《Dungeon Core City》


 New Beginning

    Hello?


    [Dungeon Core Boot Sequence Initiated...]


    Hhheeellllllooo!?


    [Boot Sequence Completed!]


    Okay so a computer. Fantastic. Ieee...? What happened to me again?


    [Material Absorbed: Human]


    I hate where this is going already and I only just got here.


    [Achievement Unlocked: Does this Unit have a soul?]


    Well yes I thought so but it would appear that someone has transplanted it into... whatever this is.


    [Achievement unlocked: Over Achiever]


    Alrighty then let''s figure out...? Of course the screen would follow me around wherever I looked.


    [Tutorial Yes/No?]


    It is often said that ''real players'' skip the tutorial. I tried that once. I rage quit the game five minutes later and never picked it up again.


    [Yes.]


    [You are a dungeon core, a mass of crystalised mana formed from the leylines of the world, and you have absorbed your first material which will define your personality and developing consciousness going forward.]


    Which would be... me? I guessed. Moving on.


    [You create rooms, create monsters, absorb, filter and excite the mana in the surrounding area. For now you must create your first entrance.]


    The box went down to the bottom right corner of my vision, not that it did me any good seeing as how my line of sight was currently buried under a mountain of dirt.


    [Dungeon Cores absorb non living material that comes into contact with their mana when not in the presence of Sapient Races. Give it a try!]


    How exactly?


    [Concentrate on the material you wish to absorb.]


    Following my line of sight dirt, stone, other adjectives for dirt and other underground things slowly vanished away into blue energy.


    [Outside contact with the surface is important for a dungeon to be able to function. For now focus on creating a hole, it doesn''t have to be large, and remember that your reserves of mana are limited, at the same time though, cores are not built to survive above ground so don''t open your entrance too wide]


    Of course they are, bloody tutorials. I couldn''t even spit to figure out which way was up and the tutorial wants me to bore my way to the surface!? How do I know that I''m going the right way!?


    [...]


    Fine be like that. I picked a direction, made the smallest hole I could get away with, and started to dig to the surface. How did I know I was going to the surface? After making a big enough hole I dislodged the material and watched which way it fell, and based on that information I went to the surface. Contrary to my expectations I wasn''t greeted by fresh air or sunlight but rather a wall of fog obscuring my point of view. So you mean to say that I can''t even open up a window and look outside? Is that what''s happening here?


    [Congratulations! You have taken your first delicate steps into a brave new world full of wonders and excitement!]


    Lady, save me the sales pitch.


    [But now we must turn ourselves inwards and tend to the dungeon proper! Return to core room.]


    Room? Does the system refer to that thin length of material that I dug out on my way to the surface? For now my consciousness returned to where it started.


    [Although it is not much now, as the unit unlocks functionalities additional items will be added to the core room. Expand Core room]


    I let out a sigh as material started to vanish into blue lights before my eyes until I had a satisfactory sized room, the sapphire blue golf ball that represented me for lack of better term was sitting on a artificial Stalagmite that I had carved out of the ground, the system once more chiming in to let me know my progress.


    [Your core is your brain and your heart, it represents all of your core functions. If it is damaged it could mean serious damage, and if it is destroyed it will mean death, guard it well. Your core links you to the environment, allowing it to be manipulated freely. Additionally it can produce a theoretically limitless stream of material resources and monster labourers or warriors in addition to being a massive source of mana. In layman''s terms there are those who will want to seize control of it away from you, guard it well. Your life depends on it]


    Of course it does.


    [One Core Room doesn''t a dungeon make. Much like how the adventurers you will be facing will be layering armour onto themselves to protect their vitals you must put layers of defence between yourself and your entrance. This is done through Monsters, traps and Puzzles.]


    A new part of the Heads up Display appeared in my vision, what was previously just a block of text now had stats next to it.


    [Mana 1/10 Mana Regeneration 1 Point per day]


    I looked down and then I screamed to the high heavens.


    [Mana 0/10]


    Son of a bi... the sound of a beep indicated that I had returned to consciousness. My frustrated scream had carved the entrance to be a wider hole, if it was the size of a dinner plate before now it was the size of a platter, more importantly...


    [Mana Regen 1 per 23 hours]


    So need to widen my entrance. I''ll put a pin in that.


    [Warning! Complete loss of mana will result in core loss of consciousness and temporary suspension of core functions.]


    Well I''m not doing that again.


    [Much like dissolving material creating defences requires an expenditure of mana. For now please choose a Schema and free monster for your first floor!]


    Another sub menu opened up, a list of monsters passed my vision.


    [As you only have one floor to your name, you''re only able to purchase F-Ranked monster schema''s. Additional Schema''s can be purchased at every core level increase. Or they can be unlocked by absorbing materials that have entered your dungeon. As you are only a first tier core you only have F-ranked monsters available for purchase.]


    If F-ranked meant what I thought it did my prospects look... mighty dim.


    [F ranked monsters are classified as ''Creatures that are a Threat to unarmed Sapient beings.'' If a monster has achieved sufficient growth they may evolve into a higher ranked creature when the correct conditions are met, similarly a group of 10 or more F-Ranks are considered a E-Rank threat. Please Select one of the following choices.]


    [Goblin-Corrupted Descendants of the Fey known as Brownies by the God of Conquest these miserable creatures live their lives as slaves being forced to raid nearby settlements for materials to sacrifice to their dark god.]


    [Kobold-A race of small dragonoids created as menial labour for draconic masters, designed to be highly competent engineers with a high rate of reproduction.]


    [Bone Hand-The Severed hand of a long dead humanoid, the flesh has since rotted away leaving behind nothing more than a bony grasping appendage crawling along the ground, armed with a curse of life drain to sap the energy of the living.]


    [Fairy-A small humanoid like insect capable of quickly flying through the air and just strong enough to carry a small blade to attack with. Weak to Iron.]


    [Slime-A highly adaptable creature capable of assuming the properties of any liquid that it has come into contact with in sufficient amount. The possibilities are endless with this creature.]


    [Monster Egg-An Egg belonging to an unknown species of monster. Left to fend for itself by a uncaring parent the egg has adapted the ability to roll along the ground for movement, healing magic to repair the damage done to it''s shell and the ability to absorb ambient mana to provide itself with nourishment.]


    I am scraping the barrel. I have nothing but bargain bin monsters and a tiny hole in the ground standing between me and certain death for a second time. For now if bang for my buck is my goal then... the Monster Egg. If the creature''s egg is this dangerous then the creature itself would obviously be of a greater threat level, and a greater threat still once it''s fully grown. I am a cheap skate, if I am given an option for several free things I will choose the most expensive one.


    [Would you like to purchase the Schema for Monster Egg? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    Blue energy swirled around inside of my core room and condensed into an oval shaped object, Brown with spots of blue like crystal, in other words the egg I just used my free purchase to get.


    [Now that you have a monster let us create a place to put it. Lets create some rooms.] With what mana exactly? [While Breaking down and storing materials will cost mana at the same time it is possible to convert stored material into mana as well, alternatively Mana can be converted back into material to begin producing resources]


    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    A new subsection of the menu opened up.


    [Storage]


    [In the process of breaking through you should''ve already acquired some material, lets see what we have to work with shall we?]


    [Limestone 30G]


    Limestone? If my memory serves me correctly Limestone is supposed to be formed from a giant pile of bones and shells from dead monsters. If I''m sitting on top of that I might be getting schema''s left and right, but how do I get them? First thing''s first, I can''t see very well in this darkness, there''s some light coming in from the hole but not much, looks like despite my misgivings I have to start by widening my entrance. And so I waited, long and patiently for the pitifully small mana regen to kick in and give me my one point per day, and then I use that one point to shave away at the entrance doubling it''s size. In 12 hours I widened the entrance again, then once more in six, again in three, I reached the point of a two meter tall entrance after what felt like a day of grinding up my mana regen until...


    [Mana Regen 1 point every 10 minutes]


    Okay that was good. How long have I been stuck here watching those stupid numbers go up? There has got to be a better way of increasing mana then... this!


    [Achievement Unlocked: Death Wish]


    [Are you suicidal?]


    It felt like the system was badmouthing me now.


    [You need to move your core away from your entrance! If a monster came in here you''d be dominated in an instant!]


    Which would be fantastic except I don''t know how to move rooms around.


    [To begin with, create another room, and a hallway to connect the two]


    Well, now that I was getting mana every 10 minutes as opposed to only once a day, sure lets do that. Carving through the limestone, I carefully excavate around any fossils that I can find. I have big plans for these as soon as the tutorial walks me through turning material into monsters but in the mean time I was focusing on completing the tutorial''s latest task which was also conductive to keeping myself alive. The end result was a pile of four to five fossils off to the side of my core room as I spent the next few hours slowly boring my way through the rock until the system told me that I had a hallway, and another few hours to bore out another room and adding to the pile I had put together.


    [Now that you have some space to work with the next step is to bring up the map part of the menu.]


    And yet more of the hidden features of the menu made their presence known, a simple map showing the two rooms that I had created under instruction, my core room and the room that would be my entrance if what the tutorial was telling me was correct.


    [Now select the two rooms.]


    Easy enough. I click or at least think I click the two rooms and an option appears to swap them around, and so I did.


    [Not counting your core room your current floor limit is five and your current hallway limit is also five. Once your floor is considered to be "completed" you will attract the attention of various deities offering the gift of their patronage to you, giving you a custom made blessing and passively increasing your mana regeneration. In exchange you will be honoured to complete tasks for your new patron.]


    Okay sweet. What do I have to do to get a completed floor though? Do I have to max out my floor limit? Fill it with content? Name it?


    [...]


    Alright fine. Next!


    [Finally there are achievements, passive abilities that you get in exchange for completing certain tasks. Let''s have a look at the achievement list now.]


    And a final part of the menu revealed itself, achievements.


    [Here you have all of the actions that have earned you rewards from the system displayed. It looks like you have some achievements already! Let''s see what they have to say for themselves.]


    [Does this unit have a soul?: Achieve Self awareness. New Features unlocked in the core room] Oh come on! I''ve barely completed the Tutorial!


    [Overachiever: Acquire an Achievement before you''ve Finish the tutorial. Bonus to Mana Generation]


    Is what I''ve been working with lately considered a bonus?


    [Death Wish: For those truly reckless cores who care not for their own safety. In recognition of your attitude a beacon has been lit letting all the Adventurer Guilds know of your location.]


    DAMN IT! How the hell am I going to fend off the stupid... no, no stay calm, it just means I have to be a little faster in setting up my defences for whenever whatever comes.


    [Congratulations for finishing the Tutorial! Let us hope you have many fun adventures in the future!]


    And not a moment after I''ve finished the Tutorial...


    [Congratulations! Through your hard won efforts you have finally managed to reach a high enough level that you have achieved full self awareness and have as a result unlocked new features for your core room. Select a location in your core room to install the Dungeon Core Chat Screen!]


    That wall, I have neither the time nor the room to have too many options. Thus a flat slab of stone was carved from the rock to the left of me.


    [The Dungeon Core Chat room enables communication and Trade with other nearby Dungeon cores across the leylines. However the Dungeon Core Chat room also enables war between Dungeons. Lose and be prepared to lose everything, win and take what you please from the other party.]


    And I don''t even have my second level yet! Are people actually expecting me to put up with this? Huu...


    [Welcome to Dungeon Core Chat: Please enter Your name.] I suspect that I used to have one, but I currently cannot remember what it is. Huu. Alright here we go.


    [New Dungeon Core has joined the Chat Room]


    [Graves: ?]


    [Jewel: ?]


    [Graves: Jewel do you remember your humans talking about a new Dungeon?]


    [Jewel: No. I can''t say that I do. Hey Old man you remember anything?]


    If I had a face I would smack myself in it. Great, the other dungeons have their own intelligence network. Alright then fine.


    [New Dungeon Core: I''m new, I haven''t gotten a lot of humans yet though.]


    [Graves: Where''s your dungeon located?]


    [New Dungeon Core: Inside a limestone deposit.]


    [Lithilas: How many Undead do you have?]


    [New Dungeon Core: None.]


    [Lithilas: Graves, bring up a list of all of your undead.]


    [Graves: Why?]


    [Lithilas: Because you are going to start trading your Schemas for Limestone, and then you''re going to start rebuilding your dungeon with it.]


    [Graves: Limestone? Kind of a weak building material isn''t it?]


    Limestone is considered weak? Isn''t the...? Why is it that every time I try to remember who I use to be and the things I knew I get this weird empty void?


    [Lithilas: What''s limestone made out of?]


    [Graves: Oh...]


    [New Dungeon Core: Am I missing something?]


    [New Dungeon Core: What''s limestone got to do about anything?]


    [Graves: Wow really? You don''t know?]


    [Lithilas: Graves was born inside of a mass grave on a battlefield, he fields undead type monsters, your Limestone is made out of Calcium, the same thing that bones are made out of.]


    [New Dungeon Core: So he can control the stuff the same way that he can control his undead? Impressive.]


    [Graves: Remaking my whole dungeon is going to take a while there Old Man. I got delvers going through me every day, not to mention I''m already 25 deep.]


    [Lithilas: All the more reason for you to get to work.]


    The Chat room was silent, presumably Graves musing the decision.


    [New Dungeon Core: I Understand how this benefits Graves but I''m not sure how it benefits me.]


    [Lithilas: Some undead, particularly bone and skeleton types, can join together with other undead or bones to form larger masses to fight against. In the environment of limestone deposits the undead can become significant and deadly force multipliers.]


    Well that''s what I get for being a cheap skate.


    [New Schema For Sale: C-Ranked Undead Monster Lich. A powerful necromancer wielding the power of death turned into a monster. Selling price 100lb of Limestone.]


    Just what kind of whale...! I sucked back and reloaded. I didn''t have one hundred pounds of Limestone prepared, and even if I did I didn''t have anywhere or anything I could do with a C-Rank monster Schema.


    [New Dungeon Core: I''d prefer a F Ranked monster. You''re only giving me the schema right? If I do make the investment into a C-Rank monster and it doesn''t work out for me I don''t want to invest in a C-Rank I don''t plan on using.]


    A pause for a few moments, as if the other party was processing the mind numbing development that had just appeared.


    [3 New Schema''s For Sale]


    [F Ranked Undead Monster Bone Hand-The Severed hand of a long dead humanoid, the flesh has since rotted away leaving behind nothing more than a bony grasping appendage crawling along the ground, armed with a curse of life drain to sap the energy of the living. Cost 1lb of Limestone]


    [F Ranked Undead Monster Will-o-Wisp-A fire affinity ghost that lures creatures to their deaths in swamp lands and feeds off of the negative energy produced by the death. Cost 1lb of Limestone]


    [F Ranked Undead Monster Animated Skull: The Severed head of a humanoid reanimated as a undead. Prized as a familiar among necromancers for their machine like precision when casting magic.]


    Well, it''s not like I am swimming in options over here. I went down the back of the Core room and carved out three blocks of limestone and brought them over to the chat room slab, and I had no idea how to work this thing.


    [Jewel: Just take it out of your inventory.]


    [New Dungeon Core: Thanks.] Three pounds of Limestone from my digging disappeared from my inventory and was soon replaced by three new schema''s.


    [New Dungeon Core: Thanks.]


    [Jewel: How long are you planning on calling yourself New Dungeon Core? You''re going to be awfully embarrassed when your Juniors show up and you''re still calling yourself that.]


    Well that''s true...


    ["New Dungeon Core" has changed it''s name to "Dungeon Keeper."]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Better?]


    [Jewel: Better. Now start shilling marble if you want anything out of this Jewel.]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I think I want to test out what Lithilas said about the undead first.]


    With that I logged out of the Dungeon Chat Room and went over to the pile of fossils sitting unused in the corner of my room. A few points of Mana had built up while I was chatting with the others and so spent some of it on the three undead Schema''s I just unlocked. A skull, a boney hand, and a small burning ball of blue fire all appeared within my line of sight. Well that''s... useful I guess? It would be better if I could do something with the fossils though. The three undead went to work, the hand sorted through the pile of fossils and picked up one of them, a piece of fossilised wood I think, and dragged it over to the skull. The Skull''s eyes started glowing a bright green. I watched as my mana was seized from my control and flooded the fossil, watched as it creaked and groaned until finally...


    [New Schema Unlocked: Red Wood Tree-A prehistoric species of tree known for its ability to reach an incredible size, an excellent conductor of Mana.]


    The stone shattered the dust off and soon took root around where the skull had been sitting, soon growing into a leafy mass. However...


    [Achievement Unlocked: Reanimator]


    I would ask what that does, but then I saw the hand and Skull duo sorting through more of the fossils.


    [New F-Ranked Schema Unlocked: Giant Dragonfly-An giant species of insect resembling a brightly coloured jewel, a hyper successful predator of unranked creatures]


    [New F-Ranked Schema Unlocked: Giant Milipede-A Giant species of insect known for it''s highly venomous bite]


    [New F Ranked Schema Unlocked: Scorpion-An extremely venomous arachnid known for preying on creatures much larger than itself]


    [New F-Ranked Schema Unlocked: Trigger Fish-A violent species of fish with a predisposition of chewing up bits of stone, bone and coral into small milimeter sized chunks before spitting it out at high speeds at enemies.]


    I blinked stupidly for a few moments. I don''t physically have eye lids or eyes to blink with and that was the only way I can describe my reaction. Your job now is to reanimate any more fossils that I bring you, and since I''m not going to call all of you you now I''m calling you Archie. Speaking of which I have... no mana worth speaking about. I guess the little guy''s rampage must''ve taken up a lot of Mana, right then jobs... then... I drifted back into consciousness a little while later.


    [Achievement unlocked: Named]


    I looked to the Achievement tab.


    [Named-Infuse a monster with additional mana by naming them.]


    Species will have to work for now. Dragon Fly, I need you to go outside and figure out our surroundings.


    The Giant insect in question buzzed like a chainsaw as he went up into the air, and crashed against the fog barring access to the outside world.


    Right then... You there scorpion, I want you to put those claws there to work digging out more fossils. Hand and Millipede, I want you two to carry them over to skull here so that he can reanimate them. Wisp can you go through walls?


    The Wisp replied by slamming itself against my wall. So so much for being able to scout ahead. Right then Wisp you guard the entrance. I watched the scorpion using it''s shovel shaped claws to uselessly scrape at the wall, before becoming frustrated and slamming the stinger on it''s tail into the wall like a pick, and seeing the small hole that he had left behind the scorpion kept at it which was good, not as efficient as digging on my own, but it was working. Course until my mana regen gets up to a decent rate it was the best that I could do. I can''t ask the others for advice because that''s like sticking a big old target on my back saying ''Invade me!'' So the next question here was a matter of what the most efficient way to generate mana was.


    ...I''d figure it out later, for now i need rooms!


    <hr>


    The Bright orange crystal of Lithilas lit up the core room, even as dust came down from the ceiling from something hitting the entire city hard enough to shake loose the cob webs. If there were any cob webs, the throne room of the royal palace was by necessity quite clean after all.


    "Does that bastard ever sleep!?" A resounding crash was the answer to the question.

 My First Raid

    The next room was finished with little fanfare, before I filled it with content I used the switch function to move my core room further back. For now I wanted to focus on setting up a few new rooms. My Trigger Fish died off without any water to sustain him, the death gave me a burst of mana, not as much as what Archie used to make it but enough that I had an idea of how to get more mana. Looking through the schema''s I had I settled on a lady Millipede to go with my existing male Millipede. I was surprised by the cost that I managed to rack up in the process. I don''t remember reanimating the first one costing this much. I also moved the Redwood tree in here to give the loving couple some shade, not that they needed shade, dungeon after all. As a precaution I erected a simple door made out of lime stone in front of my core, notches carved into the doorway where I put my crude hinge, followed up by a puzzle piece lime stone door on a ball of lime stone. It opened, it closed, but it didn''t wall off my core thereby cutting me off from the dungeon. I still had the egg I needed to make arrangements for. My scorpion attempted to crack it open, unfortunately for the Scorpion, he was successful. From the crack a slimy clawed arm reached out and grabbed hold of the Scorpion by its tail which was then pulled inside and struggled briefly before a loud crunch sound echoed out. The Scorpion slowly disappeared as the creature inside of the egg ate it and then patched the hole with healing magic. Well that was educational. Priority one: hatch the egg as soon as possible.


    [Monster Egg: An egg belonging to an unknown species of monster, hatch it to Metamorphosize into a higher ranked organism.]


    Which was promising, but there was an issue.


    [Estimated time until hatching: 15 years]


    Which was not good.


    [Create an incubator or acquire a nurse to accelerate the monster''s development.]


    Better news. I went back to my first room, I''d create monsters to keep the centipede population in check later, for now I focused on creating an incubator, or rather a nest. I produced branches and logs of red wood and piled them in the middle of the room in a bowl shape, as I was about to put the egg in the nest a loud noise echoed from the void of my front door. A massive log smashed against the bottom of my step and bounced across the floor of my dungeon slamming to a stop in one of my walls. A massive winged creature landed inside of the dungeon a few moments later and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head.


    [D-Rank Monster Griffin-A monster combining together traits from a lion and a hawk. Called the King of the skies, most monsters give a wide berth to packs of griffins and even armies can have a hard time if they gather together in sufficient numbers. They prefer to nest in unstable cliffs to discourage predators away from their nests]


    A D-Rank monster, in my humble little abode. How cute. What''s it doing here? The answer: sleeping apparently. She found my nest and she liked it, curled up in it and went to sleep. I looked over at the smashed up log that she had brought in. So she spotted my little hole from the air and she thought ''jeez what a nice place to make a nest, I think I''ll move in here now.'' Great. What do I do with my egg then? I tried to pick it up and move it away from me only it wouldn''t go. My ''mana hands'' from before weren''t working now. I see now, this squatter over here counts as an intruder, so I can''t do anything. Even to remove her. Was this even a girl? Was she going to attract a mate and do... griffin porn in here? Ew. I looked through my menu for options, and I gaped in shock.


    [Mana 12/150] [Mana 15/150] [Mana 18/150]


    It''s not like she''s hurting anything while she''s here right? And she will have to leave eventually to get food right? None of you guys hurt her while she''s here, I''m looking at you Archie! Until she left to get more food or nesting material or something I went to the Dungeon Chat Room so that I could see if I could drag some answers out of the other members of the Chat Group.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Greetings]


    [Graves: Yo Keeper!]


    [Jewel: Greetings]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Where''s Lithilas?]


    [Graves: You can''t expect the old man to hang around the chat room all day. He''s got over one hundred floors, an entire city and a battle to manage]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Battle?]


    [Jewel: He''s been in a row with another dungeon for a few years now]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Right]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Graves the Skull you gave me earlier is doing better than I could''ve ever dreamed]


    [Graves: Glad you like it]


    [Graves: Does this mean you''re ready to buy a real undead and do some damage with it yet?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: The little bugger''s turned the pile of fossils that I''ve been sitting on for a while into a bunch of new schema''s]


    [Jewel: Anything interesting?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Tree, Dragonfly, Scorpion, Millipede, Rock Spitting Fish and a Egg]


    [Jewel: Dragon Fly? I never heard of one of those before. What is it?]


    I looked over at the Dragon fly which ever since the arrival of the Griffin had taken to cowering in my core room.


    [Dungeon Keeper: A large insect that looks a little like a big flying jewel]


    [Jewel: Is it pretty?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: You''d know more than me]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''ve been meaning to ask but what''s with your names?]


    [Graves: Dungeon Cores tend to name themselves after the first thing that they''ve absorbed. Technically speaking my full name is "Consecrated Mass Grave" and Jewel is "Concubine''s Bejeweled Mirror" but those are a bit of a mouthful]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Where''d Lithilas come from?]


    [Graves: The old man''s a step above any of us. He''s got an entire city built around him, built largely out of the materials that people have hauled out of him, if they need anything they drop it down there and he mass produces it]


    [Jewel: You may not know this because you don''t get too many visitors but when Living creatures enter a dungeon they start filling it with their mana]


    I looked back over to the griffin. Still there.


    [Mana 51/150]


    Archie, you start reanimating any fossil that you can find. I''m not letting this opportunity go to waste! The hand picked up the skull, moved it onto the stump where an arm should be, and crawled over to the nearest wall to begin examining it for fossils.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I want to upgrade my Skull for finding fossils. What do I need?]


    [Graves: It sounds like you need to create a undead core for your Skull. For that you need metal and a few jewels, since you''re aiming for Earth magic you''d need a Brown Diamond, and at least five regular diamonds, not a necessity but the extra Mana capacity will increase it''s usefulness down the line]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Should I presume from "Concubines Bejeweled Mirror" that you''re the go to source of materials Jewel?]


    [Jewel: Naturally]


    [Jewel: Now show me something that you have that''s worth trading with so that we can do business]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I haven''t had time to make up some Marble yet, should I show you the Dragonfly''s I mentioned earlier?]


    [Graves: Oi Oi! Don''t let this scheming mirror trick you Keeper! You send your bugs over their on a raid, she kills them, takes their schema and says that they''re not up to code for her]


    [Graves: Deal with this honest Graves before you deal with her!]


    [Jewel: Look at who''s calling the kettle black!]


    [Dungeon Keeper: You can get me the materials that I need to upgrade my undead?]


    [Graves: Naturally!]


    [Graves: Thanks to the Consecrated land I was born on I was born naturally spawning Blessed Silver, and thanks to the trading I''ve been doing with this scam artist I have a whole rainbow of Gemstones you can choose from]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Isn''t holy power bad for the undead?]


    [Graves: There''s plenty of undead with Holy power. The E-Ranked Mourning Wraiths and Grim are prime examples of undead who aren''t bothered in the least little bit by holy. And if you can integrate that into your monster it won''t be weak to holy at all]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I have over 200 pounds of Limestone in my inventory right now. Is that enough?]


    [Graves: Fufufu! More than enough! As a bonus this Graves will even assemble a undead core for your monster!]


    We completed the trade, the limestone in my inventory disappeared and was replaced by a Holy Earth Undead Core.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Thanks for the trade]


    [Jewel: If you''re interested in a two for one deal you should consider joining in on a raid with Lithilas in the near future]


    [Dungeon Keeper: A raid?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: If some one a hundred floors deep isn''t doing anything to stop that dungeon that has been harassing Lithilas then what will me and my newb arse be able to do?]


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    [Jewel: The idea is to ''show off creatures you want to trade.'' If you do manage to help Lithilas in some way then He''ll owe you a favour, and other cores participating in the raid will see your Schema''s and decide if they''re something that you want to trade for or not]


    I nodded my head in agreement to the logic. That would be a perfectly reasonable thing to do if I developed normally and had 20+ floors to call on like what Graves does, but at the moment my first floor isn''t even under my control. I looked to the other room and watched as a section of the wall was rapidly coming down. I received notifications for Various plant species and the room was crawling with millipedes and dragon flies that were currently climbing all over each other trying to get away from the D-class aura of the Griffin. More importantly, although vastly weaker than the Griffin each of these critters are producing mana too, albeit in vastly smaller amounts.


    [Mana 84/150]


    [Mana 89/150]


    Even with Archie burning through mana like crazy to reanimate fossils I''m still producing more mana than what he''s spending. Even worst things like sea shells for shell fish just immediately die off again refunding a chunk of mana, if there was any consolation then all this crazy amount of reanimation was slowly chipping away at my next hallway, the terrified insects desperate scrambles were even tearing out more of the limestone albeit very slowly. Still there was a fishy smell building up in here that I needed to do something about. Hey guys, toss all the dead monsters into the nest, if the griffin eats them then she won''t eat you. With that the door leading into my core room was pushed open and various fish and cephalopods were tossed into the next room over. The Griffin took notice of the fish smell and came over and ate them, using her beak to remove all the fleshy bits and eat them. Archie, when you run out of new fossils to reanimate in the core room, the millipede room and the nest I want you go back into the nest and reanimate everything that the griffin eats, and let me know when she leaves. The Archie hand duo nodded as they went to work. Hopefully this means that we can actually get some work done here even in spite of this squatter locking me out of the controls.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Hey do either of you guys know what''ll happen if the mana bar fills up to max?]


    [Graves: Seriously? You never let it max out before?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Not that I can remember no. Why is it something good?]


    [Jewel: The Ratio isn''t a hard number. But if you let it fill beyond capacity then you''ll start to have an unpleasant feeling that will only get worse if it fills up more]


    [Graves: Luckily you''ll also just end up pumping more mana into the leylines too so you don''t have anything to worry about]


    [Graves: Really if you''re that full though you should probably just start digging tunnels again or making some more monsters]


    I looked over to the Griffin, who after her meal was now sound asleep in her nest. I looked to Archie who had managed to dismantle an entire wall worth of fossils and was now looking for more to deal with. The Griffin wasn''t going away any time soon, and Archie would be spending mana like crazy according to my instructions. Right now was the perfect time to go out on the raid.


    [Dungeon Keeper: How does the Raid work anyway? I''ve never done one before]


    [Jewel: Go to the raid section of the dungeon chat screen and check to see if there are any raids in progress or dungeons available to raid. You should be able to piggy back on Lithilas''s raid if he gives you permission to join]


    [Available Dungeons: Lithilas Dungeon City, Consecrated Mass Grave, Concubine''s Bejeweled Mirror]


    [Raid in Progress: Lithilas Dungeon City vs Conquerete]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Who''s Conquerete? I don''t see him listed in Available dungeons anywhere]


    [Jewel: Conquerete is one of the three so-called mobile dungeons alongside "Flying Tower Babel" that floats around the world on a flying island and "Pirate Fleet Leviathan" which sails around the world]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Mobile Dungeons. That''s a thing we can do? Just pack up the entire dungeon and move around anywhere we please?]


    [Graves: Not quite no. They have to follow a track in the form of leylines]


    [Graves: Leylines are the veins of the world, we dungeons are the arteries that keep it pumping. We can no more divorce ourselves from that power then a human can yank their own heart out and expect either to survive]


    [Jewel: Leviathan is a bully, but he''s on the other side of the world right now, or at least he should be]


    [Jewel: Babel is more like a merchant, conducting trade between the dungeons across the world, he can fly over obstacles unimpeded so we usually just let him do his thing. It''s Conquerete that we have to worry about]


    [Graves: He turned his entire dungeon into a giant golem and has been wandering around the continent smashing apart anything that gets in his way or raiding it for resources. Lithilas''s city was built in the middle of his path]


    So naturally the two are in conflict. Really the big brute would probably fight anyone who was in his path. I looked to the side where the majority of my creatures had gathered out of fear for the griffin, dragon flies, scorpions, Millipedes, not exactly a all star line up that I''ve got going on here is it.


    [Dungeon Keeper: We should coordinate what we want to send over to Lithilas. I''ll stick to some of the fossils that I''ve been getting schemas for, like Jewel said this''ll be my chance to show off the merchandise, plus I want to focus on scouting, give me an idea on what to do with the heavy hitters]


    When I get heavy hitters. Maybe there''s a dinosaur hidden inside of all this limestone I can wake up.


    [Graves: I of course will deploy my Death Paladins to fight Conquerete providing the close quarters and defensive units, they''ll be supported by my Third Floor''s Boss Death Priest who is equally capable of healing magic and necromancy]


    [Jewel: Then I shall deploy my Bejeweled Scorpions who will dazzle the enemy with their beautiful magic attacks and support your warriors with their magic, and I shall also send my fifth floor boss the Djinn Bard for extra support]


    That didn''t leave much room for me to do anything. Not that I can do anything


    [Dungeon Keeper: What about my dungeon? Will going on the raid leave it vulnerable or something?]


    [Graves: You can designate a monster to look after the place while you''re gone]


    Archie you''re in charge while I''m gone. Don''t let anything eat or get near the core, as soon as the Griffin leaves upgrade yourself with the undead core and start speed excavating to find fossils of some powerful monsters. Archie and the hand nodded in Acknowledgement.


    [Would you Like to Join the Raid in process? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    [Please select monsters to join you on the raid]


    [20 Dragon Flies]


    Unlike some people I could think of I didn''t have super powerful warriors or absurdly powerful bosses to help me raid the enemy.


    [Please Designate command monster in your absence]


    [Designated Monster in charge: Archie the Animated Skull]


    [Transportation in 3. 2. 1]


    Space around me stretched as if everything was being pulled into a black hole, I found myself thrown into a tunnel of light with my Dragon Flies where it felt like we travelled for several moments. Finally we were spat out on the other side. I resisted the urge to hurl as I got used to my surroundings, everything was huge, the hallways of this dungeon looked like they were easily big enough to allow a giant to pass through them. Everything was huge, including I soon realised my dragon flies, and I was one of them. Ah. That would explain it. Together me and my airborne squadron took to the air, and then we got to witness as the entire hallway that we were inside of shifted backwards, before rapidly going forwards. As I recalled this entire place was supposed to be part of one big huge golem, and that would mean that I just arrived at the arm then? Counting my good fortune I focused on flying through the arm cavity. It was then that my advertisement campaign reached our first obstacle, a spider''s web. And the spiders responsible for spinning and maintaining them were on the other side of the webbing.


    I Guess if I was a mobile upright dungeon I''d want to make sure that all my monsters could stick to walls too, either that or float. I didn''t bring my Will-o-wisp along otherwise I''d be able to just attack the web with fire and burn it out. The fact that I''ve only got Dragon Flies to work with though has not escaped my attention. Nor had the fact that the enemy was not content to wait patiently for me to attack, the enemy monsters had begun spitting webs at me, and though their''s was only a fraction of my forces their attacks were much wider than mine. So I spread my forces out, a few being webbed in the process as we dodged and weaved before finally arriving at the web itself, and the spiders who spun it. I thrust my stinger at the spiders, and missed getting the tail lodged in the webs in the process. Several other dragon flies followed my lead and also got ourselves lodged on the web. We soon became too heavy and the sound of snapping indicated the web giving way as gravity took over, we swung over and slammed into a nearby wall knocking off the spiders who went with us. Just as planned!


    You there! I want one of those spiders for the Dungeon! The rest of you work on cutting us free! One of my Dragon Flies went off to collect spider remains, with luck I''ll get a schema for them, the others approached the webs and worked to start chewing us free. Then we started to fly up the tunnel. By the looks of things our approximate location was inside the Elbow, now to fly up the rest of the way. The other dungeons will be sending strong and powerful monsters, whereas I sent weak and insignificant monsters. While the enemy forces focused on the real threat I could focus on sneaking through the enemy ranks acquiring intelligence on the enemy forces. As I was thinking that I arrived at the shoulder and peaked my dragon flies out at the battle that was taking place in the chest cavity, and then I died.


    I was promptly spat back out inside of my dungeon as I processed what was happening. I looked at whatever was happening inside of the chest cavity, and then I died without even being able to see what happened.


    [Dungeon Keeper: What''s happening? My team just got wiped!]


    Silence. Graves, Jewel and Lithilas must have still been on the raid. Okay. If that''s going to be how this is done.


    [Mana 160/160]


    The walls had gotten slightly farther away since I was here, if I had to guess I would say that all the fossils coming out of the walls were slowly expanding the size of the room and my mana limit. The squatter was still here though. I bet that if I at least had a monster like her I could at least join the fight! Alright if that''s gonna be how this is! I once again gathered all the dragon flies under my command, the Wisp and several centipedes.


    [Would you Like to Join the Raid in process? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    [Please select monsters to join you on the raid]


    [5 Dragon Flies, 1 Will-o-wisp, 10 Giant Millipedes]


    Alright! Let''s try this again Shall we!?


    [Please Designate command monster in your absence]


    [Designated Monster in charge: Archie The Animated Skull]


    [Transportation in 3. 2. 1]


    I was spat out in the same place as before, I was floating in the air this time and felt no limbs, so I was in the body of the Will-o-wisp then. My Dragon Flies and Millipedes were floating or sticking to the walls at either side of me, and the two spiders I had a run in with before were in the middle of dismantling the last Dragon Fly from the previous raid. I body blocked the attempts from the spiders to web up my insects again burning out their webs in the process while at the same time commanding my monsters to surround them. The Spiders attempts to web down my Centipedes was fruitless and they were both skewered on their mandibles.


    [Would you like to have your kill transported back to your Dungeon? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    The two Millipedes with the corpses of the spiders still skewered on their mandibles disappeared. Hmm? So to collect my kills I have to sacrifice one of my monsters for the raid team? I''ll have to remember that. I took the Dragon flies and flew to the top of the shoulder again, I had to leave the Millipedes behind on account of their slowness. This time I only sent one Dragon Fly into the hole leading into the chest cavity, and watched as it popped into pink mist. Can''t be helped. I flew back down to the Elbow again, what was here that those spiders were supposed to protect? I watched as the arm that I was in wound up for another attack, watched the silk elbow fold and stretch before releasing another punch. Kill my Dragon Flies will you? Weakling though I may be but this Weakling shall take at least one arm before he goes! I burnt through the silk of the elbow exposing machinery underneath. Here I was thinking that this world was pure fantasy, but here I saw something resembling a... I suddenly felt woozey. Cramping my imaginary face and glaring at the Cylinder like it owes me money I set about boiling the liquid inside until finally, at the moment the giant was preparing to pull back and punch again, the entire thing burst open and the contents inside crawled out. A giant sticky blob emerged from the busted piston and proceeded to wrap around the nearest Millipede. That round ball in the middle of the slime! Kill it! The Millipede struck out like a serpent and bit down on the core, it''s armour plating slowly dissolving away but the slime died first, its nucleus snapped in two by the Millipede''s crushing jaws causing the whole thing to collapse and splatter.


    [Would you like to transport your kill back to your dungeon? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    My wounded Millipede disappeared alongside the slime that had covered it''s body. The Arm was hanging limply now, the absence of it''s elbow slime meant that it could no longer swing it around as effectively as it use to. As I debated the merits of trying to take the shoulder I saw a massive creature sticking its nose to the shoulder path.


    [Would you like to Retreat from the Raid? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    I disappeared again before whatever instant kill abomination that has been stopping me getting the chance to attack again, my quota for excitement for the day reached.

 Growing

    I was hyperventilating. I don''t physically have lungs and I was hyperventilating. A monster far stronger than the Griffin that has been squatting in my entrance eating my monsters almost laid its eyes on me. It had already laid its eyes on me once and killed me in an instant. I had to wait a few moments before I could review the fruits of my battle with Conquerete.


    [New E-Rank Schema Locked: Soldier Spider-The evolved form of a regular spider, has a harder shell and stronger webbing, but is weak to fire.]


    [New E-Rank Schema Locked: River Slime-A basic slime species that has consumed the contents of a river, has a symbiotic relationship with fish type monsters who help to defend it in exchange for mobility.]


    Also surprisingly good Hydraulic fluid. Well if I ever need a big honking Hydraulic piston I know which one to go with. I looked into the nest. The Griffin still hadn''t left yet, every time she woke back up there would always be a fresh pile of seafood waiting for her to eat again. Archie still hadn''t completed his upgrade and the number of fossils he could reanimate were starting to run low, even the ones from the wall, on the one hand if I stop providing her with free food she might just take it out of my core directly instead. Go bring the tree she brought in, take it into the room with the other one and reanimate it. While Archie and the Hand completed my objectives I turned my attention back to the Chat group.


    [Lithilas: Which one of you were the one to disable the arm during the last raid?]


    [Graves: Wasn''t me]


    [Jewel: Me neither]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I was transported into the arm during the last raid]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Sadly all the monsters I sent were too weak, so we couldn''t get up past the shoulder, so instead we investigated the elbow and found a lucky break]


    [Lithilas: How did you disable the arm?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Heated it up until the pipe burst and a river slime came out, then we crushed the core of the River Slime]


    [Lithilas: Graves give him your poltergeist Schema. Ruby the Schema for your first floor boss]


    [Graves: ?]


    [Jewel: ?]


    [Lithilas has put 2 new Items up for sale]


    [Red Dragon Bone Throne-A throne made out of the skull of a Red Dragon. Price: Poltergeist Schema]


    [Phoenix Feather Headdress-The Headdress made using the feathers of a Phoenix. Price: Clone Mirror Schema]


    A pair of Dings were let out as the other two cores accepted the transaction, and a moment later.


    [Lithilas has given you a new Schema]


    [E-rank Schema Locked: Cursed Mirror-A Haunted Mirror possessed by a jealous formless spirit, can assume the form of Rank E and below creatures]


    As I was wrapping my head around what had just happened I received another new notification from Lithilas.


    [Lithilas has sent you a private message: Let me know when you''ve managed to Reach your second floor. Before you even consider giving your floor a name talk to me first]


    I panicked, I had been found out, or rather I was never hidden to begin with. I tried to contact Lithilas again but he had already left the Chat group.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Do either of you know what that was about?]


    [Graves: During the last fight Conquerete lost the use of his arm and suddenly couldn''t fend off or land attacks as well as he could before, so he had to retreat]


    [Jewel: While we were fighting inside the people from the city were fighting from the outside]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I saved the city?]


    [Graves: You made it so that it was more inconvenient for the bastard to try and break the city than it was to come back another day to try again. He''s far from beaten and Lithilas is far from safe]


    Graves sounded somewhat offended by my presumption, but he was right. I need real forces under my belt if the bastard comes back again, or worst manages to smash Lithilas and come down here to pick a fight with the three of them.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I need to go and dislodge a monster that''s keeping me from renovating my first floor. I know it''s not a top priority but...]


    [Graves: No no I understand. Lithilas is always telling us to go back and start redoing our previous floors before we start building more. Talk to you again another day]


    [Jewel: If you''re having trouble with a monster you might be able to contract it instead of killing it]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Contract?]


    [Jewel: If the other party is willing then you can sign a contract with them binding them to the dungeon. You can see through their eyes whenever they go out of the Dungeon and they can bring you materials from the outside. Plus they won''t block up your floors when they stay in them anymore]


    I turned my attention to the first room, the Griffin was switching between preening herself and sleeping, showing her lack of intention to go anywhere or do anything.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Thanks for the suggestion Jewel. I''ll try it out]


    Archie was in the middle of the process of reanimating the Griffin''s last meal when I walked up to him to stop him. We need all the mana we can get.


    [Mana 157/163]


    [Mana 163/163]


    I looked at the Squatter square in the eyes, focused on her with my mana.


    [Would you like to offer contract to Griffin: Unnamed? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    The Griffin turned at attention to the contract, and turned to face the direction of my core room, and snorted. So my level one, F-ranked arse isn''t worthy of her highness is that it? Even though you are staying in my room, eating my food, in a bed I made to nurture my own eggs? Is that it?


    [No]


    The Griffin turned her nose up at me and left, jumping with enough force that the nest had dipped and soared through the fog of the outside world. My controls restored to me I immediately went to work, I directly manifested the core Graves had made for me directly inside of the empty cavity of Archie''s skull, causing two jewels to appear inside of his eye sockets one brown and the other crystal clear. A mixture of foreign powers settled inside of the skull and already I could feel the changes taking place. From Archie power spread all throughout the dungeon. Find me Fossils Archie, big ones! Nodding Archie led me through the core room, I cleared the way until Archie indicated for me to stop, he took over and reanimated another red wood tree fossil, bigger than the last one. However the real prize was the amber jewels inside, containing tiny insects.


    [F-Ranked Schema Unlocked: Giant Wasp-A species of giant omnivorous insects that both gather nectar from plants and eat other smaller animals after paralysing them with venom.]


    The Amber jewels shattered as the insects inside buzzed to life. I don''t have any flowers for you guys, yet, but I have high hopes for you guys after all so I''ll try and find them. Archie if you can find some flowers for them reanimate them for the bees. I watched the tree creak as newly formed branches and roots stabbed into the ceiling and floor, leaves spreading out from it. Let''s go find the next one now. Archie led the way as I carved another path through the limestone, more reanimated fossils dropping every now and again. I was spending mana like crazy but I could afford it with the sheer number of creatures that were being reanimated. The dead and dying were being preyed upon by the other monsters and after they were done... processing them there will be a fresh layer of manure to spread onto the roots of my trees, and my flowers when I find some. I was creating a thriving eco-system one room at a time. Speaking of which we ran into an apex predator, a croc easily as big as the griffin, or rather the remains of one.


    Hold off on this one for the time being, at least until we can create an environment that''s suitable for him. I continued to Follow Archie all the way that I could but we stopped after finding another egg, two monster eggs? Don''t mind if I do. Under Archie''s TLC the egg lost it''s dull rock like appearance and instead took on a ochre gleam with bright jade like greens mixed in. Despite the victory Archie looked unsettled like something was wrong. What is it? By my estimates there should be plenty of fossils left in this mountain. I entered Archie''s point of view, a new trick courtesy of the dungeon raid, I saw a map of the entire mountain, of the giant void inside that we were standing right on top of. So someone has already come in here and stole all of our fossils? Is that what''s going on? I felt Archie''s trembling concern, the feeling that he screwed up and that he might be punished for it. I let out a sigh as I separated from him. Should I expand into the void that was left behind? No the system mentioned a hard limit, I better not push my luck.


    Expand around the void but don''t break through. Nodding Fervently Archie finished our dungeon build with three rooms in a hook shape. I switched the last room with my core room, there, the moment that we decide to break through to the next floor we''ll be ready to take the shaft down. Now than onto business. I started by transporting the two trees we already had into the room with the massive red wood. Ah, so the one the Griffin had brought in was an Orange tree eh? I love the smell of oranges, and the blossoms will produce wonderful pollen for the wasps. The busy little bees were already building their hive inside of the voids left behind when their fossilised amber was torn out. But first for something long overdue, I took my eggs and put them inside of the nest that I had made for it in the first place, tucked neatly into the corner. I had no other plans for my mana today, so instead I focused on the nest and saw options appearing before my eyes, upgrades that would help nurture the eggs. Don''t mind if I do. As I debated the pro''s and cons of adding more eggs something came flying into the dungeon directly through me. It was big, it was furry and it was in the shape of a ball. Archie if you would. My skull set to work the ball was untangled and soon took the form of an overgrown dog.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    [New E-Ranked Schema Unlocked: Dire Wolf-A large dog closely related to bears, they roam the country side in packs in order to hunt and chase down prey]


    The dog looked like he was getting ready to settle his dominance, but then he whimpered and slowly backed away. The familiar form of the Griffin walked into my dungeon like she owns the place, her smug attitude had the essence of "there I worked, now give me food" sadly though her actual business was something far less pleasant, she made her way over to the room with my trees in it, did her business giving me fertiliser for my trees and returned to the nest where she started looking at the seafood skeletons expectantly. Archie, get her meal done, afterwards lets go into the tree room, we have more work to do. As a start, the pile of fertiliser that was carelessly left in a pile needed to be spread out over the roots. The little doggy was left to cower in a corner underneath my squatter''s D rank aura. I''d plant more trees once I get more fertiliser to work with, but for now this place will do. In the mean time I started poking around the interface and I saw a new box ticked in achievements.


    [Achievement Unlocked: Water Master-Awarded for Manufacturing 100 Water type monsters Reward: 1 Water Type Monster Egg]


    I''ll hold off on that bag of cats for a while, I don''t even have a water level and I''m already unlocking seafood. Communicating with her would be a lot easier if she was contracted with me, maybe, it would be better if I could send her out to pick up more materials for me. On the other hand, she''s killed one hundred of my monsters so that''s gotta count for something. I don''t know how to increase my floor capacity though, part of the instinctive knowledge that I''m supposed to have but don''t I suppose because I was born with a soul.


    [Mana 53/300]


    Five Hallways, five rooms, I''ve reached the peak in mana capacity that the first floor can give me. Should I go back to the chat room and see if I can figure out how to make more floors yet? Archie was buzzing at me to get my attention. Eh? People have entered the mountain? I possess Archie again to get to the bottom of what was happening here. A group of men had entered the gap where the fossils of several large monsters had been taken away. One guy was hammering in a winch into the opening of the cave while led to the outside, from what Archie can tell it''s roughly where my second floor would be, if I had a second floor that is. I watched as a rope was threaded through the winch and used to pull up a platform, carrying a pile of large cinderblock-esque stones, which was then pulled into the cave by two more men and promptly wheeled off on the fantasy equivalent to a pallet jack. While that was being taken away more supplies were brought up, cement, rebar poles and tools for construction. The men worked for a few hours building walls to block off sections of the mine, basically anything that went down to the floor that was below them, eventually finishing by bricking up the entrance that they came through as they left. Oookaaay. That was a thing that happened. I have no idea why it happened but it happened. Whatever, back to the chat room.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Is Lithilas back online yet?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I need to ask him some questions]


    Like ''Hey Litilhas, the weather nice where you''re at? Also are you aware that I''m a level one scrub without so much as a second floor?''


    [Jewel: He''s been busy rebuilding the city after the damage done by Conquerete]


    [Jewel: Now that he''s got some breathing room he has walls to fix, wounded to tend to, supplies to manage yaddyada]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I suppose he doesn''t have the time to help me with my problems then]


    [Jewel: Problems?]


    Daaammmnit!


    [Dungeon Keeper: He was giving me advice about my first floor]


    [Jewel: Having shrivelled floors is nothing to be ashamed about. We gain more benefits from digging deeper like new Schema''s and denser mana, our instincts encourage us to do it after all]


    [Jewel: But expanding to the sides allows us to increase our defences, and the amount of resources we have to work with. Even better there''s a chance that a god will bless the floor as well!]


    [Dungeon Keeper: When I "Complete" a floor whatever that means]


    [Jewel: It means what it implies, a floor has reached the best that it can be with only a touch up of improvement left to go thanks to the divine blessing that will christen it. You can make some changes or improvements afterwards, but if you go beyond what is suitable for the god who blessed it then you''ll lose it]


    Of the five rooms of the first floor only two of them have content, I don''t even have a boss yet, and this squatter keeps locking me out of my own controls, not to mention the fact that I haven''t even gotten any traps or puzzles set up yet.


    [Dungeon Keeper: What kinds of gods do you got, and what kinds of blessings have they given you?]


    [Jewel: The Gods of Beauty of course!]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Which ones?]


    [Jewel: All of them! Aphrodite, Apollo, Cliodohna, Freya, Hathor and Kisshoten]


    [Dungeon Keeper: ?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Why are there so many gods of Beauty?]


    [Jewel: Everyone wants to be beautiful but they''re all different kinds of beauty. They''re respectively the Sea, Sun, Death, War, Sky and Fortune]


    Note to self, stay far away from Jewel''s dungeon, it sounds like a mad house.


    [Jewel: Well even though they all cover different elements "Beauty" also translates over to "Fertility" as well.] [Jewel: The first six floors of my Dungeon is like a brothel, or a breeding ground. So many mishmashed hybrids have appeared that I got an offer from the Demoness Echidna to sponsor one of my floors]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Did you accept?]


    [Jewel: Oh hell no she''s hideous!]


    [Dungeon Keeper: But a goddess of death isn''t?]


    [Jewel: Clearly you haven''t seen her work]


    Clearly, but I honestly can''t say I care either.


    [Dungeon Keeper: You''re okay with turning your dungeon into a brothel?]


    [Jewel: Why not? I got those floors the way I want them. Right now all the extra people coming in are just free mana]


    I looked over to the Squatter.


    [Mana 150/300]


    She wasn''t wrong.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Maybe, but is there some other kind of deity that you have blessing your floors?]


    [Jewel: Naturally, Pluto the god of ''underground things'']


    [Dungeon Keeper: ''Underground things?'']


    [Jewel: Precious Gemstones and metals, Earth, Death and Dwarfs. I don''t think he created Dwarfs but they love him like he did]


    [Dungeon Keeper: So you just like shiny objects?]


    [Jewel: Well when you put it that way...]


    [Dungeon Keeper: And doesn''t ''Underground Things'' cover Dungeons? Is he the god of Dungeons or something?]


    [Jewel: Not every dungeon is buried under miles of rock. Babel is a tower, and it''s floating in the air on its own island. My Dungeon is mostly a tower too, except for the basement but I had to put that in for Pluto]


    [Jewel: Some Dungeons are like you and Graves, popping up inside of a hunk of rock beneath the surface of the Earth, others are like me they appear inside of a pre-existing structure above ground. Some times it''s an abandoned building, other times it''s still in full swing use. I heard that one time a dungeon appeared in the middle of a magic academy, while they were still using it. Bit a shock for the staff from what I hear]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Who''s that? Are they on the network?]


    [Jewel: Not on ours no]


    [Lithilas is requesting to enter a private chat with you]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Oh that''s the old man! Gotta go!]


    [You''ve accepted Private Chat invitation from "Lithilas"]


    [Lithilas: That was a impressive bit of ingenuity in disabling Conquerete]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Do you know that I''m...]


    [Lithilas: Ah, that awkward phase where you don''t know if you can trust me with personal information but you don''t know how to ask your questions without me realising it? Very well. You are a new born level one dungeon who has absorbed a soul, probably from a human being or some other sapient, as your first material thereby inheriting that person''s consciousness and elements of their personality though you don''t yet have their memory, now you are floundering about trying to figure out what you should do but are too scared to ask anyone. Did I miss anything?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: How''d you know?]


    [Lithilas: Firstly your username. If you had manifested normally, absorbing materials gradually from your environment you would have your ingrained identity set as your Username, something like "Lime Stone" or "Something Fossil" but instead you came up as "New Dungeon Core." Second was your location. I already had that location stripped of valuable materials quite some time ago. You didn''t have time to grow twenty floors normally. I had some people drop by earlier and confirm it, and while they were there I had them seal up your would be third floor. You Welcome]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''ll thank you when you explain how this benefits me]


    [Lithilas: You have a capacity, a fixed amount of space that you can occupy at a time. By Levelling up you increase that Capacity, but if you try to exceed that capacity then you''ll rip apart your own core in the process]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Thank you very much Senior Lithilas]


    I should also thank Archie for stopping me from trying to open the way into the empty space below me too.


    [Dungeon Keeper: So how do you level up? I''m feeling self conscious with my level one arse next to Graves and Jewel with their 20+ floors]


    [Lithilas: Check under your name in your interface]


    I did so and was surprised by what I saw.


    [3/100]


    [Dungeon Keeper: 3/100 what does that mean?]


    [Lithilas: The numbers are different from what I remember]


    [Dungeon Keeper: What are you talking about?]


    The more he didn''t answer my questions the more concerned that I got.


    [Lithilas: That meter represents your core level, your current level of growth and how far away you are before you reach the next level. If you were a normal dungeon it would probably read as 3/5]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Three out of five! How the hell did I go from 5 to 100!?]


    [Lithilas: Dungeons can build fast, efficient or complex, but never all three at once. Your human soul has a greater capacity for complexity than a new born dungeon core, as does matured cores like Jewel''s, Graves''s or my own]


    [Dungeon Core: How do I level it up though?]


    [Lithilas: Kill things, what else?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: So... the raid on Conquerete? My monsters killed three E-rank monsters. Is an E-rank worth 1 point a piece?]


    [Lithilas: They''re worth two a piece, the issue here is that you had to split the points that you would''ve earned with your monsters, to be more accurate your monsters had to split with you]


    [Dungeon Keeper: My monsters earn points too? Should I be getting them to kill each other?]


    [Lithilas: Self mutilation does not lead to growth, it will promote them but not you]


    So that probably meant that feeding a endless supply of sea food to my griffin wasn''t doing me any favours either.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Then where do I get the points I need?]


    [Lithilas: You''re going to send your strongest monsters over here on a dungeon raid]


    My strongest monsters eh? That probably meant my centipedes who killed the spiders and the slime. That wasn''t a huge difference in power admittedly, I should probably just send the E-Rank wolf. The Same E-Rank wolf who was sitting in a corner cowering in fear of the Griffin, who was also surrounded by my centipedes who were also cowering in fear of the wolf.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Not to point out the fallacies of your logic but I''ve got a C-Ranked monster that has decided my dungeon is a good place to nest and get free food. My monsters are cowering in fear of her I kind of sincerely doubt that there''s some reaction other than soil our pants in fear terror that they''d have in response to whatever you''ve got tucked away in your dungeon]


    [Lithilas: Do you think I haven''t already thought of that?]


    [Lithilas: There''s an area prepared for my humans to grind in for experience that I''ve set up. Now you''re going to use it. Don''t kill any of my humans while you''re in there]


    [Dungeon Keeper: What about my monsters? I''ve got an E-Ranked wolf here and I kind of doubt my ability to make another one if he dies]


    [Lithilas: Then bring lots of monsters that you can replace]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Do I at least get to know what kinds of monsters I''m fighting against?]


    [Lithilas: Do you have the ability to see into the future? No? Then learning to deal with unexpected and unpleasant surprises will be good for you]


    Was there a god for that? The old man apparently was working on over a hundred floors so that seemed like a good bet that he had at least one floor dedicated to that.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Do you mind if I pick you for schemas?]


    [Lithilas: You can have the ones that you earn]


    That wasn''t ominous at all.


    [Raid Dungeon Lithilas. Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    [Please Select your monsters for the raid]


    [1 Dire Wolf, 1 Will-o-wisp, 15 Giant Centipedes]


    [Please Designate Command monster in your absence: Archie the Animated Skull]


    [Transportation in 3. 2. 1.]

 Frustration

    Being a wolf was... disturbing. My poochie brain initially thanked the moon god for saving her from the griffin, then looked around at the room we arrived in and went back to quaking in terror. There were statues, statues everywhere of giant ominous figures looming over us. I initially kept our doggy head low and walked, then we saw the heads all turn at once and me and my crack team of bugs and a floating ball of fire took off all at once. We did not want to know what those things were, we understood very well that they were entirely capable of stomping us flat without the system giving them a rank thank you very much. So we ran as fast as our fuzzy, sharp and non-existent legs could carry us all the way over to the next floor until we were finally away to relative safety. At the end of the massive hallway was a door, on that door was a #2. Me and my dog both blinked stupidly. Thinking about this in rational terms, not all of the statues we just ran past looked similar to each other. Quite the opposite in fact, I think each statue was of a different being, some had animal heads, other human, some had multiple heads, others had monster bits where their arms and legs should be, some didn''t even have a human figure at all. My poochie body walked back to one of the statues and looked up at it in recognition and howled. Short dog ears were sticking out of the side of their head, so then this was the Moon God Igaluk, our instinctive doggy instincts told us. Then all of these statues were of different gods? Lithilas turned his entire first floor into a shrine to all of the different gods that he''s gotten the blessing from, who the hell do you dedicate a floor like that to? I didn''t see a XXL Statue among the XL sized statues to indicate a god king lording over the rest. If there was anything out of place here then it would be the little squirrels with messenger packages that were wandering around.


    "Ello there gov. You must be the new Dungeon the boss said to train up." The Squirrel greeted lightly. I blinked stupidly at the little creature. "Now now don''t be like that you got yourself a lotta grinding to do after all." The Squirrel hopped onto our head as if a rider commanding a mount. "Hop hop, pick up the pace gov. The Hall of the Gods is all fine and dandy but you''re only here for a limited time after all." Under the Squirrel''s guidance we went back to the door that led to the second floor. "I''ll keep an eye on yah''s from above for you." The Squirrel hopped into a little pathway that looked to have been made exclusively for creatures of its size. "I''ll point out what you do wrong against the critters that you''re gonna run into, if you get it wrong a second time then you''ll be crushed mercilessly" Crushed? When did crushing come into this? "Don''t worry about the gargoyles, they only act like decoration all day but they were made in the image of the gods so it''s only natural that they''d be B-Rank." Oh yeah, now I feel spectacular! "Try and think about your monsters abilities for a bit, and arrange formations for them appropriately."


    Huu... There''s a bunch of tanky Millipedes, a fast and somewhat agile wolf with a predisposition to begging for mercy from the gods and a ghostly wisp that shoots fire. Wisp can go up in the air, Millipedes form a circle formation, Wolf can stay in the middle. As we were walking along we had our first encounter, a goblin in armour was standing guard while holding a spear. He looked at my group eyes judging before he got ready with his spear to go on the offensive. Millipedes you guys go first! Three of my Millipedes swarmed at once, the goblin swung his spear around and accurately clocked the three of them in their heads with his weapon. The three giant insects knocked back the goblin used his spear to accurately aim at the gap between two armoured plates of one of the Millipedes and thrust forward with his spear, the tip of the metal weapon poking out the back of the millipede''s body, which was then followed up by twisting the weapon around and popping the head of my Millipede off. I and my wolf blinked stupidly for a few moments.


    [F-Ranked Monster: Goblin-Corrupted Descendants of the Fey known as Brownies by the God of Conquest these miserable creatures live their lives as slaves being forced to raid nearby settlements for materials to sacrifice to their dark god]


    How the hell is this thing a F-Rank? Did I screw up not picking goblin as my first monster? Is the Egg this OP?


    "Yeah. Humanoid types usually have the advantage of getting to use weapons, as far as force multipliers so they''re pretty potent!" The Squirrel chimed in at this point. "Flanking a spear wielder isn''t going to do you any good, not as long as he can sweep you with area of affect attacks. Instead focus on closing the distance, the spear is for medium range attacks so instead get into close quarters attacks!" The goblin grumbled annoyed at the squirrel as he got into position to keep fighting my monsters. My wisp circled over head firing searing rays of fire down at the Goblin''s head while the goblin himself kept fighting my monsters, either nimbly dodging out of the way of the attacks, or using the spear to intercept and bat away the offending ball of fire, a point was made, that being skill. Not only did this creature have a weapon but he was taught how to use it. My Millipedes were massacred one after another until only the Wisp and the Wolf were left over, and both of us opted for a hasty retreat.


    [Would You like to end the Dungeon Raid? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    I returned to my own Dungeon breathing out a sigh, not willing to risk the lost of the only actual E-Rank that I had under my control, not against a creature which was so quick to make light of a group of F-Ranks like that.


    [Lithilas: Having problems?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''m thinking that I lost out on not picking out Goblins or Kobolds as my first Schema]


    [Lithilas: Not all Goblins are like mine, I spend the time and effort to have them trained]


    Makes sense.


    [Lithilas: If you regret it that badly, I have a few Goblin skeletons lying around my second floor that you can come and try to steal]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I selected ''Monster Egg'' as my first Schema] I suspected I knew what he was going to say next but I felt it relevant to ask anyway.


    [Lithilas: That''s a... interesting choice. You''re basically asking for the system to give you a random monster from E to A Rank, and it''s going to take years before you cash in on that investment]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''ve made a nest already. How do I accelerate the hatching schedule, and how do I increase the rank of the critter that''s going to come out of the egg]


    [Lithilas: For the first, find a monster to nurse the egg for you. For the latter, level up the egg by having it kill monsters for you]


    Of course.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Earlier I named a monster. What does that do and what does it cost me?]


    [Lithilas: Named monsters retain a unique identity, because of this they can be revived even after dying in a raid on another dungeon. As for cost, a infusion of mana from your own reserves in order to establish the contract]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''ve been reviving the same monsters over and over again ever since the Griffin got here]


    [Lithilas: Let me guess. The Griffin has been constantly eating the same monsters over and over and spitting the bones back out which is what you''ve been reanimating in the same way that you reanimated their fossils? In that case you''re not actually reviving them but rather manufacturing new monsters. Which is a good thing, as they would build up unimaginable resentment about being killed over and over again and inevitably try to kill you in order to suicide themselves]


    Got it, don''t name the fish.


    [Dungeon Keeper: But the eggs and the bugs are fair game right?]


    [Lithilas: Your wolf and Undead too.]


    Alright everyone! Line up!


    [Mana 300/300]


    Names are a coming! Bone hand you''re Thing. Will-o-wisp, you''re Blue. Wolf You''re Luna. Dragon Flies, Buzz 1, Buzz 2, Buzz, 3, Buzz 4, Buzz 5! Isn''t that too lazy? Deal with it! Millipedes, You''re Tiny 1, Tiny 2... After 3 hours worth of giving out names to every monster under my command my mana finally dropped down to the double digits. My mana dropped after the last raid killed my monsters, I need the Griffin to leave before I can replenish their numbers. For now though.


    [Would you like to launch a Raid against Lithilas? Yes/No?]


    [Yes]


    I went through the formalities of the usual dungeon raid process, though this time I was doing things a little differently. For one thing I brought along porters. Without fear of losing my named monsters I in the wolf''s body charged at the goblin howling, and was nearly skewered by the Goblin''s spear as my reward. This time though I was accompanied by a squadron of swooping Dragon Flies buzzing in the goblins face, and a group of Millipedes who gladly used their mandibles to hook on the goblin''s weapon to try and wrestle it out of his hands.


    "Oh my a gang fight? This is interesting." The Squirrel was back again with it''s commentary, or maybe it didn''t leave. The Goblin was struggling with my wolf and Millipedes, and so it didn''t realise that my Will-o-wisp was floating next to it''s head, and a heat ray was punched clean through it''s skull before falling over, dead. "Ah yes the good ol monster rush, over whelm the enemy from all sides with monsters so that they cannot fight back. A classic but effective. Against boss monsters that is" I prepared to have one of the hundreds of honey bees I had tag along with me take it back to the dungeon but the Goblin''s corpse suddenly vanished. Left his spear behind though. "Did you think it would be easy? Of course not. You''re following advice that Master Lithilas has given you and assuming that he hasn''t followed that same advice much better and for much longer than you have."


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Which means that if I want schema''s from Lithilas, I have to work for them, I have to earn them just like he said. Alright fine if you wanna be like that! Bee Porter Squadron! You are now Bee Scout Squadron! Spread out through the dungeon! Grab anything that looks like''s dead or isn''t nailed down! Let''s see if I still can''t get any schema''s now! I had my bees go down the hallways, my consciousness jumping from Luna into Port 327 as she led the scout squadron down the hallway. We arrived inside of what can generously be described as a goblin camp, the walls were fortified with spikes, and a crude balista made from several sticks of repurposed adventurer long bows were sticking out to ward off unwelcomed intruders. But were they prepared for my swarm of bees?


    "Lahire." A single goblin with a stick of burnt wood pointed his weapon of choice at the swarm of bees and released flame, my bees bursting in a chain reaction as they were scorched from existence. Evidently they were rather prepared for my bees.


    My Consciousness ended up in Blue next. Fire Ball versus fire ball! My ball of fire zipped over to the goblin camp looking to avenge my bees and immediately proceeded to the wooden barricade where it proceeded to attempt to burn a hole through it. Attempt mind you, but whatever this wood was made out of it was a lot tougher then a E Rank Slime, or just fire proof.


    "Lahire." And then the goblin with a stick scorched my wisp from existence, consuming a much more substantial ball of fire all the oxygen died out in that moment and the tiny flame that was my being was suffocated from existence.


    How the hell do you suffocate a undead fire ball? Am I here to grind or is Lithilas grinding off of my monsters instead!? No, no, remain calm, Lithilas says that his humans or whatever that means come down here to grind. These things aren''t invincible, but I don''t know the method to beat them. For now I''ll just leave Luna here to figure out how to get by the Goblins...


    "Waiting there and staring isn''t going to do you any favours you know." The Squirrel once again spoke up to my growing annoyance with the creature. "Instancing. Ever heard of it? Yeah, turns out after a certain point Dungeons just start compartmentalising the flow of people coming inside into these neat little packages to make dealing with them easier. You and your monsters are one package, the humans you''re hoping to steal tactics from are another." Luna and I shared a deep pit of displeasure. We can''t kill these monsters. We can''t steal Schema''s. And we can''t learn tactics worth a damn. Why the hell are we here?


    [Would You like to end the Dungeon Raid? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    Returning to my own dungeon I breathed deeply, and then I scream. The Wind in my Dungeon howled, my monsters quaked in fear and even the griffin opened an eye in notice.


    Why the hell is this so gods damned hard!? Apparently Dungeons that don''t have half of what I do trip into the correct solutions! Where are the adventurers that were supposed to be knocking down my door in masse!? Do I have to toggle a bright neon sign that says "Come here and offer your experience!" because so far the only thing raiding is giving me is Schema''s that I can''t use and one lousy spear!


    [Dungeon Keeper: Why haven''t people come to my dungeon yet?]


    [Graves: I find it odd too. Even newborn dungeons have at least one group stumble over them in a week or so]


    [Dungeon Keeper: What do I have to do put big neon billboard outside that says dungeon!?]


    [Graves: What''s a billboard?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: How do I talk to animals? I need to convince this big birdie hanging out on my first floor to do some work for me]


    [Graves: Did you try making a contract with it?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Jewel already told me how to do that. Didn''t work]


    [Graves: I don''t got a monster for talking to other monsters. Jewel might have one]


    Who was now suspiciously absent.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''ll come back later then]


    I went back to the nest, to the bird that is squatting inside of my cave. The last time I got into a angry rant at her and told her to do something to earn all the food that I keep giving her she flew off for a little bit and brought back a wolf Carcass for me to reanimate, lets see what happens if I just talk to her.


    I need your help.


    The Griffin looked at me with contemptuous eyes, perhaps expecting me to get angry at her and mouth off again.


    I am angry. I am frustrated. Everyone around me is doing so much better than me and all that I can do is next to nothing. I am trapped in a body I do not understand wielding power I have no comprehension of and I have no idea of who or what I used to be. I need help. I need creatures from outside that I can actually defeat in order to grow strong enough to actually defend myself. Please, help me! The Griffin''s head rose, for a moment I felt her looking directly into my eyes. Stretching out like a big cat that overslept the Griffin yawned and turned around to face the entrance before taking off again.


    Archie and Thing came up to me, perhaps happy now that the Squatter was gone so that they could work again they attempted to lead me away to whatever needed doing right now.


    ...Just do whatever you guys want. Ask the other monsters what kinds of rooms they want and make them for them.


    Perhaps not knowing what to do with what was essentially a blank check the door of them mad another of the crude doors similar to the one that bars my core room and were making preparations to install it into the entrance into the dungeon. You two one request, have the door swing outwards to open, make it a draw bridge. The addition of a door did nothing to expand my awareness of the outside world, but I remembered the description for the Griffin. She likes to nest in places that are high up and unstable, the entrance to the dungeon must be a considerable amount of distance up into the air. Maybe she''ll like having the extra room to work with. Who knows. The door completed and secured with rope made from the bark of the red wood Archie and thing left to go do their own work. I got a vague feeling of my mana dropping as Archie and Thing went about doing their work, setting up whatever defences they felt needed to be done, filling out the rooms according to the requirements of the monsters that were living here. I had a vague feeling of my monsters re-spawning from the failed raid on Lithilas, did that mean it had been hours that I just spent here waiting for her to come back? It was around when I felt the last of the mana on the verge of drying out that some one came into the dungeon, having a head on collision with the top of the doorway as it did with enough force to crush a regular dungeon mob''s head. I turned around to see a large vaguely fish like creature floundering around the far side of the nest.


    [D Rank Monster: Great White Shark-A large shark monster capable of manipulating water around it to attack coastal sea side towns]


    There''s no water here for you! Kill it! The nearest room flew open, a swarm of centipedes, scorpions and Will-o-wisps that were in the previous room swarmed in, slicing with mandibles, stabbing with stingers and attacking with flames. The Griffin arrived moments later, her own wounds from fighting against the beast still fresh. Eggs! Come over here and use your healing magic! Quickly the Two eggs that were in the nest rolled over and healed the Griffin''s injuries as they glowed with bright magical lights.


    I want that bastard dead! Now! In it''s natural element, surrounded by water, this thing was a D Rank threat. In here? In my dungeon? Bone Dry and full of my monsters to gang up and tear you apart? You''re fish food!


    The Shark floundered, it even struck a few of my monsters with his tail hard enough to kill them. But so what? I have all the monsters I need to kill this damned shark. One of the Millipedes climbed inside of it''s mouth, the shark chewed on it, one of my eggs rolled over and healed the Millipede. Sharp mandibles scythed through organs, sharp legs stabbed into the sides leaving countless bleeding wounds. What you''re the victim here? You were just minding your own business when my roommate attacked you? So what? No one here cares about you.


    [Achievement Unlocked: Giant Slayer]


    All of my monsters gathered around the Griffin as she was healed a few moments she stood up, looking over the nest, over the part of my body that she had been living in, my monsters who I have been feeding her, the eggs she''s been helping tend and who have healed her after she received a life threatening injury. She gave me a pondering look as if debating the pros and cons of some decision, following me around as I changed my line of sight to check on her injuries.


    [Griffin Unnamed has offered you a Contract. Yes/No]


    Does this mean what I think it means? Can I check the terms to make sure?


    [Terms: Food, Healing, Shelter Exchange: Experience, aid in growing stronger.]


    That was what I was offering you from the start.


    [Yes]


    <hr>


    Squirrels are Servants of Ratatoskr, the god of messengers, the only god small small and fast enough to climb and cross the world tree unnoticed, as such when a Dungeon had the foresite to dedicate their first floor to Ratatoskr and turn it into a place to facilitate communication between over a hundred gods of course Ratatoskr gave it the right to directly summon and command his servants as the reward. These days they tend to act as guides, whether to the humans that are living within the dungeon''s city or to the newborn dungeons that the master has been nurturing with sacrificial raids and now feels confident enough to have them attempt to grow in far less pleasant conditions. Much better than sending the humans out on sacrificial raids if you ask his opinion, they get so darn testy about it too. Still that last one was pathetic, dungeons usually have at least a D-Rank monster under their command, but the strongest monster that last one had was only at E Rank, a mere wolf. A hoard of monsters might be strong enough to ambush a lone solitary Goblin out on patrol but this fortress has been tested by raids from Conquerete. Sure sometimes it''s too much and they would be overwhelmed, but it''s not the job of the goblins to protect the fortress from the real threats, there are after all over a hundred B Ranks on the first floor, and he pities the fools that think that those are the worst this dungeon has to offer.


    The door leading into the second floor snapped open, a spike of raw power coming through.


    "I recognise that smell anywhere." The Squirrel made a show of taking a long inhale of the air around him as he looked at the creature that just came into the second floor. "D Rank Mana." A Griffin was walking slowly through the dungeon, Hawk like eyes studying the surroundings and four paws thudding lightly with each step. "Now this is what I expect to see from an established core!" The Squirrel cried out joyfully. "You''re in the right category of power but you made a poor choice in what kind of monster you deployed, after all you are supposed to be an ''underground'' structure after all. There''s not going to be much room for this one to fly around in!"


    It wasn''t long before we made our way to the goblin camp, already the goblins were getting ready, loaded up with a mass of arrows to rain down hell on the hapless fool that dared to invade the master''s domain.


    I''ll leave the goblins to you, Apas. Apas the Griffin Screeched. The Shark was proof, getting fat off of dungeon mobs served up to her on a silver platter has made her hunting instincts grow dull, the time has come to correct this severe oversight. With a vengeance.

 Visitors

    Fending off a Griffin was a different story than trying to fend off a group of weak F-Rank monsters. Even taking away the Griffin''s biggest advantage with the low ceiling of the second floor they still had an affinity for wind magic that they had to deal with. Arrows were turned away with passive wind magic, the gates were torn down using brute strength.


    "Lahire!"


    The issue here came from the merry bomber and his fire magic. Apas spread her wings, all the air in the room was pulled together and being fed to her for oxygen. The Goblins on the other hand suffocated. Slowly the XP bar, temporary name, started to fill up, splitting between Apas and myself, each goblin would only be worth about one point of XP, but there were a bunch of them.


    "Boss."


    Apas''s attention was on the room that had a market styled tent attached to the top, After only three rooms though? I see two paths set up to either side of us, we''re going to investigate both. For our first pick, we found a small lake, being fed water by a small waterfall. Inside were fish, attempting to climb the falls with a bucket next to the water.


    We''re taking the bucket with us, Filled with water, let''s give the sea food some place where we can breed them for passive mana gains.


    Apas licked her lips in appreciation and used her beak to pick up the bucket and dunk it in water filling it.


    Porter Team!


    A single Giant Wasp flew over, landed on the bucket, and went back to our dungeon. Next was to figure out what was in the next room over. And the end result of our investigation was... a bar. We opted to ignore that, it was probably full of traps, not for customers, for people who try to leave without paying, when I get my own bar set up I''ll rig it that way. Now onto the boss of the next floor! Pressing our front paws onto the door the way opened for us.


    "I thought I smelled fresh blood." We were greeted by the sight of a goblin, however that didn''t last for long, his body immediately bulked up as if being inflated like a balloon, armour formed around him and a massive halberd appeared in his hands.


    [D Ranked monster: Ogre-A ferocious Hobgoblin warrior who through many battles has evolved into a larger and stronger form able to send mere flying with the most casual swing of his weapon]


    From a nearby wall a shadow oozed and from that blob a monster was formed, a pitch black bear.


    [D Rank Monster: Black Bear-A Ferocious bear who has gained the power to move through, attack through and hide inside of Shadows]


    Well now this is new.


    "So you summoned the bear. That''s roughly average for newly established cores I''m afraid to inform you." Ogre hopped onto the back of the bear as he looked down at us.


    ''Average'' you say? I can live with being average. Take them down.


    Apas screeched as she utilised her signature technique, sucking all the oxygen from the room and extinguishing the flames in the torches around the room.


    "We''ll call that fatal mistake number 1."


    The room was plunged into darkness, and the bear struck. The entire room slammed down on us like the jaws of a great angry beast, and then we were back in the dungeon again.


    Apas was still in the process of being respawned, in the mean time I went to one of my empty rooms and made a hole, not deep enough to break through to the floor below, at least not yet, and I filled it with water. I had my fish and other kinds of bones brought over and dumped into the water and Archie reanimated the lot of them for me. For now I''ll save them for dinner for Apas, if I have to go to an underwater dungeon I''ll have them named but until then, this was the better allotment of resources. Speaking of resources I looked to my XP bar.


    [10/100]


    So in other words, we just have to do that 18 more times. Fewer if we can kill the boss the next time around.


    [Mana 12/300]


    [Mana 20/300]


    Unlike Apas, the hundreds of F Ranked monsters in my dungeon didn''t have dramatic Mana bonuses but there was mana being built up to the point that they even exceeded what she was capable of by herself. For now I went back to the Chat room.


    [Dungeon Keeper: So I need to come up with ideas about who I''m going to pick for my first floor''s patron, ideas ladies and gents?]


    [Graves: You have one of your floors expanded to that level already?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: No, but rather than going back and remaking my floors I am the type who''d rather just get them right in the first place and be done with it. How about you Graves. You started out with one of your floors already consecrated right?]


    [Graves: Of course! I was born to the patron of the Order of the White Flame!]


    Ah fire and religious titles. This''ll end well.


    [Graves: However for attracting the most visitors I recommend the Glory]


    [Dungeon Keeper: "The Glory?"]


    [Graves: Of course! The blessing she gave me allows me to resurrect Adventurers who have been killed in my Dungeon! Without fear of death Adventurers from all over the continent flock to me!]


    Well, it''s not like I don''t understand the feeling, I''m going to be applying a similar strategy soon enough in raiding Lithilas.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Who else, Jewel mentioned six or seven before Lithilas contacted me]


    [Graves: Ah then you''ve heard of Pluto yes?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I thought you got all your bling from trading with Jewel?]


    [Graves: Jewel made a contract with "God of Wealth" Pluto, I made a contract with ''God of Death'' Pluto]


    [Dungeon Keeper: There''s a difference?]


    [Graves: Blessings are tailor made to the one who is going to receive them, a blessing that eliminates or weakens undead might be welcomed in another dungeon but not mine, both Jewel and I have made a contract with the goddess of love and death Cliodona, the Glory, Jewel got Schema''s for undead who had ''eternally preserved beauty'' whereas I got the blessing that lets me resurrect people who have died in my dungeon thereby reuniting the dead loved ones with the ones still alive]


    Without the awkward dying in-between part, I presume. I still can''t believe there are people so vain that they turned themselves into an undead.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Well right now my first floor is shaping up to be a breeding ground for different monsters, one of the gods of fertility isn''t a bad option]


    I mused to myself on the subject.


    [Graves: Aside from Pluto and Cliodono I also recommend Anubis, a deity of death tasked with judging the weight of mortals upon death]


    A god of weight loss?


    [Dungeon Keeper: What does he do with the fat ones?]


    [Graves: What he judges is not the physical body, but how much the soul is weighed down by sins. Those who exceed a certain threshold have their heart torn out and eaten by him, thereby sentencing them to never reincarnate]


    [Dungeon Keeper: And I want this inside my dungeon because?]


    [Graves: He granted my undead the power to regenerate]


    Well that''s one way of doing it. Course aside from Archie, Thing and the Wisps I don''t have any undead to speak of, I really probably should though considering this whole mountain is basically begging to be turned into one.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Thank you for your suggestions everyone]


    A few moments later and Apas appeared in my core room and made a show out of stretching out like the giant lazy cat that she was.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''m off to raid Lithilas again fellas, wish me luck]


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    And thus the master disappeared, alongside the great Devourer Apas. Once again the master has left me, the Archaeologist in charge of this dungeon.


    [Mana 150/300]


    Not a vast amount, but I''ve worked with less. Once more I feed the mana into the mountain, as I have been doing constantly with the left over mana that is generated by the Devourer and all the other monsters living here combined. I do not have the power for a true evolution, not yet, but I am working on it. The Mountain is covered in deposits of fossils the master has yet to awaken, I already led him to the prime choices, now that we have a proper water room I even revive the great crocodile to feast on the flesh there. Do not crush the bones and shells you mindless brute, we have a need for them. I seek out the pockets of flesh across the mountain, of the creatures that have already been resurrected, each day my influence across the mountain grows. Each time a creature is reborn it suffocates, suffocates under the influence of limestone that is under my power, killing monsters under the Master''s control doesn''t promote his strength any, but us killing each other, promoting our own strength? There''s endless potential there. What would I do if I took this power for myself! The stone I could shape, the creatures I could bring to life! Sadly it is not meant to be, the master thus far has not shown any interest in promoting my own strength beyond the usefulness in strengthening others. And so that is what I have been doing. I''ve reanimated but a few branches in the nest, rooted them to be one with the mountain and wrapped their leaves around the eggs, upgrading it so that strength may be fed to the young ones inside of the eggs, their forms unconfirmed, for the time being, but power is being fed to them, millions of years of evolution guiding them down the path to obtain more power. And they are not the only one either. The trees are also being fed with power, processes that would take hundreds of years are currently occurring in the span of mere hours. Candidates will abound for the first floor boss, a position that I will happily concede as it means I will obtain a shot at the second floor boss position and the even greater power it promises, and even that I will concede for the right to the third floor boss, and the fourth, fifth, for the longer my talents are polished the stronger and stronger I shall become. But as I''ve said, my power is for the master to decide. Even Now I sense his return.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Wiping out the Goblin camp netted myself another five points for growth, and another five for Apas. I have no idea what god or goddess I have to bribe for ''Instancing'' but whoever it is I want their number.


    "You again." It seemed like the alternate versions of the boss or whatever it was at least communicated with each other, as I once again watch the same goblin turn into a Ogre and a bear slowly emerge from the nearby wall. I find it odd that they proceed with the theatrics instead of just appearing before his opponents in this configuration. "I would''ve thought you learned your lesson from the last time." I learned not to plunge the shadow monster into a room full of darkness.


    So instead we charged, the ogre swung his weapon and we dodged to the side, then the bear paw flew out from the shadow and four claws were rammed through our chest, disappeared as soon as they came out the other side leaving a large gaping hole in our chest and then we died again.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Apas spoke to me on the way out, she wanted a break from dying over and over and I couldn''t disagree with her, ten more points under our individual belts so we''ll be taking a break for a while. Even without waiting for Apas to respawn it''s better to scout the area around my dungeon for a while, and maybe prepare defences for my dungeon, I should see if I can steal some of the old man''s turrets the next time that I''m over there, but what would I operate them with? Food for thought. For now though I need to worry about my own house.


    [Dungeon Keeper: So does anyone have a read on a Adventurer''s guild and what the story about that is? My interface a while ago told me that I let off a beacon letting them know where I was]


    [Graves: There are groups who regularly delve into my dungeon, for reasons we''ve talked about already]


    [Jewel: I have visitors on the regular too, albeit usually not looking for a fight]


    Well that''s what happens when you turn your dungeon into a brothel.


    [Graves: If my knowledge serves me correctly the Adventurer''s HQ should be in the old man''s city]


    [Dungeon Keeper: The one that was under attack by the golem dungeon?]


    [Graves: Correct]


    Well that might explain it.


    [Graves: While we were launching suicide missions inside of the bastard''s body their jobs involves doing things taking place outside of the dungeon proper, rescuing people caught up in the attacks for starters, attacking the bastard from outside for instance]


    I couldn''t imagine it was very easy trying to get inside of a golem''s body, even if it was hollow.


    [Jewel: Right now they should be trying to chase Conquerete down and seeing how much more damage they can do]


    The bastard already lost his right hand. Still it would be nice to know where I actually was, which is where scouting with Apas comes into play.


    [Jewel: Either way I don''t think you''re going to see many legitimate delvers soon]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Legitimate Delvers? What about the Illegitimate ones?]


    [Lithilas: You sent a beacon out to every Adventurer''s guild on the continent. Mine is the closest and through them I have been made aware of your location but I am the closest to you. You have a week before they get there by my estimates. Then there are the illegitimate groups. People who think they can use you. Nobles who want to use you to set up their own Dungeon City, bandits who want to fortify you into a fortress to facilitate their own antics, rogue mages who would drain you to fuel their own power. Those are just the reasons I can think of off the top of my head. Get your first floor ready for uninvited company]


    ...Archie!


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    A wagon arrived outside of the new dungeon. It took them a while to find the entrance, the damned hole was three stories into the air, and it''s entrance faced the sea, it''s not enough that the damned dungeon is out in the middle of no where, it also had to be difficult to access to. Luckily they were surrounded by resources.


    "Start chopping trees!"


    People dressed in rags picked up lumber axes and went into the woods. At least one thought about planting the axe into the back of the leader of the group''s head, and was rewarded with crippling pain. Pick axes went to work carving grooves into the stone, others went through the process of chopping down the nearby trees, hacking off branches, using knives they stripped bark from the trees and men in mages robes used magic to dry the wood out. Some of the logs were cut short, others split into planks. The plants were brought to the edge where the mountain met the water, where gashes were carved into the mountain by the men with pick axes and then jammed inside. The Logs were brought over, lined up under the stairs to prop them up, triangle cut wood chunks slotted into the support beams to provide extra stability and give the specially cut wooden boards something that they can fit into.


    "It''ll take a while before we can enter the dungeon proper." One of the men explained to the leader of the band.


    "Then we''ll have time, and we''ll kill anything else that tries to enter the dungeon in the mean time, deny it resources until we''re ready to claim it." Behind them were a pair of black holes.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I ask you this, what are eyes? Squishy, round balls of flesh inside of the head that you use to see with, oh this is true. But what about the undead who lack these eyes and instead only have the holes they used to occupy? The undead can see out of those perfectly fine. Boring two eyes into the rock face isn''t a task of great difficulty for Archie, even outside of the dungeon, it took Archie some practice before he got it right through but like Lithilas told them they had time. And More important than that, he had people to consult with on how he would deal with them.


    [Graves: Minimal low quality clothing? Metal bands around their throats? Sounds like slaves to me]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Slaves?]


    [Jewel: The Humans study us, try to learn about our abilities. The Contracts are the simplest, bind one to the will to another. In comparison to making monsters out of thin air and mana it''s easy]


    Well, she''s not wrong.


    [Jewel: There''s much worse that could be done. If their bindings were tattooed on it would be impossible to break their contracts. The collars mean that they''re merely indebted and will eventually be free]


    [Dungeon Keeper: What should I do?]


    [Lithilas: That depends on who they are and what they are doing]


    [Lithilas: What''s the situation? What are they doing? Have they mentioned their plans yet?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: They''re building a staircase right now, my door is three stories in the air and faces the sea so it''s hard for them to get to as is]


    [Graves: They''re not just going to scale the wall?]


    [Jewel: That would seem to be the case]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Am I missing something here?]


    Well yeah if they have the mountaineering equipment then just scaling the wall to me dungeon is going to be a lot faster but a lot harder if they have no long term plans.


    [Jewel: Remember our talk about the mobile dungeons, the Pirate fleet Leviathan?] [Graves: If you''re facing the sea that probably means you''re on that Pirate bastard''s route]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Should I be afraid?]


    [Lithilas: If you were to seal yourself up for a few days while he would become aware of your existence from the chat room he probably wouldn''t know where your dungeon is and you could at least buy yourself a few month''s while he circles on his route. But if those humans are building a base around your dungeon, whether he knows you''re there or not, he''ll wreck the lot of you regardless, eat the pieces and then move onto his next stop, unless whatever group there can pay whatever price he demands of them. Leviathan is a monster]


    And If I want to survive I''m gonna have to learn how to be a bigger monster.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Can I send my monsters onto raids without me?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: This one at a time thing is taking too long]


    [Lithilas: You can send them without you, but you can''t send them one at a time. Your mana regeneration won''t support the effort that it would take to send them out on more than one mission]


    Damn it. I felt Apas getting my attention. Just send her on the raid?


    [Dungeon Keeper: Sorry Lithilas, I''m borrowing your second floor again.]


    [Lithilas: Focus on getting strong enough to deal with your invaders if you have time to feel sorry.]


    [Would you like to raid Dungeon Lithilas? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    [Please designate Raid Captain]


    The option for a Raid captain didn''t appear before, is it because I only want to send Apas by herself?


    [1 Contracted monster: Apas Griffin 10 Giant Wasps]


    Like that my monsters disappeared. I didn''t have high expectations that she''d beat those two this time, but at the very least she''ll be able to strip that place for parts.


    In the mean time, Archie! We need to start getting stronger monsters like crazy, do you have any ideas?


    Suddenly the dungeon shook.


    [Mana 297/300]


    [Mana 290/300]


    My mana, previously maxed out, was now being siphoned out as my skull''s eyes glowed. I concentrated on Archie as I tried to figure out what the hell was going on here.


    [Archie the Animated Skull: 49/60]


    What in the world?


    [Archie the Animated Skull: 53/60]


    Archie, is there something that you haven''t told me?


    [Archie the Animated Skull: 60/60]


    [Evolution for Archie the Animated Skull available]


    Archie, how are you level grinding so?


    [Possible Evolutions for Archie the Animated Skull]


    [E-Rank Bone Mage-A skeleton that has begun to grasp the basics of magic. Has managed to grasp basic Earth Magic]


    [E-Rank Bone Priest-A Skeleton worshipper of a god of death.]


    [E Rank Bone Warlock-A skeleton Warlock with the God of Underground Pluto as his patron]


    I blinked stupidly at the screen before me.


    [Bone Warlock Selected]


    A mass of blue mana wrapped Archie and the section of wall that he had embedded himself into, and several moments later a full skeleton fell away from the wall.


    [E-Rank Bone Warlork, Archie]


    "Thank you master for this opportunity!"


    You can talk? No before that explain yourself Archie! What did you do!?


    "What You have told me to." Archie gestured grandly around himself. "I have linked to your dungeon and searched high and low for fossils to reanimate, the strongest I have sought out and brought under your glory, others have been added to your mobs, but the ones that we have not been able to get to have suffered."


    You''ve been reanimating monsters outside of the dungeon?


    "Quite. While linked to the limestone I have been expanding my influence with the influx of C-rank mana from the visitor, animated monsters trapped in the stone suffocate under my influence thereby giving power."


    And you''ve been channelling this to yourself all this time?


    "No master, until but a moment ago I have not channelled a single point of power into myself." Meaning that you ranked up sixty or so points of power into yourself just now? Where have you been channelling all of this power into?


    Archie led me to the nest first.


    "I cannot link to all of the monsters in the dungeon master, only the ones not considered to be alive or the ones part of the environment." Archie brushed away branches in the nest, where saplings have grown around a pair of eggs. "The Eggs exist in an inbetween state until they are born."


    [F Rank Monster Egg 504/10000]


    "Forgive me for my slowness master, I can only control but a fraction of the flow of power." Archie kowtowed as he got onto his knees.


    I can''t imagine what kind of face I would be making right now were I able to. This is only a fraction?


    "Indeed master." Five times the amount of Power that I need in order to rank up is ''but a fraction?'' "There have been... complications master. Take my sight, and I shall show you."


    I switched to Archie''s point of view who in turn switched to another point of view below us, not to the outside where the humans were hard at work building their way up to my entrance, but below us at the future site of my second floor. Wooden pillars dotted the floor proper, probably left overs from the time that Lithilas and his people came through here and lodged wooden supports for when they stripped my mountain of it''s most valuable fossils. Branches long since amputated had started to grow out to catch sunlight that would never come, the trees were littered with roots from the beams, from the trees as I was starting to realise. I separated from Archie.


    "Organsms considered to be part of the mountain also receives Power from the smothering, only a fraction of it is going to me, and from there I can only direct a fraction into the eggs. Tunnels below us is only one place of many where the power is being directed." Show me!


    [Red Wood Tree 527/100000]


    What are they going to become when that bar is filled out? What kind of insane monster will be born then? Do we even benefit from this madness?


    [Red Wood Tree properties: Filter, Photosynthesis]


    [Photosynthesis-A process by which plants convert light into mana for personal use]


    [Current Photosynthesis Production 0]


    Of course, because it''s buried under a mountain. Archie.


    "Yes master?"


    Can we make them grow bigger?


    "It will take some work, but it is quite doable master." Start with this one, keep increasing its size until its leafy green branches are poking out of the mountain.


    "At once Master!"


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Outside the make shift lumber and construction camp was hard at work building a staircase that leads to the entrance of the lime stone dungeon, pickaxes were swinging, trees were falling, timber was being broken up and installed, all the usual good things. Then the Mountain shook. The carpenters that had been working to install the staircase held onto the log they had been working with for dear life like it was his only means of survival, the tent that had been set up next to the mountain for the armoured man in charge of the expeditionary force was suddenly crushed, a mass of limestone falling off of the top of the mountain as a tree suddenly broke through the mountain, covering a section of it in leaves glowing with the faint colour of mana.

 Plans

    When Apas returned to the other dungeon this time she didn''t use the Keeper''s tactics, no there was a better way of doing this. Apas started with a shoulder charge ramming into the front gate hard enough to smash it open. The Nearest goblin was smacked with her wing hard enough to splatter his brains on the wall he was hiding behind.


    "Lahire!"


    The fire attack was smothered by Apas sucking all the air away, then the fire spouting Goblin had its head bitten off. A swipe with the front paw had taken the head of the next goblin off and with a single peck the last of the group was dead. Walking over to the front door she propped herself up and pushed the door down with her front paws and entered the boss''s room once more.


    "Don''t you have anything better to do with your t-ah-ah!"


    Even in the middle of his transformation the Goblin was suddenly struggling with it''s sudden lack of oxygen, all of the air around it being completely removed. The bear emerged from the ground this time, not the black of the black bear, but rather brown. So the Boss adjusts itself for every new challenger, changing it''s rank based on the quality of opponent and it''s mount based on the tactics used against the goblins outside, so magic casters get a magic bear and fighters get a fighter bear, that''s quite a feature. And so easy for her to exploit, all the air in the room rushing in order to crush the bear''s head. Robbing the goblins of air to kill them was quite an ingenious tactic by the Keeper, it was very effective, but from a D Rank monster like her, unnecessary, not when the opponent is so weak. So instead, she decided to save it for the boss. The two monsters fell over, their bodies turned into light and taking the form of a tunic. Apas put her talons on it and watched the bear skin tunic turn into a stony armour. Not useful to her, perhaps the keeper will find a use for it. The Goblin adjusts itself to face whatever creature that it''s about to face, becoming their equal in power with weaknesses tailored to how they fought its compatriots. Not much point in putting two of it''s kind in a row. Thus Apas chose to return to her home, however briefly.


    <hr>


    I was a little surprised to see Apas return to the dungeon in one piece, without having to respawn, a neat 9 more points filling out my meter. And she had a Tunic with her, because apparently the boss dropped loot. Sweet. Apas immediately requested to be sent back to the dungeon and I granted her request. Archie, I don''t think we have any monster than can wear this tunic, do you want it?


    "I shall gladly accept this boon master." Archie quickly threw on the Tunic.


    Now that we have some passive mana regeneration stacking you''re going to start filling up the meters for the other monsters around here too. We already have a bunch of undead lying around, lowest requirement to rank up gets the points.


    "Thy will be done master!"


    <hr>


    The Dungeon tried to kill him. It had acquired basic self preservation and so opted to drop a rock on him to kill him.


    "Master Charles are you alright!?" The attendant who had come with the young knight asked his voice full of genuine concern.


    "As well as can be expected." Master Charles was a burly man, bright red hair and green eyes, eyes that were looking up at a leafy green tree that had dislodged the rock that nearly crushed him.


    "The dungeon has attempted to kill you Young Master." The attendant explained while worryingly trying to pull his charge back away from the limestone mountain.


    "The Dungeon grew a tree." Charles countered bluntly. "They grow trees for mana, just like any other dungeon. Continue with the operation to build the staircase up. I don''t want to be out in the open when the damned Pirate gets here do you?"


    The people here would rather not be here when the ''damned pirate'' got here period. But orders were orders, and thanks to the metal bands around their necks they had no other choice but to do as they had been told to do.


    <hr>


    The next monster to receive a rank up was Thing. The options for him were quite a bit different than Archies.


    [E-Rank Bone Soldier-A skeleton reanimated from the body of a soldier]


    [E-Rank Bone Thief-A skeleton reanimated from the body of a thief]


    Kind of boring when you think about it. Is it because he lacks the extra''s that I gave to Archie? In that case... I took out one of the amber chunks that Archie and I excavated, and formed a bit of silver around it, before putting the ring on Thing''s ring finger. True to my predictions a new option appeared.


    [E-Rank Bejewelled Hand-A reanimated hand belonging to a rich aristocrat, still with the ring he wore in life on his finger]


    Perfect.


    Mana wrapped thing''s body and a few moments later emerged, a wedge stump of severed arm bones from where the rest of the arm had been cut off now sticking out the wrist area.


    Alright Archie, Thing, what kinds of new powers do you two have?


    "Master, I have learned new magic from the school of necromancy." Archie held out a hand. "Create Bone Weapon: Sword." Light of magic sparked between Archie''s hand and entered the limestone floor, rising up slowly and transforming the material into a blade along the way. "Sadly the material isn''t that good, so I''m afraid the weapon isn''t that strong."


    Then don''t turn chunks of my dungeon into weapons.


    "Understood master."


    Thing what about you?


    Thing tapped it''s fingers and released a light from the ring.


    Healing magic? We already have a healer though, so it''s not very useful. Well that only assumes that our project with the eggs don''t turn out the way that I think they will. We''ll let Thing keep the ring in the meantime. Meanwhile Archie, you are to continue to oversee point farming, evolve the Will-o-wisps next.


    "Master, the wisps cannot combine with other undead as myself and Thing can, thus we cannot take advantage of our unique circumstances."


    Then continue evolving yourselves, I''d like for you to at least be as strong as Apas.


    "Apas''s strength is from more than just power, it is from refinement of technique. Blindly building power in this way maybe efficient, but it ultimately stunts our growth in the end."


    Then for now, do the eggs instead. I''m not waiting fifteen years for a return on my investment.


    "Thy will be done."


    Both of the undead bowed to me. Apas returned a second time, this time she was wearing a set of claws that looked like they had come off directly off the legs of a bear. She didn''t stick around though instead having me send her on another raid.


    Archie continue to grind up the eggs, and keep an eye on the humans trying to get to the dungeon entrance. If there''s a way that you think you can slow them down a little, do it.


    <hr>


    A drill was removed from the first support log, in it''s place the carpentry slave intended to install a beam for the railing. Then the stars started to shake, making cracking noises as they started to release branches and the like, her confusion was cut off as one of her fellow slaves fell on her.


    <hr>


    Thing and Archie had taken separate area''s in order to experiment with their respective powers, I was currently debating what kinds of puzzles to separate my doors. I don''t think Apas would like getting cut off from the lake and all her food, so for now barriers to bar the way of the humans was a no. But what about traps? What is the most effective way to deal with the people outside? Lethal force? Well yes obviously but at the same time it''s not that simple. These people could be the first residents of my very own dungeon city, or the guy whose tent I accidentally crushed with my tree could be some nobleman''s son, so first and foremost, before I do anything else what I need to get most of all is get another floor of the dungeon, before I have a repeat of my problem with Apas. Speaking of whom she''s reappeared again, this time dropping off boots for Archie before disappearing again leaving behind another nine points, that brings my total up to 37. In any case the priority here now while I''m waiting for Apas to get back is buying time for her to do the grinding that we need. Luckily I have an idea for the puzzle to buy time. Going to the draw bridge I made on modifications, that being a simple push and turn lock. Simply place your hand on a simple circular piece of stone, push it inside all the way, and then turn it ninety degrees upwards and Tada! You''ve unlocked my front door! Course I tried as hard as possible to make the circle not obvious to the people outside.


    <hr>


    Because Charles wasn''t a idiot he put a person to watch the entrance to the Dungeon, which he chiefly accomplished by having a small boat made up and float out around to the other side of the mountain where the entrance was located. Every half an hour another boat went to the patrol boat, collected their reports of what was going on at the entrance, occasionally brought them food, maybe changed their shift, and then reported back. Even if you try to be subtle about it, people are still going to notice when you start circling magical energy around your front door. Even if they don''t understand the specifics of what the dungeon is doing logical conclusions can still be drawn.


