Dominik had created. But the rogue kept stabbing and cutting at Dominik¡¯s neck, as the wizard pelted him with a barrage of small fireballs from the front.


    The wizard had started doing some major damage with this spell, combining the earth and fire elements, tearing into Dominik¡¯s torso and burning his flesh. But the wizard had overstepped his bounds, and soon he was impaled by several spikes of earth jutting out from the ground.


    The wizard¡¯s torrent of fire and earth had ended, and Dominik reached for the rogue with his good arm, but the man leapt off and rushed toward the entrance of the seventh floor.


    Dominik healed his neck and his injured arm, but he knew neither his avatar or the earth elementals¡¯ magic would be able to catch him. He¡¯d hoped this would be enough to warn others about the dangers of this dungeon.


    He considered using the traps, but he decided there was no reason. He¡¯d rather have the rogue warn others of the dangers and let stories build up, rather than just wondering what happened, and wondering how deep they got.


    For now though, he¡¯d let his troglodytes rest, they could take a nap while the rogue informed the guild about the new record, and the traps could take care of any weaker enemies. Probably.

 Chapter 19 | Third Floor Lounge

    The rogue finally escaped the dungeon, and kept running until he reached the center of the gathering. He went straight to the guild leader who¡¯d been managing everything and reported the near full party wipe.


    Dominik listened and watched through his crows which, if they seemed suspicious, should only be thought as the druid¡¯s spies, rather than his own. The elf was frantic, explaining the death of his party, and the fight.


    ¡°There was nothing on the second floor, all the way through the sixth?¡± The guild manager asked.


    ¡°No, I told you, it was like it wanted us to go through. There was no maze, it was almost a straight path through the walls, all the way to each floor.¡± The rogue repeated.


    ¡°Do you think it just wanted to test out these new monsters, and it was getting tired of waiting for someone to make it down there?¡±


    ¡°Yes. I think it might¡¯ve been because we were stronger than the rest too. We never saw the reported troglodytes. The dungeon didn¡¯t bother with it, that¡¯s my guess.¡± The rogue took another drink and tried to calm down. The guild manager¡¯s assistant continued to write everything down, and the manager began writing as well.


    After they¡¯d taken in all the details of the monsters on the seventh floor, the floor guardians of the seventh floor, this information was spread by members of the guild to warn others. Either to tell them not to go down to the seventh floor, or to allow them the chance to create some sort of strategy, if they thought they were strong enough to defeat them.


    By now, the troglodytes in the warrior party, and the rogue party, were resting. He had his backup team ready to gather any supplies from slain adventurers, and he¡¯d made some last minute adjustments to a couple of traps. There were no more powerful parties like the previous team, and no one approaching their strength was stepping forth.


    Instead, some seemingly average adventurers were the first to enter after the carnage of the last party¡¯s foray into the dungeon. Dominik allowed them into the third floor, not bothering to offer any resistance. He wanted to try out his newest creations.


    The party was all human, and quite large. Eight people. They stepped into the third floor and were greeted with a large open area. Large comfortable looking chairs made of strange leather sat there. All around a large table, inviting them to set their things down and relax. Further away, down a hallway, they could see an outhouse.


    They all looked reluctant to try sitting down, and they felt no need to, considering it had been a short walk to this floor with no resistance. Except for one man who had eaten far too much from the vendors, gorging himself while he waited for their turn. He enjoyed the sort of fair they¡¯d made a bit too much. The thought of going on like this for several more floors seemed daunting. As he clenched his cheeks and made his decision, their fate was sealed.


    He convinced his party to let him use the restroom. He¡¯d told them it might take a while, and encouraged them to sit down and relax while they waited for him. They finally did as he said. When they sat down, cautiously at first, they soon realized these were very comfortable large chairs. They sank into them and relaxed. With his party pleased, and assured that they wouldn¡¯t leave him, the man made his way down the hallway to the outhouse.


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    When he approached the outhouse, he realized it was a well treated wooden restroom. The dark brown wood shined, almost like a sort of mahogany. Almost a sort of fleshy color. The man thought it must have been very expensive.


    He opened the door and it clicked shut behind him as he sat down on the seat over the dark chasm of the latrine. It was strangely soft for a wooden seat.


    Just after he¡¯d sat down, tentacles shot out from under the seat and below it, wrapping around his legs. They were thin and hard like fishing wire. They were jagged though, and they dug into his legs. As soon as that happened, more tentacles came out from between the ¡°wood¡± panels at the back of the outhouse and wrapped around his body and his neck. Just an instant after that, a tentacle came out of the toilet and plunged into his backside.


    It was a long, strong tentacle covered in spikes. The spikes were facing back to allow it to slide in and stay in if he tried to get off the toilet. The top of the tenacle was narrow, and sharp. It tore into him and tunneled up into his stomach, tearing him apart from the inside out. It quickly tore up into his throat and out of his open mouth, cutting off a scream that began coming out of his throat being strangled by the other tentacles.


    The man had taken off his armor to sit down, leaving his backside with neither cloth, chain, or plate to protect him from the tentacle. As he was torn apart from the inside, he was dragged down into the opening of the toilet seat, which spread open and pulled him into the maw of the monster. Its huge teeth tore him apart, biting and grinding, consuming him whole. It devoured him in under a minute. The outhouse shook as it consumed him.


    Even the wall themselves could come in and crush its prey if they tried to run, but it wasn¡¯t necessary this time. Better to leave its form mostly unchanged, in case anyone else needed to rest. It deposited the armor, weapon, and most of the clothes that hadn¡¯t been totally destroyed into an empty spot under the floor, to be recovered later.


    While this was happening, the chairs struck. These chairs had sensed the outhouse had attacked, and they did the same, before they missed their opportunity to consume them.


    Unfortunately the adventurers in the chairs hadn¡¯t removed their clothing, but only one was heavily armored, sporting chainmail, while one man chose to stand. Fortunately he was standing on a very soft, almost fleshy, rug.


