《I became a Smol Dungeon Core in Another World》


 1 Prologue Ch.1: Summoned

    A long, musty corridor made of dark stone flitted through my vision. Bricks lined the walls, indistinct panels made up both the floor and the ceiling. Eerie, blue-burning torches provided sparse spots of light, but left plenty of darkness between them. I went around another corner in my mad dash, fearing for my life. The cool air did nothing to help as my shadow ran along the walls; my heart was racing, I was out of breath, and my small, bare feet on the uneven stone were hurting, swollen and raw. Something was loudly chasing me until a few moments prior, but perhaps I had finally managed to give it the slip.


    I crammed myself into a hole in the wall and tried to calm down. My breathing was still out of control, but calm down I did. My heart rate slowed back to normal.


    "Ahh... hah, haaah... *Sigh* wh-what the heck was that thing...?"


    I looked down at my sweat-drenched body, shrunken and de-aged and weak as it was.


    ...And also naked except for three sticky slips of white cloth barely bigger than band-aids. A strand of sweat-drenched light-blonde hair fell on my face, so I pushed it aside. As for a weapon? I certainly had a spear before, but by this point it was stuck in the ground somewhere far away because I dropped it in my panic. Yeah.


    Summary: became a weak little girl? Check. Near-completely naked? Check. Absolutely defenceless? Oh-so-checked.


    You might be wondering how I got into this situation. I was frankly wondering roughly the same, as well as what god I had offended to deserve all this in the first place.


    ~~~~~


    It all started like most days would in my life. I woke up, washed myself, had breakfast with my fa- had breakfast, checked my emails... so on and so forth.


    A normal day where I would get to my high school by public transport to attend mostly-boring, mostly-pointless classes and by mid-afternoon could finally go home unless it was fashion club Wednesday.


    ''Oh, you''ll be 16 soon, that''s a very special time for a girl. You should look forward to it!''


    Pfft. My 16th birthday had come and gone, as had my 17th and recently even my 18th. Nothing special happened during any of them. The only difference it all made was that I could legally drive a car and buy porn... and since most of the latter didn''t interest me in the slightest, I never did that. Voting? Okay, that was a thing too I guess, but how often do you go to the booths in this sort of country really?


    In any case, it seemed like just another normal afternoon. I said goodbye to the only true friends I had at school - we were sarcastically known as the trio of trendies, misunderstood and looked down upon no thanks to the usual rumour mill - and went home by tram as I usually would. Someone called me on my phone as I was listening to a podcast giving updates and opinions on the w-


    *Boom*!


    A transporter had crashed into the tram. I can''t explain why, but fire engulfed the train car, or maybe the light was just a trick my dying brain played on me. Everyone crashed forward into something or someone; I think I hit my head against a metal pole. I felt cold and weak, dazed; my vision was swimming, my ears ringing. I think people were screaming, but I couldn''t hear them.


    That was the last thing I saw before I passed out.


    ~~~~~


    "Ohhh, it appears the ceremony was a success! Heroes from another world, please heed our call for help. We have need of your extraordinary powers and wisdom. Please, please open your eyes."


    Everything was dark. My body felt weightless for a moment until I opened my eyes as the old-sounding voice pleaded. Naturally, I was not alone. My body hurt all over. What about the crash? The fire?


    The chamber I saw was huge. A domed, oddly transparent ceiling let starlight through, while an assembly of men and women in dark robes adorned with gold, gems, and other expensive things stood around us. The ground was glowing in concentric circles for a moment longer before its faint greenish light faded.


    "Wh-Where... is this? Who are you people...?"


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    "Dear heroes from another world, have no fear. I am Dean Kristofferus, leader of the astral mage college of the Holy Empire of Smirnov. Our beloved Emperor has graciously allowed us this summoning."


    That did not exactly answer every single question I really had, but the bearded old man was already wildly gesturing to his robed underlings. I looked around and noticed what he meant by heroes, plural: I was not the only one present. Several dozen other people had also been summoned, though not everyone was moving.


    "Dean, three of the ones we summoned are unconscious, possibly dead. Another eleven are badly burned and-or suffer broken bones!"


    Someone cried behind me in pain, but I still felt dazed and could not pay them as much attention as I would have liked.


    "Ah, unfortunate. Bring them to the medical wing post-haste. And hm, check their ears, they seem to have undergone slave cuts."


    "Did we rescue an entire batch of slaves by accident...?"


    I was confused by that comment for a moment and touched my own ears, but aside from a tiny trickle of blood, everything seemed normal.