    "So it''s put a lock on it''s front door eh?" Charles looked at the report and held his chin in thought.


    "Could it be sealing the entrance boss?" Joseph was a middle aged man, skin dark from working long hours in the sun, he was also the man in charge of Charles work crew to build a pathway to the dungeon. He would also be in charge of building up the rest of the outpost when the staircase is done.


    "Not unless it has another entrance elsewhere to rely on." Charles stated as he reviewed the documents.


    "You sure boss?" Joseph asked prompting Charles to look at him flatly.


    "Tell me Joseph do you think you can survive without a mouth or a nose?" Charles asked looking at the man in front of with compassionless eyes.


    "Sir?" Joseph asked taking a step backwards.


    "It''s a simple question, I don''t mean it to be threatening." Charles clarified giving a brief shrug of his shoulders.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "I''d suffocate if I couldn''t breath through my nose or mouth, and I''d die of thirst if I couldn''t drink anything." Joseph replied looking confused.


    "The dungeon is much the same way. The gate we are working so hard to reach is its mouth, its monsters its teeth. We are working very hard for the purpose of seizing control of these too things so that we can place it under our control." With that explanation finished the next matter was progress. "What''s the state of the staircase?"


    "Every few minutes the stairs receive a infusion of mana and suddenly... reanimate for lack of a better term, it grows a bit and then stops. Right now we''re trying to build it up from below." Joseph laid out a length of blueprints onto Charles desk.


    Support columns rising from the sea all the way to the entrance, crisscrossing x-shaped beams for support, eventually reaching a simplified stair case leading to the dungeon, as if a after thought, shading roughly resembling foliage had been scribbled in around the bottom of the stairs.


    "Right now we''re trying to simplify the maintenance we have to do by getting all the support work on the stairs done, as much as we can without connecting to the dungeon anyway. Every time the wood reanimates we have to sand down the stairs again so that we can walk on them without slipping, we''ve even tried to hack the stairs off the mountain but every cut we make just heals over."


    "Can we build around the existing staircase?" Charles asked looking concerned.


    "We could, but we don''t know if it''ll suddenly grow out and smash what we''ve built and like you told us..."


    "We''re on a time table." Charles stated bluntly. "Are the stairs usable?"


    "Oh certainly. We have a railing installed already after all, and the stairs are currently flat, they might have to be sanded down again in a few months but that''s just about it." Charles leaned back in his chair as he looked up into the sky.


    "We use the stairs as intended, if you have to connect to the dungeon to secure the rest of the staircase then do it." Joseph nodded as the meeting finished however more bad news was coming along as well.


    Some of the trees had been sprayed with mana rich urine from a D Rank monster, and large feathers were being found every once in a while. In other words...


    "There''s a griffin in the area, and by the looks of things she''s establishing her territory for mating season." Charles concluded and his aide visibly paled.


    "There is a D Rank monster here? Charles we''re-"


    "Already planning on taking an A rank''s head." Charles bluntly informed his aid. "And as such we will take measures that are appropriate for dealing with that. For starters we have a pretty solid idea where it''s nest is located."


    "Sir?" The aide looked at his master concerned, the aide paled even more when he saw his young master pointing directly at the mountain where they knew the dungeon to be located.


    "''A Griffin retains it''s instincts from it''s hawk and leonine ancestors. Like a hawk it will intentionally seek out locations that are high up and structurally unsound to build it''s nest so as to deter any potential predators to come up looking for it''s eggs.'' That hole faces the sea, where the rock is weak and broken after being worn down by the salt water." Thus under Charles orders construction of the bridge was temporarily halted. They read the reports, and they knew that this dungeon had the misfortune of being built on top of an old fossil mine that had already been stripped of everything worth wild. The King of Lithilas had ordered that the mines be bricked up after the appearance of the dungeon, to prevent it''s self destruction, Charles had them knocked back down, the caves serving as a makeshift emergency bunker for Charles and his men. "The advantage of the Griffin''s flight will be neutralised here." Charles stated bluntly. "In the mean time have the scouts position themselves in the woods with flares to alert us if anything starts to come this way."


    The biggest threat here isn''t the Griffin, but the result of the Griffin''s actions, monsters who wish to reproduce with the griffin will flock here in mass, of them they will fall into four categories. The first is the Equine type, in other words horses, that said Griffins also hunt horses for food, so even though there have been instances where horse and griffin hybrids have appeared in the wild, such cases are considerably rare and only happen in cases of extreme desperation. The second is feline monsters, one half of the Griffin''s hybrid ancestry which has high compatibility with the griffin, they should consider this scenario to be extremely high. The third is Bird type monsters, the other half of the Griffin''s ancestry, what they lack in terms of physical strength they make up for in their ability to fly, which means they may gather from further away, which also means that they can expect to see more of them as well. The fourth and final might be the most dangerous of all, the others. Other Griffins attracted by one of their own, as well as beings like Genies or dragons that can mate with any other living creature, they might expect these things to flock here in mass. From one point of view they may have gotten lucky, if the griffin was male it would plow all of these female and hermaphrodite creatures trying to impregnate as many as possible in order to mass produce powerful offspring that they would inevitably have to deal with. Even worse if they start to reproduce with each other instead and produce even more dangerous and unpredictable hybrids, in layman''s terms the staircase plan will have to be put on hold, at least until they can deal with this monster stampede.


    "Young Master we should call for help." Charles aide stated insistently. Charles family would not be happy if they found out that he was planning on picking a fight with Leviathan, so how he worded his message to the capital would be pivotal.


    "Scribe." The man in question stepped out from the shadows, pen and paper in hand. "''While on patrol in the Johnson forest, our group learned about a monster stampede that is about to assault a new born dungeon. We can confirm that a female C-Rank monster, a griffin, is living inside of the dungeon proper, and is attracting potential mates to compete for her. We have already taken an advanced team to secure the area around the dungeon in preparation to deal with the stampede, but in the mean time additional back up is requested.''" Charles nodded indicating to the scribe that the message was finished, the message was packaged for delivery, sealed with a coat of wax and stamped with the symbol of a flame with a lion''s face on it before being packaged for delivery. "Joseph, we''re going to have to start fortifying this location. We have a cave, it''s far from a fort though, we''re going to have to do some work to make it one." While Charles and company were talking someone else was watching, a pair of black eyeless holes were looking at the group while they worked.


    <hr>


    So they''ve breached the third floor that we aren''t even close to claiming yet, and they''re planning on fortifying the location too? Apas returned again, giving Archie both the bear gauntlets she took with her earlier and the spear the Ogre was wielding. However it seems that she unlocked an achievement for her efforts.


    [Ogre Killer-Acquire all the drop items from the Boss of Lithilas 2nd floor ''Warchief Karzan.'' Reward: Second floor Bypass. D-Rank Schema Ogre]


    So to put it another way, we can''t fight any more of Lithilas''s second floor monsters, and why did we get the schema for the Ogre, the bear was the one who kept massacring us without being able to fight back. And by my estimates we only had another 2 trips before I was able to obtain a second floor. Can we find another D-Rank monster to grind on the third floor? Apas shrugged her shoulders by way of reply. Right then, we have another problem, your mate hunting is going to attract a huge number of monsters to this area.


    Apas squeaked happily in response to that.


    Right. You were doing this in the first place because you wanted to get a boy friend in the first place, I get that, but this could be a serious problem you know. I should be happy too? We can attract a lot of monsters for schemas and experience this way? Right. I only need eighteen more points don''t I? That''s 32 goblins. We might be able to work with this, but I don''t know if you should be flying outside too often. I saw them putting together plans for balista when we were poking around down there before.


    Apas Squawked in a way that I was somehow able to understand.


    That could work.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Hey Jewel, Graves you guys there?]


    [Jewel: Hello]


    [Graves: What is it? Are your humans giving you trouble?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Sort of but not what I''m here for. Can you guys tell me what kinds of monsters you used for your first floor bosses? I want to use them for reference]


    [Graves: Mine is called George the Grappler, he''s a zombie I raised to help train the White Flame soldiers in hand to hand combat, though sadly he''s only E-Rank]


    [Jewel: Lithilas already mentioned my first floor boss before, a Mirror with the power to copy the appearance, power and rank of whatever looks at it.]


    [Dungeon Keeper: So if a D-Rank was sent in to fight it then it would copy them and produce a D-Rank creature?]


    Are monsters with the power to copy their enemies level of power popular picks or something? This is the second one I''m hearing about, and they''re both first floor bosses.


    [Jewel: Yes. Sadly though it lacks the fighting experience that it''s opponent''s have in using their own bodies and powers]


    [Jewel: After all the trouble I went through to set up the boss like that, only for so many people to turn around, have their party huddle together and force my beautiful creature to form a jumbled mass of body parts and weapons! Give me my loot back you scoundrels!]


    Oh no how terrible.


    [Lithilas: You two are way too easy to fool sometimes. I''m honestly embarrassed for you]


    [Graves: ?]


    [Jewel: ?]


    [Raid Dungeon Concubine''s Bejeweled Mirror? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    [Jewel: !?]


    [Please Select your monsters for the raid]


    [1 Contracted Monster: Apas the Griffin]


    [Transportation in 3. 2. 1]


    <hr>


    Honestly, Apas was embarrassed for this ''Jewel'' or whatever it was supposed to be. Yes The Keeper''s first floor was a nest as well but still, various humanoids were gathered in the floor, spread out onto a variety of furniture, some looked like fish, others like birds, a few with bits of animals attached to them replacing ears, arms and legs or giving them tails. Others still didn''t have a human shaped body at all instead resembling snakes or even worse horses. The only thing any of them had in common was the presence of humanoid body parts, mostly in the torso area, and they had belonged to females. Was this a trend? Were these characteristics that dungeons found to be desirable? And why were there so many delvers here? Did the Concubine''s mirror not have instancing in effect here? With over 20 floors that she could tribute to the gods she couldn''t spare one to earn such a useful defensive measure? None of them even look like they''re here for a fight, she even caught a few of them copulating with the dungeon monsters. Do people really just come here to copulate? They''re so pathetic she can''t even bring herself to fight them or the monsters. She can only hope that the boss isn''t this pathetic. A pause. Is the boss here just so that people can plow themselves? Shaking that thought off Apas pushed open the door leading to the boss''s room with her front talons.


    "My, my it isn''t often that other dungeons send their monsters here, let alone for a fight." The Mirror could easily be the mascot of the Dungeon, speaking in a feminine voice and currently taking the appearance of a full length silver mirror with it''s frame encrusted with various jewels. That form didn''t last long though, the entire thing cracking and shifting it''s form, getting down on four legs while two wings of shattered glass formed coming from the back, all the broken glass flipping over to reveal the exact form of Apas. "I hope you weren''t-"


    Apas pounced on her counterpart, rolling across the ground with her as the two of them pecked at each other. The trick with air magic probably wouldn''t work on a inanimate object, even one masquerading as a living creature. Then the best way to settle it is to apply violence. The two clawed and bit at each other, stabbing with beaks and tearing with claws as they wrestled with each other on the ground, Apas taking flight in the middle of the brawl in order to repeatedly smash the opponent into the ground, with a final plunge of her beak Apas severed the coroded artery of the creature, inflicting a fatal wound and causing her opponent to shatter like a pile of glass. The remains of the boss evaporated into mots of magical particles and eventually came back down as a mirrored shield.


    [Goddess of Monsters Echidna has taken notice of the Dungeon: Dungeon Keeper]


    Her business finished here Apas prepared to return to Keeper, mirror shield underneath her talon foot as she prepared to leave.


    [This space is sealed, you are unable to use the return function]


    "My my my." A massive amount of hostile energy had gathered behind Apas. The intensity of a Rank of power several times her own was leaving her unable to move. "It has been quite some time since someone has been so foolish as to cause trouble in our place of business." The sound of someone stomping their foot expelled the hostile aura. Apas could finally breathe as she turned to face the creature that was behind her, a horned humanoid, four of them to be precise twisted into long and thin spirals, she had cherry red skin and a uniform that while it covered her body leaving only the hands and head expose also didn''t seem to be built for combat, a servant''s uniform maybe but Apas didn''t know. Hooved feet were crossed with one another as she sat while a spaded tail flickered in annoyance. "You aren''t aware of this so allow me to put this bluntly, the blessing of the seventh floor comes from master Asmodeus, the demon lord of lust, who''s able to directly convert desires from others into raw energy, we succubi are able to stockpile that energy. Combine that with the amount of time we''ve had to do so in a place that has no hostile intentions thus far and well..." Normal Succubi, D Rank monster. Concubine Bejeweled Mirror Dungeon Succubi, B- Rank! "Mirror wouldn''t like having a memory of her defeat left lying around, so we''ll allow you to take your prize and return to your dungeon, but if you do this again your Dungeon is going to learn what it''s like to fight a group of B-Ranks. Understood?"


    Apas nodded in the affirmative, and then was allowed to leave.

 Mystery

    So then, Jewel''s dungeon is off limits then eh? I''ll eventually have to prepare an appropriate apology gift for her, but not right now. Graves already isn''t talking to me either, I guess this means we''ll have to focus on Lithilas''s place instead. Or should we try hunting in the sea again?


    Apas shook her head in the negative as she explained things to me.


    Hunting environments are like a game of rock paper scissors. Flying creatures have an advantage over land dwellers because they can attack from the sky. Land dwellers have an advantage over seafarers because they can swim while the sea dwellers can''t climb onto land. Sea dwellers have an advantage over flying creatures because they can just hide underwater when they''re attacked. There are exceptions to the rule though. For instance there are creatures that although they spend their entire lives in the sea are just as well adapted to living on land or flying in the air, just as there are creatures who predominantly are ground base that are just as at home in the air or sea, just as there are flying creatures who frequently dive into the water or walk on land, and that''s without the use of magic. Then you take into consideration a difference in rank, even if they do have an environmental advantage the difference in rank can just brute force that. Apas took a huge risk to go out to the sea to get that shark for me, but she''ll also be taking a huge risk if she goes out over the land with the humans hunting her, and Graves and Jewel have blocked me off.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Lithilas, I''ll apologise to Jewel later, do you know where we can find a dungeon with D-Ranks inside of it that we can use to bring up mine and Apas''s level?]


    [Lithilas: Is that the name of the Griffin you sent to harass Karzan?]


    [Lithilas: Fighting against multiple opponents and experiencing a diverse array of stimulus is necessary in order to promote her growth you do understand right?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: My chief priority is survival, and not getting locked out of my own dungeon again]


    [Lithilas: Well if you do not wish to slog through my E-Ranks again there is one more dungeon that you shouldn''t mind having a bad relationship with]


    I was on the coast, where every Dungeon was getting harassed and wiped by that Leviathan guy, the others are different though, they are further inland, where that Conquerete guy would be located, but he has been focusing on dealing with Lithilas all this time, he shouldn''t have had the leeway to go around bullying other dungeons like Leviathan does. Lithilas might have access to dungeons that we don''t, be fighting ones we don''t know about.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Will it be faster than delving into your dungeon?]


    [Lithilas: It will provide a better result]


    Well, it''s not like I can argue with that.


    [Dungeon Keeper: When can we leave?]


    As I asked, a new option appeared in front of me.


    [Raid in Progress: Lithilas Dungeon City vs Mimic Mystery Mansion]


    Alright then, that sounds like it might be able to work. I simply went through the usual process and had Apas sent over to the enemy territory.


    <hr>


    Apas appeared in open territory, which was rather odd considering that this was supposed to be inside of a dungeon, keyword being ''Inside.'' Instead she found herself in the middle of a lawn, a large hedge maze before her.


    "Oh. It''s you." Apas looked to the side, where Karzan walked beside in goblin form, his mount was looking significantly smaller than before. Killing them won''t do her a lot of good right now. "We''re already inside of the dungeon, this Mimic bastard is part of a rare breed that likes to expand outwards instead of down." Karzan pointed up to the sky. "It''s not a barrier, the bastard got an invisibility blessing for the dungeon, so he had an entire dome built around the area." He indicated the hedge maze. "That''s the outermost layer. Expanding outwards means that his monsters get stronger the further out from the centre that he started from as opposed to getting closer, your first D-Rank is in there."


    And so, Apas flew over the maze. These plants were vaguely familiar in their own way, like the tree that the skull was planning to convert into a monster, but only closer in the end result that was being aimed for instead of it''s current configuration, and she sensed it from the entire maze. Had the Keeper sent along a will-o-wisp with her, she would assign it the task of burning down the entire maze to expose whatever creature lay at the centre of it, or simply eliminate it outright. Instead it would be coming to her. While she flew above the Bear rider entered the maze proper, and the enemy revealed itself taking the form of vines to wrap around and attack the two of them. Apas in the meantime swooped down, claws raking through the plants with every dive as she looked for the enemy. Then the Bear rider''s eyes glowed, his body and his bear growing as they assumed new forms, smaller than the Ogre, or rather more compact as might be the more accurate phrase.


    [C Rank Monster Oni-A high ranking general under the god of Conquest, the sheer bulk of the Ogre has been sacrificed for raw intelligence increase and a mastery over complex magic and martial arts]


    The bear assumed the familiar form of the Black bear. Karzan the Oni twirled his spear around and thrust it into the shadow beneath their feet, suddenly across the entire hedge maze every bush was massacred, stabbed and skewered without mercy by hundreds of shadowy spears. A deep high pitch scream echoed out from the hedge maze, a mass of vines coalesced into the centre of the maze and a being resembling a humanoid mass of shrubbery had appeared.


    [C Rank Monster Blood Letting Topiary-A species of bush grown from blood of living creatures, this one has gained Sapience as a by product of growing to such a massive size and blessings by the God of Symbiosis Castor/Pollux]


    "You bastard!" The giant topiary screamed as it prepared a massive thorn whip, before a third arm and second head ripped itself out of it''s torso. "You and your bitch come over here so that we can tear you apart!" A C-Rank monster, one entire rank higher than Apas, she might be able to defeat this creature, but not without a suitable aide.


    [Would you like to Return to your Dungeon? Yes/No]


    Apas returned to the dungeon, to her Keeper.


    <hr>


    The Boss is a C-Rank monster? A Giant bush thing? Hmm... I have an idea, first you take back the bear paws and then...


    <hr>


    Apas returned to the dungeon raid, she flew around, wind gathering in the air, dust, leaves and other debris sweeping up into the air as she flew, the boss attempted to swipe at Apas as she flew around, however the blows were intercepted by Karzan taking slashes with shadow magic and his spear. Then Apas scraped the two brown bear paws on each other and set fire to all the dust that was being built up in the air around them, setting off a massive explosion as the entire monster went up in flames. A few desperate swings later, some screeching and cursing and death threats, and the tree was down for the count, it''s body rapidly breaking down into motes of light and reformed into the shape of a gnarled wooden staff with two heads.


    [Giant Slayer-Kill a monster one rank higher than you. Reward: Double Point gains. Next Achievement 2/5]


    [The God Castor/Pollux is watching you.]


    Another god, that''s the second one that she''s managed to get the attention of, and she''s not sure that it''s a good thing. For now Apas just went to pick up the reward for the objective while she pondered the implications, double Points gain, which means that she''ll be able to earn more just by hunting E-rank monsters, it might be worth it to go back to Lithilas''s dungeon. Speaking of which the goblin picked up the staff, and it was a goblin too, perhaps with the enemy boss dead he and his mount had returned to it''s base form, which would make taking that staff from him much, much easier.


    "I will hold onto this for you, for now you and your flight is needed to get up there." Karzan indicated the mansion, the top most floor. Apas on the other hand wanted to take a piece out of the next boss instead of flying overhead and scouting. "You want to fight the boss? Do you know what or where it is then?"


    Those were decent points. Had she known that she would be fighting a plant in advance she would''ve brought one of the Will-o-wisps along with her. So Apas circled around. She didn''t see any creatures in the yard, at least none that were moving, but then again the boss in the hedge-maze wasn''t just a monster, but also the hedge itself, after a few creative modifications into the ugliest attempt at a statue she''s ever seen. If you''re talking about the most obvious and prominent examples in the yard, that particular honour went to the fountain statue of a warrior mounted on a horse and very prominently raising a sword of running liquid into the air, that of course raises the question of what kind of dungeon doesn''t have any monsters wandering around?


    "''Mimic Mystery Mansion.'' The Mystery is where this blasted place is going to get you from next. We think the first thing that this place managed to eat was a mimic. Ever heard about them before?" Apas shook her head in the negative. "The ultimate ambush predators, creatures with a predisposition to disguising themselves as inanimate objects in order to lure victims in close, and then eat them when they''re in range." Karzan indicated the mansion. "See that there?" Apas nodded. "It wasn''t here before the Dungeon was, it appeared around it and then the dungeon grew into it, or the dungeon grew it."


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Jewel was much the same way in some respects, instead of expanding down into solid rock she built herself up, either into a pre-existing building or using contracted beings to install the extra floors while she manipulated the foundation so that they could go higher and higher and higher still. But this was different.


    "Every time someone goes into that place they disappear, the entire mansion could be one big mimic, or there''s something even more horrible inside that''s using that place as their base of operations. Not having any info is simply not acceptable and you are going to help us get to the bottom of this." Even a C-Rank was only worth eight points, with Giant Slayer the next one will be worth twice as much. So Apas agreed to cooperate, for as long as the power kept flowing into her and her Keeper. "Come on, this place is working to supply that Conquerete bastard with supplies to fix and upgrade itself."


    Apas has no idea who that is and she honestly doesn''t care, she needs at least two more C Ranks worth of points under her belt and the enemy was waiting for her. Apas informed the Goblin about the statue in the garden, didn''t know if it was a a mimic or the like but it was worth a modicum of caution, if he transformed again Apas would know what they''re dealing with and can implement her own special surprise. According to Karzan however the statue was either a Golem or a Gargoyle, which one depended entirely on what kind of materials that Conquerete bastard has been feeding this damned tick in exchange for resources, probably a Golem if they''re both being honest, it''s kind of Conquerete''s entire shtick. The difference being that ''a Golem is a automaton created intentionally in order to facilitate a specific given task'' whereas a Gargoyle is ''a monster born from a statue that has been saturated by power and mana and given life.'' The difference didn''t really matter much to him though, as instead he simply understood what his objective was, that being to smash the statue before it could have the opportunity to strike. With that he and his mighty mount charged, spear aimed directly at the statue with the intention of smashing it, provoking the boss and allowing him to gain access to his transformation in order to then smash the statue with brute force. Karsan''s blade pinged against the stone, and no reactiong was had by it, the water on the other hand shifted around in order to grab Karsan and his bear by their heads in order to forcibly drown them as it had attempted with the millipedes back in Conquerete''s dungeon. Karsan grew bigger more muscular, and so did his bear, becoming C Rank monsters. Then the statue started to move, but rather than move under the influence of a golem spell or because it was a gargoyle monster the river slime instead just broke about the hollow statue into a set of stone plate armour. And then a rock fell on it crushing it, courtesy of Apas, of course she spared the little goblin and his mount, he still had the staff after all, and she needed that for Keeper. Besides this fight wasn''t over yet, the ground broke apart and from the cracks a slimy clear substance emerged.


    [C-Rank Monster Ocean Slime-A slime that has been able to grow to a simply massive size, compared to looking at the ocean]


    [Would you Like to end the Dungeon Raid? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    Apas once again returned to her dungeon home.


    <hr>


    How do I kill an ocean? I would use cement but where would I get... that much... oh.


    It took longer than last time to return to the raid, but Apas was busy gathering the supplies. Sand from the beach, clay bricks from the humans construction sight, and I provided the limestone, after all three were broken down and mixed together into a fine powder I deployed not just Apas but rather Archie as well.


    <hr>


    This time when Apas returned she wasn''t alone.


    "Feel our wrath you abomination!" Archie''s and Apas''s powers combined to blow the cement mixture into the rapidly expanding hole where the Slime was getting ready to eat all of them, it had already swallowed Karzan and the bear who were in the process of being drowned by it, but with Archie''s control over the limestone and other organic particulates he was able to quickly pull them back out of the muck. Then Apas blew her winds once more. Organic particulates were gathered together, the spark was lit, and the entire area around the slime was turned into one massive oven as the mucky creature screamed while it attempted to lash out at them. In the end a new statue had taken up residence in the middle of the lawn, trailing off the power of light as it reformed into a large blue back pack.


    "That was a C rank?" Archie asked tapping the stone with the spear he took from Karzan, receiving the notification of Giant Slayer in the process. "I see, with this we are one step closer to the master''s increase in power. Still, Giant Slayer may only apply to us, for the master it may be better to just finish off the rest of the mansion before we do anything else." Archie explained and Apas had to nod to the point.


    "That most likely won''t be necessary." Karzan picked up the bag and put the two headed staff inside of it before tossing the whole thing to Archie, who traded the spear for the staff instead. "You two are a part of the dungeon, the three of you share achievements, one more should do it. Thanks by the way, just because I respawn dying isn''t unpleasant." For now Karzan turned around to face the rest of the mansion. "There''s another boss in there, somewhere. It might be stronger than the last two, it might be weaker, if you two have a plan on how we might be able to kill it I''m listening."


    Apas had some ideas, using wind magic to slice and smash the hunks of concrete that was the carcass of the boss. Archie followed this up slamming his foot into the stone, raising the chunks of concrete up into the air and fired them directly at the mansion with enough force to break the walls down. Either the Mansion was a monster or it was full of monsters, either way this tactic would net them a plethora of points. Window''s, walls, the roof, all of these things found chunks of concrete hurled through them until the mansion itself fell apart at the seams, that said they were far from done yet. The rubble was thrown off by animated suits of armour, from the gaps in the rubble small bejeweled insects dragging along looped threads crawled out of the rubble, and finally one eyed massive tongued blocks of flesh the size of a one story room emerged. The Mimic Mystery mansion was built on a foundation of deception, the first thing it ate was a liar, a creature who lies to hunt and lies to protect itself, Even it''s monsters were built on a foundation of lies, suits of Animated armour, easily mistaken for mere decoration, waiting until unsuspecting victims passed by before they step out and fight directly, the jeweled spiders resembles amulets, the kind of magical accessories that people equip for the purpose of using them to spit fire, shoot ice, spew lightning and the list goes on, not only would these things be able to do all these things, but people willingly, if unknowingly, hang a garrote around their necks, the mimics were easily the size of a room, on the inside the difference wouldn''t likely easily be recognised. Now the MMM would be taught a valuable lesson, all the lies in the world won''t help against sheer brute force, not if the opponent already knows your tricks.


    "I thought something seemed off." Karsan stated looking at the mansion suspiciously. "You two should go back now, this scouting mission is finished. The amount of space the mansion has prepared is far too large to be filled by a mere two or three floor dungeon. There''s likely even more floors underground, designed to wreck where the tricks and traps fail." Already the rubble was starting to fall into the underground areas. But that said they were not yet done here. Apas released another spiral of wind magic and swept through the enemy forces scooping up the necklace like creatures and bringing them to her, and they were torn apart in her talons and were promptly dumped into the waiting bag. Then they opted to end the raid.


    Karsan snorted as they left, the new dungeon is clever, with a unusual talent for unconventional tactics. If they had to attack either the Blood Letting Topiary or the Ocean Slime normally they would both end up getting wiped out, the master was good at picking allies it would seem. But for now he left and returned to his master.


    <hr>


    The Griffin emerged from the dungeon, confirming Charles suspicions that she and the dungeon would be connected together, for even more proof, she didn''t even attack any of them, simply went out to the beach and swept up the sand using her wind magic and pored it into the dungeon, further evidence that the Griffin was acting under the influence of another. The question here is why would do that? Was the Dungeon using the sand in order to make something? That wasn''t anywhere near as concerning as what it implies. Normally a Dungeon reaches sapience after accumulating twenty floors, by Charles estimates the dungeon only has enough room to set up two, what is a dungeon with less intelligence than a toddler doing with the sand? Too many things weren''t adding up, and Charles needed answers. Then all of a sudden the dungeon trembled, the sound of it adding a new floor which wasn''t unexpected, what is unexpected though was that it was only adding another floor now, if it''s had the help of the Griffin all this time it should''ve speed run through several floors already. Charles finally had enough waiting and decided on an investigation himself. Charles began with an inspection of the progress being made for the fortress. They lack true fort walls, but the spikes of wood would make deterrents if any of the creatures attempt to rush this place. Balista were being built, planks cut several feet long, reinforced with brass plates and strung with horses hair, to knock any flying monsters out of the air with arrows of sharpened logs. Hunters had already picked off some of the monsters from the surrounding area and had now strung them up and were salting them for preservation. As many matters as he was currently able to deal with had been dealt with, the next matter was getting to the dungeon itself and determining what was going on inside of it. A easy task for someone of his calibre, not so much for his men.


    "Young master you mustn''t!" Charles''s aide was attempting to stop him, fully aware of what he was planning on doing right here and now.


    "The Dungeon is but a sprout." Charles stated by way of reply. "The Griffin is the only creature of concern."


    "It''s because there''s a Griffin in there that I am trying to ask that you don''t enter that place!" The aide counteracted vehemently.


    "Oh so no one can enter the dungeon because there''s a D-rank in there? I guess we should all pack up and go home now." Charles brushed off his aide''s concern as he walked onto the boat for the patrols and took a seat, indicating for the men who would be paddling the boat to move along and start rowing to the other-side of the mountain. Then it was just a simple matter of magically creating thrusts of flame with his feet hovering up to the cave in question, a relatively minor issue for a fourth circle mage such as himself as he began looking around where he knew that the door was. "I know that you know I am here." Silence. "I have come to parley!" Again Silence. "I can protect you from Leviathan!" Silence again. As Charles was preparing to look for the hidden Mechanism that he knew to be built into the wall the stone slab lowered itself directly before him. Charles hovered onto the drawbridge, walking into the jaws of the proverbial beast as he looked over at the creature sitting across from him at the negotiation table, a skeleton dressed in a brown tunic, a two headed staff at his side, a warlock going off the feeling of power that he was giving off. "Are you the one who speaks for the dungeon? There are those who would take issue with a undead acting as the dungeon''s voice. Why don''t you ask the Consecrated Mass Grave? His oh so precious Order of the White Flame nearly torched him when they discovered their dead brethren turned into a mass of shambling undead." Charles pulled out two cups and a flask and proceeded to poor two drinks. "But neither you nor your dungeon is interested in that are you?"


    "No. We are not."

 Blessing

    Apas and Archie returned to the Dungeon, equipped with goods aplenty. The [Ocean Slime Back Pack] came complete with its own bigger on the inside storage space, one that would be quite useful were it integrated into say a dungeon floor but not in its current form not until the next time they went out on a raid anyway. The second was the [Twin Staff of Castor and Pollux] which gave all sorts of bonuses in regards to the plant life that was rapidly building up in my dungeon, but not the point. The Final was the [D Rank Schema Amulet Jewel Spider] that Apas had the foresight to pick up from the Dungeon she just raided.


    Hopefully this would be enough to appease Jewel. But the Biggest harvest of them all came from the sum of the battle against the enemy forces.


    [Dungeon Keeper 100/100 Please select a region for your new floor]


    A glowing map of the mountain appeared before me, but I didn''t have much of a choice, after all I was almost at the top of the mountain as it is, so I only had the choice to go a floor deeper. A faint rumble was heard as the wall and floor in my core room collapsed into a staircase, my core dropping into the floor below. Already I felt my consciousness expand into the deeper floor, revealing to me the scenery of a narrow hallway that was rapidly becoming overgrown with roots stretching across the walls and floor, my new core room inside of the hallway that the staircase directly led to. I''d have to work on that later.


    [Please Select the ''Theme'' for your new floor]


    [Cemetery: Due to your use of Undead you have unlocked the option of a floor themed around death and the undead]


    [Lake: Due to having manufactured a huge number of aquatic type monsters in your dungeon you have unlocked a floor themed around the use of water and aquatic type monsters]


    [Forest: Due to the presence of a large amount of greenery in this floor a one time offer of woodland theme with a schema for woodland type monsters has been unlocked. Notice: High probability of attracting a nature type god to bless this floor]


    Well, I can hardly argue with a deal like that.


    [Selected: Forest Theme]


    The Dungeon shook lightly grasses covered the ground, the walls of the mine were covered in thick mosses. Already I felt like the limit on how many hallways I could have was reached, thanks to the methodical dismantling of the mountain for resources that was performed by Lithilas''s people I was now standing in a block of hallways all lined up directly next to one another. But for now that was the least of my concerns.


    [Please choose from one of three Forest Themed Monster Schema''s]


    [E Ranked Schema Hobgoblin-A Goblin that has successfully seized control over it''s tribe and has seized more resources for itself, as a result it has grown into a larger and stronger form]


    [E Rank Schema Brownie-The Fey offspring of the Unseelie Queen the Brownie is the cousin to the more common goblin, equipped with the power to manipulate shadow and fey magic and gifted with a boon of furious stabbing]


    [E Rank Schema Gnoll-A Hyena type Lycanthrope, weaker than their werewolf cousins but also far more numerous and intelligent enough to wield weapons with which to fight]


    Despite my earlier misgivings about missing out on the Goblin Schema, I had no intention of taking the Hobgoblin schema instead. Rather, I already have an Ogre Schema, so why would I waste a Schema just to downgrade? The Brownie was tempting, but I already had the niche of a small annoying magic type monster to run harassment with the Wisp. No the most tempting of the schema''s that was here went to the Gnoll, a weapon using monster, with confirmation of an even stronger evolution on top of that.


    [Selected Schema: Gnoll]


    Magic coalesced before me and took the form of a humanoid hyena like monster who after looking around knelled to no one in particular, or rather to a being who it didn''t matter in what direction he knelled to since he was literally all around him.


    "Master! I live to serve you!"


    Good for you, I have business left to attend to on the first floor, you stay here and make sure nothing happens to my core.


    "Yes master!" The Gnoll snarled as he spoke but I guess that''s only to be expected, I''ll have to decide what I want to do with him later, right now I need to focus on my first floor, cause according to Archie we have a visitor.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The leader of the human expeditionary force at least has manners anyway, he pored Archie a glass of what I suspected to be alcohol, even though he probably can''t drink it. I had Apas move onto the nest to both hide and protect the eggs.


    "You mentioned before that you have a way of dealing with Leviathan. Speak." Archie stated on my behalf.


    "I am Known as Charles the Ship Breaker, and I am here because Leviathan killed my fiance and her family in the process of one of its blatant pillages, and as such I''ve come seeking revenge." The Man named Charles stated bluntly. "I am here because with the additional power that you will represent by the time that Leviathan gets here we may be able to get rid of it."


    That''s not a plan!


    "I fail to see what you contribute to this." Archie stated on my behalf.


    "Fuel." Charles stated bluntly by way of response. "Fuel for your growth, materials for your schema''s, weapons for you to strike at Leviathan with, and knowledge about the political structure of the rest of the continent."


    Well those were tempting offers. There was only so much information that the others were willing to share with me after all.


    "Do you intend to send your people up here to be sacrificed? How far do you intend to go for your ''revenge?''" Archie asked the question I wanted to know, if this guy was willing to sacrifice his own people, he''d be willing to sacrifice me.


    "Not if I don''t have to." Charles stated bluntly. "In the time to come though there will be monsters coming here. Your dungeon is far away from civilization, and your Griffin has been working very hard to lure them here." Charles explained bluntly. "You need help. So here''s a few suggestions."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    We let the eggs roll around down here for a bit, help them get some exercise, in the mean time I focused on getting the second floor combat ready. Mana and points had been absorbed into the wooden support columns that helped maintain this floor''s structural integrity.


    [Oak Support column 50/50]


    Archie, why are these things point value so much lower than the one on my first floor?


    "They''re significantly smaller than the red wood master, so they take up less power to turn into a monster." Archie''s explanation would''ve been welcome quite a while ago. Whatever, for now I had options to choose from.


    [Three Evolution options available]


    [E Rank Monster Archespore-A violent and dangerous plant that has been mutated by the presence of necrotic energies in the soil] I presume that I have Archie grinding necromancy into the mountain to thank for that.


    [E Rank Monster Small Treant-A young tree that has managed to absorb enough mana and power to achieve sapience, is still fully capable of pulling out it''s roots for mobility]


    [E Rank Schema Snap-Dragon-A species of carnivorous plant resembling a dragon that snaps at nearby monsters in order to eat them.]


    For now I was working with Charles suggestion.


    [You''ve Evolved a Small Treant]


    Dust and moss came loose in the wall as the roots tangled themselves into a hand, cracks appeared in the beam of wood resembling a face, legs split off and everything grew until a human sized treat pulled itself out of the wall. Continuing with Charles suggestion I made a bow, but I had no thread with which to string it. Instead I created a spider, the spider created web, I took the spider''s web and I was able to make more of it, then I was able to string the webbing into the bow. I gave the bow to the Treant and with it''s brute strength it had no trouble pulling back on the draw string. I created another stick of red wood, fletched it with one of Apas''s feathers and tipped it with lime stone shaped into a arrow head before giving it to the Treant. Next I opened up a square shaped porthole in the wall. Naturally I couldn''t see through it, the Dungeon fog as I was calling it wouldn''t let me. But there was one here who could. Archie, if you would?


    "It will be an honour master!" Archie created a pair of eye holes directly above the port hole.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Outside Charles was watching the Dungeon, and saw the hole open up, his own men were setting up a target out on the empty field where they cut down the trees and watched as a arrow came flying out of the dungeon and landed a glancing blow on the target. Then all across the dungeon, several more port holes were formed and dozens more of the arrows came out and nailed the tree stumps.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    So now I have Treant archers, which is good, just not very useful. And I''m leaking mana through these holes that are too small to be considered entrances, so I just set up a few lime stone slides to just come down and cork the mana holes I filled myself with. I have range now, but I should still offset the mana losses, so sinking mana into the trees on the far side of the hallway I had several more branches of mana regenerating trees grown so as to counteract this issue of mana loss in the future battles yet to come. For now I had the Treants resume their positions along the southern most hall of my dungeon, now it was time that I put in some rooms in this place. Charles suggestions for my first rooms for this floor actually surprised me quite a bit, but after proper explanations his reasoning made sense.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Firstly along the eastern wall I created the first room, a dedicated room for my E Rank Spiders. Spiders produce silk, which is apparently roughly as strong as steel even without magic reinforcements. In the mean time I also used the last room on my first floor in order to create a place for storing cement, and a bridge over my pond so that people can get to it easier. Am I being inconsiderate? Tough. The nest is for Apas, it''s their fault for not inventing the wheel barrel. The next room that I made was out of consideration for my Gnolls, and my E Rank Wolves.


    Turns out that Jewel''s scamming those people who are all flooding into her dungeon quite spectacularly. Her monsters either get knocked up with or knock up the delvers, and produces a child, the child formed half from her dungeonness half from the delvers is born as a sort of pseudo contracted monster, but without the awkward limitation of only one per floor. Charles and his men would bring dogs from the outside in and mate with my wolves which would then produce half dungeon half delver wolves similar to what Jewel has been doing, these creatures would then be allowed to go out and hunt filing up my point meter passively. Yes Please! With this in mind I sent the signal for Charles and his men to begin their resource harvesting, an arrow fired at the target his men set up on the field of stumps.


    "Take those crates and get them outside!" To Charles command a mage inscribed some kind of rune onto the crates full of Cement I created which allowed him to pick them up and carry them outside over the bridge I put in. I turned outside next to my entrance, where a winch system had been set up in order to lower the crates to the water on a elevator like contraption, where a boat took them around to the other side of the mountain. Next Charles led his people down to my second floor, a pair of slave women. Though unsettled by the wolves and Gnolls the two of them set to work with a loom weaving the silk from the spiders into sheets, in the mean time Charles himself inspected my Treants, their bows, and sighed in disappointment.


    "I''ll bring some people down here later to fix these bows."


    What exactly was wrong with my bows?


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Motivated by equal parts spite and curiosity I once again borrowed Archie''s eyes to look out at the camp below. Contrary to my initial expectations the large plus sized sheets that Charles slaves were making weren''t destined to be used in linen or as clothing but instead went straight to the walls.


    The Easily one in a half story sheets were spread out on a open flat surface made by over laying the stumps with planks. Once flat a cement mixture was prepared and thinly painted along the sheets of silk until they were completely covered, and another sheet layered on top of it. Now that was done another mage came by and chanted some kind of magic, all the moisture in the wet cement was removed hardening it and gluing the two sheets together, and then another layer of cement and sheet was added on top of that. This process repeated for the next few hours until finally there was a two meter in a half slab of concrete and silk sitting in front of my dungeon, at which point in time the entire thing was pulled up with ropes and cattle and landed into a trench on the other side of the clearing they had made. One group of workers went around the other side to put in the finish touches so that the wall would be harder to break and climb, while the others worked on the second wall.


    I think I heard about this from... where doesn''t matter, the idea was that the alternating layers of soft and hard can take a hit better then just hard by itself, this in turn makes the wall harder to break or penetrate, doubly so considering that part of the material was made out of a substance stronger than steel. I had to adjust my portholes to make sure that the Treants could still hit things on the other side of the wall, which now led to the subject of their bows.


    As Charles said he would a ''real bow'' was dropped in my midst for me to study. At either end of the bow was a pair of pully''s attached to each other via a string that looped around both, the draw strength behind the weapon was easily doubled, not only that but it also had a box attached to the whole thing, a handle in the back attached to a second smaller box inside of the first. This box was attached to the middle of the bow had a built in sliding mechanism that once the second box was pulled back it would bring a arrow with it, and by pulling a trigger on the bow it would fire the arrow inside. Then when the box is pushed back into place it would load another arrow automatically. A pulley system to increase the draw strength of the weapon, and a feeder so that multiple shots could be fired in rapid succession, all strapped to a long bow and equipped to my super humanly strong monsters. In the time that people were outside of my dungeon floors I continued to ponder the benefits of adding doors to divide the rooms and decided to go for it, creating switches for people to open along the way as a way of extra security for myself. Even if the humans were neighbours that still doesn''t justify not having doors, and they''re nice doors too, they slide down dramatically as people walk by, unless I decide to lock them. With my first floor nearing completion there was one thing left to do now, that being to consult with Lithilas.


    [Lithilas: So you''ve almost completed work on your first floor eh?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I plan on posting Apas for my boss. Is that allowed?]


    [Lithilas: It is. It can even create a relatively unique boss fight too, rarely is one of their battles held in the open air around the dungeon itself]


    [Dungeon Keeper: So if I decide to go with Apas I should put the boss room first?]


    [Lithilas: Whatever is most convenient for you. The true point of interest for you though is the name. After naming your first floor your consciousness will be immediately dragged off before a group of divinities to decide on a sponsorship for your floor]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Who should I pick as my first sponsor?]


    [Lithilas: Someone unpopular. Your dungeon represents a potential foothold for them into this world, but many of them will already have other dungeons elsewhere that they can use instead. If a popular entity "honours" you with its grace you can be expected to do tasks for them, tasks you maybe unwilling or unprepared to do. On the other hand an unpopular entity has to work harder to create a suitable blessing, and won''t be in a position to make such haughty demands of you]


    [Lithilas: As for who specifically? Remember that an unpopular entity is considered unpopular for a reason]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Thank you for your advice]


    With that I brought my consciousness to my first room, to the nest. Apas watched intently as I selected the options of the room.


    [Make Boss Room? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    The changes were apparent immediately, torches lighting up at either side of my entrance. Turning to face Apas I asked the question.


    [Make Contracted Monster Apas the Griffin Boss? Yes/No]


    Apas looked at me intently, and nodded her head.


    [Yes.]


    A glow beamed around Apas''s body and I took a step back as I overlooked my floor.


    The Roost!


    Suddenly I felt my consciousness get pulled out of my body and into some kind of starry place, constellation like entities were standing in the sky looking over me judgingly, not as many as some would like, but then again my Roost is basically a hole in the side of a mountain. And yet one had been here longer than the others and I zeroed in on that entity as the night sky gave way to some kind of meeting room. A bony woman dressed in silks, her face a crooked nose and her hair shades of grey and white, over all she gave the impression of a middle aged Madam past her prime if not for one detail. Her legs, her legs that had been replaced by two long snakes that were slithering about the area. Then a name appeared in my mind: Echidna.


    Well ugly is a bit of a exaggeration on Jewel''s part. Finely aged would be a better-


    "Save the flattery." The snake woman rasped as she put her smoking pipe down.


    Saving it.


    Echnida snapped her fingers as I felt new information enter my mind.


    [C Ranked Evolution for Apas: Sphinx]


    Images appeared in my mind, a woman with the limbs of a Sphinx and the wings of a hawk was rampaging destroying an entire town through sheer savage might.


    [Summoning magic Circle: Genie]


    Summoning? Don''t I already do that?


    "You create, which is to bring an entity into existence on the spot, this is summoning, which is to bring an entity from somewhere else to you." Echidna snapped her fingers again. "Don''t worry, I''m not asking for much." More information appeared in my mind.


    [Create a demi-human city. Destroy the Scorpion in the North]


    Okay, that''s not ominous at all.


    [Yes/No]


    I suspect that it would be considered incredibly rude if I ask to have some time to think about it.


    "You''re not wrong."


    And so I instead humbly accept this weirdly specific blessing.


    [Yes]


    "Hehehe. Let me know how things turn out with Apas."


    Letting out that ominous statement I was sent back to my core room, from the nearby limestone a familiar figure emerged, Apas, or a statue of her. Nodding my head in satisfaction I went back to see Apas in the nest, Limestone in the form of dust dropped from the wall of my dungeon. I went into my fifth chamber on my first floor, I remembered the pattern for the magic circle Echidna gave me and I laid it down. She actually gave me four magic circles, wind, earth, water and fire genies. With this in mind I zeroed in on the one that I felt suited me best.


    [Summoning: Ifrit]


    The room was swept with fire from which emerged a thin looking man with a head of fire and horns like a goat.


    [Contract with Summoned Entity: Ifrit Yes/No?]


    Well here goes nothing.


    [Yes]


    And a new link was formed connecting me together with the creature that I summoned and then I switched my perspective over to it. This was... different. I didn''t have the thoughts of the Ifrit in me, it was like it had none of it''s own.


    [C Rank Monster Ifrit-Like most Genies, a Ifrit lacks in a will of it''s own, instead it''s power is shaped by the desires of those who bond with it]


    So I took over a empty shell? Well now that is impressive. I went to the pond room next and looked down at my reflection in the water. I was completely different from the Ifrit I had summoned before, I wore a hood and some kind of mask over my face and glasses were covering my eyes. It was as if every facet of my identity had been completely obscured, I even went as far as to try and will a face into being through the mask but nothing came of it. Fine then. The big part here was at the entrance, with eyes I could call my own I looked outside of my dungeon for the first at the great blue sea that was before me, eyes hit with the light from the sun as it rose in the east, at long last freed from the prison of my own body. Apas walked out with me and sat down on the draw bridge with me. I couldn''t physically breathe but I sucked deep of the fresh air around me and smiled. The sea was beautiful, it was hard to imagine that this beautiful sea would soon become a battlefield.


    "You won''t get to eat me Leviathan. I won''t let you." I raised my head up and fire spewed up into the sky in a roar of provocation. Naturally, I did what anyone does after getting some good news and I went online so that I could talk to all my friends about it.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Who has two thumbs and a body!? This guy that''s who!?]


    [Graves: !?]


    [Jewel: !?]


    [Graves: You have a dungeon avatar already!?]


    [Jewel: We don''t even have avatars yet!]


    I suspect I may have screwed up a bit.


    [Lithilas: Obviously he picked a good choice for his first sponsor]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Yeah. Echidna worked hard for me, I guess she took being rejected by Jewel pretty hard]


    [Jewel: Echidna!?]


    [Jewel: How in Aphrodite''s name does Echidna equate to getting a dungeon Avatar!?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Who knows.] I wasn''t about to tell her what happened. Not for free anyway. [Dungeon Keeper: Which reminds me.]


    [Dungeon Keeper has sent Jewel a D Rank Schema, Amulet Jewel spider]


    [D Rank Amulet Jewel Spider-A particularly vicious species of spider bred by the Mimic Mystery Mansion, is born attached to a magic enchantment that offers a unique effect, by stringing a web between it''s two hind legs and curling up can mimic the appearance of a magic amulet, then at the dungeon''s command the web can become a garrote]


    [Jewel: Mimic''s spider Schema? I''ve been trying to steal one from him for years!]


    [Jewel: How!? How!? HOW!?]


    [Chat Administrator 342 Lithilas has banned Jewel from Chat for one hour Reason: Come back when you''ve calmed down Jewel]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Thank you for the advice Lithilas. It was because of what you said earlier that I chose Echidna]


    [Lithilas: Just paying you back for getting Conquerete off my tail]


    [Lithilas: Keep up ingenuity like this and who knows. Maybe you''ll become a real "Dungeon Keeper" in do time]


    [Lithilas: For now keep up the resource production. Whoever you''re working with should be doing quite well for now but that won''t last forever, you''ll have to deal with a monster stampede eventually. They''ll be drawn in as your core and power grows bigger and bigger, lured by the scent of fresh mana and points]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Then they will become my points first]

 Symbiosis

    Charles was sitting in the underground fortress alongside his neighbour in the Dungeon Keeper. Not too far away the scribe was busily painting something as other people worked on building up more of the fortress. The Dungeon Keeper of course was wearing his new Avatar form like a suit.


    "So you''re really selling the idea that this Ifrit is your dungeon avatar?" Admittedly my fiery avatar was looking a little more dim than usual, after I walked off my drawbridge thinking that I could fly, and it turned out I couldn''t. I didn''t know how. "You do understand that Avatar''s aren''t supposed to be able to leave their dungeon right?"


    "I just wanted to go outside! Is that so bad!? I''ve been inside for weeks!" My complaints went unanswered.


    "Build a staircase for your dungeon then." Charles stated as if it was obvious. "Either that or lessons on how to use that body." The Scribe clapped his hands twice to get the group''s attention and then proceeded to turn around the painting that he had been working on. It closely resembled a coat of arms, but it was splayed with the image of a griffin.


    "If that''s supposed to be Apas, then you should know that she might be getting an upgrade soon, the Blessing I just got included Sphinx form for her as part of the deal." The Scribe looked like he could cry. Picking up the beautiful painting he looked at it one last time before raising it above his knee.


    "It''s not appropriate to paint your girlfriend''s tits all over our shields and banners, no matter how much the men would like to look at them. We''re sticking with the Griffin iconography." The Scribe jumped over and hugged Charles with his arms and legs in an expression of sheer joy, he pushed the man off of him.


    "My list of monsters says that I got a griffin Schema, I''ll be able to start producing them in a bit more time." Whenever I get brought up to making D Rank Monsters.


    "We might just ask you to do that. At that time we''ll bring some mares over to begin producing offspring with them." Winged horses for him and the men to fly around in battle. I could get behind that.


    "What do you know about the Scorpion of the North?" I asked looking at the knight before me with interest. "My sponsor told me to destroy it."


    "Dangerous, that''s what it is. Are you sure you didn''t pick the right sponsor?" Charles asked looking at the Dungeon.


    "Picking a fight with Leviathan isn''t dangerous?" I asked suspiciously.


    "Yes it is. The Scorpion probably refers to a group of slave dealers who work up north, their symbol is the manticore, head of a human, body of a lion, scorpion tail." Ah yes, a fusion of the three deadliest animals on the planet. Well no not really... my head hurts. "They mainly deal in non-humans."


    "Which may tie into the other half of the request that she gave me, building a demi-human city." Which would be difficult mostly because I didn''t know what that means.


    "Demi-humans is a catch all term for sapient non-human races. Human, Elves and Dwarfs were all created by using a purely human template, I come from the base species, Elves and Dwarfs from attempts to improve upon them through the same system of evolution that your monsters go through." Charles explained in simple terms.


    "Did they? Improve upon them I mean?" I asked my human ally.


    "There are pros and cons. Longer life spans, improved physical ability, greater magical power. But they lose out in one aspect: Fertility and growth. An Elf or Dwarf will age at one tenth the rate a human does, and that includes growing into adulthood, a female human ovulates once a month, an Elf or Dwarf once a year." To Charles the message was clear. ''If you want to have a family go stay safe behind your walls with the rest of the rabble. The rest of you, grind.'' "But demi-humans are different. As opposed to ''a type of human'' and demi-human is ''a monster that has acquired human features.''"


    "Like the manticore? Or the monsters in Jewel''s dungeon?" That''s why Echidna tried to give Jewel a sponsorship, a city of human monster hybrids is popping up over there thanks to her antics but that just warrants more questions. "A city? Is that why she''s zeroed in on me?"


    "Perhaps." Charles stated bluntly. "We both know that you''re not a normal dungeon. Most dungeons act according to a predetermined set of instincts determined by what the first thing they ate was. If you were a ''normal'' dungeon that honour would probably go to all this limestone around here, which probably would mean that you would turn into a undead obsessed lunatic like that Consecrated Mass Grave. That though does raise the question of what the first thing you ate was."


    "Ain''t that a pretty private question?" I was legitimately put off by the question.


    "Not really, most of them wear it on their proverbial shirts like a name tag." Charles replied tapping his finger.


    "I''m not." I stated as I tried to act offended.


    "Fine then." Charles looked over the area, the roof was being put on the base as they spoke, adding the last line of defence to this base in the process, at least for now. "After we''re finished securing the roof there''s the matter of the rest of the defences to deal with the stampede." With the matter of their bunker dealt with they would have to start expanding on their defences soon enough. Especially the ones for dealing with Leviathan and the Stampede they kept expecting any day now, and eventually killing the ''Scorpion'' that Echidna told him to get rid of. "I''ve got ideas set for the second floor boss. The stronger my monsters get the worse that we can screw over Leviathan when it gets into range, the question here is should I try and come up with a water level somehow?"


    "Fighting Leviathan in its own territory?" Charles looked like he legitimately thought the idea to be mad.


    "Well I guess that''s to be expected." I said in reply. "I do have an idea for specialists to use against that guy." Which is what led me to the next topic.


    "Getting magic books out here is expensive." Charles stated as one of his people carried in a stack of books that I had asked about, books covering earth magic and necromancy. "I hope your man is able to put this to good use." According to Graves Archie already has materials that put him on pair with a high grade Lich, the key most item that he needs to advance his evolution is knowledge, which these books should cover. "And your second floor boss?"


    I also had ideas on how to advance my second floor as well, the two key pieces that I would need though is the evolved form of my strongest possible tree, the Red wood, and the Blessing of a specific god that I had set my sights on. But first I would have to fill a out a massive 100 000 point requirement. This wasn''t as big a deal as I thought it would be, disconnect the two Monster eggs that I had wandering about my first floor, fill out the meters for all of my tree monsters and now the full power of the points from Archie''s grinding was going into the red wood.


    "We''re half way there." We''re halfway there from two weeks of grinding. "What about on your end?" One Charles people came in carrying the Ocean slime pack I loaned them, one of them reached inside and pulled out a cement foot print that they had made that was bigger than most of the men here.


    "Despite the best efforts of our people to erase your Griffin soon to be Sphinx''s trail..." It would seem that she''s still drawing in monsters.


    "Is she even compatible with something like this?" I asked indicating the fossil.


    "No but in the same way that there are monsters compatible with yours that''s being drawn in, there''s also creatures that prey on them that are being drawn in too." An alarm bell started to ring out. "Speaking of which." Charles went to man his station, I went back into my dungeon.


    Another supply carriage was rapidly approaching the dungeon fortress, being chased by a creature resembling a lion. Archie was already getting ready, it took a very specific skill set to play spotter for blind archers, a set of eyes on the outside of the mountain, grafted directly to a set of binoculars to increase the range he could see. Light crystal attached to a specialised red tinted convex glass to focus the light into a beam that Archie was able to see with spotting the lion like creature that was trying to run down the carriage. Getting the timing perfect, directing the Archer''s aim, and the moments just before the lion came into range, the shot was released, the arrow flew through the sky and the monster was brought down.


    [Dungeon Keeper 135/200]


    [Giant Slayer lvl 2 3/5]


    Luckily the foot traffic has been attracting creatures like this for a while now. With Giant Slayer even F-ranks yield eight points worth of points divided between myself and my monsters. Trying to accelerate Apas''s evolution she''s been spending most of her time at Lithilas''s place grinding for points, at Charles suggestion no less, though it was also a matter of hoping that she would stop attracting so many monsters to the area. No matter.


    "Lion. It doesn''t even have the common decency to be edible." Charles grumbled as he directed his men to dump the creature into my dungeon again.


    I don''t reanimate all of them these days, Archie already has his hands full reanimating the monsters that we were grinding points off of while he was studying necromancy. So instead of acquiring schema''s I couldn''t use or monsters that i had no where to put, I continued to develop my floors, thus I created a river slime to run through my second floor, and when I reach deep enough to connect to the ocean I''ll attach the river slime directly to the ocean to start pumping water into my first floor. For now, Leviathan is drawing near. Charles prepared a war room in the base where he was tracking it''s movements via reports from the places Leviathan visited. The some of it was that Leviathan would attack other fleets, not to destroy, but to add to his own, that was how he increases his number of dungeon floors, when he doesn''t just rip the dungeons out of the ground and drag them behind him that is. I shudder to imagine what kind of hell that monster has been brewing down there. Time was being bought, but not much, I''d like to at least have my second floor boss to fight with before they get here. For now, lets see what the Chat group has to say.


    [Lithilas: Maxing out Giant killer is a good idea, you''ll rack up experience points faster that way]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Your dungeon is taking too long old man, Apas is C Rank, we aren''t going to get any Giant slaying done down there, not until we hit the forties according to you]


    [Lithilas: There''s benefit to fighting additional monsters as well. Your Griffin is starting to get the attention of the gods of my Dungeon]


    Well, it''s not like large flying type monsters are common in tight underground spaces. Still my first floor already has its sponsor.


    [Dungeon Keeper: What about the Scorpion?]


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    [Jewel: They make... attempts to acquire wares from my dungeon and the surroundings, at times breeding them themselves, others stealing them away from those who have]


    Not everyone was suitable for the title of nobility, Jewel''s territory was only a little over 20 years old after all, by the laws put in place do to the agreements between Jewel and her humans only the hybrids would be considered nobility in her ''Bejewelled City'' not their normal full blooded parents. Some people would sooner sell off the child produced in the process than accept nobility in a city state less than a generation old, doubly so if they find themselves with... spares to give away. Naturally Jewel has been cracking down on it but there was a limit to what she could accomplish. It''s not like the people she''s hunting runs around waving a manticore flag everywhere that they go after all. Speaking of which Apas appeared back in my dungeon, flag and the pole it was attached to in her beak.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Think they''re coming over soon? I can send Apas over to wreck them]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I mean she can exit the dungeon proper right? Right Lithilas?]


    [Lithilas: Yes that''s right. Graves put together your contracts as well, all three of us will prepare our forces to deal with these... pests]


    [Would you Like to Raid Dungeon "Bejewelled Concubine''s Mirror?" Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    [Designated Raid Leader: Contracted Monster Apas the Griffin]


    [Transporting in 3. 2. 1.]


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Apas was once again back inside of the Jewel''s dungeon and she wasn''t alone. Graves contracted seemed to consist of various priests from it''s order of the white flame, Lithilas''s looked like a gang of knights, and had considerably more as well. The Priests began contacting their divinities to comb the city state, Lithilas began with a blanket search of the area, but Me? I abused my advantages and flew into the air to comb the entire area. Dungeon mana has a unique scent to it, tells you about what your dealing with. Graves was old and musty, Lithilas smelled like dried bricks, The Keeper was a mixture of scents, the first floor smelled of sea air, the second of the forest, Jewel smelled like the hot desert. Unsurprisingly, the Jewel''s dungeon stuck out of the desert area like a giant needle facing the sky, she probably served as the only source of resources out here in this damned place, and her first six floors were dedicated to procreation, what other buildings that were here were all laced with her mana indicating that it was built using resources from the dungeon.


    It was Jewel''s own fault if you ask her, the only resource that she was offering her delvers were the some what powerful children that she helped them to manufacture, so of course that is what they would be selling off as well. The question here was a matter of where does she find them? If the enemy forces are moving away from the dungeon then she should be looking for a large concentration of Jewel Dungeon mana outside of the confines of the city proper. This might take some time to find. A pause. Scorpion of the North. Last she checked no one actually said that was what their name was, so instead it could be a hint on how to find them, a group who operates in the north. For now Apas flew back to the rest of the people leading the search for answers.


    It is said that dead men tell no tales, unless your a necromancer, then the world''s your blasphemous oyster. Thanks to Graves they weren''t short on necromancers, Blasphemous? Maybe, but when you have people getting killed to separate them from their families desperate times means desperate measures. Apas landed as one of the Knights under Lithilas finished speaking with one of Graves Priests, the dead body that they had just raised had been put back to rest after giving them all the information he could about who had taken his daughter. Nearby a artist finished creating pictures of the men that were responsible, now they would ask around trying to figure out which way they had went or see if they can dig up information on what location they had gone to. They hadn''t done this just once or twice either, they brought every person who died a suspicious death, any one who left family behind that now can''t be contacted, and brought them in for interrogation and reanimation. Sheer numbers sorting through cases that had been taking the area''s dedicated peace keepers and adventurers month''s to solve.


    "CAW!" The others looked up at Apas who was adding her own two cents on the matter.


    "Something you want to add?" Apas knocked over a nearby stand with which the group was planning their strategy meeting and stuck a single talon into the northern part of the map. "''Scorpion of the North.''" The Knight tapped his finger as he recalled the information given to him. "If it''s a hint it''s not a subtle one." But that doesn''t mean that it''s not worth looking into.


    So the forces of the four dungeons rallied together, deciding on a plan of attack. Dungeons can''t sense other dungeons before they gain sapience, they don''t show up on the radar, but if a contracted monster gets close enough, establishes a connection, if there was another dungeon in the north and Jewel can send one of her contracted monsters there to find it then she might be able to establish a connection and send people on a raid, and if she goes on a raid then we can join her on that raid. But not right now, all of the individuals being sent over here has exhausted the leylines of power so for now they should return to their own dungeons.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    For now my attention was on my own house. My second floor had four rooms, one dedicated to spiders where their silk was being gathered together and used to weave sheets of silk which would then be shaped and glued together using the sap of my trees as a binding agent to make body armour. Armour that was now seeing use by my Gnolls. Using weapons provided as loot from my dungeon diving adventures my Hyena''s were now practising close quarters combat, they would be part of my boarding party when we went to fight Leviathan, if it came to it that is, I was hoping it wouldn''t. I couldn''t duplicate loot I got from the other dungeons so for now they had to stick with this hodgepodge of equipment and hope that they got some unique evolutions out of it. For now my third room, my wolf room, where I kept a plethora of wolves for the express purpose of breeding with the Dogs that Charles would bring to me and use them as fodder to help fight against the monsters wandering around the neighbourhood passively giving me mana, in eight more month''s when they would be born, probably a year after that when they would actually be useful.


    Next there was my fourth room, where my river of slime began. I had the slime rise up and breach the first floor connecting to the pond room and letting the fish from above fall down and live inside of itself. Now there was just my fifth room to contend with, the boss room, situated directly under my red wood this particularly massive tree''s large roots were hanging from the ceiling, tangling with the other roots in the dungeon from my various Treants. Thus far each of my rooms on this floor featured the themes of multiple organisms working together, the wolves with Charles dogs, the Slime and my other aquatic creatures, the Spiders and the weavers that were making their silks into cloth and armour, the Gnolls who were working together with each other. Symbiosis, which hopefully means that I''m getting the attention of that twin god from the Mimic dungeon, Castor/Pullox. Because of his blessing that the boss in the hedge maze from the Mimic mansion was able to assimilate the surrounding bushes and grow into a C Rank threat, I bet I can get a similar power up for my boss.


    [Red Wood Tree 50000/100000]


    Just as soon as I can get their power up to a level where they can evolve. Archie?


    "Yes Master?"


    How do we accelerate the tree''s monsterisation?


    "Perhaps if we could include pieces from an already evolved plant type monster to reanimate and fuse into the tree proper?"


    Wait that''s all we have to do? What about the two headed staff, can we use that?


    "Master I am not quite sure if that is how this works. Would that not be the same as handing control over the second floor to another?"


    Do it!


    "As you wish master." Archie put a feather book mark into the tome he was reading and took the staff up to the tree room. With the help of the Gnolls one of the branches was cut off from the red wood leaving behind a sharp point, a similar cut was made into the base of the staff and the two were joined together, as a added layer of security dirt and a silk bandage was wrapped around the grafted tree branch. From there Archie used his magic to reanimate the staff and let it join the tree until a new notification appeared.


    [Red Wood Tree/Blood Letting Bush has met the conditions for a conjoined evolution]


    I love how my brain works sometimes.


    [3 Potential evolution''s have been unlocked]


    [D Rank Monster Red Wood Dryad-When a tree reaches the age of over 100 years it has the potential to spawn a nature spirit known as a Dryad who embodies spring, the spirit cannot leave a 100 foot radius around it''s tree of birth but within that 100 foot radius it is able to control all plant life, the particularly large source tree of this particularly hardy Dryad extends this range to over 1000 meters]


    Which makes her more than sufficient for fulfilling my needs on my second floor. Hell I bet I could get her to take control of the forest outside too.


    [D Rank Monster Blood Letting Leshen-Where nature is disrupted either through a naturally occurring disaster or by the hands of settlers this Spirit of Autum appears to destroy the source of the disturbance. Is able to rally all the animals within a 100 foot radius and summon roots to strike anywhere that it can see. Due to the unique Properties of Blood Letting Bush these roots drain the health of the creatures caught in their roots and replenishes the Leshen''s blood supply]


    Well that would take care of the monster problem, but it''s not what I''m aiming for. Let''s have a look at the last one.


    [D Rank Schema Blood Red Treant-A Treant born of a particularly massive Tree, due to its origins it''s gained a particularly aggressive and blood thirsty demeanor]


    Welp that settles it.


    [Red Wood Dryad Selected]


    Lights emerged from my tree and settled down into the form of a woman wearing large knee length boots and with tree root like toes that were wiggling around like toes as well as large wooden gauntlets complete with fully functional fingers Bearing the twisted faces of Castor and Pollux, her human like private areas were all covered up using large leaves from the red wood. Her hair was long and a bright red, like the leaves watered with blood.


    "Good to meet you Master." The Dryad bowed before me. Meet me in the room below us. "Of course master." The Dryad was pulled into the tree, on the floor below she was lowered onto the ground where we met once more.


    [Make Unnamed Red Wood Dryad Boss? Yes/No]


    I immediately hit the yes button however something else happened too.


    [Please name Red Wood Dryad]


    Well, I suppose that was only logical. Hmm. Treyni, you are Treyni. A swirl of mana surrounded Treyni and the tree that she came from infusing them both with raw power.


    [Treyni the Red Wood Dryad is now the Boss of your Second Floor]


    Which means that there was just on finishing touch left. If Treyni is the centre piece of this place, then she should be treated like one. The Ancient Forest.


    As before I was sucked out of my dungeon and into a realm of moving constellations. I zeroed into one in particular, one with two heads and three arms. I got a feeling I knew why Castor/Pollux had two names, because they were also two people who shared one body. Castor looked remarkably human, like a middle aged man, one who was wearing a toga while he clipped the branches of a bonsai tree, his brother Pollux on the other hand was stunted and shrivelled, sticking out of his brother''s side eating from a bowl of nuts with his one arm.


    "I find it strange that you''re asking us for a favour, considering that you destroyed our boss once already." Castor stated paying attention not to me but his project.


    But I was so impressed with its power your worship.


    "Your Griffin threw dust in it''s face and blew it up." Pollux retorted bluntly.


    Only because the Mystery mansion gave you such poor resources to work with, I know that given better materials you are capable of so much more!


    "Half of the materials are from the Mansion that you destroyed!" Castor snapped bluntly.


    Only because I am in a hurry your greatness, the enemy is at the gate as it were, Leviathan will soon be at my dungeon.


    "And why would we give our blessing to a dungeon that''s soon to be destroyed?"


    Because I intend to defeat it.


    Both of the heads turned to face me, Castor''s pruning sheers snapped shut.


    "You, intend to defeat The Pirate Fleet Leviathan, a A Ranked monster, which to clarify means a being that can threaten an entire continent." The gardener indicated himself and his parasitic twin with his sheers. "With our blessing? I don''t exactly know if you''re aware of this but we''re not exactly war gods you know."


    You say that, but even those pruning shears your using right now can be quite lethal if you put your minds to it.


    "...fine fine! Is the same blessing that we gave to that so called mystery mansion okay?"


    That is what I was hoping for your worship.


    [Blessing of Castor/Pollux: Link together all the plant-life on your floor together in a unified hive consciousness. Secondary form for your Boss monster]


    [Objective: Kill Pirate Fleet Leviathan]


    [Accept Yes/No?]


    [Yes]


    Thank you your-


    "Begone." And with that I returned to my dungeon.


    Already I felt a change in the air as every tree in my dungeon were all linked together in one massive creature, from my archery Treants to even the trees that were sticking outside of the mountain. But that wasn''t all, the light of evolution wrapped Treyni once more, as if waiting for my input. Well don''t mind if I do.


    [D Rank Schema Blood Letting Leshen...]


    [D Rank Schema Blood Red Treant...]


    Well it''s not like I plan for them to go far from the dungeon anyway.


    [D Rank Schema Blood Letting Leshen Selected]


    Treyni suddenly grew larger, gone was the delicate female form and in it''s place was a hulking brute made entirely out of wood, fused into it''s right arm was a two headed staff and in lieu of a head was a fascimily of a deer''s skull carved entirely out of wood. Oh wow, that is impressive, but what happened to the other one. And just like that, the beast was gone, shrunk down and turned back into Treyni who was now wearing a priestess robe. Welcome to the dungeon Treyni!

 Scorpion

    When you''ve advanced enough as a dungeon you obtain certain benefits, in this case that would be a map, depicting the significant area that it covered. On this map was all of the dungeons that it knew of, not only the ones that have grown enough to gain sapience, but also the ones that he knew about through his humans visiting them. Regular patrols were being made to the coastline and a significant portion of his forces were sent there to protect the dungeons that cropped up there. In futility. The Messenger operating the communication crystal shook his head, and I dimmed another dungeon, later cartographers would be back to inform me of how much of the coastline that bastard ripped out of the continent this time in lieu of payment that the dungeons could not afford to give. From what horrors Leviathan was capable of from one of the attempts he''s made the rescue those dungeons Leviathan would ''Keelhaul'' them, drag them along the bottom of the sea floors forcibly stuffing them with materials to facilitate their growth, pieces being constantly scraped off along the way only to then be picked up by Leviathan''s contracted abominations and fed back to the beast itself.


    Nothing advances dungeon growth more than consuming other dungeons. But Dungeons are not designed to operate in this manner, and eventually the core will shatter, being left in so many broken pieces along the ocean floor. Over Time these shards of crystallised mana will either become the seeds of new dungeons or be starved out and broken down to be fed to others. Thanks to Leviathan hundreds of these dungeons had formed along the bottom of the ocean, and thanks to Leviathan hundreds of dungeons have been destroyed time and again. It was barbaric and were it within his power he would go take every dungeon under his command this instant and rip the bastard apart piece by piece but he couldn''t. Conquerete was on the move again, and right now he had to defend himself before he could defend anyone else.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I understand Lithilas. You''ve been a great help thus far. Let me know if there''s anything I can do to help you the next time the bastard comes calling.]


    [Lithilas: Same to you.]


    <hr>


    With that Lithilas left the Chat group, presumably to make preparations to deal with Conquerete. Having done that I now turned to my new partners in crime.


    [Jewel: I have some Aquatic type creatures I can send over to help with the attack on that guy if you like]


    From Aphrodite''s floor right?


    [Dungeon Keeper: No thanks Jewel, I''d rather not have your people caught up when I hit that ship bastard]


    [Jewel: Your Griffin has been working so hard to track down the Scorpion for me though. We even think we know which city they''re going to now. I''d like to be able to thank you if possible]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I need a schema that I can use to freeze a large amount of water]


    [Jewel: ?]


    [Jewel: Is this part of your strategy for defeating Leviathan?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Since I already got my blessing for my Second floor I''d like to start working on my third now]


    [Jewel: Leviathan is coming you know, I don''t know if building up another floor to fend him off is the best course of action that you should be taking]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Not fend off. I intend to attack him. As soon as he gets into range I intend to start kicking his arse]


    [Jewel: ?]


    [Jewel: You''re young, you just don''t know how the world is. Graves, would you mind making a sapphire core for this fool?]


    So she doesn''t even want to waste a Schema on me is that it? I mean unless it''s E-Rank or below it would be wasted on me but that''s not the point, or at least it''s not supposed to be the point.


    [Graves: Sure give me a minute]


    A few moments later.


    [Graves: Done]


    [Holy Water Core: A Silver Undead Core with one sapphire and five diamonds infused with the power of holy and the ability to command water]


    I created another Animated skull and installed the water core inside of it. Now for phase two.


    <hr>


    Charles looked down at the bay of water that stretched out in front of the Dungeon''s entrance. His new business partner came to him with a plan to kill Leviathan, part of that plan involved preparing a tunnel to connect the dungeon to the future third floor via a wooden staircase/tunnel. He was happy that the base he was building for his men wouldn''t get taken over, but at the same time he was also visibly concerned that the dungeon wasn''t thinking about how they were going to kill Leviathan. When asked what his plan was Keeper Merely replied that ''if I talk about it I''m afraid someone will be able to hear it and then patch it'' whatever patching means. No matter, the dungeon is just a tool for his revenge after all. Once the staircase was finished the dungeon swarmed it with its mana, the entire thing turning vine like to create a canopy pathway leading down. If the Dungeon wants to expand into the water now, all the power to it, but Charles has other things that need tending to as well.


    <hr>


    Apas looked down on the city, sad little place that it was, all abandoned ruins and such after being overrun in a monster Stampede. If the Keeper was the dungeon of this place he would''ve eaten the miserable creatures. And yet it wasn''t quite as abandoned as it initially looked, as she could see the smoke from a lit fire off in the distance. A temporary base camp? Or a hub they use to distribute their merchandise over a wider area. She knew how she was going to find out though. Flying over the city Apas nosed her way into a tent she reasonably suspected belonged to the ring leader for this little circus, as it was the middle of the night though she was quite certain he was still asleep and she was right in her assumption. Sticking in her beak Apas started rooting around the man''s tent. She could do something like trying to find the rights of the slave ownership, some nonsense of a magical token that controls the collars or tattoos or something equally as important but honestly?


    Apas had a way of simplifying this entire excursion and so took one of her claws and stabbed the throat of the slaver, then took a knife from the nearby table in her beak and got the squirting gurgling red liquid all over it. Flying over the Slavers camp she found the tent with the largest concentration of the worthless schmucks inside and dropped the knife inside for them to find. That should take a couple of days before they get wise. In the mean time she looked around, for the one building that all the other buildings avoided. She saw it back with her Keeper, dungeons can take things people attach to them and make it their own, if you don''t want your house suddenly becoming a dungeon room one day steer clear. She entered this hole, getting the feeling that it''s been very long time since this place has had visitors, already the mana she was passively giving off started to revitalise the crippled and drained dungeon functions were slowly waking back up. What it would do if it knew what was waiting just outside it''s door. When Apas opened the door she was greeted by a scorpion, a scorpion that died very quickly but a scorpion none the less and she dealt with it and moved on.


    [Would you like to end the raid now? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    However then came the bonus feature she learned from raiding Lithilas''s place.


    [Would you like to save Check point at Sand Dune Dungeon? Yes/No]


    [Warning, if you do not return within 24 hours your progress will be lost.]


    [Yes]


    And so Apas left, leaving behind the promise of violence yet to come.


    <hr>


    They''re camped out at a dungeon? And you can return to it if you hit it within twenty four hours? Okay then, that sounds rather promising actually. I''d like to nip this Scorpion mess in the bun before Leviathan gets here. In the mean time I was preparing part A of my plan, starting with a second river Slime. Slimes take on the characteristics of the liquids that they consume in the largest quantities, luckily for me one of Charles men left their flask in here before they left so I now had access to alcohol, and so I started poring the the stuff into a river slime that was also eating a bunch of fish that were stuck in a cycle of rebirth and death until finally.


    [Evolve E Rank monster River Slime into E Rank Monster Booze slime? Yes/No]


    Well, I suppose they all can''t be box office smashers.


    [Yes]


    I watched my river slime turn from a glob of light blue slime to a clear slime instead. Now for the next phase of my plan to go into action. Well plans, I have a few of them on the go right now.


    [Jewel: There''s a dungeon in the town where those apes made their base of operations?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Apas found it when she broke into their camp. And she set up a save point in it.]


    [Graves: We deploy in force.]


    [Dungeon Keeper: No arguments here. Everyone''s okay with me just sending Apas again?]


    [Jewel: She found them after all.]


    <hr>


    This was shaping up to be an absolutely horrid evening, first his second in command gets his throat slash and a dozen of his men get framed for it. Now there were lights coming from the old dungeon. What was with today?


    "You three, go inside and ferret out what the devil is going in there!" The bushy haired man who was leading the Slaver group indicated three of his men to run into the dungeon. Those three men were cut down with three cross bow bolts to their fore heads, emerging from the dungeon was a group of men in armour of the White Flame and their priests. "And what are you supposed to be? Dungeon Mobs?" The leader of the slavers asked looking at the group of men with blatant suspicion.


    "Death." The leader of the knights stated bluntly as he raised his blade into the air at the slavers. A hail of cross bow bolts went flying through the air, and were smacked aside with impunity by some force they couldn''t see.


    "Mine or yours?" The rest of the slavers walked up, carrying whatever weapon they felt best suited them. "Let''s find out!" There was a tent of slaves nearby, the men manning it opened the tent up and pointed their blades at the group of children inside. The entire tent collapsed as one as Apas knocked it over with a swoop before landing on the ground, she took one look at the two figures who stood up underneath the fabric of the tent, and with a swing of her claws Apas decapitated both of them. "Well isn''t that interesting." The leader of the forces swung around and knocked over several of the Knights from Grave''s dungeon, one of them had visible claw marks in his armour from where he was pushed away. Under normal circumstances a human wouldn''t be able to rend steel with their bare hands or knock over an entire group of men in heavy armour. A human that is. "Looks like I''m going to have to stop being human to enjoy this." As the man continued to walk forward something seemed to disappear around him, like stepping through a water fall, in this case though the thing that was moving away wasn''t water it was the human, everything but his face. He was at the same height, if you discount the long scorpion tail that was hanging over head like the dangling axe of an executioner''s blade. Of course Six foot two was a lot more impressive on a creature with a lion''s body than a human''s. The scorpion she presumed. "I can smell the urine on you, mating season was it?" The human face used an inhumanly long tongue to lick its entire face. "I''ll try to enjoy myself!"


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    [C Rank Monster Manticore-A vicious and violent monster combining the cunning of a human being, the brute strength of a lion and the poisonous stinger of a scorpion. Enjoys eating humans but will also target beings who have strong magical power]


    So those aren''t his merchandise, they''re his rations. His advantage was his higher rank and poison, Apas''s her flight. If she just stayed out of his range he shouldn''t be able to get to her but that also means not being able to attack him either.


    "Flanking formation! Now!" The White Flame Paladins circled around the Manticore, shields up and weapons pointed, receiving buffs from their non paladin allies while they used mana to strengthen and reinforce themselves.


    "Well now you''re just making things interesting!" The Manticore swung his claws and tail around, the paladins expertly positioned and angled their shields to catch the blows at a angle deflecting them and following up with a stab from their weapons. They had this situation covered anyway, now the next question was how to separate those kids of their contracts. "Oh is that what you''re after!"


    The Manticore''s eyes started to glow, something bright red, and suddenly lightning went through the tattoo''s across the various enslaved chests, including infants. Apas thought quickly, the Keeper wants them saved but how? It can''t be as simple as scratching at the tattoos can it? With a single swipe of her Talons Apas leaves a cut going through one of the tattoo''s on the slaves chest and the pain inducing magic stopped, and then the cut healed at the pain resumed. Well. Progess. But it seems like the only way to deal with this is to cut it off at the source. Now that we know that... The Paladins weren''t doing as well as the shiny armour and weapons would imply, either that or the manticore was just too strong, it''s claws and stingers able to rend through the steel of the men''s armour. And it he hadn''t escaped unscathed either, for as the contracted knights started to disappear one by one, recalled back to their dungeon by Graves to heal and respawn they left behind several gashes in it''s skin, dripping blood from the paladin''s swords and other weapons leaving his body full of wounds. So Apas took to the air and swooped down on him, he of course struck back with his main weapon the scorpion''s tail. Apas pulled back at the last moment and grabbed the tail with her talons before taking off into the air. Apas never thought about using her wind magic to suck the air out of a target before Keeper popped into her head to do it, so she allowed him to do so again as they flew over the skies that surround their home. One of those implications was what he called ''wind shield'' which was a magic that sucks away all the air in front of her removing any friction that keeps her from going forward, and then uses that same air to flow around behind her and push her forward, or she could instead use this magic to push her up using her wings instead. Apas rocketed into the air carrying the Manticore as she went along for the ride.


    "STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" The Manticore couldn''t attack from this angle, Apas had him by his tail, and his other set of offensive weapons were all the way on the other end of him, it wasn''t like he could just curl up and bite down on Apas. Even if he could attack, what would he do in this situation. Fall to his death? "STOP!" Apas complied with his request several stories into the air. In fact since he wanted back to the ground so badly she even provided him another wind shield so that the air would push him down faster and there would be no pesky air friction to slow him down. Ain''t she generous? "DAMN YOU!" And so Apas dropped the Scorpion of the North, using her magic to send him slamming face first directly into the ground shattering every bone in his body.


    [Giant Slayer 2 3/5]


    Apas breathed deeply sucking in the rich points, she could see the red lights of the slave seals stopping, the slavers scattered like baby spiders and in the distance she spotted a caravan of Jewel''s people rapidly approaching them. All was right with the world, and then Apas saw the Manticore break down into light and be reabsorbed into the nearby dungeon.


    [Would You like to end the Raid? Yes/No]


    She couldn''t go after him, she already felt the light of evolution on her, and she didn''t want to do it in this place.


    [Yes]


    And so Apas disappeared. She''ll be back and deal with that Scorpion bastard later.


    <hr>


    As soon as Apas appeared in the dungeon she was wrapped in a cocoon of evolutionary light. I didn''t even have to look at the options before I clicked on Sphinx, for one thing it was the only C Rank.


    [C Rank Monster Sphinx-A highly intelligent species of monster possessing a human torso as well as the limbs of a lion and the wings of a hawk. They enjoy testing their intelligence against travellers that they encounter while acting as guards of temples and passes]


    It''ll probably take a while for Apas to finish inside of her cocoon, for now though, I thought up more of the countermeasures for dealing with Leviathan. I possessed the wisps and looked into the ways that they could manipulate heat. According to Archie''s books earth mages usually yank out chunks of rock to manipulate instead of creating them on their own, same with wind mages who, frankly speaking, if they''re not in their element then they have some serious problems. Then what about fire, or rather heat? The result of my experiment was two fold, the surface that I was practising on was covered in a layer of frost and was then followed up by a loud boom of concentrated heat. And then I got a message from Graves.


    [Graves: The chat says Leviathan is in range for a raid. You want in?]


    I wouldn''t be implementing my secret weapon quite yet. No that would have to wait until the bastard was closer, close enough that I could keep him from escaping, for now it was enough that I just piss him off and get an idea about what he''s actually been doing, from there I can decide if I want to slow him down or speed him up.


    [Would like to join Consecrated Mass Grave on a raid against Pirate Fleet Leviathan]


    [Select a Monster to be in Charge of your floor while you are gone]


    [Archie the Warlock Skeleton]


    [Designate Raid Team]


    [Contracted monster Ifrit, 50 Will-o-wisps, 1 Alcohol slime]


    Here''s hoping the bastard hasn''t made counter measures for obvious weaknesses yet.


    [Transporting in 3. 2. 1.]


    <hr>


    I was inside of a wooden sailing ship, so it seems that we''re in the right place.


    "Ugh?"


    I turn to the sound of confused moans and was greeted by the sight of a shirtless zombie, it''s body stitched up from the numerous battles it has gotten into and only wearing some gloves as any form of armour or weapons. What the heck? Is this the zombie that Graves has guarding the first floor over at his place? The one that spars with the order of humans that have set up their base of operations around his dungeon? Well, at least he has lots of combat experience. I turned around to see a nearby door opening up, out from which emerged a creature that can generously be described as a Gilman.


    [E Rank Monster Sea Hag-A violent species of amphibious monster known for ambushing unweary sailors and dragging them off into the water from their boats, or sinking them outright using their highly proficient water magic to manipulate the sea]


    "Dinner for the master has arrived!" The Fish licked his blood red lips sinisterly while he looked at the group like they were his next meal.


    "Dude. These are spirits, and that''s a zombie. What exactly are you planning on eating?" The sea monster ignored me and jumped forward.


    I responded with a fire ball. The sea monster let out a ungodly screeching noise in response to the fire licking at it. As it died the sounds of various other sea monsters was let out while the flames on the charred sea monster corpse died down. So he doesn''t even bother to name his monsters so that they''ll come back after they die? Well, I treat my sea monsters the same way but still. Right now I had to deal with the tied of more screeching sea beasts that were coming directly at me. Right then.


    "Keep your zombie over there Graves. Well handle this." I positioned my slime in front of the door, and then followed that up with placing my strongest Wisp Blue between the slime and the door. The door swung open, and then the sea monsters on the other-side proceeded to burn, the booze going from my alcoholic abomination through my wisp and into the door way where the sea monsters started to scream.


    [Giant Killer 2 5/5]


    [Giant Killer 3 5/5]


    [Giant Killer 4 5/5]


    And so on, I had no idea what was on the other side of that door but I was glad I didn''t have to deal with it, the number of Fish monsters that were poring into the hole was only getting bigger while the effects of giant killer kept going up. After a few moments Blue dropped, wrapped in a cocoon of my magic.


    [One Possible Evolution]


    [E Rank Monster Mitama-A human spirit separated from it''s body by death and nurtured until it has achieved minor divine status]


    Well I can''t argue with Minor divine status. While Blue evolved I positioned another Wisp in front of my booze slime and resumed torching the enemy forces, The enemy was demonstrating a nasty habit of kamikazeing through the door way while on fire and getting eaten by my slime. Then a few more death''s later it was my alcohol slime evolving alongside the Wisps this time around.


    [D Rank Monster Fire Slime-A slime that has acquired a body of flammable liquid and has learned how to use it offensively]


    Well that sounds promising.


    [D Rank Monster Medical Slime-A slime that has acquired a body composed of medicinal liquid that can be used to heal its allies]


    Is that because alcohol counts as medicinal liquid? Whatever I already have the eggs.


    [D Rank Monster Greater Alcohol Slime-A alcohol slime that has foregone reproduction in favour of growing bigger, combines 10 normal slimes together]


    And we have a weiner. I checked the Greater Slime option and watched as my boy grew bigger, in the mean time the fish were running away now, which only made sense since the boat was on fire now. For the time being I extinguished the flames using Ifrit''s power of fire and moved on to the next part of the dungeon.


    "You''ve caused quite the Ruckus!" The leader of the Sea Hags was bigger than the rest, his body composed of ripping muscles and he carried a rod in his hands.


    "What is Leviathan planning?" I asked casually looking at the plus sized sea monster that was before me.


    "Look at the ones below the ship fools! There is the answers you seek!" Well if you''re going to be stubborn about it fine.


    "Boozey. Blaze." My greater slime and my various wisps rolled into the boss chamber, Boozey puffed himself up and sprayed the contents of his body in ten different directions into ten different Wisps setting the entire room on fire, and the boss and his minions along with it. A few moments later the boss''s body disappeared and recompiled into a staff while my will-owips dropped into evolution again, with giant slayer the way it is right now I could easily get over a hundred points from a single F Rank. I wish I thought of this weeks ago. I picked up the Staff from the Sea Hag.


    [Tide Caller Staff-The Staff of the Legendary tide caller, it has been blessed by multiple gods of the sea and has immense water manipulating properties]


    "Well that''s useful." I had the Zombie and my monsters evacuate to the next boat and had the slime and the Wisps finish torching this boat. An ear piercing screech was released, using the Flight magic Charles taught me I took Ifrit''s body outside and saw the source of the screaming, the ship''s figure head.


    [B Rank Monster Sacred Wooden Gargoyle-The Figurehead of a ship made in the image of the sea god Dagon possessing immense divine power and the ability to manipulate the waters around it]


    That may not be good.


    [You have angered the God of the Depths Dagon]


    Yep definitely not good. But before I do anything else let''s have a look at the waters below. With the power of the Tide caller it was a simple matter to create a pocket of air around my Ifrit and go down below the water to have a look at what lies beneath the fleet as that one monster eloquently put it. Three... masses for lack of better term one of stone, one of ice and one of coral had been attached to the fleet via several chains and were being dragged along the ocean floor being force to suck material inside, I watched part of one of the masses break off and something within me from the very depths of my core screamed in pain. Were those dungeons? Ripped out of the ground and being dragged along the bottom of the ocean floor? One of the creatures that had been circling around the dungeon dived down and grabbed the broken mass with it''s mouth before carrying it back to the fleet, one of the ships, the largest one that looked to be made out of ice, ate it, before the creature that retrieved the broken piece returned to it''s flock of sea monsters.


    Oh. Oh is that what''s going on here? Some of my emotions from old were coming back to me now, pain, albeit phantom pain, felt for the dungeons who were being blatantly tortured in this way, but also another one... Anger? Wrath? No... Rage. So that''s what''s going on then? With the Tide caller I drew upon all of the water in as wide a area as I possibly could and I commanded it to shrink down, compress itself in as tight of a mass as possible around me, then as easily as I would summon a ball of fire I had it freeze into a solid mass of blue coloured ice. This made room for more water to come into my effective radius, and join the rest in being crushed into a dense mass then frozen, this cycle repeated itself until all of the water in the area had been frozen solid, lodging out of the top several of Leviathan''s ships and the dungeons that were being unwillingly dragged along the ocean floor.


    "I hope you enjoy my ice path you over grown tugboat." I raised a single finger to tell Leviathan exactly what I thought about it. "Cause as soon as you get your butt over to my dungeon, I''m gonna have a far nastier surprise waiting for you."


    While I pooled ice together the heat that had been sucked out of the water gathered above the water into a mass of fire before being brought down and torching several ships.


    [Would you like to end the Raid? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    With that I left Leviathan with the task of thawing himself out.

 Break

    This was infuriating. I was in the middle of fending off whatever pathetic excuse for a dungeon that was trying to preempt his arrival to their territory, torching one of my ships in the process and immobilising me on top of that, and I still weren''t sure about how they did it. I had other things to be worried about besides the point. The Few dungeons that I had Keel Hauled half dead and dragging behind me were now in the process of re-establishing themselves, dozens of floors had been grown back like star fish in the half an hour since the ice formed. This would result in him just eating the bastards again of course but the halls of the enemy was being filled with undead from one of the dungeons that had joined the raid before. The Three dungeons had joined themselves together into a trinity as a united front, trying to over power me. Fine then, it just means that I''ll have a light snack before I continue on my course to pillage the coastline. After all I didn''t get blessings from fifty different gods of the sea just to let a little bit of ice slow me down. I send the command into my Wooden Gargoyles and they call upon their power over water, and the ice below shatters, torn apart in fifty different directions via fifty different methods. The thinly built dungeons that were trying to establish themselves shatter and I devoured the pieces.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Well that should buy me a little bit of time, well it''s nice to see that killing Leviathan is still on the agenda, but first things first, I have a new floor to establish. As soon as I return the menu was showing me a highlight single highlighted location for the new floor, before that though, me and Ifrit have some creative architecture to work on. My time inside of Leviathan''s dungeon was a educational matter, and so using Ifrit I employed the same tactics as before freezing all of water in front of my dungeon solid and connecting it to the stair case Charles had prepared for me. Returning to ''Dungeon Mode'' I selected the newly available space, the ice field for my new floor.


    [Please Select a Theme for your new floor]


    [Ice-Due to the high presence of ice and snow in the location you have selected a Ice Theme location has been made available to you, high probability of connecting to a god of winter]


    Tempting, but I already know what kind of floor I want.


    [Death/Life-Due to your actions of infusing a large amount of necrotic energies into your dungeon and a large amount of nature type monsters you have unlocked a option for a highly unique floor with a unique dual theme]


    Oh so tempting, but I already got a nature floor, and I''ve got plans for the undead. I know you''re in there, give it to me!


    [Ocean-Due to your dedication to creating water type creatures coupled with the location of your dungeon you have unlocked a ocean theme dungeon, high probability of attracting a water sponsor for your floor]


    Yes please.


    [Ocean Theme Selected!]


    Immediately my core room was filled with sea water. I haven''t actually been back here in a while but it''s the little things you learn to appreciate while waiting around for trouble. One, my core had gotten bigger, not my much though, it was still a size that made you think ''Golf Ball'' with layers of colour added to it. Statues of my Bosses in the form of Apas and Treyni in both of her forms standing back to back had appeared to either side of my core.


    [Please Select a new Schema to go with your new floor]


    [E Rank Monster Sea Hags-]


    Nope.


    [E Rank Monster Schema Deepkin-Oceanic Bottom dwellers who feed off of the waste and refuge that other creatures leave behind in their wake]


    Not appealing to me.


    [E Rank Monster Schema Seawolf-A violent species of Lycanthrope whose monster form has a wolf''s head mounted on the body of a seal]


    Well, in the worst case scenario that will work for the best. I immediately select the sea wolf option as I use the dungeon chat room to contact my allies.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Greetings!]


    [Graves: That was a pretty good trick you pulled on Leviathan]


    [Dungeon Keeper: It''ll pale in comparison to my next trick. Jewel, still owe me a favour?]


    [Jewel: Considering you already mauled my Mirror? I consider us even]


    Still upset about her mirror I see. She called herself Bejewelled Concubine''s mirror after all, that might''ve even been the mirror her personality is based on.


    [Jewel: Graves told me about Leviathan, I''ll light a stick of incense in your honour after Leviathan is through with you]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Yeah yeah, How about some coral? I bet you have some around your dungeon some where?]


    [Bejeweled Concubine''s Mirror has offered you the Schema Fire Coral, Price: Amulet Spider Schema]


    Ooh fire I like!


    [Trade Accepted: You receive Schema Fire Coral]


    [Jewel: Your scorpion isn''t dead yet by the way]


    Say what?


    [Jewel: He''s a dungeon contract, like your Griffin, he re-spawned already]


    [Jewel: Is your Griffin available to deal with him again?]


    I turned to the side, to the cocoon that Apas had been inside of since before I went on the raid against Leviathan.


    [Dungeon Keeper: She''s in the middle of something right now]


    [Jewel: Evolving then? It might be something I can handle but Echidna told you to get rid of it. It might be bad for you if she figures that you''re not holding up your end of the bargain]


    Crap.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Let me make a few arrangements first]


    It''ll be pretty bad for me If I can''t even get things finished with my third floor before Leviathan get''s here, my stunt with the ice should mean that he''ll be busy for a while at least but fortune favours the cautious. As a start I begin by having the majority of the ice melted and vacuumed away by the River slime, followed up by lining the ensuing gap I created with the Coral courtesy of Jewel, I also took the liberty of lodging Saphee''s skull into the coral at the same time. I could no longer create rooms in this space, but the flip side was that I now had a much larger space, space that I began filling with my river slimes. Slimes you have a very important mission. In a few moments you will be filled up with all kinds of water type monsters. Your mission will be to strip these creatures of their flesh but spare the bones and shells! The slimes saluted in acknowledgement, which gave me the chance to talk with Saphee. Saphee, your job will be to reanimate the shells and bones back into monsters. With that I released the monsters, the croc, the various fish, etc into the slimes and they quickly went to work feasting on them, I almost left but was then greeted by the sight of a notification for evolution. Even without looking I selected the new option for them.


    [D Rank Lake Slime selected]


    I held down the button for the D Rank Evolution, watching as the effects of giant killer meant that they instantly got enough to evolve, and then they were wrapped in the light of evolution again.


    [C Rank Ocean Slime Selected!]


    I again held down the button for ocean slimes until the entire space that I had created was covered in the light of evolution. There, that should keep them busy for a while. Course there was all the monsters inside of their bodies too that were caught up in the field of evolution. But I''m sure that they''ll be fine. Onto the raid!


    [Would you like-]


    I impatiently held down the button to join the raid in progress against the sand dune dungeon leaving the chaos of my third floor behind. I appeared alongside my greater Alcohol Slime and Archie, I as usual was in the body of Ifrit. One of Jewel''s monsters was waiting for me, a Lamia I presumed.


    "A convoy is on its way south with the people they took hostage. You better hurry." Opposite of the Snake woman''s request I instead went deeper into the dungeon.


    "I am bringing the scorpion here. Archie this place appears to be made out of stone. Get rid of it." I snapped my fingers confidently, already having my plan set in motion.


    "At once master!" Archie brought his staff down, his mana tearing the stone apart.


    Sand stone is brittle, easy to smash unlike my lime stone, if this was another dungeon Archie couldn''t do it. I don''t need to get all the way to the core, I just need the core to know that I''m here. I could hear a deep and profound feeling of wrongness as the dungeon was torn open by Archie, I could hear it wailing in pain under the influence of the blatant torture I was putting it through but frankly speaking, I don''t really care. If you don''t want people to get mad at you then you should keep a better eye on what your monsters are doing!


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "If you want the pain to stop bring your contracted monster here to me!" I turned to the entrance, to the monster that was running after the caravan, and was now running to me instead. The Manticore was quite pissed when he re-entered the dungeon.


    "Unfortunately for you I don''t have the time to deal with you properly." I don''t have the time to waste on killing this bastard over and over again, not with a raid on my doorstep.


    "You think you can ''deal'' with me do you little genie?" The Manticore was in a foul mood, it must have still been sore about the beating from last time.


    "Of course, after all I am the master of the one who has defeated you before." The Manticore snarled, looking like he wanted to tear me apart right now, but I was made out of fire so that was a bad idea. "And if I cannot kill you, I must instead break you!" With a pillar of stone the Manticore was shot into the air, before he could react I produced a blade of flames and accurately slashed off each of his limbs and tail.


    "You believe that this humiliation is enough to stop me!? I shall hunt you down! I will eat you and take your monster as my play thing! I will break her right in front of your eyes You Bastard!"


    "I don''t have the time to get rid of you right now." I said indicating the Dungeon. "So I''ll spare you. But if I ever have to deal with this bastard again." The Slime shot a stream of alcohol through my Ifrit''s body turning the sand that it hit into molten glass. "I shall return, in greater numbers and utterly destroy this place."


    A spike of sand skewered the manticore and he soon started to disappear into the light, and then stopped.


    "What are you doing!" And then the Manticore died, and stayed dead without re-spawning. We can sever Contracts? Good to know.


    With that I ended the raid.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I returned to my dungeon, my third floor was still going through its evolution so I just left it be. It would be good if my third floor was finished in time for Leviathan to get here, but it''s not a absolute necessity, I could just as easily wreck the bastard with what I got now, presuming that my idea actually works. I haven''t actually talked about it with anyone, I''m that afraid of what''ll happen. What Do I mean? The system that the dungeon seems to operate on is far too... unnatural, programmed, with its ranks and points and all the rest of the stuff about it. My plan is so brilliant that I''m afraid that if I actually implement it then it''ll be patched as soon as possible which means that I''ll only have one chance to go against Leviathan, even if it''s declared that I must be destroyed I can at least take Leviathan down with me.


    In the mean time I looked at my Mana.


    [Mana 160/900]


    [Mana 150/900]


    My mana is dropping? I looked through my various floors. My third floor was coming apart at the seams! Various cracks had formed as the coral was cracking up. I immediately began filling in the cracks with more coral but what was happening here? Every time my slimes had ranked up they grew in size, but I already filled up the third floor to the brim with them, so after expanding two times the floor is reaching it''s limit! It might''ve been different with the ice to block it off but now all that I had between me and the outside world was thin coral! Serious damage control time! Saphee I need you to compress down the fluids in the slimes as much and as hard as you can! In the mean time I pumped more coral into the walls trying to make them thicker while filling in the cracks in the coral.


    [Warning your Final floor is suffering from dangerous structural damage! You must recall your core immediately!]


    No shit Sherlock!


    [Move Core? Yes/No]


    [Yes!]


    I even held down the yes button until my core was safely back on my second floor. Then after I recalled the third floor-YYYEEEAAAGGGG!


    ***The goblins were coming down from the mountain. With a quick cross of my arms I summoned the ice bow and fired into the goblins with a quick flurry of hands. Then a ogre crashed down in front of me. This called for heavy artillery! I produced a ball of fire in my hands, grabbed it from both ends and pulled, the fire pored into the ground and split the ground open with a line of fire. That was this level cleared. Now for the ne***


    ohhggg... I don''t feel good.


    "Keeper!" I saw an unfamiliar woman wrapped around my core, no wait... this is the lamia I saw when I went to help Jewel before but what is she doing here? "...You''re only two floors deep?" The snake woman made a horrified realisation. "You''re only two floors deep and you''re picking fights with Leviathan?"