    The large chairs opened their mouths between the seat and the back, allowing their prey to sink in, and they quickly bit into the backside of their food, holding them in place with long, sharp, jagged teeth. The chairs folded down onto them and began crushing them. Even the chainmail the man¡¯s back didn¡¯t protect him from the teeth piercing into him with such force.


    One man sat on a chair with an ottoman. The chair folded down and started eating his torso, while the ottoman opened it¡¯s maw and started eating his legs. Eventually his legs snapped off and were eaten completely by the ottoman while the chair got the rest of him, including his thighs.


    The man who had been standing had the rug swirl up around him. The coils of the rug wrapped around him and started to tear into his legs with tendrils. It began crushing his legs. He fell and tried to drag himself to the table where he¡¯d set down his sword. But as his hand reached the table, the table snapped shut on his hand and wrist.


    The table¡¯s maw at the center began to open up, and it began eating his hand as it crushed his arm. The coiled rug was crushing his legs and tearing the meat off of them, eating it with tiny mouths all over, biting and tearing, traveling further up his legs. As the rug did this, the table continued to travel down his arm, crushing more and more of him. Soon he had bled out, and his body was eaten by the rug and the table.


    The chairs had finished eating their meals first however. They spit out the inedible materials, and began licking themselves clean with long tongues coming out from between the seat and the back where the mouth was. They licked the blood and gore from off of themselves, leaving a nice shining leather look.


    Soon the troglodytes came to collect the materials left by the adventurers, and brought everything to the treasure room, or to a scrap pile. The rugs at the last bits of blood and meat left on the floor, leaving it clean. It looked like well polished stone floors. Perhaps cleaner than the rest of the dungeon really.

 Chapter 20 | Intermission

    A few more parties came in, but they were weak, none willing to rest as the previous party, but they were taken out with simple traps built into the floor. Patterns that looked to be carved in were actually living bear traps, and they were stepped on quite haphazardly by the weak and inexperienced adventurers.


    After these last few parties didn¡¯t make it out, a break was called up top. Not only was it getting later, but no one was returning. They called an end for today, and people began setting up camp far from the entrance.


    They¡¯d go over strategies and such, and try again for their chance tomorrow. A few parties decided to leave however, likely not thinking it was worth it. There would still be plenty to contend with however, and Domink had a lot to do.


    He¡¯d wanted to make more traps to fill out the maze for the third floor of the dungeon, to let the troglodytes rest, and perhaps practice with their newly found weapons. But most importantly, he¡¯d wanted to speak with Fran.


    Dominik returned to his original human form, without the mask, and went to speak to her. She had been meditating, preparing in case she was needed if the adventurers made it to the bottom floor.


    ¡°They¡¯re done for now, they¡¯re setting up camp.¡± Dominik said as he entered her room. She opened her eyes and began to stand up.


    ¡°That¡¯s a relief.¡± She said, ¡°I wanted to practice a bit, but I didn¡¯t want to waste any mana. They shouldn¡¯t attack again later should they?¡±


    Dominik shook his head. ¡°No, anyone stupid enough to try sneaking in tonight won¡¯t be much of a threat. I doubt they¡¯d make it past the third floor, and they definitely wouldn¡¯t make it past the seventh.¡±


    ¡°More importantly.¡± He continued. ¡°I¡¯d like to offer you a contract. You¡¯d be the first person I¡¯ve offered one to. Certainly the first of such intelligence, and I¡¯d prefer you be my first.¡±


    Fran looked a bit taken aback. ¡°Oh, thanks. But what do you mean by contract? Is it like a wizard and their familiar? I¡¯ve heard of people making deals with dungeon lords, but I don¡¯t know the¡­. Intimate details.¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be some kind of pet or slave, you¡¯d just be giving me access to your body and soul on a higher level. It¡¯s like letting me inside you, that¡¯s all.¡±


    Fran looked more taken aback. ¡°Oh, is that all?¡±


    ¡°Yes, though I¡¯ve never tried doing something one of my contracts really didn¡¯t want. Though I have felt hesitation at commands. That¡¯s why I consumed their bodies along with the humans, it¡¯s what they wanted.¡±


    Fran had regained her composure, and tried not to show her reaction to the morbid turn of this conversation. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s nice. You mean with the eldritch dungeon core¡¯s body right?¡±


    Dominik looked confused. ¡°Yes, of course. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d even made this body yet, and there¡¯d be no point in eating them with it.¡±


    Fran sighed out in relief. ¡°So, you won¡¯t do anything unnatural with my body if I let you make a contract with me right?¡±


    ¡°No. Unless you want me to.¡±


    Fran looked surprised, despite trying to hold things together. ¡°Why would I want that?¡±


    Dominik thought for a moment and then spoke. ¡°Well, I was thinking I could give you a mana core if you wanted. I¡¯d probably have to build it up slowly, but I could increase your maximum stored mana by a lot. Then you wouldn¡¯t have to worry so much about saving it for a fight.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Fran relaxed her shoulders. That didn¡¯t sound too bad. Assuming it wasn¡¯t too painful. And even then, it didn¡¯t sound too bad, as long as the pain didn¡¯t last for too long.


    Dominik continued. ¡°I also thought about extending your life. I know dark elves live a lot longer than humans, but they¡¯re not immortal. Hypothetically, if I have decades or centuries to work on your body, I should be able to slowly make you biologically immortal. Your body doesn¡¯t need to break down. As long as your soul can handle staying in your body, you could stay here with me forever.¡±


    Fran didn¡¯t know immortality was even an option. Obviously she¡¯d thought about it, but she never thought she¡¯d be offered it so casually, much less by an eldritch human dungeon lord.