    "Wait... blood? I''m bleeding!"


    Another robed person, a moderately tall woman, helped me up and brought me to the medical wing as well. It was all so surreal that the following events had to be told to me again since my brain had just shut down from the shock.


    ~~~~~


    "...And so, in summary, you people summoned me, 12 adults, and 14 children or teenagers from ???????????????????? via a magical ritual because of some prophecy stating that only ''the heroes of the Otherworld'' can help when you are in ''a situation most dire and feel beyond saving''... which means you basically kidnapped us to solve your problems."


    The young-ish adult bear man - and he was absolutely a bear beastkin from something like an isekai anime - looked at the floor, possibly ashamed, possibly unwilling to look at me as if he could not properly answer my accusation.


    Admittedly my rant was misdirected since he was just a healer who dutifully fixed all my cuts, burns, freckles, and even childhood scars. Blemishes live in fear of otherworldly magic. In any case, he genuinely could not answer this.


    "W-Well... I have heard the magic only allows summoning those close to death''s door. It was effectively a given that you would''ve died in your world..."


    The Dean stepped into the room; he had probably overheard us, so his head was surprisingly lowered to not offend me. The healer quickly excused himself. With his hood down, I noticed he had dark red fox-like ears with many grey hairs in-between.


    "Dear heroine from the Otherworld, we are certain this is a second chance at life for you." He raised his head, his excessively long, grey beard no longer quite touching the floor. His blue-grey eyes were sharp and piercing despite his age. "Judging by your stature and especially your strange round ears, surely you must be an aesir, a powerful being from a world far greater than ours and with abilities and kindness to match?"


    I mean, I knew I had worked out a little to be physically fit, and I also had good reflexes from basketball... But the gaze the old guy gave me was as if I was expected to fight like Wonder Woman or something. Maybe Xena.


    At least it made sense that he referred to my apparently amazing stature. With my 175cm, I stood rather taller than him.


    "...Why do we speak the same language anyway? How come everyone here speaks Russian of all things?"


    He rubbed his chin at that.


    "I have not heard of this ''Russ'' you mention. ''Smirnovizik'' is what we call our language. But is this not convenient then?"


    He was right, at least I would not have to agonise over learning yet another language. I already hated French class with a passion so fiery I actually celebrated when I was finally allowed to get rid of it after 10th grade. Don''t get me started on German, either - even as my mother''s native tongue its weird grammar always made my head spin.


    "In any case, please rest some more. Tomorrow you are to meet the Imperial Couple, and begin helping with our issue."


    I looked at him cross, arms folded below my chest.


    "I still haven''t agreed to help you. What''s in it for me? And don''t tell me I''d marry a princess or something and get like half the Empire, that would be just stupid."


    "*Sigh* Of course, of course, I''ll see to it that you get appropriate recompense... A manor in the capital will be the least of your rewards. But please, for now just rest. Ring the bell there if you need anything. Ah, and... may I please know your name?"


    "Constanze Czarina K-... K-? *Sigh* ...Constanze Czarina. ''Czara'' is fine, too."


    "Then, Lady Czara, may we meet again tomorrow."


    ~~~~~


    Constanze was asleep. Someone had cast a calmness spell on her, which had in fact calmed her down enough from the initial shock that she was not even tossing around on the hospital bed.


    The Dean spoke outside the room with someone else.


    "...and then she mentioned she does not want a reward like ''marrying the princess and getting half the Empire because that would be stupid'' or something. The audacity of that girl..."


    "Is it audacity? Maybe she''s just very humble... or embarrassed. I would be if I was summoned to an unknown land."


    "...Perhaps, perhaps. We shall see tomorrow once she sees his and her Majesties. But hmmm... might her wording imply she favours girls? What do you think? It could hamper her during the first test..."


    "Maybe if we fudge a little with the selection lottery..."

 2 Prologue Ch.2: Dungeon

    I woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. White, or at least a very light grey, and illuminated by late 19th century-style lamps on the walls except they were not burning oil; they were magical in nature.


    After coming to and thinking back a little, I was quickly washed, then clothed in a fancy but light red dress which I was told to be typical of the fashion lower court nobles wore that year. I was even given a nice hat to have shade from the scorching summer sun... by the standards of what seemed to be Fantasy Imperial Russia ca. 1900. My inner fashionista was brimming with ideas on how to make my own dresses later.


    My thick early spring clothes? They were ripped, burned, and generally ruined. After fishing out my phone and purse, someone took them and threw them away. At least I had some battery left to listen to my music.