    You can make fun of me if you want. You have my literal heart in your hands after all.


    "How are you picking a fight with Leviathan?" The Lamia who I suspected was being possessed by Jewel looked at me with a horrified realisation.


    If you''re not here to kill me or do something unpleasant with my core then would you mind telling me what you came here for?


    "A warning was sent out to me, Lithilas and Graves that you suffered severe structural damage. We thought Leviathan was attacking you." The Lamia looked back to my core again, muttering under her breath. "How are you only two floors deep?"


    If I had named myself according to normal conventions my name would be ''the Miserable sap who got eaten by a Dungeon Core.''


    "You-you were born with a completed soul already?"


    You''re not catching flies close your mouth.


    "Who else knows about this?"


    Lithilas, I didn''t tell him he figured it out on his own.


    "Not Graves?"


    No. Charles the leader of my humans seems to know too, right now he''s cooperating, mostly because he wants to kill Leviathan too.


    "You let a human know that you''re this vulnerable and not us!?" Jewel had an horrified reaction to her borrowed features.


    It''s not like I had a choice!


    "Huu..." Jewel let out a sigh while he held her hand to her head as she tried to fend off her headache. "I''m working to repair the damage done to your core now." Jewel stated bluntly. "I''m pretty far away as far as cores go so I could only do it via this method." There was a crack in my core, I was lucky that it was only this much, any bigger and the damned thing would have broken in two. "In the mean time your monsters have some work to do."


    To do what?


    "Repairing your third floor."


    Saphee and Treyni had both been given marching orders. Well Saphee wasn''t quite strong enough yet that she could manipulate all the water that I needed her to by herself, so I had to get Archie to work on power levelling her some first.


    [E Rank Monster Warlock Skeleton-A skeleton Warlock that has taken Calypso the sea goddess of death as her patron]


    The Description for Saphee was different than Archie''s but she was able to do what I needed her to do. Coral has more in common with animals than plants, it grows from fertilised eggs, which is somewhat difficult with Coral being a stationary organism the only way it can do this is to release the unfertilized eggs and sperm into the water and hope that they mix together with the sperm and eggs of other corals. Not really the best method. Instead Saphee went to work, churning the waters out in the bay outside the dungeon with the Tide Caller staff while Treyni worked on the other half. Even though Coral is technically an animal it works off of a symbiotic relationship with a type of algae, so it''s necessary for Treyni to use plant growth acceleration magic to speed up the growth of the organism in question. After that is a matter of food, but the the deaths of the multiple slimes from earlier filled the bay full of raw organic matter so that much was already taken care of. Now all that was left to do was wait for the coral to grow in so that I would have a solid mass to work with to grow my dungeon''s third floor.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    After a considerable amount of effort I finished my twenty seventh floor of my dungeon, having quickly filled in the bricks of lime stone he hollowed them out and replaced them with another material, spongie bone marrow, extracted from the skull of a dragon given to him by Lithilas. The Yew wood tree had been grown in the middle of the boss room, and after feeding it a sufficient amount of power a Yew Wood Dryad had been born exactly as Lithilas had told me. Finally, it was time.


    The World Branch.


    Immediately I was pulled out to meet with the patron chosen for my floor and I bowed towards the god of messengers.


    "Aziraphale''s boy?" Mighty Ratatoskr was smaller than most gods, being a squirrel and all, but no less powerful and no less deserving. "This is unexpected."


    Ratatoskr, I fear a grave threat, though I have not known the Keeper for long I consider him a friend, and I fear he is already passed. I will grieve for him, but now I fear I am on the verge of losing another. Conquerete is at the doorstep of my mentor.


    "I don''t know what you''re asking me to do about it." The Squirrel took out a bag of trail mix and started loudly munching on it. It was good trail mix after all. I possess the ability to receive power through prayer. Now I ask for the power to address the world.


    "My we are ambitious are we? Very well then. Lithilas has been good to me so I''ll make an exception despite your rather bare bones floor."


    [Reward: One time opportunity to issue a quest to the world. Objective: Save the Dungeon Lithilas]


    "I don''t need to keep the floor after you''re done, dedicated it to whatever deity you choose."


    With that I was returned to my dungeon as I issued my world quest.


    [Prayer for Salvation: A servant of the gods above has heard your prayers, and until such a time that he is no longer in this world he shall do his best to answer your prayers, thus speak the name of the servant in your prayers so that he may know of you, your plight and your location]


    The Consecrated Mass Grave, sadly that is not the name of the servant, or at least not what he shall become, another of the mobile dungeons has been born on this day.


    [Ouroboros]


    The members of the Order of the White Flame had noticed a certain change within their dungeon and without. The entrance had been replaced with the skull of a fire dragon. Their scholars researched for days on what this could mean, drawing numerous theories when suddenly, the entire dungeon started to shake. The group looked as the dungeon ripped itself out of the ground, material fell away to reveal, limestone, no, bones! The Bones of a dragon were pulling themselves out of the ground where the dungeon use to be! A quest notice appeared in front of the soldiers faces.


    "Ouroboros?" The amount of power taken from the soldiers was insignificant, barely what you would make off of their death''s, but that ''barely'' was taken from every living creature in the world capable of uttering the name as they made their confusion known. Then the ground really shook, dozens of one room floors were added to the Dungeon formerly known as Graves grew like the proverbial magical bean stalk, only downwards so magical carrot? The Dungeon Core screamed internally from the strain being put on it''s core, but before it could manage to start growing actual rooms to go with the floors, the flood of prayers from people desperate for salvation flooded into the dungeon. The Core let out a second scream as it experienced growth strong enough to rip its body apart. "What the hell is going on!?"


    [C Rank Monster Bone Dragon-A necromantic construct made in the image of a dragon, while not a true dragon it has a strong drive towards evolution and desires to become one]


    The man dropped his halberd, not out of fear, rather it was important to loose the unnecessary weight so that he could run faster and report back to HQ sooner of what has just occurred.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Charles looked out to the bay in confusion, first it turns into ice, then the ice is hollowed out and replaced by coral, then the coral collapses with a pop releasing a small tidal wave in the process and now a whirlpool was occurring as the bay slowly filled with algae. Charles would go up to ask what exactly was going on but right now they had other priorities that they had to worry about, and he suspected that the dungeon already knew that, because although he needed the telescope to see it, a massive fleet of ships was on it''s way.


    "Prepare the catapults, our target is almost on the way over." Charles had barrels full of flammable liquids prepared, courtesy of the dungeon, and had them corked with strips of silk cloth soaked in much of the same liquids. Balista were already prepared to strike at the enemy craft while mages were preparing a ritual spell to visit violence upon the approaching fleet of warships. Everyone that wasn''t involved in the fighting went to the dungeon to seek shelter. If this was a normal fleet they would be well prepared. But it wasn''t. It was a dungeon, unconventional though they might be this dungeon had over 100 floors to its name, and at least fifty of those were dedicated to the manipulation of water. All fifty of those floors acted in unison with each other, unleashing a massive formation and whipping the water in front of it into a massive tidal wave large enough to blot the horizon and it was heading directly at them!

 Leviathan

    Leviathan has come, it proceeded with its usual opening move, manipulating the water to create a massive wave to wipe out any annoying encampments that just so happens to be in its way. But Charles came prepared, fighting Leviathan with water types was the height of foolishness. Water manipulation was its bread and butter, the thing it knew best how to do and did better than anyone else, instead Charles brought those that would be able to stop it.


    "Deploy the Druids!" Charles would never be able to stop the water from flowing, but he can slow it down. Water was weak to wood type magic such as those used by druids, using this they were able to trigger a massive Algae bloom, raising the viscosity of the water and putting a dent in the wave.


    "Warn the Dungeon!"


    The dungeon was warned already, Archie could see the wave coming, and he told Treyni, who for one hundred meters around the dungeon trigger a algae bloom over 200 meters long and shoved it in the direction of the on coming wave. More mana was pumped into the algae making it expand more and more all the while the wave was coming.


    "Earth Mages Barrier!"


    Ever since Charles made contact with the Dungeon he got it to start pumping out cement by the mountain loads, but it was largely going unused. The Earth Mages took advantage of it, swirling the Cement through water and erecting a wall out of it. The wave passed through the expanding mass of sea plant life and the increased viscosity reduced its size and mass, the wall blocked the rest, barely. The Algae continued to bloom, it wouldn''t be slowing down any time soon, but without the mana constantly feeding into it will eventually die off, and Charles couldn''t be sure that Leviathan wouldn''t try that again.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Leviathan had come, and I could only say that Apas had both a good sense of timing and a bad one, good because her evolution had finished and she was awake again. Bad because she was really, very distracting now.


    "Thank you for your generosity Master."


    Apas''s over all body shape was the same as before, four legs and a tail, two wings sticking out of her side, however the similarities from before ended there. All of Apas''s lion and bird features had been stuck onto the body of a human woman, she had a hourglass figure that easily rivalled anything that Jewel''s monsters had on them (How the hell does she even fly with those things weighing her down?) and tanned skin with black hair that was human from head to ass, and I knew that because she came out of her evolution cocoon naked.


    Okay, I''m just going to put some... cloth on this. How exactly does a disembodied soul inside of a rock attached to a mountain even get this awkward? Weaving my dungeon mana I quickly threw together some spider silk clothing onto her, a tube top and a loin cloth.


    "And you''re already giving me gifts. We''ll get along swimmingly."


    What do you mean by that?


    "When my kind chooses a mate, we make them work for our affection, after all being female we need to be very picky about our companions. We have them gather material to build our nests, bring us food, it wouldn''t be good if we chose someone incapable as our life companions." It took me a few moments to process what she said thinking over everything that we''ve been doing together. "Of course being unable to perform is a huge no, luckily for me genies such as the Ifrit are more than capable of rising to the challenge." I froze. Echidna gave me both the Ifrit summoning circle and Apas''s current form. Damned fertility gods! "Shall I wait for you to slip into something more comfortable, master?"


    Get your mind out of the gutter! There''s a ass hole knocking on our door!


    Apas poked her head outside, to the Leviathan Pirate fleet on the distance.


    "I guess our business will have to wait until we deal with that." As she decided that I received a new notification.


    [You are being Raided by Pirate Fleet Leviathan] Oh damn it! From my front entrance, a man thin as bones walked out.


    [D-Rank Monster Skeleton Pirate Captain-A undead warrior who has mastered close quarters combat and leads a crew of skeleton pirates]


    "Is this all? After getting caught inside of that damned snake I expected... more." Suddenly several spears skewered the pirate, getting his bones wrapped up in the sheer number of spears. "Pathetic." The Skeleton twisted its body and the lime stone spears snapped off, then he landed sockets on Apas and they visibly widened.


    "Good bye." Apas gathered the wind around her and slammed it into the skeleton pirate.


    The thing about bones? They''re light. The Skeleton was pinned to the entrance and was holding on with all four limbs trying to pull himself back into the dungeon.


    "If you think this is enough to abate my master''s wrath think again!" The Skeleton snapped accusingly.


    "Oh would you please shut up!" I had Archie create several limestone flails and threw the heavy masses at the skeleton, smashing his body.


    [You are being Raided by Pirate Fleet Leviathan]


    Another monster appeared, this one resembling a woman whose torso was sticking out of the top of an octopus.


    [D Rank Monster...]


    I threw myself into the Ifrit''s body and threw fire onto the new monster''s body cooking her as she screeched in pain. I quickly went to the dungeon chat group and confirmed my worst fears.


    [Due to being raided you cannot use the Chat function]


    Leviathan didn''t need to beat me, he just needed to keep sending waves of useless monsters at me until he could get his butt over here and rip me out of the ground drag me over the ocean like he was doing to those other Dungeons I saw before. But I have my own secret weapon to work with as well.


    "Apas!" My newly evolved Sphinx flew out of the dungeon over the algae laced ocean that Treyni had prepared to put a dent in the tidal wave.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    On her way out, Apas picked up an unexpected passenger.


    "I''m coming with you!" Charles had jumped off the top of the wall and was now flying with Apas to Leviathan.


    "Shouldn''t you be commanding your men?" Even though Apas said that she neither made any motion to slow down or turn around, after all her target was right in front of her.


    "No." Leviathan had already opened fire on them, black cannon balls were flying through the air straight at them Charles raised a single hand in the air as a mantra went through his mind. "First kinetics into heat." The Black cannon balls turned a bright red as they started to fall from the air. "Heat into Kinetics!" And then the cannon balls turned black again as they rocketed through the air back at Leviathan, slamming into its galleon that had fired the shots in the first place.


    "Nice attack." Apas mentioned lightly.


    "There''s more where that came from!" Charles closed his eyes as he spread his mana through the air and seized control over all the Heat in the area. "Heat goes down, cold comes up!"


    Suddenly a noticeable change was taking place. Apas''s feathers were covered in a layer of frost as Charles created a cold front and a warm front.


    "Getting a bit nippy up here! I don''t exactly have my feathers to keep me warm here any more!"


    "Then I suggest you land, and try to get into the eye of the storm!" Charles announced as the skies darkened.


    "The what now?" Apas thought she knew what he was talking about but it didn''t make any sense, until it did, in the worst possible way. The two fronts mixed together, the winds picking up as they went. "And I thought Keeper pulled some ballsy moves."


    Soon, an entire cyclone was forming in the middle of Leviathan''s fleet, pulling in and smashing the ships against one another.


    "HEAR ME LEVIATHAN!" Charles voice boomed with magic. "I AM CHARLES ALEXANDER FORMERLY OF THE PENTAGHAST FAMILY! I AM THE SHIP BREAKER! I AM THE BRIDGE BURNER! AND I AM YOUR DESTRUCTION!"


    Leviathan Screamed, trying desperately to keep its ships from coming apart from the rest of the fleet, to keep its dungeon from being shattered. Prioritising safety over strength the fleet recalled it''s monsters from Dungeon Keeper, In the mean time it''s gargoyles were shooting magical streams of water up at Charles and Apas, trying to knock them out of the sky. Already leviathan was adding weight to it''s ships, intentionally taking on water into the ships in order to weigh them down, going as far as to manipulate the water in question to reach up and grab the ships in question. Recalling its monsters was a mistake.


    Inside of a familiar ship Keeper had launched a raid of it''s own, summoning to the enemy dungeon Treyni the dryad, already she was working, they had gotten lucky with the algae they were working with, Dead Man''s rope. This algae naturally forms long strands of rope like masses that stretch outwards from it''s point of origin, Treyni used her powers to turn the random strands of algae into true rope and tie up all the enemy ships and started pulling on them, pulling them towards the dungeon. Naturally Leviathan was not liking the idea of being under another''s power, it continued to try and shoot at Charles with it''s cannon balls, trying to break his concentration, but Apas kept dodging them. Then Charles received a magical communication from his people.


    "Sir, the Algae is acting strange! It''s pulling the fleet towards the dungeon!" Charles thought it over and made a single, calculated decision.


    "Help it!" Charles snapped by way of reply.


    "Leviathan or the Algae?"


    "The Algae! Burn the other one in hellfire!"


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Treyni sunk her roots into the hull of the ship, and immediately entered a stand off with another being.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "You!? One of Castor''s Weaklings!?" The Gargoyle nailed to the ship had a laugh. Castor was the god of Symbiosis, naturally it wasn''t a topic that people had a lot of thanks for, and so naturally neither Castor or Pollux were very popular as deities. That said...


    "No one wants to hear that from Dagon''s vassal!"


    Dagon on the other hand is worshipped as the god of deep water, which is neither threatening enough that people make sacrifices to him in order to ward off it''s influence nor beneficial enough that people pray to it in order to receive a bountiful harvest. Much like the brothers Castor/Pollux, Dagon is kind of a loser.


    [Castor/Pollux is subsuming Dagon''s Domain]


    "Gah!"


    Crunching sounds were echoing throughout the ship as Treyni spread her roots and the influence of Castor/Pollux. Dagon wasn''t inclined to lose his consecrated ground so easily though and so the blessing aboard the ship was activated, and thus the entire ship was flooded with pressurised water strong enough to crush most land dwellers, water was also what Treyni was feeding off of, so a cycle of destruction and healing broke out. That said where Leviathan lost in terms of the elements it was making up for it with fire power. The storm outside was brewing intensely, and so rather than one of the dozens of sea gods that Leviathan had he instead focuses on someone frostier, Lucifer Demon God of Pride and Ruler of the frozen hell. The silhouette of a figure was made out as a giant looming shadow was birthed over the flag ship of the Pirate fleet, the figure flapped his wings and the cyclone turned icy as a blizzard was kicked up. Once Charles people were in range Leviathan opened fire on them with several Galleons, the fact that they were technically pulling it where it wanted to go was irrelevant, as they were still enemies so they were forced to retreat.


    Finally, the bastard was close enough that I can launch the real raid. First thing was first I had to recall Treyni, and have her connect to all of the Treants across the second floor. I had Archie, Thing and Saphee connect to the limestone in my mountain the coral within the third floor respectively. Now for my raid team.


    [Archie the Warlock Skeleton, Thing the Bone Hand, Saphee the Animated Skull, Treyni the Redwood Dryad]


    Get wrecked Leviathan!


    [The Raid will Begin in 3. 2. 1]


    With that all said and done, the dungeon disappeared, and reappeared in the middle of the ocean, a couple of boats trapped inside of it. Already I could feel a flood of power entering the Dungeon.


    [Giant Slayer 6 5/5]


    [Giant Slayer 7 5/5]


    [Giant Slayer 8 5/5]


    [Giant Slayer 9 5/5]


    [Giant Slayer 10 5/5]


    [Congratulations! As a reward for maxing out Giant Slayer you''ve been rewarded with a Giant type Schema!]


    Dozen''s of monsters were trapped inside of my walls and suffocated therein. I immediately cancelled the raid, taking not only the fruits of my harvest in points but also several of Leviathan''s ships with me. [Mana 18000/900] I was full of so much mana that it hurt, at the same time the leyline between me and Leviathan was running on empty, I was getting a notification to start work on my next floor but I ignored it. Leviathan was screaming in pain. Again!


    Again the dungeon disappeared from it''s original location, appeared in the middle of Leviathan''s fleet, the mountain had the ships lodged inside of it, the coral got the numerous contracted beasts living in the water trapped inside of it. Then the Dungeon returned to it''s original spot, now with even more of Leviathan''s ships lodged inside of it. I was getting messaged on the Chat group from Leviathan begging me to stop! My consciousness was getting hazy. I could feel my core cracking! Again! For a third time I appeared in Leviathan''s feel, scooped up it''s ships, and then ended the raid returning back to my original location.


    [Emergency Measures Taking place!] I felt my core sinking into the ground as another level was being created.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Outside of the Dungeon Charles was laughing.


    "You crazy son of a gun!" About a third of Leviathan''s ships had been eaten by the Dungeon Keeper via the stunt it just pulled, but by the looks of things it wouldn''t be taking anymore, the light of a evolutionary cocoon wrapped around the entire dungeon, as if the entire thing was one big monster that was now evolving. Leviathan was wounded but it was far from dead, that was Charles job. "Rot the Algae!" When large amounts of organic matter, such as Algae, begins to rot it produces a massive amount of methane gas, which Charles intended to take full advantage of. The area was filled with flammable gas, and Charles dropped the match, the area around and inbetween the ships were filled with fire and flames as numerous ships were set on fire by the gasses around them. Naturally Leviathan was attempting to put out the fire in the way any reasonable person would, by throwing water on it, sadly though water is the last thing you want to try when dealing with a natural gas fire like this, so it instead made things worst. Not the least of which is because Charles was still there to make it worst.


    "Heat to Kinetic!"


    And in that moment, the fires all exploded, instantly transforming the heat into pure kinetic force shattering the hulls of the ships that were affected. The Broken ships began to rapidly fall out of the surface of the water, by now half of them were gone already, and the hits kept coming. The broken pieces of the ships fell down to the three half dead dungeons that were being dragged below Leviathan, immediately the three dungeons started to greedily devour the pieces that they had come into contact with while Charles seized the initiative.


    "Gather!"


    Shouting that, all of the heat in the area surrounding the dungeons were pooled together into one spot, freezing all the water solid all the way down to the bottom of the bay. The trinity of Dungeons took full advantage of the boon that they were given, tunnels exploding outwards in a web as they snaked their way around going after the broken ships and their remains. For Dungeons the greatest food for promoting growth was the remains of other dungeons, and right now they had just been given a all you can eat feast for the ages.


    The Inside of Leviathan''s core room was telling, in several ways. Dungeon Core rooms can tell you a lot about what kind of dungeon they are: The statues that surround them are of the various bosses that they have in their employ, other smaller statuettes will reference the most frequently absorbed item in this it was the floor that had taken on a maze type pattern, in other words a dungeon, the pedestal that holds the core will reflect the first item that they''ve absorbed which again for Leviathan resulted in the rather comical scene of pirate''s hat. And the state of the core itself with reflect that of the dungeon, and in this case over half of the core was filled to the brim with cracks, one for every one of it''s floors that had been broken off or destroyed. Needless to say, he wasn''t having a good day, and it just got a whole lot worse.


    [You have over lapped with Dungeons Northern Ice Flow, Great Coral Reef and Sea Side Fortress]


    A spike of Coral skewered itself through the innermost ship of Leviathan, they were going straight for the heart with this one it would seem. But Guarding this floor wasn''t some no name sea hags. This floor was dedicated to Lucifer himself, and so his own B Ranked monsters the Fallen angels were guarding it. What did they possibly think would happen by having a few more- A stick flew out of the hole the coral had made, a flying spear that was knocking away the angels, which was then followed up by a creature that looked like a giant eel that proceeded to zap away the nearby enemies. They weren''t the most concerning of three monsters that the joint dungeons manage to spit out. No that particular honour went to the Snow Fairy that flew out of the hole, into what basically amounted to a giant ice berg that had been carved into the shape of a ship. The little creature tapped on the side of the ship, and suddenly all the fallen angels were skewered on spears of ice. Every attempt to spawn monsters to attack the three of them was met with strong resistance as they were either electrocuted or skewered all the way over. Then the three of them arrived in the core room.


    "Any last words?" The fairy held up her hand and produced a spear of ice.


    Do you expect me to beg for my life? Get it over with, I want to be in hell in time for supper!


    "Normally, I don''t consider myself to be a violent person." The Fairy raised up the spear of ice into the air. "But I will admit that I''m going to enjoy this!" The spear slammed into the half broken core and it shattered.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    There''s a very particular feeling in the air when a Dungeon dies. Normally it''s a dungeon''s job to stimulate and regulate the flow of mana in the surrounding environment so that it doesn''t go stagnant, like a river bringing fresh water into a pond so that bacteria doesn''t get the chance to form, if the bacteria was often several times your size and had fangs and claws, and take it into itself so that the pond doesn''t over flow and drown the surrounding plant and animal life, plant and animal life in this case being whatever life isn''t adapted to the overwhelming mana. Therefore when the dungeon dies the mana becomes still, deathly still, like all the excitement in the air has been drained away. Normally this wouldn''t last with four other dungeons in the immediate area but this was different. The three in the water had closed themselves off, gobbling up as much of the mana, and the pieces of Leviathan''s fleet, as they could in order to facilitate their own healing. Charles was making his own efforts to help them, the ice currently was like unto a cast for them, something to prop them up and let them heal, but it would not last forever on it''s own, and they lashed out at anything that got close like a wounded animal.


    Keeper wasn''t doing much better either, the entire mountain subsumed in a massive cocoon of evolution, no one could enter it, nor was Charles able to reach the slaves left inside of it. The only contact he had with the Dungeon was through the Sphinx and she couldn''t reach her core either. Which could mean nothing. Which could mean everything. Either way, Charles now had what you call a problem.


    "If we are actually serious about building a base then we''re going to have to go out and get the resources for it, and that means dealing with the forest, the sea, and the miners." The Fire spewing, cyclone churning one man force of nature that was leading the community let out a exhausted day as he sensed a enemy more formidable than any dungeon. Bureaucracy.


    "Am I missing something here?" Apas was lounging about on a stone slab nearby.


    "We''re going to run out of resources soon." Charles looked out of the base at the forest, birds were already flying through the air, disturbed from their nests by the approach of creatures many times more formidable than they. "That means that we''re going to have to go get more, potentially without a dungeon to help us, and your boyfriend just lit a beacon for every critter in the world."


    "The problem?" Apas asked cocking an interested brow, and so Charles explained.


    There is a reason why people build their communities around Dungeons, they''re a considerably safer location to get resources from. When you log in the woods there''s a serious number of steps that must be taken to avoid dealing with unpleasant matters. You need hunters to first clear the area of dangerous monsters that run the risk of disrupting your operations, even then some monsters simply cannot be avoided, like nature spirits. A nature spirit''s disposition and form changes with the season, spring was the time when they were the friendliest, even then you had to go through the process of planting new trees to replace the ones cut down, either through seed or by cuttings from the trees that were already taken down, and provide sufficient fertiliser to regrow the tree, do all of that and you might leave with your lives.


    Mines were worst though. The entire world was pot marked by dungeons, even if you don''t manage to break into one accidentally the constant earth quakes that are by products of their existence meant that a expansion from a nearby dungeon could bring the entire place down, that doesn''t even touch upon the horrors that can be born if your mine crosses over a Leyline.


    Farms are arguably the most horrifying of all. A Forest or a Hole? You can build walls around those, even if only temporary, sometimes even strong enough to block out the horrors that they''re intended for, not so for a farm. Grain is reliant on pollinators to grow, need sunlight and water, and cattle are reliant on the grain, and there are plenty of creatures that would eat one or the other. A dome means no sunlight, wards to chase away dangerous monsters also effect pollinating monsters, and if you erect a wall, if you create a situation where the mana in the area inside can''t flow or regulate becoming stagnant in the process? Good luck not being eaten by your crops.


    But don''t dungeons also kill people? Yes. Unfortunately yes, by the time the dungeon has grown enough that it recognises the value of the people trying to build their communities around it or be contacted by another dungeon through the chat function it will likely already have a body count in the hundred, and the resentment of several hundred. If you''re lucky, things can end without further unnecessary blood shed, if you''re not the new dungeon or the base built around it will have to be brought to heel, either by another nearby dungeon or by the tide of people willing to risk their lives to do so, in the worse case scenario? The dungeon, and the new potential community to be built around it, will have to be put down like a wild animal. Even trade between cities a was a profession full of danger, the open roads are filled with monsters looking for a easy meal or rogues and outcasts looking for the most basic necessities for survival.


    "I''ll look into the trinity, and impress upon them whom they have to thank for getting Leviathan off of them and who they have to thank for any room for growth and recovery at the moment." Apas stretched like the giant lazy cat that she was. "You on the other hand will have to deal with negotiation with whoever you have to in order to get what you need in order to whip this place into shape." The two nodded their heads and departed.

 Others

    Charles still remembers the day his fiance died, and his best friend. Amelia Bellfast was the Youngest daughter of the Bellfast family, and he the eldest of the Pentaghast sons, her family was one of the Jeweled city''s trading partners, and unlike the Pentaghast''s an established noble family that didn''t sell themselves to the Bejewelled dungeon like common whores to buy a noble title. Still the first time Charles met her it was like a star had come down before him, she sparkled like the sun. Of course their families didn''t attempt anything so crude as to try and force two near adult people together and expect them not to hate each other. Not only was Amelia his fiance but she was also his childhood best friend, mere month''s earlier the two had consummated their love for each other.


    Charles should''ve seen the signs, around the same time every year the patriarch of the Bellfast''s had this sour look on his features, like something was wrong, and this sour mood usually accompanied a group of ships that arrived in the area. As the years went on the period between these sour moods and the arrival of the ships would shrink, and the number of ships that came would only increase. Then one day, as Charles was arriving for his wedding day, the entire city was simply... gone. Charles found some of the people of the Bellfast territory, the ones that survived that is. Leviathan would sail around, attacking other dungeons to accumulate strength, steal or bully the locals for ships to grow its size and then leave.


    It had broken other territories too, and other dungeons, taking enough supplies to propagate it''s growth and then leave for relative safety to complete work on it''s latest ''floor'' before arriving at another dungeon to stuff it full of resources and then pillage it for growth. But this lost it''s efficiency, so instead Leviathan did what many mobile dungeons do, and it started hunting other dungeons, ripping them off the ocean floor, off the coast, any where it could reach for the sake of obtaining resources would be ripped out, smashed along the coast floor, and then swallowed whole.


    Leviathan was dead now, Amelia and her family''s spirits could rest easily now at long last now that the monster that ate them was finally dead, reduced to a beached corpse out in the harbour.


    Charles resented dungeons from the day he learned of Amelia''s death forward, after all how could he not? One killed the woman he loved, another facilitated that monster''s growth. Well, he was able to move past that hatred, but now he reached the point that he was working so hard to save one. Ironic.


    Charles held the rest of the Lumber Jacks back as he looked at the creature that was barring their path moving forward. Keeper''s second floor had two forms, the Dryad and the Leshen, normally though nature spirits have four forms, one for each season. Dryad''s appear in the Spring the Season of Bloom, Leshen''s in the Fall the Season of Decay. Summer however belongs to the Carbuncles, the season of Conflict.


    "So, you''re the local nature spirit are you?" The Creature standing before Charles was a massive wolf like creature, its fur a light brown and embedded in it''s chest was a single large chunk of amber bigger then some of the men here.


    "You should''ve come sooner." The creature growled while it talked. "I was in a better mood back in Spring."


    If spring was when life came back into the world, summer was when the hunt swings into full gear, animals competing for mates, competing for food, for territory, and no creature in the world better embodies that then this hunter. You could Kill a nature spirit, in much the same way that you can set fire to the forest until nothing was left but a barren wasteland. There was once a noblewoman who saw the fur of a Carbuncle embedded with jewels and so offered her hand to the man who could bring her the jewel encrusted pelt of one, the entire forest, crops, some say the very land itself proceeded to rot from the inside out the moment the last blow was struck. Charles didn''t come here to kill this thing, but he needs what it has as well.


    "You saw the cyclone from the other day right? The one that had pieces of Leviathan floating around it?" Charles eyes glowed. "My work."


    The Carbuncle visibly reacted.


    "You destroyed a dungeon, a severe offence among my kind, but that dungeon destroyed many of its own kind and would continue to destroy many more. But so what?" This was his territory, his very life blood flows through this land, and he will defend it to his last. "We both know you won''t kill me!"


    "Not if I don''t have to. It would be highly inconvenient if the timber that we intend to harvest was to rot from the inside out and we have to travel further away in order to get more." Inconvenient, that''s what his death and the death of this forest would be, merely ''Inconvenient''. "Still if you refuse to cooperate with me in the harvesting of timber from this forest then so be it, I''ll simply present your corpse to the next one over, and the next, and the next after that. I''d rather negotiate with you lot while you still can be reasoned with, meaning the more time that you waste the more likely I will have to use violence to compensate for my apparently subpar negotiation skills."


    The wolf like monster snarled, and then pounced. The Summer heat provided Charles with ample ammunition, directly converting the heat flowing through the air into kinetic strikes in order to pummel the wolf each strike aiming to land a crippling blow to the creature until it had been pushed back half dead.


    "Make sure it is securely restrained, and heal it. We don''t want it dead. Use the druids to identify the trees that are closest to death and cut them down first. Collect cuttings from healthy trees and give them to the druids to prepare new saplings." With any luck, they can get away with only doing the minimal damage possible to these woods, they''ve already incurred the Carbuncle''s anger, and as the old saying goes, a Carbuncle''s anger means a Leshen''s wrath.


    <hr>


    Apas landed on top of the corpse of Leviathan, still being digested by the trinity, Joining her was Charle''s Scribe, a spindly man by name of Leonardo who had taken a unhealthy obsession with trying to paint her. Apas wasn''t in the mood to go for a dive, let alone into freezing cold recently ice water, so instead she brought down her paw, gathering all the wind in the air and use it to push aside the water blocking her view of the outside of the dungeon. Not good, the summer heat was rapidly melting away at the ice, by the looks of the ice at least one of the dungeons was trying to use the ice as its main material and providing some support in the process but it wasn''t enough, especially when the other major builder of the three preferred to use coral, which does not do well in the sub Zero temperatures that were being propagated here. The only saving grace was the fact that at least one of the three of them prefers good old fashion granite as a building material which was providing some back bone.


    "Welp. Down we go." Apas stated turning away from the water, and into the three entrances that the dungeon''s had opened to breathe in fresh mana.


    "After you my lady." The scribe stepped aside and allowed the much bigger and much stronger woman in front of him to move forward first.


    Even though they entered through the coral entrance, it wasn''t long until the duo hit granite, and then ice. The trinity are relying on one another to try and pull themselves back together, like people huddling together to try and conserve body heat during the winter cold, but that usually works better when there''s a already stable dungeon involved in the process. Luckily Apas was there when Jewel helped to fix her Keeper, she had... an idea of what would be needed to fix the cracked Dungeon cores. Basically the answer was glue, to reassemble the broken pieces mana needs to fill in the gaps, the issue laid in quantity, too much and the core pieces would be pushed apart, too little and the cracks would be left behind, balance slays the demon as they say. So Apas kept an ear out, listened for the moans of pain produced by the cores and then made an effort to cease all mana output. Only when the moaning stopped would Apas resume, and resume their journey as well. This wasn''t to say that the Trinity were taking this blatant invasion lying down either, swarms of sea life, ice monsters and animated weapons kept chasing after them and Apas had to smack them away. Leonardo was working too, every time they took a break he would pick a place to paint a complex magic formation onto stone, while they walked he would draw out the map of the maze, as they passed through floors they felt the mana density going up and up. Eventually they arrived at the Trinity Core room, floor ten, still with Leviathan''s chains lodged in their cracked pedestals.


    "Well aren''t you three in a sorry state." Apas commented looking at the three heavily damaged cores. Apas genuinely wondered which one looked worst between the four of them, Leviathan or the Trinity.


    STAY BACK! WE''RE WARNING YOU!


    "Oh please don''t be so melodramatic." Apas made a dramatic put upon sigh as she waved her paw dismissively.


    "Hand over Leviathan''s core and we''ll leave you to stew in your own paranoia." Apas suspected that these three weren''t quite stupid enough to try and absorb a chunk of mana that huge, for one thing they were still alive. For another, she wasn''t fond of the concept of traces of that greedy pirate winding up inside of these three.


    And if we don''t?


    Apas slammed her paw into the nearby wall of granite hard enough to crack it.


    "Did that sound like a question to you three?" They paused, then the three largest chunks of Leviathan''s core was dropped out of the Dungeon Storage space.


    That is all that you get, the rest is to restore the Trinity! Apas slammed her paw into the wall again. A few dozen marble sized chunks were spat out of the storage space, Leonardo quickly gathered the pieces together in his apron.


    That is all that''s left, the rest has been absorbed into the Trinity!


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    "I thought I saw a bit of the high seas in you three." Apas seriously stared at them, a viscous mocking light in her eyes. "Leviathan is an abomination, you three should know that better than anyone, if he tries to come back through you, I won''t hesitate to come back here and smash all three of you. Am I clear?"


    The three cores chimed in agreement.


    Another benefit of the Core room, after you get around five floors you unlock a function that lets you expel delvers who make it all the way over back outside of the entrance to the dungeon. Once outside Leonardo looked down at the final of his map pieces and kissed it, relieved beyond relief that he had finally finished work on it. The sound of rumbling was let out as the Trinity took the liberty of rearranging their floors. It was Leonardo''s own fault, he was the one who painted the temperature regulation formation inside of the dungeon, Charles once used it to kill a man into a work of art, his body split down the middle, half reduced to charred bone and half frozen solid in a block of ice, it was the perfect thing to regulate the coral that needed warm temperature and the ice that needed it to be cold with the Granite in the middle to buffer the two. Leonardo cried as he tore up the map and threw the pieces away into the ocean.


    <hr>


    Originally, my feud with the Dungeon City had been born out of necessity, after all the other dungeon had been in my way, having erected such massive walls to keep the city itself safe from potential invasion by monsters, by bandits and by whatever. If the other party had been accommodating enough to lower its walls and let me pass, then he wouldn''t be here trying to break them down to pass. Go around? Of course it thought of that before, but the leyline passed through this place, he''s tried to step off of the path before only to be swallowed up with a intensive feeling of not being able to breathe. Whatever, if it hasn''t learned it''s lesson by the time they come back then I''ll just have to break the walls down again. That is what I thought before, but then this pain in the arse cost me an arm, that demanded blood. So here I was once more, smashing at the walls that prevented it from passing, for someone who desired to roam freely I spent a awful lot of time here. Of course since losing an arm I shored up my defences both on said newly restored arm and across the body, Lithilas''s associates wouldn''t be able to pull anymore dirty tricks this time.


    Cue the appearance of more dirty tricks, a massive bone serpent snaking it''s way through Lithilas and emerged through it''s front gate biting down on Conquerete''s arm and wrapping it''s body around it''s legs before making the entire thing topple over. Conquerete felt a familiar sensation coming from the bony creature''s tail, still hidden behind the safety of the other Dungeon''s walls. So you''ll let this undead dungeon through to harass me, but not I? Okay now I was insulted. The giant serpent slammed down snapping jaws against me, trying to bite through and tear chunks of stony flesh off.


    <hr>


    Conquerete''s golems had long since flooded my dungeon, trying to make their way down to my core room, and then another group of monsters appeared and fought them, the undead imbued with holy power, a combination that I recognised.


    The newest development had me steaming.


    [Ouroboros: Old man you okay?]


    [Lithilas: Damn you Graves you reckless fool!]


    [Ouroboros: I don''t know what you''re talking about...]


    [Lithilas: Save it!]


    [Lithilas: I was wondering who it was that issued that world quest a while ago, to think it was our resident Necromancer]


    [Ouroboros: It was the only way I could think of to beat Conquerete]


    [Lithilas: By transforming your entire dungeon into a monster, do we need to discuss the perils of turning control over your dungeon to another again?]


    [Ouroboros: I haven''t turned anything over to anyone, and I have no intention to either, I mean sure I had to rearrange a few of my floors and blessings...]


    [Lithilas: And when your monster is ready to proceed with it''s evolution? Are you going to still be in a position to talk about still being in control of your dungeon when you''re absorbed as material by that monster over there?]


    [Ouroboros: ...]


    [Lithilas: Do I even need to ask why you''re rapidly approaching a hundred right now?]


    [Ouroboros: ...]


    [Lithilas: It certainly doesn''t have anything to do with a certain world quest that has half of my city praying to you for salvation would it?]


    [Ouroboros: ...]


    [Lithilas: You do realise I''m only asking as a courtesy to you so that you can recognise and admit to your mistake right?]


    [Lithilas: Go, finish dealing with Conquerete, but don''t land the finishing blow, you''re already flushed with so much power that your core is on the verge of shattering]


    [Ouroboros: But Conquerete...]


    [Lithilas: Already can''t go anywhere or do anything with you tying him up like that, I suggest we wait until Babel gets here and then pay the glutton to carry him away for us]


    [Lithilas: In the mean time we need to support Keeper, with any luck Leviathan hasn''t eaten him already]


    [Ouroboros: ...Keeper has already been shattered]


    [Lithilas: Keeper recklessly tried to build a floor which broke because he didn''t put in enough material to support the over bearing monsters he put inside of it, Jewel put him back together again]


    [Lithilas: If we''re lucky we can catch them in the middle of the raid]


    I checked the chat group''s logs, and made a startling discovery in the process.


    [Pirate Fleet Leviathan Status: Shattered]


    [Dungeon Keeper Status: Evolving]


    [Ouroboros: What does this mean?]


    [Lithilas: It means that Keeper has been even more reckless then you have been]


    [Lithilas: Jewel what about you?]


    [Bejeweled Concubine''s Mirror Status: Repairing nearby Core]


    [Lithilas: I will prepare my Humans to go out and investigate Keeper to see what is happening, if you have any left that you''re on good terms with you will do the same]


    Lithilas proceeded with the routine of sending the stone masons to work on repairing the damage done to the walls using the materials he provides them, at the same time though he also had a convoy prepared to go to Keeper. Evolving monsters were highly attractive targets, so much rich mana and points all locked inside of a package that couldn''t defend itself, prime for a great payout to the one who can kill it. One as large as a dungeon? Every monster in the continent will be after him.


    <hr>


    A convoy had been prepared from Jewel''s dungeon, filled with the people taken captive by that horrid manticore. Apas had saved them, this much was known to Jewel, and so she swallowed her own short comings on the matter, many of their families were already dead and others could no longer be trusted. So swallowing her pride she decided to compensate Keeper the best way that she could, his second job from Echidna had been to build a demi-human city, and right now she had a bunch of displaced demi-humans that needed a home. It would be unreasonable to ask the Keeper to look after all of them by itself, certainly not without payment, Jewel had prepared a huge number of different materials that would be helpful for promoting Keeper''s growth, including new monster variants and trap designs. The question was getting them to him. The Escort of migrants already had to deal with a few monsters already, monsters that were now being added to the pile for Keeper but still.


    Keeper was wrapped in a cocoon of evolution, Jewel didn''t know what kinds of sacrifices he had to make to do what he did to Leviathan, but she could offer some guesses. His dungeon was made out of limestone, meaning that it was wholly possible that he turned the entire thing into one massive monster like what Graves did to himself. She had to approach this with the very real possibility that the Dungeon Keeper wasn''t a dungeon anymore, so aside from the group in the convoy another of her vassals were in the air. Flying type monsters had the advantage over the continent, the power to fly out of range of enemy attacks and strike at them from afar was a huge boon in combat, and among them a Harpy who has become proficient in the use of wind magic would be able to do some damage, at least in comparison to a ground dwelling monster without the reach to get her. And as she reached the location in question the Harpy was feeling the tingle of familiar mana, but different, mixed with the mana of other dungeons. Someone from Jewel''s dungeon, one of the offspring of her monsters, but it had been a long time since he''s returned to Jewel''s halls, unlike they who bath in Jewel''s mana, sometimes literally.


    Instead though the unique mana signature he gave off was full of the mana of other dungeons, the complex green pattern of that school that insisted on teaching magic to the people who kept entering it''s halls, the fiery red of the volcano further south, most recently the blue of the new born Keeper. Alarmingly however, rather than tending to the mid evolution Keeper, he and his men were working in the forest, one recently cleared of trees. On top of the stumps of newly cut trees slots were being carved out and in their place the specially specially carved branches of the trees they just cut down were being slotted in place, wrapped with freshly stripped bark with saw dust acting as filler, and treated with healing magic and growth acceleration magic in order to do a close approximation of reviving the trees they just cut down. It was a close approximation of appeasing the forest spirit, which would be good if they had only done it one or two times, not the hundreds of times over like they were doing.


    "I find myself seriously questioning your sanity." The Harpy was able to further confirm the presence of the one born of Jewel''s dungeon after touching down in front of the one who looked to be in charge of the group, he was the one in the best armour as a start, but he also had fiery red hair and red eyes. "You''re from the Pentaghast family aren''t you?" The Harpy asked as she inched away slowly. And Since the other three Pentaghast boys were still inside of Jewel''s city that meant that...


    "I was." The Bridge Burner. The Harpy quietly gulped as she moved to back away. "If I wanted to hurt you, you''d be dead already. Why has one of my Families vassals come here?"


    "We''re delivering the children that were rescued by Apas and the Keeper from the Scorpion." Put the kids up for Adoption? Only to most likely have them scooped up by some blatantly exploitative force in an effort to place Jewel''s nascent city under their control? No. Jewel was sending them to someone she trusts, that being her fellow dungeons, Keeper was the closest of the ones she had in mind, and she was banking on a little bit of good will she was building up too. Jewel wasn''t sure about how many of the pirate''s floors that Keeper tried to consume, all that she knew was that his core was full of cracks and she was working to fill them. Still these kids didn''t need a impersonal dungeon raising them, but actual parents and that left this guy. Still better to get a read on the situation. "I presume that glowing mountain of mana cobwebs is the Keeper, but what exactly happened here that allowed a 2 or 3 floor scrub to take down a monster like Leviathan?" The Harpy asked looking over to the glowing mountain in the distance.


    "The Dungeon went on a raid." Charles laughed amused.


    "Well yes I figured that, but I don''t know what it sent on that raid." The Harpy replied simply.


    "The entire dungeon, went from that spot right there, into the middle of the Leviathan fleet, then went back to where it originally was." Charles explained but the look on the face of the Harpy implied he explained absolutely nothing. "When it went back it took several of Leviathan''s ships with it, then it did it two more times before the system decided he reached the limit and that happened."


    "What happened then?" Harpy only looked more confused. "By the sounds of things the Keeper only smashed apart 30 or so of the ships."


    "You remember what I called myself when I left the Jeweled city?" Charles asked looking quite smug with himself.


    "Ship Breaker..." The Harpy looked even more scared now.


    "I got like... 20 of the ships? Set them on fire with the rot from the sea weed, tricked a cyclone into existence and used it to smash the ships against each other, fed the leftovers to the three that the dungeon keelhauled, they took advantaged of that, pulled together their resources to skewer Leviathan through the rear and smash his core to pieces. Right now my associate is trying to stabilise them."


    "Four Dungeons?" The Harpy looked shocked. "Oh wow, that''s impressive. You really think people are going to let you keep them?" Ah yes. Simple greed. Another thing that Charles will have to beat off with a stick, well maybe Keeper can help with that.

 Return

    Treyni was trapped inside of a void, surrounding her were thirty enemies taking the form of wooden statues, the statues taking the form of gods of the Sea. Minor entities like Dagon, Calypso, Charybdis to major like Poseidon, Mizuchi and Indra, they weren''t all of the water gods that Leviathan had taken blessings from, but most of them were here. Focusing on water gods first meant that the fifty of them were the first ones that Leviathan was able to contract with, and now most of them were here. Treyni was not having a good day. In a battle of compatibility a wood element will win out against a water element, but there are factor''s that can over turn compatibility, Ranking, Boss Level, Numbers and experience were all working against Treyni here. This was and will always be the Keeper''s dungeon, but Treyni wasn''t sure if she would still be the floor''s boss or not at the end.


    <hr>


    Credit where do, The Leviathan''s Beasts were formidable, even with their bodies trapped within their own he had to struggle with all his might against them. One was a snail, it''s shell and flesh bright and colourful, and annoyingly magic resistant, deflecting away about two thirds of the magically produced slime that made up the Lake Slime''s being that it tried to use to dissolve it and flat out absorbed the remaining third. There was the kraken, a deadly and efficient hunter, specialising in moving fast and hitting hard. The Megalodon, a violent shark creature the size of most boats and capable of easily scuttling them with ease. The Mosasaur, a huge crocodilian creature built for a life in the water with specialised jaws for swallowing prey whole. The Island Turtle, a massive beast capable of maintaining an entire eco-system on its back, this one was quite young when Leviathan trapped it with a chain. Knight Crabs, huge crab monsters that wear shells from much larger and more formidable creatures on their backs, excellent defenders, going as far as to guard flocks of other sea life, if only to use them as food themselves. Boxing Shrimp. Killer Whale. Stealth Ray.


    These were just a few examples of the creatures trapped in the third floor filled with lake slime, their souls now trapped in a primordial ooze of mortal combat to see who would come out victorious. The Lake slime though? There''s a reason why such a massive creature is considered a mere D Rank, it''s too stupid and too passive to survive in this place with so many other contenders seeking to take it''s place as their very lives depend on it.


    <hr>


    While the others struggled against the enemies before them with all their might, Archie was alone. There were no enemies caught with him when he went into the cocoon of evolution, not ones that hadn''t suffocated by now anyway. With no rivals to speak of all Archie had to do was wait for the system to finish processing the power and evolve him, then out of no where a light opened in the darkness and out stepped a figure, skin pale as death with touches of acid burns and hair and toga wreathing him in darkness, never seen by Archie before, and yet instantly recognised.


    "Lord Pluto!?" Archie immediately bowed. "I''m honoured with your-"


    "Save it." Pluto snapped by way of reply, turning around the way he came. "Come." Archie immediately stood up straight and followed, his body taking on a soul form and arriving in a library. "My issue is that I have a monster under my command with an absurd amount of power gathered who has no idea how to utilise any of it. That changes now." Pluto waved his arms. "Necromancy..." Several books fell into Archie''s arms. "Soul anatomy..." Another book. "Chimera''s..." Several more Books, Archie was having a hard time balancing now. "Geomancy..." Archie flat out collapsed under a pile of books. "Metallurgy and Gemology." More books fell onto Archie''s head as it poked out. "That should do it." And on that note, Pluto turned around to leave, dealing with matters of governing his realm.


    "How much of these do I have to learn?" Archie asked sounding concerned.


    "For now?" Pluto paused not turning to face Archie. "All of them."


    Archie wasn''t physically capable of sighing, but he was in a spiritual body right now so he figured that he had the right to do so as he randomly picked up a book and started reading.


    <hr>


    Treyni was not having a good time, even a tree will drown in water if given too much of it, and right now Treyni was drowning, the various figure heads of Leviathan having a death match with each other over the right to claim her soul and her body. Even after she switched to the form of the Leshen the enemy was still overwhelming them, and then a sound like a bell echoed out.


    [Quest Complete! Defeat Leviathan!]


    Treyni suddenly felt a new power enter her, the power of symbiosis. And then she wasn''t alone, her various Treants appearing alongside her, bows at the ready to fight, the water entities looked at each other and a thought occurred. They cannot all become the boss, that is why they are fighting with each other. But these new creatures represent an opportunity, they can all get bodies to survive the evolution now, but who would claim the boss''s?


    "Step aside!" As if the choice was natural, a brute of a man wearing a toga appeared and a crown of sea shells stepped forward, Poseidon, the current sea god, or rather the figurehead made in his appearance. The others could only make bitter faces and step aside as the sea god stepped forward, fully intending to claim dominion over this floor. And then another figure appeared through a door of light. "Pluto!?" The Poseidon impersonator took a step back as he looked at the entity before him. Pluto was from a pantheon that rivalled Poseidon''s, the two of them were therefore bitter and hated enemies. "What are you doing here!?"


    "A follower of mine has been filling this place with my power." And there wasn''t enough room for the two of them. "Begone." And then the entire soul plane was drowned in mud. Wood was considered strong against water, but earth was also strong against water, but earth was also weak against wood. The mud became a highly nutritious fertiliser for the wood type monsters, one that had the souls of the water types trapped inside of it.


    <hr>


    Not all of them could be knock out winners, the slime was a newborn, even with the benefit of being the original it still couldn''t stand up to all the other monster souls that were inside of it''s body and they ultimately ate it, and then they ate each other. The end result was a conjoined mess of a soul that had taken root inside of the lake slime, then a new figure appeared inside of the soul space, one with the lower body of a long eel, a crown of horns and a head of hair and beard made completely out of see through water. Leviathan was a pain in his tail, and so were his bratty children that he had taken on as patrons, so having someone to stick it to them like this really was a blessing, doing this much was really no big deal.


    <hr>


    ***The sound of music accompanied me as various... runes flew at me, at my drums, I swung my maces on top of my drums as they came, in the mean time the other vikings were rowing us along the river cave as we went along, singing along with the music. "I am a Dwarf and I''m Digging a hole, diggy diggy hole! Diggy, diggy Hole!" *###* My axe broke off against the body of the skeleton, no matter, this place was full of weapons, I picked up a sword from the pile of bodies building at my feet and swung the bastard''s head off. Having gotten some breathing room I pulled a belt off of my waist and downed it, and then the next round started. *###* One Eye of newt, one green emerald, one dash of unicorn''s urine, and thus my spell was complete, flying onto my hands in the process. "A touch from cursed hands makes objects fly and flutter by. Be very still for them to land and you maybe amused by the butterflies." My talking animated skull informed me helpfully from the side, so I touched him with my ''Cursed Touch'' and he turned into a mass of butterflies. *###*


    I was fairly confident that the sound of breaking glass snapped me out of my near death experience recall of my memories. So to recap, I was a musician, a warrior, a mage, and a potion maker? What the hell is wrong with me? Looking around my core room my eyes naturally landed on my core, my core that had tripled in size, my core that was currently lopsided and filled with cracks.


    [Dungeon Core has suffered severe structural damage due to rapid advancement. As the core heals your floors will gradually be unlocked for use with their full benefits. Currently the number of floors available have been reduced down to a bare minimum state.]


    I looked around, this wasn''t my first floor, there wasn''t any limestone here and even if there was I''m pretty sure that my floor wasn''t a set of stairs going up where the hallway leading to the summoning and store rooms were supposed to be. And another message from the system. Lovely.


    [The Monsters that you have integrated into floor are undergoing evolution, for your safety your core has been moved to another floor while this process is completed]


    My safety? Well I guess my Leviathan strategy has back fired a bit. Ah, another new message, and upon seeing the contents my cold crystaline heart skipped a beat.


    [Message from system creator: Nicely done, it''s not often that someone manages to come up with a loop hole, and now patched. Here''s a little something, something as thanks]


    A loud thunk punctuated the message. So not only was there some kind of entity behind the dungeon system, but I had gotten it''s attention. And what did I get for it? A globe, made out of some kind of metal?


    [Participation Trophy from the DM, put it somewhere people can look at it with pride!]


    My non-existent eyes twitched. I couldn''t even break it down for mana. What the hell was this thing made out of?


    [Adamantium: A piece of indestructible material used by the gods for forging weapons]


    I blinked stupidly for a moment. I ran my dungeon feelers over the globe part of the trophy and watched it spin. Upon further examination I found a bolt running through the trophy to enable said spinning. I looked to my stone stalactite I stuck my core onto. I unbolted the globe and walked over to the core, Mentally screaming in pain as I shoved the bolt through the cracks in my core that nearly tore it in half and bolted it into the stand the globe use to be on. Alright, now that that was done what other ways could I-I did it again didn''t I?


    [Congratulations for upgrading your core Room!]


    The entire room shifted around, becoming cleaner and neater. Tiling replaced the ground, Support pillars sprung up around the room, and my chat room screen appeared to become a full blown computer. A small pedestal had been created from which the former globe I had replaced was floating above. Okay? This is new.


    [Adamantine Pedestal: This pedestal will absorb 70% of the shock done to your core in the future, try not to let it break]


    Stolen story; please report.


    Well... okay that''s good news. I wasn''t planning on stressing the thing out any time soon and now it looks like I won''t be.


    [Dungeon Core Chat: The latest version of Dungeon Core Chat Room, now with unlimited roaming it is possible to extend Chat functions to any core in the world]


    Upon closer look at the globe, it was covered in small lights, each no bigger than a pin hole and few enough you wouldn''t see them at first glance, they also followed very specific grooves as if carved into place, most of them consisted of white dots, others had various shades of colour to them. Were these all Dungeon Cores?


    [Administrator Status Gained: Do to your connection to a high number of cores you have gained the status as a dungeon administrator]


    Why are you dumping these things onto me!? Huu. I need to go into the chat group before I get anymore notifications.


    [Lithilas: What did you do?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Yo, Lithilas... nice to see that you''re okay too]


    [Lithilas: What. Did. You. Do!?]


    I didn''t even have a body and I winced.


    [Dungeon Keeper: About? My core is a little cracked right now so...]


    [Lithilas: Leviathan is dead, you''re still alive, you just shot up to the top of the administrator ranks in the chat system and your entire dungeon is wrapped in an evolutionary cocoon. Do I need to repeat the question?]


    I probably shouldn''t make him repeat the question.


    [Dungeon Keeper: So I came up with an idea to destroy Leviathan, I integrated three of my monsters into my three floors, then I sent them all on a raid into Leviathan]


    The period of silence that took place was probably Lithilas picking his jaw up from the floor.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Before you try it out for yourself, you should know that I got contacted by the system creator who patched it, and I think he called himself "The DM"]


    [Lithilas: Of course he did. What happened next?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: He gave me a participation trophy, the description said it was indestructible so I integrated it into the pedestal for my core]


    I skipped the part about where I bolted it through my core. I got the feeling I shouldn''t talk about that part.


    [Lithilas: How did you integrate a trophy from that troll into your pedestal?]


    A pause as if the old man was coming to a sudden realisation.


    [Lithilas: You bolted it through your core didn''t you?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Anyway! What kind of privileges do I get from Administrative duties?]


    [Lithilas: No Privileges, only work]


    [Lithilas: You''re supposed to boss around all the lower ranking cores, which in this case is all of them, but they don''t have to obey you, especially if you haven''t earned their respect yet]


    [Lithilas: It''s supposed to be something that you earn from being connected to 10 other dungeons in your area, and even then that''s the most basic requirement!]


    [Lithilas: Does this have something to do with the trophy?]


    [Lithilas: In fact if you show where your level of strength really stands then they might try to walk all over you]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I beat Leviathan though!]


    [Lithilas: You got lucky! Just bumping off a third of his levels put you into a coma! I suspect the only reason you are still alive is because someone else took advantage of the fact that Leviathan was in a weakened state to finish what you started]


    Before I could retort, more people started coming into the chat.


    [Jewel: Keeper, are you awake yet?]


    [Jewel: I''ve been trying to pump Mana into the leyline to help you heal but you''re a little far away so I don''t know how it''s going]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Awake, currently getting scolded]


    [Jewel: One of my vassals is outside of your Dungeon right now, I''m sending over some supplies and personnel for you]


    [Lithilas: What happened after this fool fell into a coma, does anyone know?]


    [Jewel: The Human in charge of his camp, Charles Pentaghast, set twenty or so of the ships on fire, triggered the appearance of a cyclone, and blew a hole into little under a third of the remaining seventy ships]


    [Jewel: The remains then fell into the lap of the three dungeons that Leviathan was in the middle of breaking apart against the ocean floor and they ate them to skewer Leviathan]


    [Jewel: The remaining ships are apparently being broken down by the newly formed Trinity]


    Is Charles secretly a Badass? He''s kind of muscular and is always wearing heavy armour but aside from that he mostly just sits around all day doing paper work.


    [Lithilas: And the current state of Keeper''s dungeon?]


    [Jewel: The three floors are all covered in a cocoon of evolution]


    [Lithilas: Ah yes, seeing as how I need to give Graves the lecture again I might as well do both of you at the same time]


    [Lithilas: Say hi Graves]


    [Ouroboros: Hi guys]


    [Dungeon Keeper: ?]


    [Jewel: ?]


    So apparently when I got cracked for the first time Graves had a panic attack and wrote me off. Not wanting Conquerete to eat Lithilas too he apparently thought it would be a good idea to turn his dungeon into a monster, and used prayer and abused loopholes in his blessings to have a even more explosive growth spurt then I did. I turned mine into a few monsters but unlike him I didn''t get the lecture already.


    [Lithilas: To turn your dungeon into a monster is to make it so that it''s no longer a dungeon, what it does or what form it takes will no longer be your decision]


    [Lithilas: You''re lucky you parted your floors out to three different monsters, this literal numb skull set up a perpetual cycle of making his floors out of bone that''s going to integrate itself into his monster all on their own]


    [Ouroboros: Well, I want to support his growth properly after all, if I don''t he might end up becoming a huge menace like Leviathan or Conquerete]


    [Lithilas: Why do I even bother with you anymore?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: We can still dungeon though right?]


    [Lithilas: It''s hard to say, ''Dungeon'' requires an empty container, a pretty massive one at that, living beings usually aren''t hollow on the inside]


    Well, he makes a good point anyway.


    [Lithilas: More importantly, even though dungeons don''t function very well inside of living creatures, living creatures do very well with dungeon cores inside of them]


    [Lithilas: We seize control over the surrounding area, create life, materials, some particularly mad men tried to take advantage of that to implant dungeon cores inside of them]


    [Lithilas: A few of them succeeded]


    [Lithilas: Grave''s attempt to save me and your plan to kill Leviathan may have given birth to some very dangerous monsters]


    Note to self, do not make anymore monster floors. I suspected I knew the answer but I tried to make some material and manipulate mana but I got a pain like... trying to lift too much at the Gym I guess. So I know what a gym is but I can''t even remember what limestone was used to build?


    [Dungeon Keeper: I don''t think I can use my powers very well right now]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I think I better wait until my core heals before I try anything, either that or until my floors and finished evolving.]


    And as if on cue, the cocoon of evolution finished up on my third floor.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Sweet I think the third floor just opened up.]


    [Jewel: Really? 1 and 2 are still in the cocoons though]


    [Dungeon Keeper: So only my third floor is open right now?]


    While we discussed the implications of what was going on...


    [You have 1 new message]


    I like nothing about where this was going.


    [Oceanus: Thanks for dealing with Leviathan, I fixed your monster for you]


    Oookay...?


    [Dungeon Keeper: Anyone knows a guy named Oceanus?]


    [Lithilas: !?]


    [Lithilas: Oceanus as in the Primordial Sea god!? The father of all the other gods of water!? That Oceanus!? Why are you talking about him!?]


    Oh I really don''t like this now.


    [Dungeon Keeper: He just sent me a message telling me he sorted out my monster for me]


    [Lithilas: I''m just going to stop being surprised now] [Dungeon Keeper: Apparently he wanted to thank me for dealing with Leviathan for him]


    [Lithilas: Oceanus is the sea god, the one that all the other water deities answer to, or at least they should, he gave them their own domains to rule over but as I understand it they''re rather unfilial sons and daughters and don''t listen to their father anymore]


    [Lithilas: Considering the fact that Leviathan is both picking off all the other dungeons in this ocean and had a bunch of his ungrateful brats as patrons I suppose I shouldn''t be surprised that you''ve gotten his attention]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Okay, good to know. I''m going to investigate the third floor now]


    I move my awareness up the stairs leading down to my fourth floor and was soon greeted by a large gelatinous membrane.


    [B Rank Monster...]


    I paused stupidly at the first three words of the description. Where the hell did B-Rank come from?


    [B Rank Monster Queen Chimera Slime-A slime that has absorbed several powerful monsters integrating their unique characteristics and abilities into itself, is composed of over 100 smaller slimes]


    I blinked stupidly again. How many of Leviathan''s monsters did I dissolve down here? Experimentally I shoved some mana into the slime. No reaction from either the slime or the mana. I need to consult about this.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Hey Graves, or Ouroboros I guess? You can still see inside of the parts of your Dungeon that you turned into a monster already right?]


    [Ouroboros: Yeah? Why?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I need to start looking at what floors I do have and decide if I need to make another entrance don''t I?]


    With that in mind, I stuck my proverbial head into the giant Jello cube that made up my third floor. This was a lot bigger then I remember it being. I could still see the ceiling, in the same way that you see the sky and the clouds when you look up, but it was very far away, as if I was standing on the floor of the ocean itself. That was more than what I could say about the walls though. They were either flat out no longer there or so far away the difference was negligible. What the hell happened? For now I kept moving my point of awareness further and further ahead but while I was moving my point of awareness around, someone else was moving to meet me.


    I was greeted by an over massive figure, in the distance it reminded me a mermaid, but getting closer I soon realised it was anything but. She had the general figure of a mermaid, but the similarities ended there. In lieu of the usual fish tail expected of a mermaid there was instead the massive billowing fins and stinger of a Manta Ray, leading up from where the manta ray''s head should be was a hourglass shaped armour made out of some kind of rainbow material. I would call what was above the waistline breasts but honestly I don''t think that was the case, oh sure they were in the right place and shape, but in lieu of soft inviting tissue I saw two seaweed green sacks of some kind of neon glowing liquid. To either side of those were arms of long silken material in a approximation of sleeves, ones that cloaked down arm guards of yet more rainbow material, ending in approximations of hands with four tentacle fingers and the smaller part of a crab''s claw for a thumb. The face was flat, a mouth full of sharpened triangle shaped teeth and a head of fibre glass like strands resembling the tendrils of a jelly fish, far from being fish like though her eyes were sharp and full of intelligence, even if her face was flat with no nose. Several deep and high pitch noises came out of her mouth, like the sound of a whale''s call. Well even if she does try to talk it''s not like-


    "Thank you for disposing of that wretch Leviathan Master." I stared stupidly for a few moments. Why can I understand what you''re saying?


    "Is this not one of the powers of Dungeons? To absorb from their environments, process and then spit back out? Leviathan never seemed to have problems communicating with others."


    If I had temples I''d be rubbing them right now. Do you have memories of being Leviathan''s monster? Which one were you?


    "Leviathan enslaved several creatures of the deep as his slaves, you trapped them inside of your dungeon, your slime broke down their bodies and entered a state of evolution. The souls competed with one another and devoured each other into a conjoined mess, Lord Oceanus then came in and sorted our soul and body out into this form that you see before you. If I had to describe myself, I am the sum of their parts."


    Am I still getting mana?


    "Of course master, this B Rank here is still a part of you dungeon after all."


    Can we open up a path to the outside?


    "Of course master, please follow me."


    The Chimera slime core led me away, it felt like we travelled for miles. Why is it taking so long to reach the other side? What is this place?


    "This is the power of the spatial Jelly fish master, it''s unique characteristic is a massive internal pocket dimension."


    The Chimera explained while she flicked her vaguely hair like strands. We''re going over everything that you''re made of as soon as we get the chance.


    "Shall we start now master?"


    The Chimera led me to a wall of coral, this was her body, maybe she could manipulate the space inside of it? Putting her hand on the wall it shifted and opened up, the familiar Dungeon Fog blocking my point of view. So this leads outside?


    "Of course master."


    If I had the Ifrit body I could exit the dungeon and have a look around outside. My genie summoning circle was all the way back on my third floor though, and I don''t think that I''m in good enough shape to reach it now.


    "One Moment please master." The chimera floated over next to the exit and started using her claws to transcribe a familiar magic circle on the coral wall.

 Neighbours

    One of the three evolution cocoons popped. Unfortunately, it was the one furthest away from the front door. Charles and Apas looked as the mass of coral shifted around like a living creature, lifting itself up like a creature poking it''s head out of the water, only to slam back down again.


    "The hell are we looking at?" The Harpy questioned as they watched the bed of coral turn around, and look at them with big black eyes. Propping itself up with a massive crab pincer the crab opened its mouth, and something came out of it quickly beaching itself on the shore. Another Genie, a Maride this time a water genie as opposed to the fiery Ifrit. Well that makes its own kind of sense after all, that fiery fellow wouldn''t last very long under water.


    "A water body is definitely different than a fire one." The figure complained on the shore. So then in other words.


    "Keeper? That you in there?" The water figure morphed as it sat up as opposed to moving like a normal person. "What happened?" I asked as I let the spark of fire die on my finger tips.


    "A god swooped in and finished evolving my third floor." The being of water explained before Apas pounced on him, causing him to splash everywhere.


    "Hmm. This body isn''t quite held together as well as your fire one." Apas complained while she licked the water out of her paw.


    "Couldn''t exactly summon the Ifrit underwater now could I?" The Keeper replied as his body reformed itself.


    "I heard on the chat group how everything was going, I came out myself mostly to see if everyone was okay out here."


    "I moved the non-combatants into the relative safety of your dungeon, you might''ve been busy at the time so you might''ve not noticed." The Keeper looked like he missed that, he might''ve been wrestling with Leviathan''s monsters at the time. As he thought though, the mountain, and the first and second floors with it, was completely wrapped in a cocoon of evolution.


    "So Archie and Treyni are inside of that thing? What about Leviathan?" The Keeper asked and so he was directed to the ships in the bay, fewer of them by the hour.


    "The Trinity are eating them. Apas went over there while you were asleep, giving them a warning to behave themselves. With Luck they''ll take the warning." I stated looking as one of the ships were sunk again.


    "Luck? I think I used all of that up while I was unconscious." Keeper mused and let out a sigh.


    He found a loop hole in the system, exploited it to kill a dungeon several times stronger than him, was backed up by Leviathan''s very own Captain Ahab and the three prisoners that Leviathan was dragging along with it. The Keeper was pretty certain his luck has run dry and I agreed with him. I looked over to the additional fortress like chunks that were being built around the original base that my men had assembled together.


    "You guys expecting someone?" Keeper asked looking at the group with concern.


    "He hog tied a nature spirit and pillaged its forest for wood to build up that fortress." A face the Keeper didn''t recognise appeared, a Harpy woman. "Come fall it will break free and come to tear this dungeon and it''s city apart. On the subject of which, we need to talk." The Harpy bowed before the Keeper''s prone and watery form and made her request known. "Previously, you have saved the people of my Mistress''s dungeon, for that I thank you, and now we have come here asking you to offer your protection once more."


    The Orphans Keeper saved from the Manticore, most of them already lost their families and Jewel doesn''t trust those families left anymore, so she''s giving them to me to look after instead. It''s not like we aren''t getting benefits from this either, most of those kids are already old enough to work, and just by having them sit down in the dungeon lots of power starts to flow in. Many of them are naturally talented in areas of complex and valuable magics. For instance there are with the affinity for nature to help regrew the trees Charles cut down in order to appease the nature spirit, or we can have them stand at a distance and fire magic attacks at enemy monsters. In order to fortify this fortress enough to deal with an invasion I had to cut down several trees for raw material, and use up their stock pile of cement. What was the big deal though? He''s been expecting a monster stampede for weeks now? Apparently having 3, or rather 2 now plus sized monsters in the middle of a higher level evolution was even more impressive monster bait than Apas was. So they had to increase their fortifications. A bell started to ring again indicating a attack on the fortress, Apas flew over the fortress to the other side, and was greeted by the sight of a huge badger looking creature the size of a bear, and she quickly proceeded to use wind magic to pop it''s head off.


    "So is it just a coincidence that it appeared when I was coming out of the water just now or..."


    "Several monsters have been appearing in the woods lately, drawn in by the nature Spirit mentioned before, and the mountain of mana cocoons over there. We can expect an attack in the fall, after it shifts to it''s next seasonal form." I went back into my office, directly under the still evolving floors of the dungeon. "They aren''t the biggest concern right now, that particular honour goes to the people coming to try and seize control over the dungeons, you included." I explained bluntly.


    "Well, I guess me and that ship eating monsters over there must be pretty tempting to people who can make them obedient." The Watery form of the Keeper had settled onto the stone bench on the far side of my office.


    "It''s not just the dungeons, it''s the location." I replied bluntly. "On the other side of the sea is another continent, a continent that no one has been able to get to or from because there''s been a ship eating monster in the way."


    "And your fortress is the only spot on this side of the ocean ready to field ships? Can''t they just go around the other way?" Keeper asked concerned.


    "We''re not ship capable, but we almost are. What we lack is a steady supply of timber to make docks and ships with. Not with damaged dungeon cores to work with. And before you ask that takes time to repair, not something you rush through. As for the other side, there''s not a dungeon blocking the path as far as we know, but we don''t have the best relationship with the people on that side of the other continent." To put it mildly.


    "Even if you have an indestructible pedestal?" Keeper asked sounding mighty smug.


    "Even if your pedestal is indestructible you aren''t." I replied bluntly as I continued with my original point. "Of those who will come for us there are three we must be concerned about, and this is the first." A crest of fire with a set of horns. "The Pentaghasts, my birth family."


    "So you think they''ll come for us and try to use you to secure influence over our burgeoning dungeon city?" Keeper asked his business partner suspiciously.


    "I know that they will try." I knew that she would try, the necrotic parasitic tick that she was. "The thing is I''m the unfilial son who burned bridges between my family and myself to chase down a monster." Keeper turned to look to the harbour where another ship was being pulled down beneath the water by Trinity. "That was some monster."


    "Agreed. From another point of view I am the one who destroyed Leviathan." I stated as I put up the second name that they would have to deal with. "There are those who would say I deserve to be in charge, but doubt that I can manage the territory effectively."


    "You look like you''re doing a good job to me." Keeper stated looking around the place. Housing was built, food was starting to come out of the ocean, and defensive barricades and defensive turrets were built or being built. "You look like you have a handle on it to me."


    "Yes. But the Merchant''s union might feel inclined to disagree." The second of the hung crests was a pile of coins with a jewel off to the side, a little on the nose for a Merchant Union, but it made the point quite clear. "This town represents the first port with the potential to reach the opposing shore to the other continent that has appeared in years." Because Leviathan didn''t just go after dungeons, he also took ships as well. "The last is over here. The college of mages." A wizard''s hat and a mages staff. "A dungeon''s job is to regulate the flow of mana in a area, but if there''s too many dungeons then we run the risk of creating a catastrophe, a mana dead zone, so some people might decide that one or more of the dungeons have to go. Well, there are methods of moving the dungeons out of the way, the easiest is to turn one into a mobile dungeon."


    "We can do that right?" Keeper asked raising his hand in the air.


    "Yes, but it''s a task that''s a lot easier with a dungeon with only a few floors, most of which are already turning into monsters." Meaning that Keeper''s most likely the one that''ll have to move.


    "Do I get a say in this? Cause I''m not trading you in if I can help it." It was a nice thought in it''s own way, someone valuing you enough that they would prefer you over someone else, it''s been a while since I''ve felt wanted, not since Amelia died.


    "Your say in this depends entirely on your ability to buy your vote with supplies and how hard or easy you''re willing to make it to get them. My advice? Start hard, at least whenever it''s anyone but us coming to bring them."


    "Is there anything else? I''m thinking I need to get those three up to the point where they''re going to be useful." Keeper explained while he indicated the twisted mass of materials that was starting to stick out of the surface of the bay. Lots of rooms, not enough materials. Time to change that.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    With the Maride''s ability to manipulate water I dragged the rest of Leviathan''s ships together and smashed them together against each other resulting a in a huge pile of scrap wood, then I started dropping them into the three entrances being used by the three dungeons. Dungeons seemed able to instinctively convey their feelings to one another, when those emotions get especially strong, such as crying in pain, it becomes easier. So Keeper fed them until they cried out, waited for them to calm down, and then stuffed them full again. He could slowly see the Dungeon growing below as well. Until finally...


    STOP DOING THAT! NO MORE! PLEASE!


    "Ah good you can speak coherently now. I think. Let''s see what the chat room has to say." I quickly went back into the dungeon and released my hold on the Maride as I moved my point of awareness back into the core room.


    It actually took a minute to figure out which core, or rather cores, belonged to the Trinity, you begin by remembering that Leviathan has been eating all the cores along the coastline, leaving only my core and Trinity as the only nearby dungeons, and trinities were all twisted together, producing pink, turquoise and grey lights. After each swallowing 23 of Leviathan''s boats it seems that they were able to advance their growth into full blown sapient dungeons.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Howdy Neighbours]


    No response. Clearly I''m going about this the wrong way.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''m the master of the Sphinx, and if you three don''t start talking right now, I''m going to send her down there]


    [Northern Ice Flow: We hear you!]


    [Coral Barrier Reef: We do not respond well to bullying]


    [Sea Side Fortress: Ask Leviathan]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I would, but I ate about a third of his dungeon and ground the other two into a digestible form for you three to munch on so as you can imagine we''re not on speaking terms]


    Silence, which I assume meant the three of them were discussing how to deal with me from now on but I had no time for it.


    [Dungeon Keeper: You''re now North, Coral and Fort]


    [Northern Ice Flow name has been changed to North]


    [Coral Barrier Reef name has been changed to Coral]


    [Sea Side Fortress name has been changed to Fort]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Now that that is settled I have a job for you three]


    [Dungeon Keeper: There''s a fort being built near you three and you''re going to provide it all the materials that it needs in order to grow, starting with these] [Dungeon Keeper has sent Dungeons North, Coral and Fort Cement, Red Wood Timber, Spider''s silk, Lacquer, Schema''s for F Rank Monsters Trigger Fish, Cuddle Fish, Salmon, Tuna, Cod...]


    The list went on for quite a while after that, People had been dumping their left overs into my dungeon for quite a while now so I had quite a few Schema''s to work with.


    [North: We can''t do all of this!]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Meaning that your cores are still damaged?]


    [Coral: Even combined we don''t have enough mana to start mass producing all of this!]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Pisha! Mana is easy to get, lemme show you]


    Even though I said that, I made sure to visit my newest monster first. I expected her to work hard, so I gave her a name to support her. Until my normal core functions are restored she was the only monster I had available. Your name is Levi, a reminder of your previous master, and a promise that things will be different.


    "I accept this name with gratitude master." And the entire ocean of the third floor glowed.


    Once I exited the dungeon in my Maride''s body I went to Charles and explained to him the contents of my evil plan. Firstly was determining the powers of all of the refugees that Jewel came over. Genasi, hybrids of humanoids and genies such as the fire breathing Ifrits, the water shaping Maride, Windy Djinn and Earth manipulating Dao, as it turns out Charles was a fire Genasi. Most numerous were the offspring of the egg laying females of Jewel''s dungeon, Lamia''s, Arachne, Sirens and Harpies who as it turns out are all female races, Go figure, so basically there were large populations of these fellows here. Fewer in numbers were the off spring of mammals who give live births like normal people such as Feline types, centaurids, minotaurs, demons, so on and so forth.


    Rubbing my hands together and smirking me and Charles divided these fellows into three broad categories, producers, labourers and sources. Producers were those who possessed unique abilities that made them uniquely suited to getting large amounts of work done, the Earth Genasi were a good example of this, their power to manipulate earth and stone meant that they could create walls to help produce a choke point, hollow out the space underneath that choke point, and connect to the dungeon by knocking down a wall once all the work was done, another example of a producer was monsters who could produce lots of unique material like the arachne and their spider''s silk. Labourers were those who were physically strong enough to work or uniquely suited to delicate tasks, a Process that largely consisted of taking the materials being produced in the nearby dungeons and creating complex machinery such as metal gears and belts made of spider''s silk or consumable items such as potions and explosives.


    The majority of the items being manufactured aren''t designed to be lethal, but rather for capturing and incapacitation such as nets, sleep potions, and other such traps. Why? We''ll get back to that later. The third are sources, power sources, those whose species are either ill-suited to manual labour, large scale magic casting, or are simply too young to work, these individuals were being cycled in and out of the Trinity in order to fill them full of mana that they would then use to make the resources needed to feed the local community or build up it''s buildings and defences. Weeks worth of work progressed as the leaves yellowed turning shades of orange and red in the process.


    Mana wafted off the woods as the sound of beasts progressed. I sensed a familiar feeling in the air, familiar to anyone whose seen Treyni switch from her dryad form all the way to her Leshen form. They were ready. The smallest of the enemy forces were the first to drop, the wolves, the overgrown badgers, the F and E Ranks charging blindly at the first barricade. They never got the chance to reach the first gate, instead dropping into the trap doors that had been long since prepared in advance. I didn''t even bother to dose them, the silk net they were trapped was already as strong as steel, I merely had them sealed in a crate and loaded onto the conveyor belt to the third floor, Levi transported them to the secondary entrance on the other side and put them on another belt that led directly to the trio, who had since modified their entrances into one big trap door, that led to a spike pit of all three dungeons materials and dropped them off inside.


    The monsters were skewered on the spikes, as a extra precaution swords and other weapons wielded by the monsters of the dungeon were used to stab them dead and they were quickly broken down, in time for another group of monsters to be dropped into the spike pit to die. I don''t mind giving the trio the spoils, for one thing my dungeon had too much stuff that it needed sorting out, I wasn''t going to add more floors to the problem. Someone was watching the wolves failure, used them to scout the front door, and so the second wave had came. Vultures, or more accurately Revultures.


    [F Rank Monsters Revulture-A species of vulture that has developed a powerful acid to break down more difficult materials such as bones and fur, and can spit this acid up as a deadly and effective projectile attack]


    Much like the Wolves before them, they were much too weak to pose a real threat, instead being sent as a advance force to scout for threats. Apas took offence to their presence in her territory, hit them all with a blast of air hard enough to knock them out, funnelled them into a spider silk bag that was then lowered down below to be put on the conveyor belt. Charles stepped onto the top of the gate, the fire to sound magic he taught me primed and in his throat.


    "Is this the best you can do?" The ground rumbled, the wood split open as two scaley boulders slammed into the front gates.


    [D Rank Monster Rolling Drake-A species of Earth Drake who has chosen to specialise in speed and defensive power, as a result they''re able to roll into a ball of their defensive armour and spin themselves around at high speeds using gravity manipulation magic before launching themselves at a target with overwhelming force]


    A length of spider silk attached itself to the little balls of death and pulled them back into the woods, at which point they slammed themselves against the gates again. It''ll take them a while, the gates were made out of the same concrete and spider Silk composite as most of Charles walls were, the soft material easily capable of absorbing the impact while the hard material protected the walls from such things as fire and the elements. The Leshen was capable of coordinating and communicating with the monsters being used to assault the fortress, the Revultures had just enough time to report the contents of the courtyard, none some higher ground from the platforms and lower ground that most of the monsters would be walking through as they made their way to the main base proper. It appeared that the Leshen was starting to run out of patience.


    "Foolish humans who place their faith in blocks of stone yet cut my woods."


    Spears of roots slammed into the walls of the fortress, not penetrating but rather attaching themselves to the walls and forming ladders large and sturdy enough that even the biggest among the enemy forces could climb over them. In the meantime the two Rolling Drakes had been allowed to slam freely into the gates, forming cracks that allowed the roots to seize them and stab inside of them, then tear both gates open. Now that the siege breakers had been allowed to work the meat of the enemy forces could come in. Lion''s, Tiger''s and Bear''s oh my! The two that were responsible for winding up and sending forward the Drakes from earlier a pair of massive spider monsters dressed in silken cloth armour.


    [C Rank Monster Juro Gumo-A Giant Spider monster who has eschewed the ambush predator lifestyle of her smaller kin in favour of armour to protect herself in battle]


    Well four out of five isn''t bad. Charles stuck his fist out and let out a plume of flame in an approximation of a thumbs up. The men at the back who saw this quickly pulled down on their levers and went for relative safety.


    "Woooo oh ooow!"


    From various pipes across the Courtyard a haunting singing voice was let out, the call of the siren. Below their feet a trio of siren sisters were serenading the monsters above, most of the monsters listening to them having gone lax, which made sense since most of them were lured in by Apas to begin with. For some reason when I heard about the Sirens I was expecting mermaids or birds but what I got instead was mana ray girls their lower bodies ending in a stinger while a flying squirrel-esque skin stretched out between their arms and the torso, guess it takes all kinds. Most, but the spiders weren''t affected, just confused about why their allies suddenly stopped moving, well roughing them up a little bit first won''t break Trinities heart any I suspect. Charles stuck out his fist again and released another gout of flame, this one pointing down. The men from earlier pushed down the levers the other way.


    "HYYYAAAHHH!"


    As soon as they saw the signal sign turn from green to red the Sirens calm melodic voices were replaced by harsh shrieking. The Monsters eyes went wide as they turned on the spiders in a frenzy of slashing claws and slamming fists attempting to rip the one time allies apart bit by bit, and said allies retaliated striking with mantis like claws and venomous bites. They were C Ranks, the strongest monsters here, but they were two against eight, with creatures like the rolling drakes with strong armour that could protect their hides against the slashing claws and venomous bite and enlarged animals with sharp claws that can cut through the thick silk. Enough to severely wound the spiders, but now land the killing blow, in addition to that, the trap doors on the raised platforms opened up and raised up mounted turrets. The small catapults that were revealed fired bombs into the air and clocked the two spiders up side their heads with stun grenades.


    "Woooo oh ooow!"


    The melodic voices of the siren sisters returned and the frenzied monsters returned to calm. A door way was opened, leading down into the underground pit, the monsters walked inside drawn by the Siren''s voices, dragging along with them the two Guro Jumo that had previously led the attack, the lot of them filtered into cages and were filed to Levi, who transported them to trinity to be butchered.


    "SCREEEEEE!"


    Suddenly several large flying lizard creatures flew over bringing fire down with them.


    [D Rank Monster Fire Wyvern-A lesser relative of the Dragon family, the Wyvern retains the capacity for flight but not the size or bulk of full blooded dragon creatures]


    Huh? So the drakes inherit the bulk and the Wyvern''s inherit the ability to fly and breath fire? No wait the description from before said that the Rolling Drakes were Earth Drakes so maybe they spit rocks instead? Am I making light of the Wyverns? Yes. The Moment they flew over the courtyard and started breathing fire Charles made their flames explode and broke their jaws knocking them out in the process.


    "I''m waiting!"


    The entire forest seemed to growl, as if walking out of the shadows, from the very trees themselves, a familiar figure walked out, one with the skull and antlers of a moose, a huge wooden muscular body and a massive staff made of gnarled wood and a shard of amber lodged in it''s tip, the amber contained some small creature inside of it obscured by shadow. The Leshen had appeared. With a swing of it''s staff the Leshen unleashed a wave of stabbing roots directly at Charles. Charles spread his arms and released a dozen stabbing spears of fire into the air and had them come crashing down on top of the Leshen''s stabbing roots and branches. Splinters and flaming wood chunks flew off of the clashing attacks as ashes drifted in the air. The Leshen stepped back as it prepared more retaliation, however things were getting warmer, yeah that''s right buddy, Good old Charles signature move is coming! Hot air was being drawn down from the air making the air above colder while the ground kept heating up, though the leaves and moss on the Leshen''s body was drying up he hadn''t done something like spontaneously catch fire, now what was happening was far worse than that. The Cyclone, the one that was used to break nearly two dozen of Leviathan''s ships, I missed it out on it last time but from what I heard it was epic!


    "Go back to the woods where its safe little spirit!" At Charles command the wind formed on him, putting him in the eye of the storm. The Leshen on the other hand found itself slowly rising into the air, despite his best efforts to remain grounded having the roots lash onto him to pull him back down, it wasn''t working, instead he was torn free of the earth and flung high into the air clear of his forest. With that the people of the fort cheered as Apas used her wind magic to dissipate the tornado safely. The enemy it seems has been repelled.


    "Long Live the Dungeon!" The People of the Fortress Cheered. "Long live the Keeper!"

 Atlantis

    Leviathan''s absence had not gone unnoticed by the rest of the world. Below the waves there was the underwater kingdom of Lemuria, hosted by various sea type demi-humans. The Oceans had become a dangerous and Chaotic place in the past few years. Leviathan kept eating dungeons when ever they appeared in or near the water, even with Leviathan itself circling the ocean the mana in the water had become too stagnant, and was rapidly filling with monstrous life forms. It was the reason why Leviathan was able to make so many ferocious sea monsters his vassals. Then how was this one city able to hold on for so long? The answer was that they had their own dungeon as well: The Ring of Fire!


    Why hadn''t Leviathan tore out and broke this dungeon yet as he had so many others before? Because this one was inside of a super-volcano, whenever Leviathan attempted to attack it the Ring of Fire would trigger an eruption, and Leviathan would have to deal with fire coming down from the sky, earth quakes, not to mention lots of angry sea kin races. It was telling that Leviathan would avoid the place most of the time, instead picking off other dungeons to increase it''s power and only come back and attack the Ring of Fire once a year. And yet strangely the day of Leviathan''s annual attack was rapidly approaching and yet the dungeon itself had yet to be seen, Fall was already here, when winter came it would already be too late, when the surface water freezes over Leviathan wouldn''t be able to move to dodge the volley''s of fire.


    It could mean that it''s decided that it needs longer to complete it''s preparations, it could also mean that it''s found a way of sneaking up on them. In the end they didn''t know what was happening, and that was the most dangerous element about this. Inside the palace of Lemuria a royal court had been called. Sitting on a throne made of coral a large figure sat. The Ruler of Lemuria was considerably muscular, normally whale type demi-humans had a considerable girth to them, insulated to survive the deep sea, however heat from the volcano made Lemuria considerable warmer so a lower body fat content was needed. She had mostly black skin, with white patches along her torso''s front and around her eyes, in other words she looked a great deal like a killer whale, but tattoo''s depicting various colourful flames were carved into the flesh of her arms. Still fabrics were hard to come by in the ocean, she had been limited to choice in closing to the ever familiar brown rope like dead man''s rope sea weed woven into fabric for clothes, and a crown made out of coral adorned her head inset with sapphire jewels. Normally the sea kin down''t even wear cloths, but this was a formal meeting after all so exceptions had been made.


    "Sir Crust, what do you make of this?" Sir crust scuttled about on six legs, his body covered in armour made of rainbow shell.


    "My queen, this situation is without precedence." The crab knight explained while his claws clicked about. "Surely this is a trick or a trap correct? Give the word and my men will be dispatched at once!"


    "You men can''t stealth worth a damn." A mermaid-like woman was sitting on a nearby chair approximation, her skin grey and rough and her teeth sharp and crooked, she wore a hat made of some leather like material and a shirt of black and white stripes. "A small group of privateers moving unseen through the waters will let us sneak up on the bastard. Give us explosives and we''ll give the bastard a real reason to stay away!"


    "Captain Merrow! You have no comprehension of force recon!" Sir Crust snapped by way of reply. "Where Leviathan goes mana is cleansed of the stagnation." A fourth individual had remained silent up until now, a familiar combination of squid lower body and humanoid upper body with tentacles for arms, she was wrapped in a cloak of sea weed and her features largely shadowy. "Give me a moment, and I can trace the nearest source of the disturbance."


    "Tidecaller, while we appreciate your abilities your health has become increasingly poor in recent years, is it not wise for you to conserve your strength until Leviathan comes?" Sir Crust was much calmer and spoke to the woman with respect.


    "Strength unused is wasted, enemy unknown is more dangerous than any other." The Tidecaller stated while looking to the Queen of the Sea for approval.


    "Do it."


    "I will need a moment your majesty." A large round glass jar made of smooth material was soon brought in.


    "I will go get the Bishop." The Captain stated bluntly as she swam off.


    The Tidecaller waved her staff over the crystal and watched as a map swirled to life, the nearest and largest pulse of mana in the sea came from the shore half the world away on, where four lights of developed dungeons were shining brightly, but none brightly enough to belong to the hated enemy. And then the image collapsed, the Tide caller fell over onto the floor of the palace even as sir Crust moved to support her, the captain came back a few moments later with an angel fish mermaid whom immediately began tending the ailing tide caller.


    "My Queen what does this mean?" Sir Crust asked in shock.


    "It means what it implies." The Queen of the Sea stated bluntly. "Leviathan has been chased off, if not slayed." Leviathan leaves ruin in its wake, this place wasn''t ruined let alone stripped of dungeons. Four dungeons appeared in one place. "Remind me, our last intelligence report said that Leviathan had stolen three dungeons for its food correct? One from the Humans, one from us and one from the northern tribe correct?" The queen of the sea picked up a crystal slab and looked through it on details from the stolen dungeons. "If the missing dungeons have truly survived for so long then it explains where these three have come from, with the fourth either being Leviathan, or the one who stopped it." The Queen of the sea stated as she held her chin in her hand. "But why has it stopped?"


    ''It''s run out of food in the sea so now it''s hunting on land'' it already has three dungeons right there, it certainly doesn''t need to somehow crawl it''s way onto land to continue to feed itself and even if it did run out of dungeons there''s plenty of proverbial fish in the sea to satisfy itself on.


    "The fact of the matter remains that we are only working off of bare bones information here. Deploy the army for force recon, we shall go to the area in which the Dungeons have appeared and confirm for ourselves what is really happening." The Queen ordered and the various high ranking figures bowed to her, even the Tide caller who was still looking unwell.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    [Dungeon Keeper: Say hi guys]


    [North: Hello]


    [Coral: Hello]


    [Fort: Hello]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Jewel, Graves, Old Man, these are my cute Juniors]


    [Jewel: These are the Dungeons that overgrown fish-stick was dragging around with him?]


    As we interacted I began to fish out more details of the trio''s personalities, Apas went down to check on their cores every so often and had a gander at what their pedestals were shaping up to be which gave us a idea as to what their first materials were.


    [North: Unfortunately that was us. Can we go back to managing our dungeons now?]


    The one trying to give Jewel the cold shoulder was apparently originally born inside of an ice berg way up North.


    [Coral: Are you guys going to bully us like what the Keeper has been doing?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Hey!]


    Coral here was born inside of a coral reef, she isn''t very good with acting only reacting. As I was thinking that I saw that the trouble maker was acting up again.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Fort, stop trying to raid Graves, he''d literally eat you]


    [Fort: Come on I don''t even see a Graves here!]


    [Ouroboros: He''s talking about me, you little brat!]


    Fort was born inside of a fortress, but unlike the other two that only had building materials to absorb this guy got a bunch of weapons as his first material, a sword by the looks of things, which also meant that he was needlessly aggressive first and foremost. North was defensive and didn''t like interacting with others, Coral dealt with counter attacks, and Fort was the aggressor. Three parts of a whole idiot. I''m not going to call them that though, even if I am thinking it, they just awoke to self awareness little before the Leshen tried to trample my base city.


    [Lithilas: Go raid my dungeon if you''re so eager to get out more you literal child]


    [Fort: Really Sweet! Coral, North you two raid the other two while we''re at it!]


    [North: Piss off]


    [Northern Ice Flow has Left the Chat]


    [Coral: No thank you]


    [Coral Barrier Reef has Left the Chat]


    [Fort: Wusses]


    [Sea Side Fortress is Raiding Lithilas]


    [Jewel: So how are you doing anyway? Is your core healed yet?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I got a message telling me that ''Basic functions on the first three floors have been restored'' but I still can''t do anything with one and two because ''Evolution is in Progress'' so instead I''m trying to turn floor 3 into a proper dungeon now]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Speaking of which how''s it going with you Graves?]


    [Ouroboros: Still keeping Conquerete restrained, still gaining floors like crazy, I''m really hoping that it''ll stop once I hit a hundred]


    That was an interesting little tid-bit. Floors were something like milestones for dungeons, 20 was supposed to be my first mile stone, when I grow enough that I''m capable of thinking for myself, then what about one hundred?


    [Dungeon Keeper: What happens after you hit a hundred?]


    [Ouroboros: The only dungeon that we know that managed to do it was Lithilas]


    [Ouroboros: You know how Dungeons are in this sort of weird inbetween state that makes it so that gods can get a foot hold into this world through their blessings?]


    Is that why they do that?


    [Dungeon Keeper: Sort of]


    [Ouroboros: After 100 floors the difficulty in building floors shoots way up, but if you''re able to pool together enough divine power from your hundreds of floors you can sort of just... break into their world instead]


    Well now that is promising. Wait.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Leviathan had a hundred boats before I gobbled thirty of them and me and Charles ground the other seventy up for food for Trinity, is it possible that there''s another piece of him in another world or something?]


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


    [Jewel: I hope not, you probably shouldn''t let Trinity in on that little tid bit, they''d have all sorts of nightmares if they thought that monster could somehow come back]


    [Dungeon Keeper: In any case I need to turn my third floor into actual floors now, later]


    The longer I wait the more likely that little pain in my butt Fort is to try and break in. He already tried to raid my dungeon only to get transported directly into the cocoon of evolution and get gobbled by whatever my first floor is turning into. For now though I moved my points of awareness into my third floor. Charles was regularly having the kids hang out in my pseudo fourth floor and on the first floor of the Trinity, the latter more so because he could get more resources out of them which was fine, since the city was being built up and all that but a problem was arising. Mana, and these little squirts were drawing more of it then what I was, so I could very easily end up becoming mana starved if I don''t do something. So for now I focused on making up my third floor. There was one of the roots from the second floor sticking into the third, I presume that was the stair case I had Charles build in order to connect to the third floor to begin with, also covered in the light of evolution as well. For now I worked on the presumption that was how people from the second floor would enter the third, so for now I opted to make a place to welcome them. Levi, this is your body, you don''t mind if I rearrange some things right?


    "I too think this space is a little bare and lonely, if you are able to I would appreciate it if you could expand this space some." Then excuse me for not being polite. To begin with, I had exactly what idea I wanted for the third floor. A castle, a aquarium castle just like my... use... to...


    *###* A small hand tapped on the aquarium, the little decorative castle in the background acting as an odd back drop for the tetrado... tetra... I was just going to call them Tetras for now. "t''noD eseat eht hsif # % % $^." The hand of my ****** ^#$## grasp mine and I turned to face a jumbled mass of eyes, teeth and tentacles *###*


    I blinked stupidly for a few solid seconds as I processed the horror show I just witnessed.


    What the hell did I eat? I shook my head and got to work, the more work I did the less I had to think that my first material was related to some misshapen horror. I mass produced blocks of coral and threaded them with some of the dead man''s rope that Levi had swallowed, I ended up doing the defensive walls first, four towers of coral with thick walls, each of them topped with machicolations, even if there was no actual need for the murder holes or the blocks to act as cover after looking at Charles and his people taking building the walls around my dungeon so seriously to do less would be a disservice. Having done that I continued to reference Charles and his own fortress as I created bunks, a mess hall, a meeting room, armoury of Coral tipped spears, I tried to create spear guns using the dead man''s rope, but as it turns out it''s not stretchy enough, I''d have to come up with something else, and a brig for prisoners. Dungeon within a dungeon mwahahahahaha!


    Now than, what I''m missing is people to fill in this lovely castle. I looked through the mass of schema''s that I took from leviathan, most of them were Higher ranked sea monsters but currently I was still only able to unlock low ranking monsters, not all of them would be useful so that left me with these.


    [D Ranked Monster Schema Siren-A legendary monster whose preferred method of hunting is to use their hypnotic singing voice to lure male sea monsters into beaching themselves onto the shore and then eating the remains once they expire, also the same method that they use to acquire compatible mates with themselves as they are a all female race]


    I think Charles mentioned that when he introduced me to the siren brats from before, well he''s been looking for people to look after them for a while now.


    [D Ranked Monster Schema Rough Skin Mer-A sub-race of the Mer who evolved from sharks, they are ferocious warriors with a disposition towards lightning magic to attack potential prey with]


    I like the idea of lightning magic, maybe I can get Charles to teach them some tricks?


    [D Ranked Monster Schema Knight Crab-Humanoid Hermit Crab type Demi-humans of a noble bearing, tends to wear armour made from the shells of larger creatures which they usually hunt themselves as a rite of passage]


    [D Ranked Monster Schema Scylla-A Squid type Demi-human capable of simultaneously casting magic with their multiple arms which of which has their own redundant miniature brains that grants them huge multi-casting abilities]


    A magic type, I''ve been running short on magic types lately.


    [F Ranked Monster Schema Flail Snail-A magical snail monster with a shell infused with a massive quantity of magical energy, deflects two thirds of magic attacks that strike it''s shell and neutralises the remaining third, is quite passive and non aggressive but if struck will release a massive call drawing in every monster in a 100 foot radius]


    I looked at the description and thought about it for moment ''It''s dangerous if you''re stupid or greedy enough to attack it'' sounds about right.


    [F Ranked Monster Schema Spatial Jellyfish-A Species of Jelly fish that evolved after being caught inside of a spatial distortion, completely passive and has almost been hunted to extinction in the manufacturing of Bags of Holding]


    There was one left, not one I took from Leviathan, but rather he came with the floor.


    [E Rank Monster Schema Sea Wolf-A distant relative of the Werewolf, a Sea wolf''s monster form takes the form of a large seal whose head has been replaced with that of a wolf]


    One should''ve been created with the floor but I didn''t see him here. More importantly seals and wolves, no werewolf, they''re only semi aquatic, they''d drown down here if I kept them here, well I don''t see the one sea wolf from before, so I wouldn''t worry about him. Somehow my Rank of monsters I was able to create increased while I was healing my core. If I had to think of a reason... my fourth floor maybe? All those moving parts, traps and other defences I set up to pop onto the surface and be fed with limitless ammunition? Does that count as increasing my capacity for complexity? Or is it the three floors that have turned into monsters? Nothing''s more complex than a living organism after all. I thought about it some more, so I created that Karakuri complex and produced three monster floors and my complexity has only increased by this much... I''ll wait to see what happens after the other two are finished evolving, for now I created the five Monsters that I already settled on. From there an older version of the siren sisters appeared, which meant a nude female torso with manta ray features attached, a half woman half shark person, a humanoid crab centaur body type, a squid with a human woman''s torso sticking out of it complete with five digit fingers resembling suckers with small claws attached, a snail with a rainbow shell strapped to it''s back and a clear upside down sack like creature with several tendrils resembling fibre optic cables hanging below it. Wait a second, Levi!


    "Yes Master?" Levi appeared in the courtyard where I was making these creatures to begin with. "I see that the denizens of the floor are being prepared."


    Never mind that! Go float behind and above the five of them I want to confirm something. Levi positioned herself as I told her to and I was able to get confirmation of my suspicions, Levi''s lower body matched up with the sirens, her armour borrowed it''s shape and design from the crab knight but it''s colour and material lined up with the snail, her fingers were the same as the scylla woman''s and her hair reminded me all too much of the jelly fish. I didn''t see anything that jumped out to me as being the Mermaid shark woman''s features but what I was thinking was the upper body of a Siren without the manta ray membrane could just as easily be a mermaid''s upper body. As I was thinking about this the Jelly fish became all distorted and suddenly imploded on itself. Okay, that was a little weird.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Charles was holding his hand to his face, carrying the general feeling of ''I cannot believe you did something this stupid.''


    "If I am understanding this correctly: You took a creature that compresses down space inside of itself and put it inside of another creature that compresses space inside of itself. That is what you did?" Charles glared at my Maride body angrily.


    "Yes." I stated in simple terms, preferring for him to explain why this is a bad thing instead of just telling me it is.


    "You came this close to creating a black hole that would rapidly consume not only you but also everything within a hundred miles into a miniature black hole before it spontaneously collapses on itself." Charles explained while he held his finger and his thumb together. "It was a pretty effective tactic back in the day for producing weapons of mass destruction, before the ban of the Mont Convention, and before the Spatial Jelly fish went extinct from over hunting." How the hell does this world still exist!? "Good, that''s the face I wanted you to have, don''t do it again!"