    ¡°I¡­. I don¡¯t know what to say. If it¡¯s possible, I¡¯d gladly accept it. Though I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯m powerful enough to last forever.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s okay, I¡¯m not sure if I am either, or if I¡¯m even able to change your body enough. It¡¯s not like I¡¯ve ever done it before. But with your body and the power of your soul, I think it¡¯s possible. I¡¯d like to at least try Fran.¡±


    She considered it for another moment. ¡°I¡¯ll let you try, and I¡¯ll try to hold on. I¡¯ll accept your contract Dominik, just offer it to me.¡±


    With that, no more words were spoken, and Fran felt a great pressure push against her soul, against her consciousness. A power asking to be let in, to establish a connection. It was Dominik, she could feel it. She didn¡¯t waste another moment, she accepted the contract.


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    She waited for a moment, but nothing happened, other than a feeling of closeness to Dominik. She¡¯d expected pain, or some sort of transformation.


    Noticing her shock, Dominik began to explain. ¡°I¡¯ll wait to start forming a mana crystal in your body until I¡¯ve returned to my main body. I¡¯m not sure if it matters, but working on you right now with my consciousness in an avatar doesn¡¯t seem ideal.¡±


    ¡°Do I need to do something while you work on¡­. Putting the crystal inside me?¡± Fran asked.


    ¡°No, you can just lie down, and tell me if anything becomes too painful. I¡¯ll tell you when I¡¯m done with the main improvements. The rest will follow slowly over time. Is there anything else you want?


    Fran shook her head. ¡°No, this is enough for now.¡±


    Dominik smiled and turned to leave the room. But before he left, Fran asked him one more question. ¡°Dominik, I know I probably should have asked sooner. But, what do you want? Not just from me, I mean in the world."


    Dominik turned back to face her, and considered the question for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t want anything from you, I just want you. That¡¯s all. And from the world¡­. I guess I¡¯d like to make the dungeon deeper, or at least the main room. I¡¯d like to get more mana from the earth¡¯s core and increase my own. Maybe take over another dungeon somehow.¡±


    Dominik paused for a moment and then continued. ¡°And I¡¯d like to kill everyone in my old kingdom. Or at least the people in charge. Not for any real reason, I just hate them.¡±


    Before Fran could respond, before she really knew how to respond, Dominik returned her question. ¡°What about you fran? What do you want? Do you want to kill your sister too?


    Fran smiled. ¡°It might come down to that, but I don¡¯t have any interest in returning to my kingdom. I have no interest in political power. I just want real power, I¡¯ve always just wanted to use magic, since I was a little girl. And as soon as I could use it, I wanted more power. That¡¯s all. Well, and I need a place to stay of course.¡±


    Dominik walked closer to her, and looked down into her eyes. ¡°Then I¡¯ll make sure you can practice your magic forever. You just have to hold on to this world.¡±


    Fran¡¯s smile widened, it grew bigger than he¡¯d ever seen from her. ¡°I will Dominik. And I¡¯ll even help you kill some intruders if you want. I could use the practice anyway. Duels, and especially real combat, aren¡¯t the same as practicing your magic. I want to feel the real thing.¡±


    ¡°Then I¡¯ll let you try the real thing as soon as you¡¯re ready. If you become accustomed to your mana crystals soon enough, you could try your magic in combat tomorrow. Just make sure to stay safe.¡±


    ¡°I will Dominik.¡±


    With that, he left the room, giving her physical privacy, even if it was only an illusion. She removed some of her clothing and lied down. Dominik sat down against the wall in the chamber of the dungeon lord and returned to his true body.


    He reached out to her body and soul, and began examining her. Fran gasped at the feeling. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d notice my presence this much. I guess you¡¯re very in tune with your soul, and maybe even your body.¡±


    Fran regained her composure, only shivering at the occasional new sensation from a foreign soul. ¡°I guess, is that good?¡±


    ¡°Yes. You¡¯re intelligent, and you should be aware of what¡¯s happening if any alterations go too far. Tell me if it¡¯s too much, but I¡¯ll try and give you as much as I can tonight.¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± Was all Fran said as she closed her eyes and ungripped the flesh of the covers she laid on. She tried to relax and allow Damien to do his work, while focusing enough on the changes to warn him if he began going a bit too far. Easier said than done.


    First Damien began forming a small mana crystal in her chest, and then another in her stomach. She seemed to notice this, he could feel her soul reacting to this as he filled them with mana, but it didn''t hurt. At least not yet.


    ¡°You know, Fran¡­. I¡¯ve been thinking about this for a while now. You have a sensitivity to light, but you can see well in darkness. And you want more mana, am I correct?¡±


    Goosebumps covered Fran¡¯s body in fear and excitement. She wasn¡¯t exactly sure where he was going, but she had an idea it would be an extreme change. ¡°Yes.¡± She replied to him with her mind.


    ¡°Eldritch eyes aren¡¯t sensitive to the light, and I believe they can see even better in darkness. The biggest benefit is, they act as a sort of mana crystal. They can store so much, and there¡¯s only so much room in your body. Would you like them?¡±


    ¡°Do whatever you can, I¡¯ll be able to handle it. But I might need to cover my eyes around the guild.¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t matter, we¡¯ll think of something if we choose to keep up that charade. Despite the benefits, this might be painful, spiritually and physically. I¡¯ll try to ease the pain with my magic as much as possible.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll hold on.¡± Said Fran, subconsciously grasping the covers again, preparing herself for the pain. Soon she felt the worst agony of her life as her eyes contorted and changed. Her sight went dark and she was left blinded, writhing around in agony on the bed of flesh. Every bit of her eyes and the cable-like grouping of nerve fibers connecting them to her brain were being changed into something else.


    It may have only lasted a minute, but it felt like hours to Fran, as if burning needles were being shoved into every centimeter of her eyes, and being moved and twisted around.


    Soon though, the pain stopped. She was too afraid of agony returning for a bit to open her eyes, but then the fear of losing her sight prompted her to slowly open her eyes. To check if she could still see. When she opened her eyes, there was no more pain, and she could see more clearly than she ever could.


    Even the dark room seemed to show every detail on the stone. She almost couldn¡¯t tell there wasn¡¯t any light. It was perfect sight in the darkness. More than that, she could feel Dominik filling her eyes with mana. They were very efficient mana crystals, they held so much.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Dominik asked after filling her new mana crystals.