    I was led to a black carriage lined with gold and sporting the Imperial symbol of Smirnov. As you might expect from Russian fantasy people, it resembled a double-headed eagle if you really squinted.


    Why they expected me to show up at the court of the Emperor himself not even 24 hours after getting summoned I could not explain. Perhaps they were in a hurry to show off their success. I shared the carriage - which thankfully had excellent suspension and comfortable pillow seats - with two beastkin and two other people from my world.


    One of them, a dog (wolf?) girl dressed exactly like a maid servant from anime - at least it seemed unlikely she''d just returned from her Last Bell celebration - wearing a dress so long and flowing it covered everything but her head, white-gloved hands, and boot-clad feet, took an interest in my ''strange black rectangle''. We changed seats so I sat next to her and offered one of my ear plugs. We listened to some orchestral game music for a bit while the carriage got us to the Imperial Palace. She was perhaps the first person ever to listen to music from another world. She was delighted. She was also exactly my type, a little smaller than me and plenty cute, and complimented me on my green-blueish eyes. Genetic lottery for the win?


    The audience with the Imperial Couple was downright forgettable by comparison. His Majesty, Her Majesty, the Imperial Princess with a name so long everyone only called her... sooomething cute who I should note was fittingly so damn adorable I found it hard not to stare and make her blush... Lots and lots of retainers and court nobles were present as well. There were also two princes I heard, but since they were baby twins they naturally did not attend. Almost stereotypically, all three of the royal family were bear types.


    Everyone had assembled in a huge room with fine red decorations, black and gold Imperial banners, a long and thick carpet, balconies to the sides, and all kinds of fancy golden and silver things I could not possibly name correctly.


    So why was it forgettable? Mainly because, despite the pomp, I and the 7 others - the rest of us had in fact succumbed to their wounds by this morning much to the dismay of the Dean - were given barely any attention.


    I could understand that the Emperor''s schedule was packed full, but considering we were summoned to solve some so-far undefined problem, I would have expected that someone would at least tell us what that problem even was. Alas, no such luck.


    No, everyone was merely instructed to - for now - be brought to a separate ''dungeon'' and be tested for their abilities. Considering our present group consisted of an 18 year old high school student whose main strengths are basketball and being fashionable, three adults between 20-40 who were clearly still unable to even fully comprehend the situation, two younger girls to whom it seemed like a fantastical adventure trip, and one little boy and his grandmother who were even more lost... It was downright cruel to be so dismissive of us.


    I wanted to complain, but one very sharp bayonet pointed at the throat later, I wisely shut up and just went with the flow.


    Which brings us to...


    ~~~~~


    *Crash* My body was flung against a nearby stone wall. A blue-burning torch was high above, just barely illuminating the monster in front of me. Except it did not look like a typical ''monstrous'' monster. No, this one was clearly a succubus, and she really had it out for me.


    "You are sooo weak~. Are you really a heroine? Ahahahaha, come ooon, play with me more~."


    I could almost hear the hearts in her speech. It had been barely 10 minutes since I had entered this ''dungeon'' whose stone gate shut behind me and I was in the biggest trouble of my life. Once again, no time was spared for explanations. I was given a spear and told to retrieve some orb as a test.


    Oh right, the mons- the succubus was toying with me. The spear I had been given was easily broken in two and out of reach in any case. My supposedly-protective clothes were torn. And she came closer, her pink-glowing eyes just barely giving her face definition. Her excessively long hair was probably flaming red in normal daylight, but in this corridor it just appeared a creepy icy blue.


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    She grabbed my collar and with a pull accompanied by pink magic covering her right hand somehow ripped all my clothes and even my boots into tiny, tiny pieces, leaving me naked and utterly defenceless. Yes, I pissed myself in terror, it happens to anyone.


    "*Sniff, sniff* Oh my, you wet yourself like a liiiittle girl... Ah, I know!"


    The seductress snapped her fingers, then pressed her lips on mine. I could feel that she was sucking something out of me. Experience points or something? I started feeling even weaker. The kiss went for almost a minute, but I had already stopped struggling only 5 seconds in - what would have been the point to resist?


    We parted lips, and she had a satisfied smirk on her face. She stepped back a little and admired me as if I was a statue.


    "That was delicious, even if it wasn''t very filling. And oooh my, you''ve become just so adooorable~!"