    "There''s still the Sack that your people were using to carry material over from my dungeon right?" I asked, suddenly very much concerned over what I''ve been working with all this time. "Instead of ''Bigger on the inside'' that sack instead ''connects to another space to temporarily store items.'' They use to connect to another dimension but most days storage bags just connect to personal vaults kept and maintained by the banks. After all no one wants to pull out a void gazer when they''re just trying to get their afternoon meal."


    I blinked stupidly for a while before eventually going back into my core room. I created another Spatial jellyfish, this time to perform an experiment. I recalled that I can create material that has entered my dungeon before, then what about air? Does that count? Grabbing the spatial Jellyfish with both of my hands I proceeded to blow into it filling it up with as much air as I possibly could along with as many fish as possible. Soon an evolutionary cocoon surrounded the Jellyfish.


    [1 F Rank Evolution Available]


    [F Rank Monster Atmospheric Jellyfish-A Jellyfish that has evolved the power to fly and manipulate wind in order to escape from predators, sadly though they just ended up being eaten by the birds instead of the fish]


    Why are these Jellyfish so pathetic? Whatever I just went to find Charles instead. Charles tapped his fingers in the fourth floor as he examined the contents of the Jellyfish creature I brought him. At one point he grabbed hold of the creature and tried to stuff a brick inside of it only for it to not work.


    "I don''t know what you created, whatever it is it''s lost it''s powers over space." Charles explained bluntly as he crossed his arms.


    "Figured this fellow could be used as a way to let your men into the third floor." I stuck the jellyfish onto Charles face in a approximation of a diving mask. "Now you''ve got a unlimited supply of breathable air while you''re underwater."


    "Yes that has the potential to work." Charles stated intrigued. "If the water pressure over there isn''t too high..."


    "Sirens are able to function just fine in both environments right?" I asked Charles recalling both the Siren Sisters and the Siren I created on the third floor.


    "It''s worth conducting an experiment then." Charles eschewed his usual metal armour, though he looked no less intimidating in a simple cloth shirt and trousers, from there he stuck his hand into the bubble of Levi''s slime body, of course i told her we were having guests over and not to eat him or the people he was bringing along. After giving Charles a moment to get use to the environment Levi soon brought him to the underwater castle through her spatial manipulation powers.


    "You built a castle here?" Charles asked looking at the structure suspiciously.


    "Don''t ask, it gave me a headache." I replied shaking my watery hands off.


    "It''s kind of... empty in terms of content isn''t it?" Charles asked as he looked around.


    "Well I only just got the power to create things back yah know." I indicated the core room back the way Charles had come, even if I hadn''t let him inside of it. Damaged as I might be I had no intention of ever letting him or anyone else into my core room. "Need I remind you I''m still mostly cracked? I probably unlocked a tonne of rooms when I bit off a chunk of Leviathan before."


    "Milord if I may be so bold as to suggest?" Levi asked holding her hand in the air, er water. You may. "Perhaps another should be granted the power to tend the floor, while you may not be busy now when the other two hatch and your core finishes it''s repairs you will be flushed with no shortage of work that needs to be done."


    "Are you suggesting yourself?" I asked turning watery eyes to Levi.


    "I am the boss master, if you believe there is no over lap in duties then the position of manager can been given to another." Levi stated bowing simply.


    "It''ll be nice having access to sea food again." Charles stated bluntly. "Aside from that I should be returning to the base now."


    And so Charles left, sent away by Levi. In the mean time, I went to work. I filled the floor with various fish, created houses of coral, created farms of sea weeds and the like, the atmospheric jelly fish, and finally groups of Sirens, Crab Knights, and Mersharks. Levi, I leave managing them to you. "It will be an honour master!"


    [Mana 150/150]


    I see, since I''m still locked out of the first two floors my mana level is quite limited, and since this power is Levi''s body and not mine that means that she still has access to a considerable amount of mana. Well this is basically her body after all, but it also means that my mana is considerably higher than what my bar indicates when I include her as well. Okay then, now to name this puppy!


    Atlantis


    I was pulled out of the little underwater city I made. I had lots of water type Schema''s, an achievement related to water type monsters, and I had built in the ocean. In theory I should have patrons lining up around the block right now but they had made themselves scarce, well that''s understandable, I already wrecked their floors from Leviathan, though I did have one guy that caught my interest.


    "So you have come to ask me another favour then?" I got some idea of what the difference between a greater or lesser god was. Castor/Pollux and Echidna, the weirdness of their extra features besides the point, they were both what I considered to be ''Normal Sized.'' Oceanus was massive, a single tendril of his lower body wrapped around me and raised me up to his face with a crown of horns on top. "I was wondering when you were going to show your face child, I was growing concerned that you had no shame."


    Gulp. Pardon my rudeness great Oceanus, but I merely had to take the time to ensure that I produced a suitable floor for you.


    "A good answer."


    [Blessing: Ocean Master Title for Levi, grant Levi dominion over the ocean next to the Dungeon Keeper Dungeon]


    Well, that''s what I get from the god of water, however I gulped when I saw his task for me.


    [Mission: Deliver the Trinity to Lemuria]

 Negotiation

    The Sea Fortress Galapagos was built on the back of a massive island turtle, when it first came to the Ring of Fire the Dungeon took pity on it, then wounded, weak and small, and made a contract with it. Since then the massive creature has grown into its full size, large enough that a fortress could be built on its shell. Most of the sea kin have lungs that make it possible for them to breath air, however the Mer and the various subspecies have only the one locomotion limb to facilitate motion, so they can''t walk very well, at the most they can drag themselves across the land with their arms. On the other hand the Crab Knight''s bodies are poorly balanced on land, resulting in comical images of them falling over when they walk on land, of the major races of Lemuria, the one that had the best locomotion on land was the Scylla, even then the Scylla''s squid legs were susceptible to drying out in open air becoming stiff and unable to move. So rather than build the Fortress on the back of the Island turtle, they instead built it on the underside. On the surface the Island turtle looked like just another land mass, when you ignore the face that it moves, but underneath was a veritable fortress, even then the top could further be camouflaged with a layer of fog. Right now they were rapidly approaching the sight of the four dungeons.


    <hr>


    Fort had been beaten black and blue, apparently the little brat attempted to pick a fight with the statues on Lithilas''s first floor, several times, and was now moping about in the only monster he had left, a floating dagger.


    "Are you going to stop picking fights you can''t win yet?" North was in the body of their Yuki Onna, an ice fairy, he should have the male counter part around here somewhere but between Leviathan and getting rearranged he lost it somewhere along the way.


    "Who puts B Rank monsters on their first floor!" Fort''s flying swords were little more than insects buzzing in the faces of those blasted statues. And he was getting frustrated that he could not get by them. It hadn''t yet occurred to him to simply avoid the impossibly strong tributes to the gods and continue on to the second floor as most of the other dungeons Lithilas had grind up their monsters in his halls are want to do. He''ll figure it out eventually.


    "We''re already getting plenty of schema''s though, whenever the humans catch something they toss it down here and we eat it up." Coral spoke from the body of another monster, this one being a koi reared mermaid that was treading water in a pool.


    "Don''t you two see what''s happening!?" North and Coral looked at each other through their possessed bodies before turning back to Fort and shaking their heads in the negative. "We''re being fattened up like with Leviathan! The only difference is that the butcher is being nice to us before he eats us!" The Knife shrieked in a high pitch voice. The two monster women looked at each other briefly, then back to the knife and the lack of logic that it was spewing.


    "So giving us advice on how to earn the favours of the gods for our floors..." The Yuki onna started bluntly.


    "Giving us all kinds of schema''s and points to grow..." The Mermaid followed up her features full of blatant suspicion.


    "Are part of a scheme to ''fatten us up'' so that the Keeper can eat us?" The Yuki onna finished up, her face full of suspicion.


    "Yes!" Fort snapped as if his words had been ignored up until now. "Don''t you two remember how we were dragged along the floor of the ocean!? Pieces of us broken off only to be regrown over and over again!" The Knife shrieked angrily.


    "Yes. As we also recall who made that hell stop." The Yuki onna stated bluntly.


    "I''m not the type to repay kindness with a knife in the back, unlike someone I can think of." The Mermaid stated bluntly. "And I hope we don''t have to give you this lecture again."


    "You''ll See! You''ll both See!" Fort''s monsters respawned, and so he took them to go get swatted by Lithilas''s monsters again.


    <hr>


    I may have made a mistake.


    [Achievements: Mission Complete, Giant Killer]


    [Mission Complete: Completed a mission given to your by a Deity. Reward: Priests can now be spawned dedicated to the Divinities of your Dungeon floors]


    [Giant Killer: Maxed out the effects of Giant Killer Reward: Points from kills weaker than the monster who landed the killing blow will no longer be accumulated]


    I thought over the implications of the Giant Killer reward.


    ''Oh you''ve gotten good at killing things stronger than you have you? Great! That means you no longer have to bully the weak!''


    Lithilas was right, this guy is a troll. Well Giant Slayer was already a pretty powerful skill, so to expect a reward for maxing it out was too much to ask for. I wasn''t even certain how to classify a dungeon on this ranking system. That didn''t have me nearly as concerned as this one though.


    [Mission Complete 2 1/5]


    What''s this going to look like the next time that I complete a mission for these people? And when did I complete a second one? Killing Leviathan was the job Castor/Pollux gave to me, that was the first job completed that unlocked this chain so it didn''t count in the total, Oceanus was to some how or another ''give'' the trinity to Lemuria, who or whatever that was, so the only one left is... building a Demi-human city for Echidna, which I ended up doing on my third floor. Well, the budding town outside might count, might not too. It was hard to say. What I need is more information on what''s going on here. For now I had to discuss my plans with Charles.


    "The last time we chatted you said you wanted to look into creating a ''high quality of life'' for the city." Charles asked as he looked at me with blatant suspicion. The guy who killed his girlfriend was dead already, I can see that Charles enthusiasm has pretty much died.


    "Mm Hmm!" Me in my Maride host body nodded as I explained the genius of my plan to Charles. "Me and the Trio are going to start making pre fabricated structures and appliances for the city in order to accelerate our rate of construction and quality of life respectively." I explained simply to Charles.


    "I''m going to need you to start explaining some terms now." Charles stated bluntly.


    "To begin with, Pre Fabricated structures, right now everyone is living inside of some crudely made shanties right? To begin with, we''re going to manufacture individual pieces inside of the Dungeons and then bring them out and assemble them." The walls will be made out of three layers, to begin with Marble bricks, reinforced with steel rebar, then we''ll use a black insulator, then a white insulator suspended between a wooden skeleton, and finally a thin layer of hardened material, probably spider silk layered on concrete again. These materials will be brought over to a location with a cement foundation prepared and slotted into place, with a clay tile roof added afterwards.


    "That''s how we''re going to get all the buildings ready in time, here''s our quality of life improvements." Basically, life takes lots of work, you need lots of hot water to boil to cook and clean, food goes bad if you don''t have a cold place to put it so you have to hunt and gather every day. So to begin with we introduce temperature control magic to produce hot and cold as necessary.


    "This is all nice on paper, but where are you going to get this stuff?" Charles asked looking quite suspicious.


    "We basically have most everything we need already." My dungeon has reached the point where it can manufacture marble bricks from the limestone deposits, beams of wood thanks to the Red Wood Schema and spider silk without having to use the spiders. Fort can supply the metal, and Charles is an expert in the kinds of magic spells that we need. That takes care of most of the construction. "The only thing that we''re missing is a black material to help insulate."


    "If you just need something black there''s all kinds of materials we could use." As a fire mage Charles was familiar with the relationship between colour and heat. The Dual layers that Keeper is proposing would trap heat inside and outside whatever side it was on, keeping the houses warm in the winter or cool in the summer.


    "Remember we still need to haul the material in question out of the dungeon and into the town to actually use." I pointed out and Charles nodded his head in thought.


    "If most of the materials you''re planning on using are going to be hollow and light weight, then they might work the way that you''re planning." Charles muttered to himself as he held his chin in his hand.


    "A lot of it is going to have to be hollow anyway to make room for the appliances to work, so that won''t be a problem." I said by way of reply to Charles.


    "Yes, your appliances. I hope you''re not planning on draining every magic user in my base camp dry." Charles stated making his displeasure known.


    "Not at all, all that we really need to do is ''Generate Mana more efficiently.'' This much however is going to take some questions and answers to get done." Me and Charles were about to begin another round of questions when a alarm sounded, this time coming from the water. We both turned to the water and saw a massive fog embankment that was coming towards us.


    "I''ll prepare our defensive measures." Charles stated bluntly. He had been anticipating the possibility of another attack from the sea for a while now, he and his men even ran drills for this.


    "I''ll go check with Levi." I replied as I dived into the water, quickly arriving at the entrace to the third floor and shed my Maride host for something a little more dungeony.


    Levi! There''s an unknown thing on the horizon that I need to know what it is!


    "It would appear to be an island Turtle." Levi replied, looking through thin sheets of Sapphire that she was using to scry with. "And it''s not alone."


    Another Dungeon?


    "It has structures like one attached to it, but if it is, it''s being escorted by a group of creatures outside of it''s halls, further more it has taken a short cut." Levi produced a map of the world, similar to the one I have back in my core room. The water map super imposed all the leylines in the world over it and gave a clear understanding of where dungeons can form and what path''s the ones like Leviathan can travel across where they can''t, the Turtle was not on a leyline.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    So not a dungeon then. Alright is that the best we can determine?


    "At this time? Yes. Apologies for not being able to provide more information." Apologies not needed. Rally our forces and this floor and prepare to defend ourselves from the enemy. "Understood master, If the worst comes to it: I''ll simply stop being a floor."


    Oh yeah, because that''s not ominous at all!


    <hr>


    The Trio were preparing for the enemy as best they could, North was cooling off the water which a cold blooded creature like the turtle would find uncomfortable and Fort was getting ready with his cannons, the schema''s for which he apparently retained from his days as a fortress.


    Apas was soon busy as well, she was sent flying over to the other party to get into touch with the people therein. There were some initial misunderstandings.


    "Seriously." Captain Merrow complained while holding her spear gun over her shoulders. "Who uses a C Rank monster as a messenger?"


    "Yah know there is a saying about shooting the messenger." Apas had to get the spear wound in her wing healed by one of the fish people''s own mages.


    "We thought we were under attack." The captain replied bluntly as she noticed something about her conversational partner.


    "A C Rank attacking an B Rank. Yeah, that would''ve worked out well." Apas stated as he noticed where her conversation partner''s eyes went. "My eyes are up here." "Why are you wearing clothes?" The Mershark captain asked looking at Apas suspiciously.


    "My dungeon made them for me. I think he''s become aware of me as a woman." Apas proudly strutted as she turned around and got ready to leave.


    "Humans have already moved in around him, I suggest you put some on if you don''t want things getting uncomfortable." Saying that Apas flew off while Merrow mused the implications.


    "He ''already'' has humans around him?" She would buy that Leviathan had been killed if Conquerete had been the one to do it, or Babel, maybe even the Ouroboros that she''s heard so much about.


    Dungeons that have the capability to move around, building their power elsewhere, having done so for years then coming here to fight Leviathan. That she could believe. But ''already'' a dungeon that''s only barely had enough time to attract a community, a dungeon that didn''t even exist since the last time Leviathan passed through this area was the one responsible for Leviathan''s downfall.


    "What the hell is going on here?" The Captain dived down into the waters of the base in order to put some clothes on so that she could find out.


    Neutral meeting grounds were quickly arranged, a massive ice flow was prepared by Charles freezing a platform of water large enough for both parties to stand on, Charles, Apas and Keeper, as well as Merrow, Crust and the Tidecaller.


    "I am Charles the Shipbreaker, formerly of the Pentaghast family, these two represent the local dungeons, Apas and Keeper."


    "I am Captain Merrow of her Majesty Kuishina of the Lemurian royal family''s Navy. My colleagues Sir Crust of the Royal Guard and the High Priest to Oceanus Octo the Tidecaller." A beat passed. "Now that we have that out of the way would one of you mind explaining where in Oceanus''s name Leviathan is?"


    "What the dungeons haven''t eaten yet? In a chest in a storage site off the leyline path." Charles stated bluntly. No leylines, no dungeons. Charles wasn''t intent on letting the monster plant a seed of a new dungeon, not unless the people looking after it were quite keen on making sure that it didn''t fall back into old habits.


    "The three dungeons that Leviathan had by the cores, a newborn, and you and your people were able to break Leviathan? When the Ring of Fire has been trying for years and failing?" Captain Merrow had what you call doubt on her features. Well not trying persay, for a volcano trying looked like a volcano going off and destroying the city that they had built.


    "The dungeon turned a few of it''s floors into monsters." Charles stated bluntly. "Sent them over to raid Leviathan, ate like... thirty or so of it''s ships before the core damn near exploded with points and floors." Charles explained while he indicated the mountain behind him still glowing with the light of evolution. "That happened shortly there after." Charles allowed the distraction, it gave him a chance to ponder the next part of the statement, he wasn''t one to toot his own horn after all. "The rest of us manipulated the weather, created a cyclone on the spot to smash apart more of the ships, their remains drifted down below where the dungeons Leviathan had been keeping prisoner ate them and turned into that." Charles indicated the spike, one that use to have a ship made of ice mounted on it before it melted away. "Speared Leviathan right through it''s core. Ate the rest of the fleet not long after."


    "So you have three dungeons in their twenties and one in it''s thirties." The Captain asked for the sake of confirmation.


    "I don''t know my core still hasn''t healed yet." The three fish people turned as one to face the figure that looked to be made out of water, a Maride, which shouldn''t have the ability to speak let alone a place at this meeting, and yet it had both.


    "''Your core?''" The Captain spoke bluntly.


    "Yes, my core." The Maride made a call with it''s body, the nearby waters splashed and parted as a pink creature emerged from the water, a giant crab made out of coral. The Maride stretched over and patted the creature before it went back down.


    "A dungeon avatar is not supposed to leave it''s dungeon!" Sir Crust snapped forcing himself to standing position.


    "That''s not the dungeon Avatar, it''s a Maride." The Tidecaller stated bluntly. "Probably summoned by the mage there and given to the dungeon as one of it''s contracts."


    The watery figure snorted in derision.


    "It used to be that Dungeons couldn''t move around either, or so I heard before." The Maride explained bluntly. "Rules are subject to change, hope that I decide they don''t need to." A promise, of violence if nothing else. "Now than, I am called Keeper, master of my own dungeon and mentor to the three that are in the bay. Should I presume that you''ve come to delve or has another matter brought you here?"


    "Four dungeons in one place?" The Scylla continued to speak. "I imagine that mana must be quite scarce to you right now, your needs must exceed their''s by quite a huge margin."


    "You''re right, they do." Keeper replied shrugging non-solid shoulders. "Which is why I''ve gone out of my way to increase my mana regeneration by a significant amount. You may have heard of my patron: Oceanus." The three of the sea kin gulped in surprise.


    "Would you like to see my floor?" I led the three sea kin to Atlantis, the three of them paled when they saw the sheer size of the area within the dungeon, and when they saw Levi, happily abusing her power of spatial manipulation to create a ocean where a bay should be, it gave me time to work. Returning to my core room I went to my Dungeon Chat terminal as I searched for the Ring of Fire, luckily finding Dungeons on this thing was as easy as punching in the name of what they call themselves, and they mentioned the name of the Dungeon that this Lemuria was associated with. The Ring of Fire. Let''s go on a trip.


    [Monster in Charge of Dungeon: Levi the Chimera Slime]


    <hr>


    I appeared inside of the first room for the Ring of Fire, and already I was struggling, geysers released clouds of sulphur into the water. My Maride body really wasn''t suited for this floor, I''d have to work quickly.


    "Ring of Fire!" I released a loud voice from every inch of the Maride''s body. "I have come to Parley!" Nearby doors opened up and allowed me to enter inside. I entered the boss room, where I soon encountered the first floor''s boss, I don''t know why I was expecting a water based boss, a fish would die if it had to breathe in this much sulphur, but this? This I didn''t expect.


    [B Rank Monster Dracolich-A Evolved Bone Dragon whose body has been saturated with necrotic energies, although the Bone Dragon is a artificial construct in the shape of a dragon, a Dracolich is well on it''s way to becoming a true dragon by absorbing the energies of the leylines]


    The bones were dyed black and smooth, as if shaped by hand, a normal skeleton would leave room in it''s rib cage to expand and contract to enable breathing, like if it were a normal creature. Across its body patches of scaly flesh could be seen, not rotting off, but growing, as if a new creature was forming around the bones.


    "What are you doing here?" The undead creature, that was looking less dead by the day, asked looking down at the Maride that intruded upon it''s domain with blatant suspicion, in other words me.


    "That you in there ''Ring of Fire?''" I asked tilting our head and suppressing my fear, donning a cocky attitude. "You''re people are a guest in my dungeon right now, apparently they came looking to find Leviathan, or what''s left of him."


    "So, Leviathan is dead then." It was hard to read a skeleton''s face, harder still when the skeleton doesn''t even belong to a human. "I suppose you want thanks then? Leviathan was a pain in my tail bones for a long time."


    "Enough Obsidian that I can start mass producing the stuff would be nice." The Dragon seemed to blink for a moment.


    "Why?" The confused bone headed dragon asked. "I''m going to mix it with tree sap and make insulating foam with it." The More he heard the less he understood. "I recall that my vassals reported that there were... survivors from Leviathan''s cruelty."


    The Dragon changed the topic before I succeeded in my B goal of throwing him off. Ah negotiations, let''s see if I remember how to do this. Oceanus wants me to ''give'' the trinity to Lemuria, it makes sense. Right now the Ocean was running rampant with stagnant mana, and that would be breeding all kinds of horrors in what is rightfully his domain, but that doesn''t mean that I''m not using them either, nor does it mean that they''re not valuable things that I should simply give away for free. I''ve still got gods know how many floors that I need to fill with content and right now the promise of a fire floor was tickling my sides.


    "The three of them are quite comfortable being spoon fed monsters by my humans. I can''t imagine how I''m going to convince them to leave." The Dragon gave me a flat look, as if he were already onto my hair brained schemes.


    "Shall I tell Oceanus you doubt your ability to fulfil your promises?" Thats what I get for being a cheap skate. It would be bad if the old man decides to take away Levi''s sanity and power if I wrong him.


    "Not at all. I merely want to know that my juniors are going to be well looked after." A map appeared, the leylines spread out before me as the Ring of Fire produced a map for us to work with. "North and Coral might be content to work as underwater dungeons, Fort on the other hand was born and built for dry land. In addition to that the three of them have gotten a little too content in their respective specialisations in defence, counter attacks and offence. Breaking them up will severely lower their abilities, not to mention the problem of strapping them to something they can use to move around, probably your big turtle your people rode to my humble abode on."


    The Dragon tapped a claw as he took the situation in hand.


    "The Turtle might be a good idea." Dungeons will start to form on their own anyway, and grow now that Leviathan is gone. Moving the Trinity over will involve a process of remodelling them to strap to the turtle, and then remodelling them again to break them apart into three separate immobile dungeons, conversely, skipping the last step will invoke less damage, and since they''ll be mobile the problem of trying to supply three dungeons with mana will be less of a problem. "I have good places in mind for them."


    "Then we''re in agreement, I''ll work on getting the dungeons mobile, and I''d like some obsidian before I go, enough that I can start producing it on my own." A ten foot by ten foot block of black glass suddenly appeared and nearly crushed me.


    <hr>


    Upon returning to my dungeon with my spoils I had so much work I needed to get done. The option to do things with my third floor wasn''t available yet. Some times I thought that I only have a fourth floor to begin with because my first three had already been converted into monsters. For now though I chose to instead focus on my task at hand, so slipping back on my watery pants I flew over to the Trinity to share with them the good news.


    "I admit I find this arrangement... less than ideal." North was sitting next to the spike that so many monsters met their end on in the body of the Yuki onna.


    "What''s the problem?" I asked looking around the three of them.


    "You forget that Leviathan kept dragging us around with him when he went about being a pirate, we''ve seen how many monsters are in the sea, and how strong they are." The Mermaid body that Coral was using explained as she gestured lightly.


    "Tons and tons of monsters for us to butcher and use as points for our growth and schema''s for our floors? Count me in!" Great, the little idiot that keeps picking fights with Lithilas''s statue''s is the only one on board with this. Time to shift gears.


    "For one thing, the move isn''t happening immediately, When you three build your next floor you''re going to attach it to the turtle, then you''re going to remodel your floors so that they''ll all fit onto the turtle."


    "That sounds like a mountain of work..." Fort complained. "Which is why it''s going to be done over a period of time, in the mean time I''m going to prepare you three to deal with all the nasties in the ocean. Luckily I know where to find several of them." Nothing about the way that he said that made them feel better, Except for Fort, little brat that he was.


    "I am going to stage an attack on the three of you, and you three are going to fend it off." I rubbed my hands in anticipation while the Yuki onna and the Mermaid paled, well paler then usual anyway.


    "We aren''t even prepared to fend off a real attack! All the monsters we''ve been killing have been handed to us!"


    Yeah, that''s kinda why I''m doing this. I disappeared from the dungeon chuckling evily as I left, it''ll be good that they''re scared, they should come up with something interesting. Now how am I actually going to pull this off?

 Advancing

    I brought my Proposal to Levi, and after a few moments she nodded her head in agreement. The entire plan would be derailed after all if she wasn''t able to do what I needed her to do, of course I also made sure that the assured safety of all the inhabitants of my floor and Levi''s return to her normal self were both guaranteed before we proceeded.


    In the mean time the Trinity were panicking, getting their own defences ready to defend themselves. I gave them time to set up their defences. This time. A winter hurricane appeared around the Dungeon, freezing several walls of ice, Coral and Fort would begin to act when the counterattack came. Or when Fort decided to pop several cannons out of his body and open fire on my dungeon. Should I praise his initiative? I probably should, I heard that Praise is good for Children''s development. In any case LEVI LETS GOOO!


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    "Fort you IDIOT!" The Mermaid woman grabbed the possessed sword body that Fort had been inhabiting and shook it as if she was trying to wring his neck. "Why''d you go ahead and provoke him! Why!?" Coral had to borrow eyes just so that she could cry them out.


    "The Ice barriers should at least buy us time, let''s use that to regroup and-" Suddenly the entire three part dungeon shook. Outside Levi, and her entire floor, was undergoing a transformation, the Coral was peeling back into a massive shell as something resembling a turtle''s head emerged from the water, before it suddenly extended into a Pleisiosaur type neck. Then like a snake the head on the end of the neck snapped forward and attempted to bite down on the dungeon, however at the last moment she was stopped by several layers of ice that had formed up to protect her.


    "Hang on I got this!" Several windows opened across the trinity, inside of which harpoons were loaded into guns and fired out at Levi''s immobilised form. However...


    "FORT YOU IDIOT! THAT''S CORAL STRAPPED TO HER BACK SHE ISN''T GOING TO BE AFFECTED BY IT!" The spears fired, and got stuck inside of the slime body, absorbed and dissolved, the head broke free and was about to slam into the dungeon head on, only to stop, and not because they were the ones to stop it either. "Should I praise you three for not getting destroyed in the first hit?" The Familiar form of a Maride dropped into the core room from the floor above. Levi dissolved the ice as she folded herself back into the third floor of the dungeon.


    "How are we supposed to defend against that!?" Three direct strikes were landed on each of the three core''s borrowed bodies heads. "That is what practice is for. Think about what you need in order to fend off the same attack and find a way to defend against it next time."


    Next time? They were going to go through this on the regular?


    "For now, our guests from Lemuria are going to give us information on the various monsters that you can expect to face when you are released into the ocean on the back of their turtle, and you three are going to come up with methods on how to fight all of them. Your jobs and responsibilities will be to hunt them and prevent more like them from forming. Understood?"


    "Understood." North replied simply.


    "Yes sir." Coral provided the follow up.


    "Pff." Coral punched Fort''s sword Body. "Yes sir..."


    "Good. This bay isn''t big enough for the four of us, it''s barely even big enough for you three. Start by building up your floors into something usable, get some blessings from the gods and get your mana regen flowing. I''ll compile a list of blessings with the other dungeons and give them to you later but My own recommendation? Castor/Pollux is the god of symbiosis, that being multiple creatures of different origins and species working together in a mutually beneficial relationship." The three of them looked at each other, then their dungeon that looked to be tailor made for symbiosis. "Good. The twin god is one of the lesser deities so they shouldn''t get a very big head about everything." The Trio nodded in agreement as they went about redesigning their third floor. They should probably start with the boss.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The three envoys were not amused with the notion of the dungeon shifting about and lashing out at the Trinity like it had. But they had to agree with the point that was given to them, the ocean had become a dangerous place in the years since Leviathan''s arrival, getting some practice against the monsters that they needed hunting was a wise and sound strategy, even if they disapproved of the notion of the dungeon being harmed.


    "You intend to ''give'' us the trinity?" Captain Merrow stated brows cocked suspiciously.


    "It''s a deal filled with mutual benefit! The three of them are taking up precious mana in the area and it''s slowing down my own monsters evolution, which means that the time until I get my own floors back will be extremely limited. Of course I am expecting a lot of favourable trade with your Lemuria as well."


    "As are we." The Crab stated clicking his claws. "Lemuria is having problems of it''s own, it''s becoming over populated, but we''ve extended ourselves as far as possible without leaving our civilian populace at risk from attacks from Leviathan, even then hundreds of us were heading into battle every year with the expectation that we will be slaughtered like dogs in the crossfire between Ring of Fire and Leviathan." Now that Leviathan is gone, they want to start moving their excess population elsewhere, but the ocean is still too dangerous.


    So, now we have to think up under water town expansions too. I don''t think my proposed prefab walls are gonna cut it here, too much stuff for water to get into and form all kinds of nasty mold''s with. If I did use them they would have to be airtight and water proof. In lieu of probably not gonna work here walls... I looked through my various materials as I dug deep into what they were and how they worked and... oh coral works like that does it? And so does the algae? Alright then, but first thing was first.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Yo]


    [Ouroboros: How''s the trinity coming along?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Told them to graft themselves to the Lemurian''s Turtle and work on getting Castor/Pollux''s blessing]


    [Jewel: That might be a tall order]


    [Dungeon Keeper: What''s the problem?]


    [Jewel: You already have the twin god''s blessing right? God''s want to spread their influence out over a wide area, give them a wide net to work with, Castor/Pollux already has one blessing in the area to work with in you]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Trinity is three separate dungeons working together, and with a giant turtle stacked on top of that]


    [Ouroboros: You said before that you''re having the three of them remodel their dungeon to attach themselves to the turtle right?]


    [Ouroboros: In other words they''re far from finishing their floors]


    So the three of them have to either choose between getting a god''s blessing or getting ready for the move. In that case.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Looks like I need to figure out a way of increasing the mana around here]


    I met with Charles and the Lemurian trio as we discussed our plans.


    "In no particular order, we have to prepare this area for the incoming winter and the extra people coming in, get the trio ready to ship out and increase the mana regeneration around here to the point where it can sustain four dungeons and accelerate the repairs to my own." I explained to my circle of associates. "Ideas?"


    "We should start by transferring the three dungeons onto our island turtle." The Knight Crab person was the first one to explain. Right that turtle is already full of different kinds of buildings. "With the dungeon''s permission we can fill the three dungeon''s full of mana generating personnel, with that amount the dungeons can begin moving onto the turtle''s back."


    "I remember that Conquerete was a big golem like thing that moved around with the support of a bunch of slimes powering a hydraulic." I explained recalling what I figured would be a useful experience to the think tank we had going on. "How to explain this... you guys can use water manipulating magic right?" Two Cylinders, two plungers, and a hose, these were the items that I produced in my dungeon. First I filled one cylinder with water and used the plunger to push it through the hose and into the other cylinder which I finished filling with water and shoved the plunger inside. With those preparations set I got another thing from the third floor, a massive slab of coral to act as something heavy. For Reference sake, it took three of Charles men to bring this thing up here. "Now we apply an equal amount of weight to this one here." Played by several of Charles people standing on a large wooden board, I initially considered getting Apas to do it but it felt dangerous to make a comment about her weight. Underneath the men on the board the fully extended plunger gradually sunk down, and at the same time the slab of coral slowly rose up into the air.


    "With an equal amount of weight on both ends, a slime inside to control the flow of force and a pivot between them Conquerete was able to create a fully functional limb. If the trio takes similar measures then they can extend themselves to start climbing onto the turtle''s back. Not to mention that most of their floors have yet to be fully expanded."


    The Lemurian representatives arrived her via the turtle in the first place, there should already be lots of pre-existing structures that they can use to expand into without any real problems like what I did for the second floor. Expand and climb on, expand and climb on, repeating this cycle enough times should mean that we can move the trio successfully, and with the turtle supplying them with mana that should reduce my headaches for some time.


    "Managing Winter is about having the correct resources." My proposed prefab housing was being put on hold. "Our top priorities are going to be shelter and warmth." Charles spoke ruthlessly as he eyed my watery body. At this point it was better to just create an area within my dungeon that people can live in where they''ll be warm, in other words my future fourth floor.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Well I do understand the point, for now it''s enough to have the third floor focus on making supplies, thanks to Charles here I do have some coal that I can replicate and that you can burn to keep warm. There''s also all kinds of sea food being produced on the third floor as well, as long as you keep the bones and shells then they can just be recycled by my mana." Short term I wasn''t overly thrilled about tunnels being dug all over and around me, long term though it had benefits. We would eventually convert the tunnels into a sewer system when the city itself starts to be built, using Levi we can funnel that sewage to Treyni and her floor and use that to manufacture produce for the citizens of the city to eat. That said I''m not able to expand at the moment. "The main issue here is a question of whether you can dig out the tunnels, because just a heads up for you, but I can''t right now until my core is healed."


    "You can leave that to us." Charles stated bluntly. Then I leave it to you.


    "The last issue is a matter of building a place that''s suitable for the Lemurian people. Just a heads up, but I do not know how Lemurian architecture works."


    "Do you think us primitive fish huddling around volcanic vents for warmth?" The Crab snapped his claw as a stone slab was handed to him. I was thus introduced to a large dome like structure.


    "Anything you need from my dungeon to make this work?" I asked looking down at the structure. It was probably a given that they needed something but it was important that I check anyway.


    "Coral blocks and Algae." The Crab replied in simple terms.


    I was curious so I dug into the schemas I had on the topic. Although coral looks like a stone it''s actually alive, and it grows by feeding off of micro organisms like algae, so you can make a building under water using Coral bricks and spreading algae between the bricks. It can take a year for the coral to grow naturally but they have access to druids who can encourage it to form a seal within a day.


    "Alright then I''ll set the dungeon to begin producing coral bricks. You guys can work on your share of the city and Charles can start digging out his." My compatriots nodded their heads and went their separate ways. I went into the my dungeon and produced several coral blocks and algae mortar before instructing Levi to help get everything out side. I also dropped by the trio and gave them my instructions as well.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    "Build this freeze that." North complained as he extended a block of ice out to where the hole where the fort built on the turtle''s back was located. "Bloody slave driver I swear." The mass of ice continued to extend outwards until it had come into contact with the entrance of the island turtle fortress and secured itself in place. Coral and Fort soon began strengthening the ice bridge with their own choice materials while North hollowed out the inside of the fortress, and soon they had connected to the first part of the turtle''s fortress. Already they could feel a fresh infusion of mana entering and invigorating the dungeon, and that was only by connecting to a few spaces. They originally thought that they would have to wait until the mana regenerated before they could continue modifying the dungeon but that didn''t look like it''ll be necessary: That''s B-Rank mana for you it would seem.


    "What about that guy Keeper was talking about before, Castor/Pollux?" North asked looking between their three compatriots.


    "We probably aren''t going to attract them." Coral stated as she shrugged her shoulders.


    "If he was interested in three dungeons working together he probably would''ve taken noticed by now. For one thing do we even need any blessings right now? We''re getting a direct feed of B-Rank Mana." Fort stated in a rare moment of wisdom. "Let''s just focus on strapping the rest of the dungeon onto the turtle''s back."


    Keeper gave them a schema for the River Slime a little while ago, and explained hydralics to them. Lift one side of the base of the pillar up a crack, fill the gap with material, reinforce the upper part as it''s about to collapse, repeat until they have the pillar strapped to the turtle''s back, strap it down with additional material and expansions. Do that about three more times to turn the pillar into a nice square shape, maybe cling some of the lower parts of the dungeon to the underside of the turtle''s body. At their current pace they''d be done in about a month.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    As much as the thought of using slaves to bore a hole through the forth floor amused Charles, it was a method lacking in efficiency especially when you take into consideration the presence of the people from jewel''s dungeon and Levi. As a start, use Levi to clear away all of the organic soil making up the area that they were going to excavate, the mages with affinities for earth move and break down all of the stone that Levi can''t work with, any fossils found are delivered to me to reanimate and take the schema''s for. Case in point.


    [E-Rank Schema Armoured Jaw Fish-A especially vicious common ancestor of both the Sturgeon and the Pirahna combining the stubborn defensive power of the first and the viciousness of the latter]


    I''ll put a pause on that for now, somehow I don''t think foot long heavily armoured pirahna''s are very conductive to doing business. Moving on. As Levi speed excavates line the walls of the newly excavated tunnels with my patented three part material, created inside of a air bubble I made inside of Levi so that it doesn''t get wet, insuring that it stays warm down there while lining the floor with clay brick while numerous side rooms had been born that would in due time become foundations for people''s home, and where I''d shove all the usual sewage tid-bits that would typify a city. I paused as what I was doing slowly dawned on me. I was turning one of my floors into a sewer! Ugh! I understand how necessary it was for the nice modern city that I was making but do I have to!? I reviewed my capabilities in my head. I can break down any dead matter into mana automatically, and I can store it as well bringing it elsewhere in the dungeon. Now if I can just do that automatically so that I don''t have to... ugh! Ignoring my disgust what god in their right mind would even want to bless such a place?


    [Dungeon Keeper: Hey Lithilas I gotta question?]


    [Lithilas: Why do I feel like I''m going to regret answering?]


    I haven''t even asked yet and I already regret doing it.


    [Dungeon Keeper: How do you do... waste management in your dungeon?]


    [Lithilas: What kind of waste?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Human waste]


    [Lithilas: Corpse disposal? There are a lot of humans who use a dungeon that they have a good relationship with to give their dead a ''dungeon funeral'' as a way of giving back]


    Gross, but informative, and also not what I was talking about.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I was talking about Dung]


    [Lithilas: ?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: How do you dispose of the Dung that your humans produce so that they don''t throw it out into the middle of the street and make themselves sick?]


    [Lithilas: !]


    [Lithilas: Ah. I didn''t realise that your city had developed that far already]


    [Dungeon Keeper: It hasn''t. But I''m making some tunnels for people to live in until the winter is over with that I was thinking that I would eventually turn into sewers before I remembered that would mean I would become the sewer]


    [Lithilas: Yes well...]


    It was taking him a while to reply, as if he was talking about something difficult.


    [Lithilas: You do know that you can taste anything that you''ve broken down or stored right?]


    REJECTION! I don''t even have a gag reflex and it felt like one was being forced into existence as we speak!


    [Dungeon Keeper: Your recommendation?]


    [Lithilas: Slimes]


    [Lithilas: Slimes will eat anything, and if you feed them enough of one thing that they develop a mutation they will grow fond of doing so]


    So what he''s saying is that I should include some septic tanks in these places and fill them up with slimes.


    [Lithilas: Slimes have numerous different sub species, there are specialists in waste disposal as we already discussed, also in cleaning, alchemy and the likes]


    [Lithilas: You should consider employing a slime specialist but they''re honestly not that complicated, manage their diets properly and you will be rewarded for your efforts]


    Okay, need to see Charles about setting up some communal toilets. But later. While one end of my third floor was producing pre fab walls another end was producing bricks of coral and algae mortar which was being carried out of the dungeon by teams of Lemurians. I possessed my Maride again and had a look outside at how things were going.


    "The Winter isn''t going to be rough on you guys?" The Octopus mage lady turned around to face me. "The sea water isn''t going to freeze if that''s what you mean." The Octopus woman stated bluntly. I''m pretty sure the I froze this water before. Whatever I''ll just dump salt into the water if that''s the case. "If the worst comes to it, we will simply take refuge inside of your dungeon."


    At the moment, the various fish people were building igloo type buildings using the coral bricks and Algae mortar, for which I had to produce several blocks in highly specific shapes, The Trio weren''t contributing much material at the moment, too busy with the move if I had to guess.


    "You guys are going to be okay out here? I don''t exactly have any fish monster deterrent ready."


    "That is an B rank monster." The Octopus lady stated indicating the island turtle. "It is all the deterrent that we need."


    Well, I can''t argue with the logic there.


    "Alright keep me in the loop." Just because we were busy constructing new things doesn''t mean that the monsters ever really stopped. Our conveyor belt had to be moved but we were able to still feed the trio any monster that was killed. My Core was still fixing itself at a snail''s pace, while my slime powered communal toilet was set up, as well as a slime powered laundromat and slime powered medicine station.


    [F Rank Monster Dung Slime-A slime that has been fed a large amount of feces, It likes it a lot]


    The schema says slimes are plant like, I think, so it maybe makes sense. If you don''t think about it.


    [F Rank Monster Cleaning Slime-A slime that has been specially trained to remove the stains and filth from not only cloth but also armour and weapons leaving the items themselves intact]


    It''s a fantasy washing machine, I have no other way to describe this one.


    [E Rank Monster Medicine Slime-A slime that has been fed a large amount of poison and then a large amount of antidotes, the fluids that their bodies produce have a variety of medicinal applications]


    I''m not even sure how Charles guys made this one, and I don''t think I want to find out either. But with fortifications built, food, shelter and hygiene all taking care off I honestly don''t have that much to do at the moment but wait and plan.


    [Dungeon Keeper: The Trio should be ready to leave in about a month bar any accidents and the snow has already started to come down over here]


    [Lithilas: Make sure that you have somewhere to store that snow and compress it into ice]


    [Lithilas: If you manage to suicide yourself by shoving things into your core at random at the very least the humans will have some place they can store their food in the spring without it going bad] Ugh. He''s really ramming me for that one isn''t he?


    [Ouroboros: Aside from the questionable life choices you''ve apparently been making you should let us known when those three leave as soon as possible]


    [Ouroboros: These two are going to be passing by you after all]


    [Babel: Ah so you are the new comer that Little Grave mentioned]


    [Dungeon Keeper: You''re the floating island right? How''d that happen? Did one of the gods bless it that way?]


    [Babel: There are many things one gains from devotion to the gods, my gift of flight is but one of many]


    [Lithilas: People have been asking about that for years, he has yet to tell them]


    Which was odd. The whole idea of blessings was gods trying to spread their influence around, so far it sounded like Graves and Jewel were like bill boards for their respective gods, but Babel''s didn''t seem interested... meaning that he was such a lunatic tier entity that he didn''t need to spread his influence around. Dear literal gods what am I dealing with?


    [Dungeon Keeper: How''d you end up as a merchant of all things?]


    [Babel: Because I can, and because I''ve seen the alternative far too often]


    Well that''s not ominous at all.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I look forward to your patronage then]


    [Babel: Which may be difficult, until the number of dungeons around you begin to drop]


    Yeah mana''s a little stingy at the moment, even with the trio suckling off of the teat of that giant turtle. I haven''t even finished the evolution for whatever the first two floors are turning into let alone anything else.


    [Dungeon Keeper: And the prisoner?]


    [Ouroboros: Imprisoned, for now]


    I wonder how that works?


    [Ouroboros: Either way my obligations are done here, I''m going to be off to where I''m needed]


    As far as I understand the situation Graves is receiving power from prayer, perhaps he''s going to make good on them. All the power to yah buddy. It was a interesting feeling, someone leaving the chat group, the feeling of someone leaving the range by which we could communicate, well communicate without using the Adamantine globe in my core room anyway. I could still talk to the big snake if I want to, I''ll check on how he''s doing later. As for Babel I don''t think I''ve got anything to trade so... yeah. Wait until the spring I guess.

 Winter

    Winter came with a fresh round of troubles, the local nature spirit transitioned away from anger to indifference but mercies had yet to come. As opposed to coming under attack by creatures of flesh and blood who are easy to deal with I was instead getting ones made out of ice and snow, and that was when I was lucky. At least the Ice Mammoth''s had the bloody common decency to stay down when Charles men hurl rocks at them with my catapults or Charles conjures a sea of flame to melt the bastards. But then hurricanes of ice and snow tries to brow beat us into submission, so far the only thing providing us with at least temporary relief was when Charles goes upside and snaps his fingers to convert the raging kinetic energy of the snow storm into heat. If anything it felt like the attacks had only gotten worse, so I asked Charles what he knows about it.


    "The White Horn, or the Spirit of Winter isn''t being overly hostile to us." Charles explained as he warmed himself next to a fire that had been prepared for the kitchen. "She''s simply trampling us."


    "Trample?" I asked from within my Maride body.


    "Winter Tramples everything Indiscriminately, to it there''s no difference between us and a bear, or birds, or the trees. It simply tramples over everything without care." Somehow that''s scarier than the idea that it''s holding a grudge against us.


    But as long as she doesn''t care that we''re here, I''m going to work on another idea to try and increase mana, but it does require some idea of how mana works so to this end I gather together my experts in Apas, Charles and the Tidecaller for a meeting.


    "So I know that magic can move things around, and can generate things like heat and matter, but is the opposite true? Can we turn the things you use mana to produce into mana?" The three looked at each other in confusion.


    "Don''t you do that already?" The Tidecaller asked suspiciously.


    "Let''s make a more specific example. You have lightning magic, is it possible to convert lightning back into mana?" Apas just shrugged and laid down in my lap, intending to be of no use whatsoever it would seem.


    "...yes but I would rather not, on account of the fact that the process involves getting struck by lightning."


    "Perfectly reasonable. But if I want to do that..."


    "Sure, I''ll write up a formation for it." The Stormcaller proceeded to do exactly that as I proceeded to perform diabolical finger taps.


    "What are you planning?" Charles asked looking at me with blatant suspicion on his features.


    "You aren''t the only one that knows how to turn one thing into another." I replied smirking as well as a being with no face could smirk. "When you two are done with that I have another project that I need help with."


    For the next phase of my plan I needed copper, or failing that Bronze. Unlike Iron Bronze doesn''t rust, so it was common to see it used to plate things that had to be exposed to the elements a lot like the reinforcements for the ballista. Take the Bronze and divide it into base components of Copper, Tin and Aluminium. Take the copper and form a string with it and wrap it around a length of iron I made after eating one of the weapons of Charles men, insulated with a coating of lacquer, for this next part I needed the Tidecaller''s help again.


    "You want me to shoot lightning at it?" The confused octopus woman asked looking at the block of iron wrapped with copper I had made.


    "If you please." I said using my maride body to indicate the block. Shrugging her shoulders that''s exactly what the octopus woman did, chanting an incantation and letting lightning fly at the metal block.


    [Super Magnet]


    Success! Now I dissolve the Super Magnet and replicate it like, six or seven times, enough to line a barrel that has already been lined with obsidian and secure the lid, on the bottom of the barrel I inscribe the lightning conversion rune, I drill a hole through the lid and work on the second half of the project. I create a steel pole and line it with more obsidian. After examining various materials I determined that obsidian has no electrical conductivity so I can use it as an insulator. On the bottom I create an obsidian stopper and have braided copper wire sticking in and out of it no less than seven inches away and stick it inside. On the far end of the rod I stick a six spiked gear and have it stick out of a hole I prepared before hand. Now for the third part.


    "Why the hell are we doing this in the winter!?" One of Charles stone masons complained as they worked on a well that they were building around the gear on a stick, a grove in place for the fan I had put into place.


    Each blade of the fan had an engraving for converting kinetic energy into heat, albeit not all of it, just enough to keep the fan from icing up, the fan itself was connected to a 24 spiked gear, the gear set up bricked up so that the snow couldn''t get in. With the howling wind the fan started to blow at a rapid pace, each rotation of the fan equalled to four in the barrel, generating 4 mana per second in the process. Then I had ten more just like them set up and I was really happy. With the giant turtle taking care of the trio''s mana needs and my generators taking care of mine we should start seeing some real progress. With any luck those two should finish evolving soon and I can regain control over my dungeon. For now I popped over to the trio.


    Each of them were starting to unwind from one another, trading and consuming pieces of each other''s dungeons as they gradually formed new structures. Fort was sitting on top of the dungeon, forming the walls of a castle. Unlike Coral or North Fort doesn''t have a material that he can manipulate into existence by freezing water or forcing coral to grow. For now he''s making do by taking over the old buildings that use to belong to the Lemurians. It was... strange. I could see his... figure? The vague outline of a suit of armour in the mana that wasn''t really there? Is this what it''s like for Apas to look at me? Anyway. The armour was surveying a room that he claimed from the Lemurians. As I was thinking about that a familiar item floated in, a floating possessed sword, now doubly possessed as I watch the armour walk into the blade.


    "Are you going to just stand there or are you going to make yourself useful?" The sword vibrated in the language I guess swords possess? I don''t know.


    "You seem to be having trouble deciding on something for your floor." My Maride replied in their weird mana voice on my behalf. You never notice your own habits until you see someone else repeating them.


    "There''s a lot of stuff here dedicated to Oceanus." The sword explained as it turned around, either facing me or facing the room, it was hard to guess the perspective of a sword.


    "And?" I asked by way of reply.


    "He''s not exactly ''me.''" Fort stated with a shrug of his shoulders. "Not to mention that the last time we tried to strike a deal with one of your patrons we got turned down." Hard to argue with logic like that.


    "Let''s go find another spot to work on, save this for when you''re ready for Oceanus. Instead lets go find some place suitable for the god that you''re looking for. Between you guys and me?" I made a show of looking side to side as if I was planning something conspiratorial. "Oceanus is probably just waiting for you guys to make the pact with him."


    "Really?" Fort somehow looked doubtful despite being a sword. "Totally. He gave me a job to make sure you three are on your way over to him." Which was factually true, but probably had more to do with him being short on dungeons than anything else. Fort dissolved a nearby book, allowing the information to enter his mind as he mused the implications. There was a shrine to Oceanus in the corner of the room but the room itself held more practical purposes than just acting as a shrine, the same was true for the entire floor. But it had been built for beings who were comfortable under water, the room shifted around, the spout that was meant to introduce water into the room at regular intervals shifted around, formed the face of a long haired god with bull horns. Murals telling the tale of Oceanus mentioned in the book was scrawled across the walls of the floor. A spear made out of coral was manifested out of thin air before something was forced into it and it started to spin around the room.


    "It''s... still lacking..." Fort said, feeling like there was a much needed something, something for the floor.


    "BRB." I in turn replied as I popped back over to my own dungeon, and returned to the raid moments later, alongside three monsters. The Cuddlefish and the Trigger fish had been pretty useless to me up to this point, I am working to become a cooperative dungeon, they are creatures who specialise in attacks. As for the third.


    [D Rank Monster Armoured Jaw Fish: An ancestor to modern fish species the blood tooth pirahna and the Iron Back Sturgeon, combining the vicious aggression of the first and the strong defensive power of the latter]


    The Armoured Jawfish had just been swimming around pointlessly on the third floor serving no other purpose than a reminder that there was this vicious little creature that at some point in time split it''s viciousness into two separate directions. The coral spear slashed the three monsters and their schemas dissolved away into Fort, just what he wanted: Violence.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "That''s more like it." The three fish swam into existence around us, the Trigger fish already getting ready to spew some violence as Fort filled it''s gullet with shards of coral, and then watched it immediately went belly up from the poisonous material that was released into the fish''s gullet. "Maybe not..." Fort decided that he had a lot to work on before this floor was ready for a blessing. "I''ll let you work on it."


    After Fort my next stop was North, unlike Fort this fellow was properly working, the ice mammoth''s that my humans had brought down and fed to the trio were now working to improve upon the environment. The Ice Mammoth''s were odd creatures, bones of ice and hair made out of snow, wrapped up in a body as big as a wholly mammoth and inclined towards gorging with massive icicle tusks and firing projectiles of ice from afar from every hair on it''s body. And they ate snow? Whatever works for you North.


    "Need help with anything?" I asked as I approached where I saw North''s Yuki Onna as she was herding the creatures around.


    "We lack mobility." The ice woman stated as she looked down an ice cave.


    "Isn''t that what the turtle is for?" I asked pointing downwards at the creature in question.


    "We''re also adding several tonnes in weight to the poor creature''s back just by existing, it would be nice if we could give back to it."


    As I thought about it for a few moments I held up a familiar summoning circle made out of water in the air.


    "If that''s the case, why don''t one of you summon a Maride? You''ll be out in the water anyway right? With one of these moving around for the four of you should be able to move much easier." North looked surprised with my offer and froze the magic circle in question.


    "Thank you for your patronage." North gave a bow before carrying off with the icy magic circle.


    Now than for the last one. Unlike Fort who took the top bunk and North who positioned herself in the rear Coral had stuck herself to the underside of the turtle. Ingeniously Coral had decided to focus on Filter feeding as the path to success, her dungeon''s various floors had several holes going through it that as the turtle swam forward would allow water to pass through, in theory allowing Coral to convert any particulates she came into contact with into mana. As an experiment I got Levi to suck up a huge amount of water, which gave me a lot of mana before it eventually stopped. What did I do with that mana? I''d get to that later.


    "You gave Fort the fish and North the water Genie." Coral gave me a scowl of disapproval, as if telling me that I had given away the best parts out already. She was wrong of course.


    "So I take it you don''t want this?" Just because Treyni was locked away from me inside of a big cocoon of mana doesn''t mean I couldn''t make bits of her body at whim. "It''s some of my Dryad''s tree, and I''m betting that you can get some symbiosis boons out of it." Coral accepted the tree branch and it started to dissolve away.


    "I don''t think this will do me any good." Coral stated bluntly.


    "The branch is a distant descendant of the Algae, a hybrid of two different organisms. Dig deep into the schema, find its distant ancestor, and give the blessing within." I handed out my bottomless wisdom like candy. "Are you on something?" No one said enlightenment was easy to understand.


    "First. Make one of these." I sent Coral a schema for the Animated Skull plus core combo Graves made up for me, with some additional tweaks. Coral gave me a puzzled expression as she did what she was told and soon an animated skull fell into the hand of her mermaid body. "Next you reanimate these puppies." I dropped some Tree fossils that Charles and company dug up for me. "How am I supposed to do-?" The Skull glowed, Coral''s pink mana flowed into the tree and soon it was reanimated and took root, albeit upside down. Then it did the other fossils, reanimating a group of fish. "I included amber in your animated skull, it should offer up some proficiency with plant based magic." I summoned another of Treyni''s branches. "Give him the task of integrating this branch with your algae and you''ll have a higher chance of getting Castor/Pollux''s blessing."


    Satisfied I went to check on progress for my own mana intensive project. Charles men dug out a storage area on the fourth floor that I''ve been slowly filling with the pieces of a prefabricated city, manufactured in the third floor''s dry room and brought into the fourth from inside of a air tight container. Once the snow goes away and spring comes we can just use an elevator to carry these to the site of the city, create a foundation with the solve all earth magic and snap these puppies together. Isn''t this a huge waste of mana? Isn''t there better things that I can be doing with this like finishing the evolution of my first two floors or fixing my core? Truthfully I would like to be doing those things too but I can''t. I tried speeding up the evolution already but it wasn''t working, and I''m not willing to start shoving extra material into my core and risk making the cracks any worse. So I am going to take the excess mana that I am working hard to create and I''m going to get the first buildings thrown up in the spring. What buildings am I going to get put together you may wonder?


    "An Airport?" Charles room was looking more like a war room these days, even then it was actually a city planning room, one where we were getting all our ideas for the city settled out.


    "When Spring does get here you said that among the first arrivals are going to be the guilds correct?" Charles nodded his head.


    "Money leaves behind it''s own aroma, to some people it''s irresistible." I nodded my head in agreement.


    Adventurers, Craftsmen and Merchants. Adventurers go into the dungeons and collect material such as ores, lumber and monster bits, Craftsmen is a catch all term for people who convert materials into usable items such as weapons, armour, building pieces, potions, enchanted accessories and food, Merchants then buy and sell these materials and finished products on the open market. There are other organisations such as the Item Bag Banks that Charles talked about before or the Mages Association who conducts research using materials from the dungeons but these three are the big ones we have to work with.


    "The Adventurers will come to the dungeon, the craftsmen will come to the adventurers, the merchants will stick their noses anywhere that business is being done."


    "Precisely. Which is why we need to prepare priority space and buildings for when they do, inevitably, get here." A diorama of the area around my dungeon had been mocked up off to the side, useful for more three dimensional planning for the dungeon. "Once work is finished in the underwater district we can use it as a foundation for an elevated platform to be built right in front of my entrance." I went over to a nearby table where various theoretical buildings and length''s of wood were being kept, I don''t know who among Charles forces keep making these things but I''m glad they''re on our side, that or they just have lots of raw material to work with and way too much free time while snowed in. "If we can set up a toll station then we can start earning capital to establish other areas of importance." If people were going to start bringing money into this then we were going to make sure to have some. "After that is a trio of buildings of the Adventurer''s Guild, the Craftsmen Guild and the Merchants Guild. We can tack them onto the side of the mountain." Why were they all close together and getting second priority? Convenience. The People who gather from the dungeon is next to the dungeon, the people who make things using material from the dungeon is next to the gatherers, and the people who sell stuff that gets made is next to the craftsmen.


    "I understand all of that, but what is this about an ''airport?''" Charles asked as I started to assemble the buildings on the diorama. "That depends on our ability to get our hands on flying monsters, lots of them." I said as I rubbed my fingers together, eager with anticipation. "Flying monsters are the most convenient for transportation, as long as they''re not picking fights then you can fly over all obstacles in your path without worry. If we pair these skeletons with the jellyfish-" Charles grabbed my watery body and pulled it closer to him with a absolutely murderous glint in his eyes as he stared me down.


    "What did I tell you about using those things!?" Ah right. Weapons of mass destruction do not make for good courier bags.


    "How do you guys do mass shipping anyway. I know that I can just send stuff to other places through the dungeon network but..." Charles cocked a brow suspiciously.


    "Airport? Mass shipping? You have a lot of strange terms. How long were you alone before Apas found you?"


    "I... it hasn''t been that long. A couple of days at most, a couple of weeks before I met you." A pause as I slowly mused the implications. "Am I from this world?" I explained the terms that had triggered my... episodes in the past, the episodes that I had saw when I had them.


    "I''ve certainly never heard of something like an aquarium before. Do you eat the fish in it?" Charles was a nobleman, if there was anyone who would buy or own an aquarium he would probably be pretty high up there.


    "I... don''t think so. They''re too small to be filling." The more I thought about it the less I understood. "Charles. Do you think I come from a different world? My consciousness I mean." Charles made a frown, musing the implications in his mind. "Among the strongest dungeons there if a phenomena of ''breaching'' by concentrating the divine power of dozens of blessings into a single floor and use that to thin the barriers between worlds, and in the process expanding into another world." Charles stated leaning over the table and musing the implications.


    "...so it is possible?" I asked, and I saw Charles nod his head, on his face was a look that I imagined that I would have if my face wasn''t just this blank slate. I heard a loud snap inside of my head, my core!


    ***"Heroes! Please save our world!" I shoved a handful of popcorn into my mouth as I watched the group of confused young men on the TV gradually coming to terms with the reality of their situation. I''ve heard good things about the latest round of Isekai to***


    While Keeper was suffering another mental break down his core had jumped, a sharp mass of mana suddenly forming in one of the cracks of the core sealing it, though in reality it would be considered more a crude patch job than the gradual fill that was leaving a smooth surface. Then the entire mountain started to shake.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Outside the blizzard had yet to cease, the Queen of Winter, now resembling a heavily pregnant elk like Centaur, that was the fourth seasonal form of the local nature spirit having grown in intensity. Snow Mammoth''s and other frosty entities formed in the raging snow, some going to continue their attack on the young dungeon, others off to rampage in somewhere else. Remembering the grudge from the previous forms didn''t mean that the snow spirit held one, it was a simple matter that much like the monsters formed in the snow the cocoon of evolution surrounding the dungeon, hungry for the mana and the promise of power within. The mountain shook, hunks of limestone the size of a carriage blown off and crashing into the surrounding area as something started to come out. A herd of Snow Mammoth''s that couldn''t move in time were crushed as one of the larger masses from the mountain slammed down on top of it.


    A finger, longer than the Mammoth''s from tip to tip, tapped several times giving off the impression of being... annoyed. That was the feeling that they had gotten, as the resident nature spirit they had a certain measure of respect from the masses, but to this thing? They were pests. The Queen of Winter bore a hasty retreat as one of the Mammoth''s were dragged, a loud crunch like eating ice soon echoed out, the owner of the hand that just made off with the Mastodon enjoying a meal. But the hand was the least of their concerns, from the mountain the screeching of dozens of different insects howled out while scything through the lands going in all directions, not even the water was safe from these horrors. At least it wasn''t until the Island turtle poked it''s head out of the water and roared in annoyance, the insects immediately turned around to retreat back through the land. The Turtle looked up at the top of the mountain, the glowing eyes of a monster staring back at it.

 Evolution

    Oooh... ow. What did I do last night? I''ve got a splitting headache. Something about watching... I looked around, this wasn''t my house but a cave. No wait this was my cave? Oh man that wasn''t a pleasant experience. I would be immensely grateful if that was the worst of-


    The cave split open, the entrance opposing masses of sharp Stalactites and Stalagmites as the head of a giant Centipede was shoved inside of the cave and the cave closed again cutting the head off before opening and closing several times repeatedly stabbing into the centipede, cutting it apart, chewing it! I was inside of a monster''s Mouth? Oh that wasn''t good.


    [C-Rank Monster Omukade-A monstrous centipede specialising in the use of poisons to attack, is currently in the middle of the process of becoming a dragon]


    I was inside of a monster who was using C-Ranks for food. I watched the familiar process of the monster pieces breaking down and turn into mana and schema''s while I debated the implications behind that I looked at the corner of my vision to see that several new notifications had appeared. As usual I concentrated on the new messages and watched as nothing happened. I heard the distinct sound of tapping as I impatiently waited and paused as I looked at myself for the first time. My entire body looked to be made out of some kind of blue crystal with a bright orange material inside, as if fire was frozen in ice. Was I possessing one of my monsters again? Weird I''m usually a lot more conscious about that. Alright I would just leave and go back into dungeon mode... any time now... great. I fingered the notification and started to read the system messages.


    [Achievement Unlocked-Mad Scientist]


    How did that happen.


    [Congratulations! You''ve evolved into a Unique B-Rank Monster: Fire Frost Fiend]


    Come again?


    [Dungeon Breach in Progress]


    I don''t even wanna know what that is.


    [I''m borrowing your subordinates for a while. Pluto]


    Excuse me!?


    [Your contract with Echidna has been severed]


    That was the one I was most concerned about. Apas! Nothing.


    "APAS!" The familiar form of my Sphinx flew into the mouth of the cave before landing in front of me. So losing Echidna''s blessing meant that she didn''t take back her part of the deal? I thought about it some more: Right now there was the underwater district, and through the mouth I saw at least one building that could''ve been dedicated to housing the orphans from Jewel''s city. The bare minimum standards of my obligation to build her a Demi-human city have been fulfilled.


    "So you''ve woken up at last." Apas just let out a relieved sigh. "It''s good to see that you''re okay."


    What happened? Apas didn''t respond and eventually let out a sigh.


    "I can''t hear your thoughts anymore. You have to use your voice like when you usually possess the Ifrit." I worked my jaw for a few moments as I pondered the implications.


    "What Happened?" My voice was deep and vibrated a little, like a base speaker.


    "You better come out and see for yourself. You still remember how to fly that thing right?" Apas asked as she turned around.


    "This thing? What are you talking about? I don''t even know what this thing is let alone how it works!" Apas just let out a sigh and sat down.


    "You should climb on." The two of us flew out of the cave and my jaw nearly dropped at what I saw.


    A skeleton. A skeleton the Size of a mountain! That wasn''t technically true I think. I couldn''t see the Pelvis or anything below it so in reality only the torso was as tall as a mountain, even then I was fairly confident that it wasn''t a normal skeleton, size aside it''s entire body was covered in a rocky armour, the rib cage had fused together into a chest plate like armour and the head was covered in a eyeless mask, though it had two arms one of them was sticking out the back leaving the entire right side of the body without a second arm. The Second misplaced arm rose up until its hand was face to face with Apas and myself, a hunk of amber the size of a truck tire depicting the grinning face of a skull as it looked at us with empty eyes was attached to the ring finger.


    "Thing. Keeper''s awake, go find the human."


    Thing? That''s Thing? The giant arm identified as Thing twisted around and gave a thumbs up as it went and snaked around the growing base around the mountain itself apparently looking for someone. The elevator leading to the fourth floor was seeing use as people carried the slabs of pre-fabricated buildings up from below, the other arm was being used as a crane to carry the parts up the mountain of bones to several buildings that had attached themselves to what I was quickly realising was the dungeon via supports of wood and Marble. I guess Charles Geomancers managed to finally get around to making some of that stuff. They had time, spring was in full swing.


    "Is Treyni awake too?" It would be kind of a problem if it turned out that one of the main sources of food for the city was out cold too.


    "She''s somewhere in all of that." Apas indicated the mountain of bones that Thing had become. I really needed to read my notifications soon, but a familiar mass of flames streaked through the sky and formed an arrow and pointed down at the killing field for killing invading monsters.


    "Looks like we''re talking to Charles first." Following my implications Apas flew down to where Charles had went out of his way to direct us to and landed down in front of him. I was about to go forward but he stopped me.


    "We have guests cover up." I looked down at myself, it was hard to get a look at myself in the darkness of Thing''s mouth but I was naked, and more importantly I had something to cover up so I concentrated, and toga of flame wrapped my form. So I have fire powers now? Whatever. "Better." Charles led me forward to the people sitting around a patio table, a man who wore several rings on his fingers, a brown skinned man in a robe, a younger one who was sitting in the back reading a book, and The shark woman captain from before, dressed in a ill fitting striped shirt.


    "Captain Merrow would you like to start things off?" Charles asked looking at the fish woman in question.


    "The Trio have already left." The Shark woman stated bluntly. "They were given the impression that their staying here was actively hindering your recovery, talk to them when you get the chance."


    I''ll remember that. I''ve had my rough patches with the trio but I didn''t want them worrying over me for no reason.


    "I''ll try to contact them when I get the chance." I turned my head to the next person who stood and bowed. "I am Amadeus Callow of the Merchants Guild, later I shall introduce you to the adventurer''s guild and craftsmen guild heads later when they aren''t so busy." The man held out his hand to shake.


    "Dungeon Keeper, I apologise for not returning your shake, first day with the new body and I only just learned that it can shoot fire." As I said that I turned my attention to the other two humans.


    "Professor Phalanges of the Magic Academy, and one of my many students Grimoire." The one in the back barely acknowledged his professor, merely continued to read his book. "I brought Grimoire as your dungeon presents an ideal opportunity to study in his chosen field of Necromancy."


    "I would''ve preferred the Consecrated Mass Grave but he''s harder to pin down these days." The young man explained as he flipped through the book in question.


    "Right. I have to go manage my dungeon now, I''ve been unconscious for a while. Did anything else happen while I was asleep?"


    "Babel flew over while you were unconscious and threw a giant golem into the water." Grimoire stated bluntly, displaying the same level of interest in the topic as he had been all this time. Well that''s good I guess? Far as I''m concerned the pain in the butt can drown, and he''s making himself useful now cleaning up the ocean instead of attacking Lithilas day and night.


    "This guy''s family is making a tuff about trying to take control over the dungeon." Grimoire indicated Charles.


    "I''m handling it." Charles replied bluntly.


    "Sure. Sure." Grimoire flipped the page on his book completely uninterested.


    "Right. I''m off to dungeon now."


    I took the elevator down to the fourth floor. Once Inside I experimentally raised my arm and attempted to weave something into existence. Nothing. Or this new body I can''t leave is interfering with my dungeon powers. Lovely. For now I made my way to the core room. A new table had been added, things like a microscope and test tubes and other scientific equipment had been added. I''d look into that later for now I went to the console and checked the list of achievements.


    [Mad Scientist: Combined two completely different species of monsters together]


    Didn''t I do that with Levi? I thought about it more, most of Levi came from Leviathan''s monsters, and the one to sort her out was Oceanus not me so it didn''t count. But what two monsters are you talking about? I went over to the list of monsters I had active, while I would deal with the numerous horrifying descriptions that had appeared later for now there was one that had caught my immediate attention.


    [B Rank Fire Frost Fiend-A rare fusion of a Ifrit fire Genie and a Dungeon Core, normally impossible this unforeseen fusion has pushed the pyrokinetic abilities of the Ifrit to it''s limit and has managed to create a entirely new species of elemental after being forcibly stuffed with power]


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    I''m the hybrid!? Is that why I can''t separate from this body? I looked at Thing''s Evolution log.


    [Bone Hand, Bejeweled Hand, Bone Spider, Bone Collector, Gashadokuro]


    So instead of going through one evolution, Thing had several, and that was why it was taking him so long.


    [C Rank Monster Gashodokuro-A undead reanimated from a particularly large mass grave, whether the victims died from war, disease or via natural disaster such individuals died miserably. Rather than turn into individual undead they decided to join together to form a single mass]


    How is this a C Rank? Thing doesn''t have any legs so he can''t move around, so he isn''t on the level of threatening armies if they want to run away from him. Is that what it''s saying? What about Archie?


    [Archie the Skeleton Warlock N/A]


    [Saphee the Animated Skull N/A]


    I recalled the message from Pluto, of whom Archie was supposed to have a pact with as a warlock. I don''t know what he meant by borrowing but it fills me with nothing but bad feelings. This though, this made me concerned.


    [D/B Rank Plague Dragon-The infantile form of a vicious poisonous dragon, every part of their body is extremely toxic, their claws induce paralysis, their shed scales poison, and their breath rots, they have the ability to assume a human form to spread their poison more discretely, this one is just a infant and has thus been given a reduced rank]


    As for where that particular can of worms came from.


    [Monster Egg, Plague Dragon]


    Well, that''s what I get for letting Archie nurture them with necromancy I guess. Everything else was just locked out on the second floor. I turned my attention to the laboratory and I went over to it. Shouldn''t I be getting a-?


    [Would you like to play the Laboratory Tutorial? Yes/No]


    I rubbed my hands together as I hit the Yes Box.


    [Welcome to the Laboratory prolific monster breeder, because of your experimentation you have acquired the ability to manipulate monster schema''s through the laboratory function, here you can combine and separate schema''s as needed in order to breed new creatures, let''s work on a new hybrid!]


    Does this mean I can separate myself from Ifrit now? I guess not eh.


    [To the left of the table are slides where all of your available Schema''s are kept, let''s select two of them and see what happens when they''re combined together]


    I felt around for the slides as I thought about what would make a good combination, of course since I have no advance knowledge about this world chances are good that I won''t think of something good just working off of that. Crossing my arms I thought about... that place. The place that gives me a headache, the one from another world. Think... think... I should probably stop now. I just randomly picked up a couple of schema''s and waited for the system to tell me what to do.


    [To combine two schema''s together place your chosen monsters into the beaker and place it on top of the flame]


    I dropped the two slides into the beaker and dropped the beaker onto a Bunsen burner.


    [Will-o-wisp + Wolf =?]


    [47 : 59 : 57]


    So it doesn''t even tell me what I''m going to get? Whatever, moving on.


    [To break down a hybrid into individual schema''s insert one of the highlighted schema''s into the centrifuge and activate the on button]


    I only had two to work with, and one of them was the Fire Frost Fiend.


    [Cursed Mirror = ? = ?]


    [47 : 59 : 57]


    [Remember to keep using the laboratory to improve time and increase your allotted number of slots]


    I blinked at the laboratory as I thought about the implications. I stepped aside and created another Warlock Skeleton.


    "When these are done fill up the slots with those slides." I had to go back to the console to decipher the last of the messages.


    Dungeon Breach. I looked at the map of my dungeon but there was a rather significant difference compared against what I remember seeing outside, another arm where the right one should''ve been. Time to talk to an expert.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Sorry for being AFC for so long guys]


    [Jewel: Keeper!]


    [Coral: Keeper!]


    [Fort: You''re still alive?]


    [North: Keeper!]


    [Lithilas: Are you done your nap yet?]


    [Babel: What the hell does AFC mean?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Away From Chat]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Everyone''s been doing good since I was out?]


    [Lithilas: Without Conquerete to attack me any more I''ve had the freedom to complete adjustments and my people can get out of the city to stretch their legs again, some of them should be setting up operations around your dungeon]


    [Dungeon Keeper: The three guilds right? I met with the guy representing them earlier, I assume the other two were just getting their own buildings set up]


    [Dungeon Keeper: In any case I''ve got a some what relevant question, do any of you know what a dungeon Breach is?]


    [Lithilas: !?]


    [Lithilas: Why am I not surprise?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: What is it what did I do?]


    [Lithilas: If I had to guess? When you ate Leviathan you managed to concentrate their divine blessings into your floors, force a breach into another realm massively expanding your influence in the process]


    Somehow I could see Lithilas twitching.


    [Lithilas: Normally, it would be a hundred levels before you get your first breach, but because of you nearly breaking your core it couldn''t take the extra floors and instead crammed it all into the three floors that you have]


    In other words, I acted so recklessly that I broke the system.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Anyone know what Graves has been up to?]


    [Lithilas: He''s had five breaches since the last time he talked to you]


    [Dungeon Keeper: !?]


    [Lithilas: The combination of the prayer that he''s constantly receiving and answering those prayers which tends to involve using his Dragon body''s A Rank stats to slaughter monsters and wrecks hostile dungeons he''s building up divine power to set off breaches one after the other]


    Someone else change the topic fast!


    [Babel: The Ocean is getting a lot safer these days, now that I don''t have to worry about Leviathan trying to eat me I can deploy expeditions to pick off as many sea monsters as I want, take that together with Conquerete and the Trio wandering around the ocean and we should start to see the bastards be picked off soon]


    Rot in hell Leviathan, you won''t be missed.


    [Lithilas: You four made sure that Leviathan''s core was disposed of properly right?]


    [Coral: Of course]


    [Fort: Of Course]


    [North: Of course]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Charles took our piece and stashed it somewhere]


    I could feel the others glaring at me through the chat room.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Don''t look at me like that! My core''s all busted up remember! I don''t wanna shove even more things into it right now!]


    [Lithilas: Yes I''m aware. Go ''AFC'' right now and slap a door wherever you think the breach is forming, before whatever is on the other side learns that you''re there]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Why? I thought breaches are a good thing?]


    [Lithilas: It''s a gamble. Some worlds are so mana deprived that they start sucking on the dungeon, others are filled with the brim with the combination of stagnant mana and hundreds of years of survival of the fittest, or it''s something completely normal and beneficial, with a hundred floors you''d have countless ways of dealing with any trouble on the other side, but you barely have four! Go. Seal. The Breach!]


    After leaving the Chat I went back up to my first floor inside of Thing''s rib-cage. There was another glowing mass of a mana cocoon lower down, Treyni and the second floor, I''ll worry about them later but for now... Just like the other two the right arm was a skeletal arm wrapped in a layer of limestone armour, but it was different from the other arms too, not to mention that this was way more space then I used to have. Does the first floor being a monster give me more room to work with? Or is this part of the second floor. The major point I was leaning into was that the arm where the breach was happening, the space was occupied by a rainbow glow and a deep chill was coming off of the arm.


    The Breach happened during the winter, so the realm I''m connecting to is cold I guess? For now I had my priorities in order, more important than securing myself is acquiring information, so I flew into the breach until I reached the far end and prepared my security camera, a large silver ring with a equally large skull shaped Saphire crystal just like Thing''s amber, which I then attached to the ring finger of the other hand. Then as quickly as possible I retreated back into the dungeon itself and sealed up the entrance with a mass of steel.


    [The path to the Core from an entrance cannot be obstructed]


    Come on! This wasn''t even an entrance I had made!


    [Choose one of three locking mechanisms]


    [1. Lock and Key 2. Combination 3. Guardian]


    Well I''m not exactly fond of going back there to hide a key underneath the doormat, the only monster I have on the other side is my surveillance unit, and I''m pretty sure the connects to Thing, so that just leaves my third option. Alright system, you wanna be a pain? I''ll show you how it''s done!


    [The Answer is Simple 31549...]


    And like that I included a 6 digit answer to a 1000 digit code. Eat my spite you Trolling system!


    The guild buildings were made using marble and wood from my dungeon, and on top of that were also being grafted directly to Thing''s body, naturally the dungeon influence extended to the buildings themselves. Inside of the Craftsmen who were hard at work making a variety of dishes and items had hit the minor obstacle of the contents of their forges, ovens and other open flame sources suddenly coming alive.


    [F Rank Fire Sprite-Small masses of flame come to life, too weak to pose a threat to living beings beyond small burns, occasionally born from furnaces and ovens]


    The Dungeon mana is going wild around here, it''s not just the fire sprites either, the cleaning slimes were basically left in charge of all the laundry so they were multiplying at a steady rate too. Other small fossils had gotten reanimated by my mana, and went through the similar process of accelerated evolution too, the Centipedes had turned into Omukade, right now they were going a steady cycle of being butchered, boiled and returned to the dungeon to get reanimated. I eventually found the duo that I had been looking for inside of the Craftsmen guild, the two baby Plague Dragons. There was still a lot about myself I didn''t understand. I think this is like the fourth floor? That if I want to I can claim this building as part of my dungeon? That''s why these two are


    "They haven''t been giving you guys any trouble have they?" I asked while looking at the two sleeping dragons in a basket. "The description says that they cause trouble just by existing."


    "Yeah, on account of all the different poisons that they give off." One of the chefs had a bottle of goat''s milk she was feeding one of the Baby''s. "But those same poisons lets us make all kinds of antidotes, not to mention that they can cure all kinds of diseases, not to mention that these two have affinities for healing magic, so whenever they make someone sick they just heal them again. I take it that''s you''re doing?"


    "Maybe?" I replied shrugging my shoulders. "They always had strong life force."


    I sat down and took the two chicks into my arms. I needed to do more planning, the turbines down at the killing field would have to be moved and expanded to Thing''s head or shoulders, even if Echidna wasn''t holding a grudge about what happened to the floor I was still down auto mana regen. The entire floor had been turned into a undead, I don''t think there would be many severe consequences for lightning flying around inside of it. Still I feel like I should make a new floor for Echidna somewhere, Charles would probably still want a room made up for breeding attack monsters so I''ll bring it up at the next meeting, the Apas Thing combo would be great if the city came under attack so I''ll keep her as the boss for now but I feel like Thing''s offensive power is limited by his immobility. Maybe I can attach something to his arms? As I was thinking that Apas came into the tavern, the Dragon Chicks certainly were happy to see her.


    "How''re they doing?" Apas asked while she wiggled one of her toes over one of the chick''s heads.


    "Good near as I can tell." I replied while shrugging my shoulders.


    "Good." Apas nudged the chicks back into the basket. "We''ll take the room I discussed before." As Apas said that she started pushing me up the stairs into the room above.


    "Good luck miss Apas!" The Tavern owner shouted, what exactly was she wishing her luck for? After pushing me inside and closing the door Apas locked the door.


    "You had me worried there, I will admit. Newbie cores aren''t designed to take the abuse that you put yours through." Apas stated as she climbed onto the bed I had sat down on.


    "Sorry for making you wor-!" With a single paw Apas had pushed me down and pinned me to the bed. "After all, if you died I wouldn''t be able to get your seed." Apas smiled at me like the cat who caught the Canary.


    "Say what?" I was very much confused.


    "You''ve built a home for me, kept me fed, and proved your mettle as a hunter. Who else was I going to fall for?" Apas asked as she moved her face to mine.


    "Do I get a safe word at least?"


    Apas looked up to the side as she thought about my question gave a short "Mn nh" as she shooked her head in the negative. The entire tavern shook, the force of which caused the petals to start to fall from a potted flower that was being kept on the receptionist''s desk.

 Meetings

    First floor 2.0 starts now. Luckily Thing''s head is so empty. We start with about twenty magnetic blocks about 10 feet long each arranged around into a drum, on one side a flat stone surface where I inscribed the lightning to mana formation the storm caller had done up. Thing pulled up the large fan that we had done up and some of Charles people hooked it into place, that should get the passive mana generation here flowing. Now than onto the next phase of my plans.


    The Mages association didn''t quite get the same top billing as the Three Guilds did. It did however get it''s own fancy tower put together using more of my store of pre-fab materials, which thanks to all the mana that was flowing in was now slowly restocking. On the subject of which I had a meeting with the mages to attend to.


    "So you guys wanna study the breach?" I asked looking at the mages suspiciously.


    "They''re so rare, let alone getting to one in progress." The head of the mages stated bluntly as he paced around his study.


    "Graves apparently had five of them while I was out. Or Ouroboros whatever he''s calling himself these days." I countered bluntly.


    "I suggested that we go into the dragon too." Grimoire was sitting off to the side reading when he piped up.


    "It is a living breathing creature and it is fighting against five other dungeons at this very moment, maybe more." Professor Phalanges countered sharply.


    "Well it''s hard to argue with your logic. As an added bonus I get extra personnel pointed at the proverbial gate." Shrugging my shoulders I asked the obvious question. "Anything else?"


    "You can make Limestone right?" Grimoire asked finally putting his book down.


    "I was born inside of a mass of limestone you know." I boasted by way of reply.


    "Mr. Ship Breaker says you want more flying monsters, big ones, given time and resources I can make some. I also may need to borrow your construction crane."


    Enterprising isn''t he? I like this kid.


    "Alright, I''ll leave some limestone to be brought to the surface later." I shook hands and moved on with my day.


    The underwater district then. In the month I had been asleep the Lemurian people had completed work on building up the dome that they would be living in, numerous holes big enough to fit a barrel through served as entrances and exits. Underwater wasn''t the place for me, I tried, it''s gonna make checking in on Levi on the third floor real interesting from now on, luckily though our meeting spot wasn''t in the dome but on it. Captain Merrow pulled herself out of one of the holes and up onto the blanket that had been made using woven sea weed, I was sitting across from her looking at the horizon.


    "I expected to see the Storm Caller in all honesty." I said by way of greetings, wondering where the arguably more knowledgeable and useful of the two had gone.


    "She''s in your dungeon, got a condition they call it Mage''s Poison. Ever heard of it?" I shook my head in the negative. "Long story short: she produces too much mana so her body gets poisoned by it, her options are either spend an inordinate amount of time inside the dungeon or constantly cast enough magic to sink a fleet of ships. And I don''t see too many ships here do you?" Fair point. I''m pretty sure that even if we had a boat we''d rather that it stay in one piece, which reminded me.


    "I already fed all of Leviathan''s old ships to the trio and my bosses, if we''re serious about establishing a trading route across the sea then it means getting more." The Captain Nodded her head as she produced a stone slate, on account of there not being such thing as water proof paper. This I guess was a Lemurian ship, which really looked more like a submarine in all honesty, albeit one towed about by sea monsters. It also didn''t seem to have any real concerns about the air inside actually being breathable which makes a lot of sense when you consider the fact that it was a ship used by sea kin.


    "I don''t think this one''s gonna work." I voiced my opinion.


    "Agreed. No sea serpents." Captain Merrow appeared to have different concerns than mine.


    "I think Charles mentioned that he knew some ship wrights once." I looked over the water, where several people had been putting docks together. "And I think he still does." Now was Charles going to wait until the sea calmed down before he started building boats, or was this going to get messy? "Ah right. There anything else you guys need?"


    "Doing good so far, food shelter all that jazz. Got enough buildings to house everyone when they get here, but if you actually want us to be part of your little community instead of just neighbours that never talk to each other, then I got one word for yah-" Merrow paused dramatically and spread her hands out in front of her as if putting up a banner "Canals."


    "Canals?" I repeated.


    "Canals. Look it ain''t difficult, most of us are bloody useless on dry land, if we go any where it on it then it''s either we use dug out trenches of water or chairs with wheels on them." Right, I need to get that outta the way early into city planning.


    "I''ll let Charles know." The Canals can at least help to manage any flooding that comes our way, I don''t know what the tides are like over here but it was a good idea. Now for my thing. "You see that?" I asked indicating the wind turbine, spinning around and filling my halls with glorious mana, even if it was spinning slowly. "It''s taking the wind and making mana from the movement. I plan on doing something similar with the water, the question I need answered is a matter of if the tide is strong enough to do what I need it to do."


    "Which is?" Merrow asked looking suspiciously.


    "Turn one of those fans!" I stated aloud indicating Thing''s head, which with the wind turbine sticking out of it looked like a giant propeller beanie at the moment. Merrow blinked stupidly in response.


    "Good luck with that." After the Lemurian people came the guilds.


    "A pleasure to meet you again Dungeon Keeper!" The merchant gave the impression of a used car sales man as he made his greetings, not that I could remember what a car was right now. "Allow me the pleasure of introducing missus Corina Marmona and Julia Arclight of the craftsmen and Adventurer''s guilds respectively." Assuming the introductions worked left from right, Corina was the bigger of the two dressed in a apron with bright red hair she kept tied up in a bun, Julia was the shorter of the two with bright blonde hair and a sword hanging on her hip.


    "Normally this isn''t the way things work around here, so I will keep this brief." Julia stated as she held her hand out for me to shake, which I did.


    "''Work Around Here?''" I quoted hoping for elaboration.


    "Newborn Dungeons, are basically less than children in terms of intelligence." Julia pondered the next words as she mused the implications. "They tend to repeat the same actions over and over again, what ever allows them to accelerate their growth, when intelligence does emerge it''s closer to children than anything else and Children can be cruel. Morality has to be taught and in the case of most dungeons they first have to be brought to heel. This domestication process is usually the job of adventurers, with the support of other older dungeons such as Lithilas. You are... abnormal. In several ways." Yeah. I''ve been figuring that part out.


    "I''m not sure about what my first material was, there''s not a list of the things I ate or anything like that." I in turn had opted to be vague about the information I had. "We can probably kill monsters in the area for you but... I think we are basically obsolete here unless you suddenly go insane for some reason." Julia stated as she let out a sigh.


    "If not for Lithilas, we wouldn''t even be here." The old man''s making sure I''m okay then? Well I''ll have to take advantage of his concern.


    "I''m not sure that okay is the right word. There''s a breach in progress in my dungeon and I have no way of knowing what''s on the other side." Julia''s gaze turned hard. "Understood. We''ll need a safe route to the area in question, and a place where we can set up a base of operations inside of the dungeon proper."


    "I''ll get to that as soon as I can. For one thing, I''ve already plugged the hole, so nothing should be able to get through." With that in mind my attention turned to the craftswoman Corina, and the Merchant Amadeus. I pulled out some scrolls that I had been keeping in metal tubes from my fiery toga. "These are a list of materials that I already know how to manufacture including the schema''s for various creatures. I''ll leave deciding what you need to you two, I am also expecting payment for my services, to be negotiated once you''ve decided on materials that you want to work with. Careful they''re hot." The Craftswoman took both canisters with her thick leathery gloves. "And while you''re doing that, I can focus on getting my own house in order."


    My dungeon was the main breadwinner of the area, the fish and later on the fruits and vegetables that it produced was the main reason why everyone was able to eat, and that includes the orphans from Jewel''s city.


    "Keeper!"


    "It''s the Keeper!"


    Various kids from the orphanage bum rushed me, the majority of them being the demi-humans from Jewel''s city. I talked with the director of the orphanage, I dropped off food and medicine, it was probably the most boring meeting of the day, unlike my next one.


    "I was wondering what your family was like?" I don''t know what my face looked like right now, but I suspected that it was a little annoyed.


    "I have no family. They cut me off when I went ahead and pursued Leviathan without their permission." Charles stated arms crossed and looking deeply annoyed with the man sitting across from him.


    Charles former brother here, Alexander Pentaghast is what he called himself, both did and did not look anything like him, both men had crimson red hair, but whereas Charles was built like someone you could snap a man in half with his biceps his brother was considerably skinnier with a thick moustache.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "Is that what I get for coming out here to see you Charles?" Alexander asked sounding annoyed.


    "Is your relationship really that bad?" I asked looking at Charles with blatant suspicion.


    "I wanted to kill Leviathan, my family tried to stop me, my siblings didn''t support me." Charles explained shrugging his shoulders in displeasure.


    "It was a suicide mission!" Alexander snapped looking upset.


    "I''m alive and Leviathan''s dead." Charles countered bluntly. "Even now the only reason why mother let you come here is because she wants a piece of another dungeon isn''t it?" Alexander let out a defeated sigh, both at his brother''s stubbornness and at the fact that he was right. "That is what I thought."


    "Well, if you genuinely want to reconcile with your brother I don''t mind letting you stick around, but as for trying to seize control of the area." I dropped my tone of voice to as flat and clinical as possible. "Charles smashed apart Leviathan''s ships, implemented magic formulas to help with the functions of my dungeon, negotiated with the Lemurian people and has kept everything organised here. Near as I can tell he is outstanding in every way, and it''s precisely because his objective was so difficult that your family should''ve sent their support over to him from the beginning so that this outstanding person complete his objectives safely, and instead he was abandoned. Your family are fools."


    "Truthfully I''m not that attached to the position of city Lord." Charles stated as he stretched himself out. "I''m a thug, I''m more suitable for breaking things than building them. However..." Charles narrowed a glare. "I went out of my way to purchase the refugees of the Belfast Territory who had been taken as slaves, out of my own pocket I might add, several of them are located inside of the remaining evolutionary cocoon while others are set to be ingratiated as citizens of the territory once their freedom is secured. Both out of respect for my late fiance and my business partner here I will not budge from this position so long as their fates remain up in the air."


    Alexander nodded his head.


    "I''ll tell mother. If you need anything-"


    "I won''t." Charles concluded the conversation was over and stood up to leave.


    Okay then, last meeting of the day before we have to do dungeon things. Unlike the people in the underwater district this was actually my neighbour, not necessarily one I had a good relationship with either.


    "You''re not angry at us?"


    The person before me looked like a little girl, albeit one with green hair, and one who was only wearing a few leaves over her privates for clothes. If memory serves Treyni was fully clothed, is it just my personal preferences showing or is this little dryad the weird one?


    "Mother wasn''t angry with you, Neither am I." According to the explanation I received the Queen of Winter or White Horn ''gives birth'' to the Dryad as part of the transition, who eventually grows into the Queen of Winter. The four forms are effectively the same being but they treat the different forms as if they were different people for some reason. I had no idea, maybe I should dig into Treyni''s schema sometime. "But that has us concerned." The little dryad pointed directly at the mountain where my dungeon was located, where a C-class arguably B was using it''s sheer bulk to accelerate construction on my city. "That thing is leaking undeath into it''s surroundings, saturating the buildings you carved off of it''s form with undeath and eventually leaking into the forest where it will poison the lands."


    "Are you concerned about Thing hurting the land?" That might be difficult to fix, even if I wanted to I don''t think I can dismantle Thing at this point. The little nudist shook her head at my question. "As I said, the buildings are absorbing the undead energy for the time being." The Buildings were made out of Marble, Marble was formed from Limestone which is formed from shell and bone, so the technically dead material is soaking up the undead energies? Is that how I should interpret this? Am I going to get more building sized undead out of this? Oh Lovely. I''ll have to let Charles know to expect some weird stuff to start happening. "Even if they weren''t plants devour the dead all the time, so we should be able to handle it. My main concern is the seed of greatness I sense from that mountain that''s about to unfurl being contaminated by that thing."


    "Seed of Greatness?" I asked sounding concerned.


    "Another like me, but stronger, her branches will be able to reach out and spread to multiple worlds and that thing may impede her, or it may not I do not know." Is she talking about Treyni? Is Treyni''s evolution the only thing holding back a second Breach? Oh crud.


    "Thanks for the heads up, by way of apology for what happened before..." Several people dragged over a few wheel-barrels of saplings in burlap sacks of dirt. "I hope that these are enough to replace the ones that were lost in the initial kerfluffle." For some strange reason we can''t take living monsters out of the dungeon but saplings are fine? I need to talk to the guy who made this system some time.


    "I accept this gift in the spirit it was given." The Little Dryad gave a bow and left. Now than, internal dungeon affairs. I don''t know how well this platform will stand up when Treyni hatches from her evolutionary cocoon but right now I have no choice. Stairs, safety rails, bunker, winter coats and as a final precaution fire power!


    "Now how do I test this without punching a hole in my dungeon...? I did want to give Thing ranged fire power."


    With Levi''s help I was able to identify a area of the bay without any Lemurian''s in it, as a additional precaution I told the sea dwellers to stay inside of the coral dome, and I made sure that none of Charles people were in the water at the time as well. I made a shooting hole in the palm of Thing''s hand and set up my own magnum opus inside: the magic Rail Gun. With the Storm Caller''s runes I was able to set up a metal hallway in the arm leading up to the hole and two animated skulls on either side. The Skulls attract a metal cannon ball that I created at high speeds and then repel the ball at High speeds. Using a Topaz from the Stormcaller''s staff I was able to upgrade them to use lightning magic.


    Lightning! Bolt! Fire!


    The hall was consumed with lightning that grabbed the ball from down the end of the hallway and it released a sonic boom as it rushed down the hallway fast enough to smash open the sound barrier before the polarity was reversed at the last second to shoot the projectile, in the wrong direction!


    "Archie is a billion times more useful than you two."


    It took three more tries before the lightning bolt duo got it right, and I did it again after that just to make sure that they actually got it right. It was a awkward meeting with the adventurers and mages when it came time to actually study the breach, least of all because of me planting Lightning and Bolt in front of the door to blow away anything that tries to get through it. In any case we start with the expert opinions to begin with.


    "You are right, it is very cold in here." Grimoire stated while waving a magic tool around in front of the door.


    "The Breach started in the winter time, and this is a undead floor, will that affect what realm we connect to?" I asked standing to the side, quietly ignoring the adventurers and mages who were crowding around me for heat.


    "Did this floor have a blessing from a god of death before you activated the breach?" Grimoire asked cocking a brow at me rather suspiciously.


    "No, it was from Echidna." I replied bluntly.


    "Not anymore though I take it, a god of fertility wouldn''t be happy about their floor suddenly turning into a undead." Yeah. I really need to make it up to Echidna don''t I? "It''s more likely that the breach is entering one of the domains of the gods who blessed Leviathan."


    Grimoire''s explanation sent a chill down my spine.


    "There was a big icy ship that was acting as the flag ship of the Leviathan fleet, could that be the one we were dealing with?" Grimoire shrugged his shoulders bluntly to my question. "Lets try doing it this way then. Ice and undead, what does that mean?"


    "There''s two that come to mind off the top of my head. I might be able to dig up more obscure ones with access to the mage''s tower library." Grimoire held up one finger. "The first one to come to mind is Helheim, The Realm of the Dishonoured dead ruled by Hel."


    "Dishonoured." I had an understanding, of sorts, but I lack context. Honour can refer to so many things thus dishonour can mean just as many. "I don''t know what that means in this case, a more detailed explanation would be appreciated."


    "Dishonoured means ''wronged by association'' or ''betrayed.''" Julia followed up as she mused the implications. "You can be a saint all your life, but your child, your sibling, your ward, or someone else you were responsible for can screw up and you will take the blame for it. Helheim is neither hell for the evil nor heaven for the good: it is simply a place where the dead can redeem themselves."


    "And also bloody cold from what I heard about it." Grimoire stated shivering as he went looking for a winter coat.


    "Yes that too." Julia didn''t disagree.


    "And the Second." I asked watching as Grimoire came back triumphantly wearing a fur coat I had prepared for the expeditionary team.


    "That would be Cocytus." If the look on Grimoire''s face was any indication I wasn''t going to like this. "The realm belonging to the dead treacherous and traitors, the kin-slayers, oath breakers and the like. It''s Lucifer''s domain." For some reason the word sent chills up my spine. "In Cocytus they''re intermittently frozen solid and thawed out, remaining conscious the entire time."


    "Why thaw them out?" I asked though I suspected I knew the answer.


    "It hurts more that way." Yeah that''s what I thought was going to happen. "Hel and Lucifer are very different people. Leviathan''s figure heads were made in the image of the gods who blessed his ships, what did the one on the ice ship look like?" Grimoire asked tapping his foot.


    "I don''t know I was in the dungeon fending off Leviathan''s raid. Charles or Apas might know, I might get a hold of the trio and ask them what was onboard the ship when they skewered it. If not we can get a idea from studying the schema''s that they got out of the experience." I looked around at the dungeon, and at how big it had gotten.


    "You''re wondering about the size increase right?" Grimoire stated simply.


    "Among other things. Any idea of where the giant centipedes keep coming from?" That was nagging at me for a while.


    "It''s not just you monsters that were caught up in the evolution process. Everything and everyone who was wrapped in the cocoon got hit with it, you''ve reanimated various insects in the limestone repeatedly before, they were likely caught up in the process."


    "Aren''t they dungeon monsters?" I asked sounding suspicious.


    "Your mana can affect the surrounding environment, and your mana has been trained to reanimate dead tissue into proper living beings alot, you may even be able to reconstitute people who have died in your dungeon."


    "If that''s true this is a good place for training newbies." Julia stated by way of follow up.


    "To answer the other question. A dungeon is built on complexity, the abilities and features of one bleeds into another. ''Levi'' already has a function that lets her increase the space inside of the dungeon without expanding outwards. You should also check in on the third floor to make sure that no undead have started to appear." Well that would''ve been nice to have known a week ago!


    "Go. This location is secure, if anything does attempt to enter through that door it will have us and your monsters to deal with."


    I nodded my head as my consciousness floated, the Ifrit was originally a being made out of pure mana, so if I just treat this as breaking down material with my dungeon mana... for the first time since I reclaimed the first floor I re-entered ''dungeon Mode'' I was ectstatic but I didn''t have much time, my Fire Frost Fiend body was already trying to put itself back together, Levi I need you to identify any undead that has appeared in your floor immediately. And then I was back, my body having reconstituted itself.


    "Okay, that''s being looked after for now." I think. "I''ll have to look at re-entering the third floor eventually."


    "Following on earlier, rather than saying that you''re limited to three floors, it would be more accurate to describe them as 3X3 floors."


    "Does that mean I can expand the floors even more than what I already have?" I asked cocking a suspicious brow.


    "It''s a gamble I would think, with the first floor there shouldn''t be any problems but the third already has a blessing on it, you don''t want to go around making changes that the god who blessed the floor wouldn''t approve of would you?" Grimoire stated looking at me curiously.


    "I don''t even know how much I can alter my floors anymore." As I breathed a sigh I looked at the seal ominously.


    "I need to see Apas in her room now." She was the only witness we had of Leviathan leading up to it''s death after all.


    I flew up Thing''s armoured body, Apas''s boss room was located in one of thing''s shoulders, she was currently sleeping off the last pounding that I gave her in her nest, I woke her up, and before we could go another round I asked her for everything she knew about Leviathan''s flag ship, and my worst fear was realised: something deep and instinctual in my being confirmed that the entity made of ice in Apas''s memories told me exactly what I was looking at, the Fallen Angel himself Lucifer.

 Breach

    [Dungeon Keeper: Do we have any idea what I should look out for on the other-side of the breach?]


    [Lithilas: Leviathan]


    [Dungeon Keeper: !?]


    [Lithilas: Cores can get souls too, and when someone dies their soul gets sent over to the afterlife]


    [Lithilas: Theoretically that applies to cores too, unlike Graves though I didn''t open that can of worms so I don''t know for sure, I''ve been trying to get into contact with him before I panicked you but...]


    [Dungeon Keeper: But that ship has sailed already]


    The damned breach was days away after all.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I know that Leviathan probably wants to kill and eat me but is that the worst of it?]


    [Lithilas: As long as he hasn''t regained his mobility or was plopped down somewhere he can''t get to you? Yes, there''s a huge difference between wanting to do something and being able to do it]


    I sensed a but.


    [Lithilas: He''s already breached into Cocytus, he''s been there longer than you''ve been alive, we can assume that he''s already got the infrastructure to match]


    Oh that''s just...! Huu...


    [Dungeon Keeper: What do I do if I wind up in Cocytus?]


    [Lithilas: Rock Paper Scissors isn''t going to do you any good here. Fallen Angels have both holy and demonic power going for them, it shouldn''t work and yet here we are]


    [Lithilas: Play to your strength''s and the environment, you said before you got the chance to get a giant type Schema for maxing out Giant Killer? Use it!]


    If strategy won''t work then use brute force instead? Works for me. I went down to the fourth floor again, rather since my core room with the chat function was here I was already here. I turned to my core, a final crack left in it that was presumably supposed to represent my fourth floor, I had no time to be picky about how I do things. I will the mana that I''ve been working to generate all this time and focused it on my core, I watched as the crack filled in and suddenly I felt myself become bigger.


    [Congratulations on reaching the fourth floor overachiever!]