    ¡°More than alright, I feel great. Not that I really want to do that again.¡± Her body was covered in sweat now, and her breathing was still haggard while she was recovering from all of the pain. But the absence of it, and the newfound power inside her had now filled her with a feeling of elation.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± Said Dominik. ¡°I kept your eye color the same, but the iris will be shaped differently of course.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t worried about that, but thank you Dominik.¡±


    ¡°Your soul still feels strongly attached to your body too. I¡¯ll make gradual changes to your body over the next few days and weeks, and eventually months and years. Hopefully I can make you biologically immortal. And if your soul can hold on through death, I may be able to revive you.¡±


    Fran¡¯s new eldritch eyes widened at this. ¡°Revival? Is that even possible?¡±


    ¡°Yes, as long as your soul holds on to your body, and I can heal you soon enough, I should be able to help guide your soul back into place.¡±


    Fran smiled up at him, not sure if he¡¯d really see it. ¡°Then I¡¯ll try to make my soul stronger too. I think I¡¯d like to test out my new power tomorrow though. By using my magic in a real fight.¡±


    ¡°I think I can find a place for you tomorrow.¡±

 Chapter 21 | The Hero

    On the second day of the grand opening, Dominik had given Fran The tenth floor to turn into her domain. He¡¯d helped her create a few frost golems using her magic and his mana crystals. These golems were much bigger, and much simpler, but they would be her aids in combat.


    The arena she¡¯d chosen was covered in ice and snow, using mana crystals embedded in the floor and the wall, he helped her keep the spells she cast up perpetually to change the terrain. This favored her as she specialized in frost magic.


    Dominik had his avatar nearby, ready to leap in if things went badly, if she was unable to escape, but he doubted it would be a problem. He¡¯d also given her an honor guard of troglodytes on standby, with thick ragged clothing and long spears. They would most likely just collect the bodies however.


    What had been on his mind today was the adventurers, specifically those with slaves. Some had planned on buying cheap disposable labor, and meat shields, from the auction that never happened. Others had bothered bringing their own slaves.


    Most notably was one man dressed in black, surrounded by several young female slaves. He was lauded as some sort of hero, from what Dominik had heard through the crows in the forest. They said he was one of the chosen heroes summoned from another world.


    He¡¯d waited the first day to gather information, letting others be the first to go deeper once he realized how dangerous it was. He used the functions of the collars often to make sure his word was followed, to punish them for any minor mistakes. Dominik also found it strange that his group, clearly equipped for combat, didn¡¯t include a single male slave. This often portrayed certain proclivities, when the prioritization was on recruiting all women.


    Dominik had decided to free any slaves he could, any who were brought into the dungeon against their will, but he especially wanted to kill this hero. Everything about him was sickening.


    First a few other parties entered, but they fell to the troglodytes, or escaped shortly after facing them. Hardly any contenders for Fran. Soon though, the hero showed up, with his seven slaves.


    They performed their functions, one blonde woman cast spells to protect them from the spiders¡¯ bite. Another cast spells to increase the hero¡¯s strength. Soon they were ready and entered the dungeon, with the hero in between his entourage.


    The spiders, of course, didn¡¯t attack. It would¡¯ve been a waste, the hero was the only real target, and he was the most heavily protected, with spells and enchanted armor. All dark leather and chainmail. It hung somewhat loose over the man¡¯s frail frame.


    Dominik wondered if this man had ever fought with his own strength before. He certainly didn¡¯t look like any warrior Dominik had ever seen.


    Dominik had explained the situation to Fran, who would be wearing her mask in the dungeon. He¡¯d told her he wanted to kill the man himself, but he¡¯d like her help to restrain the slaves until after he¡¯d freed them. This would be the first group to reach Fran, and he allowed them to continue down to the cold arena, uninterrupted by the troglodytes or the traps.


    Fran stood there in the ice and the snow, with her white hair hidden by a hood, and her black skin covered in a new layer of eldritch carapace Dominik had made blue. He didn¡¯t expect anyone to escape her, but he¡¯d wanted to at least attempt to hide her identity, in case anyone did escape. The skin was strong yet flexible, so it would offer her some protection on her most vital areas. And it would be quick for him to heal along with her, should it be needed.


    Dominik stood as himself, wearing the mask of Salvator, holding a mace. He¡¯d chosen not to bother with his combat avatar. He wanted to kill the hero with his own two hands. Or at least, the closest he could get to that.


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    When the hero arrived, Dominik wasted no time in speaking to him. ¡°So, you¡¯re the insect calling himself a hero. Did you lick some nobleman¡¯s boots to buy you all of those slaves, or did you work for it yourself?¡±


    The hero froze for a moment, the dungeon wasn¡¯t lining up with the reports. But he couldn¡¯t just run away. And he wouldn¡¯t be made to look like a fool in front of the girls. He quickly regained his composure. ¡°Strong words from a man who serves a dungeon lord. I didn¡¯t choose to come to this world, it was forced on me.¡±


    ¡°I suppose you were forced to own slaves too?¡± Dominik said. ¡°Liar. You¡¯re the one who has a choice, and you¡¯ve chosen to serve the insects at the capital. I serve no one, I am an extension of the dungeon lord.¡±


    The once cold room was heating up, the mana in the air growing warm around Dominik. Fran was only subconsciously aware of the thick mana in the dungeon most of the time, unless she focused on it. But now, it was hard not to notice. Dominik had told her he¡¯d never learned to use any elemental magic, so she wasn¡¯t sure if he was even aware of this. But that just made it more dangerous.