    I did not immediately understand, but the smaller size of my hands confirmed my suspicions after I shakily managed to stand up and found the succubus to be taller than before. Of course, she had not actually grown taller all of a sudden; I had shrunk, or more accurately been de-aged. She even produced an illusionary mirror to show me I had gone back to around 10 years old.


    "Hehehe, you''re really cute now." She licked her lips, but then frowned a little. "But now I''m bored, so we''ll play a game. I''ll put a small jewellery casket somewhere nearby so you can get some clothes back on. Go and fight things, I''ll make sure you have a chance to win. Struggle, struggle, and struggle some more for my entertainment, and when you''re down, I''ll find you again. Byyye~."


    Those were the words of the vanishing succubus. My heart was beating faster due to both her allure and the prospect of being in actual danger.


    I grabbed the remains of my spear, thankfully only broken in such a way I could still hold the upper part with one hand, and went searching. A couple rats were no problem to me as I could at least accurately throw. I found a bottle with water - not a magical potion or anything useful - from which I drank a little and then cleaned up my bottom half.


    Finding the casket was a different matter. It was an unassuming small black thing that one would normally store a ring in, so figuring out where the thing was hiding in this terrible lighting was quite difficult. Especially since it rested within a hole where a brick or two had been crushed.


    The contents were even worse than that.


    "...You''ve got to be kidding me...!"


    There was a triangle carving inside the lid. In place where a ring would be on red or white silk were instead three white strips of cloth in a Y-formation, the lower one slightly longer and a bit wider than the other two. ''Clothes''!? Those stickers were barely enough to substitute for a ''bikini'' made from band-aids.


    Even so, I felt the urge to put them on, no matter how much more embarrassing it would be than running around completely in the nude. Strangely enough, I felt revitalised once I had placed the bottom one on my pu- my vagina.


    In retrospect, it was obvious this stuff was cursed with lewdness, among other things. I was no stranger to sexual stuff and I can freely admit I''ve fellated both of my boyfriends a few times and did the deed as well to my so-far one girlfriend, but despite these I was still a virgin and did not intend to change that anytime soon with anyone but the suc- with anyone, period.


    So lost in thought for a moment, I only got out of my reverie when I heard a very, very loud roar from the side and the stomping of multiple feet. I did not even bother looking, I just ran.


    ~~~~~


    I had finally gotten my breathing back under control. No roars or stomping feet could be heard, so I dared to leave my hidey-hole.


    (Don''t I have any skills at all? Maybe magic like the succubus?)


    I certainly did not feel anything in terms of special abilities, ki, chakra, or holy blessings manifesting.


    (''Aesir'' my ass! I''m a ?????????????????? and nothing else!)


    ...I grabbed my butt to check, just in case I had been turned into a minor succubus or something, but alas not even that was given - or at the least I had no tail growing just yet.


    The corridors still looked the same: dark stonework, eerie blue torches that never stopped burning yet produced no smoke, and indistinct panels covering floor and ceiling.


    I came to a T junction, which offered me to keep going ahead or take a turn to the left. Since I had not paid much attention to where I had been to during my frantic run earlier, I was quite, quite lost.


    Something glimmered in the distance, something small and silvery. I slowly went closer, closer, my breath becoming visible as the temperature dropped. I should probably have noticed, but I was too drawn to the whatever-it-was.


    The whatever-it-was in question turned out to be a wooden chest reinforced with polished iron. As far as I could tell, not a speck of rust was tarnishing it, but a lot of dark spots covered the ground. This caused me to finally snap out of it since I thought this was obviously a trap and I was about to lose a lot of blood.


    I turned around, forcing myself against some strange force - which confirmed the trap theory - with pure will not to die.


    "Heeey, what gives!? Don''t you want to know what''s inside?"


    The sudden girly voice broke my concentration and my head snapped back around.


    "Surely a pervert like you would prefer a chance to find some seeexy bikini armour inside?"


    That was rather offensive since I would consider myself to have a healthy, not perverted, interest in sex, and I didn''t pick this ''outfit'' willingly! I spoke without thinking.


    "Well excuse you, I''m not naked for no reason!"


    The lid of the chest suddenly popped open and inside was...


    "Uh... who are you? Don''t tell me you''re actually a mimic? Wait, is that... is that CHOCOLATE!?"

 3 Prologue Ch.3: Mimic

    My thoughts kinda came to a crashing halt, resulting in a barrage of rather inane questions. Why? Because a loli with long, fiery orange twintails and covered in a bunch of ribbons while drenched in liquid chocolate - judging by the colour and sweet smell at least - sat inside the chest. She was pouting cutely. I tried to turn around again because unlike me she was even more naked. I at least had my three spots covered... if only in minimal fashion.