    Why does it feel like the system is talking to me right now?


    [Core restored, functionality on the Fourth Floor Granted]


    I released my mana and let it claim the underground area that Charles and his men have dug out for me because man it feels like it''s been a while since we did this.


    [Please select a new theme for your floor]


    [Catacomb-Your seeming obsession with the Undead has been taken noticed by the system, strong chance to attract a god of death to your call]


    Hasn''t this option been upgraded?


    [Sewer-For those distinguished dungeons with very specific tastes Warning: The sheer repugnance of the floor will repel almost every god in existence]


    I''m more concerned about the ones that wouldn''t be repulsed.


    [Clockworks-An area full of mechanical parts and gears filled with mechanical hazards]


    And we have a winner!


    [Clockworks Selected!]


    This floor was already full of mechanical things, various turrets and loading mechanisms that allow me to arm my people for battle on the surface. A battle ground that had since become out dated but still, but as if sensing my concerns mechanical devices started to appear all over the dungeon, configured into the same turrets that I had already set up and trap doors to send them to the surface. For now.


    [Please choose one of three new Schema''s for your floor]


    [E Rank Schema Gremlin-Though individually weak and unimposing Gremlins are vicious monsters that will continuously grow other gremlins out of their body for as long as they are exposed to water, they love to cause havoc and are easily fascinated by shiny moving objects]


    E Rank? I need brawn! BRAAAWWWNNN!


    [D Rank Schema Automaton-A Mechanical being similar to a Golem capable of deadly assassination with machine like precision]


    D Rank is better but where is my Giant Schema?


    [C Rank Schema Cyclops-A powerful Giant Kin, distant descendant of the weapon smith''s to the gods they are capable of making a variety of powerful deadly implements and complex machinery]


    Now that''s more like it.


    [Cyclops Selected]


    My mana whirled and formed a shape in front of me as I put the schema to use in the Fourth floor, curiously one that only came up to my chest as a short petite figure appeared before me with one large eye occupying most of her face and wearing heavy leather gloves and a apron. I blinked stupidly.


    "Greetings master." The Short figure let out a girlish voice as she bowed to me.


    "Aren''t you supposed to be a giant?" I asked looking down at my new monster.


    "I am a giant though." The little girl tilted her head at me in confusion.


    "Why aren''t you giant sized?" I asked as I slowly became horrified with the answer.


    "Because I''m a child." The Little girl replied. Quickly I used the schema again and another little girl appeared, and then a third.


    ""Greetings master!"" Both of the little girls gave perfect bows to me as if they had honed their manners for a lifetime. I fell to my knees and pounded my fists.


    "DDDAAAMMMNNN YYYOOOUUU SSSYYYSSSTTTEEEMMM!" Where was my giant bruiser ready to charge through the enemy lines like a fully armoured roid raging quarterback! This? This was the freaking water boy! No I didn''t even get a boy did I? These are girls! Not only that, but polite proper cute little Girls! If I brought any of them with me on a raid I would be laughed out of my own Dungeon! I''m on the cusp of getting ram rodded by the god of treachery and my heavy hitters are three little girls!


    "Master is there something wrong?" I looked up from my over the top despair at the three children, one with red hair, one with black, and a blonde.


    "You''re Blossom. You''re Buttercup. You''re Bubbles." Light swirled around the trio as robes of spider-silk appeared draped on their shoulders, one had a pink cherry blossom pattern on her robe, a second black and green buttercups while the third was teal blue with white polkadots. "Now go pick out your room, I need a moment alone." The three gave another well mannered bow before leaving my core room. In the meantime I rolled over onto my back and looked up at the ceiling as I mused how much trouble I was in.


    [Achievement Unlocked: Breached!]


    "System, I swear if I never see you again-!" Suddenly I felt my entire core room being rocked and shifted. "What is it now!?" I have no idea what just happened, but things just got colder, and more important than that, I was swaying as if the entire room was moving. "Oh you are F-" I looked through my list of achievements.


    [Breached: Broke through into the domain of a god Reward: One Free Floor!]


    I got a sinking suspicion I knew exactly where that floor was. I looked over at the iron door I set up in order to cut off access to my dungeon through the breach. I raised one of my fingers to express my opinion on my ''reward'' but it wasn''t my thumb.


    [Dungeon Breach Tutorial Yes/No?]


    I angrily jabbed said finger into the yes button repeatedly.


    [Congratulations! After many hundreds of years of fighting with other dungeons you have accumulated enough blessings and prayer to breach into the realm of a god that has blessed you]


    Skip to the important part you troll!


    [As such you have been tasked with building a formidable dungeon for your chosen deity and once you''ve completed their task you can return to your dungeon on the Mortal plain]


    "You mean complete a task for a god that I haven''t received the blessing of who has every reason to hate me!?" I grabbed the sides of the message box with both of my hands. "Answer me you damned system!?"


    [As this is the realm of a god, you cannot chose the theme for your floor, also please consult with your deity before you make any monsters here]


    "I can''t even make a monster here without a god''s permission!?"


    [Please enjoy your fun journey in another world]


    With that last line that felt like I was being mocked the window vanished.


    [You have entered the Divine Realm: Cocytus]


    "Damnit! Thing we need to lay low!" The room went side ways as the arm I was in slammed down flat. If I can rally support from the-


    [You have entered the Divine Realm: Helheim]


    I blinked stupidly.


    "Thing. Feel around a bit, see if you can find what direction we were pointed in before." It took a few moments of Thing blindly feeling around before we got the notification again.


    [You have entered the Divine Realm: Cocytus]


    I was wondering why a realm for traitors and one for people who were betrayed effectively had the same description in terms of environment. First order of business: Door.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    [You cannot modify a floor that is being occupied by Delvers]


    As I was saying my first order of business is to consult with the adventurers guild and Mages association so that we can figure out what our next move is.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    "Helheim and Cocytus share a border with each other?" Grimoire actually had to sit down for this one, completely stunned by the contents of the conversation.


    "I take it you weren''t aware of this?" I asked looking down as Grimoire looked like he needed a moment.


    "This should be impossible. Gods realms are supposed to be wholly separated from one another. Lucifer is supposed to be the ruler of several realms and they aren''t even connected to each other!"


    "He has several realms under his control!?" This was getting worse and worse by the second.


    "That is what we thought, but this is making me question his success as a conqueror." Grimoire stated as he immediately pulled out a note book.


    "That''s swell and all but I need you lot to get off my floor so that I can make another plug to keep the whack jobs out of my dungeon." I stated and immediately I saw both Julia and Grimoire spring into action.


    "I need to go report this situation to my superiors in the Adventurers guild." Julia stated as she hurried barked to her men and led them up the stairs of the dungeon.


    "Right! I need to talk to professor Phalanges!" And Grimoire ran right up the stairs too.


    Yah know what that''s fine, save me the trouble of rallying the back up. As soon as the two of them leave I set up another door, and this time I make it so that the solution to the puzzle is light up all five torches mounted on the ends of Thing''s finger tips at the same time, in the middle of howling winds. It''ll be easy if you use Charles Kinetic to fire magic spell though. I now had the chance to survey my surroundings, there wasn''t a huge difference between Helheim and Cocytus near as I can tell. Both sides had howling winds and broken buildings as far as the eye could see, did this place used to be a city of some kind? Well I have the power of flight, I''d like to do some scout work but there''s too much snow in the way. What I need is some extra power. I flew back into the dungeon and created another Thing Sized ring, this one fitted out with another skull shaped jewel, a Ruby. I don''t remember where exactly I learned how to make rubies but I''ll worry about it later. For now I fitted the ring around Thing''s middle finger.


    "Alright Thing! Look at me and do what I do!"


    I gathered the kinetic energy whirling around in the air and made a fire ball out of it, it wasn''t long until Thing was doing the same thing too. And then the situation rapidly, spectacularly, spiralled out of control. When you take a raging blizzard and you make a giant ball of fire in the middle of it you create a hurricane, a giant mass of kinetic energy that soon began whirling around us despite the kinetic to heat magic that we had already laid down. The numerous surrounding buildings that were already deteriorating rapidly began breaking down as they were scooped up by the winds and carried into the sky. I didn''t know if fire and ice elementals can go pale but I suspect I was white as a sheet. I don''t know whose buildings these belong to but I might''ve messed up a little bit, for now let''s try and put them into a pile Thing. Thing cancelled the hurricane and all the rubble was piled on top of us.


    "Well, this is a mess isn''t it?" I let out a sigh while looking down at the mess we caused. "What do we even do with all this stuff? It would be one thing if we still had buildings but-" Suddenly all the rubble started to assemble itself into a neatly organised mass around Thing''s arm. "Huh. I didn''t know that you can do architecture Thing. I guess all that time you spent building the city is paying off." Thing formed a fist and immediately swung it back and forth like he was shaking his head. "What do you mean it''s not you who''s doing it?"


    [You''ve connected to the dungeon of ihouo8y8]


    [You''ve connected to the dungeon of khvcvjgtc]


    [You''ve connected to the dungeon of ujboiuyg65e5]


    [You''ve connected to the dungeon of awsrtwryah]


    "Oh this isn''t good."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Out of the dungeon, outside of the guild building that was made attached to the dungeon itself, Julia Arclight had desperately connected to the upper echelons of the adventurers guild.


    "Sir guild leaders, the situation has gotten out of control. The Realm in which the breach connects to is Cocytus." The Guild leaders response was grim, even if the low quality magical transmission equipment meant that their figures couldn''t be made out clearly.


    "Guild policy is clear. Any dungeon that connects to the demonic realms must be eliminated at once." Realms that are ruled by, even if only indirectly, the king of Traitors cannot be trusted under any circumstances. The enemy within cannot be truly defeated, for it has an inexhaustible legion of constantly reviving undead. The Nine Hell Rulers ambitions are known far and wide, any dungeon that connects to theirs becomes a stepping stone for their invasions of the mortal realms, and the existence of such a dungeon cannot be tolerated. But the hits kept coming.


    "There''s more."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Grimoire was relaying similar new to Professor Phalanges, Who was rapidly pacing about the room as he swallowed the implications.


    "The realms of Treachery and Realms of the Dishonoured are linked together?" One thought went through Barnabus Phalanges''s head. "What an unprecedented opportunity for research!" Not only was the two realms connected together, but the Dungeon Keeper was sitting directly on the boarder between the two realms. The Demonic realms are so hard to enter but Helheim? Significantly easier, and if they held any hope of neutralising the ever looming threat that they near constantly pose then they needed to properly understand and study those realms! "We''ll need to prepare our fire mages to enter the dungeon." Grimoire started to make a list. "We''ll need labourers, engravers, fire mages-" Suddenly the entire tower shifted, down below a rumbling could be felt as the tide appeared to be sucked away to parts unknown. "And someone to tell us what the Dungeon is doing with the tide."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    As the tower was built various shackles of ice appeared and clamped themselves onto thing''s body. Surprisingly durable shackles as it turns out. Below various schema''s were forming different kinds of creatures.


    [D Rank Monster Hel-Harpy: A deceased harpy''s soul given new form by the power of Helheim, wields ice magic with great proficiency]


    [D Rank Monster Hel-Arachne: A deceased Arachne''s soul given new form by the power of Helheim, spins webs of ice in order to attack]


    The ice spewing chickens and oversized spider monsters looked cute next to the one that really caught my attention.


    [B Rank Monster Wendigo Dire Troll-Cannibalism is one of the ultimate forms of betrayal, for this the punishment is endless torment as a broken creature, a wendigo/A Dire Troll is the end result of one troll consuming another, the second troll''s body starts regenerating inside of the other, growing their limbs, organs and other body parts like cancerous tumours]


    I''ve never gotten two descriptions for a creature before, I think that means the ram rodding is about to begin. The brute was easily double the size of my Fiend body, and that''s when you discount the seven or so extra arms that were going out of their way to find places to poke out of the body, or the three or four heads that were poking out places, and each of those arms had weapons, spear, kanabo, sword, axe, staff. Oh boy this was gonna be a dosy wasn''t it.


    "Normally I''d say YOLO but I think I''ve been reincarnated so... COWABUNGA!"


    Without Thing or me to suck all the kinetic energy out of the blizzard anymore and turn it into heat the storm resumed raging without interruption. Which was good because I needed a lot of kinetic force right now, not for fire though, instead I gathered together as much energy from the storm into a tight knit ball and fired it directly into the rapidly forming tower that meant to entomb Thing. And Failed to move it one inch, though I did end up crushing all the monsters that were inside. No experience notice appeared, of course I was considered a B-Rank, and thus anything weaker than a B-Rank wouldn''t give me any power. For now this was a good thing, I have no idea what''ll happen if I start Levelling in this damned place and I''d rather not find out, with that said...


    "Come at me you weaklings!"


    I gathered another mass of kinetic energy into my fist and fired it down into the tower again. And Again. And Again. Aside from killing a bunch of monsters I wasn''t doing much to slow down the progress of the dungeons to try and take over my floor, honestly I kinda feel inclined to let them have it, I can''t do much with it and I kind of had it forced on me. But I''m using it right now, my core is here after all. This dungeon is gonna be built, I suspect that I cannot stop this from happening but I do believe that I can have a say in it if I hit it hard enough. Now how do I-GAH!? I looked down at the spear the troll bastard was carrying around with him that was now lodged directly in my chest. And then I exploded.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Huguguu! Well I''m a Dungeon again, I think.


    [Fire Frost Fiend Dungeon Keeper Will be revived in 7 Days]


    So I''m gonna be sick in bed in recovery for a week? Thing''s arm shook again as another shackle clamped down on him anchoring the tower to him. Right! Priorities! LEVI! Levi looked like she was in the middle of some paper-er stone work I guess when my howling nearly gave her a heart attack.


    "Master! I hear your voice again it''s been so long-"


    No time to explain, I need you to climb up the dungeon and pump as much of yourself into Thing''s right arm as possible. Like right now!


    "At your pleasure master!"


    The floor shifted and moved, Levi turned herself inside out as she ripped into the dungeon proper, sea water rushing in to fill the negative space she was leaving behind. Levi''s avatar climbed up the shaft into the space of the first floor and immediately entered the path that led to Helheim. The collaboration of fifty dungeon cores working together to build a dungeon was showing it''s results, even despite Thing continuously bombarding them with kinetic energy, it was obvious that this time around they were building to last against me. Even with Thing blasting the poor bastards with kinetic force the tower was still building and eventually succeeded in entombing Thing completely, and then Levi erupted from the entrance located in the palm of Thing''s hand like a volcano and flowed down into the enemy forces. The air was so damned cold that most liquids would freeze on sight, but Levi wasn''t most liquids, she was a slime reinforced with genetic material from creatures that make their home in the coldest, darkest depths of the ocean with no light and no warmth. She was backed up by a creature that can take the raging storm outside this tower and turn it into heat. You guys on the other hand? Your only back up is a bunch of dead cores. Go take over someone else''s dungeon!


    [Hel is looking at the Dungeon with Confusion]


    [Lucifer is looking at the Dungeon with Intrigued]


    Why are all these dead cores suddenly acting up? Both of you properly look after your dungeons so that they don''t become like this!


    [Lucifer is Laughing at the Audacity of the Dungeon Keeper]


    [Hel is wondering where the Dungeon Keeper Came from]


    I think I''m beginning to understand what''s happening here, all these cores were too close to the border with each other, neither of you wanted mana feeding into the enemy side, so you hoarded all the mana away from here hoping to starve out the enemy dungeons. No wonder these things are all latching onto me.


    [Hel and Lucifer are attempting to assert control over the ''Floor Unnamed'']


    Well isn''t this a laugh, I haven''t even done any work yet and you guys are already trying to claim it for yourselves? I felt mana surging and the winds intensifying as two forces attempted to shove themselves into the tower of dungeons. You guys couldn''t care less about this place before but now that a third party is here all of a sudden you want it for yourselves?


    [Various Gods of War are being drawn towards the clashing mana of fighting gods]


    I felt more presences entering the tower.


    [Manea, the Mad God, looks upon the broken minds of the other Dungeon Cores with Glee]


    [Oceanus is getting uncomfortable with the presence of one of his blessed inside of the other realm]


    Huu. My apologies. Levi return to the Third floor and wait for my orders. "Understood Milord." Levi bowed to me and retracted her slime back to where it had come from. As for you lot, who do I have to talk to to get my arse out of here?


    [Lucifer is laughing at The Dungeon Keeper''s foolishness]


    Next!


    [Hel is quite curious with the Dungeon Keeper''s tone considering whose realm this is]


    Oh you''re curious eh? Lemme tell yah something about the gods that I''ve met. Echidna? She got me to rescue a bunch of kids that were going to be eaten by a monster, though I''m starting to think that she tricked me into a relationship with her worshipper.


    [Various Gods being drawn by the commotion are beginning to gossip]


    Castor and Pollux? They gave me the blessing that let me kill Leviathan.


    [Ares lets out an impressed whistle at Castor/Pollux''s cunning]


    Oceanus? He saved my monsters from getting eaten by Leviathan''s Gargoyles, and helped save my third floor boss with his blessing.


    [Various Sea gods reluctantly confirm Dungeon Keeper''s words]


    But you? You took the cores that were relying on you and you abandoned them. You Betrayed them!


    Suddenly I could feel a pressure on me as if the entire realm was exerting all of its pressure on this exact point.


    [Do you want to die!?]


    [Various gossiping gods are oohing and awing at the shots fired!]


    Oi you Peanut Gallery! While you''re here what''s the story between these two knuckleheads tearing the realm apart?


    [A Certain Goddess of Gossip whispers that the Gods of Betrayal and Betrayed used to be husband and wife, but Lucifer Cheated on Hel and-]


    Are you serious!? An entire realm has been divided in half because of your Marital Spat!?


    [You''re a mouthy one aren''t you?]


    I felt the soft swaying of the dungeon tower, various conflicting powers were boiling inside.


    Hel''s Anger, Lucifer''s Laughter, the Peanut Gallery Gods excitement, the other cores fear and madness. All irrelevant. You can come and find me when you''re willing to discuss returning my core home, until then both of you bugger off! As for the rest of you, what do we need to do to get some blessings worked out in this tower?


    [Battle!]


    I can arrange that.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Tensions in the city were starting to run high, it would be weeks until reinforcements from the Adventurers guild and the mages association would arrive. But in the mean time a cold war was beginning to brew between the two factions, and a argument, the two leaders had made the mistake of informing each other of their respective intentions concerning the newly formed breach and now their hostility was being made known to each other. At least one enemy at the gate, and another in the rear, it would seem that the Keeper''s troubles were only just beginning.

 Generator

    The planned layout of the tower was one hundred floors tall, on each layer the dungeon cores spit out monsters for people to fight against, once one of the one room floors have been cleared the path leading up to the next floor is cleared and they can move up. Once every five floors a ''Boss'' class creature is produced stronger than the ones who come before or after. I swapped around the entrance room in the palm of Thing''s hand with the core room in the shoulder so that I was now at the top of the tower. For the next phase of the plan I called over my three cyclopes. Can you build it?


    "It is not exactly the eye of the storm." Blossom explained while indicating the blueprints of the wind turbine. "So yes, this should be significantly easier."


    With the aide of my ''giants'' I quickly built and assembled together another wind turbine and planted it on top of the tower, already the turbine was catching the wind and cranking electricity, the in built heaters in the fans converting the circular motion into electricity which was becoming mana with the reverse lightning formation circle that was now being fed to the tower. Every little bit helps, and expanding the city isn''t going to be a thing as long as they guys are using me as a mana source. Speaking of which I still didn''t know what was going on in the city, Charles people weren''t poking into the dungeon anymore which means no passive mana gains from them either. Sadly I think the mana generator is the only thing going as planned in the dungeon stack. These cores don''t really understand the concept of floors, or stairs or really here or there, their monsters were struggling with navigating their nonsensical floor plans, the cores having somehow managed to screw up what''s supposed to be big empty rooms for people to fight inside of. No wonder that one goddess of Crazy people loves this place so much.


    "Master, I believe there is an issue." Buttercup stated as she indicated the tower that was softly swaying. "The tower lacks stability."


    The Tower has Thing reinforcing it and like... fifty dungeon cores.


    "That''s part of what''s making it unstable." Bubbles provided the follow up. "If you can make a proper workshop for us then we might be able to build a stabiliser, before the entire tower collapses. With Master''s core at the top of the pile."


    In retrospect I may have jumped the gun a bit in trying to turn the tower into a proper arena. Alright let''s head back to the fourth floor then.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    My consciousness arrived at the fourth floor along with the three cyclops girls, I selected one of the rooms and proceeded to build a forge, hammer, tongs, various tools the girls described to me, many of which I couldn''t actually build, piles of materials which again I largely didn''t have access to. Sighing as if it was understandable the three of them got to work. I soon realised that what they were building were the tools that I couldn''t make for them, as well as making better versions of the ones I did make for them, well that would be a long day then, I''ll leave them to it.


    I entered another room, the model of the city that Charles made using my materials, every time a new building was added the model grew in real time, convenient. There was the wall from when Leviathan attacked and a new killing ground for invading monsters was being built. Here I built new trap doors and re-loadable turrets, that should handle defence for a while, my next biggest concern though was Mana, I have plenty of mana generation but the majority of it is being taken away by the Helheim breach. I could try and forcibly begin producing materials again but I believe that would just waste mana. I dug through my schema''s for the answers to my questions... the cores for my undead are made out of a combination of metal and jewels... The Jewels stores magical power and the metal rejects it? No no that wasn''t right... ejects it, forces the mana outside of the body where it can be manipulated. Well that makes sense. Well this floor has a lot of metal parts on it... Jewels are used in mechanical clockwork because the hard smooth surface reduces friction between two moving pieces? One by one the gears and other moving parts of my clockworks had jewel ball bearings put into place where pieces of metal were rubbed against pieces of metal.


    The Clockworks were running more smoothly now, not that I knew what clock that they were operating or what all of this was doing, I could build a factory here, but I doubt that it would win out in efficiency to just willing things into existence with my mana. Was it all just aesthetics? A lot of the Gears and such didn''t look like they connected to anything yet, mostly just turning in place sticking out of the walls, floor and ceiling. I tried lots of different jewels, Topaz, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Amber each of them turned the mana into a different magic affinity as the mana passed through them, but Diamonds leaves the mana clean, but they''re also the most expensive to produce for some reason. Naturally, I made producing more diamonds and diamond adjacent minerals my top priority, and again I don''t know why I know this but I knew how to do it.


    From the manure slimes I had a steady supply of methane gas which I was now channelling into air tight containers. Next I had Levi take sea water, remove everything that is not water, using the lightning I can split the water into Hydrogen and oxygen and funnel the hydrogen into the same container as the Methane, finally I created a single grain of topaz lit the proverbial match. The gasses were quickly burned away producing water as a by product while it was built around the Topaz grain. Perfection! Now to do that a hundred more times and I''ll have gemstone furnaces for every methane source in the dungeon. Fascinating I guess. I have my mana batteries ready anyway, mostly lightning attuned Topaz, now how do I get more mana generation going on here? With all these moving parts around it doesn''t take much work to set up some more generators, a few copper gears here, some blocks of super magnet''s there, some Lightning to mana formations over there, and the mana is increasing now albeit less than I would like it to.


    I look to the girls in the forging room, at the very least they were making good use of the clockworks, a hammer was connected to a crank shaft which was being used to beat on a slab of metal into shape, another section had air being pumped into a furnace producing hotter flames in the process, in yet another a cylinder of beeswax was rapidly spinning around on a lathe and was having bits shaved off of it. Well as long as they were happy I guess, if this floor had to go to war all these moving parts would really be helpful, but we still needed more, more mana production, more control over the floor, more, more, more. More cyclopses? Until I figure out how I produced three children instead of giant bruisers that seems like an exceedingly unwise decision. My train of thought went back to Fort, the little monster seemed to mass produce poltergeists as easily as he breathed, sure that''ll work here right?


    [F Rank Schema Poltergeist: A weak spirit unable to survive by itself, requiring a physical object in order to inhabit in order to contain its essence]


    F Rank eh? I formed a mot of mana and soon the spirit in question was born, and just like that it faded from existence. Right then, you need physical objects? I can hook that up. I moved over to the nearest wall of gears and began stuffing it full of Poltergeists until my mana started to get low, and so I repeated the cycle of recharging mana and stuffing the wall full of Poltergeists. Why? Well until the girls are finished getting all the equipment they need built or the delvers come back I have nothing else to do so I might as well start increasing my mana generation, when I was about half way done with the processes Bubbles came and found me again.


    "Master, we have completed work we need to produce the counterweight, and we have gathered the material needed to produce it."


    Sweet. But please stop calling me master, people are gonna get funny ideas about me if they catch a bunch of little girls calling me master.


    "Understood."


    Let''s see how the tower is doing then. The four of us arrived in the top of the tower, the three girls started working while I funnelled them materials, they used giant plier things to shape the metal, hammers to beat it into shape, giant paintbrush looking things to shape material into small pieces and plant engravings on the metal, somehow. When the three said that they had all the material they needed I looked down into the tower. It had gotten worse than I could possibly imagine, I''m fairly certain that the tower was now bigger on the inside than it was on the outside, and while I had succeeded in conveying the need for wide open area for this to work it seems that they have yet to understand either the concept of flat ground to fight upon or three dimensional physics that a normal person can function in. All in all I wanted to scream ''go back and do it again!'' For... I don''t know, Oceanus''s sake? Yeah for Oceanus''s sake I''m going to invite people to come into this place as soon as my Avatar has respawned what am I going to do with this?


    Huu...


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I looked out at the instigators of the riots that had broken out a couple of days ago, a full scale brawl between the Mage''s association and the Adventurers guild which resulted in large scale damage done to the city.


    "Normally, when someone invites you into their place of business you do your best to remain polite and courteous to the people there. Tell me." I pulled open the curtains of my office and revealed the burning buildings across the street. "Does this look to be polite and courteous to you?"


    If Apas didn''t swoop in and wreck everything they would probably still be fighting too, Apas and Thing that is. ''B Rank if your stupid'' was a excellent description for their favourite construction crane, though it did mean that there was some building damage from the creature slamming it''s hands down wherever there was fight.


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    "They wish to destroy the Dungeon!" Professor Phalanges shouted pointing accusingly at Julia Arclight.


    "Yes, because the dungeon has connected to Cocytus." Julia snapped by way of response. "I am not letting ''The Lord of Treachery'' have a foothold into this plane of existence!"


    "That is not your decision to make you little brat!" Professor Phalanges snapped in return.


    "Nor is it yours." I snapped as I gave an unamused glare.


    "I am going to contact the Keeper and discuss with him our next move, one that is hopefully more than adequate for fending off any potential invasion from the lord of Treachery."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Charles could already tell that there was change in the air when he reentered the dungeon, though still mostly solid stone various gears were sticking out of the walls, floor and ceiling, connected to the mana generators that the Keeper had made before and yet quite different. The Gears had bearings of Topaz, and their copper was possessed by Poltergeists, aside from the mana generators they were quite likely contributing to the other mechanical contraptions that I liked to use to support Charles people when they''re invaded by monsters. So like the Treants used to their jobs are to strike at the outside of the Dungeon, Thing for the heavy artillery and these... mechanical poltergeists for the light work. Though after the Second floor is finished getting restructured their roll might see changes again.


    For now though he was looking for my avatar but the reality of the situation was that the avatar being a monster that had been killed I''m back to my previous normal dungeon state for a while. To put it another way, I was already aware that he was here. For now Charles assessed the work that I had done, my mana generators with built in batteries, the turrets that were waiting for use, the forge room that I built for the girls. Before I was in a rush to finish off my previous floors, now though? I would take my time. Expanding the first and fourth floors to their limits as I dialled up the amount of floors that I could own. I still owed Echidna an apology, but I don''t think any of the floors I got right now are right for her. In any case Charles clearly wanted to talk, so I called Levi over to the fourth floor to act as a mouth piece.


    "Where''s the Keeper?" Charles asked looking at Levi with suspicion.


    "Indisposed." Levi replied bluntly. "Is there a problem?"


    "There''s a lot of people who are concerned about the breach leading to Cocytus, and evidently Helheim as well, but mostly just Cocytus."


    Is it that bad? I''m not going to join forces with Lucifer, and I have no intention of letting him through my dungeon.


    "The master understands your concern, even sympathetic, were there a way of severing himself from the realm, even at the risk of core damage then he would''ve separated himself from the breach already. But his core has been trapped on that side of the breach. And it doesn''t appear that the gods over there are really content to let him go either."


    Through Levi I told Charles what was going on in the land of bitter cold that I had landed in, the mana starved dungeons, my blow up at Hel for reasons I wasn''t entirely sure about in retrospect, and right now my attempts to wrangle the other cores and my plans to rehabilitate them away from a bunch of screaming crazy pits of madness.


    "It would be pretty hard to convince people to willingly walk into that realm."


    They want to smash my core don''t they?


    "The Master''s core is in that realm, if anyone wants to break it then they will have to enter that place." Not just enter either. Kukuku! "They''ll have to go through the entire tower if they want the core."


    "A hundred floors in a undead realm designed by insane cores." Charles asked for the sake of confirmation. "Let me know when work on the tower is done, there''ll be no need to show any restraint after that."


    It won''t be too much longer...


    "The Master is using the cyclopes to build a stabiliser in the other realm, after all the foundation of the tower is a giant skeletal arm, it''s not unreasonable to assume that it would be a touch unstable, just as it''s not equally unreasonable to assume that after their work is done the tower will be stable again."


    "Then I''ll arrange for the rioters to be released if you''re so confident." Saying that Charles walked out of the dungeon.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    At the top floor my preparations were being completed, one high efficiency power generator, and one bell? The Stabiliser the girls had made looked like a huge bell. Would one of the three of you mind explaining how this is supposed to stabilise the tower?


    "When the tower shakes momentum causes it to lean in one direction, this triggers a equal and opposite reaction in the bell which causes the tower to be pushed back in the opposite direction instead." Blossom explained and then together with her sisters straightened up expectantly.


    Um good work. Setting a cloud of mana above their heads to pat them there I surveyed the tower. With the wind turbine mana should begin passively building throughout the tower, along with the influence of the War Gods. Blessing worked different on this side, I''m supposed to have a blessing on my first floor already connecting me to either Lucifer or Hel but I''m not getting that here, instead mana seems to come in from the attention that gods were paying here. Still I can''t say that I''m very fond of the idea of one of them blessing my floor. First impressions are important, and I don''t want mine to come out of a war god, that doesn''t even touch on Manea who only seems to be here cause she likes the scenery. And I''m pretty sure that if I get a different blessing for my first floor than what connects me here it could be bad, like rip this whole bloody tower out of the realm and toss it back into the land of the living kind of bad. The last time another dungeon suddenly appeared inside of mine I was left in a coma, and I''m not doing that again. So either Lucifer or Hel, I can imagine what Lucifer would want me to do, but since I was in no mode to ''betray'' my city I elected to ignore it.


    Hel might be a bit harder to reconcile with on the basis that I''ve already insulted her to her face but that was that, for now I had the dungeons that they''ve been blatantly ignoring that I had to look after. I looked over to the three cyclopes and saw a look on their faces that I could only think of as being utterly filled with joy. Right I should return them to the fourth floor before things got messy here. As I was thinking that the entire tower started shaking, more than what it was before, it took me a while to realise that it was being done in a pattern. Someone was knocking on our door...? Does the Chat room function still work in here?


    [Dungeon Keeper: Who''s there?]


    [Ouroboros: Thank Hel you finally answered us]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Graves? How in the?]


    [Ouroboros: For now open the door, even for a ice dragon it''s freezing out here!]


    It took me but a few moments to create an entrance into the dungeon from the upper most floor, letting inside a serpentine monster in the process. The Creature resembled a long bony snake bar a few details, horns, small vestigial legs, wings, the fact that it''s entire lower half of its body was cut off into a flattened mass of marble. Aside from that the entire creature was silver coloured. Just what the heck was this thing supposed to be?


    [B Rank Monster Ouroboros-A unique Chimera born from a dungeon as it grows new floors it gradually transforms them into parts of a dragon. This particular limb borrows from a Silver Dragon]


    [Dungeon Keeper: You''ve been busy, more than I have]


    [Ouroboros: What made you mouth off to Hel any way?]


    Hel, if she ever appears before this place I swear I''ll-!


    [Dungeon Keeper: I don''t know. I might be getting influenced by the other dungeons that I''ve been bunking with]


    [Ouroboros: They''re either working for Lucifer or Hel couldn''t help them]


    [Ouroboros: After all there''s only so many living dungeons that connect here, she can''t supply mana for all the dead ones too]


    Curiouser and curiouser.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Right now the thing I need to do is come up with a way to get back to my real dungeon, and the least costly method of doing that is to team up with Hel]


    [Ouroboros: What''s the problem?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I don''t know what to do for a bribe]


    [Ouroboros: Isn''t it obvious? We screw Lucifer over]


    [Ouroboros: You already smashed Leviathan, certainly you can come up with something to ruin his day right?]


    I crossed my imaginary arms and thought about it, an idea popped into my head. I basically have the materials for a weapon mass destruction in my dungeon already right? If I can just put a few of them together...


    [Dungeon Keeper: You do realise that this hinges on me getting into Hel''s good books before we start launching weapons of mass destruction right?]


    [Ouroboros: That''s the easy part]


    The dragon opened its mouth and out stepped a woman her appearance unfamiliar to me. Her left half was that of a beautiful healthy and shapely figure with bright red hair flowing down her back, her right on the other hand, less so. Her face was a skull, as was her arm, and her foot that peaked out from underneath her dress when she walked were both bone, I questioned her bust for a moment up until I saw the mass of sparkling material in the boob window of her dress, the left half was real and the right was made out of snow.


    "It would seem that you and I have gotten off to the wrong foot, Keeper." Hel produced a chair made out of ice and seat cushions made out of snow before she sat down. She was goddess alright, just by her being here I was being flooded with a massive amount of mana.


    [Ouroboros: Hang on I''m getting another call]


    Okay, that''s not unusual. So what do we do now?


    "Firstly you are right about one thing. I''m not able to look after all these cores by myself. The creatures that you dungeons produce are alive, active, this realm is a place of entropy, without cores like yours to stimulate the environment the mana would turn stagnant. You have some idea of what kinds of horrors would be born then I assume." The monsters that attacked me down below were called ''Hel'' something or other, except for the troll that is. "Dungeon''s copy what they eat, those creatures were among the native inhabitants of this realm, or at least they were natives up until the stagnant mana got to them." I was outside in that! "Broken and damaged as they are the cores are unable to regulate the mana and keep it fresh, and thanks to Lucifer they''ve been unable to get the resources they need to repair themselves." Hel let out a troubled sigh. "I''m troubled by all the extra cores around here too."


    Then why do you keep taking new cores in?


    "You''re old friend Leviathan kept sending them to me." Hel stated bluntly. That Troll ended up in Cocytus from eating another troll right? If cannibalism is considered an act of betrayal then getting cannibalised is an act of getting betrayed? Is that what''s happened here? "Your perception of events is quite accurate if nothing else." So these are all cores that have been chewed on by Leviathan? "Not all of them no. But there is enough that Leviathan has a lot to answer for. And we''re in luck too, if my intelligence is correct then Lucifer''s envoy is on his way as we speak."


    As in...?


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Outside a massive warship made out of ice and stone on a sled was being dragged through the landscape by a pair of massive brutes that were directly chained to the front of the ship, a massive gaping hole was already opened in front of the ship as one after another old and worn out buildings were being scraped off of the ground and disappeared into the ship like a hungry monster swallowing it''s victims whole. Above the ship the figure of a massive winged figure carrying a morning star spanned the front of the ship, looking down at it''s victims with cruel pitiless eyes. Well becoming it''s food isn''t the worse fate that they could have, that said though they were mere appetisers, Leviathan has been moving towards its main target all this time. The Keeper.

 Tower

    I was greeted by a somewhat familiar face. Well I recognised the name, not the face though. She was a young woman with navy blue hair and bright blue eyes, she wore black robes but who she was trying to mimic became obvious when you compare the bone armour/bone opera mask that covered the right half of her body to Hel.


    "It is good to see you again master." The young woman bowed to me as her information displayed itself.


    [Saphee the Walpurgis]


    The Hell''s a Walpurgis?


    [B Rank Monster Walpurgis-A Lich that has utilised their extensive knowledge of magic to modify their bodies and advance an incredible degree, becoming a being close to being alive again, can only be killed by the simultaneous destruction of their head and heart]


    The more questions that I ask the less I know. How''d you turn into a B Rank? And why are you with Hel?


    "After the battle with Leviathan I was flooded with a massive amount of points, Calisto attempted to claim me in order to seek revenge on you, the betrayal to one of her followers led Hel to find and rescue me. Since then Hel has been repeatedly extracting my soul from my body in order to guide me to this evolution." I looked through Saphee''s history.


    [Animated Skull, Skeleton Warlock]


    Which I was familiar with, however...


    [Lich, Lich Slime, Walpurgis]


    I have some idea about Lich but where did slime come from?


    [C Rank Monster Lich Slime-Parts from other monsters can be taken and used to enhance upon the undead, particularly if the two monsters were in contact with one another during the evolution process, this one has absorbed pieces of a particular slime and has inherited it''s potent shape shifting and genetic manipulation powers]


    So Saphee was covered in river slime when I ate Leviathan''s ships, and then this happened. Is that the situation?


    "Quite master, though it took me a considerable effort to get to this point." And Here I was thinking the power had been divided into Levi, Treyni and Thing.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Tell me is Archie somewhere inside of Grave''s body right now waiting to pop out too?]


    [Ouroboros: Pluto said that he snatched up your other skeleton after the mass point infusion]


    [Dungeon Keeper: He''s one of your patrons right?]


    [Ouroboros: Hence how he''s using me as a messenger]


    [Dungeon Keeper: So when he is going to give him back?]


    [Ouroboros: I believe he is waiting for you to pledge the fourth floor to him]


    Wealthy jewels, underground, and undead, yeah I can see why Pluto thinks I''m dedicating the fourth floor to him.


    [Dungeon Keeper: There''s still a tonne of work that needs to be done over there, I don''t even have a boss ready for the fourth floor yet]


    [Ouroboros: He says that he needs to speak with you as soon as possible, it relates to defeating Lucifer]


    [Dungeon Keeper: What''s the relationship between Lucifer and Pluto?]


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    While Graves was explaining the political situation, Thing was going on the offensive outside. The Snow Storm was being weaponized by Thing, The Kinetic force was being gathered from the storm and channelled into bolts of pure force which were being smashed into Leviathan''s ships. That was just the appetiser though, the main course was the nasty surprise being prepared above, all the snow in the storm being gathered together, crushed into a solid mass and forming a gigantic iceberg in the process, which then came crashing down on top of Leviathan.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The summary of the situation from Pluto went as follows: Lucifer and Pluto are both considered to be lords of hell ''Pluto of Greed'' and ''Lucifer of Treachery'' Right now each of the other lords have dungeons that connect to Cocytus, the cores of which Lucifer is effectively holding hostage, much like how I am being held here until I get permission to leave. Right now he wants me to basically find a way of either forcing Lucifer to hand the other cores back over or some how get them back myself. Troublesome.


    "Credit where due, you''re effective at raising powerful monsters. But I fear that they are inadequate." Hel stated as she looked through the window I prepared at the fight against Leviathan.


    I can''t see outside of my dungeon right now, what''s going on down there.


    "That weapon of mass destruction you mentioned before, you took it''s schema from Leviathan didn''t you?" Yeah it was... oh.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    On the battlefield the iceberg that Thing had prepared was sucked away into a bag being held by a fallen angel on Leviathan''s deck. Charles had explicitly warned me not to stuff a bag of holding into another bag of holding resulting in a violently destructive sucking of all the matter in the immediate area into a highly unstable and short lived black hole. Assuming that Leviathan hadn''t just committed suicide then I assumed that he just dissolved one of the bags of holding.


    [Leviathan: I''ve come on behalf of Lucifer]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Now you talk? Where was this when you ripped North, Coral and Fort out of the ground and dragged them across the ocean floor?]


    [Leviathan: You should keep better track of your own ''allies'' before you go around sticking your nose into my business]


    Wait Charles said he was letting the Adventurers into the Dungeon again right? Specifically into the tower? Damn it!


    [Pirate Fleet Leviathan is Raiding The connected dungeon wosih]


    DDDAAAMMMNN IIITTT!


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The Breach had taken the form of a tower, or a void it was hard to tell. The armoured arm of the Gashadokuro served as the centre point of this area, reaching up near as they can tell all the way to the top, they were standing on a marble platform with no walls, only a black void in the distance was another identical platform, with familiar figures on it. Julia had one of the men working under her shoot at the distant platform, and a few moments later the arrow came back and nearly hit them from the opposite direction instead lodging in the arm that they had entered through.


    [Complete Combat Challenge to proceed to the Next floor Yes/No?]


    Julia looked at the notification and selected.


    [Yes]


    [Defeat Five Turkes to proceed to the second floor]


    What appeared before the group was five enormous fat creatures the size of a refrigerator, rough, rough and oval shape with a smooth scaly body. The group immediately got ready to strike down the creatures the moment that they attacked, and thus stood a good couple of awkward minutes weapons raised looking stupid. Eventually Julia just let out a sigh, walked up to the first of the creatures while holding her sword and ran the poor creature through the back of its neck.


    "Stop wasting time and finish off the rest."


    I stared slack jawed at the ''challenge'' that the first floor managed to present, my mind lacking comprehension of whatever the hell this was supposed to be as a second of stairs collapsed into existence from the floor above.


    "Did the core fracture when the Dungeon Breached or something?" One of the people voiced their confusion at what was happening.


    "Count our blessings, there could be far worse things waiting for us on the upper floors." Julia stated giving me no further clues as to what was happening.


    As the group of adventurers left I pressed down on a floor tile and the mechanism I put into place to hide the core for this floor opened up, the core itself was still very cracked and nearly split in two, held together only by the mana I had been feeding it. Without looking away I pulled over one of the corpses that Julia''s group just killed and dissolved it into a Schema.


    [F Rank Monster Turke-A malformed hybrid of turtle and snake, with all of it''s rib bones fused together into a shell and no legs to walk with it cannot move, it is literally useless]


    If I had eyes right now they would be twitching.


    Would you care to explain how this happened? My question was answered with indistinct screeching, like two children caught in an argument speaking a language I didn''t understand. I recalled the question that Julia''s man had asked, about whether or not my core had been fractured. Did that have something to do with this walking tumour of a creature? Bah! I don''t have time for this! Leviathan is on one of the other floors and I don''t even know which one! I floated up to the second floor. This time Julia''s group didn''t even have to do anything, just wait until the sharks with bat wings suffocated to death on dry land.


    I don''t have time for this, I passed through more floors looking for the intruders. 3. 4. 5. 6! A pair of fallen angels had appeared on the sixth floor both of them carrying familiar items, bags of holding! By the looks of things they were trying to figure out where the core was. Why I outta!


    [Would you like to raid the Dungeon wosih? Yes/No?]


    [Yes] [Please select your monsters for the raid]


    [50 Lightning Gear Poltergeists]


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Needless to say, both angels looked very confused by the sudden appearance of floating clockwork, that then shot lightning at them both. By that point though they were less confused and more dead and dissolving away.


    [Leviathan is Raiding the connected Dungeon klowje]


    Gah! I immediately flew up to my core room and started hammering on the interface.


    [Would you like to raid the Dungeon klowje? Yes/No?]


    I hammered Yes, and selected a group of my Crab people to deal with the latest attack. Leviathan spammed raids, I spammed counter raids, he wasn''t even using any of the Bags of Holding he was sending over just forcing me to go and deal with his forces. He didn''t have to either, he just had to keep me here spamming counterattacks so that I would be stuck dealing with them, they weren''t even triggering the monster attacks on the other floors! You other cores! Do you even realise the amount of danger that all of you are in! You could hear the audible snap as my patience finally ran dry. Hel I need control over my own floor again.


    "What are you planning?"


    Do. It! Or do you want us to get eaten by that Ship bastard?


    "Fine fine."


    [Hel has granted you creation privileges in the ''Tower of Trials'']


    Don''t go giving names to my floors by yourself! I calmed myself down. I created several hundred Wisps. Go down to every floor of this tower and activate all of the trials at once. The Wisps flew down the floors throughout the tower as I prepared an appropriate thank you gift for Leviathan for screwing with me. I made a ladder, it''s not a complicated ladder, just one designed to collapse together via sliding, one bag of holding attached to the bottom, and another bag of holding attached to the other half of the ladder that when slid together is together inside the first bag of holding.


    "What in my name are you planning?"


    Thing! Throw the ladder Behind Leviathan! My giant kinetic force slinging hand got it''s makeshift spear ready and hurled the damned thing at the ship in front of the fleet like a javelin. I could feel the ground rumble and the bell ring in my proverbial ears as what I created activated but I didn''t care, I had five more ready to go thanks to Leviathan''s antics and Thing was more than happy to use them to swallow the fleet.


    [Various Gods of War are cheering as the Dungeon Keeper casually commits war crimes]


    If the Peanut gallery isn''t going to be useful would it kindly shut up please?


    [Odin is cheering as his god daughter has blessed a good dungeon] She hasn''t even blessed me yet! [Odin is sending his god daughter ideas for a blessing for the Dungeon Keeper]


    "He hasn''t even made a half way decent floor yet!"


    [Odin is pointing out that Hel is being rather petty]


    God these gods are giving me a headache. What''s the blessing you''re talking about anyway?


    [Using your ''Reanimator'' title as the basis the goddess Hel can grant your dungeon the power to return to life those who die within it''s halls at fixed points designated by the Keeper]


    Okay that''s pretty good. For all I know this could just be standard protocol for the Adventurers guild, a new floor has been built after all, and inside of another realm. If I was a adventurer that would be the place I''d get sent to. So I''d like to avoid mass casualties.


    [Odin says that you should hurry up, the raid party has stumbled across a doozy]


    I set a spot to constantly mass produce war crimes for Thing to to fling down at Leviathan. In the mean time I travelled down to where the Raid party had been stopped, to my surprise by another hybrid monster, and unlike the shark bats or turtle snakes this one was actually good.


    [B Rank Monster Quetzal-A seemingly impossible hybrid of Harpy and Lamia, this creature''s physical appearance closely resembles that of the God Quetzalcoatl, who has blessed this creature with the power of the Sky, Sun and Agriculture] Oh f-


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I noted to myself that this creature rightfully made the previous floors look like a joke, and that includes the rail gun firing bone giant that used to be a mountain. That''s what happens with Fractured core dungeons like this, the dungeon develops a clashing split personality and tries to create two monsters at once, nine times out of ten these broken Chimeric schema''s are a joke, non-functioning monsters barely unlucky enough to be alive in the first place. But one time out of ten? You get a 26 foot long wing snake lady wearing the vestments of a god, flying around the broken open dimensional space of the dungeon while spewing fire and tripping you up with vines that she''s able to grow out of solid marble.


    "Burn in the fires of Quetzalcoatl you ignorant creatures!"


    The monstrous lady yet again produced an enormous fire ball to crash down on their heads, a direct channel to her god provided her with a simply hideous mana capacity, but the bizarre way dimension and distance works in this place means that she now had more than a few arrows sticking out of her rear end. The good news was that this creature''s schema didn''t seem to include a very good grasp of it''s powers, it had yet to produce anything more interesting than simple vines with it''s powers of agriculture nor has it figured out thermal-dynamics either yet. A lack of experience with her hideously generous toolkit was the only reason any of them were still alive.


    "Mages lightning now!" I was was being very strict and very specific with the orders that I was handing out to her forces, we absolutely did not want this thing learning what kinds of powers it''s supposed to have. So they were using lightning to chase it down, shields to deflect and soak up fire while archers filled the ignorant abomination full of little lightning rods and their men worked to cut themselves free. Then all of a sudden the snake monster flew below the platform that every one was standing on and they all collectively went pale with the revelation of what was happening. "We''re being flanked!" To My shout the Quetzal shot up in the middle of the platform and grabbed hold of the nearest man by his head before slamming him into the ground. "Fire!" I intended to have everyone focus fire on the Quetzal but instead I provided a heads up as the monster puked fire all over them which was then followed up with a full body slam with her tail with enough force to send everyone flying off the side of the platform.


    Evidently the bizarre space that loops around on the sides didn''t just go from side to side, it also connected top to bottom as well. I slammed face first into one of the platforms with enough force to make my neck snap and shatter my jaw bone, my death was undignified and quick, as for why I am rating it? A few moments later I awoke inside of Thing''s body, back at the forward operating base that her group had set up inside of the Dungeon''s first floor. She wasn''t the first to arrive there, but she wasn''t the last either so she got to see several of her men reform inside of the dungeon like newly spawned monsters, and now she had a idea of how.


    [Status Effect Rest: Through the generosity of the Dungeon and the blessing of the goddess Hel you have been returned from death Effect: Total Status reduced by 60%, if you die again in the dungeon while ''Rest'' is in effect you will not be revived again Duration: 23:59:43]


    I let out a sigh as she stood up and brushed herself off as she looked around. Everything was much colder now, which could be a side effect of Rest, but the large ruby red Jewel lodged in the wall that was visibly glowing with power despite the frost gathering on and around it implied that it was actively sucking the heat out of the dungeon. The air was different too, a blessing was in effect on the floor now.


    "Huu."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    God damn that was close! I literally got the first floor ready and Hel to give a blessing in the moments that the adventurers were sent flying off of the platform! No matter. With my Hel Giant in place I could go back to managing the mess that was the tower in Hel''s realm.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Team meeting Dungeon Cores!]


    I watched as fifty Gibberish names signed into the Chat, that was the first thing that had to go. An hour later I had replaced all the nonsense names with some semblance of sanity, even though it was unbelievably basic I had each of the cores named from one to Fifty.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Now that we have that settled we now have the second matter that has to be addressed]


    [Dungeon Keeper: What''s the deal with all the hybrid monsters? With the exception of the Snake Bird lady they seem kinda useless]


    [Five: She''s a Lamia! No she''s a Harpy! Lamia! Harpy! Lamia!]


    [Five has been banned from Chat for 5 Minutes Reason: ''Come back when you''re talking sense'']


    [Dungeon Keeper: Would someone mind answering my question now?]


    [Ouroboros: Lithilas says it''s rare, there aren''t any in the area where I was born so I never met one before, but occasionally when a core forms something can happen to it that causes it to break open and split apart even though they''re still attached to each other resulting in cores with two distinct personalities, now take into account that most newborn cores are somewhere between pups and toddlers in terms of personalities]


    Twins! I''ve got the terrible two''s!


    [Dungeon Keeper: Are there any cores here in one piece aside from me and you Graves?]


    [Various Gods are laughing at the Dungeon Keeper''s naivety]


    [Ouroboros: Even though they''re still one core they usually end up trying to do two different things at the same time, including spawning two different monsters, most of the time the monsters they spawn end up as broken misshapen creatures]


    [Dungeon Keeper: And then once in a while they cobble together the likeness of a god and spit out a Total Party Kill?]


    [Ouroboros: Correct]


    Fantastic.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Does anyone have any idea as to How many floors have managed to actually produce functional monsters?]


    [A familiar god of the Sun is quite proud of Five]


    [Odin recommends Eleven]


    [A wise goddess recommends Twenty eight]


    [The one who thinks the wise goddess can go suck herself says that 36 has a rather nasty surprise waiting]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Four out of fifty isn''t bad right?]


    A pause while I waited for someone to answer me.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Right?]


    Oh who am I even Kidding?


    [Dungeon Keeper: Graves you work from the top, I''ll work from the bottom, we need to go through this nightmare palace one by one and sort out this mess]


    "About that." Hel was sitting off to the side sipping her drinks. "I intend to take the Dragon for use as a forward operating base against Lucifer."


    Say what?


    "With a allied dungeon at the edge of the territory we will be able to invade Lucifer''s main base of operations, once you''ve managed to get the other dungeons into proper fighting shape we''ll be able to use them to attack Cocytus."


    I smacked myself in the face. You do realise that there are fifty dungeons and a hundred floors worth of work to sort out here right?


    "I didn''t say we were going to attack immediately." Hel replied bluntly.


    The longer you keep me here, the more people that are going to try and invade from my dungeon will arrive!


    "I also didn''t say that we were going to take our time either." Hel stated as she put her tea down. "It''s precisely because there''s so much work to do here that we need to divide our tasks, and why we need to start now." She walked back to where Graves was sitting, the legless undead dragon preparing to take off again as she climbed onto it''s back.


    Fine. I''ll be coming along as soon as I fetch some of the other dungeons.


    "What''s the plan?" Hel asked looking at me suspiciously.


    You need to be strict when raising children. Kind, but strict. Right now their monsters are the proverbial teddy bear caught between two warring children that have been torn apart, before I mend it I need to make sure that they don''t break it again.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I used my fire magic to prepare a steaming hot cup of tea for Julia, dumping the remaining boiling water into a basin that had both of her feet inside. Reduced stats and extreme cold was not a good combination.


    "Anymore bright ideas?" I asked as he set the kettle down.


    "ACHOO!" Julia let out a cute squeak as she sneezed. "Your core''s broken." Julia stated as she sniffled.


    "Keeper is fine." Apas landed on the nearby balcony and Julia moved for her blade before I stopped her.


    "Even if you were at full strength you would be dead before your sword cleared it''s sheath." I stated making his opinion known, he had no desire to die from all the air being sucked out of this room. Monsters are known for being crazy over protective over their packs, because a pack consists of an animal''s mates and their young. Apas would defend that dungeon with every ounce of fury as a mother bear would her cubs.


    "In fact he is inviting you and your little crusade to come visit again at any time that you want." Apas stated as she smirked maliciously. "After all Keeper needs all the mana that he needs to decimate Cocytus." That legitimately surprised Julia. "Lucifer has been sending over raids one after another, and worst, the corpses of dead dungeons over there means to connect to Keeper''s and take over the dungeon, thus regaining a foot hold in this world. So he opted to wipe them out, one by one. So he needs all the mana that he can get his hands on."


    "He''s inviting people into his dungeon who want to kill him just for a little extra mana?" Julia was stunned by what she heard.


    "It''s no different than what a dungeon normally does." Apas stated shrugging her shoulders.


    "There''s all kinds of things that are different about this situation!" Julia snapped glaring before sneezing and letting out a sigh.


    "Keeper''s core is in Helheim right now, at the top of that tower that clobbered all of you. How high did you get again? Fourth? Fifth?" And they could assume that there would be more monsters like that, lots more of them in fact. At this point people of their level were just food for the monsters, or mana sources for the dungeon.


    "Try to have fun while climbing the tower, in the mean time my Keeper is going to be busy killing Lucifer''s Dungeons!" With that Apas flew off, perhaps to join in on the planning, it was hard to say. Julia in the mean time just put her face in her hands and breathed a sigh of exhaustion.

 Baby Sitter

    I looked at my war chest, by my estimates once these two are finished evolving they should be among the strongest monsters in my dungeon, the poltergeist gears that killed the Fallen Angels within the tower, with the effects of giant slayer they both individually netted over sixteen thousand points, which were divided with me giving them both well over 8000 points. Giant Killer was a beast, by my estimates that should at least bring them both up to the A-Rank at least, but Saphee disagreed with me.


    "Master, Evolution works off of what you have to work with, reaching this state required that I went ahead and trained under our patron during our process of evolution, I can''t say that these two are doing the same thing, so the multiple evolution''s they are going through are being wasted."


    Doesn''t evolution give new abilities though?


    "Yes but the difference is acquiring new abilities naturally or using the system to forcibly shove them into the body. The first method is vastly superior to the latter."


    Well that''s what I get for trying to cheat. Can you teach the other poltergeists before we raid Lucifer''s dungeons?


    "I''m afraid there is nothing I can teach them, they are lightning elements and I am water, I use magic and they use weapons to fight, namely themselves."


    Well, that makes sense.


    "I do have an idea though."


    I''m listening.


    "We should dedicate the fourth floor to Pluto."


    Underground, undead, and precious jewels and metals, yeah it sounds like things that Pluto likes. But are we sure that he''s the best fit for this place? We''re using this place to generate mana I''m not sure if that''s something that Pluto is the best suited for.


    "You''re generating this mana using metallurgy and storing it using gemstones correct?" Well when you put it that way... Whatever we''re doing him a favour anyway I might as well get paid for it.


    The Power Plant!


    And Nothing happened. Of course it didn''t I don''t even have a boss for this place yet. Lovely. Other matter of importance then.


    [Dungeon Keeper 16832/800]


    I was over twenty one times what I needed to advance my floor production after the two arch-angels were picked off so why hadn''t my extra floors kicked in yet? System! Any advice here?


    [You will resume normal levelling procedures once you have exited the Godly Realm]


    Oh come on! At this rate I''m going to punch into another realm as soon as I get spat out of this one! Huu. I need to finish work on my fourth floor. I have to be smart about this. I should have plenty to get Pluto''s favour, what I need right now is another fighter. Huu. Apas, we need to talk to Charles again.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I explained, through Apas, to Charles my situation, he called over the mages, the merchants, the adventurers even the Lemurians as we all brainstormed ideas.


    "What about creating a Legion?" Grim piped up with a familiar to me term. Just to be on the safe side though I asked Apas to ask a question for me.


    "What do you mean by Legion?" Apas asked looking at Grim with blatant suspicion.


    "Legion is a B-Rank monster, a spirit that through Necromantic ritual has had thousands of other spirits bonded to it." B-Ranks are ''monsters who can take on an army'' by the sounds of things this one was literally an army though.


    "So we just grab whatever Poltergeist is down there and bind the rest of them to it for the ritual?" Apas asked sounding suspicious.


    "You could, if you ask my opinion that would be a waste." Grimoire stated while shrugging his shoulders. "A artefact spirit is a item that has gradually gained a consciousness of it''s own over the years, either from being neglected or being well cared for, retaining the memories of what has happened around and to it until they eventually gain a soul of their own."


    "Do we have anything like that?" Apas asked looking at Grimoire suspiciously.


    "''We'' don''t." Grimoire stated indicating himself and Apas. "But she does." Grimoire indicated Julia, who took a step back and got ready to draw her sword. "The Prestigious Arclight family signet Ring has been worn by members of the Arclight family for four generations both into battles and at table meetings for war campaigns, starting with the family founder Christopher Arclight. You can get any old ghost to take up the mantle if all you want is a mindless swarm, but to make the most of those numbers, you need a general." Before Julia could make another move Apas pounced on her.


    "You''ve already taken a shot at my mate once, he might see an opportunity in that, me though?" Apas leaned over Julia and pressed her front paws deeper into her. "I see someone who screwed up and now has to commit. So you have two options now, you can hand that ring over, or I can bite your fingers off!"


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Apas flew back into my dungeon and Spat out Julia''s ring, still attached to one of her fingers, alongside the second finger that she bit off in the process. Well that''s disgusting, I ignore the taste that enters my mouth as I dissolve enough of Julia''s flesh to get her ring off of her finger before handing both of them back to Apas. Take these back to Julia so that they can do... something with them.


    "Understood." While Apas hopefully works on getting the fingers reattached to Julia''s hand I turned my attention back to the ring and conjured a poltergeist to shove inside of it. The Silver Ring with a A stamp on the front of it slowly floated into the air, and then fell back to the ground lifeless. I sunk a greater amount of mana into the ring as I attempted to shove more mana into the ring until the damnable ring took on the characteristics I desired. I may have gone too far though.


    [E Rank Monster Artefact Spirit Ring-A Ring that has spent decades on the fingers of warriors and generals absorbing their extensive knowledge of war, it may develop a unique ability]


    The ring was the same grade as the other Poltergeists possibly because it''s smaller than they are. In any case I moved onto phase two, I went down to the fourth floor to meet up with Grimoire so that we could proceed with phase two. Grimoire stepped out of the Dungeon through the elevator as I engraved the mass binding ritual magic to tie together the souls of the fourth floor into a singular legion, including the two evolving gears. The flood of Points went through the gears of the floor, rather than wasting Points on ineffective evolutions it was instead more efficient to evolve each of the individual gears into their next forms, including the ring. A few moments later the light of evolution died down.


    [B Rank Evolution Greater Poltergeist Legion-A hoard of greater Poltergeists that have been bound together via a ritual spell]


    Perfect!


    [Make Greater Poltergeist Legion boss Yes/No?]


    [Yes]


    [Name Greater Poltergeist Legion]


    [Leonaidas]


    Now let''s try this again.


    The Power Plant!


    Once again my consciousness was pulled out of my dungeon and flew up into the air, lesser constellations moved out of the way as one of the greater gods claimed the right of my audience before anyone else. I was brought into an audience chamber, or an office it was hard to tell in a castle. The place that should be the throne was surrounded, in the front a massive crescent shaped desk, behind a few shelves positively stuffed well passed the point that you can call the brim with countless folders and documents. The massive desk and block of documents behind it was only slightly less attention grabbing than the man who manned, massive, built like a mountain, and wearing a toga that exposed the various acid burns across his body. Pluto I presume?


    "You took your sweet time. You made a floor tailor made for me and then you spend all this time teasing me with it? I hope you have a good explanation."


    I was... fine tuning it? There was so much room for improvement but I don''t know how.


    "Yes your amateurish attempts at electromagnetic generation is quite obvious. And is the first thing that I am going to have to fix."


    [Objective: Create a Necromancer''s paradise in the Keeper''s city]


    What? Aren''t I already doing you a pretty big favour by breaking your other dungeon off from Cocytus?


    "That is something you''re already doing for Hel, which at most means that I owe her one. Not you."


    Is that really how this should work?


    "If you want to talk about who already owes whom..." Pluto rung a bell, and immediately a figure walked in.


    [Archie The Walpurgis]


    Another skeleton turned human. Touche.


    [Blessing of Pluto: Overhaul the Fourth floor to dramatically improve upon Mana generation and storage, return of the Walpurgis Archie Yes/No?]


    Well, that''s basically what I wanted in the first place. Whatever, arguing at this point just means I''m gonna lose.


    [Yes]


    "A wise choice."


    And then I was expelled back into my Dungeon.


    My dungeon shook, the gears of copper turned into silver, the blocks of Iron turned into... Neodymium? Neodymium, Iron and Boron composite? Silver is the most effective metal conductor that doesn''t require subzero temperatures, the Neodymium composite is the strongest magnet in the world, so in other worlds my electricity generation was significantly dialed up. Not only electricity though: The topaz had changed in it''s composition, the jewels were now filled with countless flaws, each of them part of a intricate magic formation that is designed to deeply, severely, compress the mana being generated into a dense package. I felt more than enough mana for the other dungeons flowing through the air and several times that going into those gears, the combination of Pluto''s blessing and the high efficiency mana generators he installed. Well, I suppose that''s what I get for relying on a professional. As for the most affected party.


    [B Rank Monster Silver Clockwork Legion-A hoard of greater Poltergeists that have been bound together via a ritual spell and are inhabiting a massive number of silver clockwork that is generating massive quantities of lightning attuned mana]


    Okay I can at least focus on dealing with-


    [Achievement Unlocked: Mass for the Dead]


    Go to hell system!


    [Mass for the Dead: Acquired two Gods of Death for your sponsors Reward: Beacon for Necromancers activated]


    Alright. How bad can this be?


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Marrowind was a city in the far north, where it''s so cold that no living being in their right mind would ever want to live there. No Living being. The ice and cold make for the ultimate preservative and they needed it, for the City of the Dead never has a shortage of its ever constant need for preservatives. Of course, so many powerful undead makes it the number one spot for the mass production of magic items, but to conduct trade with Marrowind you must surrender the only resource that they are not able to get from their dungeon of the same name: People. Here is the final resting place of Rapists, Murderers and other undesirables of all walks of life, it''s slaughter houses expertly separate brain, blood, meat, bone and soul for the sake of those who ''live'' within it''s halls. Course they don''t just accept any person whose head is made to rest on it''s chopping block for this gruesome trade, the Brain Eaters, the parasitic monsters who devour the brains, are quite adept at mind reading and can with great ease confirm whether or not the person in question is guilty of the crimes they are accused or if said crime warrants death. It is, simply put, the number one undead capital in the entire world and right now they have received a message, of a new dungeon that has just made itself into their playground.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "So another Dungeon Core who thinks that they can breach the realm of the dead and make it their own." The man with a skeleton arm laughed as he received news from his god, holding a skull up that he had been conversing with.


    "Your orders master?" The skull''s eyes lit up as a voice came from it.


    "We''ll start with diplomacy and work our way down from there." I sent Apas to the city, let Charles know that I would be out, and that she would be in, leaving her to manage the dungeon in whatever way she pleased. In the mean time I had a job for Archie.


    "My master has deigned to allow me to lead our raid into the enemy dungeon." I''m coming with you Archie, I''m going to be in your body. "My master believes that some fresh air will be good for you. I feel inclined to agree, looking at this sorry sight."


    Archie looked at the descriptions he got from the monsters that the other cores had created. There was the familiar Turke immobile on the ground, but it wasn''t even the worst of the lot.


    [F-Rank Monster Bark-A illogical chimera of Bat and Shark, although theoretically capable of flight for a period of time without constantly moving under water they will quickly suffocate to death, while the wings make the creature too hydro-dynamically inefficient to swim ineffectively]


    One of the Barks was on it''s side desperately gasping for sweet oxygen filled water that wasn''t there.


    [E Rank Monster Bose-A Hybrid of Bobcat and a rose bush, lightly poisonous with a tendency of rooting into prey for nutrients]


    Adding insult to injury the Bose was sucking what was left of the life out of the late Bark.


    [F Rank Monster Bird Skeleton-The reanimated skeleton of a bird, too small to be a real threat and too few feathers to fly]


    It looked like a chicken, I''m pretty sure those can''t fly feathered or not. Well one out of four isn''t bad. I guess. These hilariously ineffective creatures make up what people can expect from the first four floors, but on the fifth was the creature that wiped the raid team single handily, not to mention that there''s three or four other critters around here like it.


    [Would you like to Raid the Dungeon Ouroboros Yes/No?]


    [Yes]


    [Would you like to bring along your Vassals Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    [Please Select Vassals]


    [1, 2, 3, 4]


    I should probably take more but we''re already working on a mana budget here, I want these floors protected by the time the Adventurers get here.


    [Raid will begin in 3. 2. 1]


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    "What are you doing here?" Hel initially thought that they were being invaded when she saw the unfamiliar Walpurgis appear within Ouroboros wearing Pluto''s toga, then she saw the immobile Turke, the Bark laying on it''s side gasping for air, er water, the frustratingly flightless chicken skeleton and the lackadaisical Bose.


    Not exactly an elite hit squad. For now I had Archie convey our intentions to Hel.


    "Apologies for our untimely interruption lady Hel." Archie flourished his arm as he gave a bow to Hel. Did Pluto give him etiquette training on top of magic? "The Master believes that for these four to become useful they must first understand the implications behind what kinds of monsters that they have created." The Gasping Bark stopped moving, the Bose didn''t waste any time in walking over and sinking thorny claws into it''s body for nutrients.


    "I understand your point. Very well, so long as they don''t interfere with our own scouting the other dungeons."


    We don''t plan on taking too long...


    "The master says that we shall be along shortly, we will have to employ the services of the Zombie the master fought alongside when he and the Dragon raided Leviathan."


    A nearby... door(?) opened with a wet squelch as the zombie walked in, the Grappler right? Graves explained to me that after his dungeon turned into a dragon he had to replace a lot of his bosses with monsters that can act as Organs, he was already up at one of the dungeons up north and picked up ones suitable as a Brain and a Heart already but I don''t care to know about them. The zombie was a little disappointed to see the monsters assembled before him, a tumour, a plant, and decoration. It honestly felt like a bad joke. I started by throwing the Bose out, still rooted in the Bark and not intending to go anywhere or do anything, instead kneading into the shark corpse and falling asleep. The Zombie looked ahead unamused, suddenly zipping forward and slamming his foot into the morbid topiary hard enough to send it flying smashing into the fleshy wall opposite of him before falling to the ground, dead. The Chicken skeleton could do jack all as it looked up at the bottom of the Zombie''s foot as it was ground into dust. The Turke was thrown out last, being the generous teachers that we are Archie and I allowed it to struggle to move as the zombie walked up to it, picked it up by it''s tail, and proceeded to repeatedly smash it into the ground until it was splattered meat chunks on the ground.


    "Thank you for your services brute, may your master grow to appreciate your talents once more." Was making compliments sound like insults a part of you etiquette training too Archie?


    [End Raid Yes/No?]


    [Yes]


    [Raid ending in 3. 2. 1]


    I reappear at my core room as I called a meeting.


    [Dungeon Keeper: What have we learned children?]


    [1: We''re not Children!/We''re older than you are!]


    [2: That Dungeon raids are boring and uneventful/Being outside the dungeon is like being unable to breathe]


    [3: That your friend is a bully!/That you like to steal our kills!]


    [4: That we need to stay put/We need to stay where it''s safe]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Good Guesses, but wrong]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Aside from the Bose each of the monsters you four have created and brought with you suffer severe flaws that keeps them from being useful to anyone]


    [Dungeon Keeper: 1, your Turke isn''t a monster, it''s a joke, a deformed fat tumour that can''t move or fight]


    [1: We''re a dungeon!/We''re not suppose to move!]


    [Dungeon Keeper: 1. This isn''t a dungeon!]


    I threw the splattered corpse of the Turke at them.


    [Dungeon Keeper: It is the monster equivalent of a teddy bear that your bickering has managed to tear in half that we have to fix now!]


    I moved on with my lecture with the next one in line.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Still at least if I left it alone where no one would be able to find it for five minutes I am at least confident that it would still be alive, that is more than I can say about this!]


    The Bark''s corpse came out next, still with the puncture wounds where the Bose had ripped open a hole and made itself comfortable.


    [2: It''s your fault/You brought it to a bad environment]


    [Dungeon Keeper: And what is a ''good'' environment for it? It can''t breathe in the air and it can barely swim!]


    [2: You have a water floor don''t you?/Send it into the Ocean floor]


    Children! Levi I have something for you to pick up, I need you to send some water up here to the tower in Helheim.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''m going to save the one I have the biggest gripe with for last]


    Thus I skipped over the spot where I left the broken Bose Cat and instead turned my attention to the useless bird skeleton.


    [3: Why did you look at us when you said that?/What''s he planning?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Should I at least congratulate you for making a functional creature?]


    Considering the Immobile tumour and self suffocating shark it really feels like I should.


    [4: We don''t know how to make it stronger/We can''t make it stronger]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Luckily undead appear to be made out of lego bricks, especially skeletons]


    [4: What''s a Lego Brick?/What''s Lego?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''m leaving my top necromancer in charge of fixing this until it becomes usable]


    "Leave these useless piles of bones to me master!" Archie immediately stood ram rod straight at attention as he gave a salute.


    [Dungeon Keeper: But as for you...]


    [3: What is it?/What did we do?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: What you did was make a barely actually dangerous creature that''s too lazy to do anything, and I get the disturbing feeling that you two are a little too much like you''re little pet as well]


    These two were put into the body of a monster, told that they were going to get into a fight, and then promptly got their arse handed to them. Why? Because they took one of the laziest creatures that ever existed and they crossed it with a immobile plant.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Was your first material a blade of grass or something or did you just filter-feed all the time?]


    [4: Hey don''t judge us!/We managed to breach all the way into another realm!]


    Which according to Lithilas probably means this was a hundred floor dungeon at some point, if what they said was true, me personally I was working on the story that they simply died and was sent to the afterlife. I''ll leave grinding my imaginary teeth in frustration later.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''m going to go ask one of the other cores if we can use their monsters to grind for points for a while]


    Archie I want you to set everything up on the fourth floor to grind.


    Levi extended her body as far up the tower entrance where I dumped several of the Barks for her to deal with. Good luck Levi! As for the rest, Archie if you would.


    "This ball of Amber will do for a core for now." Archie produced some amber from somewhere and shoved it into the chest cavity for the chicken skeleton. "This shall be a rather fruitful experiment."


    I had the chicken skeleton and the Bose hook themselves into Archie, who was holding onto the tail of the Turke like it was a flail. This set up is okay right? Well I need to negotiate with the fifth floor core anyway.


    [Dungeon Keeper: 5. Are you there?]


    No answer. I went down to the fifth floor where the Quetzal was eagerly shooting balls of fire into the void.


    [Solarus the Quetzal]


    Oh she''s already named! But I need to talk with her core. Archie I need you to go up to the fifth floor. Archie walked up and stuck his head into the fifth floor where Solarus was busy firing off balls of flame.


    "Excuse me good-"


    Archie was blown off the stairs by Solarus''s fireball.


    Oh so someone is getting a big head about this eh? Archie are the passengers okay?


    "Indeed master!"


    Go back to the fourth floor and walk around the edge, see if you can see where the Quetzal is from down there?


    Archie looked as instructed and looked up at the rowdy hybrid with annoyance.


    "I see her master."


    Drop the Turke under her. Archie did as instructed, the Turke dropped four stories, looped back around and fell another 90 slamming into the head of the Quetzal with enough force to cave her skull in. The Quetzal dissolved into light and reformed into a staff depicting a snake with rainbow wings, which Archie grabbed, while the bird skeleton, the Bose and the Turke were all encompassed in the light of evolution. Split between the monsters and the cores that''s over two thousand points each, more than enough evolutions to become something useful I wager. Now while we''re doing that I need to-I watched surprised as the Quetzal reformed in mid-air, less so when the Turke''s cocoon slammed into her head again before she could figure out what was happening, more surprised when I saw another two thousand points appear in my recepticle. So the combination of Archie, the chicken, and the cat was the one who threw that hunk of bone and scales off the side of the platform, so we''re all getting a cut of the points. And what''s with this respawn speed? It''s taking me a week to get my FFF body back!?


    "Perhaps if she is considered an intruder in your dungeon then the Rest effect is applying to her?" Archie asked while examining the feathered headdress that the Quetzal dropped.


    Does that mean that Rests debuff is applying to her too?


    The Quetzal reformed a few moments later and latched onto the side of the platform without strength to pull herself up, and then she got crushed by the Turke again.


    This could be a problem.


    "How so master?" Archie asked looking at me concerned. Well we can''t gain dungeon levels here right?


    "Right."


    So that means that these cores are gaining explosive amounts of points right?


    "Perhaps it''s wise if we end this before it goes any further."


    Archie watched as the Quetzal got beamed on the head again, grabbed the priestess robes that had spawned in the process, caught the Turke, and pulled the little meteor to safety.


    Alrighty then, time to play damage control. 4, spawn 19 more of the Chicken skeletons.


    While the core gave me a questioning feeling of asking me what I was doing I had more Amber crystal spawned into the room to install into them and at Archie''s request enough gemstones to give each of them more cores.


    What are you up to you bone head?


    "Only to make preparations to create stronger forces my lord. Experimentation is the essence of creation." With that 4 now had 20 of the bird skeletons and I moved on to stage two. I had Archie bind the birds to the one on the ground in an evolution cocoon and soon they all were in their own cocoons as well, and not a moment too soon either as Solarus floated back down.


    "That was beyond cheap!" Solarus growled as she looked at the cocoons of evolution, born out of power taken right from beneath her wings.


    "Do you surrender?" Archie asked as he sat in the lotus position. Solarus responded with two balls of fire. "Then you leave us no choice." The cocoons shattered.


    [C Rank Monster Flock of Famine-Over Four dozen Kapri Soul bounded together by the Legion magic formation, because of their few numbers though they lack the power to be a true Legion, thus instead a cohort]


    Okay I know what I''m looking at but what the heck is a Kapri Soul?


    [E Rank Monster Kapri Soul-A crude undead approximation of a bird with amber flowing through it''s marrow with the power to drain the life from it''s victims and imbue it into an ally]


    A small bird like creature, in lieu of wings there were two boney hands with a thin golden film between the fingers, it had a sharp dart shaped head like a humming bird and it''s chest was a golden mass that was slowly inflating and deflating like it was breathing. Solarus didn''t even blink and threw the ball of fire down, Archie erected a wall of stone to block the shot while the Kapri''s scattered. I thought undead were suppose to rank up as they acquired cores, these ones look like they melted theirs down and spread it throughout their bodies.


    "Well said master!" Arche allowed the original Bird Skeleton to grab onto his arm with it''s hand wings, he already had several of the jewels in hand as he allowed the bird to pick one that it liked and swallowed it whole, a ruby.


    Of course you knew this was going to happen, that''s why you had me prepare the extra cores. While I was debating how impressed to be with Archie the Flock of Famine had surrounded Solarus.


    "Get! Off! Of! Me!"


    The fire was washing off of their backs, fire magic spread from the ruby in the one Kapri and into the others. The undead birds stabbed their beaks into Solarus''s body, their amber chests inflating before they went down to the gemstones on the floor and swallowed them up, and soon just like that Solarus died again, this time spitting out a set of robes, while the Kapri''s entered cocoons of evolution. Right I''ll leave them to you while I focus on the other floors. I had five cores managed already, I can do forty five more easy right?

 Raid

    When Charles talked to Keeper before about how evolution for humans he gave elves and Dwarfs as examples. They were however just that, examples, and many more variants that exist. Case in point, the Goliath. Goliath''s tend to clock in at seven to eight feet and all of it is muscle. Dwarf''s and Elves were mentioned specifically though because they are common, easy as far as meeting the conditions for evolution goes, a Goliath on the other hand? Max out Giant Slayer. The leader of the dungeon raid team was a mountain of a man who made it his personal business to put down things that are bigger than him, and he''s pretty darn big, Jack the Giant Slayer. The Giant Slayer was covered in armour from head to toe, not a metal plate as one would usually expect to see but rather it''s composition was similar to the walls, soft material layered between hard, it''s just that the material was several steps above ordinary concrete and spider web.


    Jack also wasn''t alone, there were hundreds of individuals gathered around him as well. A dozen or so Elven mages, Demon-kin Bishops their horns golden coloured and formed a halo around their foreheads, Dragonnewt''s of different shapes, sizes and elemental alignments glided overhead and landed on top of buildings, armoured centaurs trotted through the streets pulling with them carriages of unknown contents. These were just the more interesting parts of the ''raid party.'' Charles looked through the contents of the blatant invasion force that were filling up his streets and tapped his fingers waiting for a fight as the so-called Giant Slayer walked up to him.


    "I am Jack Johannes the Giant Slayer. Here to take custody of this Dungeon." The Giant Kin informed bluntly.


    "Mm hm. So that you can destroy it?" Charles replied looking at the Giant Kin with faux disinterest.


    "An official certificate from the Adventurers guild." A letter telling Charles to cooperate if he doesn''t want to bring the wrath of the Guild down on his head, and whoever else who doesn''t want Lucifer gaining another foot hold into the mortal plain. Charles didn''t need to open it to know what it would say, instead he merely stepped aside and tilted his head for the mountain of a man to go forward.


    "Try not to waste too much of the Keeper''s time would you?" Charles stated as he casually let out that ominous statement.


    "Secure the floors."


    The Keep, as the Adventurers guild had chosen to dub it, had four floors only three of which were active at the moment due to the ongoing evolution of the second. All three of the places in question had their own entrances, inside of the Lemurian District, the mountain, and the elevator that would lead to the fourth floor.


    The Centaurs went to the beach and opened their carriages, releasing water from inside and allowing the creatures inside to slip into the ocean. The Otohime, the Princesses of the Ocean, mermaid like dragon kin with the lower bodies of seahorses in lieu of fish tails, in addition to their unearthly feminine beauty there is their unrivalled power to manipulate water currents, even the people of Lemuria give them a wide berth out of sheer respect. Mind you learning that they''re here to take their dungeon away went a ways of affecting their once high opinion. Negotiations proceeded, resistance was suppressed, and they made their way into the third floor of the dungeon.


    At the elevator the Elves and the centaurs entered the dungeon proper through the fourth floor alongside Jack while the Demonkin and Dragon Newts flew up to the first floor.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Well this is unexpected. Looks like the raid party is here. Just a few minutes shy of my body respawning too, and to my surprise they were on almost every floor, and most of them weren''t even human, didn''t even look like humans either, their mana was a lot more potent than the normal delvers. The mana flooded into my channels and pooled the still evolving monsters on the second and fourth floors as well as into the tower where the energy started to fill up the other cores. Look alive people, we have one invasion we have to fend off and another that we have to launch! Don''t attack until we''re attacked, let''s try to be diplomatic about this.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    "So you are the ''raid team.''" Apas strolled into the room that the Flyers landed in, watching unamused as they made their way forward.


    "The Sphinx mentioned in the reports. Apas was it?" The Dragon Newt leading this part of the raid team asked raising one of his eye brow ridges into the air.


    "I am indeed. Though that leaves the question of who you lot are?" Apas replied as she observed the equipment the lizard''s were carrying, staffs topped by nooses threaded through runic rings. She''d be avoiding those.


    "Dungeon Demolitions of the Adventurer''s guild." Well they were honest. She''ll give them that.


    "You being here is convenient for my mate, so I''ll allow it, but if you attempt any demolition...!" The Dragonnewts approached Apas readying their staves for the offensive. "So be it." Apas spread her wings as power flowed through the space, all the air being pulled away from the intruders. And then the Dragonnewts let out a pulse of mana of their own, several, rhythmic, and the magic spell that Apas deployed was shattered.


    "Grab her." The men came in with their staffs, the loops widening as the rings on the inside glowed with magic symbols while Apas slowly backed away, looking for a opening to attack, instinctively knowing that she absolutely does not want to be caught in those loops. And then the entire room tilted back while Thing shoved two boney fingers into the dungeon trying to claw the intruders out.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The group of Otohime was initially surprised by how much the third floor looked like a town. The Lemurian district had the expected centralised dome that was divided and sublet into several different floors and districts but this ''Atlantis?'' It was much more like what you would expect to see looking at a human village, complete with the castle made entirely out of coral, which sadly is exactly where they had to go if they wanted to secure the local boss. The mishmash of different creatures that still came out looking like a mermaid like figure appeared to have been busy at the moment, manipulating currents of water to make the winged shark creatures she was feeding float and enable them to breath, the menu included cuddle fish, crabs, and salmon.


    "Are those your pets?" The Otohime leader asked looking at the Bark''s with a stupefied face.


    "The master has tasked me with ''raising them into something useful.''" The boss looked severely unamused as she threw another cuddle fish into the mouth of the waiting shark things, as if radiating a aura of ''this is so far beneath me that it is simply not funny.'' The Otohime just shook her head as she commanded the water in the dungeon to act. "Oh so that''s going to be how it is?" Out in the ocean, with no other real contenders for the role, the Otohime''s are the most powerful Hydrokineticists you will ever see. In here though, where the water was part of Levi''s body? Where she was backed by the blessing of Oceanus? Fish food. "Oh you''re attempting to take my floor out from under me are you?" If it was a matter of pure power the Otohime could likely wrest control of the floor away from her after some struggle. However this was Oceanus''s domain, the god that all who dwell in the sea know and fear, challenging his authority here means that life is going to get pretty darn rough for you out at sea. And they''ve already offended him. "If you want me to put in a good word with Oceanus, jump in." Levi stated while indicating the gaping Shark Bat jaws that she had prepared off to the side. "Rest will have you right as rain again in a few moments." And in the mean time there will be some extra points contributing to the accelerated evolution of this damned Bark.


    The group of Mermaid Sea dragons looked at the awaiting Bark nervously, they felt even worse when Oceanus''s power started creeping up their spines. Suicide with revival was better than staying out here for a single moment longer.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The Centaur''s trotted through the halls of the fourth floor their armoured hooves tapping against the floor of the dungeon while they observed what was going on around them. Clockworks, a place that turns passive mana in the air into kinetic motion, which the dungeon was now harvesting through the use of these gears for even more mana. Jack has heard that some metalurgists have cracked energy production using the reaction between certain metals, still it was a wonder where the core was getting the power to do this from, or where it was putting that same energy. It wasn''t into the evolving tree that had eaten the second floor, at least not all of it, and it didn''t appear that it was going into the few gears that were still in the midst of their evolution. That was another red flag, the gears were possessed, most likely poltergeists that were in the middle of evolving into a stronger form, that would be dangerous.


    And more dangerous than that, the familiar ringing of metal on metal, the roar of the flames, this dungeon had a forge, which means that they had their own custom weapons, possibly using monster materials to give them unique effects, or worst turning them into poltergeists or weapon spirits. Jack raised his hand stopping the advance of his group as he peaked into the room. Cyclop''s, three of them and rather young too, two of them were hammering away on different parts of what looked to be a gauntlet, a third was cutting apart a length of metal that was being woven into a spring and then hooked together into a ring mail in the process.


    "Don''t look like combatants, what do we do with them?" One of the Centaurs asked looking at the three of them with suspicion.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Check what they''re working on." Jack replied as one of the Elven mages stepped forward and waved their staff at the item the three of them had been working on.


    The Elf tapped into the dungeon''s mana as the information about the gauntlet came to light, and she backed away in horror.


    "What is it Triss? What do you see?" Jack asked as he prepared the weapon that he had been carrying on his back.


    "It''s the boss!" The gauntlet rose up, the ring that had been welded onto its ring finger glowing as mana was drawn from every inch of the floor while the three cyclops dove for cover.


    "Behind me!"


    Jack shouted and the Elf in question wasted no time in diving back behind the giant kin, the Gauntlet, Leonidas as the Elf had learned before she understood the horror of it''s existence, fired a bolt of lightning at them striking Jack''s body directly. Jack''s armour was closer to rubber than metal, a mixture of silk from a particularly nasty species of giant spider bred with multiple elementals until it had a combination of stretchyness and durability that made it suitable for soaking up strikes and the wax from a giant species of bee which was hard enough to repel piercing attacks and excellent at repelling mana. In short, every inch of Jack''s body was covered in inches of insulation against the magical electricity. Jack stepped forward, electricity washing off of his back like water off a duck, mace drawn as the lightning was drawn towards it''s metal like bees to flowers.


    The Gauntlet switched tactics, as if recognising the material that Jack''s armour had been made out of the lightning lashed out and pulled together several of the poltergeists. A legion, even if only a small one then. Looks like Jack has another giant to slay. The priests that were on the first floor were dealing with something a lot more troublesome than the mere low ranking undead that you would expect from a dungeon that was less than a year old. When the Gashadokuro concluded that it couldn''t reach inside of itself to pull the people who had walked inside of it out it called on another of the undead to help fend them off, a Walpurgis. But they weren''t the only strong ones here.


    "AZIRAPHALE!" Holy is the natural enemy of undead, fire the natural antithesis to the cold of Hel and Lucifer, so naturally the angel of Fire and guardian of the gates of Eden was their natural enemy. "SEAL!"


    A rival domain expanded around the priestess, holy fire coming into contact with the cold aura of undeath. The giant of bones twitched and then collapsed, falling limp as Archie walked in from the next room over, new power entering his body.


    "Earth absorbs fire, and I already have holy power!" Archie began absorbing the clashing powers of the domains into himself. His body started shaking as the conflicting energies attempted to repel themselves inside of him.


    "What madness is this!" The Priests were slowly backing away.


    If anyone tried to take such an unstable mixture of energies into themselves then the only logical course of action is that they would self destruct, and Archie was no exception, then only thing he had on most others was that he was an undead and a dungeon monster on top of that he would be put back together again by the Keeper once everything was said and done. Filled to the brim with explosive energy Archie charged forward directly into the group of invaders, his tackle was intercepted by one of the Dragon Newts, and then the cave was consumed in a explosion as the invaders were forced back. Hel''s domain was weakened but her blessing would be intact, in theory.


    For now though the Theoreticals didn''t matter as much as the very real and very angry Sphinx that was flying right at them under the force of a wind shield spell stripping her of friction and pouncing on the enemy forces. The Dragon Newts were ready, their Noose staffs quickly wrapping around Apas''s limbs and neck, tightening up and the runic rings woven into the ropes glowing with raw energy as the built in debuff''s went into effect, strength quickly being sapped from Apas''s body. One down.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    If the next attack that they launched into Levi''s body was to not fail it would have to be done in a way that involved not putting themselves at risk of being subjected to Oceanus''s domain again, which meant killing it from the inside. Luckily though Levi had a very clear weakness: her status as a living being that unlike the first floor''s undead giant or fourth floor''s army of possessed weapons meant that she would be killed if something like a massive amount of poison was dumped into her body. So that is exactly what they did. Lots of magic had come about from closely studying magic and reverse engineering it''s effects, this includes creation of materials, and among the materials that they had learned how to recreate was a especially toxic metal that was discovered miles beneath the planet''s surface, Poisonous to even get near as if it exuded the essence of death itself, the Dwarfs who found it named it in honour of the god of Underground things and Death Pluto.


    The Magic to create Plutonium was simple enough if not mana heavy, even drawing on the Dungeon''s reserves the amount they could produce on the spot like this was relatively small but luckily even that much would be fatal to a being of even Levi''s size, and as a magically created metal it would absorb the water element that pervaded the third floor and grow in potency even as it spread out. It must have been stronger than they thought because soon the entire floor went dead, the massive creature having been killed. Two down.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    This Legion was smaller than most of the ones that Jack has had to put down over the years but it was better in close quarters than most were, zooming and zipping around his blows like some species of bird he''s fought against. The mace wasn''t doing much here, so instead Jack switched over to another set of weapons, tonfa, faster, shorter reach only slightly better then fighting bare handed but it''s hard to argue that the armoured gauntlet was doing less. Jack swung his weapons faster, so he was getting more hits in against the gauntlet by sheer virtue of the number of blows that he was throwing but what was really needed was area of effect strikes. Luckily the Mages came prepared, while the three giant kin huddled in the corner the entire room was suddenly covered in a layer of frost as all the moisture in the air was sucked out and turned into frost and ice. That wasn''t nearly concerning as the ball of fire that gathered in the middle of room, with the ''Giant Slayer'' blocking the way out, though it was of lower concern the ice was making the Gauntlet brittle as the ball of flames turned into pure kinetic force. The dull boom threw Jack back, partly because he had jumped, the high quality impact absorbing properties of his armour soaked up the blow as he stood back up.


    "Everyone okay!?" Jack asked as he watched the mages who performed the area of effect fire-frost blast. In the centre of the destroyed forge, a single ring laid in the middle of the room with a letter A on it which Jack picked up.


    "Looks like the drop from the boss." Three down. The dungeon shook with energy, a B Rank monster had just been spawned on the first floor, and Jack knew exactly who it was. "Secure those three and make sure that they don''t manufacture anything else!" Jack shouted indicated the three cyclopes with his mace. "You five with me!"


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Ho oh oh oh! I''ll have to apologise to Jewel later, I think I now know what it''s like to have your bosses killed in front of your eyes now. And boy was I pissed!


    "Do you lot like to bully my bosses?" I was eating away at the blessing of Azir-whatever, he made things hotter and Hel likes it cold. Don''t you know that it''s rude to break into someone''s house and redecorate without their permission? "I would suggest that you release my boss." I took aim at the group who had taken Apas captive, restrained her with the kinds of tools that you might expect common dog poachers to use on strays. The fire from the bastard''s own blessing was gathering at my finger tip as I prepared to dump a extra special surprise on there heads. Let''s see how they like their own fire-!


    "I would stop what you''re doing right now! Your Sphinx will respawn but I can''t say the same for the unborn spawn in her womb!" I clenched my fist and the ball of fire was crushed in my hand.


    "Excuse me!?"


    "Yeah. You didn''t realise that did you? And from what I heard I bet you can guess who the dad is." While the Dragon Newt explained Apas blushed as she looked away. So you were pregnant and you didn''t tell me!?


    "This is not how I would like to know about these things Apas!" While we were having that argument the mages who looked like they were wearing crowns moved around me with their staffs standing up in front of them, chanting some kind of magic.


    "Fine. Kill me off. Let''s see how that works out for you." As soon as I was back in dungeon mode I was going to shove so much stuff into the tower that these punks were going to wish that they were never-!


    "We''re not killing you, we''re nullifying the summoning that''s keeping that body here."


    Say what? The four staves glowed, a familiar magic circle appeared around me, and then shattered. The familiar sensation of being forcibly yanked out of my dungeon hit me once more as I soon found myself in a land of fire. I don''t mean to say that everything was on fire, I meant that the land, the plants and even the animals were all made out of fire. What the hell has happened here? And more importantly what was the fastest way that I can kill myself and return to my dungeon so that I can go ahead and knock some heads together?


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    A pillar of Mana spewed out of the Dungeon, casting the Fire Frost Fiend from this realm back to its home realm from when it was an ordinary Ifrit. I was wondering what kind of method they were going to use to try and expel Keeper''s consciousness from his dungeon, so this was it then eh?


    "The Elemental managed to bypass the usual process for a Dungeon to get an avatar but it appears to have created a weakness as a by-product." Professor Barnabus stated as he stroked his goatee. "Fascinating really."


    "Can we get him back?" I asked as I looked at the mage under my employ.


    "Of course I can. We''re practically bathing in the Keeper''s mana after all." Barnabus replied as if it was obvious. "I can lock onto his coordinates as easily as I snap my fingers. From there it''s a standard summoning ritual of which I have dozens of scrolls pre-prepared inside of our stock of scrolls. Shall I?"


    "Better that we do it before Jack figures out his screw up." I replied back, better to remind the Keeper of whom his allies were after all.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Ouroboros got a message from the Keeper.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''m going to be busy for a while, I don''t have much from the other dungeons but here''s everything we have so far]


    Shortly after that fifty dungeons all announced their raids against the Ouroboros. There were few, far too few of them. Most of the hybrids that the fifty cores had sent over died from health complications, of those that remained suffered from complications that made them ill-suited for combat, not even possessing proper support type abilities, even among the ones left only very few would actually stand a chance against one of Lucifer''s dungeons. Before I could get more information on what was going on something intruded on My domain in the Keeper''s first floor, an active raid was going on. Ouroboros chimed in with his concern.


    "No we''re not going back to investigate." I stated and not just because I was being callous, Keeper himself has anticipated the raid and told her that he can handle it, and even if the fools can somehow smash his core? They were going to be in for a bad time. Instead the Dragon corpse that they were using as transport landed on one of the enemy dungeons and stuck his head inside the hole that was the entrance.


    [You have crossed over with the Domain of ''Wolf''s Den'']


    "Let''s see how much Keeper has been busy!"

 Prisoners

    I, Ouroboros, wasn''t quite sure if Keeper was just talented at making horrors or if this was the handiwork of one of the cores. A little of both? Hard to say.


    [B Rank Monster Genmu-A turtle with a serpent for a tail, made in the image of the Northern God Xuanwu of Winter, thus blessed with his power over the domain of winter]


    B-Rank was low balling this thing''s potential, the domain of Winter covers three topics, the first being snow which also means water, cold which covers temperature and all the horrors it encompasses and finally it was a period of time. Monsters who could manipulate time were especially great horrors to my knowledge. The oversized black Turtle the size of a large chest with a long snake sticking out of it''s behind went down first, it''s high defensive power meaning that it''ll be able to take on anything of the same rank.


    [C Rank Monster Flock of Famine-Over a dozen Kapri Soul bounded together by the Legion magic formation, because of their few numbers though they lack the power to be a true Legion, thus instead a unit]


    The Flock flew out of My mouth, their small size making them suitable to scout, and to steal.


    [C Rank Monster Blue Rose Lion: A bush of rare Blue Roses which have shaped themselves into a Lion with all the predatory characteristics implied therein, an excellent support type creature]


    A male lion made out of thorny brambles and with a mane compose entirely of blue roses, ran out of the Dragon''s mouth and sat down on top of the turtle''s back, letting the latter carry him into battle.


    [B Rank Monster Quetzal-A seemingly impossible hybrid of Harpy and Lamia, this creature''s physical appearance closely resembles that of the God Quetzalcoatl, who has blessed this creature with the power of the Sky, Sun and Agriculture]


    I''ve never seen such a timid looking B Rank, she kept looking above her as if expecting something to fall on her head. What did Keeper do to her?


    [E Rank Monster Gobroc-A Badger Therianthrope born of goblins, hyper aggressive and immensely durable for it''s size]


    A group of small humanoid badgers walked out of the jaws of my dungeon next, one brushed against the other and the two of them nearly ripped each other''s throats out before being bonked on the head by the next one and moved on.


    [C Rank Monster Dullahan Wolf-A Werewolf that died a especially brutal death, buried alive, starved to the brink of death and decapitated, in that order, has created a formidable undead warrior]


    The Dullahan woman was dressed as a barbarian, her head kept in a leather sack on her waist.


    [B Rank Monster Wendigo Dire Troll-Cannibalism is one of the ultimate forms of betrayal, for this the punishment is endless torment as broken creature, a wendigo/A Dire Troll is the end result of one troll consuming another, the second troll''s body starts regenerating inside of the other, growing their limbs, organs and other body parts like cancerous tumours]


    I could tell that Hel didn''t like bringing along one of Lucifer''s creations, but Keeper had it under control, apparently. Might have something to do with the Kapri that was sitting on its shoulder.


    [B Rank Monster Nyarl-A faceless abomination claimed by the God of Forbidden and Forgotten knowledge, don''t look under the cloak]


    A figure dressed in a robe floated down into the dungeon, the cloak certainly projected the image of a humanoid figure, the tentacles beneath the cloak and the single seemingly painted on eye beneath the cloak implied differently. Are we lucky that only one of the insane cores managed to spawn an abomination claimed by a god so dangerous even the system refuses to mention it by name? Truth be told, while humans may dislike fractured dungeons they''re usually the ones to get calls from the gods directly, if the Dungeon''s constant hybridisation manages to make something to stroke their ego''s then the odds are good that the Gods will try to buy it off of them. Three of the B-Ranks here wouldn''t be in the running if not for stumbling into the image of the gods. That wasn''t to imply that I didn''t bring my own hybrid creations along, or rather Sebastian''s hybrid creation.


    [D Rank Monster Animated Muryan Armour-A shed exo-skeleton of a Muryan Demi-human converted into armour by a master smith and animated by a poltergeist]


    A group of ghostly figures inside of the humanoid exoskeletons armed with slashing claws easily big enough to be made into swords walked out of my dungeon''s mouth. The Muryan people know gratitude quite well, a few of their exoskeletons here, some expert crafters there, and one contracted Necromancer to finish the process off. With these I shouldn''t appear to be any different than the other fractured cores. Now to begin the hunt.


    "Where''s the Keeper!?" The troll growled as he turned to face the group with his main head.


    "Absent." Hel, or rather my Gargoyle made in her image, walked out of the jaws of my dungeon looking at the group before her. "I sensed an intruder trying to assert their influence on my floor in his dungeon. I assume that he''s disposing of the interloper."


    "Should we split up? Or stay together?" The Turtle asked looking around at the group voicing his curiosity, and got smacked on the top of his head by the snake tail.


    "Fool! Most of us are support types, including us! Or have you forgotten that I have to drag you everywhere!?" Even sharing a monster body these two are still prone to arguments.


    "The Boss isn''t here?" The lion rose bush stretched out and curled up. "Alright time for a nap." Is this really a C Rank, or is it just the dungeon''s personality showing through? Hel loudly clapped her hands drawing the attention of the various monsters of her motly crew of idiots.


    "Whichever one of you finds the entrance that leads back to the dungeon in the mortal plane gets to go back there, you may kill whatever you find along the way and start banking those points to start building your floors back up." And thus the ten different cores took their monsters and went in different directions, some had to make entrances. The sooner that they complete the objective for Hel the sooner that they get out from under the Keeper.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I knew that we were working on a time table, even after incapacitating all the bosses and tying down the monsters we had a limited amount of time to reach the core and break it. Running out onto the first platform I already could tell that there was something wrong, there were no monsters spawning let alone the ones that Arclight described in her report, which also meant the path to the upper floors had been cut too.


    "What do we do now?" One of the Centaur''s asked looking at me concerned.


    "We Jump." The Keeper had inadvertently provided quite the loop hole to this quote unquote tower, with a simple hop I had jumped off the edge of the platform and arrived at the one directly below it after grabbing the ledge and swinging over. The hand was paralysed and wouldn''t be going anywhere, thus I was able to enter the core room quite easily. Taking out my mace I took in the room. The Sphinx, The Dryad, the Chimera slime, and Arclight''s ring, and in the centre of the room a ill defined statue of a roughly humanoid figure with a metal claw that was holding the core, contrary to what the seeming intelligence of the dungeon implied it had yet to develop a true consciousness of it''s own, instead cribbing off of the person or people it had eaten, like a hunter dressing itself in the skin of it''s prey. There was also a slate that had been planted in front of the core itself, words written on it.


    "''If you are reading this, then you should be congratulated for reaching my core room. I won''t judge you for your methods, I have pulled quite a few dirty tricks myself. That said, if you mean this core harm you are free to take a swing at it, so long as you understand that when you fail to hurt it, you''re answering to me.''"


    I took my mace in my hands. No offence core, but we cannot suffer a path to the lord of traitors left open. Thus I took a swing. The Core made a ringing noise after I struck it, as if it was a massive bell instead of a small dungeon core barely five floors big. There was a small crack left in the material, albeit one that quickly healed up.