    The hero smirked, seemingly unaware of the fluctuations in the air. ¡°I just can¡¯t trust anyone, so I use slaves, it¡¯s not like they mind.¡±


    Dominik glared death through the mask. ¡°So you wouldn¡¯t mind saving me the trouble of freeing them before I kill you?¡±


    The hero¡¯s smile widened. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s going to happen.¡±


    Dominik turned to Fran. ¡°Try not to kill the slaves, but don¡¯t let them move. I want to take my time killing him.¡±


    ¡°Yes Salvator, I¡¯ll try not to pierce any major organs.¡± With that, Fran cast her first spells. They stood on the icy stone in a cold room full of snow. The troglodytes had quietly moved to the back of the room, blocking off the entrance. The elementals came to cover Fran.


    Just before she let out a wave of ice rupturing out of the ground toward the slaves, Dominik had lept toward the hero with inhuman speed and movements, tackling him to the ground. As the women were covered in ice, and pierced through with a few jagged spears to lock their movements, Dominik threw his mace to the side and began smashing his fist into the other man¡¯s face.


    The women were screaming as they struggled to break free and help the hero, but Fran¡¯s magic with her favored element was too advanced for them to break through. Most of them seemed unsuited for combat roles as well, not that they likely had much of a choice.


    Dominik held the hero¡¯s throat with his left hand, in a crushing grip, and he slammed his right fist into the man¡¯s face over and over again. At first, the hero tried pulling out some short blades and stabbing at Dominik, but the damage didn¡¯t seem to affect him much. After several blows, the hero gave up and focused on defense, casting some sort of defensive spell.


    It seemed different from the average barrier spell. Likely some sort of special innate ability the heroes were told to have. Dominik had already applied as many powerful spells as he could to this avatar, he just used it over and over again to smash down on the shield.


    He let go of the man¡¯s throat and began smashing his fists down on him all over in a wild flurry of blows. There was no technique, just power and speed. Dominik¡¯s wounds had already healed. The man had let go of his swords and was covering his face with his arms. Under this, the man¡¯s screams came out, echoing in the room. He was begging his slaves to help him, commanding them.


    This only fed Dominik¡¯s anger. The hero was commanding his slaves to help him after they¡¯d been captured and injured. As the ice crushed them and held them in place, even piercing them, they were shocked by the collars. Electricity coursed through them for disobeying the commands given by the hero.


    Dominik dispelled his own regeneration spell and focused his magic entirely on breaking through the shield. After another minute and hundreds of blows, the barrier was finally broken. The magic shield began shattering under his blows. He wasn¡¯t just punching through it, he was destroying it.


    He smashed his fists into the man¡¯s face harder than before, with no shield to protect the man lying on the ground. Dominik kept punching until he felt the other man¡¯s skull crack, and then he kept going. Only when the front of his skull was entirely destroyed did he grab the man¡¯s head, with his fingers digging into his skull.


    After securing a good grip, Dominik began slamming his head into the stone floor. He smashed it into the floor over and over again, until there were only broken bits of bone with the brain smashed all over the cold stone floor.


    Unbeknownst to Dominik, the room was heating up even more, the mana in the air around Dominik was almost boiling, the scene became unclear to Fran as the heat grew around him. Until finally, there was nothing more to destroy, except the body covered in enchanted armor, that had done the hero no good. Finally, when there was nothing left of his face, Dominik¡¯s anger had been sated, and he began to rise. His hands and shirt were soaked red in the hero¡¯s blood.


    The heat died down, and Dominik approached the now quiet women. ¡°Well, I guess I should get those collars off now.¡±

 Chapter 22 | Freedom, and The Night

    Dominik had removed the collars, but the women were still bound by Fran¡¯s magic. They weren¡¯t impaled anymore either, and he had healed their wounds. But now he had a choice. He¡¯d made rooms to hold people as some sort of prisoners. To make sure they weren¡¯t enslaved as soon as they reached the surface, and to make sure they didn¡¯t warn the other slave owners about his intentions, he should probably keep them here until the grand opening is over.


    It might seem hypocritical to imprison them after freeing them, but it wouldn¡¯t be fair to the other slaves if he let someone with some sort of misplaced loyalty run to the surface and warn the others. Whether they mean to warn them, just showing themselves as freed slaves and telling the story would be enough. If that circulated around camp, there might be a problem.


    ¡°For now, you¡¯ll be given your own rooms, with a larger living area you can all stay together in, but you won¡¯t be allowed to leave for at least a few days. Not until the other slaves have been freed. I won¡¯t have one of you warning the others in camp. Food and water will be provided.¡±


    After he said this, one woman tried protesting, but the rest remained quiet. Dominik had Fran let them go and finished healing them. None of them were foolish enough to try fighting or running however. He led them to one of the holding areas he¡¯d made ahead of time and sealed them in.


    After this, he watched for more adventurers, and he listened. The crows observed everything for him. But for quite some time, no one else was coming. Hours later, word spread that the hero most likely died in the dungeon. This seemed to kill the spirit of many adventurers. Only a few of the most heroic, or the most desperately poor among them finally came into the dungeon. Even then, they didn¡¯t delve too far, no one went past the troglodytes. Even with an open invitation, they simply turned back.


    Information had spread throughout the camp, that didn¡¯t bother him. But most of the other slave owners had clearly decided not to enter. They had enough wealth to avoid risking going into the dungeon, and not enough virtue to adventure into the depths of the dungeon despite the risk. That¡¯s why they had waited to begin with. Some were already packing up to leave in the morning.


    This angered Dominik. To let them slip away when they were so close, and for what? Just to avoid getting too much attention from the kingdom? It wasn¡¯t something he could tolerate. So instead of letting them go, or hoping they changed their minds in the morning, Dominik decided to wipe them out tonight.


    After all, their numbers gave them the courage to camp anywhere near the dungeon. He could at least show them the error of their ways. Dominik called Fran and the golems to the training room. The two of them could help the golems practice not crushing their targets every time with their magic. They would help him restrain the slaves and anyone else not worth killing.


    He told Fran the plan of course, and after night began to fall, Dominik, Fran, the two small golems, and an honor guard of troglodytes and larger golems proceeded up to the top floor, and under the cover of night using the secret entrance he had created when he freed the other slaves just the other night.