    "Yes I am, and yes it is. I''m a chocolate mimic." She grinned. "Wanna try it? Today I mixed some strawberries in. The taste is to DIE for."


    For a few seconds, I had no answer, but well...


    "No thanks, but no. I don''t want to die yet. So uhm... I''ll just leave now."


    For another few moments it was her turn to say nothing. She was clearly taken aback by my dismissal.


    "Wait, waiiit! That''s just an expression, a joke. I promise it won''t harm you! *Sniff* P-Please don''t leave me..."


    Her sudden sad tone gave me pause. I did feel hungry and weak after all this, and usually mimics are fast eaters so if she planned to kill me anyway, at least I could request her to be quick about it.


    "*Sigh* Alright, fine. But if you do want to kill me after all, at least please be quick."


    "Wha-? No, no! No killing you, really. I just want to talk."


    Welp. How could I say no to such a cutie?


    ~~~~~


    As a token of good faith, the mimic girl - Mimissa - gave me a bar of chocolate with strawberry and yoghurt filling. Apparently she could decide once per day to switch to any real flavour of chocolate that existed somewhere... or just leave it as it was.


    "So, Mimissa was it?" She nodded. "What did you want to talk about?"


    I sat on the floor, slightly further than an arm''s reach away, leaned against the wall. The chocolate on Mimissa''s body somehow managed to flow up and down as if alive in a way. Sometimes she scooped some of it and licked it off her fingers in what I thought was a strangely-erotic manner.


    "Anything, really. But well, first I was wondering why you''re here. Are you a succubus in training or something?"


    The way she looked at me, head propped up on her palms and those orange eyes now literally glowing with interest, made me uncomfortable. Especially when she had her tongue out just a little.


    I considered what to tell her. The truth would be easiest, but potentially a bad idea; she was a dungeon monster after all. But I''d always hated lying and was not any good at it anyway.


    "Being a succubus in training at least sounds interesting, but no. I was actually summoned literally yesterday and sent in here to-"


    She suddenly recoiled. By which I mean not just her human body recoiled, but her entire chest pushed away from me with a loud screech.


    "You''re a heroine! An aesir! I should''ve noticed from your ears!"


    Speaking of ears, hers were pointed and slightly longer than mine; longer than those of the succubus in any case which looked nearly just like human ones. If there were elves they''d probably have the longest ears. More importantly, her face was a mixture of fear and anger, continually shifting between the two.


    The dark spots on the ground stirred in unison with the chocolaty soup inside her chest.


    (Oh damn, she''s angry! Think, Czara, think!)


    I held up my hands in an attempt to pacify her.


    "Wait, wait! Please calm down! I don''t want to hurt civilians!"


    She looked at me funny, head tilted.


    "...What''s a civilian?"


    "Uhhh... okay, bad word choice. What I meant was, if you don''t harm people then I''ve got no reason to harm you either."


    "I''m a mimic! OF COURSE I harm people! I need to eat, you know!?"


    (Oh shit!)


    "W-Well... even then, I couldn''t harm you. I''m unarmed and weak. Can I at least know how many people you''ve eaten before me?"


    She started losing courage and trembled for a bit. I was confused at first, but then realised I must have dealt some mental damage. Something she did not enjoy admitting, based on how she looked down and to the side.


    "T-"


    "''T''?"


    "Two! Two whole people! Old people who actually wanted to die! Yes, you may laugh now..."


    I facepalmed.


    (Seriously, two people who wanted to end their lives and nobody else? By monster standards, it''s rather pathetic actually. No wonder she wanted some company. Maybe she even wanted to ask for tips later.)


    I got up and stepped closer, hands open to seem non-threatening. She first motioned to move back again, but restrained herself.


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    "If that''s really all, I think I can forgive it."


    My words must have been more convincing than I thought, because she actually calmed down.


    "Aah... ahahahaaah... y-you mean it?" The way she looked aside again and held her hands against her face made her look even cuter. "Y-You aren''t going to hurt me over this?"


    "If you refrain from eating me, sure. Want to be friends?"


    She nodded a little over-enthusiastically. Honestly, her fear of me made me believe I did have some power inside of me, if ''aesirs'' are so fearsome.


    "Good. Is there anything you want? I myself would like some more chocolate if that''s okay?"


    I half-regretted saying that because she made a rather outrageous deal out of it. Her sudden smug face was quite adorable, after all.