    "Adamantine." I quickly concluded looking at the claw that was holding the core, which meant that damaging the damned thing had just gotten that much harder, and that rate of healing. This was supposedly one of the realms of the dead. And given the hideously potent mana generating facilities that he saw on the way over here... "The core is trading mana for quick repairs from other cores in the area." If it''s just one or two cores that they need to smash that shouldn''t- A dull boom was let out as the entire dungeon shook. "Was that what I think it was?" And then the entire dungeon started to shake.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    So suicide myself and return to my dungeon Plan A, expel such a hideous amount of magical power that my body breaks apart and I can go back home. The result? I made it very cold in the immediate area which then immediately went back to normal, the other fire elementals living here even took offence to it too. So Suicide plan B then, I began gathering as much of the fire element around me as possible, concentrating it inside of my body with the intention of having it explode.


    [843594/800]


    [1128978/800]


    No plan was perfect. I was wracking up quite a body count from my fellow denizens of this plain of fire. Then I saw the sky open up, and a pair of confused and questioning eyes looking inside of the place that was rapidly turning from red hot forge to freezing cold icebox. Well this was awkward. Before I could correct my mistake and ask for help I was once again hit with the familiar sensation of being whisked away by an outside force.


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    "Are you sure this time?" I heard Charles familiar grumpy voice asking for answers to the situation. "This is the fifth summon." It was like a red hot sun had been dropped into the room, which all things considered would probably be me in this case. Before his armour melted into his body Charles waved his hand and a fraction of the heat coming off of my body was turned into kinetic energy and I was sent flying through the air and soon crashed into my own dungeon. I melted my way inside, and then exploded, releasing massive quantities of mana in the process. A fraction of that mana reformed on the spot, the rest? Into the tower, scorched the dungeon of everyone who was still loitering inside.


    Levi was down, Leonaidas was down, Thing was sealed, Archie and Saphee were both down while Apas had been taken outside of the dungeon. I let the fire mana pool into the second floor, let Treyni whose mana cocoon has thus far been desperately starved for energy drank it in, and then the dungeon shook. Thing''s body was ripped out of the ground as a massive wooden tree raised the mountain that he had been integrated into directly into the air, numerous tree branches stabbing through Thing''s body while hollow channels appeared inside of the Tree.


    [A Rank Monster Yggdrasil Dryad-The World tree Yggdrasil grows between multiple worlds, it''s roots anchoring it to one plain while the branches pierces into others, this one in particular has managed to acquire sapience in the form of it''s own Dryad, with alternate forms of Leshen, Carbuncle and White Horn]


    Is that from the influences of the other blessings in the dungeon? That reminds me. Treyni''s spirit body gave a languid stretch as she stepped down from a throne inside of the Yggdrasil Tree, the sleeping form of several dwarfs(?) slowly waking with her along with numerous other creatures that I would be getting to later.


    "Master? It is good to be in the land of the wa-"


    We''re under attack. A enemy has established a foot hold on the first floor and planted their domain on top of the one we actually want, the other bosses have been incapacitated and Apas has been taken prisoner.


    Treyni''s mouth went wide with horror, then her features twisted with rage and continued to twist from there. Treyni grew to fifteen feet tall and put on enough muscle that you would never believe she had a feminine form, the flesh on her face hardened and stretched while she grew a massive set of antlers causing her head to resemble a dear skull with a couple dozen point antlers. A third arm emerged from Treyni''s side as her toga dropped into a waist cloth revealing hardened twisted burls.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    All over the City, chaos had ensued, the wood that I used as a component for my snapped together buildings was reanimated and was now growing out of the buildings themselves in some cases ripping them out of the ground while others nearly split in two. Soon inside of an indistinct warehouse several trees burst out of the ground and wrapped protectively around Apas before breaking off the rods that were holding her.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    "Master, I''ve rescued the Sphinx." Treyni didn''t just look masculine in this form, they sounded it too. Good Job Treyni. Now we''re going to expel the intruders. There was a hole from where I melted my way into the dungeon, in the middle of the pit left behind there was a bat, bright red and wrapped with blue.


    [Fire Frost Club-A weapon containing the essence of the unique Monster Fire Frost Fiend]


    So this is the drop from my body, my corpse. Did I not drop anything last time or did it just get caught up in all the chaos?


    "Give me a moment and I shall dispose of that right away master."


    Forget about it. We''ll use it.


    "Master!"


    Use. It.


    "Understood master." Treyni picked up the club as their attention turned to the floor, to the two distinct clashing powers that had made their presence known. "Which one is the enemy?"


    The Holy fire, Hel is an ally to us.


    "Understood." Treyni held out the club and under my guidance the clashing powers of hot and cold were absorbed into the club before Hel''s domain reasserted itself. The club was glowing with power now.


    Thing are you there!?


    I felt the first floor shake as Thing Regained his consciousness.


    Treyni which building is Apas inside of?


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    A few moments later one of Thing''s limbs reached down and breached the building that Apas was being held in, before then depositing her inside of Thing''s mouth.


    Apas we''ll discuss you keeping things from me later, how long exactly will it take for you to give birth or whatever you do?


    "Not long. I''m an egg laying species so I''ll only need a few weeks."


    You''re staying inside of the Dungeon until you do, we''ll prepare a room for you later. For now there''s still the last of the intruders that need to be dealt with. Treyni, into the Breach! The brute that was my second floor boss walked into the breach, her form changing yet again in response to the wintry cold. The wood of the lower body split apart and grew, stretching into a dear body with hooves of wood and roots while the wood grew fur like moss, the cloth again covered Treyni''s upper body while it slimmed down into the form of a indifferent woman. Thing has already used kinetic force to drag Jack out of my core room and threw him before the white horn.


    "The second floor boss has finished evolving I see." Jack stated as he looked Treyni up and down assessing, judgemental.


    "And you are going to pay for what you have done." He will but it won''t be in the way that you think Treyni.


    [Offer Jack the Giant Slayer a Contract? Yes/No]


    "Master!"


    Do it!


    "Is this a Joke?" Jack asked looking at the message that has appeared before him with suspicion.


    "You have taken someone my master fancies as a hostage in order to forcibly rend control of his own body away from him, and now the same fate awaits you. Your killed men are currently in my master''s storage waiting to be revived, but at his whim their bodies can be broken down for mana, never to see the light of day again. Your choice, do you get your men back alive or does my master get a snack?" Jack looked at Treyni, eyes judging, assessing, and reluctantly he selected [Yes] on the box before him.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The raid had gone rather poorly, the Dungeon had managed to create a rather formidable guardian to protect its core.


    [B Rank Monster Cerberus-A massive three headed hound raised on a diet exclusively of living beings, as such it has become a fierce hunting dog and a savage guardian]


    The Troll and the Quetzal did not cooperate at all, their various fire and ice attacks nullifying each other. The support types in the Kapri Souls and the Rose Lion had been destroyed in the cross fire while the immobility of the Genmu was more liability than an asset. The Nyarl was also a liability, whatever spell it had cast had driven the Gobrocs and the Vampiric Mersharks insane. The only one still functioning properly was the headless werewolf and the flying ant armours that I had provided.


    [Dungeon Keeper Would like to participate in your raid Allow? Yes/No?]


    Finally! Mana swirled as I hit [Yes] Keeper what has been-? Instead of Apas, or one of the Keeper''s other monsters I was greeted by a eight foot tall man in full body plate mail armour. Was this the New boss of Keeper''s Floor? I didn''t feel his consciousness so he wasn''t in control.


    "I am the man that will be taking over this disaster of an operation." The armoured man looked around at the struggling forces and made a series of calculated decisions. "Troll, Snake woman fall back! You in the cloak, switch over to silent casting!"


    "Don''t tell me what to do!" One of the rear facing troll heads growled angrily. The armoured giant picked that moment to move. The ground behind him rocketed as he moved forward, grabbed the Genmu by it''s tail and blocked a paw slam by the Cerberus, then he reached over and wrapped a arm around Solarus''s waist and rocketed back to where he was before putting her down again.


    "Your organisation is a mess. We need to call an tactical retreat."


    I''m not going to argue but we need to do something about that thing first.


    "That''s easy." The Giant man said by way of reply. The Giant man started with another run, soon arriving at one of the legs of the beast, he smashed the club he was carrying around with him, the red weapon letting out a loud boom as the dog''s leg bent in a unnatural direction. With the beast wounded it won''t be able to attack them as it pleases, it was time to leave this cursed place.


    [Would you Like to End the Raid? Yes/No]


    [Yes]


    [Ending the Raid in 3. 2. 1]


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The monsters returned to my dungeon. Treyni was still waiting for them in the form of a White Horn as the monsters focused on healing.


    "Where were you!" The Troll growled into the air, I knew both whose words the puppet was speaking with and who he was talking to. "The master was dealing with this... ruffian as he rampaged in the dungeon." Treyni''s body shuddered briefly as I entered it. No offence Treyni but I need to handle this myself. "I was busy recruiting this man, Jack the Giant Slayer, to assist in the raid. He''s a professional dungeon Demolition Expert."


    "I normally have a team that I can rely on to dismantle enemy dungeons, not to mention advance intelligence." Jack stated as he shrugged his shoulders.


    "So you''re a stupid git!" The troll stated pointing one of his many fingers at Jack''s chest, not understanding what he meant by ''advance intelligence''. "Why should we listen to you?"


    Jack took out his mace and got ready to go on the offensive, as if telling the troll to bring it. The Troll merely took a step back and put one of his hands on his axe. Jack moved first, swinging his club like a lever to smash one of the troll''s legs with his weapon with enough force to shatter his leg leaving the troll screaming, and then kept the weapon there as the leg let out several crunching noises forcing the led to heal at an odd angle.


    "Troll''s are characterised by their high durability, but wendigo''s are well known for being significantly less durable than the base species." Jack brought out the bat I gave him, the drop from my Fire Frost Fiend body. "Both are known for their weakness to fire." With the club Jack set the troll on fire before kicking him off the edge, screaming. "To answer your other questions, I bring resources, which includes knowledge, not just what I possess specifically but also a plethora of researchers that are able to give me information on what specific weaknesses a enemy possesses. For the Cerberus? It''s been specifically raised to target living creatures undead like those birds, the Muryan armours I saw and this flaming brute I kicked off the side would likely just be ignored, unless specifically told not to."


    "It''s not the dogs that are the main issue, it''s the four or five dungeons around it that Lucifer''s using to hold it prisoner." Hel stated as she folded her fingers together.


    "A fact that surprises me more than it should. Considering that as soon as a dungeon that is connected to Cocytus is discovered on this continent it''s destroyed." Jack stated as he crossed his arm.


    "What about the other continent?" I asked through Treyni.


    "Until Leviathan was taken out of the picture no one''s been able to get to it." The others looked at Treyni with their faces wide with surprise. "What am I wrong?"


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Officially, The Dungeon Keeper Demolition had failed. Normal Delving would resume immediately, along with authority of the dungeon being returned to Charles so that he can oversee the facilities while Jack returns to the capital to acquire additional materials to deal with the dungeon in question. Unofficially?


    "This is so weird?" My consciousness was on it''s way to the capital hitching a ride inside of Jack''s body as he prepared to make his unofficial, top secret, too important for mail message to his bosses and collect all the possible books on the dungeons of the continent across the sea. Graves was circling around the enemy dungeons looking for any information on how to take them apart.


    "You should tend to your dungeons, this is going to be time consuming. I''ll let you know when the meeting with the Guild is about to begin."


    I don''t trust you as far as I can throw you Jack.


    "Then trust in the fact I''m not going to do anything stupid while you have my men as hostages."


    He was right, unfortunately, of the fifty cores I was caring for there was maybe eight or ten I could trust in a fight against the enemy cores. Not to mention that Leviathan was probably circling around somewhere. If you try to screw me over...


    "I won''t." For now Jack just wasn''t important enough to warrant the undivided attention I would have to give him to make sure he stays out of trouble.

 Aftermath

    While Jack was away looking to dig up information on the other continent I was digging up information in my own dungeon, because man had Treyni''s evolution left a lot to look through.


    "It is our pleasure to make your acquaintance master."


    [C Rank Monster Youko-A Fox monster that has evolved into a Demi-human, with a natural affinity for fire magic and manipulating souls they often find work as shrine maidens]


    Lunazure was a hybrid of my wolf Luna and my first Will-o-wisp turned Mitami Blue, I suppose it was either that or ''Bluna''. Currently she was kneeling before me, or my points of awareness I guess, in the Shrine Maiden''s uniform that I had prepared for her, her two blue coloured tails wagging behind her. I wasn''t nearly as concerned about her though as I was about the ones behind her. The ones that use to be Gnolls.


    [D Rank Monster Werewolf-A formidable Demi human with the power to draw strength from the phases of the moon, as the moon nears closer and closer to full the werewolf becomes progressively more and more savage and unruly]


    They looked like werewolves too, unlike Lunazure who looked like a human with fox ears and tails tacked on these were clear cut werewolves. I didn''t see any mention of a curse or disease type thing that turns other people into werewolves in the description so I''ll take my boons where I can get them. I also don''t want to think about how I thought that was a thing, not with being three bosses down anyway. Moving on I next turned my attention to the former insects that were buzzing around the floor.


    [E Rank Monster Dragon Fly Fairy-A dragon fly that has evolved into the form of a fairy, retaining their original insect like traits including excellent hunting instincts and a stinger tail]


    Is it wrong that the Dragon Fly fairy doesn''t look that much different than the regular dragon fly?


    [F Rank Monster Bee Fairy-A Fairy that evolved from bee''s and retains their traits as hive minded gatherers and builders, their wax contains a crystalline compound that hardens into an extremely hard material resistant to slashing and piercing attacks once cured, which they use in both buildings and limited amounts of armour, sadly though if they use their stingers they will die]


    That pretty much is the definition of F rank ''If they fight then they will die.'' The Bees still very much looked bee like just with said features tacked onto a miniature human torso and much longer legs. They had already claimed their spot in the dungeon building a hive above our heads from the ceiling, polinating various fruit bearing trees as they blossomed, I left them to it. I think the fish already made the trek down to the third floor so that means that these cover the monsters that I had up here or... ah I knew I was missing one.


    [D Rank Monster Bark Spider-A orb Weaver Spider with a rare affinity for the nature elements, capable of spinning webs up to 90 meters wide, strong as steel but stretches and compresses like rubber]


    The giant spider, approximately the size of a beagle, with a rough bark like exo-skeleton was crisscrossing the room with it''s rubber like webbing, apparently one of Treyni''s internal branches had got in it''s way so the bugger tied one of it''s strings around it and pulled the knot until the branch snapped clean off. The Other spiders were keeping their distance from one another as they prepared their own webs. Is this the last of them or are there more?


    "There is the matter of my treants left." Treyni stated, sitting on a branch as she directed my attention elsewhere. Right. Where are they and how many are left?


    "Thirty. I do warn that what you may see will surprise you though." Treyni raised up her hands and clapped.


    From above and below the sound of wood creaking echoed out as various figures emerged from above and below snaking out of the shadows. Well this is interesting.


    [D Rank Monster Totem Pole-A wooden statue that has gradually absorbed magical energy and has come to life as a consequence, wielding nature magic they are called ''wooden Gargoyles'' by the less informed, they are equipped with excellent support type spells their strength in direct proportion to the number of figures carved into their bodies]


    Figures of carved wood was sitting on top of each other, birds, fish, snakes and every other manner of creature I had the schema''s for. They weren''t like Leviathan''s Figureheads made in the image of gods, the divine power that Leviathan had in his Figureheads was absorbed by my dungeon and that was turned into the floor breach that led me to Helheim, so they were a lot weaker. There was one more matter but they were already leaving the dungeon, Dwarfs. Charles people who had been caught inside of the dungeon when Thing, Treyni and Levi were all evolving, now they had been released with the now ill fitting clothes on their backs back into the city. I needed to look into that, I understood that Dwarfs are somehow better than normal humans but I don''t know how, so far the only thing I was really certain about was that their rate of fertility was lower than normal people, and I could see that they were shorter than normal people too. If I could bring the totems along on another raid that would be fantastic but I don''t think the system will let me get away with doing that a second time, not after what I did with Leviathan. Alright so I have Dragon Fly fairies, bee fairies, A fox lady, some werewolves, some giant spiders and a tree spirit on this floor, arguably the most powerful tree spirit to ever live. I wasn''t sure how much this stuff was going to help me with dealing with either the other cores in the raid team or the ones in the dungeons we''re going to invade but it''s good to know what our options are. For now...


    Security. Part of me knew that if someone tried to end me once, they would again, and how had they almost succeeded? We let them through the front door.


    A Door I would be locking now. I prepared gates for each of my entrances. Gates that had skulls attached to them, under their control. The gates knew the faces of all of Jack''s men, and they would know the faces of anyone else who came here and caused trouble and they would keep the door locked unless the men could spit out the answers to their questions, that last part was only there because the damned system wouldn''t let me permanently lock my doors. Still there were people who could just smash the doors down.


    Each skull had been taught magic by Archie, Create Bone Weapon. They hadn''t reached the point that they could just weaponize an enemy''s skeleton, but the floor, walls and gates that were all made out of limestone? Yeah they can easily turn those into stabbing spears.


    Let''s try and manage the city, my Fire Flame Fiend body is still out of commission, so let''s go with the Maride instead.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The Druids were having a field day with the city. A large number of the buildings had suddenly turned into trees, so there was a lot of structural damage that needed to be repaired, luckily druids have magics that can be used to reshape plants and the like, so while there was a limit to reshaping trees into buildings, but with the introduction of tree houses the situation was being managed pretty well. On top of much of the trees used in the buildings were from fruit bearing trees which also meant that their food shortages had received some relief. Then a familiar figure emerged from the water. I would have to be careful with how I managed this conversation, in the worst case scenario I would have to evacuate the city.


    "Should I presume from the fact that your Dryad hasn''t killed us all yet that we''re still on good terms with one another?" I asked as I looked at the Maride that had emerged from the water.


    "How did that Jack guy get into my dungeon Charles?" The figure made out of water asked as the currents started to rise up behind him, severely unamused.


    "He had us outnumbered in both Quantity and Quality, and the legal paper work to back him up as well. There was literally nothing that we could oppose him with. You may however recall that we were the ones that pulled you back into this plane." As a reminder to the watery creature I indicated the place where the makeshift dungeon avatar had burned its way out of the building we summoned it to and entered the dungeon proper, through yet another hole it had burned through the dungeon. "On the other hand if we put up pointless resistance when he first started waving around warrants he would''ve beaten us into submission, breaking all of our bones in the process, and we wouldn''t have been able to summon you back to this plane, not before he got someone that could chain you up first. Not to mention that the worst he could''ve done was..."


    "Kill Apas''s cubs." I was genuinely surprised by the Keeper''s statement, a cold sweat going down the back of my neck.


    "Congratulations are in order then. I didn''t know that she was expecting or I would''ve sent her a gift." And would''ve rethought our approach.


    "Yeah. That''s her fault, and we''ll be talking about this later on." The Maride stated as he looked up at the dungeon, and the hole this incident had created. "Yeah. I gotta patch that." The Keeper could only let out a sigh.


    "We saw Jack leave the City a while ago." And only Jack, that was more concerning than anything else.


    "I contracted Jack. I''m hoping that his expertise in demolishing dungeons helps me deal with Cocytus''s lot." Which would explain why Jack had rushed out of the dungeon, but not why he had done so alone.


    "He doesn''t seem like the type." I asked as I probed with my suspicions.


    "I took all of his people hostage." Well it was nice knowing the Keeper. "Speaking of which yours are done cooking too, so there''s that." Keeper indicated the entrance where the dwarfs from inside of the dungeon were pouring out and into the streets. I sighed. "It''s good to know that they''re safe at least." The fact that this was degenerating into a legal nightmare though was another thing. "Are we going to benefit from this?" The Keeper asked me as if it was an obvious question.


    "Dwarfs are among the more common of the possible evolutions for humans. They''re naturally talented craftsmen and durable warriors." The truth of the matter was that as common as they are a skilled dwarf craftsman is more valuable than a skilled warrior goliath like Jack. A warrior? Lasts a generation even if the evolution did increase his life span, if you''re lucky you might be able to squeeze a heir out of him. A skilled dwarf craftsman though? Their blades, well maintained, can be passed down through the generations, as does their shields, their spears, bows, armour, even Dwarf arrows and crossbow bolts can be considered valuable family heirlooms. And now there was a hoard of them here, next to a dungeon producing supplies, with its own forge built into its fourth floor.


    "What''s the food situation in the town? We have stocks of preserved sea food and some fruit bearing trees." I wisely followed up on the subject being changed, partly to diffuse the situation, partly because I needed to know. "More Fruit and honey, I got some spiders you can try to eat if you''re desperate." Keeper followed up as he let out a sigh.


    "Preserved Seafood, we don''t have a farm of our own built yet. We''re expecting a major trading company in the near future. For now, you let me worry about my people, I''ll let you worry about yours." The watery figure nodded his as he went back into the dungeon.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Now for this mess. I returned to the fourth the floor of my dungeon, where I created a room off to the side for Apas to stay in.


    "So am I to be kept captive here?" Apas looked disgruntled with the situation. You are to stay where you or your eggs can''t be taken prisoner again.


    I created an oversized cat bed and a cradle for the eggs that would be laid soon.


    I could feel Pluto''s interest prickling the back of my mind. It''s temporary, I''ll move the room when I get another floor. Pluto''s lingering interest faded and I breathed a sigh.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Why didn''t you tell me you were expecting. Apas''s face scrunched up as if she bit a lemon.


    "I had another, before we met. When I was out hunting he had been left alone with our nest, the eggs were neglected. Of the four that I had laid only one of them survived to hatching, a female." I delved into the griffin Schema. Griffin gender is determined by temperature, warm conditions spawned males, colder ones females. If the eggs were born male then they would''ve been a threat to the male''s monopoly on breeding partners, I guess?


    "You''re not wrong." So your last mate hurt you and you lost your eggs? Do I really seem that unreliable to you?


    "Yes." Apas stated bluntly. "A group of armed thugs entered our home wanting to kill you and you let them in." Apas made her anger known. "You put yourself and us in danger! If those thugs had any worse intentions than ''eliminating a threat...''"


    ...yeah. This is on me. For now I''m tightening security. The doors have actual locks on them now, and I''m going to get the werewolves to play work place security for now on.


    "That chick I mentioned before? She died because I couldn''t look after her by myself. I don''t know how it is with other sphinxes but I lack the confidence to look after my kids by myself. If you aren''t going to raise my confidence in you by a astonishing degree then I''m going to leave you." On that note Apas left for her new temporary room.


    With Apas taken care of I turned my awareness to the first floor of the tower, where the other cores were gathered together. We will now proceed with the meeting to discuss the raid to take ''Wolf''s Den.'' Chair Lady Hel?


    "I promised the cores a bounty to be allowed to return to the mortal plane if they found the entrance to the rest of the Wolf''s dungeon, and it was found." Hel indicated the Kapri Souls. Some of the other monsters gave a half hearted clap of congratulations to the bony birds that''s good any way.


    So how does this work anyway?


    "The core will have to expend its accumulated power to breach back into reality, she will likely be spat out in the place that she was in prior to her death." That can be helpful, I mean either way I and Hel won''t be the only ones providing mana here. Go for it 4! The birds protested my addressing them by that name with several tweets.


    "Patience, In time you will regain the pieces of yourself that you lost, once you''re back in the mortal plane your body will begin to regrow itself." Hel explained as she gestured around the room. "Now to continue with the meeting." Hel Indicated the elephant in the room, so to speak. "Another one of you has progressed into a functional monster."


    [C Rank Monster Vampire-Mershark: A Mershark who has been given the power of Vampirism, giving them a high affinity for the necrotic arts]


    A swarm of bats flew out of the floor above, before attaching to the roof and transforming into the form of a extremely pale Mershark and looking around before transforming back into bats and moving onto the back of the Genmu before transforming again and taking a seat. A Vampire Mershark, I still remember when you were still a Bark struggling to breathe. How did you manage to evolve that thing anyway?


    "When your chimera sensed that she had been poisoned she had this body take a bite out of her not only killing her but all of the other monsters on the floor as well. I am quite certain that I''ve maxed out giant killer and got some of Oceanus''s blessing to boot." Hel clapped her hands and the mana swirled as several blocks of ice were frozen into existence giving a model of a dungeon without any of its walls. "Thanks to the Kapri Souls and the Vampire the wolf''s den has been thoroughly scouted. Right now what we need is a path leading to this location." Hell indicated a place where the dungeon seemed to cut off, a path leading back into the real world. "What we need to do is some how force the dungeon to recede back through this entrance and into the mortal plane." Can we use another bag of holding combo? Suck up the entire dungeon + the surroundings and just toss them back through the portal?


    "It''s just a rock right?" The Troll in the room stated as he applied the logic that his kind was known for.


    "Just toss it back through and be done with it." Would that even work? "You moved around our cores." The Genmu stated bluntly. Well technically I just got you to do that for me, but I can''t just move my core back into reality all I want, we''ll have to force the system to accept their return back to their ''lower'' floors by destroying the floor utterly, preferably with their cores on the other-side.


    "Why are we even talking about saving enemy combatants anyway?" The thing sitting in the corner of the meeting place that looked like a cloak but was made out of some kind of fleshy substance clasped with teeth and something with eyes beneath picked that moment to speak up, a Gnarl I think is what it was called, what ever it freaked me out.


    "I''m a Nyarl." The cloak thing stated sounding offended.


    Because I''ve got another god breathing down my neck to do so, and I got the rest of you by the balls. That''s why. Now I got a couple of weeks before my heavy hitters respawn and I''ve got a bunch more cores to work on, so I''m gonna start handing out gifts.


    A couple of Animated hands dropped onto the bodies of the undead present, which would be the Kapri Souls, the Wendigo Troll and the Vampire.


    "What do we with these?" Undead have the power to hook up to each other, you three hook into these and you get the benefit of Giant Slayer''s XP bonuses. "Which you and your hands will get half of, and nullifying XP gains for anything below our own rank." The Troll threw the hand aside.


    "I already got giant Slayer maxed out." As did the vampire.


    You guys are getting smarter, thinking about your options instead of rushing head long into things.


    "So you tried to trick us?" The troll asked glaring at the open space my awareness occupied.


    I gave you an option, you sunk legitimate thought into it, and then you opted to do something else.


    The Kapri''s on the other hand sat down on and adjusted the animated hands that I had given to them and I could feeling them linking into place. There wasn''t a lot that were weaker than these Kapri''s anyway. Moving on.


    There''s not going to be a lot that we can do about the dungeons that are holding the wolf''s den hostage, we''ve already taken a few shots at that Pirate bastard outside but he keeps getting back up.


    "And he will continue to get back up, this realm continuously revives the dead after all." Apparently it''s one of the effects of Lucifer''s realm, if you stay dead when you die then he can''t keep torturing you.


    So is there a way to permanently neutralise them?


    "Eat their cores, absorb their souls and break them down." Hel replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.


    Which means that we have to take bits of that bastard into ourselves? I believe I know what that will do but I will ask the literal goddess for her opinion.


    "Have you emptied a bottle of wine into the ocean?" Hel replied as if I had asked something stupid.


    Ah, no, I don''t have a lot of wine and even if I did I wouldn''t toss it into the ocean willy nilly. Hel rolled her eyes.


    "What do you think would happen if you did? Would it stay in place without its container? Would the entire ocean turn into wine? Of course not. When two forces mix together, whoever comes out on top is whichever one has more."


    Leviathan has more than anyone else here.


    "He had more than anyone else here." Hel Corrected. "Need I remind you, he was killed leaving him with only what he has taken since coming here, have you been able to build anymore floors by any chance?"


    No, only what I''ve been able to get by joining up with these guys.


    Hel held out her hands as if the answer had been obvious.


    Okay so there''s one of his to my five, or our fifty five if we''re including these guys in the mix as well, or a hundred fifty five if we include Graves. Yah know what? I like those odds. Lets do this! Alright let''s test this out then!


    Hel didn''t look happy with the arrangement. Cannibalism was a form of betrayal, but she had suggested it so she didn''t have the right complain either.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Graves, where''s Leviathan?]


    [Ouroboros: Planning on throwing another ice berg at him?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: No. This time I''m gonna eat him!]


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I surveyed atop the perch of the tower, my ice dragon body was becoming more dragon-like by the day, if I don''t want to be absorbed into it''s growing form I needed to work faster. And Yet the Keeper made an outrageous request asking that I help him to swallow Leviathan''s core. Just what is he planning exactly? No matter all he needs is a spotter.


    [Ouroboros: The Bastard''s circling around the tower again, on the north side heading east]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Which way is North again?]


    I climbed down to the side of the tower and scratched it with my claws.


    [Dungeon Keeper: You know what a clock is?]


    [Ouroboros: A timer? What about it?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Never mind I''ll just carpet the area]


    [Ouroboros: Carpet? What does carpeting have to do with anything?]


    Suddenly the storm shifted. All of the snow died down as all the kinetic energy in the air was gathered in one place, the roof of the tower exploded as something was hurled through the air. One of the odd things about bags of holding as it turns out, unless enchanted specifically to do so they don''t actually reduce the weight of the items that they''re carrying. It''s not a matter of being able to do the enchantment, but if you took a weightless void where everything just drifted about willy-nilly then you''d just be creating a high efficiency helium balloon, one that would take you into the stratosphere or worst. So most of the time some weight still comes through. Now what if you were a dungeon with the capacity to fill the bag of holding to the brim with solid stone, and had a skilled mage with access to obscure magical knowledge to increase weight instead of decreasing it? Now on top of that what if you had access to a ridiculous amount of magical power and a affinity for Kinetic energy manipulation to say for instead hurl a mass of rock the weight of a mountain into the sky and let it crash down like the hand of god wiping all from creation? For those who have no imagination the rock that we had just thrown into the sky had left behind a crater the size of a small city when it came down.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Graves if you would be so kind as to retrieve Leviathan''s core so that we can finally eat the bastard and get this mess over with?]


    [Ouroboros: How exactly am I supposed to find it?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Look for the ship trying to fix itself]


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Hel looked down out of the hole punched through the tower. If this is to be a normal occurrence perhaps I should consider adding a cannon or the likes?


    "You are a monster." Hel stated bluntly, this was the kind of raw destructive power that crushes armies, the fact that he basically did it on a whim? And that there was what like only five or six real ways of countering it that she can think off the top of her head?


    I make resources lady, near as I can tell I''m good at it, but I''m great at raising monsters and at abusing magic for mass destruction, I suggest that you think about that some more before you trap me in another dimension next time. Now excuse me, I have to look into what I''m great at some more.


    We''ll start by combing through the floors and picking out some more undead monsters to speed level. The result of my cursory investigation gave me a zombie crocodile, a ghost snake and a skeleton mantis. Fantastic, plop some animated hands onto them, and pick out a suitably heavy monster... Armadillo looking thing? Works for me. I had the undead push the armadillo things over the edge of the platform.


    "Why are you always targeting-" Solarius was cut off by the sound of being crushed by the falling monsters as the effects of Giant Slayer kicked in and the monsters I prepared entered a cocoon of evolution. Then I went looking for another group of them to do it again.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    It had not been a good week, I had to explain to my superiors how I went from trying to smash a dungeon to ending up it''s subordinate, and on top of that trying to explain that I had to get his roughly two hundred people back. If everyone wasn''t killed when the ball of fire came back and torched the place then I might''ve been able to bind the dungeon and at least limit the damage it could do. Well that''s what he gets for underestimating the dungeon that killed Leviathan. Well time to get the humiliation out of the way, It was near closing time so my window of opportunity was here.


    "Excuse me." I stated as I approach Natasha, our guild''s receptionist looking at forms while she had a moment.


    "Hello Giant Slayer. Doubtlessly here with good news of yet another Giant Slayed?" The brunette stated not looking up from her paper work.


    "I''m here to report that I''ve been forced into a contract with the Dungeon I went out to destroy." I stated making my humiliation known and the receptionist sighed. "I''ll go talk to the guild master then." Thus Natasha left, and then came back a few moments later. It was important that the Dungeon knows as few faces of the guild as possible. "The status of the Dungeon?"


    "Two of it''s bosses should be in the process of respawning, the third floor Chimera Slime and the Fourth Floor artefact spirit, as well as the monster it''s taken to use as its avatar the mutated Ifrit. Both will be back by the time we can get another demolition team over there."


    "I don''t see any of your subordinates with you."


    "Taken hostage by the dungeon using a delver respawning blessing."


    "And I assume it sent you here? As a messenger?"


    "Researcher. Everything that we know about the dungeons on the Dark Continent."


    "Why?"


    "It thinks that it''s going to be taking them on in Cocytus."


    "Anything else of note?"


    "The Second floor boss has finished evolving into a Yggdrasil Dryad and the community that has been built around the Dungeon appears to be siding with it for now. Several species of aquatic Demi-humans and several demi-humans originating from the Concubine''s Bejewelled Mirror. Also one of the Dungeon''s contracts is pregnant, a Sphinx, we believe with the Ifrit''s spawn." Natasha was rapidly writing all the details down before she replied with the most relevant question.


    "Loot?" I placed a small bag on the counter, containing the ring I took from the Fourth floor Boss. Natasha activated the isolation barrier built into the desk. It would be checked to confirm that the dungeon hasn''t built any nasty surprises into the ring. "Has the dungeon turned hostile?"


    "To the town? No. For now it seems to be focusing on dealing with the threat on the other side of the breach. To us? It has given me a task and I believe it expects me to complete it."


    "Do you know why the dungeon demolition failed?"


    "The core has reinforced it''s pedestal and has several other cores from the other side of the breach supporting it." Which meant that the only realistic way of dealing with the dungeon at this point is to destroy the first floor, and even that is only a temporary solution until the damned pile of bones respawns. "By my estimates, the only realistic solution to dealing with the breach is to fulfil the Dungeon''s mission and release it from the god who has it under it''s thumb."


    "Noted." Natasha indicated two men to escort me away for isolation.

 Revival

    From what can be observed this city had several different facilities, the Churches, the merchant''s building, the castle, black smith''s, the Library was most important for my immediate goals, a bank and of course the adventurer''s guild. There were other buildings but they lacked the relevance to be worth mentioning. My immediate goals were clear: obtain intelligence that my master desires and then return to the dungeon. The so-called Giant Slayer didn''t even realise that he only destroyed my half finished armour. Do the Adventurers even realise that I''ve been sneaking out? I hope not. For now my mission brings me to the library, where the information master desires on the Dark Continent awaits, along with anything else of value that I can find. Magic, gods, other dungeons. The Library once again went dark and I went to work, telekinetically lifting books out of their shelves and opening them to read.


    To begin with Magic. My kinetic affinity is one of the so-called ''broad'' categories which is considered vital across the board. Others include Information, Support and Curse. Elemental categories such as the Fire Frost Fiend''s fire affinity is about manipulating specific things such as heat, whereas kinetic affinity is about moving things such as air, stone or even my own body. Fire is a form of matter all on it''s own, the fuel and the oxygen to burn, I can move things around to make things hotter but I cannot ''create fire'' so much as ''set things on fire'' in much the same way the Master''s avatar does not create ice so much as freezes water. It was all so much fine minutia and terminology.


    Through my studies I realised I had a second affinity: knowledge, magically conveying information. The finest example of this I can think of is the Master''s ''Chat Group'' in which they converse with one another, it was also how I could ''see'' the books that I had been reading or ''hear'' the conversations that I ease drop on. Perhaps if you combined ''knowledge & fire'' it would tell you how hot or cold something is? Or Earth and Knowledge would tell you the history behind a stone work or who had walked along a path? I myself possess memories of before I was given sentience by the master, of a field of battle filled with gore and steel. That was another thing that I was learning: Magic was not fixed, it was the result of formula''s construed through the use of raw mana which produces light as a by product, or shaped by our thoughts and voices.


    Thus Knowledge was also an important component across the board of magic. Support was about internals, about manipulating the mana inside of your body to produce an effect such as increasing strength, healing and in the case of the master, creating creatures such as us inside of his dungeon, it can also be used negatively such as weakening a enemy or spreading death throughout their body, all magic starts from within, from your commands, even the act of carving a ritual circle in stone starts from intent, thus support is also a form of magic used across the board. Curse is more misleading, the books I''ve read have suggested alternatives such as Target or Limit, the concept being that you can narrow the effect of the spell to strengthen it''s properties, say for instance you want to cast a spell on a entire battlefield but only want to target your enemies, by setting specific conditions that your enemy might unilaterally have such as skin colour, hair colour or eye colour the spell would exclude those who do not meet the requirements and only affect those who do. If a spell could be tuned perfectly to a specific individual it is said to become a curse, a permanent casting that can almost never be removed, a Dungeon Contract is a fine example of this.


    Elemental affinities include a variety of different categories, earth, water, wind, fire, nature, metal, death, light, shadow and the list goes on and on. Most tantalising, there were six magics said to be of the ''divine category'' from which it is said that all magic has been spawned: Space, Time, Soul, Gravity, Creation and Metamorphosis. Space and Time are relatively self explanatory, Soul is about manipulating spiritual elements, Gravity the attractive and repulsive force between objects, Creation Inorganic matter and Metamorphosis organic matter. These were said to be the magic of the gods, a watered down version was fed to the people of this plane and others. Dungeons were said to be the creation of the gods, to be more specific a god. A god who collects no prayers, has no followers, or at least none who he answers to nor answers to him, and thus far has not once been known to directly contact someone only leaving behind indirect messages. Strange. Moving on.


    The Dark Continent, the Demon lord''s territory, originally a disjointed mixture of demi-human races, undead and demon touched, but now? Now thanks to Leviathan all the information coming out of it is being cut off we know nothing about now.


    I put the books back where I found them for another night and move on with my spying. This City''s dungeon had many gods and many churches dedicated to those gods, Ratatoskr the God Messengers, Mab Goddess of the Small Things That Dwell in Shadows and there were others in this block dedicated to the churches. For now my priority is acquiring a list of these deities names, what blessings they can give and get the information back to the Keeper''s dungeon. Next was the Black Smith''s, in comparison to the three girls weapons the workmanship was about the same, but the materials were of a higher quality, and no wonder, dwarfs. Dwarfs as far as the eye can see crisscrossed this district.


    I allowed my feeling of being generally impressed to set in before I moved onto the investigation into the Merchant''s union where to my surprise I found more evolved, demi-humans this time. Raising a Demi-human through evolution is harder than one might think. It isn''t just about taking an animal out onto the battlefield and having them slay monsters, evolution rarely provides something that wasn''t there to begin with merely grows and expands on it. Yes Apas had Echidna''s blessing, but she already had master''s infrequent possession of her slowly drawing out and enhancing her intellect. It''s much harder to raise an animal''s intelligence via ''proper methods'' thus it is a surprise to see so many Centaur''s gathered here already, yet as my memory serves me horses are among the easiest to level on the battlefield. For a mount, the rider is treated as a weapon, their kills and power gained shared. The ones he saw here were being used to haul carriages, which sharply clashes with his memories.


    The Centaur''s of yore were treated as knight families themselves, each one of them carefully cultivated and bred as you would a prise stallion, they weren''t common fodder to haul goods around. What exactly happened with this city? The Adventurer''s guild and the bank would be my final stops, for tonight I had to investigate the castle, the entrance to the dungeon.


    [You have Entered the Dungeon of Lithilas]


    I felt an indescribable pressure from the statues, like the power of the divine itself was bearing down on me, I shot forward as fast as I could move myself.


    "Well now isn''t this a surprise." I screeched to a halt in front of the first floor''s boss, a Squirrel of all creatures, The Messenger God Ratatoskr, or one of his kin. "And Here I thought that the Keeper would still be busy in whatever world he found himself in."


    "Greetings Messenger." My time in the library bore many fruits indeed, the power to directly relay my thoughts and intentions in the form of words. "I am the Keeper''s fourth floor boss, the Artefact Spirit Legion Leonaidas. I have come to your city riding in the loot bag of an adventurer, attempting to discern the guild''s intentions towards my master."


    "Yes I heard about the raid. My own lord has had his monsters express their disapproval." The Squirrel stated crossing his fore limbs and tapping a foot. "My Lord has long since admired the Adventurers for their wanderlust. The point is moot anyway, seeing the dungeons that connect to ''Helheim'' as well. It is a wonder then when Adventurers became afraid to go to new places?" The Squirrel questioned no one in particular. "But to answer your question, the adventurers are not under My lord''s control."


    Which made sense to a degree. The Adventurer Guilds are less of an organised force and more of a loose knit alliance of thugs. My mind wandered back to memories not my own, when the kingdom has a threat they need to deal with they send the army, or if that''s over kill parts of it. ''Adventurers'' are little more than common thugs, violent idiots that if left to their own devices would run around causing no end of trouble and so have been organised into something useful, a massive hoard of disposable fools to toss into unknowns like dungeons and see what happens.


    The mana in the floor swirled and coalesced like a new monster was being formed but I didn''t sense the approach of life. Yet a figure appeared, not a monster but a human, a lithe adventurer walked forward dressed in loose clothes and light armour a sword hanging at his waist. The Dungeon Avatar. Not even the master''s form was this well defined, and he skipped several steps by integrating an amorphous monster into himself. People told legends about this one ''the Lone Adventurer'' a wounded warrior in the depths of the dungeon, always just ahead of the Adventurers progress, asking them about the dungeon, it''s monsters or it''s puzzles. It left the implications that there are people indirectly responsible for a lot of people getting hurt.


    "What do you know about how the Keeper''s doing?" The Young man asked looking at me suspiciously.


    "Lord Lithilas." I tilted my body forward in an approximation of a bow. "Last that I knew, the Master has regained control of his body after the Giant Slayer and his cohorts conspired to expel him, sadly Lady Levi was defeated, but Lady Treyni finished her evolution in time to protect the master. The Giant Slayer was contracted and sent here to attempt to find information on the dark continent. Finally Lady Apas seems to be pregnant with the Master''s child!" A cool breeze blew through the halls of the dungeon unto which Leonaidas''s enthusiasm immediately died. The Dungeon Avatar raised his mana constructed hand to his face and let out a sigh.


    "So that I understand this clearly, a monster, somehow fused directly into a Dungeon Heart, has managed to knock up one of its own contracted monsters?" Lord Lithilas''s Avatar asked face twitching as he processed the implications.


    "Quite Correct." I replied confused by what should be by all accounts a joyous occasion. "Your Master is a sorcerer''s wet dream you know that right?" Lord Lithilas stated as he let out a sigh. "We''re going to Keeper''s dungeon. Is there Anything else you need to get while you''re here?"


    "I was going to investigate the bank and pick up one of the latest generation Bags of Holding." The ones that connect two separate spaces as opposed to the ones that the master uses which are bigger on the inside than the outside. "The Master seems fond of finding ways to weaponize them."


    The Avatar gestured with his hand and one of the bags in question appeared next to him.


    "The bank vault is part of one of my floors. Now let''s go."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    [You Are Being Raided By Lithilas]


    Somehow I don''t think that is quite the right word. Still the little Squirrel was a thankful sight on the eve of war, I''d like a veteran''s opinion on how the other dungeons are doing. But first: what''s up with the sack?


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


    "Your ring tells me you do horrifying things with the first generation bag of holding and he''s now wondering if you will continue to do so with the others."


    My Ring? To my surprise the Squirrel spat something out of his cheeks, which then floated up above him dripping slobber, a insignia ring. Leonaidas is that you?


    "Quite. My efforts to infiltrate the adventurer''s base of operations was quite fruitful. I have an extensive amount of information about different dungeons, gods that can or should be contracted and various potentially useful magics. Additionally-" Leonaidas did a loop around the bag. "-this an latest generation Bag of Holding."


    The ones that connect to different bank vaults?


    "Quite. Lithilas has one inside of his dungeon." You have brought me a portal that connects to another place inside of a different dungeon?


    "What are you scheming now?" Lithilas''s squirrel body took a step back.


    Which is understandable considering I was the guy who nearly broke the system eating Leviathan. Loop Hole Abuse. I could hear the Squirrel groaning from down there. I took Squirrel Lithilas with me as we entered Helheim where the other cores were waiting around. A glowing cocoon of evolution slammed into Solarius''s familiar form once again squashing her. Off to the side several cocoons had already been prepared, inside each of them was a different monster who had taken turns pushing boulders off the top of the tower. The Boulders were ingenious in their simplicity. One of my Skeleton Hands sealed inside of a boulder of Marble, pushed off the ledge of the top of the tower by a group of dungeon monsters with the intention of slamming it into Solarius''s body. The Quetzal''s spawn point was again wrapped in silks by my group of spider monsters as she reappeared trapped inside of it. The Effect of Giant Killer kicks in and applies its XP multiplier before dividing it up between myself, the hand and the monsters who pushed the rock and their dungeon. Alright that''s enough for group H for now. I grabbed the evolution cocoon before it could beam Solarius again.


    "You insolent whelp! I am a Godkin! How dare you treat me in this manner!"


    Group I get into position with a new boulder. The Squirrel looked at the as if his brain had stopped working.


    "What in the name of all that is sane are you doing?" Lithilas asked once his brain rebooted. I am taking broken malfunctioning monsters barely able to function properly and I am making them not suck! The fastest way to do that is to wring them through a few lines of evolution, so I set up an operation to abuse the tools I have been given with reckless abandon.


    "And abusing the Sun God''s kin in the process." The Nyarl, whom I had taken to calling Merlin, noted as he sat on the Genmu''s back reading from a book. Do I hear volunteers to aid in the process? "I am but a humble Nyarl, lacking experience and so choose to defer to the wisdom of my elders."


    Good lad.


    "Exactly what kinds of horrors have you been breeding in this place?" Lithilas asked as he started sizing up the cocoons and the two high ranked monsters casually hanging out. They didn''t leave me a choice. This one used to be a big tumour made out of turtle shell and snake meat. Those little undead birds over there were skeleton chickens. And this big huge Cocoon used to be a Spikey.


    "The Heck''s a Spikey?" Thank you for making my point for me! On that note the cocoon we were talking about popped. Ah she''s done cooking.


    [C Rank Monster Taraboon-A twisted Chimera of Ape and Spider, from the front it resembles a giant six limb baboon with four eyes, but from the back it looks like a giant four eyed Tarantula, though it has two heads it only has one brain and personality unlike certain other problematic monsters]


    The System was starting to get snarky about all the creatures I''ve been making it seems. He wouldn''t be the first double head I''ve had to deal with today. We watched as the giant monkey like creature unfolded, it''s two heads looking around at it''s surroundings, the Spider''s front legs resembling giant scythes while both sides were brightly decorated with blood red markings like a baboon. I caught my own spiders looking at the creature enviously. I only have one question though. Which end does the dung come out of? I watched the spider head shoot of length of silk which it then skilfully manipulated until it resembled a tail swaying side to side. Huh. Good to know, go back to your own floor and wait for further instructions. The Taraboon nodded as he climbed onto the platform above and shuffled up the floors from the outside.


    "How many times have you done this?" Lithilas asked looking at me concerned.


    I have no idea, I just give the boulders to Archie and let him figure out what to do with them. Most of the cores probably have enough points to breach back into the mortal plain by now, except for Solarius''s creator here, to be fair she might be able to do something with Giant Killer if I let her take a shot at one of the other B Ranks. But that is a moot point. Lithilas tell me, can these bags of holding transport living beings. Lithilas pondered the question for a moment.


    "People stick their hands through to pull out whatever is on the other side, so if they couldn''t there would be a problem. There is however the issue of sending through anything big enough to be useful." Lithilas stated as he saw me forming my evil plan.


    Perfect! Now I just need to talk to Graves and we can launch our assault on Lucifer''s dungeons. And then the ground picked that time to start shaking, I could feel someone poking at me in the Chat Room, which probably means...


    The Zombie came running out of Grave''s dungoeon.


    "Keeper, we have a problem!"


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    [Mission: Consume one hundred Hel alligned cores 100/100]


    Finally. I should probably thank the Keeper when this is all over, I wouldn''t have access to so many cores to eat if he didn''t decide to crack open so many dungeons with that little artificial meteor of his, and I got a little something extra out of it too. Tch. No still gonna eat him.


    [Breach in Progress]


    Even though it says that, in reality old Lucifer is just punching open a hole that was clogged up once already, this wasn''t tearing a hole through reality, this was popping the cork. Luckily I still had that bloody bag the Keeper threw at me, one that I was now positioning the impending breach directly under. Partially dissolve the bag so that it''ll expel its contents into the other side once it''s through and... done. The Bag fell through the breach I created and was spat out the other side, it''s damaged and partially dissolved form rapidly deteriorated and the bag explosively released all of it''s contents at once. Suddenly a massive mountain was released into the mortal plane, and I entered my new dungeon.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I observed through my drilled eye holes the massive mountain that had just appeared in the bay of the dungeon. I recognised the stone even though I''ve never seen it before, a massive stone sphere that I created using mana, how did it get here though? I also look through the drilled eyes of the Tower in Helheim, and saw several blocks of stone reconfiguring themselves back into a familiar stone ship.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I don''t have any other artificial meteors to through at him, even if I did based on what I''m looking at on my side I don''t think it''s a good idea]


    The Giant stone egg started to crack, it''s pieces falling away to reveal several metal constructs, in the shape of ships. Lovely, Leviathan just breached back into reality again and I have no exploits to telefrag him again. Fire? No that won''t work either, by the looks of things he''s rebuilt his fleet from the ground up for fire proofing. I may have to take extreme measures to save myself.


    "What kinds of extreme measures?" Lithilas asked looking concerned.


    Discard three quarters of my body extreme.


    I started by dissolving the bag of holding, learning the intricacies of its magic and how I could duplicate them or twist them to suit my needs. I see. I need to get into touch with Charles and start- I watched several spears of flame hit the ships closest to land. Looks like he already figured it out. Thing! Treyni! Time to go on the offensive! Thing''s arms bent around to take aim at Leviathan with open palms, Treyni''s trees released several spells at once releasing a shimmering aura to restrain the ships even as more of the stone fell away from them and the ships themselves started to drift into the ocean. I already felt the people from the town flooding into my fourth floor. Leonaidas, I need you to go down to the Fourth floor and Evacuate everyone into the first as fast as possible.


    "At once!" The ring immediately zipped off to the fourth floor.


    "So you were serious about having to shed off three of your floors?" Lithilas asked sounding suspicious. Corr-Augh! I felt something tugging at me. Levi''s Soul? My Chimera slime was still in the process of reviving, but originally the souls that would fuse together to become hers were Leviathan''s contracts, by the sounds of things he was trying to get them back. Archie! I need you to prepare for Leviathan''s raid!


    "Leviathan can''t raid you with me here." Lithilas stated bluntly. "Two parties can''t raid the same dungeon, not unless I give my permission and we become the same party. But it also means that you can''t raid him."


    Leviathan held firmly in place by Treyni''s debuffs, I had Thing open fire on the enemy ships with his rail guns. I''m fine with that arrangement. I focused on the branches connecting Thing to Treyni, I didn''t need much to make this work in theory, a Small tunnel would be enough. I built from both sides, a small tunnel of Treyni''s branches and Thing''s bones, lining the inside of the tunnel was the bag of holding that Lithilas had given to me connecting the two ends of the hallway together in a portal.


    "Are you planning to-?"


    Thing wouldn''t be able to move very well like this, he needed legs. Archie, Saphee I need you two to prepare a means of locomotion for Thing, legs preferably. Luckily, the magic from my dungeon has been seeping into the city for months. In theory we should be able to reconfigure the Marble into Legs with a great deal of ease.


    In the streets below people were being evacuated while others fought. Charles was leading the counter attack as he slammed spears of fire into the metal plates of the emerging ships while lightning cackled through the air.


    "Fire isn''t working as well as it used to, prepare to-" Then the sky opened up. The clouds circled above and lightning charged the sky. A god of Storms. Leviathan was regrowing his existing ships, but they weren''t the same as before, he might not be contracting the same gods that he use to, or their boons are different. The Lightning from Keeper''s rail guns was absorbed into the storm.


    "What do we do?" The Tidecaller stated using a staff for support.


    "What can we do? Evacuate the rest of the city, my people and yours." Charles stated letting out a sigh. "The City is lost."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    [Mission: Kill the Dungeon Keeper]


    [Mission: Kill the Dungeon Keeper]


    [Mission: Kill the Dungeon Keeper]


    My Gods of Water had not forgotten the embarrassment of having their domains stolen, they couldn''t get back at Hades and Oceanus, but they could give me tailor made blessings for killing Keeper. Ah well. It''s just a thirty for one deal anyway. I was almost free of the stone anyway, but I had run out of space to regrow my ships. No matter, I heard Lucifer cackling in the back of my mind as he released his freezing cold across the bay and the water froze solid. I love that guy. I hollowed out the ice and let the shells of my ships take form. Suddenly I felt the ground shaking. Where were my contracted monsters they should''ve been respawned by now? I can''t look at what is happening outside with my own eyes. I focused my attention on my reforming Gargoyles. They''d do.


    Through the eyes of Charybis''s gargoyle I saw the mountain had changed form, like a giant boney skeleton had formed around a tree in the middle of it, that bastard Dungeon Keeper''s doing no doubt. The mages of the city were continuously bouncing their pitiful attacks off of my hull, I let them. That''s Mythril you fools, thanks to that blasted volcano shooting it at me in molten form I''ve got plenty. The buildings of the budding dungeon city formed three legs as the entire thing was lifted into the air, the bolts of lightning discarded as the undead trampled over the forest to get away. As I questioned what was going on I saw a tree where the mountain used to be. A Tree that was doubtlessly grown from my ships when this bastard somehow transported his dungeon on top of me. I am going to rip that tree out of the ground and use it as kindling! Several spears emerged from the sides of my ships aimed at the enemy dungeon.


    Fire!


    The Spears in question were fired out of the ships and harpooned themselves onto the tree. Now as soon as my Vassals reappear I can begin to- Suddenly a massive armoured fish like creature jumped out of the water and clamped down with it''s jaws resembling some kind of rainbow material on the chains and bit them apart. I felt a connection to the creature as I realised where my Vassals had gone. Obey me you third rate-


    "No!"


    The creature swelled like a puffer fish and slammed water into my hull, and I felt the water freezing inside of me, then boil, then freeze. So it was attacking the structural integrity of my hull. Very well. I will retreat for now Keeper, but before I do, I will leave behind a parting gift for your monsters that you stole from me. Enjoy. And then I heard the enemy dungeon scream.

 Path

    So good news: Leviathan has left.


    Bad News: as far as I can tell he was winning so this makes no sense for him.


    Worst news: Levi was sick. What was she sick with? I don''t know, but I get the feeling that it has something to do with Leviathan. So I called a meeting with the various brains of my proverbial operation. Lithilas had to leave less he spawn a mana dead zone, Thing had retreated away from my dungeon thanks to the bag of holding but we all generally agreed that he would have to go back eventually.


    "You have all been called here because the master believes that we are the most knowledgeable about magic and war within his domain." Archie was speaking on my behalf, the Fire Frost Fiend was still hours away from revival but this was an emergency.


    "Commander Charles, Professor Barnabus, Apprentice Grim, Tidecaller allow me to first introduce the newcomers." Archie gestured to each of the individuals in question so as to cut down confusion for the newcomers. "First, Re-introducing the boss of the Fourth Floor, Leonaidas." The girls finished fixing up his armour so my fourth floor boss was able to project the dignified image of a mighty warrior general. "He has recently had opportunity to study a large amount of lore of magic and different dungeons, so it is hoped that he can provide some valuable insight on our situation. This is Merlin, a Nyarl, one of the monsters spawned by the Hel Cores." The Creature that I still wasn''t sure about what he was or where he had come from nodded his head. "He has been claimed as kin by the God of Lost and Forbidden Knowledge so he may be able to come up with solutions we can''t." Barnabus looked like he was going to act but Grim pulled him back down before he did anything too rash. "Apas has sadly gone into labour, for this reason both she and Saphee won''t be able to attend the meeting. With this there are several matters that must be discussed in short order. To begin with, Levi."


    "The working theory is that Leviathan has attacked them through their remaining soul link." Grim piped up as he held up a diagram showing what happened. "With access to one of the Demonic gods we theorise that Leviathan could have flooded the link between him and Levi with his corrupting influence."


    "That wouldn''t have been severed when Leviathan died?" Archie asked on my behalf.


    "Yes. As the ground work to re-establish it would''ve begun when he was brought back into this world."


    Fantastic.


    "But what is it doing to her?" Archie asked on my behalf.


    "Each of the Demon Lords have power associated with their respective ''Circle'' Asmodeus is Lust, Fenrir Gluttony, Pluto Greed." Grim stated waving his hand along to pass on the facts.


    And Lucifer is Treachery.


    "Is Levi going to betray us then?" Archie''s grip on his staff tightened.


    "More accurately her connection to the dungeon is going to be forcibly severed. I am more concerned that she is actively being torn apart on a spiritual level." Grim stated as he held his chin in his hands. "Well, if Levi''s connection to you is broken then she''ll fall into Lucifer''s hands. At the very least we won''t have to worry about her being turned against us, unless Leviathan cancels all but one of her contracts her soul is going to be ripped apart anyway." That doesn''t make me feel better. "What we require is a way to cleanse the foreign influence from her body, preferably with a water god opposed to Lucifer." Grim stated holding his chin. Great. I felt someone poking at the back of my mind. Oceanus?


    "Oceanus seems to be contacting us with an idea, however speaking to him will remove the master from the negotiation table. Thus we shall wait until all matters have been discussed." The others nodded, and that was as good a time as any to touch upon the next subject.


    "Leviathan''s speed during his retreat makes no sense, especially without his contracted monsters." Despite metal''s tendency to sink, it was possible to build a buoyant vessel with it. The issue here laid in the fact that it was too heavy, even magical metal like Mythril. The issue here laid in propulsion then, which was the sea monster''s job before I smush them together to form Levi.


    "We should also assume that Leviathan has picked up some more new tricks while he was in Cocytus." Charles followed up as well.


    "From the other cores that he ate?" Archie asked cocking a brow.


    "Or from Lucifer''s other dungeons, or from interacting with our own mad genius here. The trick you pulled with the bag of holding would make using his ships much easier and those bags are pretty common." Leviathan''s ships have to constantly be in the same formation so that they don''t break off the tunnels connecting them together. They might not have to if it can copy my bag of holding idea with Thing. "The most important thing we need to know right now is what Leviathan is doing." And thus the Tidecaller coughed, not from her mana poisoning disease that flares up whenever she''s out of the dungeon, but to get people''s attention.


    "We''ve scry Leviathan." The Tidecaller stated as she produced a magical illusion. Even though she made it sound so fancy, in reality they just used water to create a upgraded telescope. "The conclusion is not good."


    Grim Told me before, that building more floors builds on the potential complexity of the earlier ones, that right now my dungeon could be thought of as ''five times five'' then Leviathan had the potential for ''One hundred times One hundred.'' No it was even more than a hundred because he had at least one breach under his belt. Leviathan had sunk his own ships beneath the water and trapped them inside of a massive ice field. Leviathan doesn''t need to raid settlements for ships any more, he can grow his own floors like a normal dungeon now. We could see one of the ships being rapidly broken down, the space inside rapidly expanding like a tumour as the ship in question was replaced by a much larger and bigger ship. A boat is big enough to carry a person, a ship is big enough to carry a boat, Leviathan''s new floors were to his old floors as ships are to boats. If I had to think of a reason for the massive increase in size, the guts of a rail gun had I seen starting to form was a pretty good indication.


    "Leviathan is currently working on becoming a significantly greater threat than what he was before." The Tide Caller concluded. First he had dealt with his previous weakness to fire, now he was increasing his bulk and had started to arm himself for long range battle, even worst than that the system itself has patched my previous strategy to deal with him. Lovely. "Before the Master goes to contact Oceanus are there any other matters that require discussion?" The various people shook their heads in the negative. Fantastic. I tugged on the thread of Oceanus''s messaging and in lieu of having my consciousness dragged off for a conversation I instead got one of my own Schema''s brought up.


    [F Rank Schema Water Egg-The Egg of a water type creature, can take up to 5 years to hatch but can be accelerated with evolution or an incubator]


    I thought about it a minute, so Oceanus wants me to create a scenario in which he can introduce a new monster to my dungeon to either Kill Leviathan again or save Levi? And what was if the shorter time than my base egg? ''It won''t take as long because there''s less potential to sort through than a base egg?'' Maybe.


    "The Master and myself will be busy for a few moments while we work. We ask that you leave the floor so that we can complete work on the creation process." Charles nodded and left with the others.


    Right then, Archie I need you to set something up for me. It was cruel to utilise a Demi-human for this, but I had no problem using the remains of a high ranking monster to do what I needed to. The strongest and most suitable I could create right now was the Croc, a D-rank if memory serves, so with Giant Slayer that''s... 4096 points. I created the Water Egg and looked at the evolution requirements.


    [0/10000]


    I can work with that. I created the Croc''s bones first, then the block of limestone around it, and an egg holder to go on top. I had Archie form the connection between the egg and the block, and with that done I proceeded with the reanimation and suffocation cycle. And it wasn''t long until a new message appeared.


    [Your Egg has maxed out its requirements for evolution and now you have been left with a choice on whether you want to have it evolve into] This sounded promising. [You can have the egg immediately become a fully grown adult of a low ranking with it''s potential for further growth crippled, or you can have it hatch as the infantile version of a high ranking monster]


    Sounds intriguing, but I don''t know how useful a infant is going to be.


    [Notice: Thanks to the Inter-mediation of Oceanus one of the Higher Ranking Gods of Water, Mizuchi, has offered to claim your egg as his kin]


    Mizuchi? Isn''t he one of the gods that was working with Leviathan that we snatched the Domain of? Even with Oceanus working to convince him why would he want to help us?


    "Mizuchi, also known as the river god, is said to be the god of Prosperity and Disaster." Leonaidas piped up, putting the knowledge he picked up from his spying to good use. "He originates from the dark continent, supposedly from a rather massive river that people built their settlements near. Part of the river can be harvested to grow crops." Hence Prosperity. "The other part though tends to lead to flooding." Hence Disaster.


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    So the god''s two faced and that''s why he would agree to help us? But how does any of that help us?


    "The Region that he''s native to is known for it''s purifying rites, removing unwanted elements from something else." Leonaidas replied helpfully.


    Purifying? I thought back to that annoying holy fire blessing they shoved into the first floor. Whatever, if it''ll turn Levi back to normal I have no problem with it, we still have to worry about... severing... hey Leonaidas. Do you think we can separate Leviathan from Levi the same way he''s trying to separate her from us?


    "Probably, if we could gain control over the..." Leonaidas looked down at the water Egg. "Oh." Well that settles it.


    [You have chosen to hatch this monster into an infantile form Please keep in mind that until this creature has become an ''adult'' it won''t reach it''s full rank]


    That''s fine, as long as they can do what we need them to that''ll work. The Egg was briefly consumed by the cocoon of evolution and from it emerged what at first glance looked like two serpents, however in reality they were one serpentine body with a head attached to either side.


    [F/B Rank Monster Ryu-A powerful dragon who lives inside of rivers who has been claimed as Kin by the God of Fortune and Disaster Mizuchi, able to easily manipulate and remove different foreign energies]


    I directly entered the two headed creature''s body and had Archie carry us into the portal that led to the third floor. I was concerned about Treyni too, but it seems that unlike Levi whose souls originated as contracts to Leviathan Treyni had properly eaten and disposed of the souls of Leviathan''s boss monsters. Her discomfort seemed to come as overflow from Levi, her roots were in her water after all. I entered Levi''s body with a chill, an active feeling of malice crawling up my spine, I panned around and felt the corruption from Leviathan. Felt it, gathered it together, sent it back where it belonged through the links. The... essence of treachery I guess? Built up from both sides until finally the link with Leviathan snapped. Afterwards I separated myself from the little guy.


    Guess I should give him a name eh? Hmm... Koi, you are Koi!


    The Little two headed snake yawned as he received the name I gave him.


    Levi are you okay?


    "I''m better now." Levi stated as she let out a sigh. Right.


    Lemme know if Leviathan tries anything else.


    "I can do that." Levi stated as she breathed out a sigh.


    In the mean time I''m going to make a minor alteration to the floor Levi. I repeated the feat of lining the root leading into Levi''s body with the third gen bags of holding before deconnecting Levi''s half into her body. There, now you can leave if I need you to Levi.


    "What happened while I was out?" I returned to the first floor as I entered the Chat Room. Let''s see if my idea works out.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Graves I have something for you~!]


    [Ouroboros: Oh look at that I have to go make a boss for my 63rd floor now]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Save it]


    The 3rd Gen Bags of holding work off of sympathetic magic, I think that''s what it called? Anyway the point is that for the link to work They have to be cut from the same magical cloth, which thankfully I can make now that I''ve thoroughly dissected the Third Gen bag. I make a tube out of the cloth, big enough for most of the monsters in the tunnel to go through, and I cut it in half before putting one half into my inventory.


    [You have gifted Ouroboros a Sub Space Tunnel half]


    [Ouroboros: What am I supposed to do with this?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Pick a floor and install it] And after a few moments...


    [You have crossed over with the Dungeon Ouroboros]


    Success!


    [Ouroboros: Why do I listen to you?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Because now we can manufacture a infinite number of monsters to send through you into the enemy dungeons as soon as you land on them and punch a hole inside of them, and I know exactly who I wanna start with]


    [Ouroboros: The Wolf''s Den?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Leviathan! That butt pain is breathing down my Neck and I don''t want to have to deal with what ever crazy junk that he''s brewing in there while at the same time having to liberate the other dungeons from Lucifer, now I''m gonna get the other cores rallied and you''re gonna get ready to leave on my mark]


    The work I had gotten done was time consuming, and with a swirl of mana my Fire Frost Fiend body came back into existence.


    "Alright everyone! Time to get your butts together! We''re all going on a raid!" In a few short moments many strange creatures had been gathered before my sub space tunnel that was connecting me and Graves together. "With the generous aid of Dungeon City Lithilas I and the Dungeon of Ouroboros have created a passage connecting us together, with the intention that you all will use it. The plan is simple, we will continuously manufacture reinforcements and send them through this passage way into our ally and from there, we will drown the enemy dungeons in a tide of bodies!" The various monsters assembled before me all proceeded to cheer, most of them being C to B rank probably had that effect. "Now y''all should be familiar with my own boss Leonaidas by now correct?" Leonaidas walked in, backed by dozens of his bounded poltergeists floating in behind him. "Now Leo''s job is to provide the magical energy to maintain this connection. But you don''t need to worry, you''ll have lots of bosses from Graves Dungeon to help you out. He''s already told me that he has 62 of them up to his high standards already."


    So I let them flood through the tunnel as Graves flew off to conduct his end of the plan. As for me? Well I wonder if Charles wants in on this action?


    <hr>


    At times I understand that the Keeper is a step above in his own way. He''s figured out a way to generate enough mana to sustain fifty single floor dungeons, from what he understood one of them had even been given permission by Hel to breach back into the mortal plane so his mana regeneration would soon go up even more. That is nothing in comparison to what he''ll get once all these things have managed to reverse their breaches. But first he has to get to the icy bastard, cause Leviathan has catapults and he isn''t afraid to toss things at me. Well two can play that game, cause I have boulders and I''m not afraid to drop them. I spat several boulders out of my draconic mouth at the bloody pirate, from this height they were falling at terminal velocity while I was two high up for Leviathan''s own ice boulders to hit me. But how do I get closer? Suddenly I could feel it, someone else had just entered my body through the sub space tunnel, not a monster though, a delver. Suddenly I felt my jaws being forced open as a figure walked across the floor of my mouth.


    "Ice? What a reasonable building material. Unlike the other ones fire should work quite well here." Suddenly I felt the storm that I had been riding on shift. The ice and snow just dropped as I felt my body drop, and in place of the storm I saw several spears of flame form before being shot down and skewering the monsters that were dragging the ship below, and more hitting the ship directly resulting in a series of explosions. "That should incapacitate that bastard. Now to go sink the ship!"


    You must be one of Keeper''s people. Didn''t he mention something about a mage who had dedicated himself to smashing Leviathan?


    "Alright folks let''s head inside!"


    Great, another wack-job.


    The closer we got the more accurate this Charles got with his strikes, picking off the anti air defences and blowing off increasingly larger chunks of the ship in the process. To my surprise this Charles didn''t enter the ship first, instead he allowed others like the Wendigo Troll and the Genmu to enter first, and I got a reasonable idea as to why soon after. Lucifer''s blessing for Leviathan has frozen the entire floor solid, anything that enters and isn''t prepared to deal with the blistering freezing cold is going to get frozen instantly, leaving us with only handful of monsters able to deal with this.


    "Unfortunately, not made out of ice, more metal." The bane of his very existence it would seem. He could melt it after long enough in theory, with enough magical energy. "Ah well." Charles just put his hands together and let out a loud crack as he got to work. "I''ve got time to kill." He was really enjoying making the bloody ship suffer it would seem.


    Charles continued to convert the kinetic energy from the raging blizzard into pure heat, not fire. It wasn''t hot enough to make the air catch fire just warm up the other side, which theoretically wasn''t that difficult considering the ''freeze the nuts off of a brass monkey'' temperatures but he was trying to work against the power of a god. What I''m saying here is he might need help.


    OI! Which one of you knows how to cast fire magic!?


    The monsters looked between one another before turning their attention to Solarius, and then the Taraboon pushed her forward out of my mouth. The Snake bird woman froze instantly, well reptiles shouldn''t do well in the cold. Which one of you can use ice to defrost her?


    The Genmu mosied over and used his snake tail to shake all of the ice off of the monster in question.


    "Th-Thanks!" Solarius replied while she was shivering.


    "Not a problem milady!" The Snake head replied bowing.


    "Pervert." The Turtle head sounded off and the snake''s eyes visibly twitched. The Two heads proceeded to try and wrestle and kill each other. Then Solarius was frozen again.


    "Puny snake!" The undead Troll complained while he picked up Solarius around her waist and pointed her down the tunnel, the ice fell away, Solarius''s cheeks flushed, and then she proceeded to belch fire. "Oh yeah now that''s what I''m talking about!" Steam proceeded to rapidly pick up as all the ice from the environment rapidly melted away and was turned into steam before flooding the dungeon.


    One of you with an affinity for water, trap all the steam inside of the Floor!


    The extremely pale looking shark swished her hands around and all the steam was fixed in place, refusing to leave the ship that wasn''t air tight or sealed or anything of the like. Then from the steam the group heard the sound of slow clapping.


    "Well done." A figure emerged from the steam. He was rough cut, his shirt wide open revealing chest hair, his hair messy and uneven, his cheeks sallow and his limbs skinny like he hadn''t gotten enough food, he failed to fill out the large over coat that draped his body like he had taken it off of someone else and his cutlass hung on his belt unsheathed. Overall, he seemed to check every box possible for ''Pirate'' that you could possibly imagine. "I don''t get the opportunity to show off my Avatar too much, while you''re here tell me what you think about it?"


    Several of the core possessed monsters froze up, as if realising who was addressing them had triggered traumatic memories.


    "Leviathan." Both of Charles hands lit up with balls of fire as she shot them both forward. This was followed up by lightning, wind, jets of water, fire, all passing harmlessly through the Pirate''s body without a care in the world.


    "Now now, I just wanted to congratulate all of you for a job well done. Afterall you''ve belched some other deity''s blessing all over my floor, not to mention destroyed my ice ship." The more Leviathan spoke the more irritated he sounded, so it was probably only appropriate that he gave a sarcastic reward in return, a key appeared between his hands. "One down, 99 left to go~!"


    The pirate threw the key at the group''s feet and then dissolved away into mana as he turned around and re-entered the fog. On the other side they were greeted by a door, this door in turn had a hundred Key Holes in it. Dungeons had a lot of hard rules to them, among them being ''you may not block the path to your core'' you can put up doors, and you can give those doors key holes, so long as you also give it keys. 100 keys, one for every floor. Charles looked down at the key in his hand, then at the door unamused. The Pyromancer tossed the Key aside and proceeded to fire the door, then let it freeze again, then fired it again.


    "So are we going to sit here and let him have his temper tantrum or are we going to go look for the rest of these keys?" The Troll asked looking around at his would be group of companions.

 Knowledge

    The Skeleton Admiral, my highest ranking undead pirate, and the boss of my ninety ninth floor, every enemy cut down by his cursed cutlass is raised as a Death Champion under his control, and when they cut down a enemy they''re raised as Death Squires under their control, his dual flint locks possess limitless ammunition. Sadly I didn''t build my dungeon to defend from the breach, a flaw in my design that I will have to correct in the future. Nor was his curses effective at raising the already undead, another flaw I will have to take into account after killing this brute. Even without the special effects of his weapons my admiral was still able to cut down almost every one of the enemies to appear before him.


    B-Ranks receive their classification for their ability to fight entire armies, which usually means that they''re gifted with some kind of wide reaching Area of effect attack that lets them stretch for miles, in terms of close combat power this usually means that they''re not much a fighter, in the narrow corridors of a Dungeon this specialisation is crippling, and that was on fine display here. Even then? As soon as the fire users were cut down the blessing from the 100th floor meant that they would be frozen to death instantly so loot drops abounded. And then you have something with the unending endurance and stamina to chase down each and every individual member of the enemy forces and cut them down, and even worst he was not only a undead but also a Wendigo.


    "Why are you fighting me!?" I asked this through the hiss of my Admiral. "You''re supposed to be one of Lucifer''s!"


    "Shut up and Fight!" The Troll laughed as he ordered my Admiral to battle, swinging around the massive war hammer that he had been using since the battle had begun, and then my Admiral had been crushed to powder. The


    Genmu had a bag of holding on his back, which he was now using to pick up the loot drops that rightfully belonged to me!


    "We should wait until the others have respawned before we continue any further." The Turtle was smashed in his face by the Troll''s hammer. Having received his ''shut up and move'' notice the turtle snake collected the last of the loot lying on the ground, the cursed cutlass of my admiral. Then the troll entered the 99th floor proper, stepped on a nail which pierced his foot and hit a nerve in the exact wrong place that he would feel it and by the looks of things boy did it hurt!


    "OWWW!" Chernobog, God of Bad Things eat your heart out!


    "Right then. I''m going to go back to the dragon and escort the rest of the raid team here." The turtle still looked sore about the unjustified face hammering.


    "Feel free to join us when you''re done goofing off." The Snake head followed up with the bag in his mouth.


    And then the Troll responded with another scream of pain. The stubborn pyromancer was beginning to notice that the door wasn''t really going anywhere or refusing to bend or break, meaning that he would likely have to go back and rest for a while, and so naturally of the two of them along with the fire spitter had decided to leave my dungeon floor first, followed by the turtle. Their mistake. With No one on my hundredth floor left I channelled magical power and spewed the winds of hell out.


    Get off of my ship you blasted lizard!


    The winds howled, and the self proclaimed Ouroboros was pushed off of the remains of the ship that he helped destroy as the familiar feeling of a shift took place in my dungeon. Instancing, Bless Genmu''s heart the bloody turtle snake. Now that just left me the task of disposing of the traitorous troll rampaging in my halls...


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    [Dungeon Keeper: So Leviathan''s ship has been rebuilt?]


    [Ouroboros: From what I can tell yes, if I Had to guess the cause I would say instancing]


    I remember that one, it was the Blessing that Lithilas told us to get if it ever became available. Dungeons fighting against humans was like a man taking on a swarm of ants, individually the ants were weak, together though they could overwhelm the man. Then what''s the easiest way to deal with the ants? The answer was simple: divide the ants into individual but manageable groups and stomp on them, and that''s were instancing came into play, something about using time and space manipulating magic to overlap multiple parallel versions of the dungeon to tackle individual groups of adventurers.


    I think back to Leviathan''s rapidly expanding floors, he shouldn''t be getting expansions and blessings at the same time, unless he''s received permission from the gods he''s renting them out to in order to make changes. I can imagine what kind of job they''ve given him though. So then currently my previous plan of launching a two part siege on Leviathan is out of the question. And even worse than that the bastard is still trying to run away from me. Treyni has figured out how the bastard is moving around, though I''m not sure how he figured out this idea. He stuck a corkscrew into the water, a Corkscrew that until Treyni clogged it up with sea weed had been spinning around to propel him forward. If I had to guess the other side of the corkscrew has a gear poltergeist attached to it to make the thing spin, and from there propel the ship forward.


    The Bastard stole my idea for monsters after I used them to kill his Fallen Angels! Well that''s fine. Just terrific! Levi are you up to your full strength yet?


    "I am strong enough for this!"


    The Spatial Jellyfish is capable of flight, it was also one of the primary components of Levi''s body. With the Spatial corridor Levi was no longer anchored to my dungeon, so she could move freely, hence with a few adjustments she took the form of a giant Spatial Jelly fish and lifted the entire third floor of my dungeon, a mass that was equal in size to a few city blocks, into the air above Leviathan. Get away from my dungeon you pirate bastard! Levi dropped, turned into a Island Turtle in mid air, Leviathan''s storm blessing desperately attempted to push her away, but she slammed down on Leviathan anyway, breaking one of the Pirate Bastard''s ships in the process. Leviathan ripped his way out of Treyni''s sea weed bonds and ran away with his tail fin in between his legs. That said I''m not going to leave you be peacefully either.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    [High Ranking Administrator Dungeon Keeper has issued a Quest to All Dungeons: Leviathan has Returned]


    [The Pirate Bastard has breached back into this reality, you all can ignore this like it isn''t your problem, but I know that some of you can''t, so in the mean time I want those of you who can help to help the ones who can''t just run away, I''ve got tonnes of B-Rank Schema''s for all of you who participate, and the adamantine globe that has given me the number one spot on the administrator boards to the guys who can kill the Pirate bastard for good, have fun!]


    I looked down at the message that the Dungeon Keeper just posted across the world. Well, not having to put up with the punk was nice while it lasted. Ah well I think I''ll arrange a hello gift for my old sparring partner, a few volcanic eruptions should do it. Dungeon Keeper? Isn''t that the newbie that we got a message about to set up shop around? Whatever, getting a promotion in the admin ranks seems like a good way as any to kill time.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Curse you Leviathan! I should''ve known that Bastard Keeper would''ve half baked it.


    Quickly I had my iceberg begin to move for safer territory. If Keeper was the first one to find out about him then I''ll just go in the opposite direction for now. I need to regroup with Coral and Fort if the three of us are to stand a chance.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    [Ouroboros: That was a ballsy move you pulled there Keeper]


    [Ouroboros: Are you sure it''s wise to just put your admin right''s up for a bounty like this?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I don''t get anything for having high ranking admin privileges, besides I only give away my rights if someone else kills Leviathan before I do, and I have someone in mind for the job]


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Charles recruited priests to work on healing Levi''s soul damage, after a couple of days she''ll be back to full health in the mean time I talked with the other cores.


    "The long and the short of it, is that we seem to lack close quarters combat power. The only one who has been able to get anything done was that undead troll that was left behind. So we''re putting any plans to evolve new monsters on hold until we can increase our close quarters combat power." I explained to the hoard of possessed monsters that were gathered in front of me. "Anyone who knows how to use magic will follow me to learn from the mages from the city, everyone else stay put and train to fight." To my surprise Solarius was the first to approach me. "So finally ready to learn?"


    "It beats being used as a Power Farm." Solarius stated looking at me bitterly.


    "You have a can do attitude and I''m all for it!"


    So our dungeon workshop continued like that for a while as Leviathan left my dungeon in both this world and the next. I sincerely doubted that he was going to leave us alone permanently, only that he didn''t want to keep working on building himself up where I can see him. The Troll still wasn''t back yet though, which could mean that he''s massacring Leviathan''s forces, or it could mean that he''s been taken prisoner by now. All that I was certain about was that he wasn''t dead. For now, meagre as it might be, I began sharing my knowledge of magic with the other cores, or rather I had Leonaidas do it. I on the other hand had a pain in my brick-house walk into the town. I approached the town on horseback, the third that I''ve managed to burn through on my way over. I would prefer Silver but the Centaur was still being held hostage inside of the Dungeon''s revive system, one of many things that I would have to address.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I carried with me the fruits of my labours, expired as they may be. The blasted ring has already disappeared from my inventory, and I suspect I know why, and why all the books that no one has touched in over a century have all been spontaneously dusted off as well. I at least have the good sense to keep a promise after I''ve made a deal, I shouldn''t expect more from a dungeon that has managed to connect to the realm of Traitors. But his orders were clear, and it was out of his hands now. And even if the kill order was still on he would have fifty other cores that he''d have to go through to do it. He might be able to sever the connection to the realm if he can kill the Hel-Giant, but that was a temporary measure and I knew it.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    And it managed to just get worst in the mean time, because that giant skeleton stupidly standing off to the side there looks like the bone giant that made up the first floor, that giant tree looks like the second, and that looked like a bunch of war ships that were sailing away. Oh boy I cannot wait to hear about the explanation that they got for this. Surprisingly the city looked intact, considering the mountain that it was supposed to be built around had got up and walked away, even a cursory survey of the city revealed that what buildings had been destroyed were shot at from a distance based on the distribution of the rubble. Finally I found someone with answers.


    "Leviathan revived!?" I was astonished. Did that irresponsible dungeon not bother to dispose of the leftovers from that bastard after he killed him? I thought he was supposed to have eaten him in the process.


    "It was quite a surprise when it happened." The Scribe twirled his gauche mustache as he talked. "First a huge mountain suddenly appeared in the bay, and then it started to fall apart as various metal ships came out of it." Metal ships? Building a ship out of metal is possible, or so I''ve heard but I''m not a shipwright so I wouldn''t know, but what I do know is that they''re rare, Leviathan never had metal ships before meeting the Keeper.


    "For one thing, I''ve fulfilled my bargain with the Keeper." I stated as I chose to change the topic. I would be making a more detailed report once I knew the Keeper didn''t decide to eat any of the people I brought with me when I went to first demolish the dungeon. "I have what the Keeper wanted, now take me to wherever the blasted thing is located." The two of us took the elevator down to the fourth floor, at least that was still where it was supposed to be. A familiar figure appeared before me dressed in bronze, the ringlet armour was completed now, as was the helmet and both gauntlets, a spear was at it''s side with a red cloth resembling a flag attached to it. The Ring that made a fool out of me.


    "Imagine my surprise when I learned that all of the books on dungeons across the sea that haven''t been touched in over half a century didn''t have a single spec of dust on them." I stated as I glared at the I armour I knew was just a ring puppeting it around.


    "The master is busy Giant Slayer, what business brings you here?"


    "I''ve fulfilled my end of the bargain. Even though I suspect you did plenty of that yourself." I shook the storage ring on my hand and out was dumped maps, books and scrolls. All utterly useless to this Dungeon, now would he keep his end of the deal.


    "The spawn point for this floor is this way, I suggest you tell your friends not to cause anymore trouble." The ring led me down one of the corridors, where I was greeted by the sight of several unfamiliar figures.


    A Harpy with a lamia''s lower body and wearing the robes of a priestess. A usapi type Demi-human but with the antlers of an elk. A freaking cloak with a flat two dimensional eye floating in a mass of shadows. And those were just the ones I could wrap My head around.


    "Your taste in monsters has gotten more bizarre." I bluntly informed the core of my opinion concerning his new additions.


    "I thought I felt something unpleasant in my halls once more." The Keeper informed me, interrupting whatever he was doing with his new monsters. "Take five. I have to deal with this jerk." The fire entity rose to his feet with a jet of flame as the other monsters left for elsewhere. "I''ll have you know that they''re not my monsters. They come from the other cores that I connected to after breaching Helheim."


    Horror compounds upon horror. The fiery entity narrowed his eyes at me as if sensing my discomfort. With a wave of his arm my various people that he took captive appeared from the mana as if he had taken them out of storage.


    "Our demolition warrant has been rescinded, you are all to return to the city to await being transported away." Humiliation compounds humiliation, as one the crowd of centaurs, Demon and Dragon-kin all moved to leave, and I turned to leave with them.


    "Not you." The monster of fire and ice on the other hand moved to stop me and I gave a glare to let him know exactly what I thought about him. "I can sense your displeasure plain as day in here. What I don''t know is why that is." The Fire Frost Fiend began circling me, I circled him back.


    "You managed to teleport your dungeon using the Raid system into another dungeon as a means of attack. You turned your floors into monsters and gave them the ability to act independently of you. You had one of your bosses pretend to be a loot drop and smuggled it out of the dungeon, then managed to somehow smuggle it back ahead of me. You managed to subordinate at least fifty cores to yourself in another dimension making yourself practically invincible in the process. You somehow fused with a genie thus giving you the ability to leave your own dungeon. You somehow subverted and twisted the blessing of a god so that you could store people as you would an item. Now I find out that you''re teaching your new subordinates your own chaotic thought processes. A dungeon that it was thought that you killed has some how managed to come back to life and is now resuming its war path after a significant increase in strength. Worse of all I have no idea what else is going on inside of that head of yours." I outlined each of the achievements of the core, not those belonging to some ancient monster like Lithilas or Marrowind or even the Ring of Fire but rather a core barely reaching it''s first year of age.


    "You don''t like me because I''m efficient?" The Fiend asked as if my reasoning confused it.


    "I fear you because you''re chaos in the fiery flesh. I look at your Giant and I see cities trampled to ruin under it''s feet. I see the tree and I imagine nature itself revolting. I see the monster in the bay and I imagine the ocean ripped out from where it belongs and drowning continents. I see your spy masquerading as a soldier and I imagine entire states plundered of their secrets. I see the hole you punched into reality and I imagine countless others just like you spreading across this world like a massive flower of destruction. I see you and I see cities burning. You are an abomination, and I regret not having anyone there to bind you when I had the chance. Now I know better for next time, shackle the prisoner before he is executed." I raise my hands and gesture to myself as the fine example of the very point I was making. "See? Someone else who has become more dangerous just by knowing you." I watched the pseudo avatar glare at me.


    "I killed Leviathan." The Core boasted his victory like his latest screw up hadn''t reversed it.


    "Leviathan was a joke before he met you. He could''ve sent a tidal wave at the coast line and surfed it into the mainland in order to get to more dungeons but didn''t. Why? Because he was too busy pretending to be a pirate sailing the high seas and picking off coastal and underwater dungeons. That''s the thing about you souless abominations, you aren''t actually capable of making decisions on your own or come up with new ideas, you just work with whatever you absorb or whatever the System hands you. And now because of you not only is Leviathan full of brand new ideas, but he''s motivated to try and get revenge. But please do tell me about how well you''ve stopped him."


    I felt something shift, the floor or the dungeon itself it was hard to say.


    "You felt that? That''s Levi getting healed after the last round with Leviathan." The core explained while he pointed upwards. "As soon as she''s done she''s going into the ocean to start getting ready for the next round with Leviathan."


    "Leviathan''s doing the same thing, and he has a lot more resources than you do." I countered flawlessly.


    "I''m smarter." The Dungeon continued to apply its flawed logic.


    "And how has that worked out for you so far?" I retorted as we went over this again. "The thing about information? It''s cheap. It''s not like rock or water or plants so long as anyone understands how to do something then all they''d need is the right materials and they can sow havoc. I have to go and alert actual people that a newly elevated sea monster is on the loose so that they can stop trying to go out to sea." I turned around to leave only to be greeted by the sight of something that I honestly wasn''t expecting to see.


    [Dungeon Keeper is Requesting to Sever their contract with you]


    [Yes/No]


    "Since being a contracted is so obviously something that you hate then I see no reason that I should put up with you bad mouthing me for the rest of eternity." The Keeper had already turned around to leave. "So long as you understand that if any of you people come in here to smash or bind me again, I''m going to eat them. And then I''m going to find you."


    [Yes] I felt the contract sever, like a noose that was tied around my neck that was now cut loose. I have my own house I need to look after and he has his.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    [Contracted Beings 3/4]


    I had been wondering about that, it looks like the Helheim Level doesn''t add to my contracts count any.


    "We should''ve killed him." I''m not quite sure how Apas knows what a lap pillow is, only that she was giving me one.


    "He''ll serve his purpose for now, and if I ever have to look at him again I will." I explained as my knuckles rubbed Apas''s thigh. "For now we need to consider what we''re going to do about them." I looked off to the side, at three eggs glowing with the promise of magical power, mine and Apas.


    [F Rank Monster Sphinx Egg-A egg laid from the union of a sphinx and a mutated Ifrit, they promise to give birth to a powerful monster]


    "I''m given to understand that there''s three ways we can go about this." And I illustrated my point with three fingers in the air, before I lowered only two of them. "First we let them hatch naturally."


    "Which will take years." Apas countered my point ruthlessly. "And we''ll have to defend them from Leviathan and not to mention Jack."


    So that''s a no.


    "The second is that we use the incubator we created to hatch the dragons. That gives us two options." Holding up two of my fingers I continued with my explanation. "We immediately hatch them into adult monsters so that we don''t have to worry about them fending for themselves anymore, or we let them hatch as infants and raise them."


    "And Cripple their growth down the line." Apas closed her eyes as she pondered the situation in thought. "Truthfully, we don''t know what they would be born as in this scenario. I don''t doubt that they would be weaker than me, but that''s still a pretty broad definition." Apas closed her eyes in thought. "I''ve seen creatures who have surpassed me in power before I met you, not because of their intellect, but because of raw savage fury. The Ranks only consider our ability to threaten others. If born as adults our children will only be ''monsters that know nothing'' as opposed to ''beings who can learn.''"


    "So in other words we can''t make an informed decision yet." Saying that, I let out a sigh and stood up. "Alright. Lets go get ourselves informed shall we?" I paused for a moment, and laid back down on Apas.


    "What''s wrong?" My Sphinx sensed my hesitation.


    "Jack was right about one thing. It feels like there''s a lot of crazy stuff that has happened to and around me and I don''t know if I''m the cause or not. I do know for sure that we need to come up with a way of neutralising some dungeons though." Preferably without creating another absurdly powerful monster in the process. And without eating any other dungeons in the process. That was something I didn''t understand, everyone acted as if eating other dungeons was a normal thing to do, but for reasons I couldn''t explain I felt nothing but disgust at the idea. Was it my human mind being reviled at the idea of cannibalism? A thought occurred. Lithilas talked about eating dung as if it was normal. Do Dungeons even normally have a gag reflex? I get the feeling that Jewel wouldn''t like eating it either but that''s because of her sense of aesthetics.


    "Talk to the Dragon for ideas." Apas suggested shrugging her shoulders. "He''s been at this longer than you have, or failing that get a messenger sent to the city and ask the old man to come here again." Right. Talking to other more experienced dungeons might be just the thing I need. Nodding my head I sat up to leave again but was stopped by Apas''s paw. "You''ve been laying here on a pretty woman''s lap all this time and you''re not even going to do anything?" Apas asked giving me a pout.


    "Didn''t you just lay your eggs a couple of hours ago?" I tried to project a feeling of incredulous at Apas.


    "Meaning that I''m both stressed out and know that it''s a safe day." Apas replied as if her logic was completely infallible. Well we''ve got time to kill anyway.

 One Down

    The Dungeon had offered an opportunity for an experiment. He needed to see how much he could influence an egg born outside of his dungeon. It was only natural, after all dungeons spread their influence around plenty. I couldn''t even say that he was the most aggressive of such beings in that regard, at least the Keeper hadn''t made his dungeon into a brothel.


    "You have three blessings. Aziraphale, Hephaestus and Echidna." I informed the fiery entity the Dungeon had claimed as his avatar.


    "Professor Phalanges, I have four, and while I used to have a floor dedicated to Echidna I don''t at the moment." The Fiery entity explained having clearly misunderstood my statement.


    "You misunderstand good sir. Your body specifically has the blessings of Aziraphale, Hephaestus and Echidna. This mutated Ifrit is far different from your floors." I explained hoping that I had clarified the situation somewhat, which I assumed I had based on how the entity was now pacing about. Actually pacing too! If he was just borrowing the Ifrit''s instincts for locomotion he would instead be floating along instead of walking back and forth.


    "Echidna I can understand, she was the one who taught me the summoning circle-" And doubtlessly included her own blessing in the process, Ifrit''s don''t naturally have the ability to sexually reproduce but they can depending on how the summoning forms their body. "-I ate the blessing those punks under Jack forced onto my first floor, so that might explain Aziraphale. But where did Hephaestus come from?" The core was confused, understandable, but I had my own theory.


    "Hephaestus is a god of Fire, more specifically the forge, if the realm of fire that your body is native to came from there then it is only natural that you''d have his blessing." The keeper continued to ponder the implications.


    "Will these blessings affect my offspring in any way?" The Keeper asked again, every question burning away at my patience.


    "It should improve upon their affinities but not much more. For one thing it''s rare for a male to receive Echidna''s blessing to begin with, for another the offspring were conceived before you received Aziraphale''s blessing correct." With my latest answer I felt that we had approached the cusp of the conversation.


    "Received isn''t the right word, but we''ve got off topic. Do you have anything that I can work with?" The Keeper asked and finally the experiment could begin!


    "Certainly! I had young Grim pick up some samples from the market!" As I spoke the person himself had arrived with the experimental subjects.


    Dungeons can cross breed their monsters with outsiders. The Concubine''s mirror does this all the time, their own city lord was one such hybrid after all. However what was unique about the Keeper was that he was a mutant hybrid of Ifrit and Dungeon, a wholly unique specimen, it could mean that the experimental organism that they''re about to create could be a hybrid of dungeon/Ifrit/Etc or it could be that they will be a hybrid of Ifrit/etc. A direct offspring of a dungeon is simply too rare a creature to study and now he is about to study two.


    "This was all that the Merchant had available Professor." Grimoire pulled off the cover off of the tray he had been carrying in, revealing two common chicken eggs.


    "Source?" I asked my assistant.


    "Old Man Brown''s farm." Grimoire stated bluntly.


    Relatively low stagnancy, still I could feel the stiffness in the mana of the egg, as Grimoire implied they were the lowest quality that the Merchant had available. "Good enough." I had my assistant place the tray in front of the Keeper who looked at the eggs confused.


    "You want me to plow eggs?" Ah, definitely didn''t come with a user manual for this body it would seem.


    "Merely infuse your heat into them."


    "Wouldn''t that cook them?"


    "I shall take additional precautions then." With a flourish of my hands a magic circle had formed around the two eggs, which will limit and control the flow of mana and heat into the egg without compromising the Keeper''s blessings. "There, do it now."


    I watched as the Keeper held his hands over both eggs and saw them glow with energy, tapping my fingers with excitement as I watched. Then the Keeper''s approximation of eyes widened as he saw the changes taking place.


    "I think I... fertilised them? Is that the right word?" I watched the Keeper move his hands away able to see something that I could not.


    "Grimoire, my eye glasses!" I was about to reach my hand out expectantly but Grimore had already shoved my glasses into my face. Of course I could see perfectly, 20 20 vision was pivotal to a mages toolkit and I went through extreme measures to keep it that way. That said, glass imbued with Dungeon mana and engraved with highly specific magic circles to recreate the Dungeon''s ability to assess anything that they look at was equally valuable, and with far less self inflicted surgery to achieve.


    [F Rank Monster Fire Chicken Egg: A Chicken egg fertilised by a Ifrit, what were you expecting?]


    Peel back the layers of mana...


    [Blessing of Echidna: likely to grow into a powerful monster]


    [Blessing of Hephaestus: High dexterity, suitable to manufacturing]


    [Blessing of Aziraphale: An infusion of holy power may lead to angelic evolutions]


    Yes this should be a most fascinating specimen!


    "Now to incubate these specimens! With our mage tower we can cut down on the incubation time by five years!" I let out a laugh at my boast! This was the latest in our incubation technology! Not even a dungeon can-why is the Keeper looking at us with those pitying eyes?


    "I''ll be back in a minute." The Keeper went down the elevator into the dungeon, I could see it from the top of the newly rebuilt mages tower, after the Dungeon so rudely appropriated it for one of the legs of the Gashadokuro, and came back moments later a massive slab of stone hoisted over his head in one hand. After setting it down I could see some branches having formed a cup on top of the slab of stone. "I need you two to swear to secrecy what I''m about to show you." The Keeper explained as he took one of the eggs from before and put it into the cup of branches. "And I need a way of channelling mana from the dungeon into this thing on top of that."


    "A pitifully easy task secrecy." I quickly pulled out a scroll of spider''s silk and an inkwell of specialised fluid, I quickly wrote out a oath of secrecy agreeing that neither Grimoire or I will reveal the contents of the Keeper''s idea via direct or indirect methods, nothing lethal for the punishment, only that if I or Grimoire violate the terms then two thirds of the power of the offending party will be transferred to the Keeper.


    "Acceptable?" I held up the scroll to the Keeper.


    "Acceptable, where do we sign?" Using an obsidian blade I slashed my thumb and had blood come out, followed by Grimoire doing the same, we both stamp our thumbs on our part of the contract and leave it out on the table for the Keeper to do the same. The Keeper looked at his own hand for a moment before he just shrugged his shoulders and pressed the thumb into his part of the contract. It burnt up in green fire and I felt the strings of the contract tie around me a few moments later.


    "Did I ruin it?" The Keeper asked confused by the sight.


    "No no the contract has been signed. Now what do you want to show us?"


    Grimoire brought over my Diamond, hideously expensive thing diamonds. Even a dungeon must consume a hideous amount of mana to produce one of just this size, and the only alternative is to dig deep into the earth where Coal has had the intense heat and pressure to be crushed and formed into a diamond. Grimoire''s necromancy was better suited to carving into marble and limestone than my own telekinetics, so I left him the task of creating a slot for the diamond filled with the Keeper''s dungeon mana and a focusing array to ensure that it went where we needed it. I watched as the mana flowed with my Dungeon appraisal glasses into the stone, then within a few moments I was met with a great spout of shock!


    [20/10000]


    Monster eggs were well known for their ability to gain points if they are used to kill monsters, but to gain points just by sitting on a block of stone while wrapped in branches.


    "What is the meaning of this?" I asked as I made my shock known.


    "One of my monsters came up with a way of turning Mana into power." The Ifrit stated as if he didn''t just casually spit out a mind blowing secret of the highest order.


    "Mana into... are you serious!?" This was mind boggling! If this ever got out.


    "Thus the swearing you two to secrecy." The Keeper replied shrugging his shoulders. As we were talking the diamond ran out of power and fell out of place. Yes of course it was so hideously expensive, it was quite likely that whatever he had done was only realistically possible within the dungeon proper. "I''ll be right back." The Keeper flew back into the dungeon, and when he came out he was carrying a bag of holding. "This should do it." The Keeper opened up the bag, pulling out several diamonds in the process, full of the tell tale blessing of Pluto, meaning that their storage capacity, and thus worth, was several times that of my own diamond, and slotted into the stone slab. The Power glowed, the mana flowed and I nearly choked at what I saw.


    [60/10000]


    How is that possible!? I once again peeled away the mana as I looked at the blessings.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    [Giant Slayer 1: Power bonuses will be doubled]


    "There are monsters in that slab!" I connected the dots on what was happening and I was jealous I didn''t think of it first. "Five of them! D-Rank right!?"


    "Armoured Jawfish, nasty little bastards." The Keeper informed me. He was reanimating monsters, killing them by suffocation, and using the technically to transfer their points into the egg. Ingenious!


    [140/10000]


    [300/10000]


    [620/10000]


    [1260/10000]


    [2540/10000]


    [5100/10000]


    [10280/10000]


    Suddenly, the Egg was covered in the light of evolution. I counted the number for Giant Slayer with my Appraisal glasses again. [Glant Slayer 8]


    "Should we keep going?" The Ifrit asked something pretty insane.


    "Of course not!" I snapped back by way of reply. "Unless you''re planning on turning your offspring into giants!"


    "Then let''s try the ''instant adult'' option first." The Keeper pressed his finger into the air above the egg. The Egg burst knocking myself and Grimoire back as we watched the creature in question float up into the air. Bones formed in midair, taking material from the slab of rock in the process, the outline of a large bird like creature formed from the bones as flesh filled in. Fire took things from there, trailing down the creature''s body and completing the body of dog sized bird like creature. I quickly found my glasses again and looked at the newborn creature resting atop the slab of stone.


    [D Rank Monster Fiery Peacock-A relative of the Cockatrice that has received the Blessing of the heavens, his fiery gaze can turn whatever he looks at into ashes]


    "Astounding!" I quickly circled around the creature with my glasses, the creature in question, a large dark red bird with colourful plumage on it''s head and going down a long tail of feathers, looking confused as he attempted to follow my gaze. "The description mentions that it''s a relative of the Cockatrice! Is the Ash vision a variation of the cockatrice''s petrifying gaze!?" Grimoire reached out and put his hand on my shoulder.


    "Perhaps we should save the speculation until after we''ve examined the second specimen?" The stone slab was largely intact, but it would be put aside for now as it was instead too severely damaged to be of any use.


    In the mean time the Fiery Peacock would be put away into captivity until such a time that it can be properly documented. This technique was an excellent method for raising familiars, we should charge for this, with the Keeper''s permission of course. The Ifrit flew back carrying another slab of stone with a fresh cup of branches prepared. In went the egg, another eight rounds of reanimation and suffocation, and then the creature was ready to hatch, and this time the option of ''Greater potential for growth but a infant'' was selected instead. The mana swirled more dramatically this time, but the stone slab was not sacrificed for material this time as instead the cocoon expanded and then the tell tale sound of the crying of a newborn echoed out. Quickly my glasses were put to work.