    ¡ª-


    Earlier that day, Fran was surprised when Dominik came to her with the little golems and explained his plans for the night. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that draw unwanted attention Dominik? I thought we didn¡¯t want them to worry about the dungeon?¡±


    Dominik seemed to consider this, though she had guessed his mind was already made up. ¡°It will, but I doubt it will be enough for the kingdom to send more squads into the dungeon. The idea of letting them live is too sickening. We¡¯ll try to keep the damage to a minimum.¡±


    Fran sighed and accepted this decision, she was getting a bit tired of being cooped up in the dungeon anyway. ¡°All right, but after this, we should let things relax a bit, and maybe balance things out with our other identities. That might calm the powers that be if the waters seem to settle for a while.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Dominik said. ¡°The guild manager¡¯s mentioned something about goblin attacks recently, we could help with that and calm things down for a bit after this.¡±


    ¡°But first.¡± He continued. ¡°Let¡¯s help the golems practice holding people without killing them. Can you make something out of ice about as breakable as a human, and about the size of a human too?¡±


    For a time, they helped the golems learn to control their earth magic better, grabbing and moving ice dummies without breaking them. When they seemed to have the hang of it, Dominik made sure a group of troglodytes that had been resting would be ready for battle. Fran gathered her golems and met him at the first floor, then they continued through the passage to the secret entrance.


    Dominik had seen through his crows¡¯ eyes that the entrance was clear, and they made their way through it. The troglodytes and golems tried their best to follow after Dominik and Fran through the forest, but their pace had to slow down a bit.


    Finally, in the middle of the night, they had come upon their targets. The camp where most of the slave owners were. Wealthier adventurers and merchants staying near each other. Those of lower status, or higher moral fiber, were kept away, or chose to stay away.


    They had to keep the slaves alive, who weren¡¯t hard to tell apart because of their collars, and ideally they would avoid killing hired help. But after having the golems and troglodytes spread out around the camp, to catch anyone who managed to get past the main force, this would be a great killing field.


    Dominik sprang on the last few slave owners and guards staying up around a campfire. He¡¯d taken his hammer and crushed their skulls in seconds. He¡¯d decided not to spare the guards for slave owners this time.


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    Fran gave the command and the golems created a wall of earth around the camp, just past the troglodytes, as the walls hardened, Fran added a layer of ice and formed spikes all around it. Dominik went tent by tent killing the uncollared, until eventually, one of the slaves who had shared a tent with the owner woke up and screamed.


    Soon, others began to exit their tents, or to wake up on their own and discover the grisly execution of their owners. A series of screams continued, and people began running out of their tents. Fran and the golems held everyone in place. It would be up to Dominik to execute the owners.


    As they ran out, Dominik quickly followed and began slaughtering people after scanning them with his eyes. He only spared those with collars, and those he recognized as servants from the crows¡¯ eyes during the daytime.


    Oftentimes the golems captured corpses, but many more were slaves and servants, terrified of what was going on. Soon the killing was done, and Dominik checked each of the tents for anyone who might be hiding. He would kill or bring out anyone who was left.


    When he was finished, he made his announcement, speaking louder than any of the screams. ¡°Those of you who are slaves will be released from your collars and let go. You may choose to take refuge in the dungeon until the others have left, or you may flee to wherever you may choose. Any hired help may also go wherever they please. After I¡¯ve removed all of the collars.¡±


    After this, the screaming didn¡¯t stop, but Dominik went to each slave, one by one, and broke the seal on their collars. Fran added ice over each person¡¯s mouth. It was likely too late to avoid being heard by anyone near enough to hear it, but she did it for the sake of her hearing at least.


    Dominik had become quite good at breaking the seals, it only took him a few moments to break each of them, but there were dozens of slaves at least. Any of the slave owners that had been captured alive, he quickly executed.


    Before he had finished with the last of the slaves though, a man jumped over the wall, some kind of rogue in worn leather armor. The man threw a knife at Dominik¡¯s back. But as he was standing in front of a slave, he chose not to dodge. Just in case the knife went through the earth, or pierced their exposed skin. He could heal them, but not if it killed them immediately of course.


    The knife went into his back and pierced his heart. It was a well placed throw. Dominik turned to face his attacker after he finished breaking the seal, and twisted his arm behind his back to remove the knife.


    The attacker looked somewhat surprised, he stood with two more knives ready, and Dominik could hear the man¡¯s companions trying to break down the wall. ¡°There¡¯s no point, you can¡¯t kill me, certainly not by attacking my heart. And I¡¯ve already dealt with the poison. If you want to live, take your friends and leave before you anger me.¡±


    ¡°And let you slaughter these people?¡± The rogue said, glancing to the place on the wall his companions were trying to break through, waiting for backup before he attacked again.


    ¡°I¡¯ve already slaughtered them, the slave owners and their guards. The slaves are all nearly free, and the hired help I¡¯ve already promised to set free. Your death won¡¯t serve any purpose, and your companions won¡¯t be able to save you either.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not going to take the word of some dungeon core¡¯s servants.¡± He said, glancing at Fran as well. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have come out here, you¡¯re just making it easier for us to kill you.¡±


    Dominik sighed. ¡°The hero said something similar, and now he¡¯s food for the spiders. If that¡¯s what you¡¯ve decided, then you¡¯ll die like the rest. Just know that you cannot kill me.¡±


    Dominik leapt at the rogue just before the wall broke. He gave the golems the mental command to kill anyone who came into the camp now, and command the golems and troglodytes to form up and protect Fran.


    The rogue was fast, and agile enough, to avoid most of the hammer blow from Dominik. But it still clipped his shoulder as he dodged. Dominik¡¯s speed and inhuman movements were hard to avoid even for a well trained adventurer.


    As the wall broke and their forces ran to her, Fran finished casting a spell she had been preparing, and a long spear of ice shot out toward the rogue¡¯s party. The spear destroyed the warrior¡¯s armor and tore through it, piercing his chest and stomach. The sorcerer and healer behind him avoided the brunt of the impact from their team member, but earthen spikes were already poised to spring up at them.