    [F/C Rank Monster Passista-A Unique species of Harpy with powerful holy fire capabilities, due to their unique and colourful feathered crests their appearance is often mimicked to create unique outfits for festival dancers, this one is considerably young thus a lower ranking]


    She was a infant, her arms and legs covered in downy fluff that was warm to the touch like trapped heat.


    "Well I suppose that answers all of my questions." The Keeper stated as he let out a sigh. "I should be getting back to my business now." The Keeper turned around to leave however I stopped him.


    "What of these two?" I asked indicating the valuable scientific specimens that the Keeper was about to leave behind.


    "Oh right..."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    So now I had extra monsters wandering around my dungeon, a peacock and a peacock type demi-human baby. Apas looked like she had mixed feelings about the child.


    "I assume that you''ve arranged for a sitter for this child." Even after giving Apas my explanation, or excuse as she seemed to treat the subject, she didn''t seem happy to learn that I basically went out and conceived another child behind her back. "So that means that you''re not going to do it."


    I let out a sigh as I debated the methods by which I would go contact Jewel, considering the description I received for the Passista she seemed the most likely candidate to want her. The Normal Dungeon Chat function didn''t seem to work so long as my core was stuck in another realm. So I guess that means I''m going to have to get Charles to send a message for me. Fantastic.


    "Alright let''s focus on our kids for a while." I prepared three more stone slabs with Armoured Jawfish Fossils inside and cups of branches on top. "Archie I''m counting on you to handle this with your usual level of precision. No more than nine times understood?" I do not want Giant Killer throwing unknown factors into their evolution.


    "Thy will be done master!" Archie gave a bow as he turned to face the stone slabs like they were the most important things in the world.


    "Alright what about our other project?" It was a weird thing to note at this point, but apparently dungeon creatures are natural omniglots.


    So if given a new language to learn, say magic chants, they do so extremely quickly like I had. The Dungeon monsters I assigned the task of learning magic had done so with extreme efficiency, the ones who were learning combat less so. But the casters would be enough for my plan to bring low the Wolf''s Den dungeon, the next question I needed answered was what to do with the dungeons surrounding the den afterwards.


    [Ouroboros: Why don''t we just eat them?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Because I''m not a cannibal, it seems to be the kind of thing that Hel disapproves of and she has us by our balls]


    [Ouroboros: That''s a stretch of logic there chief]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''m not taking the chance]


    [Ouroboros: What should we do with any enemy dungeons we find then?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Do you remember the kinds of things that Lithilas warned you not to do?]


    [Ouroboros: Yeah?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Let''s list them]


    [Ouroboros: Don''t let anyone into your core room, always keep our boss doors locked, don''t turn our dungeons into a monster]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Well that ship has sailed] [Ouroboros: You''re probably better off than I am, your monsters aren''t trying to consume your other floors or you after all]


    Wait a second...


    [Dungeon Keeper: What happens if we get stuck inside of a living creature?]


    [Ouroboros: Our will is subsumed, our dungeon functions taken away from us as we turn into a power source for the creature in question]


    I blinked stupidly. I suddenly felt all of the Dungeon Monsters jump at once at the sound of my maniacal laughter.


    "Should we be concerned?" Solarius asked Apas who shook her head in response.


    "Be more scared for whoever he''s going after." Apas replied while fondly looking at the three eggs that each got their own stone pedestals and mana flowing into them.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Another day, another attack to fend off. I was the only source of mana for the surrounding dungeons, which should mean that they don''t do things like attacking me several times a day, the issue here was my quest from Lucifer.


    [Quest: Eat Five Hel Dungeons]


    If I ever got my hands on that feathery bastard! So eating me was their only hope for getting out of this god forsaken place and eating them was mine, so what else is a dog supposed to do? Fenrir encouraged me as well, the glutton, so here I was trying to break into the other dungeons and subsume them to my will, which was not going as well as I would like all things considered. Then there was that wave of different monsters from a little while ago, simply bizarre. With any luck I wouldn''t-Blegh! My entire floor was suddenly consumed in a wave of foul smelling odours that made me want to puke, my Cerberus and other hounds covered their snouts as they nearly puked. The one responsible lumbered into my dungeon as my eyes went wide.


    [D Rank Monster Skunk Ape-A large physically strong monster capable of producing large amounts of foul odour to incapacitate a group of targets]


    That''s Cheating! More of those annoying undead birds flew into the dungeon and attached themselves to the back of the necks of my hounds and I was helpless to do anything but watch as the life was sucked out of them, my Cerberus reduced to mere loot, a shield shaped like a trophy plaque with three dog heads. The Ape continued to move, and I was helpless to stop him, even as I sent more of my hounds into the breach in order to kill them off.


    Stay away from my core you darn dirty ape! I''m warning you!


    The Monkey arrived at my locked door.


    Not so clever now are you!?


    The Monkey took out a tube of some kind and emptied it''s contents into the lock. The Little bird that had been following them around lit the lock on fire and suddenly it was lit on fire and melted through. What, the hell!? The Skunkape opened the now lock-less door and took out the wolf statue inside holding my core in its mouth with him as the little bone creatures led them to the next floor of my dungeon, I was screaming in pain all along the way but there was a more important issue. Wait are you actually...? My core and pedestal was unceremoniously thrown through the door to the other side.


    HAHAHAHAHAHA! SUCK IT LUCIFER!


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The Skunk Ape and Kapri Soul escaped in time for the floor to unceremoniously collapse, now that the dungeon was working to actively break their contract with Lucifer. The other Dungeons were confused but immediately came to an understanding, that to keep themselves sane they had to acquire a new connection to the mortal world. In other words me.


    "You don''t seem to be very concerned that they''re coming after us." My Hel Gargoyle asked Keeper, Hel herself having returned to her palace to manage her estate.


    "I''m not." Keeper replied simply, tossing two bags into the enemy dungeon, one tied to a Bone hand.


    "Alright lets get outta here folks!" I had no desire to be here when that thing was set off. From above I watched as the Keeper''s bomb was detonated. The Hand crawled into one bag of holding dragging another along with it, and then the entire complex of five dungeons and the abandoned shell of a sixth was sucked inside of the bag. Once the unstable vortex was finished I landed back on the ground and Keeper picked up his bag.


    "What''s the point of doing that?" Hel-Gargoyle asked as she watched Keeper take the bag away, back into his own dungeon as she followed.


    "Cannibalism is something you''re against correct?" Keeper asked wishing to confirm his theory from before.


    "Yes. But what of it?" Hel asked confused as the Keeper let his magic swirl.


    "I came up with a compromise." We both watched as the bag was transformed, the other dungeons were likely trying to eat their way out but the Keeper had already beaten them, a new Spatial Jellyfish was soon born, and immediately covered in a cocoon of evolution. "There we go. That should take care of them for now." The Keeper turned to face Hel.


    "Which means that we need to renegotiate our deal." Keeper stated as he looked at Hel directly in her eyes. "There is a lunatic on the loose in the world and I am partly responsible for him being free. If I want him taken down I need the ability to coordinate with the dungeons and people on that side, which I can''t do so long as I''m stuck here." The Keeper explained as Hel narrowed her eyes at him. "I should also note that I''m asking as a courtesy, I just demonstrated and proved a technique for excising a core from a breach and permanently severing the connection."


    "Ratatoskr." Hel called out and a familiar little squirrel wearing a vest emerged from seemingly nowhere.


    "You rang milady Hel?" The Squirrel greeted.


    "I need you to establish a means of communication between worlds for the Keeper here." Hel stated simply.


    "And my compensation?" The Half dead woman threw a bag of something at the Squirrel''s feet, who quickly pulled the bag open and started eating the trail mix that was inside of it.


    "Delicious!" The Squirrel started rummaging around the pouch that was for some reason attached to his belly and pulled out a small ball of Adamantine, no bigger than the Keeper''s thumb. "This should be a more than adequate upgrade to the globe you''re keeping in your core room." The Keeper took the ball of metal in his hand as he looked down at the squirrel.


    "How do you know about that?" The Keeper asked as they talked about something I didn''t know about.


    "It''s my system after all." The squirrel explained as he threw the sack onto his back.


    "Wait a second are you that troll who keeps-"


    "Toodles!" And then the Squirrel disappeared seemingly into thin air. The Keeper paused for a moment as he let out an aggravated sigh.


    "Do you need time alone or shall we plan our next attack?" The Keeper just sighed as he went to sit in a corner. "Congratulations to the twelfth dungeon of this tower, owner of the Skunkape." Hel stated as she turned to face the creature in question, possessed by his core. "An for your reward, return to the mortal world through a breach." We ended up building a dedicated room for the breaches. Five walls, ten stories high, second to last to my core, walkways and railings. The wall marked out as ''12'' started to glow with rainbow mist indicating that a breach was now in progress and the one marked out as ''four'' was half way finished. "We will reconvene and rest as we scout the next dungeon and select members for it''s raid based on the results that we are able to determine from there." Hel stated clapping her hands together. "Dismissed!"

 Bounty

    I Looked at the small sphere curiously, pondering the implications of the day. By the sounds of things Ratatoskr was the one behind the system, which makes sense since the little rat was supposed to be the god of messengers and thus far that was exactly what the system was, messages. But much about it didn''t make sense either, the collection of points, the dungeons, the gods blessings. While I think that he''s a corner stone of the process I don''t think he''s everything it''s got to have about it either. For now I looked at his ''gift'' and how to use it. Last time I just threw this thing off to the side in my core room and this happened, so I dropped the ball next to the globe and watched it align itself into place like a moon.


    [Connection established: Administrator Authority for the Realm of Helheim/Cocytus established, reconnecting to Mortal Plane Dungeon Chat System]


    Did it work? I looked over to the Dungeon Chat system.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Old Man, Jewel, can you hear me?]


    [Lithilas: ?]


    [Jewel: ?]


    [Lithilas: I thought you were stuck in another dimension?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I am, but right now I need to manage the mess with Leviathan, Hel talked to the Troll and he gave me the ability to talk with you guys again]


    [Jewel: The Troll?]


    [Litihlas: If you are talking about who I think you are, while I feel your pain, I have to live with him]


    Well that''s just your own silly fault.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Jewel, I made a monster I think you''ll like, it''s a kind of Harpy called a Passista]


    [Jewel: !?]


    [Jewel: Where''d you get a schema for that!?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Oh Chicken egg, Ifrit, power levelling, the usual deal]


    [Jewel: There''s nothing usual about any of that!]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Look I have a little girl, and I get the impression that if I leave her here Apas is going to eat her, do you have a contract slot open or not?]


    [Jewel: Just send the Schema over to me!]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I have to kill her to collect the Schema]


    I was growing a little bit annoyed with Jewel at the moment I will admit.


    [Dungeon Keeper: And I seem to recall you being in a not too dissimilar position a while ago and I fixed it for you, except that at that time you had a whole bunch of kids you needed me to look after]


    If I had fingers I''d be tapping them with impatience at the moment.


    [Jewel: Your lord has a brother from my city correct? Give the child to him and she will be taken care of]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Taken Care of as in?]


    [Jewel: Brought to the city safe and sound where she''ll live a fulfilling and happy life]


    That''s better.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Pleasure doing business with you]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Now does anyone know what Leviathan is doing?]


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The Priests finished their work on the Dungeon Creature, Levi, the third floor boss. The creature had been rejuvenated body and soul, and right on time too as the fiery avatar of my business partner flew out of the Dungeon and landed directly next to the group of priests who had been hard at work.


    "It is done Keeper." I stated bluntly looking at the individual in question suspiciously.


    "What are you planning now?" I asked looking down at the rainbow coral.


    "Killing Leviathan. Permanently this time around." The Keeper replied as if he was speaking about something obvious.


    "I''m in." What else would I be doing but Killing that bastard dungeon?


    "I thought you might be like that Charles. And the solution you understand is quite simple. Think of Leviathan as a block of butter-" Levi suddenly leaped into the air in the form of a giant fish, free of the shackles of the dungeon, before crashing back down again. "-and Levi here as a hot knife." Already Levi was dissecting and reassembling Schema''s for the perfect form. The Jaw Fish''s armoured body, the Kraken''s propulsion jet, the bladed nose of a sword fish, the crushing jaws of a crocodile, the strong mana manipulating power of the Maride, the claws of a boxing shrimp, most importantly of all the anti-mana shell of the flail snail blended throughout the bony coral shell.


    "Levi! You know the mana of Leviathan better than anyone! Seek and destroy!" Levi responded through the bond with a feeling only describable as blood lust.


    "With Pleasure!" And so my entire third floor shot off into the distance like a fire and forget missile.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I was sitting out in the ocean, far away from the enemy territory as I operated my proxies. The time spent with that blasted dragon sticking his nose into my dungeon was quite... illuminating! A ''Connect two places together'' style Bag of Holding expanded and turned into a passage way? Why didn''t I think of that? It''s not like I haven''t eaten anything like that before. So right now my warships were on their way to multiple different dungeons to devour, and while it was true that I could still only ''raid'' them one at a time as that Dragon bastard has already pointed out to me, there''s more than one way to skin a fish. Right now I was on my way to pick up something that I lost: the three dungeons that bastard Keeper cost me, I owe them a great deal after all. In the Northern sea I saw that the first chunk of my food was coming to me. A massive ice berg that was crawling along the floor of the sea, the entire thing covered in magic formations that converted the heat and light that was supposed to melt the ice into kinetic force to push it forward. I began with the usual opening move, several spears fired at the block of ice in question with the intention to tear it apart.


    [Northern Ice Flow: Not this time you ass!]


    Suddenly the entire block of ice transformed and stood up, a notification entered my vision as if I was looking at a monster instead of a dungeon.


    [D Rank Monster Maride: A magical being made out of pure water, though normally mindless the magical formula that determines the structure of their body can be altered in a variety of ways depending on the summoners knowledge of magic]


    Like hell that''s a D-Rank! I''m calling haxx!


    [Northern Ice Flow: RUN!]


    Well that''s a wash I guess. A blessing of a fire god to melt him? No he''s thought of that already, the heat to kinetics formation that''s covering that place is proof of that enough already. Ice shatters enough easily, I guess I''ll just have to use brute force.


    The waters around my ship and the Maride turned giant of ice rapidly started to churn, rocks picked up from the floor of the ocean by a whirl pool that began rapidly circling around the ship in question.


    I rapidly dumped Mythril cannon balls into the water for extra bite, let the items build up force spinning around, even smash and tear away at the ice giant as it got closer.


    [Leviathan: Charybdis might be a weak god of water but even the weakest god is still stronger than a third rate genie, and I''m stronger than a half baked dungeon like you!]


    [North: Yeah I know, but you still made a mistake]


    [North: You let my monster get close!]


    The walking ice berg then picked that moment to slam it''s fist into my ship, grab hold of it, and then toss it over it''s shoulder through the air and skip across the water. This punk was testing the limits of my ship''s structural integrity I''ll give him that much. However my ship had bigger problems to work on.


    [You are Being raided by Marrowind]


    Inside of my ship a group of undead monsters made their appearance known. Oh come on!


    [B Rank Monster Deathgaze: A creature from the void turned into a undead monster, it''s potent psi-manipulating abilities are paired with a variety of eye abilities to petrify, vaporise, charm and the like]


    A giant floating skull with numerous misty blood red eyes floating around it, a length of shadow connecting it to another monster.


    [B Rank Monster Dullahan/Gogmagog-The Corpse of a person executed by decapitation, a vicious warrior on a path of vengeance to reclaim his lost head, that said he''s more than willing and able to ''borrow'' a few in the mean time/A especially brutal Fay Giant raised as a weapon of war, when they enter a state of uncontrolled rage in battle one of ten random effects activate including nearby wounds turning necrotic, teleporting in a random direction 30 yards away from their current Location, or vines erupting from the ground to bind individuals in the vicinity]


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    A Undead monster who is only head and eyes meets another undead monster looking for a head, quite a pair these two, and yet they weren''t even the only ones that were there either.


    [D Rank Monster Adamantine Guard Drake/Grim-An alchemical creation using a scale from a Adamantine Dragon as a key ingredient, holding loyalty to the first person to feed them this meaty flightless drake is built for defence first and foremost/The Spirit of a animal that held great loyalty to their now deceased master in life, rather than move on this ghost chose to keep watch over their master''s grave for the rest of eternity, pity the fool who disturbs it]


    The Drake might rank lower but rankings don''t give a damn about the chariot full of cannons of the spinning scythes attached to the sides of it.


    "Let''s get this over with it''s almost happy hour." The Giant bellowed, and then the floating skull blasted a hole through my ship and I lost my awareness there.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Well that''s a failure. Let''s see how we''re doing on the other fronts.


    The Sea Side Fortress had attached itself to Ring of Fire''s puny island turtle. Luckily I''ve been killing this blasted turtle for years, so I sent the ship blessed by Borealis, the god of the Blowing Northern Winds.


    [Fort: HAHAHAHA!]


    [Leviathan: Laughing at your demise? You always were the stupid one]


    [Fort: I''m laughing at yours, stupid!]


    Something flew out of the back of the Turtle where the idiot built his dungeon and I admitted my legitimate surprise.


    [C Rank Monster Stymphalian-A massive eagle favoured by the war god Aries and born with metalic bronze feathers, fond of dropping boulder sized chunks of excrement with acid potent enough to melt metalic structures on top of the heads of their enemies]


    [Fort: You like them? My sponsor told me where to find them!]


    [Leviathan: No]


    Rather than face the indignity of losing a ship to a pile of bird dung I intensified the winter storms of my blessing to push the bird dung away from me.


    [Fort: Well played Leviathan, but there is something you don''t realise! I am on a TURTLE!]


    My Gargoyle looked at the idiot confusedly, then I saw the massive tidal wave coming at me, in the direction of the Ring of Fire. Fort and his turtle went under the water. My ship didn''t.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Well that''s two fights that are a write off. Let''s see if I''m owed for three. Unlike the previous two ships, Dagon was a god of the Deep, thus we worked together to build a ship that can sail under the water. A ship design that would be seeing more use in the future, and revisions.


    [C Rank Monster Kelp Arch Spore-A unique monster combining the corpses of various sea life with Dead Man''s Rope to create a vicious sea monster]


    A monster resembling a Kraken, composed almost entirely out of seaweed that had been blended together over and over again to create strong tentacle like rope with hard coral spikes creating grasping claws that had wrapped around my ship.


    [Coral: Feeling troubled you pirate bastard?]


    [Leviathan: Not really]


    Another thing that Dagon and I have been working to develop, take his pressurisation blessing, load into a metal tube and shoot it into the water at a target. Boom! My missile attack blew off the vine like tentacles, and another one was fired into the creature''s mouth by way of follow up.


    [Leviathan: Got anything else you''d like to try before I rip you out of there?]


    I felt a disturbance in the mana flow, but not from the Great Coral Barrier Reef. Something was coming here at an extreme pace, ripping through what should be miles of stagnant mana like a hot knife through butter. Before I could get my ship turned around to investigate I got a massive blade stabbed through my body.


    GRR! Alright who is picking a fight with me right now? Is that coral? Flail Snail? Someone shaped it into a spear and skewered me? How the Hell do you shape something that deflects and neutralises mana!? The spear was hollow, and I felt a familiar presence flow out of the spear and enter into my dungeon. The Form was unfamiliar, a hybrid of different sea kin, but I recognised the soul.


    "Hello Leviathan! It''s good to see you again!" My gargoyle got a better look at her body now, a mixture of fish and shell fish, probably a compilation of the contracted monsters that Keeper bastard took from me!


    "Sadly I''m a B Rank, so there''s probably not much I can get out of killing your monsters with Giant Killer in effect. Ah well." The Traitor''s body turned into slime and suddenly flowed into every nook and cranny of my floor.


    I had to sever my connection to the floor after it was consumed in slime, all of the monsters there in were consumed and eaten by the blob, that was the third ship I lost in these attacks. Which was disappointing, but not nearly as disappointed as I was. I froze a chunk of the ocean and let my floors pop back into existence inside of the ice.


    Mizuchi, we need to talk.


    My tenth floor was dedicated to the two headed snake, the golem willed with his essence was wrapped around the head perimeter of the ship, said god opened the eyes on one of his heads and turned to speak to me.


    "Problem?"


    You sold off my monster to the Keeper.


    "You never were good at keeping your pets under control." The two faced god stated amused.


    I''m beginning to understand why you and Lucifer are such good friends.


    "Leviathan you wound me!" The double ended dragon pulled back in mock shock and appal. "It is not my fault that I have more vision than you do!"


    Your vision cost me a floor.


    "And already you''re working on correcting it''s flaws and the flaws present in your other floors that were exposed by your failed siege attempt." Mizuchi''s snake oil act was only exacerbated by his snake like body. "You''re not getting your old sea monsters back, and even if you could they are already redundant. You are no longer reliant on their pitiful power to drag your ships along. Think bigger!" I didn''t need to be able to see the dragon bastard to know which way he was looking. Huh. That''ll work.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Make no mistake, while I was happy about Levi carving off a piece of that ship bastard''s hide I was also a little concerned.


    [Absorbing Blessing: God of the Deep Dagon]


    Is this a good thing?


    [God of Water Oceanus sends his approval]


    Do I get a prize...? Nothing? Alright lets go back to conquering dungeons then.


    "Fellow dungeons!" I shouted out to the assembled crowd, a hodge podge of different monsters from the dungeons that I have allied myself with in Helheim. "Through our noble Allies sacrifice, the mighty leviathan has been fended off another day thanks to the noble sacrifice of the Wendigo troll." A monster whose name I honestly couldn''t even be bothered to remember beyond the technical specifications of what he was. "For now our current success means that we need to focus on another of Lucifer''s dungeons. Graves is on his way over right now, and we need to decide on the monsters for the raid. I humbly propose two of our most infamous B-Ranks, Solarius the Quetzal and our Genmu!"


    "He is Snow Fang!" The resident turtle snake shouted in response, doubtlessly possessed by his dungeon!


    "And the dungeon that I propose we raid is the one being run by The number one hothead of Cocytus!" Graves report mentioned a massive storm around the area of the second dungeon, and hot winds blowing therein, a massive warm front opened up in the middle of Cocytus, it''s safe to say who this dungeon belongs to.


    "Satan is Lucifer''s brother." Hel stated leaning her bony cheek against her skeletal hand. "And the demon lord of Wrath and Retribution."


    "Does that mean that he and Lucifer get along?"


    "No. Not even close." Hel stated quite bluntly. Wrath and Retribution, in other words the god that you go to when someone has done you dirty and you want payback. "It''s not in Satan''s nature to ''get along'' with people."


    "So the God of Revenge is the brother to the God of Traitors, and the Goddess of the Betrayed is his wife." There was a pattern forming there, these gods and goddesses forming relationships with one another based on how the things they are the gods of relate to one another. "Ex Wife, not that I had any say in the matter to begin with. I always got along with Satan better than Lucifer. Mind you he did try to kill me once or twice."


    My face got more confused by the second.


    "Why did he try to kill you twice?"


    "I''ve yet to give him a chance for a third." Hel replied as if it was obvious. "What you seem to fail to realise is that Satan is wrath incarnate, he''s not capable of calming down, trapped in a perpetual cycle of hatred like he is."


    So in layman''s terms, his default mode is too angry to die? Lovely.


    "So what kind of monsters can we expect from this lovely and reasonable gentleman?" I asked looking at Hel suspiciously.


    "The Noon-Wraith is one of his favourites. A B-Rank ghost type monster classified as a Legion." Hel summed up in simple terms.


    "I have a Legion of my own, and I know what Ghosts are, but the heck''s a Noon-Wraith?"


    "Well it''s debatable whether your Legion qualifies as one." There''s no need to insult my monster lady! "A few have popped up into my realm from time to time. I could just give you the schema for an explanation but I get the feeling you wouldn''t like me extracting a toll from you." Hel looked like the type that was bad at explaining things.


    "''B Rank Monster Noon Wraith-When young women die with especially strong feelings in their hearts during the blistering hot days of summer they might return to the land of the living as a Fire Breathing spectre.''" Merlin raised his hand to speak, no doubt another gift from patron ''Lost and Forbidden.''


    "This might make me sound like a hypocrite but how does that make them a B-Rank?" I soon voiced my confusion. "Can she change the temperature of an entire field like I can? And where''s the talk of the Legion?"


    "The Noon Wraith does have some peculiar traits about them I will admit. There are more exotic traits like that they can only communicate via poetry, however their most dangerous trait is that anyone that they torch with their flames gets converted into one of their minions bound by flame, and anyone that they torch will be similarly bound." This isn''t a monster! It''s a plague!


    "Are we going to have to deal with our monsters getting snatched up by this other dungeon?" I did not want to have to deal with feeding an enemy dungeon more minions for it to be able to use.


    "Thanks to you we name all of our monsters. When they die they get pulled back into our dungeons and are reconstituted a short period of time later, depending on how high ranking they are." Well that''s one thing I don''t have to worry about.


    "You''re officially part of the scouting team Merlin. I leave the task of figuring out the other dungeon to you." When one needs knowledge, ask the knowledgeable.


    "In the mean time, I have to entertain the bounty hunters that have come looking to collect." Thus I entered my core room, a collection of slides neatly arranged to cover a wall, organised by rank, type and alphabet so that the skeleton that I had assigned the task of managing all of them could work. Were there always so many of them? Whatever I have to talk with these two.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Greetings fellow dungeons]


    [Marrowind: That''s a high ranking administrator for you, you don''t even show up in the list of dungeons I can talk to]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I''m between worlds at the moment, so forgive me for not being able to get into contact with people for a while]


    [Ring of Fire: Save your sales pitch I already know what monster I want, give me the schema for your Chimera Slime]


    [''Dungeon Keeper'' has given ''Ring of Fire'' the ''Chimera Slime Schema'']


    [Dungeon Keeper: Pleasure doing business with you]


    [Ring of Fire has left the Chat]


    Well that''s one person I don''t have to entertain anymore today.


    [Marrowind: Show me your list of monsters]


    [Dungeon Keeper has opened his list of Schema''s: 3458]


    Where did this come from!? I looked over at the wall, and at the skeleton that was putting in schema slots one after another.


    [Marrowind: A vampiric Mer-shark? I haven''t seen this one before]


    Wait a second? Isn''t that Two''s monster? Am I getting the other''s monsters too?


    [Marrowind: Genmu?]


    A pause as if Marrowind was reading the description for the creature in question.


    [Marrowind: Oh it''s kin to him, that would explain it, he''ll love it if I populate his floor with these]


    [Marrowind: I''ll take the Genmu Schema]


    [''Dungeon Keeper'' has given ''Marrowind'' the ''Genmu Schema'']


    [Dungeon Keeper: Pleasure doing business with you...]


    [Marrowind has left the Chat]


    I crossed my legs as I sat in thought. Well I wasn''t technically sitting but the pose remained the same. First Archie and now this guy. My skeleton warlocks seem to be pretty productive when I leave them to their own devices.


    "Just to recap. I left you there, mindlessly stuffing Schema''s into that thing for weeks-"


    "Month''s." The skeleton felt the need to correct me apparently.


    "Sorry Months. And you''ve accumulated literal thousands of schema''s?"


    "Vassalising the cracked cores helped a lot master. I''ve had no shortage of Schema''s to separate and recombine. You shall have the most powerful monsters in the world under your command one day!" I thought about it for a few moments. This is fine right? It just means I have more currency when dealing with other dungeons now. I mean I don''t have to find a use for all these creatures right? And it''s not like there''s something weird that''s gonna happen again... right?

 Fire

    [You have Entered the Dungeon: Dark Fire]


    "Dark is the operative term." We looked into the dungeon, the inky pitch black void looked back at us yawning, an immense amount of heat gushing out of every available orifice before us. "That is going to make things a little harder to work with."


    The Frost of the two headed Frost Fang Genmu stated observing their surroundings. A pitch black environment with an incredible amount of heat backing it up.


    "For note taking purposes I will be employing an animated skull with affinities for knowledge and sound to act as a recording tool." The Skull in question was neatly tucked away where my head would be if I was the mere robe that I looked like. "Thus far the only clue to the identity and abilities associated with the other dungeon is its name and the environment that it has created for itself. It calls itself Dark Fire, and it is both pitch black and dreadfully hot."


    "Can we go inssside now?" The Fang of the Frost Fang Duo asked sounding more annoyed than anything else.


    "Be my guess! You have the highest defensive power of the three of us." I asserted using flawless logic.


    "Fine." The Snake stuck its head into the flame. ""YEOUCH!""


    And immediately pulled it back as the head was now covered in intense black flames, the snake/turtle began repeatedly slamming their head/tail into the ground trying to put the fire out. Intriguing! The flame gives off no light, in fact it looks more like light is being drawn into the flames! A volatile pitch black flame that continuously consumes light around it in order to produce heat!


    "If it''s fire, I have this covered." Saying that Solarius held her hand out to the flame, and then immediately dropped and loosed the contents of her stomach onto the floor of Ouroboros''s draconic mouth.


    Vomiting? A symptom of mana exhaustion, Solarius is kin to a sun god, who are typically associated with light. The Light eating darkness directly consumed her mana when she tried to take the heat for herself! Amazing! But unfortunately this means that we don''t currently have the ability to infiltrate this dungeon.


    "A tactical withdrawal, until we can find a solution to deal with this conundrum."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    So loot drops were still in effect even with dungeons fighting against one another, as the main force of being grinded Solarius''s were the most common drops we had available. I understood this but...


    "I don''t think I''m going to be wearing this outfit too much guys." My oddly feminine voice echoed out as I looked in a mirror the Cyclops girls had prepared for me.


    [Quetzalcoatl Priestess Robes: Robes worn by the kin of Quetzalcoatl, the complete set dramatically amplifies all fire and light based abilities, significant bonus when in flight]


    All of which I was okay with. What didn''t make me happy though was having the damned robes change the shape of my body into a distinctly more feminine form.


    "Genies are basically hermaphrodites." Apas was looking highly amused off to the side, even with three kits suckling on her. "The only thing that has been keeping you male all this time has been your own preferences." Apas was trying not to laugh, at me or at Cleo, Maat and Keket kneading into her it was hard to tell.


    "Be that as it may it''s still my preference, so I''ll be taking the robe off for now." Which I did and to my surprise my body only slowly started turning back to normal. "In any case we should consider our next move against Leviathan." My voice was cracking up as I spoke. "The globe is handy, I would rather not give it up if I don''t have to. But to not pay my bounty I need to kill Leviathan again."


    "A task Levi has taken with gusto." Apas stated bluntly. "After you''ve spent time with our cubs after all, though Levi might be physically half a world away she is and always will be but one doorway away from us."


    Well this is true. I had what you would call a problem. Leviathan had split itself up and was now going after multiple targets across the world. For now he wasn''t moving to strike at the trinity again, he was however targeting groups of air-born monsters, and not killing them or harvesting their schema''s, if what she had observed from the second of his ships that she had managed to destroy is accurate. What Leviathan was planning was unknown, what is a definitive fact though is that I would need to increase my own influence to beat him.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I could feel the familiar tickle of Schema''s inside of my body, unable to create them myself, merely use them as guidelines to initiate modifications to my own body. But there was information there, buried deep in the schema''s was invaluable information about a variety of different sea monsters, and thus the first of my many targets were creating a opening for me. Kraken Season. Once a year female Kraken''s go on a rampage, a flood of hormones released into their bodies demanding that they hunt the males of their species and swallow them whole so that they might be able to acquire the seed to produce more of their kind. I let the Schema guild me, discarding the flail snail''s rainbow mana repelling shell and turning herself into a conical bone shape, the ''skull'' of a Kraken, but she added more too.


    The Maride''s body was composed entirely out of water, it wasn''t too difficult to replace all the fleshy parts of the Kraken using the seemingly universal compatibility that the Genies possess to create a body composed entirely out of water. I continuously produce and released hormones resembling those of male Krakens into the water with the explicit purpose of luring one of the females that meant to hunt me, needless to say she was quite surprised when I seized all the water around her and dragged her inside into my dungeon. And thus I now had a problem. The inside of one of the Kraken''s tentacles that I had, accidentally, torn off when the creature refused to be captured of her own volition was lined completely with familiar looking jewels.


    Jewels that I knew from part of me having once been a Kraken under Leviathan''s control was not supposed to be there, so that led to the relevant question of what was going on? Releasing a sigh I took the sample of the prisoner and traveled up the tree roots into Levi''s domain where I could meet the master.


    "Greetings my core." The Keeper was with Apas, and their cubs. Was I jealous? Of course not! I would soon have thousands of the Master''s offspring don''t be silly!


    "Where did you get this?" The Keeper''s question immediately tore me out of my totally-not-jealous-fuge as we immediately got down to matters of concern.


    "From a monster that attacked me." That I had baited into attacking me, but I didn''t feel any particularly great need to go over details as minor and insignificant as this. "What do you make of this?"


    "They look like Mana crystals like my core." The Keeper stated holding the tentacle in his hands. Experimentally I watched him tear a piece of flesh off and dissolve it away. "Corruption?" I could feel it too. A schema but broken, twisted, unrecognisable compared to the one that we already had.


    "What does this mean?" I asked Keeper hoping that his wisdom might trickle down to me.


    "Is this what everyone is talking about when they refer to stagnant mana?" I watched as he plucked another mana crystal and dissolved it away in his hand. "So I get Power just by dissolving these crystals? Well that''s all well and good and all it''s just not very useful right now. Levi if you find any more of these crystals I want you to collect them and put them somewhere safe." I clasped my fist and bowed to the Keeper. "Understood master! I will begin this job immediately." And so I returned to my prisoner, still twitching from the paralytic poison that I had fed into her body. "Don''t worry it''ll be okay. You''ll be out of your misery soon enough I just require your eggs."


    Kraken-me accepted Leviathan''s contract as a way of protecting myself from the ''affections'' of female Krakens, after all for the male half the process was often lethal. I''ll try not to enjoy this too much!


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I trusted Levi to handle the situation with Leviathan for now, chances are good that the other dungeons are still taking shots at him anyway, for now I needed to come up with a way to deal with this so-called ''Dark Fire.''


    "So you think I''m the only one that can deal with this Dark Fire?" I asked looking at Merlin as he gave me his report.


    "Why does your voice sound so funny?" The cloak like monster somehow manages to convey confusion despite having no face.


    "Just answer the question please." I was never wearing those priestess robes again.


    "Whatever blessing is on that floor, it makes it impossible for us to enter it. Even Solarius with her affinity for fire and Frost and Fang with their control over temperature they couldn''t so much as enter that floor." Considering the fact that was where the Dark Flame''s core was likely located that made sense. A huge storm outside and a massive inferno inside, the warning signs were clear: cease, stop, do not enter! And honestly if it wasn''t for the fact that tossing him back through to the other side was such a important part of my own survival I''d feel content to leave him there. As it stands though...


    "So what do I just eat the blessing like what happened to Aziraphale?" Merlin just looked at me wide eyed, which was impressive considering he wasn''t supposed to have eyes. "I really need to close my mouth some-" I spent the next few moments with a fleshy hyperactive cloak zipping around me bombarding me with questions while taking barely legible notes before I smacked him on his head approximation and got back to business. "So the Dungeon''ll be easier to conquer if the mystery blessing that''s keeping people from entering wasn''t there any more?" The Fleshy cloak creature excitedly nodded his head imaginary eyes wide and shining. Somehow he looked more excited about what ever I was going to do than the fact that doing so means that he gets out of this gods forsaken place. For now I simply flew over and through Grave''s dungeon into the enemy base.


    "These bloody storms are going to tear my wings off if I stick around here any longer." Graves dragon mouth spat out as I stepped into the entrance of the dungeon. "Are you going to be okay?"


    "In the worst case scenario I''ll respawn, but if that dragon body gets destroyed you''re screwed. Retreat for now."


    Graves nodded before he allowed the winds to carry him away. That just left the dungeon and the yawning black void inside. I stuck my hand inside, the Black Flames weren''t burning my hand but it was already made out of fire and ice to begin with, but I wasn''t being smothered either. Well that''s magic light eating flames for you. I concentrated and began absorbing the black flames into my body, unlike the case where I blew myself up after accidentally eating Hephaestus''s realm then time I was releasing the accumulated energy as kinetic force, which was adding to the force of the galling winds that were around me. That however wasn''t nearly as ominous as the messages I was getting.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    [The Hell are you doing here!?]


    I haven''t had gods using the chat function to talk to me in a while. When Oceanus or the Twins wanted to talk to me they just pulled me into their personal domains, in the tower I got a feeling of excitement from all the gods that were watching me beat the other monsters into submission. In this case though? Someone was pissed at me.


    "I have come here to provide assistance Satan!"


    [Piss off!]


    "Alright lemme rephrase that. I''m gonna rip out the core of this dungeon and toss it back through the other side of the hole back into reality! So are you going to be a pain in the arse about this or am I gonna have to swallow this place up!?"


    [Second Warning!]


    It might just be the ever burning flames of wrath talking, but now I was mad.


    "Alright fine be that way!" I flew up into the air. No wonder this place is locked down so tight, this place has at least twenty dungeons all around it and all of them are taking shots at this place. The monsters might not be able to leave the dungeons but it was easy to tell from the billowing clouds of smoke seeping out of every available crack and orifice what was presently going on.


    "Pluto, do I really have to put my ass on the line to help this guy?"


    [Yes]


    Of course he was watching me. I was doing errands for him after all. Alright if I was an invading dungeon core where would I be? Well I would stick my butt as far away from the psychopathic pyromaniac spewing magical flames as possible. Alright then, let''s see if you guys had the bare minimum reasoning skills to fire proof your dungeons! I gathered the kinetic energy in the air and turned them into flames, creating a spear of fire and force to hang over one of the dungeons in question I slammed it down, and watched as overwhelming cold blew my fire away. Right. Lucifer. Fantastic, now how do I dismantle this mess? For one thing I can''t even get back to my dungeon right now without offing myself. Well. If suicide is in my future anyway, I might as well not be stingy about it.


    "Satie!"


    [Never call me that again!]


    "I''m gonna borrow a little bit of power from your place for a while!" I plunged face fire into the Dark Fire Dungeon and sucked, like I was drinking the biggest smoothie that I had ever gotten my lips on, my body changed colours as I shot out of the Dark Fire Dungeon like a bat out of hell. "THIS IS HOW TO BREAK SOMETHING YOU PANSY DEMON LORD!"


    [Brave talk coming from a no good thief!]


    Lucifer''s dungeon (KILL) tried to push me (KILL) away as I soaked up his (KILL) kinetic energy and fuelled my (KILL) own head on collision with the (KILL) same dungeon that tried to blow me away. (KILL) The explosion ripped through (KILL) the dungeon and I went from one straight into the next, carrying along a screaming ball of crystal mana as I went. (KILL) I tore through the next Dungeon. (KILL) And the Next. (KILL) And the next one after that. (KILL) My rampage carried me through all of Lucifer''s dungeons and had me followed by a string of dungeon cores like little ducklings being led to the slaughter. (KILL) Thus I threw the trash into the incinerator.


    "Now are you going to knock it off already, or do I have to come in there and make you!?"


    [It''s okay. We''ll come to you!]


    The Black void exploded forward, and I was back in my dungeon again. Okay so I''m certainly not getting Satan as a patron, even if I hadn''t burned that bridge I don''t think psychotic rage monster really suits my purposes very well. Here''s hoping that little blessing doesn''t affect the FFF or I may have really screwed myself over. Great. How do I break into this thing? With a wave of my hand a familiar mitami appeared, the ball of fire like spirit hovering around my point of awareness as I considered my next move. Okay so I possess this thing, go back into the enemy dungeon, and eat fire until I explode again... how does that help? No no I had to be smarter about this... Didn''t one of you guys evolve a while back.


    Lunazure was lounging about on the second floor. I remember that she worshipped some moon god or another when she was a mere E-Ranked Doggy but this floor was dedicated to another, so that left her and her general shrine maiden aesthetic in a pinch.


    For now I asked her about my idea to take apart Dark Fire.


    "The main issue is that Satan''s power isn''t being purified as you absorb it, instead of weakening his influence you''re increasing it."


    Lovely. How do we go about purification?


    "Spiritual filth has to be washed away." Washed with water?


    "Well... yes. Though I fear that might not be enough to deal with the brute that you''re thinking of."


    What do I need soap too?


    "At the kinds of temperatures that dungeon is capable of the water would get so hot that it would split into hydrogen and oxygen, flammable gasses."


    The hell? Why do you know about religious spiritual stuff and chemistry at the same time?


    "Master, everything that we are comes from you. Our forms, personalities, our knowledge our preferences, they originate from your core."


    Meaning that creating new monsters is eating away at my soul!? Is that what you''re telling me!?


    "We learn from you master, we no more take from you than a child takes from their parents or their teachers."


    Okay... that''s good to know. But throwing water onto the fire isn''t going to be effective then... can we remove the fuel source? I thought through it some more. The Blessing is turning light into heat which is why the flames burn black. When you can''t extinguish fire with water then the safest method is to just bury it so that it can''t get anymore oxygen. That would also cut the bastard off from any light source too. The main issue that I have a problem with is that course of action would also keep me from moving around the other dungeon''s core away too.


    I folded my imaginary arms together again until I got another idea. Yeah that would work, but I can''t go out of the dungeon to get him right now until my body respawns, even after it respawns I''ll likely have to put it into quarantine until after I can deal with Satan''s blessing. Apas!


    "I''m a little busy with our own kids dear." My Sphinx was lounging about in her nest, our cubs running and flying around her. It''s an emergency. "It''s one of your insane plans again. Even worse this time you''re actually considering throwing a outsider into a actual literal demon lord''s dungeon." Really hitting me where it hurts there Apas.


    Clay was what his name was, a hybrid of Earth Genie, a Dao, and Human, a genasi with a affinity for manipulating earth, which means that after I, theoretically, flood Dark Fire with Concrete he''d be able to extract and move the core out of the floor. He was also a child, one of several that were sent here for safe keeping by Jewel.


    "Send the bone head instead." Archie? He''d be melted away in an instant.


    "Archie''s body is composed of clay and a bone, neither of these things burn very well."


    Really? Archie!


    "Master!"


    My Walpurgis was supervising my bony mad scientist. Never mind what Frankenstein is doing. Are you fire proof?


    "Most of my body can withstand 1000 degrees Fahrenheit, my bones can take up to twelve hundred."


    But you''re all fleshy like a person?


    "I am a Walpurgis." Archie pinched and pulled away at the flesh of his arm, quickly giving away and turning into a ball of clay in his hand. "What you mistakenly think to be flesh and blood is but an approximation made out of clay."


    So even if you went into Dark Fire''s angry oven you''d still be okay?


    "Most likely. There is a chance I would have a hard time moving around if the clay in my body dries out but that''s it. In the worst case scenario I''d just remove it."


    I called another meeting of the other cores while Archie went with Graves to take Dark Fire''s core. I had turned a nearby wall into a makeshift chalk board with spaces for eight names written out, two were already occupied, Wolf''s Den that already had a check-mark by it and the other was Dark Fire. The situation has progressed in a negative direction. My own exposure to the Dungeon''s blessing has turned my main body into a psychotic rage monster, in the worse case scenario I''ll still have to deal with it''s murderous impulses for a while. So I''d like it if all of you were on your feet and the rest of the dungeons were dealt with by the time I respawn so that I can go into isolation. To begin with, there are eight dungeons in total we''re supposed to move around, Hel would you mind listing them for us?


    "It sounds suspiciously like you plan on tackling all the dungeons at once." Hel stated bluntly.


    So I am. Only a couple of dungeons each time seems necessary to beat each of these buggers, the only thing that is really limiting us is that Graves can''t be in more than one place at a time. Even then if something happens the worse that''ll happen is that our monsters will respawn after a few days.


    "You say that but the entire reason why we''re having this meeting is because you got cursed in the first place." Frost stated making his blatant suspicions known.


    Which happened because we lacked information about who blessed Dark Fire, so miss Hel, tell us everything that you know about the other cores we have yet to invade.


    "There are nine ''rings'' in total, each of them representing a realm that Lucifer has allied with or placed under his control. You''ve already gotten a look at Fenrir''s gluttony." Hel let out a sigh at this. "My half brother. Technically. Absolute terror but not too bright. Managed to eat a few months a while back before we managed to lock him somewhere he can''t hurt anyone."


    He... ''ate a few months?''


    "Like I said, a absolute terror, you''re lucky he''s not smart enough to come up with a good blessing on his own."


    Well that''s terrifying.


    "You''ve seen Satan''s dungeon. What was it again? Turning light into heat? Admittedly that''s pretty good for the stupid brute."


    Hel stated as she let out a sigh.


    "After that is Asmodeus."


    I think I heard about him before. Gave a friend of mine the blessing to turn lust into power and a bunch of succubuses?


    "Sounds remarkably tame for Asmodeus, your friend must have had someone looking out for them."


    I do not like the direction of this conversation.


    "You shouldn''t. Asmodeus''s favourite monster is called a roper. You have a sphinx so you should somewhat understand all female monsters right? Ropers are all male."


    Okay... how does that work?


    "Ropers are near mindless abominations that are born with fully fertilised eggs inside of themselves but lack the tools to bring them to term, so they seek them out."


    As in...?


    "Yes. I''ve had the displeasure of seeing Asmodeus keep such viable units strung up along the walls whenever I''ve had the displeasure of coming to see him in his domain, with ropers actively at work."


    Suddenly I don''t feel quite so bad for pissing off Asmodeus that one time. Well Okay I know it was Jewel''s place that I invaded not Asmodeus''s but still.


    "You''re familiar with Pluto''s home of Tartarus."


    Yes, the guy who despite the fact that I''m rescuing his other dungeon is still trying to lay claims to a block of my city. Undead, Precious metals, Jewels and maybe dwarfs. Next.


    "Hypnos, God of Sleep and Sloth, also Pluto''s son. His all time favourite is the Beholder, a giant mass of eyeballs that looks into people''s dreams and uses what it finds to wreak havoc." So no camping in the enemy dungeons. Check.


    "Phthonus is the God governing Envy. Shapeshifters, power copiers and the likes are all his doing."


    Sounds like something the god of Envy would come up with, I think I''ve already seen his work, the Mimic Mystery Mansion.


    "I heard about that dungeon, but I don''t think it''s Pthonus that has it under control. I believe it''s one of my father''s, Loki''s."


    That one I haven''t met yet.


    "My father is the god of stories, though he''s more widely known as the king of lies which places him as the ruler of the realm of Malebogia."


    King of lies? How did he go from ''story teller'' to ''Liar?''


    "He killed Odin''s son Baldur." Okay that might do it. I remembered that Odin was the one who helped to work out the details for my first floor''s blessing so at the very least he wasn''t holding a grudge against Hel but...


    "I have two brothers. We''ve already talked about Fenrir, the other''s Jormangandr, I was locked down here in the realm of the dead because of my appearance. Fenrir was chained and muzzled like an animal. Jormangandr was thrown into the ocean to die. I think my father grew tired of Odin''s abuses, so he told a lie that killed Odin''s son, then he told more lies that started a war."


    Not the most pleasant god I''ve heard of. You think the Mystery mansion is under Loki''s control?


    "I remember him talking about it before." Lovely. There are eight dungeons we''re going to have to raid right? What''s the last two.


    "Santa Muerta, who rules the Realm of Violence and the Ruler of Limbo."


    Muerta? Violence? I thought that was Satan''s thing.


    "Satan deals with anger and retribution. That is not the same as being violent, though it might lead to people becoming violent, there''s also violence that stems from a lust for power, sadism, the list goes on. Rivers of Blood, Trees Trapping Souls of the Suicidal, deserts of scorching heat are all things that she keeps in her realm."


    Well... that''s good to know. What about Limbo? You didn''t mention its ruler by name.


    "Limbo belongs to the ignorant, the ones who refuse to see what''s around them or refuse to learn. By nature we''re not supposed to know anything about its ruler."


    Oh that sounds familiar. That sounds very familiar.


    "Aye. I suspect that we''ve recently acquired information about him, or at least what he looks like." Our attention turned to Merlin who was busily taking notes about the situation before he looked up and looked around confused.


    "Ooohh..."

 Trade

    I had been entrusted by the master with a grave mission. I had entered the dungeon of black fire through the mouth of the Ouroboros''s dragon. Lucifer''s dungeons had been eliminated for now, until like Leviathan he had them moved in to trap and corner his brother''s dungeon like the savage little animal that it was. But he would not get the chance. The fire ate the light, ate anything that would burn, but the fires weren''t hot enough to burn me, dry my clay and bake it solid yes, but it would not stop me. Instead I walked forward, allowed the earth beneath my feet to guide me, to warn me of the other monsters that were living here. Slimes? Slugs? No, living masses of lava, slow as molasses uphill but normally they have two benefits, their victims can''t see where they are going, and they can simple pass through the solid stone of the labyrinth.


    Child''s play for the likes of Archie, he didn''t need eyes to see through the darkness when he could track the shape and vibrations of stone, and he didn''t need to concern himself with mazes when he could reshape solid stone at will.


    "Were I the servant of a lesser dungeon..." Thus mere minutes into the enemy fortress I claimed my prize, a sphere of mana, a Dungeon core though I did not know its colour. "...you would be crushed and broken into pieces, presented to my master to use as nourishment for himself or payment for his allies. Sadly it is not meant to be."


    The ball gritted it''s proverbial teeth though it''s discomfort was obvious, it''s master had presented it with excellent pain medication through his mind numbing rage.


    My earth sense led me to where the core had the path leading back into the rest of its dungeon and I tossed it through as I turned around to leave. Sadly I underestimated the core''s capacity for spite as I suddenly felt the entire floor collapse on me.


    <hr>


    I watched as Archie''s respawn timer started up, indicating his fate.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Archie just got killed, is the other dungeon okay?]


    [Ouroboros: It collapsed, it looks like he succeeded in escorting the core out of the realm]


    I crossed Dark Fire''s name off of the chalkboard. That leaves me with six dungeons I needed to help and 48 cores that have yet to begin their reverse breaches and re-enter the mortal world. Right then, time to begin a speed run. We think one of the Patrons of the dungeons we''re invading is the god who blessed Merlin, so we''re hoping to open a line of a dialogue with that one, one of the cores has Pluto one of the gods who blessed my floor as it''s patron, a third has Asmodeus who''s the patron of a friend of mine, and a fourth might be in raid distance of another friend of mine but Graves will have to finish scouting it in order to make sure. Currently the plan is to try diplomacy, with a side of scouting, if that fails though then the 48 of you are going to be divided into six groups of eight and are going to go on a rampage until all the enemy cores are once more inside of the mortal plain.


    If the looks the monsters shot reflected their cores opinions they seemed to like this idea.


    We''re in agreement then, Graves will scout out the enemy forces and I''ll get into contact with my allies. Dismiss.


    <hr>


    I looked at the growing city, they finished work on the canals that would manage flooding in the area and facilitate travel for the Lemurian''s, that would make it so that they can access the city proper, a flicker of flame hovering between my finger and thumb, a common tactic for practising fire magic in the Pentaghast family. As for getting land dwellers into their area? Well that''ll be harder. The bags made using the Atmosphere Jellyfish the Keeper manufactured for us could provide air for them, but other than that that''s the limit of what we can do with them. We were going to have a meeting with the Mustang company soon, led by a family of Centaurs, it would be good if we had the product that we were working on ready by that point. The mages tower should be the ones working on it right at the moment, but they were facing some difficulties.


    In terms of elemental affinities, the Keep was all over the place: The first floor had undead, the second floor had a tree, the third floor was oceans, the fourth was all about machinery. It''s like Keeper''s getting the option to make a completely new dungeon with each new floor that he grows, currently the necromancers are managing, and will probably continue to manage up until the Keep grows a fifth floor, then they''ll have to decipher it all over again. Most Dungeons keep to what every theme they were born with from their first material until their twentieth floor, even then they only change to a new theme when they''re introduced to other dungeons through the chat and get the idea to apt on one-another''s ideas.


    Just another way that the Keeper was different from a normal dungeon, and one of many reasons why this project had seen so many delays. Charles arrived at the warehouse where the monsters that Grimm had been tasked with producing were being kept. Bone Dragons, as the Mages had classified them, not to be confused with a skeleton Dragon, which are the reanimated remains of a dead dragon, a Bone Dragon is a necromantic construct made using bones as a material, or in this case lime stone. Grimm and the people he recruited to help him was taking several chunks of limestone and methodically carving them into Dragon Bone shapes and assembling them into artificial skeletons with hearts made out of iron and emeralds. The Soul creation was the hardest part of the process.


    A dungeon can create a soul as easily as they breathe, but such things are unstable and easy to break down outside of the support of their domains, which is why the monsters they create cannot leave the dungeon proper, not unless they get a hell of a blessing. The easiest way is to simply steal a soul from something else, if you do that though then you must take measures to grow and adjust the soul in question to fit the new vessel, taking the soul of a fly and stuffing it into a dragon would naturally take a while for instance. The stone from the Keeper''s dungeon, already full of mana, was especially suited to this task though that ran into a different set of issues. Materials taken from dungeons are subject to decay, it hasn''t been much of a problem here, since the Keeper has been producing so much mana, and because they''ve had access to people with strong Earth affinity since almost the beginning.


    It''s the biggest reason why so much of the world is uninhabited, the difficulty of acquiring resources. As it stands, after months of work they''ve managed to successfully produce one of the creatures that they needed, a Bone Dragon. The creature met several of the requirements that they needed for a monster, the ability to fly at enormous speeds with it''s bones carved with specialised runes to move the air around them, in the front air is pushed away to create a smooth frictionless vacuum, in the back air is constantly pushing forward to accelerate the Dragon''s speed to monstrous levels. For transportation, the Dragon''s huge size and empty ribcage made it possible for him to carry massive loads, thus making the bony monsters highly suitable for transporting goods, is what they''ll tell the centaurs when they get here.


    Centaur''s are horse type Demi-humans, which means that few means of transport are capable of bringing them here, even if they were wealthy enough to employ one of those methods, which they are, they were originally horses, it was a point of pride that they would go everywhere by hoof. The matter with the bone dragon finished Charles looked at the horizon watching a huge dust cloud that was approaching them from afar, so the Centaurs are charging at them at full speed then, they''ll definitely need a room to rest in then, but that is our job to deal with, the important part is that the person who started this chaos is there to talk about it.


    "Where''s the Keeper''s body?" Apas''s boss room looked more like a nursery than anything else with Maat, Keket and Cleo running around. Not exactly appropriate for a goddess of death but originally this floor belonged to Echidna.


    "He blew himself up after he ate another blessing." Apas stated bluntly. Of course he did.


    "I''m not even going to bother to ask what it was this time." If he asks then he''s obligated to report it, and considering which realm that the Keeper managed to breach into it would be extremely bad for people to learn that he picked up a contamination from one of the hellish realms.


    "How wise. But no, I''m not attending the meeting." Apas stated making her opinion known. "You lost trust when you let a dungeon demolisher through the front door to kill my mate. I''m not leaving my cubs alone with your people still retaining free reign of the dungeon." With Rest the Keeper was a lot more willing to put people down now, only in this case rather than permanently kill the fools in question he instead kicked them out of the dungeon, and made sure that the entrances were being watched by animated skulls who knew their faces, as he already did with both Jack and all his people. Each skull was given access to gate controls for all of the entrances and between each floor, the gates can''t be permanently locked but each skull spits a riddle that must be answered correctly, buying time for monsters to come in and remove the interlopers. Or they can just smash the gates apart anyway. This whole thing was done in response to people who tear dungeons down for a living after all. They would come up with countermeasures for that later. "We''ll send Leonaidas instead."


    The Ring Artefact spirit was weird, he was already close to gaining his own soul before meeting Keeper, his poltergeist pushed him over the edge and now the ring exists in a inbetween state. He already left the dungeon once when he sneaked into Lithilas and robbed him blind of information on magic casting, so he''d be good for the meeting.


    "Understood. Let me know about Keeper''s condition." With that the City Lord left to tend to the incoming guests.


    <hr>


    I wasn''t so sure about this, in comparison to some of the bird monsters I''ve had to deal with over the years these creatures weren''t that scary, the only notable thing about them was their aggression, they even picked a fight with one of my gargoyles on the ship. But my patrons swore by them, the only real thing that I had to say about them though was that they''d make for a decent start if I can transfer their hyper aggression into a body that matches said aggression. For now I have contracted the leader of the flock and he was keeping the rest of the flock in line. Every couple of days the birds would lay eggs into a hole on a ship I had dedicated to Aphrodite. The entire blessing of the ship had been remade from the ground up, and thus I swapped out the Blessing that she had gotten for me, a Maride who had been equipped with the ability to impregnate monsters with the water element.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    [F Rank Water Goose Egg-A Goose Egg impregnated by a Maride, what did you expect?]


    Oi. Are you guys sure that this is a good idea?


    [Absolutely, now we interlink the water inside of the eggs with the water around them and start feeding them monsters of a higher rank] Monsters of a higher rank. Well these eggs are going to be F rank so that''s... literally everything else. Whatever I don''t exactly have a lot of uses for this one anyway.


    [E-Rank Schema Hob Goblin-More intelligent variant of goblin suitable to the position of a field commander or a magic caster]


    Aphrodite''s entire ship was one of my flooded submersibles, so any land lubber I made here drowned in a few moments. I had ten female geese laying an unfertilised egg per day into the water, after ten days I had a hundred eggs in the water, so I had to drop hundreds of Goblins into the water at a time as I watched the progress bar slowly fill.


    [2/10000]


    [Attention: Your monster has killed a monster of a higher rank than itself, so it''s unlocked the Giant Slayer achievement, but you don''t earn anything from your monsters killing each other]


    Intriguing. Doubles the XP gains from killing monsters, and it goes up with every five monsters that they kill?


    [20/10000] [60/10000] [140/10000] [300/10000] [620/10000] [1260/10000] [2540/10000] [5080/10000] [10160/10000]


    The Eggs started to glow with mana cocoons, so they were getting ready to hatch were they? And I had two options for them.


    [Select the monster option for now instead of the Demi-human, I''ll have you produce a tribe of demi-humans with the second generation once that pain in our hind quarters Keeper is dealt with]


    Ours? Tch. Whatever, short term gains are more important right now.


    [Evolution Selected: C Rank Cygnus-A Giant Swan used as a personal mount by the Goddess of Beauty and the sea Aphrodite, these ones are being affected by several blessings of water based gods that are affecting their growth]


    Of course I got the one from the goddess of beauty. Was it too much to ask for a monster blessed by the god of war? Huu... I''ll need to use genie binding magic to bind them instead of having them take up my precious contract slots.


    [My turn next, we''re going to get sea horses now]


    Sea Horses! I manifested my avatar just so that I could beat my face against a wall.


    <hr>


    "And that would appear to be the sum of their conversation." My first floor boss explained a bag of trail mix next to him.


    People often believe that my first floor is merely a way to facilitate communication between the gods, in truth I have several floors I have dedicated specifically to the use of espionage with other secondary purposes on the surface so that no one finds out. Secrets falls under forbidden knowledge, Lies are used to cover for them, and spying also often involves thievery, Compared to ****, Loki and Hermes Ratatoskr is probably the least direct with his espionage abilities as he merely listens in on conversations between dungeons. Keep me informed of what he''s doing.


    "Can do!" The Squirrel was already loudly chewing on his trail mix before he dragged it off to one of his hiding places.


    So it''s not enough for Leviathan to take control over the sea but he''s also aiming for the sky as well, this is a potentially terrifying development. Those who make use of Genies in selective breeding often take advantage of the quirks of their biology, namely that it''s extremely difficult to inbreed them. A Genasi can have anywhere between one quarter to three as the elements of their respective Schema, while in a biological organism inbreeding produces a negative effect for beings made out of elemental energy it has no effect. If Leviathan manages to establish a breeding colony of monster birds under his control then his reach will be dramatically extended. Sea horses? Are they going to get land dwellers next too? I swear if it''s not bloody Conquerete it''s this pirate bastard. Keeper came up with some decent anti-air designs in memory serves, he should consider shoring them up. Ah Speaking of which.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Old man, you there? I need a favour]


    He''s a good kid, little too naive for his own good sometimes, for now here''s hoping he has some more anti-air in place.


    [Lithilas: I have some problems of my own I need to work on, perhaps we can do an exchange?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Sure]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Hel thinks the Mimic Mystery Mansion is one of her father''s dungeons, is it possible for you to send someone over to check?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: We have someone on the way over to see if it''s him that''s in this frozen hellscape, so what I''d really like is if you could get his core back out of Cocytus]


    If it is it would have to be a floor that''s buried so deep none of the people who have been sent over have been able to find it. Which either means using simple brute force or good old fashion diplomacy.


    Course I could just directly ask Loki, especially assuming that he feels inclined to take his Daughter''s side in her divorce, he is technically Lucifer''s ally. Of course that''s all the more reason for him to want to help us.


    [Lithilas: I have some intel on what Leviathan is doing right now]


    [Dungeon Keeper: How''d you get that?]


    [Lithilas: Dedicate a floor to intel gathering when you get the chance]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Yet another thing that I need to add to my list]


    [Lithilas: Put it at the bottom, the Utility of Instancing is too important, not to mention getting into the good books of any gods that you want to nab the good graces of]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Yah mentioned having something you wanted to share about Leviathan?]


    [Lithilas: Leviathan is on the cusp of gaining a very strong air force, one that if you aren''t prepared to deal with is going to simply ignore you and go straight into the mainland]


    [Dungeon Keeper: How bad could they be?]


    [Lithilas: The birds are Cygnus, the pets to one of the gods backing Leviathan, with blessings from multiple sea gods, chances are good not even Leviathan can figure out what hell he''s about to unleash on us]


    [Lithilas: I saw your offer, if you have a B-Rank that can manipulate water prepared I''ll try and mass produce it, at the very least I might be able to play containment against whatever he''s about to do]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Give me a second]


    I needed to come up with countermeasures for Leviathan''s monsters, it''ll be easier once I know what those creatures can do though. Then I got another message from the Keeper and I could feel his wariness bleeding through.


    [Dungeon Keeper: There''s Levi but that''s more to do with Oceanus''s blessing]


    Which I don''t have.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I got a guy over here whose been working my lab basically non-stop to combine and separate Schema''s]


    [Lithilas: And you''ve gotten the schema''s of the dungeons you met while in Helheim too, let me see the list]


    A mere genie isn''t enough on it''s own to be able to block Leviathan''s antics. What I need is a debuff specialist that can knock the birds out of the air, preferably without being trapped in the dungeon proper.


    [Lithilas: I''ll take the Totem poles]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Done]


    [Dungeon Keeper has Given Lithilas the Totem Pole Schema]


    [Lithilas: You have a lot of monster schema''s, are you gonna be okay?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Is that gonna be a problem?]


    [Lithilas: You do realise that you get a free monster every time you level up right?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: That all? I have to go work now see yah]


    [Dungeon Keeper Has left the chat]


    Well... he''ll figure it out eventually.


    <hr>


    I was doing surprisingly well, the Sand dune dungeon that was using that Manticore to level has been brought under my control. Resources have been pretty tight for me, ever since I retooled my dungeon as a brothel instead of a normal dungeon, so getting the resources to actually build up my tower was a lot harder than what it would normally be. Which is fine, all things considered, Keeper and Graves aren''t the only ones that can use cheats to Level up. The Succubi Asmodeus planted in my dungeon were accumulating power from lust, several of them already had enough stored that I could pop a few floors if I wanted to and had the room to expand.


    ''Room to Expand'' was precisely the issue though.


    Unlike Normal dungeons that formed underground I was born inside of a building, a palace to be precise. I knew from the beginning that I was destined to reach for the sky! My beauty a shining beacon to all that is within this drab and dreary-


    "Mistress." I was brought out of my fantasy by the Succubi that acted as an intermediary between myself and Asmodeus.


    "We must make a decision about the next floor." Hmph! I already got all the goddesses of beauty, Your Master Asmodeus, Fortuna and Pluto are only here due to the loosest relationship to the subject. What more could I possibly ask for?


    "More resource floors? Yah know so that we can build?"


    I go through the trouble of evolving all of the schema''s that I have accumulated into the objects of beauty that I have now and you believe that I desire a mine? Pump the Sand Dune for building materials.


    "Asmodeus help me... What about other resources then, like food?"


    Oh yes, because a farm is precisely what I always wanted. If require resources I will make that wretched Sand Dune that was profiting off of me manufacture them. Do try to come up with a useful suggestion if you insist on piping them anyway.


    "For the love of... what about wine?"


    Wine?


    "It loosens up peoples inhibitions, our efficiency for piping out desire from the city will go way up!" My Succubus explained her tail wagging behind her.


    Who do we aim at for wine though?


    "Bacchus!"


    And what do we need to get him involved?


    "A winery preferably, a good one at the very least."


    We don''t know much about chemistry I am afraid, we''ll have to import a lot of material if we want to make anything of use. And are there even any specific monsters that would be useful for this?


    "If memory serves you''ve mentioned that a potential agriculture theme has popped up a couple of times already, we should start with that the next time that you Level up, then set it to produce fruit so that we can process it into fine wines and other alcohols."


    That is true, aside from Beauty a lot of the gods I deal with deal in agriculture as a by product. Hmm. You aren''t trying to trick me into making a farm are you?


    "Wh-What of course not!?" The Succubus cleared her throat with a polite Ahem. "If the Monster pull doesn''t give us something useful we''ll need to look into either acquiring or breeding a specific monster to act as inhabitants or a boss of the floor." The Succubus looked like she was trying to change the subject.


    Hang on I''m getting a call from somewhere.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Hey Jewel I got a question for you, how well do you know your main sponsor Asmodeus?]


    [Jewel: Unless you have a monster schema that specialises in producing fine quality wine then I have my own issues I need to deal with]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Is that all?]


    As I wondered about what he meant a new notification came up.


    [Dungeon Keeper has offered the E Rank Schema Alcohol slime price: Bejeweled Concubine''s mirror''s aid]


    [Jewel: Are you serious? I asked for fine wine and you gave me cheap medicinal alcohol!?]


    I let my bubbling rage fitter through the connection before another more acceptable offer came through for me.


    [Dungeon Keeper has offered the E Rank Schema Burbon Slime price: Bejeweled Concubine''s mirror''s aid]


    Burbon?


    "It is a very fine alcoholic beverage." The Succubus supplanted.


    [E-Rank Burbon Slime: An alcohol slime that has fed off of a excessive amount of fermented fruits until it learned how to duplicate their properties]


    [Jewel: It''ll do]


    [Jewel: I have Asmodeus''s emissary that you met last time, I trust that will suffice?]


    The individual in question sent a look of surprise and annoyance.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Deal!]

 Renewal

    I sat in my core room in front of the symbolic globe that represents the world, and the smaller globe next to it that represents Helheim.


    [Ouroboros: So just passed by the Mimic Mansion in here, confirmed Hel''s theory, what do we do now?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Now my friend we go do a speed run!]


    [Ouroboros: I have no idea what that is]


    I ignored Graves ignorance as I moved my consciousness into the meeting room. We will be changing our approach with the next four dungeons. Thanks to Graves and Hel we now have a rough idea of what those dungeons are, The Mimic Mystery Mansion under Loki, the Dragon''s Hoard under Pluto, The Roper''s Den under Asmodeus, and Limbo Under what''s-his-name. We have individuals that have relationships with each of these guys.


    "Who are you sending into the tentacle pit?" Merlin asked me looking quite questioningly in the direction of my points of awareness.


    [You are being Raided by ''Concubine''s Bejeweled Mirror'']


    Right on time, Archie lead Jewel''s team into the tower. The last member of the raid team is coming in now. Hel I''m sending Saphee to act as your representative in the Mystery Mansion, and another friend of mine is going to launch a raid from the other side at the same time, Merlin you''re going to talk to What''s-his-name, and my own guy Leonaidas is going into the Dragon''s Hoard with Grave''s own Pluto floor boss.


    "That leaves three more dungeons that need to be raided though." Merlin stated bluntly.


    Right, the Dreamer''s Lounge, Envy''s Glare and the Ring of Blood. Two''s vampire Mer-Sharks would probably make out like a bandit in the latter, which is one of many reasons why we''re going to use brute force. As soon as the diplomats are dropped off the rest of you are going to enter the last three dungeons and do whatever is necessary to return them to reality. When in doubt, tie lots of knots. Other matter that I need to address. Hel...


    "Yes, when the last of the dungeons are returned to the material plane you will be released." Hel stated as she breathed a sigh of exhaustion. Good. Cause I really have a lot on my plate and I need to address some of this madness now.


    Archie led a succubus wearing a Card Dealer''s uniform into the tower, not what I imagined a succubus would wear but whatever works for her I guess. They went with Graves on the multi-dungeon raid while I attended my own house.


    I called a meeting of my floors, Apas, Treyni, Levi and Blossom who would fill in Leonaidas when he got back.


    I am going to be incapacitated for a while in the near future, I think. Something has been done to my body, I don''t understand the full details on what yet, I do know however that something may mean I''m not going to be in my right mind when the Frost Fire Fiend spawns again, so we need to be prepared for that to happen. Apas...


    "Will have our cubs far away from you, the cusp of the issue here being how few of us we can actually trust." We can''t exactly ''raid'' one of our allies while Jewel is still here, I don''t even know if we can send the cubs over via that method.


    "If that''s the case..." Levi rose one of her tentacle claw hands into the air to make a suggestion. "I can swim over to Ring of Fire and we can leave them there for a few days. In the worst case scenario we can say that he owes us a favour for having taken in his people into our own midst."


    A super-volcano, I can think of a worst place to let a bunch of half fire monsters stay. I''m also going to have a marble box built around my spawn point. Our goal is to have me return to normal, in the worst case scenario we''ll pick me off again, in the best we''ll just release me after I''ve calmed down.


    The worst case scenario is if I respawn at the same time that I''m released from Hel''s services and I make some bad decisions based on that compromised judgement...


    "Yes... somewhere safe to stay may be the optimal choice." Apas stated bluntly as her tail started to twitch, she was still clearly worried.


    "Should we contact the guild again? Recruit the demolisher and his unit into the raid teams?"


    Apas visibly tensed up at Blossom''s suggestion. No. I don''t trust him, and I don''t know a method of keeping him from binding my core, other than sealing the entrance to the core room, which is something I''m explicitly not allowed to do. I could try to post a guardian I suppose. That''s kind of what a floor boss is isn''t it? Well hopefully everything is going to go well.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Karzan and I went over to the Mystery Mansion once more. The last time we were here we had Keeper and his griffin to support us. The wide open space of Mimic''s dome was one of the few places it made sense to have a flying griffin to attack people with, not that she was a griffin anymore. Conquerete basically treated this place as a field hospital forcing Mimic to put him back together again whenever Lithilas managed to do some actual damage. Well now the big block head has to go somewhere else to find someone to put him back together again, not that Lithilas doesn''t mind. No the big problem here is that Conquerete left behind a broken and traumatised dungeon that he has to fix now if this region is going to get any safer. Lithilas never pegged Mimic has having enough points to breach another realm. Lithilas suspected he didn''t do it right either, instead of reaching the triple digits and absorbing a huge amount of divine blessings he instead killed off so many monsters at once he breached to deal with the overload. Conquerete must have stuffed him so full of monsters and then they got killed off that breaching must''ve been the only way to deal with the overload. Well Conquerete isn''t here now, so let''s see how well the Keeper''s ''diplomacy'' works out.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I wasn''t quite sure about what she was expecting when I took the back entrance into the Mimic Mystery Mansion, this wasn''t it though.


    "Father! I ask to be made an equal! A ruler of a realm of my own to share our wisdom with the mortals!"


    I walked into a theatre, the feeling of Hel hovering over my shoulder as she used the fact that we were identical in appearance to her advantage. A play was in place, a wafting cold coming off of the stage as a being with angel wings pleaded with another sitting on a throne of clouds. I called them people, but they were far from it. Both figures bodies were completely dry, like a mummy, but they floated above the floor of the stage like ghosts. Was this some kind of play?


    [C-Rank Monster Moon Wraith-There are many reasons that drive a return from death, here is depression, some do not find answers to their sorrow even in the afterlife, instead they return to the land of the living seeking the answers to their woes, a Moon Wraith exudes a overwhelming feeling of emptiness around them that produces a overwhelming chill that left unchecked will suck out your soul and turn it into another Moon Wraith]


    A good sales pitch, but the people she saw on the stage were probably dungeon born. Saphee made note of seats to watch the play from and opted to sit down, as she did she saw a immaterial figure appear next to her, bags full of popped corn on a tray in their hands, one of which I took and left a jewel as payment. The play had started to get good too.


    "You dare to rebel against me!? My own Son!?" The figure in the clouds deepened their voice and roared, an approximation of outrage by the looks of things. "I cut your wings and banish you to the depths of the underworld!"


    The ghost on the stage dropped it''s wings and flipped so that they were laid out on their back, hands flailing in the air as a screen behind them rapidly scrolled up as if simulating a long fall, going from a sunny scene on clouds to a dark one filled with ice before the Moon Wraith hit the floor. Saphee began clapping her hands together however someone seemed to disagree with her sentiment.


    "No no no!" An intense heat radiated off from the side like I was smacked in the face with sunshine. I had no idea what sunshine felt like and I was getting hit with it, as if this was the very embodiment of sunshine itself was coming down on my face.


    [C Rank Monster Noon Wraith-There are many reasons that drive a return from death, here is passion, some interests do not end with death, and on the contrary the blessing of unending existence leads many to hone their craft in their new state, thus a Noon Wraith has returned to the land of the living in pursuit of their craft, be careful of the flames, if you get burned you''ll be brought back as another Noon Wraith]


    I was greeted by the sight of another wraith, another case of being wrung dry of all fluids like a mummy but still floating through the air like a ghost. If there was a difference between the two in terms of appearance, the first one looked freeze dried while the other one looked simply dehydrated.


    "It''s all wrong! Take it from the top again!" The Noon Wraith wore a full body dress and a theatre mask. As I watched her converse with the other wraiths I saw her pausing to adjust her head several times, as if it was something that she had been balancing on her shoulders like a pot on her head, I also noticed a dullahan dressed in the same clothing as her serving drinks, both women also had a identical long pony tail coming off the backs of their heads, the latter being used to secure said head to her hip. So a ghost, and their body following behind them as a undead well that''s not morbid, I suppose a necromancer would just say that they''re utilising the resources available to them. Well as much as I am enjoying the popcorn I did come here for business.


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


    "Excuse me-"


    "You''re excused." The wraith didn''t even turn around to look at me. "You know where the entrance is. Come back during the show."


    I twitched with Seething rage, I probably shouldn''t but the hot headed drama queen wasn''t even paying attention, and really it was just second hand rage from Hel, she had a almost as bad a temper as Satan did and I was getting hit by it. As I debated preparing a frosty surprise for the annoying two fold combo I felt the entire dungeon shake. The Rude Wraith slumped over, catching her head as it was about to fall over in one hand.


    "OOOHHHOOOWWWLLL!" A geyser of howling flame suddenly erupted out of the Headless wraith''s torso and spread against the ceiling with howling force before the fire ended as abruptly as it had started, the wraith sticking it''s head back on it''s shoulders like it was putting it''s hat back on. "I''m going to be a minute." The wraith abruptly about faced and left, the Dullahan putting the trey down as she followed. I could feel Hel prodding in the back of my mind to follow her.


    "I am here on behalf of Hel on a diplomatic mission." Seeing as how that went last time I cut out the niceties this time around.


    "Good for you." The wraith stated in front of the entrance to the dungeon. "I am Long Lockes, contracted by the Mimic Mystery Mansion, this is also Long Lockes, my body from when I still had one."


    The Wraith grandly gestured to herself and to the headless corpse, before vanishing through the entrance to the dungeon. Is that how this is going to be? I felt Hel''s temper flaring. Graves was gone, off to the next dungeon to deposit the next member of the diplomatic team, in his place though was something more familiar, a legion of half frozen traitors condemned to Cocoytus. I could feel Hel''s power throbbing, calling forth all of the souls in her domain that hold grudge with these particular individuals, and soon they appeared from the mist in the form of dozens of Hel Walkers, together with the Wraith torching from afar and the Dullahan slashing with shadows quick work was made of them both. I was waiting in front of the entrance where the two figures reemerged from their business outside.


    "Now than where-" Just in time for me to materialise a block of ice around them. "We''re going to have a chat now you and I." I broached no room for compromise, if I am going to be treated rudely then I will treat people rudely.


    "Excuse me!" The disembodied figure took little issue with the ice floating through it, yet it still annoyed them. "I am-"


    "I am Saphee of the Dungeon Keeper, Kin to the Goddess of Helheim and the Betrayed Hel, and I have come here for diplomatic purposes. You will either meet those purposes or you will direct me to one who can."


    The Wraith looked ready to verbally rip into me but stopped and visibly paled looking at something behind me.


    "Go get the play ready Long Lockes." I felt the hand of a Gargoyle rest onto my shoulder. "I''ll have a chat with my daughter." Imprisonment did Loki no favours, he was rail thin and disheveled, a blindfold over his face from where Jormangander''s poison had been dripping into his eyes, and this was his gargoyle, this was in theory a statue barring a loose resemblance to him meant to flatter him. A three way meeting soon began inside of the Audience seats while Long Lockes worked on stage. Karzan sat in one chair, his bear waiting off in the corner while Lithilas looked through his sharp eyes, Loki''s Gargole sat in another seat the Mansion''s presence hovering in the area around them, and Saphee sat in another seat Hel hovering in and around her.


    "Father, how have you been?" Hel started the meeting, genuine curiosity in her voice that I had to relay.


    "I''m doing fine, though I wouldn''t be opposed to your ''god-father'' letting up on my punishment." Loki was the God of Liar''s and Story telling, it is his nature that everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie, he''s not physically capable of telling a flat out truth, though when he''s talking to those he''s close to he seeks to mislead instead of lie so that he can at least have a proper conversation. So that means that he wasn''t doing well, at all.


    "I''ll do my best to convince Odin, but he still hasn''t gotten over Balder." I sighed as I felt Hel''s words drip from my mouth. "What a shame that is." Loki''s face didn''t think it was a shame. Even Hel had to admit some bitterness, being locked away in this frozen wasteland just because of what she looks like.


    "Enough about Odin. Your brothers would like to know how you are doing?" Hel would be genuinely happy if Jormangander wanted to see her again but Hel suspected that Loki wasn''t asking for him.


    "I have a couple more contracted Dungeons, one calls himself a Dungeon Keeper. He has a mouth on him but he''s good at looking after the Dungeons around him." Hel explained through my mouth and I felt some genuine pride on my master''s behalf. "Ouroboros is a good kid too, but sometimes it feels like he is trying too hard."


    "Enough. We need to discuss this Dungeon." Karzan stated pointing down with his spear. "Conquerete is not here anymore, Babel threw him into the ocean." The mana went tense, as if someone''s face had gone stiff with shock.


    "It''s fine if you want to cower here but I do have other dungeons I need to look after, and I hope they don''t have to deal with a hoard of undead marching through here to do it." Mimic Mystery Mansion, it was somewhat safe to say that the core material here was a Mimic, also known as ''nature''s perfect cowards.'' Mimic''s form of safety is to hide, then he had to put up with Conquerete on top of that: no wonder he''s traumatised.


    "I have actually been working to get the little critter out of his shell, theatre has been one of the steps I''ve taken to do it." Loki directed our gazes towards the stage. "I even convinced him to contract that two for one package over there to give lessons." Loki stated indicating the headless ghost, probably claiming credit for what he didn''t do. "I kid though. Ol Luci and I have similar interests don''t get me wrong, but I''m siding with my daughter in their divorce." Which could be interpreted as ''I have nothing left to do with Lucifer so I''m recalling my dungeon.''


    "Well either way Lucif-" I was going to say that Lucifer would probably get off on being betrayed but I felt Hel stop me.


    "You seem to believe that Lucifer likes traitors?" Loki started laughing at my assumption. "Lucifer has personally created a realm where the people he drags down here experience the pain of being frozen and thawed over and over again for all eternity." This wasn''t even Loki being misleading, he was stating facts both Hel and I were familiar with. "That play up there is all about him bitching and whining about his father stabbing him in the back after he over-reached." Which means... "And even after learning those facts you think Lucifer likes traitors?"


    "He''s the god of Treachery though?" Saphee asked sounding confused.


    "If you keep spouting technically true but wholly wrong facts you''re going to put me out of business!" Hel''s thoughts filled my mind. Lucifer''s problem is that he has no faith in others, if you put your trust into others then they will betray that faith. Hel tried to help him out of it but Lucifer never trusted her either. "Lucifer spreads treachery in the mortal realm because he spreads the idea that there is no point in putting your trust into others." Karzan spoke up this time.


    "Ironically enough this creates more traitors and ends up fulfilling his own beliefs, resulting in the people that listened to him being dragged down here to get themselves put into the deep freeze for all of eternity."


    Well, that''s just how most prophecies really work.


    "In any case you might wanna look into getting picked up by your own dungeon before we decide to redecorate." Karzan stated bluntly.


    "My ride is already busy, I was supposed to off myself when everything was done." I would just respawn in the dungeon after all, but now there was information that I needed to share too, the master was labouring under a misunderstanding and it could cause him trouble down the line.


    "Oh, allow me." And like that the Loki gargoyle hurled two spears of ice into my head and heart killing me instantly.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    [Saphee 6:23:57]


    Huh. So Saphee will re-spawn in a week then. Hel you wanna tell me how our plan is doing...? No? Okay then. For now I''ll assume that everything is going according to plan then. Hopefully Graves will have circled around and I can confirm whether the dungeon is no longer being a problem. If not Graves then Lithilas.


    [Leonaidas 6:23:59]


    Oh Leonaidas must''ve finished up over in Pluto''s dungeon too. Well he''s basically a one ring army, even without Pluto being on his side I can''t imagine that there''s much that would really hurt him.


    I felt the tower tremble. Oh Four must''ve finished punching through to the other side! I drifted my consciousness down to the mass of doors where we prepared to have the different doors that would lead into different dungeons. For now I moved my points of awareness into the other dungeon, the floor was covered in ankle deep water. Were we on the coast? If we were under water then the hallway should be flooded instead of merely water logged. And if we''re on the coast then that means that Four was likely one of the Dungeons that was eaten by Leviathan?


    "Bellfast." A figure like a ghost appeared near me, this wasn''t like the snake from before, a silhouette, like a memory half remembered, or a face half forgotten. "My name is Bellfast. I was born from the bell from the collapsed church inside of this town."


    Nice to meet you Bellfast! I''m sorry that I can''t go out and see what state the town is in right now. Where did the undead come from?


    "There were..." Ghostly Avatar looked like she was having a hard time remembering. "...bodies in the basement where I was born? A crypt?"


    And you learned how to make undead from there? What about the chicken?


    "...the Village? I made food for the Village?"


    Right. Leviathan managed to get all one hundred of his floors back almost in an instant, have you got that far as well?


    "...no I wasn''t a hundred floors deep..."


    Another pause.


    "...Something''s missing. I can''t grow back."


    I thought about it for a moment. Right Leviathan had that mountain of rock that I threw at him to regrow into when he came back? Knowing that guy I don''t think there''ll be much left of the town after he was through with it. I''m going to go get one of my contracts and have a look around outside. My Maride body soon exited through Bellfast''s entrance above a lake. Not a lake, but a bay, a pocket of water carved into the shore when some ass-hole tore out a chunk of the shore and ate it, then the gap was filled with water. Well for now, let''s make the area good for Bellfast to get Hel''s blessing. Cracking mana born fingers I sent a chill into the water, I could already control water, and I had plenty of practice screwing around with temperature with the Fire Frost Fiend body, so it was easy turning the lake into ice. Already I saw Bell boring holes through the ice like a ant colony, Helheilm''s bone chilling cold should help to make the area nice and cold to be frozen, I felt the familiar blessing from my dungeon fill the corridors as well. Well I suppose it was the others blessing too in a way. Still we just can''t leave a hunk of ice here and not do anything with it. For one thing only one floor is going to Hel, so only one floor is gonna stay frozen, so as for the rest... I went back to my own dungeon for now, my production abilities were higher after all. There were already lots of buildings around my own dungeon, so for now I set the dungeon to produce soil, or rather things that I would mix into the soil, what we need here is what you''d call a landfill. So for now I was mass producing dirt, having the werewolves dump it into Bell''s dungeon with home made wheel-barrels, then I''ll use the Maride to mix it all into Bell''s dungeon. With luck we can fix what Leviathan broke.

 Mistreatment

    Keeper


    Graves landed in my tower, dropping on my floor another of the Bags of Holding I gave him, already I let the reanimation energy inside of the dungeon flow into the bag until another Dungeon Jellyfish was spawned. Just because we rescued the dungeons from Lucifer''s grasp didn''t mean that there weren''t more that were being total pains in the butt. I don''t see the one from the Greed dungeon though, but we''ll look into that once Leonaidas respawns, for now four more to go.


    "What are you planning on doing with them?"


    I''ll make full use of the resources given to me to benefit the most amount of people.


    "Common!"


    Was that a language? Whatever. I''ll stuff them into jugs and throw them into the ocean to help promote the growth of more dungeons. "Is that wise? They were Lucifer''s dungeons." Lucifer left them so mana starved that the only way they could survive was to parasite off of other dungeons. They''ll be more than happy to leave his services. Now we need to work on our plan to clean up the rest of the dungeons, we know that our allies are working as quickly as they can to get the other dungeons cleaned up.


    <hr>


    Merlin


    I understood that this was supposed to be Hell but I was in Heaven! Books! Books for miles! Every fibre of my Nyarl being demanded that I go forth and dance naked in the streets in celebration! At once I started to pull out various books from the shelves around me and found a corner to tuck into them. Feeling someone was watching me I looked up in surprise at a large worm-like creature that was staring at me.


    [D-Rank Monster-]


    "I know what a Bookworm is thank you very much!" The system prompt had gotten in the way of my reading. Unforgivable. "If you have no intention of attacking me could you kindly bugger off!?"


    Confused, the Bookworm left. After all its job was to punish the ignorant and very clearly this one did not qualify. This place was disgusting.


    <hr>


    Succubus


    Jewel might be lazy and vain but at least she maintains some standards of cleanliness, which is more than what could be said here. It was ultimately a deep, dark cave, one that was inhabited by more than just dungeon monsters.


    [E Rank Monster Roper-A vicious Moluscoid ambush predator resembling a Stalagmite, asexual but they require other creatures, preferably mammals, to incubate their offspring, Towards this end their fluids act as a natural muscle relaxer and sleep aid]


    Frankly speaking, this place offended her sensibilities, She ran a neat orderly dungeon, not this place of... what is this dungeon even trying to accomplish with this set up? Lust was about desire, about people wanting to be there. All that she could see was people moaning vaguely in pain, Hel walkers, so they weren''t even fertile, the stupid dungeon didn''t even grab the right kind of people. Well I''m not here to save them.


    "You all have two choices." I cracked my fingers as I let my accumulated power flare. If Jewel was good at one thing it was powering up Succubi like her. "You can pack up your things and leave this area, or I can remove you."


    I felt something shift. Something slimey and full of tentacles dropped down a nearby cave entrance to look directly at me. Power suddenly flushed through me all at once, the desires of a monster vastly stronger than myself was being aimed directly at me.


    "Ah dammit!"


    <hr>


    Keeper


    In any case, we should assume that things are going good right now.


    "And if they aren''t?" The undead dragon currently taking up most of my tower''s top most floor asked looking at me suspiciously.


    Then we should have a plan B ready to strike. If something happens to Jewel''s and Merlin''s monsters then they''ll be able to let us know soon. In the mean time we should focus on dealing with the sloth, envy and violence dungeons.


    "I hate to interrupt." Apas soon appeared from the depths of the dungeon. "But we have guests. The merchants that you''ve been prodding to come here have arrived." I don''t have my ifrit body though and I think Levi has the Maride. "Which means that we''re going to have to go together." Oh this was going to be awkward. "I''ll take the monsters and go attack the Colosseum." Graves''s Dragon stated as he made preparations for the raid.


    <hr>


    Keeper/Apas


    I saw Centaur''s from Jack''s raid army, so I wasn''t entirely surprised to see one here. He was large built, like a warrior, if I was told that the Trading company head sent his bodyguard ahead I would believe them. Right now I felt his eyes going over Apas, taking in every detail of her body but not changing his face. Apas''s instincts carried me through the meeting''s opening, he wasn''t looking at her with lust or anything of the like, this was a predator sizing up a rival. Once his assessment was finished the Centaur spoke.


    "I wasn''t aware that I would be speaking with one of the Jewel Dungeon''s whores." The centaur''s voice was kept even and neutral, disturbingly so in fact, it felt like I was talking to something inhuman.


    "I understand that you come from a prestigious line or some such nonsense with lots of ''selective breeding'' and crap like that in order to domesticate you. I However was born a griffin, a monster, a savage, I earned my power and this body unlike you, clothing is still a new concept to me so you''re lucky I''m wearing any at all. So is not eating people who mouth off at me, and I am particularly fond of horse meat."


    Wow. Remind me to bring you along when I want to mouth off at someone.


    "Now that we''ve finished with the opening barbs, Chiron Mustang, a representative of the Mustang Family."


    "Apas, representing the Dungeon Keeper." Apas stated bluntly.


    "Lets get down to business. You have a necromancer that you''ve managed to convince to do what? Open an Air delivery service with undead constructs?" Apas snorted at him.


    "The dragon''s are old news." And also near as I can tell, non-functional.


    "Follow me, and you''ll see the new hotness." Apas led the centaur to Thing''s palm who lifted him and Charles into the dungeon. My city manager it seems had business with the horse after I was finished with him. That was another thing, near as I can tell no fear and no surprise. A undead monster the size of a mountain and he''s acting like it''s nothing special. Thing lowered the monster into his mouth while Apas guided him into the tower. Skunk Ape''s breach was well underway though slower going than Bellfast''s, is taking longer because it''s further away? Or did Hel not have the resources to do two breaches at once.


    "I hope what you''re selling is worth this bone shaking cold you have introduced to me." Annoyance, that was the strongest reaction that I''ve seen out of him yet.


    "Patience." As Apas said that she slinked into the Bellfast dungeon very much like a lioness on the prowl. She was... eager? Oh. Oh I made her work hard to put up with this guy and now I''m going to pay her back later? Was that it? "Pretty much." Apas stated as she walked through elbow high water.


    "Does that mean that we''ve arrived at whatever semblance of a point you are making?" The Horse man''s annoyance was growing. He was definitely not someone who wanted to be here wading through water that came up to a foot in the air while Bellfast''s Kapri Souls buzzed around him.


    "Patience. We''re almost outside." And so Apas climbed out of the dungeon entrance and into the wider area. Bellfast was busy since she broke through, all of my ice had been replaced by the soil mixture I had given her, though she wasn''t able to get any of the buildings that had been here prior to Leviathan ripping out the town replaced yet. The centaur climbed out of the hole his annoyance vanishing for a moment, replaced by astonishment, before he quickly turned his features back to neutral.


    "We''re outside again. But not in the town. We didn''t go in the right direction to exit the dungeon normally." How freakish was this guy''s sense of direction? "We connected to another dungeon? The temperature in the path we passed through was sharply different from the rest of the dungeon? A breach? No it''s too young."


    "You did pass through a breach." Apas stated bluntly. "My mate is not a normal dungeon, your mistake is believing that he is."


    "Where he encountered a second dungeon." The Horse man attempted to brush off the revelation, he was looking at Charles who was stunned as he examined the landscape. "More importantly a dungeon that does not seem to be too far away from where he started. Not very useful."


    "One of fifty dungeons like it, soon to be breached if my master''s plans go accordingly. Admittedly we don''t know where they will lead to, they could be not too far away as this one is, they could lead to the dark continent, or they could even lead to an entirely different world." Apas played our last trump card. "Currently we do not know where they will be released, or how much control we''ll have over where that will happen." Mustang paused at that.


    "Keep us informed of the situation." And went back to his group through the dungeon. Well I suppose that plan was a failure. What''s up with Charles anyway?


    "Oi." Apas tapped her paw on Charles shoulder, snapping him out of the stunned state. "What''re you looking at that has you so fascinated?"


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "We passed through the Bellfast dungeon didn''t we?" Charles didn''t make it sound like a question.


    "That''s her name anyway." Apas was a little suspicious. "It used to be managed by my Fiance''s family."


    A pause as Charles once more looked at the outline of the nearby mountains.


    "Leviathan ate it, how is this possible?"


    "There''s a lot of dungeons that were supposed to have been eaten by other dungeons in Helheim." Apas replied bluntly as she tapped her paw.


    Which makes me wonder if eating the bastard is enough to get rid of him. What did Leviathan do to Bellfast that she ended up in the Afterlife that I''m supposed to do differently from him? Hmm. Oh I hear Jewel tapping in the Chat room. Apas, make sure that Charles gets back to town safely.


    <hr>


    My mind returned to the core room where I entered the chat space.


    [Jewel: That place is disgusting!]


    [Dungeon Keeper: What happened?]


    [Jewel: Burn it! Burn it to the ground!]


    [Lithilas: Allow me to explain, she''s been rage posting for a hour now but I''ve made out some details, but first]


    [Jewel has been banned from the Chat for 5 hours]


    [Lithilas: That should keep us from being interrupted]


    [Lithilas: The Roper''s den has been taken over by one of it''s contracted monsters, a Roper, which is now using it''s monsters to mass produce it''s offspring]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Why not sever the contract?] [Lithilas: It''s not like the Dungeon isn''t benefiting, In it''s case it''s probably not too different from Jewel''s whores, or you and your cubs]


    At the reminder my attention turned back to the three little monsters in question. Maat was playing with a stray spider web, Cleo was stalking a Bee, Keket was sleeping belly up. I wish I had a camera, or at least some better way of recording information than carving pictures into stone.


    [Lithilas: Are you paying attention?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Sorry I was looking at my cute cubs]


    [Dungeon Keeper: So is the roper a good thing or a bad thing for the dungeon?]


    [Lithilas: It could go either way]


    [Lithilas: I sincerely doubt that it''s a good thing for the surrounding area''s though]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Meaning?]


    [Lithilas: A Monster who kidnaps people, plows them, and makes them give birth for them gets to start mass producing offspring]


    [Lithilas: When it''s the kid''s turn to start producing offspring do you expect them to stay in the dungeon for their dad''s sloppy seconds? Of course not! They''d go out and look for ''partners'' of their own!]


    [Lithilas: In the best case scenario, these things would get wiped out by whatever monsters that they pick a fight with, but if the dungeon keeps mass producing them without end, then we could see a undead convergence, in the worst case scenario, these things would overwhelm the local ecosystem and drown everything in tentacled abominations, not to mention what they''d do if they got to a town]


    Great a term I don''t know.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I have no idea what that is though]


    [Ouroboros: The Undead appear where there is death, the more death in a given area the greater the likelihood that undead will appear]


    [Ouroboros: When vast amounts of undead appear in a given area more powerful undead appear who then goes onto to passively generate more undead just by being in the same area as a corpse, the situation is then further exasperated by the fact that the dungeon connects to a realm of the dead releasing it''s miasma into the environment]


    [Dungeon Keeper: We don''t even know where this dungeon is, how are we going to stop an environmental disaster?]


    [Lithilas: We know where it is on your side of the equation]


    I was afraid that he was going to say that.


    [Dungeon Keeper: My three biggest heavy hitters are still in the mortal plane, my body still hasn''t respawned yet, what exactly am I supposed to contribute to this situation?]


    [Ouroboros: Leave that to me]


    <hr>


    Ouroboros


    For all that they were living in a dungeon connected to Cocoytus the Ropers were still creatures of flesh and blood, not even undead either. They were unusually resistant to the cold, their prisoners were proof enough of that, but there was more than one way to skin a cat. I am Ouroboros you immature brat! I am the strongest dungeon of undeath to appear in a hundred years! And I have a Banshee and I''m not afraid to use it!


    "Such a large Audience!" Esmerelda wore a ballgown and a veil, both were old and slightly worn with tears here or there that did little to subtract from the craftsmanship of the dress, or the unearthly beauty of the one wearing it, at the mere sound of her voice nearby Ropers were afflicted with the curse of instant death. "I better skip straight to the chorus! Ahem!" My Banshee bard took a deep breath. "OoooOAHAH! AAAHH AAHH!" An unearthly song voice echoed out throughout the halls of the enemy dungeon. With every echo monsters dropped, points accumulated inside of my monster''s body and inside of mine, which probably means that I''ll have another breech to deal with when I get back to the Mortal plane. Great. Now freed of their bondage the Hel Walkers the dungeon had captured tore themselves free and snarled viciously like a woman possessed.


    "RRRAAAWWWRRR!" One woman was holding an axe, furry animal skins covering her body as she roared. Soon she wasn''t just wearing the fur, her entire body growing wider and larger until a giant grizzly stood where she had previously, still tightly gripping the axe in both of her hands.


    [C Rank Hel Berserker-The Hel Walkers are reanimated remains of the dead and the betrayed, compassion has long vanished and only the desire for revenge remains their hearts having grown as cold as their billowing frost/Also known as ''were bears'' To be a Berserker is to be a monster in human form and a human in monster form, violence rules their thought processes and their claws reap death]


    Then the expected convergence happened. Frost covered the dead bodies, stiff corpses tangled up with one another rose up on unsteady makeshift legs and the tangled mass of rock like shell, frozen flesh and undead tentacles let out a roar.


    [C Rank Monster Rat King-When Rat''s get cold in the winter time they huddle together to stay warm, during this time their bodies become tangled together into a single mass known as a Rat King, here we have a similar phenomena and the resulting mass having risen as a powerful undead abomination]


    Well this was going pear shaped, or rather bear shaped I guess. The two monsters locked eyes and charged at each other, frozen flesh colliding, shattering, reforming to land blow after blow on each other. What''s worse is that there were more of these things that were starting to wake up, both Hel Walkers that were being released and Rat Kings that were rapidly forming as they went on a rampage. Fire won''t do us any good here, lightning on the other hand...


    [Ouroboros: Keeper, can you send your gears?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Consider it done]


    Several of the lightning spewing wheels of death soon made their appearance known, the silver wheels rushing at one of the Rat Kings and spat lightning. The Bolts of lightning shattered the frozen flesh, jumped across the walls where more Rat Kings were starting to form as so much of the enemy was rapidly shattered and torn apart. At this rate none of the ropers would be getting out of here alive or dead. That said there is still the issue of what we came here in the first place for, I was however perfectly content to let the monsters the ropers have taken captive and the undead born of them tear each other apart, I would imagine that they have a lot that they want to say to one another.


    In the mean time my Muryan armours entered the dungeon, I have no idea where that big bear came from but I am mighty glad she''s keeping the dungeon''s attention for me. We came up to the boss room, we''ll claim it as part of our efforts to neutralise the convergence before it can get the chance to gain momentum, for one thing beating this dungeon means beating this boss too. We opened the door and were greeted by the sight of... yeah I''m not going into that. Luckily I didn''t have to either, Esmerelda released more of her high pitched singing into the boss room and the instant death effect of her voice kicked in once more thus allowing us to claim the boss room, where we quickly sealed the doors.


    "That is quite enough for now I think." Esmerelda stated as she wanted out of this place.


    Agreed. I had my Muryan''s carve the ritual magic circle into the centre of the chamber and had the one I intended to promote lay down in the middle. There''s more than one path to power, there are necromancers that raise the hordes of the undead only to slaughter them like chattel, a specially prepared ritual circle to suck power of the dead and damned away and into themselves, though at the risk of becoming a undead themselves. Course if you''re already a goner, then you have nothing to worry about. I called over one of Keeper''s gears and sat it down in the ritual circle, along with one of my Muryan armors, the two connected together and laid down together in the middle of the ritual circle as it absorbed power from the dungeon to fulfil its task. Outside the boss room I could feel the various undead monsters that I helped to mass produce drop, their points and their ''lives'' sucked away from them, with exception to those too stubborn to die. The angry bear charged away looking for it''s next fight as I looked down at my new creation.


    [Please Select a path of Evolution for your monster]


    [B Rank Queen Muryan-A Insect Queen charged with maintaining the numbers of the hive, low combat power but with the ability to mass produce Muryans]


    Minimal usefulness to me or to Keeper, the majority of this thing''s points don''t belong to me, I don''t even think it belongs to my necromancer either.


    [B Rank Crazy Muryan-A Muryan who has developed lightning affinity resulting in fast attacks that jump from one target to the next]


    Closer but not quite it yet.


    [B Rank Muryan Artifact Armour-A powerful artifact spirit armour made using monster material, may developed a unique ability related to lightning]


    That''s what I''m looking for.


    [Selected Muryan Artifact Armour]


    A evolutionary cocoon soon appeared, in the mean time the only undead that were left here was Hel''s and mine, and the dungeon is going to have to start from scratch rebuilding it''s horde, it won''t even get to dismantle the bodies of it''s ropers for extra mana, because I''m having all of my forces transport the corpses into my dungeon to be broken down.


    [Stop him! Stop Him already!]


    Ah, so you can speak then?


    [Who Do you think you are!? Where do you think this is?]


    I have to admit that I have never seen a dungeon like you before. The rest of us are quite attached to our monsters, but you? You fed them to one of your contracts. You disgust me, I''d eat you if I didn''t need you alive.


    [What are you doing!? Kill him!]


    The Dungeon''s monsters were unresponsive, too many chemicals from the ropers. It tried to make new ones but my undead were already on every floor.


    A word to the wise my friend, take better care of your people in the future.


    Still something was rather odd here. It took us very little time to reach the top most floor, so this wasn''t a case of ''a dungeon reaches a hundred floors and then becomes ready to breach'' and more ''A dungeon is fill with dangerous amounts of XP and breaches as a emergency measure'' type situation. Odd. Counting Keeper this is the third dungeon like this I''ve seen, and all of them since arriving in Helheim, the second that I haven''t heard of before coming here. Is there someone on the dark continent that''s doing this on purpose? This is going to require more of an investigation than I thought it would. You three. Three of my Muryan''s immediately stood at attention. Go through the breach to wherever this dungeon leads to and figure out what is going on on the dark continent. My Muryan armours nodded their heads before flying away. You, after we finish cleaning up here we need to transport this core through the breach and into the other side, after that we clean up the surrounding dungeons. The Muryan nodded his head as he went into the core room.


    [STAY AWAY FROM ME!]


    Tell me something, when your monsters asked the same did you listen to what they said? No? Then why should I do the same? With a single swipe of his scythe arms my Muryan decapitated the core from its pedestal.


    [AAAHHH!]


    Winds in the dungeon picked up as the core howled in pain from getting separated from it''s pedestal and moved around. Get that piece of garbage out of my sight. And now for the last of you, carry your incapacitated comrade here back to the Keeper. Two of my Muryan''s picked up the one that was still evolving as they went back through my mouth. After everything is in order I made my final preparations. You are all part of a elite task force of monster familiars, your mission is to exit this dungeon, determine everything that there is to know about the continent you arrive at, and once you''ve determined who is responsible for so many dungeons ending up in Lucifer''s ''care'' you are to find another dungeon that connects to either Helheim or Cocytus and report your findings back to me. Understood? My Muryan Armours gave another salute. Dissmissed! The Undead ants flew away, I left the dungeon, dropping off a gift in the form of the Keeper''s bag of holding bombs and watched the entire surrounding area disappear.

 Speed Run

    Keeper


    I can''t say that I necessarily approve of Graves making changes to my monsters. He just got back after dropping Leonaidas off at Pluto''s dungeon again.


    [Dungeon Keeper: So you just decided to evolve some of my monsters? Why?]


    [Ouroboros: Lithilas told me once that if I get the chance I should try creating a actual soul]


    [Ouroboros: Now you have the same opportunity]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I did the same thing with Leonaidas]


    [Ouroboros: And you missed a opportunity there, this time you need to examine the process from start to finish]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Why should I?]


    [Ouroboros: Study!]


    He seemed to be weirdly insistent on this.


    [Ouroboros: An actual soul is the deciding factor between whether or not our monsters are able to leave the dungeon, if you can grasp it''s creation process imagine what you''d be capable of doing, especially if we''re up against that psychopath Leviathan]


    [Dungeon Keeper: And our magics mixing together makes this possible?]


    [Ouroboros: Experimentation and observation makes it possible, no two souls are exactly the same and neither is the process of making one, we experiment, we observe and we practice, and right now you are doing none of the above]


    Huu...


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Leonaidas


    [You have entered the Dragon''s Den]


    I sensed a disturbance in my network of artefact spirits. One of the wheels was evolving, I think. I''ll look into it later, for now I had to finish with this dungeon, it''s already finished me off once. Luckily I had a plethora of artefact spirits on hand to work with. The Mirror Master took from the Whore House, Levi''s coral Spike Shield, Solarus''s staff and the Baton borne of the Master''s own essence, together with the other lightning wheel that the master had managed to raise. There were Leviathan''s loot items to sort through later, like the staff taken from the Mimic Mansion some could make good material to upgrade the other monsters, there''s also the influence of the Traitor God to be concerned about as well, I do not wish to taken in a contaminant. They would do as my advanced scouts as we walked through the halls of the dungeon.


    I looked down at the ground and picked up a gold coin with a small jewel chip in the centre that had been left lying on the ground. Genuine too, the banks use coins minted with a specific magic that absorbs dungeon mana, dungeon manufactured coins and other related items have a tendency of flushing into the genuine thing thus ensuring that currency manufactured outside of their influence wouldn''t get very far. Just holding the coin was costing me feeling in the fingers of my gauntlet so I threw it aside. Last time I was here these damned coins


    "Everyone on your guard." We continued to walk forward through the dungeon, no monsters encountered yet only piles of gold and jewels were here, complete with genuine dungeon mana absorbing properties. It would certainly be inconvenient if a monster from one of the surrounding dungeons was to step on one of those or pick them up but certainly not to the point of justifying the complete lack of defence. The door leading into the Boss room wasn''t even locked. I shoved open the doors leading into the dungeon room and was greeted by a sea of treasures, rare materials, high quality armours and weapons, jewels and coins hid the bottom of the floor but I couldn''t find any sign of the boss. Did it have to do with all this coinage here?


    "Lightning Wheel, go and investigate." Quickly I sent the wheel of lightning forward sparks flying all the way over. When the wheel was about half way over the piles of treasure I saw it shift, so the boss was the pile of gold itself? Or was it just hiding underneath. Regardless I should be able to handle-


    The Coins exploded as a massive wing with rainbow scales sprouted from below. From the far side of the room a massive draconic head covered in white diamond like scales mounted on a long neck that turned snot green half way down emerged from the pile snorting white mist from it''s nostrils. Then with a second burst a ruby red head appeared, then obsidian black, Emerald Green, Amythyst purple, sapphire blue, Topaz yellow all emerged from around the room each head was massive enough to be a room all on it''s own, and the gold was still shifting as more and more of the creature''s body emerged, a massive bejewelled rainbow of scales.


    [A Rank Monster Gem Hydragon-A specialised Hybrid of a Hydra and seven unique species of Gem Dragon, each scale has been specially blessed by the God of Greed Hades for massive mana retention, each head spews a different element and can be mixed together for devastating effect, the creature has been claimed as kin to the Draconic goddess of Chaos Tiamat together with it''s sheer size it possesses the potential to burn down entire continents]


    The Lightning Wheel abruptly stopped moving and played dead. The seven heads immediately started bickering over the new shiny object that had appeared in front of them while I had slowly closed the door leading into the boss room before promptly turning around and going in the opposite direction.


    "Well stealing the core is out." I stated bluntly as he let out a sigh.


    Then he turned to another direction, not the one he came in but the one that led down another pathway. There should be weaker bosses in that direction, and if the name ''Dragon''s Den'' wasn''t enough of an indication to start with then the other bosses were also likely dragons too, and would probably drop weapons if defeated, weapons that might have the ''Dragon Slayer'' trait attached to them, or they could not too, after all I don''t see the master specifically going out of his way to manufacture something specifically to be a more effective weapon against one of his bosses. So what should I-GUHAHAHA!


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Keeper


    I watched as the monster that me and Graves had been watching finished evolving, an armour shaped like an ant with wisps of ghostly spirit inside and the topaz from the Wheel inside its chest.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Is that it? It doesn''t feel like I learned very much though]


    [Ouroboros: I have, I''m going to go and try and see if I can manufacture a soul right now]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Remember to send me the Schema when you figure it out]


    [Ouroboros: I can''t]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Why not?] [Ouroboros: Use your head, if souls was something as easy as getting a Schema for them then every dungeon would be mass producing monsters to exit them and collect points that way]


    Of course, if it was that easy why would we even bother with contracts? I grumbled to myself as I crossed my arms and looked at the ant... exo-skeleton. I had gained a understanding, that we aren''t allowed to produce humans for some reason, and that my various undead unless mentioning a specific creature were parts of humans or the whole thing, but this one was different, a Muryan or I guess a ant person more specifically. I let my mana flow into the ant, kick starting the usual process of reanimation that would normally build muscle tissue inside of my target.


    [Ouroboros: What are you doing?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: He''s one of Leonidas''s Legionaires, if he dies he''ll just re-spawn]


    A loud ''Clack, Clack, Clack!'' echoed out as the ant vibrated, holding the sides of its head using its scythe like forearms as it fell to its knees. My mana continued to build up until it snapped into place, muscle tissue formed under the exoskeleton and the empty eye sockets were filled in with large fleshy glass like orbs.


    [C Rank Monster Death Eater Crazy Muryan-A Muryan who has developed lightning affinity resulting in fast attacks that jump from one target to the next, this one has had it''s soul bonded to a disembodied soul allowing for the power of astral projection and parallel attacks, as one fight''s physically the other attacks with the spirit and with magic]


    A lower ranking? Is it because it was combined with a different monster? Or has it simply lost the lightning wheel''s AOE type attacks?


    "Master, thank you for this new form and power!" The Ant gracefully knelled to me, above the appearance of the wheel from before made itself known as well. The Wheel excitedly rolled around for a bit too. Weird. This didn''t happen with Luna?


    [Ouroboros: The Hell did you do!?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I have the power to reanimate remains from dead monsters into full flesh and blood creatures]


    [Dungeon Keeper: On top of that I''ve also shoved material into a slime before until it mutated so I figured I could do the same thing here]


    [Ouroboros: That''s with a slime! It''s what they do!]


    "Master." The Newly evolved Death Eater waved a claw around to get my attention. "Leonaidas has reported a complication. The Boss protecting the core is A Rank." I blinked stupidly as I found the thread that connects me to Leonidas.


    This place has already managed to take one of my strongest bosses out of the picture once already, now he was having some trouble.


    I looked around the floor at the situation that had unfolded. Leo are you okay?


    "I don''t know what you did with my Legionaire but I would appreciate it if you didn''t do it again." I felt my artefact spirit drag his armour over to the door and opened it a crack, revealing seven dragon heads that were still fighting over the other lightning wheel which was desperately trying to bury itself and stay out of sight.


    [A Rank Monster-]


    Say no more. I really don''t wanna fight another A Rank, especially since we can''t telefrag this one. And yet we''re still going to go after Leviathan in the future. I''m not even going to talk about the stupid amount of mana that thing can hold onto. Leo retreat for now, I''ll have Graves over to pick you up soon.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    "Understood master." I let out a sigh as my consciousness returned to my dungeon.


    [Dungeon Keeper: Hey Graves, you talk to your gods, how do you do that?]


    [Ouroboros: Pray, why do you ask?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I gotta talk to someone about moving their dragon]


    I concentrated and took a deep breath as I prayed, and prayed some more, and some more. Alright if this isn''t going to- I was suddenly yanked out of my dungeon as I appeared before a familiar face, still as maimed as I remembered it.


    "Did you call me just to make snide comments on my appearance or is there something you actually want?" Pluto snapped still clearly preoccupied with his ever constant pile of paper work than talking to me. I require help, the dungeon of yours that Hel wants me to move has a unusually strong dungeon boss that''s guarding it.


    "You''ve yet to finish the Quest I''ve given you and you''re asking me for favours?" Pluto snorted in derision. Hey your guys haven''t shown up yet! "Then shouldn''t you be going out to look for them?" Pluto countered as if his logic was infallible. "Or better yet take the conveniently provided short cut to go to them?" Pluto snapped his fingers and a familiar looking metal golf ball appeared in his hand, which he then tapped on and released back to where he got it from. "There. I even made it easy for you. So go and complete your job before you come and ask me for a favour again."


    And then Pluto threw me back into my dungeon again. Well... that was unpleasant. That''s what I get for asking the embodiment of Greed for help. My consciousness floated over to my core room, to the little floating sphere that circled my bigger floating sphere and the light that glowed on it which I found myself concentrating on. It was hard to judge what side of the realm it was on though.


    [Would you like to Raid the Dungeon Marrowind? Yes/No]


    Raid? No that''s not what I''m aiming for. But if I weave in the chat function a little bit...


    [Dungeon Keeper: Hello?]


    [Marrowind: What business do you want from me?]


    I''ve heard of worse diplomatic talks.


    [Dungeon Keeper: I think Pluto should''ve told you to send over a group of people to me a little while ago]


    [Marrowind: What about it?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Do you know where they are?]


    [Marrowind: Along their normal trade routes, or did you think that you were particularly special?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Counting my breach into Helheim I have three floor dedicated to the gods of Death]


    [Marrowind: Wow! 2 and a half whole floors? That is impressive]


    [Dungeon Keeper: I can do without the sarcasm]


    [Marrowind: My city is one of the wealthiest in the world, home to crafters whose magic items fill every nook and cranny doing everything from heat regulation to self propelled carts and automatic doors, legions of skeletal servants out number the people five to one, we have the highest standard of education in the entire world and you expect my people to so much as grace you with their presence?]


    Okay the sarcasm might be warranted.


    [Dungeon Keeper: If not moving then think of it as a... outpost] [Marrowind: An outpost? Why would we set up an outpost halfway across the world from us?]


    Hook line and Sinker!


    [Dungoen Keeper: Because I can massively reduce the length of your trade routes]


    [Marrowind: ?]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Let''s bring Hel into this little chat, you are on her side right?]


    For the second time today I felt myself being yanked out of my dungeon, and into the void that gods use to talk to the likes of us. Hel was there, similar to Saphee but that was only a given. I didn''t recognise the other figure across from me though, a mummy with clean fine bandages woven with various fine jewellery, so that meant that this was...


    "Not even a fully formed avatar? Is this a joke? Are you mocking me?" I twitched my eye and concentrated on trying to bring forth the Fire Frost Fiend but I couldn''t.


    "Both of you cool your heels. Keeper what madness are you trying to propose this time?" Hel snapped as she turned her attention to me. Can we control where one of the dungeons under me are going to re-emerge? My eye twitched, so I can''t make myself visible and my voice can''t be heard either only my intentions relayed? I don''t even have an actual eye to twitch to show how annoyed I am.


    "Would you like to explain why you dragged me in here to talk to this... hatchling now?" The Mummy person that by now I was assuming to be Marrowind asked more annoyed than anything else.


    "This ''hatchling'' has managed to subjugate fifty cores in Helheim and has managed to wipe out several of Lucifer''s dungeons for me. Which is more than what can be said for you as of late." Thank you Hel. Currently I am working to return the Dungeons under my employ to the mortal plane, the last time that this happened I had no say in the matter, but I wonder if that still holds true. Hel?


    "The majority of the Dungeons in my care have been eaten by others. Having them spat back out in the same locations that they started in would be kind of pointless." Hel explained while she shrugged her shoulders.


    Excellent, then we pick out one of the Dungeons and spit them out near this schmuck...


    "Schmuck!?"


    And I start to use that to build up my network.


    "And my benefit in this arrangement?"


    You aren''t a popular goddess are you? Your realm is desolate. Whatever you''re getting from people worshipping you: it''s not enough. It''s one of the reasons why you have so many dungeons and not enough mana to go around for them isn''t it? No You''re the last chance of people who have been broken with the sting of betrayal. You want things to improve, you have to set up the legwork. You have to create a reason that people actually want to spend time in your realm and in the dungeon floors that you have claimed as your own, and for that matter, that they would want things from you.


    "And what would that be?"


    A trade network, a short cut through your realm via the junction of dungeons located inside of my dungeon, and that''s just the main benefit. Let''s talk blessings. Rest? Fantastic, huge benefits for lots of different dungeons and the people that go into them, focus on what other kind of blessings that you can bring to the fold and give some more thought into them while we start laying the legwork. You got help from Odin for Rest right? What about Loki or your brothers?


    "I... will consider it." Hel stated as she let out a sigh. Good, now than as for you prick.


    "Certainly you''re not talking to me?" The Mummified asshole made a show out of how offended he was.


    You are not going to eat the dungeon I drop near you, I have access to a variety of WMD class stuff that I am more than happy to drop on your butt if you do not behave yourself.


    "Are you threatening me?"


    You have been shit talking me since the moment this meeting began, threatening you to get some respect is the bare minimum. Oi can we see what my monsters are doing in here?


    Hel nodded her head.


    Let''s have a look at Levi.


    I felt my consciousness stretch, like my points of awareness in my dungeon were being separated and spread out. Oh gods this made me nauseous, is this how normal Dungeons do it?


    "Quiet." Hel snapped as the fog around us disappeared. I had taken Levi''s point of view, I couldn''t tell what kind of creature she had manifested as this time but I felt heavier, like she was carrying extra mass this time around. I also didn''t have the time or luxury of asking her on account of the fact that she was under attack.


    I don''t think I''m to blame this time around, I certainly never used a bomb against Leviathan before so the sea mines that Levi has to swim through isn''t my fault right? Explosives besides the point, Leviathan''s ship was running away from Levi so it was safe to say that she was winning, or it was trying to trap her it was hard to say. Either way, Levi would you mind not playing with your food and finishing the bastard off? He''s giving you lots of explosive weapons: use them. Levi opened her mouth, vicious slimy liquid spat out from her mouth like a giant external stomach and wrapped around all the explosives, before water promptly squirted out taking all the mines with it and throwing them all at the Leviathan ship above. A series of explosions echoed out and the ship was sunk, the fog returned as Levi was left to pick up the pieces of the pirate bastard.


    "Impressive. Leviathan is learning more effective means of wreaking havoc. I suggest you have your monster gather up the pieces and bring them back to your dungeon to eat them."


    I felt my eyes twitching again, he was calling Leviathan impressive just now wasn''t he?


    "In any case, you have a bunch of dungeons under your control that you want to use to set up trade routes? Fine I''ll help. I''ll send over my people to take over later."


    Not so fast.


    "What now?" Marrowind glared folding his arms and glaring at me.


    You have been treating me with nothing but disrespect this entire conversation. How do I know that you aren''t going to try and take over my operation as soon as you or your people get here?


    "Because you are still in my domain." Hel chose that moment to pipe up. "Both of the two of you and the dungeons under your command are within my power and I will tolerate no treachery."


    Thank you Hel. And I think you just figured out the most ideal blessing for the Trade route.


    "If you are done being a pain now?" Marrowind asked sounding suspicious. "I have to make my own arrangements now." And Thus I returned to my dungeon space.


    Alright all that I have to do is find Frost Fang and make him integral to the downfall of one of Lucy''s dungeons. Alright I went back to my hit list, Alright Took out Fenrir''s, Loki''s, Asmodeus''s and Satan''s, that leaves Pluto (Hell No), He who makes everyone forget, hypnos governing sloth, envious Phthonus and the guy covering Violence.


    Who was that again?


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    1.


    Frost and Fang were part of the team who went into the Gladiator Arena, and was the last one currently standing, which also meant we were the last one standing. Our turtle snake held the best of both offence and defence, and on top of that he was learning more about his affinities. Usually he just freezes things however that was underlining his true potential, in reality his main affinity is with water not just ice which has as much to do with temperature than anything else. I thought about extending that into fire but I felt Genmu''s anger in the back of my mind. Instead I focused on the other aspect of the god of Winter, time manipulation. Which was giving less than stellar results.


    The champion for the arena was coming in right now, the latest of the many undead monsters this time was a vampire, not like the vampiric shark that kept dying in the tower, now this one was a bare chested warrior, mind you that chest was devoid of colour and bulging with muscle, I assumed that had something to do with the literal rivers of blood that surrounded the area, this vampire was basically surrounded by a all you can eat buffet all the time. The by now familiar ding of a bell sounded out, the vampire waved his arm and the river blood was pulled out and formed a giant serpent with which to strike at Frost and Fang. At once Frost and Fang''s limited training with time magic kicked in and time paused for but a few minutes, sadly even with time magic the two were still too slow to be able to move anywhere out of the way of the attack that was being dropped on them.


    Instead, Fang sprayed his concentrated venom into the blood while Frost sucked all the heat out of the blood snake turning it into ice. When time resumed the mass of Frozen blood was stopped dead in its tracks. My two headed monster retreated into their shell as the ice broke apart and was thrown at them, smashing against the shell and knocking the two of them backwards skipping across the arena floor. The Blood quickly began thawing out in the mean time, and the vampire lost control of it as Fang''s Venom attacked the cells and turned the blood into indiscriminate organic goo. In the mean time Frost and Fang were still sliding across the arena floor, ending in a spin-out in which Fang sprayed all of his venom all over the blood moat that surrounded the arena causing it all to rapidly dissolve into more of the toxic goo.


    "Cute. I''m whelmed." The Vampire sounded more sarcastic than anything else. At once the Vampire held out a hand to the pool of goo next to him and something was pulled out, a sword, it was kinda curved I think, almost like a hook but not quite? Maybe I should ask Troll when he gets back what it is.


    "Bring it you pasty bastard!" Fang barked as he coiled to strike.


    "We can keep this up all day!" Frost shouted afterwards already the two of them were making their next move.


    The ''pasty Bastard'' in question zipped forward, blade ready to slash them as the duo stopped time again, Fang coiled beneath his and Frost''s combined mass before lifting the majority of their bulk up into the air and slamming down on top of the vampire.


    "GAH!" Both of the Vampire''s legs were broken and his head had a considerable welt in it to the point that he had to drop his sword, which Fang then quickly acquired and used to lop off the Vampire''s head. From the wound a frosty poison spread out and froze the vampire''s body solid, even as various fluids were sucked out and absorbed into the blade leaving behind a freeze dried corpse in the process.


    "Impressive. Maybe we should try to identify stuff more often." Frost commented looking at the aftermath of their carnage.


    "What would we even do with a sword?" Fang demanded after coiling around so that the two of them were face to face.


    "Give it to the Keeper for a bribe?" Frost asked shrugging his equivalent of shoulders. Fang reluctantly went to retrieve the sword.


    "We have come for your core Arena! Are you going to surrender now or is there another monster to face!?" This could be like Leviathan all over again, a door locked by a hundred keys that needed to be found to open the door, but that was not the case here, it seems that whatever led this dungeon to form a arena gave it a sense of fair play. That would make things easier for them. "We''re going to take you away from this floor and bring you back to the mortal plane, then you can sever your contract with Lucifer."


    The core didn''t respond, but we weren''t asking for permission to begin with. The Base resembled the arena outside, Fang Slashed through it and then dragged it over and rested it on top of Frost''s shell before the two of them walked away deeper into the dungeon.

 Success

    Keeper


    Fenrir''s Wolf Den, Loki''s Mimic Mystery Mansion, Asmodeus''s Roper Den, Satan''s Dark Fire and Muerta''s Arena of blood have all been decored and Graves just got back with the bags of holding containing Lucifer''s Surrounding dungeons the latest of which I just converted into Dungeon Jellyfish, that leaves Pluto hole full of Dragons, He who makes everyone forget, hypnos governing sloth, and envious Phthonus. Hypnos and Pthonus were total wipes, why we can compile later.


    Okay everyone You know the drill by now. Hel if you would?


    "Thanks to Frost Fang Muerta''s ''Arena of Blood'' has already been taken out of the picture." Hel explained as she attempted to breach for the two headed duo, and nothing happened. Hel made a sigh as she looked frustrated.


    You can have some of my power, trust me I''ve got way to much of it.


    "Thank you." Hel''s pride looked like it had taken a hit as she facilitated the Breach for one. Are you okay? "As you''ve said before, my resources are dreadfully poor." Which now led to the next topic. "Frost, Fang, I''ve already spoken with Genmu and secured their cooperation. You will be spat out near another dungeon that has already contracted with me, Marrowind, in the far North. You two will cooperate with the Keeper for guaranteeing trade through my realm. I''ve already prepared your boon for you." Thus Hel waved her hand, Text appeared in front of Frost Fang''s faces.


    [Trust-Produce contracts made with the blessing of the Goddess of the Dishonored Dead''s magic, creating a curse that punishes those who violate the letter of the contract as decided by the contractees]


    Ooh! This is a good one for the Merchant route!


    "Really?" Frost looked doubtful.


    "I like it." Fang did not.


    The two shot each other a dirty look before they started wrestling with each other, all the way off the edge of the arena.


    "Should we stop them?" The Vampire Shark asked looking down at the falling duo as they looped around from up top.


    "They''re used to it." Solarus on the other hand just gave off a dead pan expression at their misfortune.


    Moving on. Graves you go back to the Dragon''s den and send your Pluto Blessed boss to see if that big lizard is feeling cooperative yet. Graves zombie nodded his head in the affirmative.


    "Check on the Library too. Merlin has been gone for too long for a respawn, even if he is a B-rank." Hel stated and the Zombie nodded again, this time more respectfully. Assuming that the Dragon''s Den and the Library can be crossed off, admittedly a rather large assumption on my part, what do we do about the two remaining dungeons that we have to deal with? Flood them with numbers again?


    "Numbers will backfire against Phthonus." Hel warned seriously.


    "Weak as he might be but he is an expert at turning allies against one another. Just by flooding them with his power of Envy he can transform life long friends into bitter enemies who would rather fail together than let the other succeed."


    Okay so clearly what we need is a singular overwhelmingly powerful that can wipe out anything that stands in their way to deal with Phthonus. What about Hypnos.


    "Numbers." Hel replied bluntly. "Hypnos has all kinds of blessings that involves putting people to sleep and making them fight inside of their own minds. That self propelled cloak of yours will be a especially potent terror."


    Which made it all the more important that we get him back. So in layman''s terms Hypnos has a wide diversity of tricks that he could have given a dungeon that makes him difficult to deal with but not impossible. Conversely Phthonus is a one trick pony that will make us argue and bicker among ourselves until we have torn each other apart. By the sounds of things Hypnos is the easier of the two to deal with, so we''ll save him for last. First two announcements, we''ll be deploying our highest fire power Solarus to deal with Pthonus, secondly I also intend to save dealing with Hypnos until after I''ve respawned the Fire Frost Fiend.


    "So you can claim the dungeon yourself?" The giant spider ape snapped glaring.


    So that I can kill it again and put it out of commission. It''s simple guys, as soon as the last dungeon is dealt with I''m going to be spat back out into the mortal plane, and then my next floor is going to be spawned and my body''s evolution is going to be triggered. Personally, I''d really like it if I didn''t make any decisions while stuck in the mentality of a psychopath, so I would really like to find a way to remove the blessing of Satan before the situation arises. Soon as Graves gets back with the Dragon''s Den and Library cores we can talk strategy for the last two cores.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Graves


    I flew to the Library first, it being the closer of the two dungeons that I had to visit, I deployed my zombie Grappler to play diplomat to both areas, though if this situation was to become common place I should consider getting a real diplomat. For now though upon entering the library I was greeted by the boss of the floor, The sphinx looked vaguely familiar, similar to Apas in terms of appearance and proportions, but unlike her she was wearing various jewellery most notable a collar necklace cross called a Wesehk and a striped head cloth known as a Nemes. Interestingly enough I did not know that until now, as if the dungeon itself was conveying information to me. interesting.


    "You I take it are the ally to the cloak?" The Sphinx woman asked raising an immaculately mascara''d brow.


    "Gaahh?" ''Yes. Did he do something to offend you?'' Interesting. It seems that my zombie''s intentions were conveyed too, as if this entire place is meant to relay information to one another.


    "Follow me." The Sphinx turned around and started to walk away naturally we followed. "This place was created for peaceful purposes, to convey information here. Your cloak got distracted on the way inside, so we do not know it''s intentions in coming here, and for that matter we do not know yours."


    "Gaah." ''We are here to removed this dungeon from this realm and return it to the mortal plane thereby severing it from Lucifer''s grasp.'' We soon spotted the area that the Sphinx had been leading us to, someone had managed to build a fort out of countless books that were being read.


    "Lucifer''s relationship with my master was built on mutual interest, or so we thought at first. He spoke of bringing enlightenment to the masses, but Lucifer''s enlightenment is a form of ignorance of itself, paranoid and mad. Still it was worth viewing for a time. In all honesty the master would like to leave but Lucifer has called them to violence and violence is not something that he enjoys. That said he will not be separated from this wing of the library and what it keeps beforehand." The Sphinx used her paw to knock over the ''wall'' of the book fort and revealed Merlin inside with a book in what passes for his hands. "You can start with those."


    More Muryan armours were released into the library, each of them working to transport books out of one wing of the library and into another, I left them to it, they''ll let me know when they are done for now we had to return to the Dragon''s den to deal with the last dungeon. The Keeper''s boss monster had some unfinished business here, so he was sent out to the Dragon''s den alongside my own Pluto Representative, a Crystalised Skeleton.


    The chambers of the boss room opened and I saw the unfinished business that the boss had spoken of, one of the Keeper''s Thunderwheels flew out of the boss room and quickly hid behind Leonaidas. The seven headed monstrosity transformed, shrunk down and assumed the form of a scaled humanoid, not a lizard man or even a dragon-newt but rather a human being covered in a rainbow of scales that glittered like jewels. The Hydragon ignored us, instead opening a portal into which the vast wealth inside of the boss room began to vanish into, it seems that the task of transporting the dungeon core had fallen to us.


    The Artefact legion''s thunder wheel proved to be just the thing we needed in order to transport the core, after slicing through the base of the core''s pedestal we had something that was perfectly flat that we could put on top of the floating wheel.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Keeper


    A few hours later I felt Hel''s realm tremble, Graves dropping two more of my bags of holding bombs onto Cocytus who was no doubt bringing them back to bring the count up to six. Hey Hel what are you going to do with these things anyway?


    "I am not sure." Was Hel''s honest answer. "If I was a normal goddess I would feed these to another dungeon like yourself for the power produced in the process." But it goes against your personal principles. "So it does." Hel stated letting out a sigh. "If you have a better idea on what we should do with them I''m all for hearing it." Well right now these things aren''t ''Dungeons'' but rather ''Creature''s with dungeon cores lodged inside of them.'' It reminds me of something that I saw before, a creature that had pieces of mana lodged in it''s flesh. "I''m given to understand that they''re widely considered to be abominations, especially by dungeons. Imagine if you will all of your power of creation, manipulation and duplication in the body of a living creature. Imagine the destruction and devastation that such an individual could reek, as far as I know there was only one human with a core implanted in their body in recent memory."


    As far as you know?


    "They were betrayed." Hel shrugged her shoulders as if her statement was obvious. "They grew too powerful and so they were killed."


    So other''s could have gotten better treatment and thus still be around? Hel nodded by way of reply. Right well, what can you tell me about the one who got betrayed?


    "You''re not going to like what you see." Hel warned as a mana crystal formed in her hand. "Eat this if you wanna find out."


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    I used my mana to pick up the crystal Hel gave me and examined it. Near as I could tell it was a mass of pure mana, like the crystals inside of the Squid Levi brought me once. I shrugged my imaginary shoulders and ate the crystal, and suddenly I was treated to the familiar feeling of being pulled into memories.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The pack of monsters as the locals call them was pushed away again, drowning them inside of the waters and then making their bodies break down, wolves this time around. So be it. I delved into the new schema, water being drawn to form a familiar shape as a monstrous creature formed at my finger tips. In a few hours it would be dead with no soul to sustain it, but until then I would let it rampage against the enemy army, there''s no shortage of bastards in the world to be feasted upon by the monsters after all.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    I snapped back to reality breathing quickly, been a while since I got sucked into a memory like that.


    "You need to remember that none of them are ''Your'' memories, they''re all fragments from what you''ve consumed."


    So people tell me. I thought through the memory some more ''No shortage of bastards'' eh? Hel if my memory serves humans on the Mortal plane are relatively rare right?


    "Relatively yes. So much of the world is highly unstable from the Dungeons, what is stable has largely been taken over by monsters with Humanity having to hunker down into cities to survive. There are exceptions like the Giant Slayer that you met before that can kill them but he is an exception, not the rule."


    But this wasn''t always the case was it?


    "No it wasn''t." Hel stated letting out a sigh. "Put the power to manufacture monsters in a human''s hands but don''t act surprise when they use that power to make something they can no longer control."


    The dungeons can make monsters but the monsters they make can''t leave the dungeons...


    "A fail-safe, to ensure that they cannot endanger the world anymore than what it is each monster a dungeon creates lacks a soul of their own." But Humans make souls all the time through good old fashion reproduction. "Yes they do. So if you combine the ability to make life with the power to twist it as much as you please..." Hel held up a icy globe, a recreation of the world.


    Oh damn! Is that why dungeons like Lithilas protect humans?


    "It''s part of the reason yes. We gain power by accumulating worshippers, dungeons get rewarded by fulfilling tasks for us."


    So you pay dungeons to protect your worshippers for you? Is that the reason why dungeon cities keep popping up?


    "Yes and no." Hel answered with a shrug of her shoulders. "Humans build their cities where they find resources, dungeons just so happen to be the most convenient way of getting those resources without having to deal with their cattle spontaneously mutating, the forest spirits trying to eat them, or the mines spontaneously shifting around. Mind you they are still monsters that produce other monsters, but just like any other beast they''re making efforts to domesticate them, and more importantly in many cases have succeeded. It is a matter full of trial and error though. Many do not survive the attempt, and when they are consumed their thoughts and feelings get absorbed into the core alongside their bodies and mana."


    So ''throw bodies at it until it starts to think like us'' is a completely viable method of dungeon taming?


    "People die every day." Hel stated bluntly. "Believe me I would know. Setting up a ward for the dying in a relatively safe place inside of a dungeon is one of the nicer methods I''ve seen. At least your city lord didn''t resort to dragging his slaves inside and slashing their throats so that you could eat them." The Goddess of Betrayal stated as she ran her thumb along her throat. "Nor are you that pirate bastard who only had thieves and sea monsters to eat." I''m surprised you guys let humans near dungeons at this point. "They have the common sense to limit the production of weapons of mass destruction. Now. And if the day comes that they don''t, we have fail-safes installed into cores to keep it from happening again."


    Fail-safes?


    "You may have noticed that you have no human Schema?"


    Well that is true, I have a lot of things that look a little bit like humans, Apas for instance, but no actual humans.


    "This is because humans are anathema to the core system itself, if one attempts to place a core into their bodies then the core will be able to eat them from the inside out."


    I made a contract with Jack before though? Shouldn''t that have been impossible by your logic.


    "Jack was human, now he is a Goliath."


    Because of Evolution right? A pause as I reached an epiphany. Monsters are attacking every human settlement in the world, either wiping them out or the humans manage to kill enough of them that they trigger a evolution, in the mean time the dungeons are being used to mass produce human compatible creatures like Sphinx''s or Centaurs but the newborn is always the monster, even Charles was only a human hybrid. There are even all female monster species like Lamia and Harpies that deliberately have to seek out mates from other races and for this reason usually prey upon humans.


    "Figured it out did you?" Hel sounded rather smug with her assertion.


    Are you saying that you''re... phasing out humans?


    "Don''t make it sound worse than it is now." Hel''s tone took on a negative tone of voice. "Half of this happened because of their own actions, we''re just doing our best to salvage this mess that they created. If you insist on sheltering unevolved humans please be my guess. From what I hear they need all the help they can get."


    Why then are human evolutions like Goliath''s and Dwarfs have lower fertility than regular humans.


    "That is a side effect we''re trying to fix." Hel admitted while letting out a sigh. "Higher performance bodies require sacrifices." Hel used her thumb to point down the hall leading to my main dungeon body. "You have visitors. We can finish this discussion at a more convenient time."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    The familiar click clack of hooves echoed throughout the halls of the dungeon, as representative of the Mustang trading company I, Chiron Mustang, was naturally called forth when the rumbling of another breach had been reported. The City Lord Charles was naturally leading the way into this cold and bitter place, he at least has utility as a torch, I''ll give him that much. The area inside of the dungeon was still bitter cold, the Keeper will have to invest in fire type monsters in the future. I walked into the room where the dungeon doors were being kept, globes of ice by the Bellfast door indicating where it would lead, a second globe by the gate associated with the Skunk Ape''s gate, and finally the third glowing gate of the most recent dungeon. Personally I wasn''t interested in the Skunk''s Dungeon, it apparently opens up into some place full of greenery, too far away from civilisation to be of use to us.


    "You don''t look like one of us."


    I turned my head to face one of the abominations born of this place, particularly abominable at that, a two headed creature that was standing guard by the door.


    "I''m not creature, I am Chiron Mustang of the Mustang company. Do you speak for the dungeon making the breach?" I honestly didn''t care about what head this creature used to speak through, my only concern was business.


    "Presently yes." A bright light appeared in the home, Charles starting a fire for warmth perhaps? "Looks like Bellfast''s representative is here too."


    I turned my head to face the existing breach, and watched as a bird''s skeleton wreathed in flame came flying out.


    "A fire monster on that flooded floor?" I snorted in derision.


    "The water''s drained to the floor below you stupid horse." The Phoenix like skeleton snapped by way of reply. "Without the shackles of this realm my floors are able to thrive now, I will be returning to my former glory soon enough, stronger now that I will have the resources to beat back that pirate bastard this time." The Skeleton boasted.


    "You still lost last time need I remind you, or are you hoping that this dungeon would be inclined to protect a thing like you?" The bird brain was a pathway, not a particularly safe one nor was it too far away at that and thus lacking in value, in my opinion it shouldn''t over estimate its own value. The bird snapped its talons and produced a scroll from thin air. "Lady Hel is quite talented at making contracts it would seem. See for yourself."


    [The Signatories of this Document Dungeon Keeper and Bellfast agree to a mutual defence and restoration treaty, in the event of either signatories death or damage the other party agrees to pay an appropriate amount of mana, resources and power to heal the damage done and return the offended party back to the mortal plane]


    A contract like this for a nobody dungeon? Ludicrous!


    "I intend to dedicate the area around my territory to agriculture, I am more than happy to mooch off the population and mana of the Keeper in exchange for supplies." The bird boasted cockily.


    "Luckily for me then I have no intention of posting two trade posts so close together." I turned my attention to the turtle snake. "And what of you?" I watched the Undead fire breathing bird fly up the tower itself, no doubt off to conspire with the other dungeons, or perhaps to farm for points. Either way the focus of my attention was on this two headed creature here. "What do you have to offer?"


    "Reap it and weep horse meat." The snake head spat out another contract, so that means that Hel had given the turtle the same blessing as she had the bird skeletons. Cute.


    "Words are meaningless without substance. What do you actually have to trade, or failing that, where do you open up that the people I work for would want to have anything to do with you?" I was getting tired of being out here waiting to drown when the blasted Pirate or it''s ships finally get here.


    "Marrowind." The cocky turtle stated as if spitting out names above it''s station held some kind of relevance. "I''m opening up right near him, even if you have to deal with the snow and sleet I''m the shortest path from there to here."


    "Finally you actually speak of something that''s worth coming all the way out here." I examined my nails as I looked at the creature out the corner of my eyes. "But what do you want?"


    "A toll. A portion of whatever you and Marrowind bring through my dungeon." The Turtle snake stated making his opinion known.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Keeper


    For now I let the Horse man and the Genmu continue their negotiations. I had to go get Apas so that she could talk to Charles for me and I can explain to him my current plans for the future. As I was thinking this Archie finally respawned, and he was much closer too, okay so that''ll work.


    "City Lord!" My Walpurgis''s voice echoed out into the chamber that would soon be set up to be a spaghetti junction. "My master requests an audience!"


    "Great, the loud mouth is back." Charles quietly muttered to himself before he went to talk with Archie. Through Archie I explained my plans concerning my body and what state it is in. "It''s good to hope for the best but it''s wise to err on the side of caution. With luck we can expel the negative influence with the right expertise." Charles explained while he rubbed his chin. "If you want I can post a notice at the adventurers guild."


    "The last time you brought adventurers here my master was almost destroyed!" Archie snapped shoving his staff forward. Charles pushed the staff out of his face.


    "Adventurers is a collective term used to describe people from a wide variety of locations and job descriptions that have been lumped together under the banner of ''will kill monsters for money.'' Not to be confused with Assassins who ''will kill humans for money.''" When you''re on the receiving end of the knife it''s honestly pretty hard to give a damn about the differences. "Jack came here to eliminate a threat, your passage way to Lucifer''s domain the easiest way to do that being killing you, lets not even touch upon the fact that you''re so bloody abnormal."


    "We''re off topic. Who would we employ if we do hire out to the adventurer''s guild?" Archie spoke my question.


    "Someone who can counter the specific element that is plaguing you, say for example Satan..." I didn''t tell Charles whose stick is shoved up my rear but he''s a smart cookie, and he knows whose dungeons I''ve been raiding. "... according to the elemental laws of consumption, water suppresses fire, and earth consumes fire." Oh I didn''t like where this was going at all. "If there''s nothing else, I should return to dealing with the horse."


    "Begone, and not a word of this leaves this dungeon, or it''s not my master''s wrath you need fear."


    It''s not yours that he needs to be afraid of either.


    Charles walked away while I explained my suspicions to Archie.


    "Pluto and Oceanus?"


    I''ll need to use Levi and her water affinity to suppress my power and you to try to yank out Satan''s power and give it to Pluto.


    "Why not ask Pluto directly for help?" My clay skeleton was understandably confused.


    You see every time I go talk to that guy it feels like he feels like he owns my stony butt, and I have to pay out an arm and a leg just for the privilege of getting his help. Well no more high ranking gods for me for now on. Give me a thousand bargain bin deities like Castor & Pollux any day.

 Failure

    Solarus


    What a loser.


    The thoughts kept forcing their way into my mind.


    Here comes the Power farm!


    Entirely unabated.


    Everyone line up! Fresh B Rank up here on a silver platter!


    Was this even still a hallway anymore or just a channel carved through my soul? Filled with knee deep snow so that I would have to trudge through this nightmare? That much alone though wasn''t the problem, another flare of fire burned away the monster that attempted to ambush me while I was distracted.


    Distracted? Is that what you were distracted when boulders containing creatures so far beneath you crushed you? Were you distracted when they took power that was rightfully yours? Grew in power while you remained stagnant? You were distracted?


    "SHUT UPP!" I flared my power, I took the light in the air and I released the raw fire into the halls of the dungeon incinerating everything that the flames came into contact with, sadly that included myself.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Keeper


    I watched with a sigh as I saw Solarus respawn.


    "I''m going again!" The snake bird woman didn''t even bother to get my opinion on the matter as she went back into Grave''s tunnel to conquer the dungeon again.


    Well good luck with that anyway. I didn''t have much to do until my body respawns anyway, let''s see how Frankenstein''s project is doing. You could tell that Frankie looked nervous despite his bony self, but this was necessary to our goals, it''s not like we can beat Leviathan by normal means. For now I spawned the Schema he had given me.


    [C Rank Schema Bottle Squid-A heavily mutated hybrid of multiple species of monster, though small it''s stomach contains an enormous amount of space that can swallow most dungeons whole and trap them inside of itself]


    It wasn''t easy, we started with a Spatial Jellyfish, added Flail Snail for the magic repelling shell for a container, crossing that with a poltergeist possessed bottle was the finishing touch and I now spawned the new born schema, Frankie probably tried mixing in various different schema''s along the way too but I''ll omit that. He has been busy, these schema slides were hanging from the ceiling like a wind chime exhibition, but for now I focused on the bottle in my hand made from a see-through rainbow glass with clear liquid inside of it.


    I held a point of awareness up to the opening and watched a few tendrils come out to shake my hand. Good work Frankie.


    "It is an honour to fight my master''s foes." Frankenstein bowed to me and got back to work, trying more of the combinations in the slides. In the mean time I turned my attention to a more immediate concern.


    [Fire Frost Fiend 00:43:09]


    I suppose I need to make measures to deal with this one now don''t I? I sealed off the FFF''s spawn point with a marble block, with luck it''ll spawn directly inside of the block and be offed that way. Still I''ve spawned monsters inside of blocks before, even if the chance is minuscule psycho me could still use the brief gap given to rampage. So I also created another block around that, Marble reinforced with steel, hollow if not for what I filled it with. Water is actually quite flammable when you think about it, it''s actually composed of a combination of flamable gasses, oxygen and Hydrogen, it''s why people...


    ***my hands fumbled with the fire extinguisher, I never learned how to work one of these things, it didn''t help that the bloody clasp was getting so hot from the fire! Forget about the extinguisher I need to get to somewhere***


    I sucked in a breath. The Hell did I just go through? I heard a ringing sound echoing in my ears like a tuning fork that someone took to a bell, I checked on my core and sighed with relief. The last time I got access to my past life memories it nearly broke my core, the time around I had the adamantine base to protect me but even it was shaking like a leaf. I threw mountains of mana at this stuff and it didn''t even make a scratch but one peak behind the curtain and it''s ready to snap in two? Okay now. Clearing my throat, and trying very, very hard not to think about how close I just came to shattering like an opera singer''s wine glass, I turned back to my preparations.


    In lieu of water I filled the outer-box full of another fire suppressant, Carbon Dioxide, which was actually a by product of fire burning oxygen, which means that it can''t burn either. So I''ve covered all the possibilities of using fire but how do I cover using ice? I looked through the memories of the items that I''ve consumed, loot from other dungeons, specifically equipment used by Jack''s raid team.


    [Ring of Water Repellant: A magic ring that can form a bubble around a target that repels all water that is not part of the wearer''s body in whatever form it may have]


    Which would do to keep ice away from me. Without the ability to produce fire or ice I shouldn''t be able to break out of this prison and I should die off properly inside of the block of stone. Now to deal with my other problem. The horse man sent me a list of demands for the route to the breach, evidently he wasn''t willing to accept his personnel being picked up by thing and swallowed every time that they wanted to use my floor, so I had to make what you would call... adjustments.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Charles


    I sat with the Mustang representative, one of the people under my command was pouring drinks for us as we watched Thing disentangle himself from Treyni''s tree to get up and walk into the water where Levi use to lay. I watched the pile of bones lay out flat on his sternum and rest his hands on the beach before sitting his chin into the sand, at the moment Keeper should be remaking the Gashadokuro''s internal structure so that it''s easier for the horses to reach the breach.


    "So now that the dungeon is horse accessible are you going to make any more demands for the Keeper?" I was annoyed, Keeper was annoyed, we all were annoyed. This horse bastard came over here and dictated terms to us, and while we did invite him that didn''t mean that we enjoyed being bossed around either. I breathed deep and let out a breath.


    "Problem?" The Mustang guy asked sounding concerned. "No." Keeper''s mana had been contaminated by the embodiment of rage and it was starting to bleed out over into the city proper, I was a fire user like the affecting mana so I was being the most strongly affected, things that would''ve annoyed me before is now making me pissed, I was still able to stay rational, I suspect mostly because I was I was getting whatever the Keeper was getting second hand, I can''t imagine what it''s gonna be like for him when he has to deal with it.


    "To answer your concerns there are convoys of Centaurs on their way over, with proper housing set up." Yet another way this horse bastard was changing the city to his own liking. "We can begin using the trade routes that your dungeon has proposed." Speaking of which, I watched as the giant skeleton in the water shook. It was too soon for the Turtle to finish his breach, but I think Keeper mentioned that the Skunk Ape''s dungeon had started his breach around the same time as Bellfast''s?


    "I should check that out, with luck it will lead to some place profitable." Taking the olive branch for what it was I removed myself from the irritant and went to address the newly breached dungeon.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Solarus


    This time I did not enter the dungeon, not yet. The Keeper''s dungeon air was thick with fire, Aziraphale, Satan, Hephaestus, and until the fiend respawns it is all mine for the taking, so I unleashed the blend of powers into the dungeon I had been sent to raid, mixed in with my own blessing from Quetzalcoatls. The Mixture of fire elements were released into the dungeon, the fires that Purify and Destroy unmade everything in their path, destroying the blessing of Phthonus''s blessing that kept whispering words of envy into my ears, I quickly released the mixed power back into the Keep before anyone could notice what I did and quickly made my way through the enemies halls. It was easy without being blasted by my own failures or getting harassed by monsters and I made it to the core room in record time and then dropping it into the main dungeon on the Mortal plane, laughing to myself at my good job. And then I died, my head twisted backwards I saw the one who killed me, an angelic figure made of ice and stone.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Lucifer


    I returned to the inside of my chambers from possessing the Gargoyle. I didn''t even bother getting Phthonus''s core back, in all honesty? The Loser could use a win. I turned my attention to my plant within the Keeper''s dungeon. He suspected that loot from Leviathan would carry elements of my power? He was correct. The Loot dropped by Leviathan''s Admiral was possessed, giving me a inside look into the Keep while everything was going on, as I bore witness to the spawn point for the Keeper''s little possessed body, and I watched the mana build up in the stone block. So he intended to telefrag himself like he did to Leviathan? How cute. I doubted Hel would answer my call, But I left a message for her anyway. [If you wanted the wedding gifts from my friends in our divorce, all you had to do was say so, I''ll even give you the last one back with no strings attached, enjoy!] And with that I had my own gargoyle within the Dream lounge return its dungeon core to the mortal plane, just in time to watch the Fiend respawn. Oh this was gonna be fun!


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Keeper


    [Fire Frost Fiend 00:00:00]


    I breathed deep as I re-entered this BLOODY GOD DAMNED CURSE OF A-ahem. This would take some getting-I SWEAR IF I EVER SEE THAT ASSHOLE SATAN AGAIN I WOULD-! That would benefit no one. Right now I just needed to-


    [Mission from Hel Completed: Returning you to the Mortal Plane now]


    Son of aAAARRRGGGHHH! My entire dungeon Shifted, my core room was ripped out of the top of the tower and I passed by two fully formed breaches and a third in progressed before I slammed back into THIS BLOODY MISERABLE HOLE IN THE GROUND-again.


    [You have Exceeded enough points to Obtain a new Floor]


    NOT THE TIME YOU MISERABLE SON OF A RAT! AAAHHH!


    I mentally screeched in anguish as I was sunk even deeper into the ground past my fourth floor.


    [Please select your-ERROR Theme Selected]


    What the? I don''t even GET TO CHOOSE THE BLOODY WALL PAPER YOU SON OF A BISCUIT!?


    I watched my world be consumed by flames, even the floor seemed to melt away and give ground to a huge volcanic cavern with lava falls coming out the walls into a lake filled with Lava. In the centre of the chamber I emerged WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU UP TO NOW YOU USELESS RODENT!?


    [Please choose a New Schema for your floor from one of the Three Choices]


    [Lava Sli-]


    A pause as if THE WORTHLESS LITTLE RAT had just noticed something. My list of Monsters opened up, then slowly started to scroll down, then faster and faster, as if the person viewing it wasn''t even reading it any more and just desperately trying to reach the bottom of the list, but THE LITTLE QUITTER closed the menu before they reached that point.


    [Please choose a New Schema for your Floor Later]


    LOSER!


    [Your Monster, the Fire Frost Fiend is now Evolving]


    Oh oh oh oh HELL NO!


    [Blessing of Hephaestus, Blessing of Echidna, Blessing of Hel, Blessing of Aziraphale, Blessing of Satan, Blessing of Quetzalcoatls Achievements: Giant Slayer, Aquatics, Ogre Slayer]


    Oh I like nothing about this. Before me I saw the Schema of the Fire Frost Fiend, and then I saw parts being removed and replaced, having the essence of six gods (When did I get Quetzalcoatls anyway?) and the Three Achievements were having what you call an effect. I liked the idea of this less and less, I watched my schema shrink down to the size of one of the dwarfs to as tall as Jack, two eyes were fused into one before growing six more, wings replaced my ears before sliding down to my wrists and growing bigger, then my hips where they grew even bigger, before going down my ankles and returning to the size of the wrist wings, Horns grew out my head and split, twisted, formed a crown and curled up as a tail came down my back, Water and Fire elements attempted to mix together forming ice, boiling water and steam all at once.


    When Jack called me chaos before he wasn''t kidding! The Random Gacha of eyes, horns, size, wings, tails and gods know what else seemed to finish it''s selection without showing me the final combination, a evolutionary Cocoon wrapped around my body as it was about to initiate the changes. OH HELL NO! I grabbed hold of the cocoon''s threads and pulled, tore them apart as the Cocoon attempted to form, even despite the intensified ringing of my pedestal.


    [Cease and Desist! A Cocoon of Evolution is a pivotal part of the transformation process! Without it-]


    I. DON''T. CARE! I tore apart the cocoon, and then the flames of wroth were really unleashed.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Lucifer


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The Master of Cocoytus was leaning back into his throne and cackling madly as he watched the Keeper doom himself. "Leviathan, your window of opportunity has arisen."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Charles


    The ground was shaking, the familiar sound of ''Grind, Clack, Grind'' typical of a dungeon gaining a new floor. It was an oddly specific noise, but when you spend enough time around dungeons you start to pick up on things like this. The odd thing was that Keeper should still be in Helheim, when did he get his core back? That was not the most immediate concern though, because I have no idea what has possessed that fool now but the ground was changing. The earth in the middle of the town was bubbling up and up climbing into the air like a mountain. Or a Volcano! I could see an impossible amount of Fire type energy at the centre of the mountain, soon it''s top was blown off revealing boiling lava that was starting to creep over the edges.


    My body moved before I knew what I was doing. I flew to the top of the mountain hovering on jets of flame coming from the soles of my feet and with a finger I began carving a magic formation into the stone. Heat into Kinetic energy, then before the Lava could further destroy the town I had all of it expelled in the form of raw kinetic force straight into the air. I wiped sweat away from both the pressure and the heat as I looked into the hole.


    "Keeper better have a good explanation for this." Suddenly a mass of fire was shot out of the top of the Volcano as a fire soon formed in midair.


    "AAARRRGGGHHH!" The Keepers body was growing and shrinking, appendages appeared, disappeared and colours shifted from blue to red all the while the fiery monster held his head and screamed.


    "Well it doesn''t explain much but it is an explanation."


    Apas


    [The Named Fire Frost Fiend Dungeon Keeper''s evolution Cocoon has been broken open during the mid transformation process]


    A system message appeared in my eyes and they went wide with terror.


    [A Evolution Cocoon protects the subject''s body from absorbing stray or ambient mana during the transformation process, without it random mutations can appear leading to pain, agony and cancerous growths] Ah but the hits kept coming anyway. [The Keeper''s Body contains multiple contradictory blessings, Life and Death, Purity and Corruption, Hot and Cold, Creation and Destruction, without the Evolutionary process to select and discard blessings they are instead eating each other and ripping the Keeper''s body apart]


    The More she read the Wider my eyes went with horror.


    "Mommy?" Maat''s voice drew my attention down to my cubs who were all looking up at her with concern. "Is something wrong?"


    I leaned over and gave each of my cubs a lick on the head, no need to worry them needlessly.


    "Mommy''s gotta go deal with another of Dad''s messes, I''ll be right back soon." I walked out of the dungeon, while I wasn''t looking Thing had turned himself into a walkway, but he was the least of my concerns right now. In front of me a distorting and shifting mass of flame was high above the city over a newly formed volcano, behind me however a fog bank was moving in from the ocean, above several things resembling bird were flying in with the invaders. "I don''t know what Levi is doing right now but she''s not doing her job very well." I went over to where a meeting was being held, The Guild leader, the Mage''s tower professor, and Charles. "Leviathan is invading," I flew over and dropped down in front of the two knuckle heads whose job it is to keep this place up and running. "Keeper is self destructing, would somebody please explain to me what madness has over taken us!?"


    "It seems that we''re under attack." Charles proved himself a master of stating the obvious. "The Professor here was about to explain his theory."


    "In simple terms, the Keeper''s body is being overloaded by too many contradictory powers." Professor Phalanges held up an eye Glass as he looked at the Keeper. "Normally a exceptionally skilled individual would be able to solidly maintain two affinities, to use the Fire Frost Fiend as a example, heat and it''s absence cold, this is possible because instead of trying to mix them together the Keeper solidly keeps them separate from one another." He then indicated the distorted mass above them. "That on the other hand, is not."


    "Life and Death, Pure and Corrupt, Hot and Cold, Creation and Destruction." I listed off the contents of the message from earlier. "Correct, the individual powers are trying to consume and repel one another and the Keeper is being torn apart in the process." Professor Phalanges put his tool away. "What we need is a way to separate the Myriad blessings from one another."


    "All of this is mixed into fire right?" Grim walked in on the conversation carrying two items, a basket and a cage, and two creatures inside of them, a baby and a bird. "Can we use them?" The Pasista and the Peacock, never thought I would be happy to see the Keeper''s bastardised offspring but then this day was full of surprises.


    "Yes that can work. Come my apprentice! We need to get to work straight away!" While the Professor and the Student got to work Charles and I turned our attention to the horizon, and the fog that was creeping over it.


    "You rally your people and I will rally mine." Charles talked but I didn''t bother to listen, I flew into the air and used the wind to carry my voice.


    "THING! TREYNI WE''RE UNDER ATTACK!"


    The giant skeleton rose up from the water, he grabbed one arm with another and pulled, mana surged and Bone Weapon Creation turned the limb into a huge club, lime stone dust fell from the empty forearm and wrapped around the bones in a layer of armour before the limb restored itself. Several of Treyni''s roots were ripped out of the ground, each of them lodged into a creation by the Cyclopses, giant spear heads and axe heads big enough to rip apart one of Leviathan''s ships. Next I flew down the elevator shaft and landed in Leonaidas''s floor, the ring and armour was already waiting.


    "Go to the surface and help the Professor and the Necromancer. They will explain the situation from there." I didn''t bother waiting for Leonaidas''s reply, Instead I went to the floor that I dreaded the most. "LEVI!" I shouted angrily into the slime wall.


    "Bugger off I''m busy!" The Slime rippled and spat out a familiar voice.


    "Not busy enough! Or have you not noticed that Leviathan is invading again!?" The Slime rippled as Levi''s composite avatar pulled itself out of the slime wall.


    "Excuse me?" Levi asked her features clearly displaying her disbelief.


    "Get back here now!" I ordered as I left to check on the situation on the surface.


    I noticed two things as I reached the surface, the first was that Leviathan had already sent forth his advance scouts, huge bird like skeletons covered in a layer of slime were flying above the town, light passed through their wings and released rainbow laser beams on the city below.


    "What''s the situation?"


    "Your boss works fast." Work was being finalised on a simplified formation to absorb elemental energy, being carved into the bottoms of the basket and cage via Leonaidas''s floating blades. "The monster situation is less than Ideal though." The Professor held out his eye glass and I held it over my face as I looked up into the air.


    [B Rank Monster Shogoth-A concentrated mass of blessings from water type gods has gathered together inside of this creature and are attempting to fuse and devour one another, the end result has created a tumour from all the flesh and bodily fluid of it''s former host, the remains of which it now puppets about for mobility, it hungrily seeks more flesh and soul to feed of as it continues to attempt to resolve the roiling energies inside of it''s body]


    "I can see Leviathan still doesn''t know how to treat it''s pets." I stated as I gave the old man back his eye glass. It was the same sort of thing that the Keeper was going through, they looked like more severe cases, if I had to guess from more blessings being shoved into their bodies.


    "Leo, we''re going after the Keeper, you take the cage I don''t trust you with the baby." One of the flying corpses attempted to dive bomb on us only to smacked out of the air by Thing''s club.


    "That might be difficult." Leonaidas pointed through the air at the Keeper.


    "RRREEEAAARRRGGG!" The Keeper turned into a spear of flame and shot through the sky slamming into the middle of Leviathan''s fleet of ships.


    "Huu." I could only sigh in response. "Should I comment that he at least recognises ally from enemy?" The two bosses watched several geysers of flame shooting through the fleet making waves and pushing the ships away from the shore. Indeed if Keeper was just going on a mindless rampage then he would''ve started over here instead of flying all the way over to the other side just to harass the ships.

 Wrath

    K3e9e7


    RAGE


    A ball of black and white fire


    RAGE


    mixing together purification and corruption


    RAGE


    was shot into one of the nearby ships


    RAGE


    the combined power eliminating a hole into one of Leviathan''s ships.


    RAGE


    A portal opened nearby, an axe head the size of a wall wrapped around a tree root


    RAGE


    and slammed through another of the ships breaking them in half.


    RAGE


    Ice wrapped around the legs of the Giant Skeleton as more ships appeared inside of the ice.


    RAGE


    The Skeleton slammed its fists into the ice trying to break it open and get at the ships inside.


    RAGE


    One of the ships still on the surface suddenly burst open as Coral and Slime ripped through the ship.


    RAGE


    I slammed my fists into the block of ice with ships inside.


    RAGE


    The ice was broken apart and the ships inside along with them. Storm clouds gathered above and lightning charged through the air and was slammed down on top of me.


    RAGE


    I was so numb to everything I didn''t even feel it. A flying Spear and a winged cat flew around me-AAARRRGGGHHH!


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Apas


    The two little birdies tore the mess of the Keeper''s body apart and slurped them up before abruptly being pulled back together again slamming together again into a new evolutionary cocoon. Leonaidas''s spear, carrying the new cocoon, abruptly flew away being sucked into one of Treyni''s portals leading back to the tree. If she can make portals anywhere that she likes why did Keeper bother with setting up that trade route through Helheim? A tree branch poked through another portal and a young woman carved from wood emerged from teh branch. It wasn''t Treyni''s real body, just a gargoyle made out of wood.


    "I assume you had a good reason for that right now?" Treyni asked as she looked at me suspiciously.


    "Considering the magical tumour that was eating away at him we naturally have more important things to worry about than losing a little extra fire power." I explained myself as I looked over at the ships that had started circling around. "It looks like he''s gotten sick of Ring of Fire''s volcano." One of the Ships was unusual, like a beached ship that was filled with earth and plant life into a miniature jungle planter, with a active volcano in the middle of it. From that mass of fire and stone several flaming masses were shot out and volleyed against Thing''s body with several loud crashes. "We have better things to do than argue." I stated the obvious but apparently it needed to be said.


    "Agreed." Treyni changed to her Leshen form as they got ready to resume the offensive, another had swirling storm clouds, from which a giant figure emerged wielding a bolt of lightning as a spear. "I''ll have Archie and the other skeletons get the bottles ready to start eating their ships."


    "Get your totems to look in on the core." I instructed bluntly. "Offing the Fiend has delayed the damage but it doesn''t do anything for the damage already done. Figure out the damage immediately."


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Treyni


    The birds, or the creatures that used to be birds, were getting slaughtered. Dungeon drops tend to come in one of three flavours, weapons, armour and consumables, the latter sees the least amount of use, living day to day makes adventurers rather stingy, not using a item unless it is needed. Most of the time these items get sold to the adventurers guild itself, turned in as proof of monster subjugation or simply sold for extra cash. The Guild leader proved herself a relative spendthrift in this regard, two bank styled bags of holding were hanging off of her hips and she was pulling items out one after another, single shot high fire power flintlocks and blunderbusses were being fired one after another with a variety of different elements and status effects before being discarded down a hole.


    Such ''Trash cans'' dotted the town in a number of different places, they were basically holes that led to the fourth floor but this way it was possible to recycle material and aid the Keeper''s growth, Julia wasn''t the only one who had positioned themselves over such a can and was dumping various single use items after using them up. Which was good because Treyni suspected they needed to feed Keeper all the junk they can get their mitts on. Treyni had stretched one of her roots all the way over to the new fifth floor room to the core that was full of cracks, some of the pieces of it looked missing, the effects of the soul damage no doubt.


    "You three, stay here to cast healing magic and support spells on the core." Three of my totems did an approximation of a bow, as they each surrounded the core and started casting magic to hold it together again.


    "The rest of you follow me." The Civilians were being led through Leonaidas''s floor and into the Helheim breach, and through that into the two breaches of Bellfast and the Skunkape.


    "The Bellfast territory is too close. After he''s done here Leviathan will go there next." One of Charles dwarfs gave me the sum of the situation on the first of the breaches. Leviathan will be finished here, but it''ll be when we kill him alongside master.


    "What of the second?" To my question another Adventurer emerged from the Skunk Ape''s breach. "It''s a jungle over there. Looks like some interesting species of plants. If we had a base we could use I''d recommend trying to exploit the area."


    This wasn''t the time to build bases. I let out a sigh as I turned to the last breach, the one that was still in progress that would act as a short cut to the city of necromancers, a few thousand undead warriors would be pretty welcome by this point, even if the only thing they can do is shoot the birds out of the air. As I was thinking about that the tower shook, Leviathan wasn''t only attacking us in the Mortal plane, his Cocoytus ice ship was here too. Graves, his contracts and all the undead under their command were already too busy dealing with them. Not only had the bastard come here to attack us, but he had also used the Bag Halls like what Master and the Dragon had, so the bastard had lots of monsters helping him with support. Well it''s not like Graves was showing any mercy either, he had adopted the use of the Bag of Holding Bomb with great enthusiasm even though he was sending monsters on raids one after another. And Because Leviathan was being raided he couldn''t raid either which significantly freed up our own forces, who were mostly dedicating themselves to fighting in the water along with the bosses.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Levi


    This little asshole. You keep me distracted by sending ships after the Trio and in the mean time you''re hanging around here waiting for the chance to attack Keeper. I bet you even took advantage of me destroying your ships so that you could rebuild them into your fleet! Well how does it feel getting used as a short cut? And I''m not even alone here either! Reconstituting myself at the bottom of the bay I took the form of one of my rarest used schema''s: A giant clam! Opening myself wide I expelled my many passengers. For weeks I have been hunting various powerful female monsters and fertilising their eggs using a combination of my own genetic material and the Maride''s water. I then had the skulls in my possession utilise the Reanimation Monster rearing method and selected the most savage forms available to me after maxing out giant slayer and each and every one of them.


    [B Rank Monster Barrier Reef Turtle-]


    [B Rank Monster Water Genasi Kraken-]


    [B Rank Monster Jormangandr-]


    [B Rank Monster Jet Jawfish-]


    [B Rank Monster Dracosuchus-]


    I was so proud of my creations I could cry! The Turtle surfaced first, it''s shell built to repel or neutralise all the magical energy that came into contact with him, and for that matter so was his beak, my monster opened his massive jaws and clamped down on one of nearest ships, the magic formed material was torn apart like a hot knife through butter. Already another block of ice had formed, it was such a shame though that I already had my countermeasure in place to deal with the bastard making icebergs. From the depths lightning arced between the jaws of my Dracosuchus, I watched as water turned into hydrogen and oxygen, was gathered together, spat with force strong enough to cut steel, and set on fire!


    The ship was destroyed before it could be rebuilt! Water started to turn into a whirl pool under the influence of my Jormangander, an offspring of the two headed dragon, but thanks to Giant Killer so much larger, and with hydrokinetics too! Not just Hydro kinetics, this child has poison that could bring down a god, and now he has the power to weaponise it as the very waters themselves were turning into a deadly poison. My Monsters with scales and shells that repel mana were immune to it, that bastard''s monsters wouldn''t be. The piece de-resistance here though went to the Kraken, who greedily gobbled up Leviathan''s monsters from the ships and used their genetic material to remake them into Genasi hybrids under her control with improved souls so that they can live outside of a dungeon!


    In the mean time the Jet Jawfish I prepared was circling around and making sure that none of Leviathan''s ships escaped, if any of them attempt to run away he and his siblings will chase them down and wipe them out! No act of cowardice or self mutilation would let Leviathan escape my revenge this time!


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Try to figure out which one of these ships keeps freezing the water over!" Leonaidas''s weapon swarm tore through another ship. "If we take out that blessing then we can stop him from getting back up again!"


    I felt around the waters around me feeling out the shape of every ship in the area, I even paused in my efforts to destroy Leviathan''s re-spawning warships so that I could add them to my tally, and my face twisted in rage. All around me the ice snapped and crushed as the ships were torn apart like shredding paper for stress relief!


    "99!" I let out a growl in sheer anger.


    "Are you certain?" Leonaidas asked and even his face twisted in horror.


    "Positive!" My main body turned into a urchin and fired spikes of anti-dungeon coral. "There''s only ninety nine of that bastard''s hundred warships here! We''re missing one!" Billowing storms intensified as the monsters in the bay raged on. They could be out here breaking ships apart all day long and it would never matter because Leviathan''s core wasn''t even here!


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    ?


    I groaned as I pushed up from the ground, flipping onto my back and was greeted by a black void. Where the heck...?


    "Get up!" A voice I couldn''t quite remember where I heard it before spoke to me. "I said get up! I might be sitting down but I''m not talking to someone who can''t even be bothered to sit up straight." I turned to face the one who had been talking to me, seated in a chair that I couldn''t see. Black well worn sweat pants worn over grey shoes, a grey hoodie worn over a black shirt with a rainbow splash on the front, the words ''Bad Wolf'' visible to my eyes. A red flannel mask was worn covering most of his face, well used yellow and grey work gloves over his hands and a pair of glasses obscured his eyes.


    "Where is this place?" I felt another invisible chair appear beneath me and bump me up to his eye level.


    "The Afterlife? Your core? Wherever else you''ve been keeping me? Who knows?" The Figure shrugged but I only got more confused.


    "My core?" My memories clicked into place. "You''re my...?"


    "''First Material'' as your mentor oh so delicately put it?" The man snorted in derision. "I understand that you are confused but you see I am on a time table. So let''s begin shall we?" The Man shrugged his shoulders and gestured to the side. "I used to write as a hobby so pardon me my embellishments. This is a story of a man, we''ll call him ''Brandon.''" A pause, presumably for dramatic effect. "Brandon came from a world that honestly? Was going through a little bit of trouble. There was a pandemic going on that had claimed millions, a war was raging, and his own people''s industrial output was threatening their continued survival. He also, like so many other people in the world, honestly doesn''t really care about any of that, he got all his vaccines, the war was across seas, and he got driven to work every day over a distance that he could honestly pretty easily cover in half an hour to a job where he helped cut wood all day."


    "''Brandon'' sounds a little bit like an ass." I replied levelling a glare at the self proclaimed writer.


    "Brandon lived his life listlessly, watching anime, porn and occasionally writing ''fan fics'' about what he saw while working a dead end job in which he could easily be replaced by a machine but hasn''t been because society took pity on him."


    "I like Brandon less and less."


    "It''s not like he didn''t have dreams of his own, after years of practice with writing about other people''s work he had decided to give writing original work a try. But you see, those dreams don''t matter now: Because Brandon is dead!" He spat the sentence, anger and frustration clear as day in his tone of voice. "He took some days off from work, and when he returned it was all business as usual. Then the electrical socket that his dumb-ass coworkers didn''t bother to clean while he was gone was all full of saw-dust and it caught on fire! Like a dumb-ass Brandon tried to put out the fire with a extinguisher he didn''t know how to use, right next to the Petroleum tanks!"


    Eeeh. The longer I let this guy talk the more upset he seemed. I don''t want to know what he looks like under that mask anymore.


    "And then he un-died." Breathing a sigh, the Writer started to work up to another rant. "Like in so many of the shows that he had watched and wrote about Brandon didn''t wake up in a hospital room after the explosion but instead on a Altar, not a scratch on him, hell even his clothes were intact. Now Brandon was never one to be ungrateful for being saved, but his lifestyle left him with a unique perspective on his new situation. The Isekai Genre is pure psychological dread, in the best case scenario you have died, and if you''re lucky then you''re the same species as what you were when you closed your eyes."


    Which made sense to me, I didn''t like the idea of being forcibly yanked away from my friends and family who would get all wound up about my disappearance, and if it happened enough times or on say national TV then the governments would inevitably get all wound up about people getting snatched away all the time, in the worst case scenario there could even be a war between worlds. I paused my train of thought, how did I know all that?


    "Oi!" The Writer snapped at me. "Listen when people are talking to you ass-hole!" The Writer cleared his throat as he continued to talk. "Brandon you see wasn''t person, not to the people who summoned him. He was a bomb, worse than a bomb he was a delivery mechanism." The Writer pulled up his shirt, revealing a blue crystal lodged in his chest, a very familiar blue chest. "The people who summoned Brandon had a ''independent contractor'' of sorts, dude who commanded a army of monsters and fancied himself a pirate, his job was to take the bomb his associates had prepared and transport it to the enemy."


    Leviathan?


    "You wanna know the worst part? After being killed and turned into a disposable weapon of mass destruction Brandon was feeling spiteful enough to go ahead and take as many people down with him as possible, and he got his wish. Cause that Pirate was such a pain in the ass that as soon as the people of the continent he was dropping his weapon off at saw that he was coming they gathered a whole ass army together just to put him down." Okay I really don''t like Brandon now. "And in the end they ended up drowning under the influence of the weapon of mass destruction, and with his ammunition exhausted the pirate saw no more use for the bomb and destroyed it before anyone else could get their hands on it. But that wasn''t it though." Brandon tapped his finger on his chest again, on the blue crystal located therein. "Cause you see that bomb was something pretty special, a piece of crystal cut straight from Leviathan himself."


    From the who now?


    "And it had absorbed some very special material as soon as it''s host had died."


    I''m still on the ''Cut straight from Leviathan'' part.


    "Focus you dumbass!" The Writer growled, eyes glowing blue as the crystal ate away at his body. "The Block on my memories that kept you from shattering is being lifted, no doubt the work of Satan drawing out my anger! My little primer can only do so much! Let''s hope you don''t break this time!"


    "Wait What do you mean-AAARRRGGGHHH!"


    A high pitch screech echoed out as all of mine, all of his, experiences poured into my mind all at once! For the second time today I rolled onto my back, and looked up to see the ceiling of my core room. I felt like I could throw up. I turned my head to face my core, cracked, looked ready to fall apart, but still in one piece, with misty mana working to fill in the gaps. Benefits of fifty cores slaved to my will I guess. I floated up more than stood up even with the massive headache as I got dizzy. I was on the... Hel I was on five floors already? I needed to be one my first though, luckily I could disappear and reappear anywhere that I wanted. The dungeon was shaking, Thing was fighting. I closed my eyes and let my thoughts out.


    "What''s the situation?" A pause in the train of thoughts, as if conveying absolute shock at my words.


    "How are you-?"


    "I don''t have time to explain, I need to know what the situation is!"


    "Ninety nine ships in the bay and not one of them the one we need."


    Which means I can''t just do this the easy way and get thing to drop me off at the moving iceberg, I had to find the ninety ninth ship/floor and break into the 100th that way. I looked at the entrance, the familiar accursed dungeon fog was in my way again!


    ''A genie is less a proper living being and more a mass of element themed mana.''


    I breathed deep, the Professor''s lectures in the back of my mind. I''ve switched between ''dungeon mode'' and the fiend a bunch of times by dissolving him down into pure mana and reconstituting him right? I looked down at my hand, a familiar glove. No I would have to do this the right way. I remembered Jack, the remnants of that Hateful bastard was still in my pile of Schema''s but I couldn''t make a monster out of him, but I bet I can cram his parts into another schema. The same shape was important, I didn''t have the time to get use to another body type, I used the Warlock Skeleton Schema as the basis, combined that with the Goliath pieces, and I filled the gaps in with the Fire Frost Fiend, and wrap it all up in Leonaidas''s armour. I looked down at my hand and breathed deep as I felt the bones growing inside.


    [Warning: Dungeon Avatars cannot leave the Dungeon]


    Really what''s the difference between a Ifrit and a Dungeon avatar? I''ve had to pull the fiery bastard back together so many times already.


    [That is not my decision to make!]


    No. It isn''t. Looking at the fog, I took a running start and jumped.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Charles


    "Keep pumping Mana into the Dead Man''s rope!" Vines of algae were being shredded, rewoven together and healed over and over again, becoming stronger as they went along, even the Dryad had come out to help them. The vines were being sent into the water in a net, Leviathan would have to break them before he got close to the town.


    "Another volley from the Volcano ship!" I looked up into the air and held out my hand as the flaming debris exploded, their own heat turning into kinetic force.


    "The Rope is finished!" Announced one of the land based druids. "Beginning phase two!"


    Druids on land manipulate plant life, Druids from Lemuria manipulate coral. Familiar rainbow like material crawled up the ropes and expanded forming a huge grill, which was then being raised into the air via more Dead Man''s rope, some people had already secured themselves to it, others were running across a platform of ice to climb onboard. The Coral was the all too familiar material from the Dungeon''s third floor, one that repels and neutralises magical energy. Without the creature it''s supposed to be attached to it will slowly fade over the next three days, at which point it could be enchanted to have it''s anti magic properties permanently but for now they didn''t have the time for that. Instead, dozens of individual archers, mages, and other range specialists in place, their artillery opened fire, releasing shots of magic, arrows, and disposable offensive items with the intention of picking off any of the ships that tried to break away from the battle, ostentatiously.


    With the cover fire in Place I could move forward. By the looks of things the prided fire magic I had spent so much time to develop would be of minimal usefulness here, Leviathan had taken care of that much. But that didn''t mean that I wasn''t stubborn enough to find a way of burning a hole through his ships anyway, and he had just the thing in mind. Strapped to his person were several bags of holding filled up with a compound the Keeper created, an Aluminium and Rust mixture, Thermite is what he called it, I watched it burn through a metal shield after lighting it up a while ago, I was quite fond of the idea of doing much the same thing to the bastard''s ships now. As I was flying forward I saw something drop out of Thing''s skull and land on top of one of Leviathan''s ships. Already water was climbing onto the deck to attack the new figure, and to my surprise Apas, Thing, Treyni, Levi and Leonaidas all swarmed to knock away the attackers as they looked at the new figure confused.


    "What madness has the Keeper unleashed now!?" I looked at the figure, tall, easily as tall as Jack is clocking in at three meters, he was wearing metal knight''s armour that did nothing to hide either the glow of fire in the joints or the frost that had covered the metal. "Keeper? What are you doing up and about?" His equipment was unfamiliar too, a spear with familiar rainbow material on one end, and a large diamond from a mages staff on the other, neither made Charles feel very reassured.


    "Ending this." The Keeper swung his weapon, the Thermite sand was pulled out of my bags of holding and ignited, transforming into humanoid figures under the Keeper''s command. "There are spatial corridors connecting these ships together, one of them leads to elsewhere. Find it!" The numerous balls of fire scattered through the air, naturally Leviathan attempted to shoot them as it shot at everything else, but what is he going to do against creatures already made out of powder?


    "More of your tricks!?" One of the figure heads emerged from the water. "Even if you could-" The Figure head was destroyed in a burst of flame. "Travel to the ship after the one that you''re on and climb onto the deck and release a burst of flame." I watched the Keeper as it worked, commanding the beings made out of fire. If he didn''t know better he''d say that... "It''s the entrance being guarded by a boss monster, kill it and move on." I shook my head in the negative. It was over fifty years ago from what he heard. Suddenly a geyser of flame emerged from the decks of every ship, including the one we were standing on. "Now which one of you don''t see another geyser other than your own?" Another pause. "Under stood. Thing you have a lot of work ahead of you. We''re going straight to phase two." And with that the Armour collapsed, the individual inside of it having disappeared. While I was trying to figure out what was happening the Giant pile of bones picked me up and ate me.

 Peace

    Charles


    After Thing grabbed me I was inside of the Keeper''s dungeon again. Well the big bone head made sure that I didn''t fall far anyway, still that just leaves open his reasons for doing so to begin with, considering that we''re in the middle of a warzone.


    "We should move this to the war room." A figure unfamiliar to me appeared down the hallway, partly obscured by the shadows. "Thing is being considerate to you but it''s hampering his own ability to deal with Leviathan''s ships." And then the figure dissolved into Blue mana.


    "A dungeon Avatar? Keeper?" My confusion was only mounting at this point. I ran rather than walked to the war room, already I could feel the giant pile of bones stop holding back his strikes. Entering the room I saw a man wearing clothing I didn''t recognise who was looking down at a representation of the dungeon, and of the bay outside with Leviathan''s ships therein.


    "We need to come up with a plan if we''re going to Beat Leviathan. I have a few ideas." He sounded different too.


    "Are you Keeper?" The man turned around to face me and pulled his hood down, not that I could make out the details of his face, he was wearing some kind of black stained glass glasses and there was a red and black scarf over the lower half of his face.


    "I would appear to be." The young Man responded while he shrugged his shoulders. "Forcing my way out of the evolution cocoon and the damage it did to my core has allowed a lot of my memories to come back to me. Something that we can talk about later. For now..." The dungeon shook again, Leviathan''s attacks weren''t letting up any time soon.


    "Agreed. There''s a time and a place to go over your memories. Any ideas on what we''re going to do with Leviathan?" I looked down at the model overview that was below us. "He''s hiding his weak points. Ninety Nine ships and not one of them is the one we need to get rid of him." Thing slammed down his arms and managed to take a ship out of the equation. "He''s gotten used to losing ships it would seem." The first time we fought Keeper was able to stun him by taking out several of his ships at once, now however he seems to have gotten use to having his ships destroyed because instead of getting stunned he was just regenerating them instead.


    "Not to mention the one he has running around in Cocytus." Keeper followed up bluntly holding my chin as I formulated my own theory. "He''s been running hit and run attacks lately, Graves hasn''t even been able to find the slippery bastard and he can fly."


    That was a massive red flag, from what I''ve been hearing the Cocytus ship was easily Leviathan''s largest, and that led to but one logical conclusion.


    "Leviathan''s hiding his core from us. Both the ship that carries the core and the one that leads directly to it are both not here." If Leviathan has seen what this lunatic can do with WMD''s he may not want me anywhere near his core where he can set one of them off, well not that I want one set off in the bay either. "So what do we do to find the way to the ship that we need?" In theory, finding ship 100 is as easy as finding and making our way through Ship ninety nine.


    "Don''t worry, an intelligence capsule is arriving with the details on the ninety ninth ship." An extremely slow intelligence capsule, the Genmu apparently resorted to creating a frictionless surface with ice and then pushing themselves along using their snake tail. "Aside from the Wendigo Troll, this one is the one who made it the deepest into Leviathan when we entered through the other side." The Keeper sounded like he had high hopes for this one. "I''m afraid I can''t tell you very much." The Turtle head stated letting his head down. "We basically stuck along long enough to laugh at the fool as he kept hurting himself on the ninety ninth floor." The snake head stated though he looked more amused than the other head. Multiple personalities, great that''s all he needs. For me the news was less than stellar but Keeper had entered deep into thought.


    "I hope your take away from this situation is better than mine." I didn''t have high expectations. "That Troll is probably the most competent fighters among all the fighters in the tower." The Keeper stated as I cocked my brow at him. "He was even able to take out my Fire Frost Fiend when I tore up and subjugated the other dungeons."


    "Yeah I remember that he''s pretty hard to kill too." Fang piped up at that time. "He''s a B-Rank, but unlike us who specialise in AOE attacks he has the limitless stamina of a undead with the unlimited regeneration of a dire troll." If it''s something like that then he''s probably still alive somewhere in that thing.


    "I haven''t been seeing him at the meetings with the other dungeons lately either." Keeper piped up. "So the chances that we have an inside man on Leviathan''s ships are actually pretty good?" I asked and Charles nodded. "What we need to do is find a way of contacting Troll and getting him off of those ships."


    "A dungeon at Leviathan''s level doubtlessly has instancing active." I stated bluntly. Instancing, the number one dungeon blessing that creates the most problems and the most opportunities, the ability to divide invaders into multiple alternate versions of itself and harvest multiple versions of the same dungeon at the same time. "If we want the information that Troll has then we will have to kill him and let him respawn."


    "Well that''s probably not going to be necessary." Keeper stated as he started to explain to us the latest of his mad schemes.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Troll


    I was continuously tapping my monster''s foot as we waited for the floor boss to respawn, with perfect timing the fish monster reappeared in front of us, and no sooner than it appeared that Troll chopped his worthless head off. The monster broke down into magical energy and reformed into the form of a flint lock, one of dozens like it that we had collected by now. I wish we thought of doing this sooner! The more achievements we earn by killing these bosses the more of these blasted floors we''ll be able to skip, by my estimates we''ll be sent straight to the eightieth floor when we go on a raid. After we claim this bastard''s core and eat his dungeon the Keeper and those other losers are next!


    [Achievement Unlocked: Piranha Man Slayer: Piranha Man Schema, Fifth Floor Raid By-pass]


    I had Ninety Six Key''s hanging around our necks, four more and I''d be able to ditch this place and go straight for the eightieth floor during my next raid on this god forsaken fleet of ships. With that done I moved onto the next floor in question, what was this one again? Rivers? Pools? Suddenly the entire ship started to shake again, what was it now?


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Keeper


    [Dungeon Keeper: God of Bad things? There''s literally a god who governs ''bad things?'']


    [Lithilas: Chernobog is more of the ''Pretty please stay away with a cherry on top'' or ''Go bother the people I don''t like please!'' kind of god]


    [Dungeon Keeper: And you think that he''s the god from the floor that Frost and Fang were talking about?]


    [Lithilas: ''A god whose blessings cause misfortune to those who try to delve it''s depths'' with a description like that it''s either him or Fortuna, and I doubt it''s her]


    [Dungeon Keeper: Because...?]


    [Lithilas: She causes good luck, besides the Pirate Bastard''s behaviour fits with Chernobog''s MO]


    [Lithilas: Good luck for you doesn''t mean bad luck for your enemies either]


    Right. Good luck could mean that adventurers keep having good luck in your dungeon so they keep coming back for more, compare and contrast this Chernobog, I can easily imagine that there are lots of people who pray to keep this loser away from them.


    [Dungeon Keeper: How do we identify which ship is his?]


    [Lithilas: It''ll be the one where literally everything goes wrong]


    Well credit where do, the pirate bastard picked an effective means of defence for what basically amounts to his last line of defence. Whatever.


    "Do you have your people ready to go?" I disappeared from my core room and appeared back in front of Charles in the war-room.


    "You would know better than I do." Indeed he was right of course.


    "It seemed polite to ask before I began." I drew my points of awareness to the arms and hands of Thing, Adventurers had been paired up with monsters from the other Dungeons. We already tried raiding the Pirate bastard but we got a notification that he was already being raided, did we really traumatise the bastard that badly last time? No matter, we have monsters from fifty dungeons to supplement our own invasion of the Pirate''s ships. "Turn heat into sound..." Muttering that, I let my voice carry in the entire dungeon. "We''ll be launching an attack on Leviathan in the next few minutes. Thing will be responsible for insertion, each of you will be entering on a different ship. The chances that instancing will be in effect are quite high. Your objective is to locate and identify the floor belonging to ''Chernobog'' or failing that, cause as much damage as possible and escape the ship for retrieval. The Monsters travelling with you are expendable, if necessary you can use them as meat shields to escape but it is preferable that you work together to actually hold the territory."


    Thus the operation began. Through Thing''s eyes I watched as the giant mass of bone and limestone in question used it''s massive fingers to poke holes into each of the ships that could theoretically be Chernobog''s, we eliminated obvious candidates like the mobile volcano island for instance, and release his payloads of adventurers and dungeon monsters. According to my limited experience with Dungeon demolition tactics it seems that dungeons can''t alter floors that currently has delvers on, though that''s not the case with fellow dungeon monsters, so that should limit the bastard''s options. Additionally it seems that instancing actually has some downsides too.


    The answer comes down to resource management. Lithilas describes instancing as suddenly acquiring a copy of one of your floors, which is fine if your mana production suddenly spikes with the extra floor, not so much the case if say you don''t have one of my mana production facilities or your alternate dungeons aren''t crammed full of people producing enough mana to be worth the up keep. So Leviathan now has to make the choice between multiple alternate versions of himself and cost efficiency. As Thing shot one of his arms forward he jammed the middle finger of his hand into one of the ships making a hole, before slamming his hand holes on top of said hole and releasing the group waiting on the other side. In my war-room I watched the ship turn yellow, soon it would either turn green for the correct floor, or red for the wrong one. Alright you Pirate bastard your move.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Leviathan


    A huge eight limbed spider reared monkey monster waded through my submersible, it''s webbing creating a pocket of normalised pressure for the humans that came with it while it bore the brunt of the pressure itself with it''s exoskeleton armour. As I was about to address this hole in my defence another suddenly opened, a snake woman with harpy wings was gathering all the heat together across a few different floors freezing them over and producing a fire lance attack that she was using to incinerate my monsters.


    What absurdity is...?


    Another hole, a swarm of flying skeleton birds accompanied by a young man dressed in a necromancer''s robes flooding against my monsters, only stopping to suck the life and mana out of them and using that to supplement the young man''s reservoirs.


    Are you...!?


    Another hole, the Turtle snake from before now!


    Stop!


    A overgrown Lion Topiary.


    Doing!


    A Mershark that turned into a swarm of Bats.


    THAT! That Blasted Skeleton!


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Each hole it punches into my ships brings with it a new creature each of them more strange and bizarre than the last, which might not be so concerning if it weren''t for the fact that the humans they were protecting limited my access to my floors! Everything was a relatively even exchange, creatures with high defensive power like the Spider Monkey and the Turtle Snake they acted as meat shields while humans with high fire power and support magic worked to eliminate the offending monsters. High Offensive powered ones like the Harpy snake and some kind of werewolf with a flying severed skull on the other hand wiped out wave after wave of my monsters while Humans in heavy armour and shields screened attacks for them and provided buffs. Most concerning though were the support types, the Skeleton Birds and the Topiary seemed to provide a limitless supply of mana for their casters to bunker down and cast AOE type magic. What was worse was the sheer scale of the magic was spreading between floors!


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Keeper


    Professor Phalanges has made his way to the war-room, I would prefer that I have my fire power experts down fighting Leviathan in his dungeon but it seems that the good professor had made a few tweaks to my original plan. Well not that I can really disapprove.


    "My students are wearing magical accessories that allows me to track their specific mana signatures, not only their exact location but also where they have been casting and what it did." The Professor explained as he waved a staff over the war table.


    "Handy." I stated as we watched the matter proceed with bated breath.


    "The issue is that over time Leviathan will absorb the mana into his own disguising the mana in question until we cannot recognise it." Different coloured mana was slowly expanding from the yellow ships dying the yellow a extra layer of colour as if filling in veins with mystery fluids, spreading and connecting with each other as they jumped between ships. Okay so we have a map of Leviathan''s dungeon starting to take shape now. "How will they know when they''ve got the wrong floor?" I asked Charles who to my knowledge was coordinating the mixture of Adventurers and mages.


    "Most of the groups have Clerics doing healing, they''re also checking the blessings of the god you''re looking for, Chernobog right?" Well I guess it would be obvious. "The plan is that if they can identify the god then they give a signal flare." As Charles said that some of the ships were turning red. "Looks like the first groups are ready for retrieval." Nodding my head I sent the command to Thing to pick up the groups of individuals as he gets ready to send more groups down. The next group of monsters have been cooking for a while, and all I really got to say about this is Archie, where do you keep these things?


    "They are quite fond of the void of the tower Master." Archie failed to grasp my displeasure at him holding out on me.


    [B Rank Monster Deathgaze: A creature from the void turned into a undead monster, it''s potent psi-manipulating abilities are paired with a variety of eye abilities to petrify, vaporise, charm and the like]


    [C Rank Bone Spider: Not a true spider, but rather an undead construct made in the image of one, it is capable of quick and devastating attacks with it''s sharp legs]


    To give the other monsters access to the XP bonuses of Giant Killer I had Archie seal Animated Skulls and Hands into marble boulders and... basically forgot about them. Archie didn''t forget about them though. A quarter of the Points that were harvested by dropping by rocks on Solarus went into said rocks, enough to go from F to B three times over, this came out as a result, I don''t know what Archie shoved into these things for cores either.


    "I haven''t yet master, Ones of this size requires significant resources, and with your core in the state that it is in you cannot produce the required resources. On the other hand the lack of a core creates a lack of weak spots for the enemy to take advantage of. So long as they are not completely destroyed they will keep putting themselves back together again." Archie''s explanation was accompanied by the latest groups being funnelled into the latest hole.


    Well upgrades can wait until later I guess. The Taraboon and her group were some of the first to return from the enemy dungeon, the priest with them was able to confirm that the blessing came from Dagon, which going off of last time made that the first floor. I waved my arm over the display, numbers appearing in the air above the ships indicating floors.


    "What are you basing that off of?" Professor Phalanges asked looking at the display suspiciously.


    "Dagon was first floor last time, plus there''s only one other ship he''s connecting to." I chose to show my work instead of just giving the answer.


    "Implying that he''s on the very far end of Leviathan''s order, certainly not the end so the beginning." The Professor agreed with my logic it would seem. "A clear idea of where the ships are set are probably for the best." So the floor numbers stayed in place. "The Question now is has Leviathan found your little surprise yet?"


    "Oh he definitely knows that they''re there, what they are on the other hand is another story." I smirked evily at the thought of part B going into action.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Leviathan


    One of the wretched groups of invaders had already retreated, and I without the pleasure of killing them and eating their mana as compensation for all the trouble that they had caused me. Annoying. Incredibly annoying in fact. Worst of all though was this little box that they had left behind. An entirely ordinary looking chest, I thought they were mocking me at first, I would be content to ignore it but leaving someone known to weaponise bags of holding to leave junk lying around my dungeon was a bad move. The fact that it resisted me when I tried to break it down into mana was alarming.


    [E Rank Chest Poltergeist-]


    Tch! All of you get down here and break open this damned box!


    The first of my monsters to arrive was the Tide caller, who prepared a water blade to slash down the wretched box and break it open only for his target to dodge to the side as a living being would do.


    Because of course the wretched box could move by itself!


    The Keeper was making a show of withdrawing more of his forces, but leaving behind more of these wretched boxes behind!


    I want them out of my dungeon!


    Right now I had a choice, have my ally cancel their raid on me blocking this bloody dungeon from doing that wretched teleporting attack again or do I have to come up with another plan! No no I don''t need to raid the enemy dungeon to break into it, after all the fools brought the dungeon to me!


    I fired my anchor chains directly at the biggest target that I have available, the Bone Giant. The Coral of the Traitor is annoyingly potent when it comes to deflecting and dissolving my projectiles, the tree''s roots and branches keep disappearing, so I would directly invade the first floor, and through that tear into the breach leading into Helheim where I will rip the Keeper and his pet dungeons out of their foundation and make them suffer for the Humiliation I have faced! Several of my ships circled around the battlefield, each of them firing their hooks to pierce the limbs of the giant while ice worked to freeze the water around it up to its hips. In the mean time the hooked limbs of the Bone Giant was being pulled in multiple directions, my monsters and I had used magic to seize control of the water in the bay and was now pulling the entire thing in multiple directions. I felt something cut through the mana like a hot knife through butter, or rather a blade made of Flail Snail Coral! Cut from the bonds of the bay my ship was flailed about through the air as the skeleton prepared to bring it down on another of my ships. The Ship rapidly reeled itself along it''s chain, water was being pulled up from the bay, despite the Traitor''s attempts to knife the water back into the bay, afterwards the water formed around the skeletal hand and created a pathway into the skeleton.


    [Your Territory has crossed over with The Dungeon Keeper]


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Keeper


    [Your Territory has crossed over with Pirate Fleet Leviathan]


    Lovely, that''s exactly what we needed.


    "We have intruders." I stated bluntly. "From the limb that just iced over right now." We watched through the display as Thing slammed the mass of ice down onto another ship, and watched as the ship that was just destroyed reappeared in the ice between Thing''s legs, paths soon forming to Thing''s legs and from there into the dungeon proper. More notifications appeared in my face as more and more paths were being formed. "Should we send personnel down to deal with them?"


    I let my consciousness drift, I watched as the animated skulls I positioned down there skewered various monsters with spears of marbled bone giving both me and them a nice flood of Points.


    Sadly it wasn''t long until the skulls were wrapped in the cocoon of evolution, I''d keep going with the Death Gazers for the time being, partly because they seem like the best option, but mostly because I see them fitting into the same rolls I already had them in as skulls, their main job before was to stop people that I don''t want getting into the dungeon from getting in, now they''ll have all kinds of status effect magic to do it with.


    "No. Send reinforcements to the tower." I instructed to the confusion of the others. "If we put up barriers then they''re going to think that there''s something to hide behind them, barriers that they can probably break through. If we put them on a different path though..."


    "Then we''ll leave you exposed. Or do I have to remind you that the whole reason Leviathan has launched this attack is because you were left vulnerable when you exited Cocytus?" Charles scolded angrily.


    "No. Leave dealing with the invaders to us. We need Leviathan dead tonight."


    "Then you will be somewhat disappointed, as the last time the ass was killed he came back to haunt us from another realm." I stated shrugging my not really there shoulders. "My plan is to make the coward squirm enough that he does the same thing he did last time, evacuate himself into another dimension. I just need to figure out where the loser is hiding his core."


    "And when he does?" Charles asked and I smirked as we finally picked up on another mana signature. One of the Mages had finally managed to breach into Leviathan''s core ship. "I show him how you really eat a dungeon!"


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Leviathan


    One of the accursed boxes falls victim to the spear of one of my monsters at long last. And Not a moment too soon, there''s at least one of the possessed boxes for almost every floor that the adventurers were on, and the mana creep from the mages has already breached the ninety ninth and into the hundredth where my core is located, despite my own best efforts to dissolve the intrusive mana and expel it''s influence. I looked to the sea, to the waves that were rolling on the horizon thanks to the surplus of Maride hybrids that had been released into the sea. The Keeper''s sea monsters have cut off my retreat here, and his bosses are blocking my advance into the mainland. I could use water manipulation magic to create a tidal wave and flood the coast, but that wouldn''t get me my revenge on the Keeper, nor with his various mobile dungeon floors would it slow him down for long. So I will have to take a third option then, and breach, but on which floor? I can''t go with one of my water floors, too much of a risk that Oceanus will be able to get to me, jackass still mad that I took over his ocean. The Demonic Floors were probably out too. Bastard was probably cozying up to them all as we speak after they double crossed Lucifer. So my options are pretty damn narrow at this point. And what are inside of those damned boxes!?


    [C Rank Schema Bottle Squid-A heavily mutated hybrid of multiple species of monster, though small it''s stomach contains an enormous amount of space that can swallow most dungeons whole and trap them inside of itself]


    That''s all that I''m able to get before the boxes break open and release a massive quantity of slime into my ships taking them over in the process, worst yet, I can''t even disconnect them at this point either! The Slime flooded my halls and took over until my ships were filled with nothing but slime, then it immediately got worse. After the slime absorbed my ships they proceeded to shrink down, the space inside of them being compressed with my ships inside of them. Several of the ships were already consumed! Including the ninety ninth! I can''t even cut off the infection at this point!


    Stall the spread of the slime!


    Then more bad news was coming along, the Sphinx had tracked down my hundredth floor and was now flying above me, various attacks being intercepted by the flying weapons and the use of wind magic that surrounded her as she prepared to deliver another of those accursed boxes! I don''t have time to be picky at this point, nor do I have the luxury of picking and choosing which realm I arrive at, most of the Bottles were already triggered. Fine we''ll go with that one! Reality began to shake as I initiated the breach. Unlike Keeper I wasn''t some lesser dungeon struggling to manipulate divine power! I can breach into another realm as easily as I suck on mana! The Bay shook as the ship I chose at random broke through to the realm of one of my patrons. We will meet again Keeper! I lost my consciousness as my core room was sucked away into another realm.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Charles


    I watched as One Hundred of the Keeper''s so called bottle squids swam into the docks, being gathered together in a chest. At Keeper''s instructions I had the bottles escorted into the dungeon proper onto the second floor, where a pond had been prepared and the bottles were being deposited to swim freely.


    "You''re sure that he''ll stay down this time?" Charles was looking at me suspiciously.


    "His floors are no longer under his control." The Keeper''s avatar stated looking at the bottles in amusement. "He can''t disconnect from them anymore. Even if he could he''s in a whole ass other realm now. Even as we speak Graves is hunting the ship in Cocytus. In the mean time this bastard and his hundred gods blessing will keep supplying me with all the mana I could ever want. And even if he wanted to come back to this realm he''s going to just stuck in his bottles again. The threat to us that he represents has been neutered."


    "And if he should break through the Squids?" To my question the Keeper kept himself from bursting out laughing as he put his hand on one of the bottles and I watched it be broken apart as it approached. "These bottles neutralise and repel mana, that bastard can''t break through them. No he better just get ready to obediently hand all of his mana over to me, cause these guys are gonna be spitting it out for all eternity."


    All of Leviathan''s mana was being pushed out through the opening on the bottles.


    "Do we know what realm he''s connected to at least?" I wasn''t fond of pushing our problems onto someone else, especially considering how much I want the bastard to suffer. "I can answer that."


    Professor Phalanges was examining each bottle as he plucked them from the water of the bay, one had gained his rapt attention.


    "This is the bottle with the breach inside of it." If Leviathan chose which floor he breached through at random then there was a one in three chance that he''d end up in a water floor, looks like he lost that bet. "That might be difficult. The sea is Leviathan''s domain after all, he will likely use this situation as an opportunity to build up power for when he returns." I was already thinking about what kinds of creatures these bottle squids might become in the future.


    "Oh he won''t find it that easy." Keeper has a nasty smile on his face. "Remember how Hel and Lucifer share a realm?" As the Keeper was talking about that he suddenly got a notification. "Got yah you sneaky bastard!"


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Leviathan


    After arriving in Dagon''s realm I quickly remade the floor into another submarine, I only barely had enough time to finish building it before I came under attack from a huge whale like sea monster!


    KEEEEEEPPPEEERRR!


    [I''d run if I was you, Oceanus is really mad at us!]


    One submarine vs a full blown Sea monster! The hell is that thing anyway?


    [S Rank Monster Leviathan-One of the three Great Beasts of the Apocalypse, Leviathan is said to be the ruler of all water in the world, to challenge him is to fight against the very vital fluids inside of your body!]


    Oh Damnit!