    The sorcerer cast a spell and blocked the spikes with an arcane shield briefly conjured in front of him, but the healer was impaled. He had been focused entirely on the warrior and failed to notice the spikes soon enough.


    One of the golems made sure they had finished off the healer and continued crushing and impaling them, while the other kept up their assault on the sorcerer.


    Dominik¡¯s fight with the rogue continued. With all of the spells he¡¯d cast on himself, and all of the enhancements he¡¯d made to his body, he had avoided most of the major blows from the rogue, though he allowed a few hits if he could return a major blow to the rogue. The rogue was batter, and one of his arms hung limp, it had been broken in several places.


    The few cuts and stabs that had landed on Dominik had already been healed. The poison had been nullified, and by now it had been protected against with another spell. Finally the rogue¡¯s speed failed them and Dominik crushed their skull with the hammer.


    The sorcerer had cast a large fireball spell quickly in between casts of the arcane shield. His target was Fran. She quickly cast a frost shield around herself, a half circle in front of herself at least. The fireball only managed to break through the outer layer of the shield. A thick layer of ice remained. Fran laughed and stepped to the side of her shield to cast another ice bolt, but the sorcerer had already been impaled by the golems¡¯ magic. Casting that fireball had left him too open to their attacks. Perhaps this was his last ditch effort. Perhaps he thought she was the one controlling the golems directly. Either way it was futile.


    Just as quickly as it had started, the fight had ended, and Dominik returned to breaking the seals of the last few slaves that were left. Afterward, he walked back to Fran and the others and said. ¡°You can release them.¡±


    Soon, slaves and servants were let loose from the earth and frost that bound them. Domik cast a final healing spell over them for any minor injuries, and he had already cast spells to enhance their stamina as he passed by each of them, to give them the opportunity to escape any slavers should they attempt to run.


    Most did. They ran through the entrance created by the adventurers, before the golems could fully remove the wall surrounding them all. A few looked back between the group and those fleeing, but they all ultimately ran.


    Dominik had thought a few of them might stay, but perhaps they would change their minds later. The offer was still open, and he had already tagged them for the spiders should they try to enter the dungeon seeking shelter. He¡¯d done what he could. And most importantly, he hadn¡¯t let any of the slavers escape.


    Dominik and the others made their way back to the secret dungeon entrance. He could already imagine the long letter he¡¯d be reading from the guild manager. He imagined the dungeon wouldn¡¯t be getting attacked much for a while, so he thought he¡¯d have time to leave the dungeon with Fran soon. But first, he wanted to check on the previous slaves he¡¯d freed to see if they needed anything.


    He doubted they wanted to stay in the dungeon forever.

 Shelter Chapter 23 | A long Letter

    Dominik had several troglodytes guarding the last floor before his dungeon core on the inner side of the dungeon. He¡¯d had them here, even sleeping here in order to act as honor guards for Fran when he brought in the freed slaves. He couldn¡¯t trust any of his new visitors, nor did he have a contract with them, so he¡¯d kept the troglodytes there guarding the entrance to keep her and her possessions safe.


    Eventually he worried that the troglodytes might be in danger, so he began moving them over, further from the entrance of course, so the troglodytes, and the spiders he brought over in shifts, could guard the other troglodytes and the entrance.


    He built long hallways and rooms, and gave them all small beds. One side had larger rooms for families, others had small rooms for single troglodytes. He¡¯d also built a bathroom for Fran near her room, and many for the troglodytes in their new living area, by reworking the design of his outhouse trap, which had actually worked.


    The troglodytes seemed happy with their new beds made of eldritch flesh, in their rooms with soft dirt instead of rugs or any sort of carpeting.


    Now that there were even more freed slaves, including those of the hero, who were of questionable loyalty, this was even more important if they chose to stay in the dungeon. He could of course wall the rest of the floors off with this one, considering they were connected to the entrance, and he would if need be, but it would essentially trap everyone, including the troglodytes.


    More importantly, even though it would have been safer for Fran if he simply sealed it off from the rest of the dungeon, she¡¯d also be sealed off from the living area, from food, from everything else in the rest of the dungeon. He had considered a small gap for food delivery from the troglodytes, but then it would be more like being a prisoner in the dungeon. As of now, she just went and ordered food while wearing her mask, and had the troglodytes deliver it to her room. Sometimes she stopped and conversed with a few of the freed slaves, or took care of her mule. But mostly she just kept to herself.


    Dominik had kept the crude, albeit improved kitchen, dining area, and some food on the second floor, but moved the rest to a much larger kitchen, food storage, and dining area he had crafted with his magic. A perfect design. He¡¯d put this on the floor just above the troglodytes. It was easier for Fran to reach as well, though the freed slaves ate at the first kitchen on the second floor.


    He¡¯d made adjustments to her mask and the carapace she wore in combat after she¡¯d had some experience using it, and had grown comfortable with wearing it all over her body. The lower half of the outfit was greyish blue eldritch flesh in long stockings going up to her thighs, and a long dress. On her upper body, long gloves going up to almost her shoulders, and a long sleeved blouse, finished with the mask.


    The outfit could be activated and deactivated by Fran with a mental command and a bit of mana, or by Dominik. The clothing would form into a sort of carapace protecting her, but allowing great flexibility, easy to heal for dominik, and able to regenerate itself with Fran¡¯s mana. The mask would cover her head completely, and she would wear her hair up in a ponytail or a bun, it would end at a point in the back, elongated in an ancient ceremonial style. Her eyes would be covered in hard clear material shaped from the eldritch flesh, and air for her mouth and nose would be filtered through it, allowing her to breathe perfectly, but allowing the mask to filter poison and toxins with just a very small amount of mana passively.


    The suit of course, was sequined with small mana crystals all over, which allowed it to live when she wasn¡¯t wearing it, and allowed it to dip into its reserves if she somehow ran low and still needed its use in combat. She of course, could wear her robes and boots over this, though not something she would wear in front of others outside of the dungeon.


    Working on Fran¡¯s suit made Dominik realize he was capable of making armor, of a sort. Rather than making earthen armor for the troglodytes, or any other citizens of his dungeon, he would focus on flesh and bone, carapace and chitin. Things he could make with his fleshcrafting, much more flexible and more easily repairable.


    He¡¯d had enough biomass after consuming so many corpses. He created armor, something between chainmail and gambeson, metal and cloth, or more like bone and leather. It would be harder where it needed to be, but softer and more flexible where needed, like the crook of someone¡¯s elbow.


    He made them thick boots, shin guards,  tunics, gauntlets, shoulder guards, full helmets, and a cloth to wrap around their neck. This armor could shape itself around their bodies, and stretch to meet the other pieces. The helmet would contour around them, and even filter poisons and toxins similar to Fran¡¯s. The armor had small mana crystals sequined on the inside, though none of these pieces were as complex or powerful as Fran¡¯s more flexible full body suit.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    Their armor wasn¡¯t as thick, nor did it store as much mana, even for the size, and it sacrificed some of the mobility of her armor in order to provide more solid protection, as they were mostly expected to get into melee combat. But he had made many suits of this armor, first equipping the thirty core warriors with a sturdy set. Then the six rogues with a more agile, though less protective set, then Fran¡¯s honor guard, and finally several others who would help guard the dungeon. In all, he made dozens of sets, each for a specific citizen, who all stored them in an armory he had created in the back of the trogoldyte¡¯s new living quarters.


    He¡¯d also created spears and knives out of bone and chitin, as well as shields. They were better than cheap iron weapons at the least, and he could repair them with mana. From minor chips they could repair themselves with the mana stored in their mana crystals, which they would passively take from the excess mana flowing up out from the bottom of the dungeon.


    Dominik had also received a letter from the guildmaster not long after the grand opening had finished, it was long, but most of it was uninteresting. Except that the lord of the nearby town had been requesting aid to deal with the nearby dungeon, requesting a full clear after the slaves were taken the first time by some man working for the dungeon lord. But after this incident, he was immediately denied. He was sent a response from the king himself.


    The quote was ¡°After losing the first royal battalion, and now a hero of the kingdom, I won¡¯t waste any more valuable resources of the kingdom on the dungeon. Unless the forces start invading one of our major cities, and even then, we will only fight them on our territory, not in its dungeon.¡±


    Apparently word traveled to the kingdom quickly after the death of the hero, and whoever else the kingdom may have viewed as important. The guild leader said the lord of the nearby town was now seeking more money, or guards, to help defend the town from attacks at the very least. But the guild leader didn¡¯t find it very likely.


    Dominik wrote his own long letter over the next day, working on it occasionally, then sent it off in the early morning, after the crows had plenty of rest.


    Now that it was over, and everyone involved had completely withdrawn from around the dungeon, he knew it was safe to release the hero¡¯s slaves, though he wasn¡¯t exactly interested in talking to them.


    He had already spoken to the other freed slaves. The dwarves were willing to stay in the dungeon for now. The two halflings were thankful, but asked if they might live somewhere just outside the dungeon. Dominik offered to build them a burrow near the village, and to introduce them as free men to the mayor of the small village. Hopefully they could secure the rights to live near the village. He doubted anyone else would offer to live near the village with an active dungeon, especially this specific dungeon, and to cultivate the land. And they could use more crops.


    The lizardmen had found a nice place with some water in the cave, and they seemed to enjoy it here, but the largest of them, the translator, asked if he might visit their village soon to see if the others were safe now. Especially the others who had been captured. Dominik offered to escort him to his village in the next few weeks to see what had come of the lizardmen¡¯s village. For now the lizardman was still helping the others learn basic gothic, to at least say yes or no, and understand the most important things with the language of the men.


    But now he finally spoke to the hero¡¯s slaves, and unceremoniously entered through a hole he made in the wall of their main holding area, wearing the mask of course.


    The young women were terrified, but they quietly came together and waited for whatever would come, Dominik asked ¡°Do you wish to stay in the dungeon, or to leave?¡±


    The other women looked at the one in the center, and she answered for them. ¡°We want to leave, please.¡±


    ¡°Then so be it.¡± He cast spells to help them travel for at least a day or so and told them. ¡°I¡¯ll have someone escort you to the kitchen and you may eat before you leave. Or I¡¯ll take you out now.¡±


    The women spoke amongst themselves, before deciding they¡¯d eat first. Dominik had a troglodyte take them to the kitchen, but he followed not far behind them, not trusting them, watching them through the dungeon until they left. After they at their fill, and the troglodytes offered them some extra meat for the travel, he led them to a hole in the wall on the second floor, leading them out to the main dungeon, which would allow them to leave through the main entrance. He wouldn¡¯t be showing them the hidden entrance.


    As they went through the wall, one woman stayed behind. She looked as if she were from a far off country, with a slight tan and dark hair, from some far eastern kingdom. He¡¯d only seen a few men like her. She stood there, planted her feet at the entrance, and didn¡¯t move an inch.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Why aren¡¯t you coming?¡± asked what had been the de facto leader.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to go with you.¡± the woman said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be captured again, there isn¡¯t anything left out there anyway.¡±


    ¡°But you said you wanted to train, you said that you wanted to see the world.¡±


    ¡°I can train here, it doesn¡¯t matter where I am, and I¡¯ve seen enough of the world. I won¡¯t be a slave again. I don¡¯t want to be around people anymore, I¡¯m sorry.¡± with that she left the others, and hid away in a corner of the room waiting for them to leave. The women stood there for a few moments, still trying to convince her, but none of them stepped inside to try and convince her, and none of them stayed. After a few more moments of time, they began walking toward the entrance. Only the blonde girl looked back, but she continued on with the others after pausing one more time, alone, at the entrance, before continuing on with the others.