    She leaned back and dangled one leg over the lid of her chest - the wooden one, of course. Her other chest was still bare and visible due to her torso sticking out of the chocolate. Yes, it was actually filled almost to the brim with chocolate soup.


    "W-W-W-Would you lick it o-off my foot and leg...? Please..." She went pretty quiet there towards the end.


    I looked at her face to see if she was serious. She was blushing and clearly not as smug as she intended, looking to the side.


    I wanted to call her out, but held it in. I did feel quite weak from lack of food, and while it was something of an act of submission towards her, I really needed some help. A friend, ideally, but at least an ally. And dammit, if someone as ridiculously cute as Mimissa asks you for a favour like that, there isn''t much reason to hesitate anyway.


    I kneeled down and started with her big toe. The cute gasp and her unbelieving face behind her hands crossed over her mouth as I started licking and sucking made it completely worth it.


    ~~~~~


    "I-I''m sorry... I said I''m sorry!" Mimissa clearly regretted her momentary lapse into smug domination... not that she managed to be smug for more than a few seconds. Though that wasn''t the only issue.


    I had really outdone myself, carefully yet diligently licking all the chocolate off her foot and leg up to the knee. She then totally panicked and kicked me in the face for my trouble. I ended up on the floor and grimaced in pain - monster girl, remember? - and then spent some time pouting in anger.


    Besides, it ended up making no difference. As soon as Mimissa pulled her leg back into the chest, it was perfectly covered in chocolate again, like some sort of infinite food cheat.


    "I''ll forgive you if you tell me how your chocolate even works. Where does it come from? Also, what''s with the ribbons?"


    Mimissa had sunk neck-deep into her chest, and when she emerged again she was at least no longer topless. That part had bothered me the most, really.


    "The ribbons were a gift, but putting them in my hair didn''t work, so I tied them around my neck and wrist. I also have a third tied around my left ankle. As for the chocolate... I honestly don''t know. I do somehow know I''m a ''chocolate mimic'', so it''s just something I produce? It never overflows from the chest though..."


    "And how do you eat people?"


    "Like all mimics the fluids... the chocolate in my case can be made to dissolve things. But I have to want that and it''s only the chocolate still in contact with my body or very close by. Here, take this."


    She threw me another bar of chocolate.


    "At the distance you''re sitting I already can''t control that anymore."


    (So around 2 metres is already safe.)


    "But if that bar was already meant to dissolve, it would stay that way."


    I got up and started walking in a circle. I needed to think.


    (Guess she''s some sort of mutated mimic that produces edible chocolate instead of having acidic goo or tentacles... but she can make it acidic at will or not, provided it''s within arms length or so. Does she make it from magic? Mana, if it''s called that?)


    I needed to test a few things to know her limits. I went closer and dipped my hand into the chocolaty soup. It was warm, only slightly below body temperature. After pulling out again, I noticed how weirdly uniform the covering was. I held the hand in front of Mimissa''s face, and she started licking it clean.


    "Now we''re even."


    I wondered what would happen if I flipped the chest over. Would it produce an infinite chocolate avalanche? If I got into the chest, would I drown? Mimissa seemed to be sitting inside of it, but the fact she could dangle her legs over the edge made it seem like she sat on something higher than the bottom... actually, she had started sitting on top of the fluid, her legs slightly spread.


    (Mimissa, are you tempting me in a different way now!? Your pu- your crotch''s totally visible, you know?)


    I was honestly getting horny. Yeah, that''s another thing I don''t mind admitting, at least to myself. I pulled on my white not!band-aids and-


    *Ding* [Equipment ''Pasties Bikini of the Succubus'' is cursed. Cursed equipment cannot be removed.]


    (...Of course it would be curse- wait, that was some strange system notification, spoken by a slightly robotic woman''s voice! I had something of a hunch before, but dismissed it. Now though...)


    "[Identify]! [Identify: Self]! [Identify: Constanze]! ...Uh, [Menu]! [Menu: Constanze]! ...C''mon, give me something? [Identity]? [Status]? [Skills]...? Nothing''s working..."


    Naturally, nothing happened. That would have been too easy, after all.


    "What''re you trying to do?"


    "Uhm, well, I was hoping I could have a sheet or something that tells me how strong I am and what I know..."


    Her face lit up.


    "Try ''Statistics: Constanze'' or ''Stats''."


    "Thank you. [Stats]! ...Right, [Stats: Constanze]?"


    That finally did it. A transparent black sheet, about the size of an A2 paper, showed in front of me. Mimissa seemed unable to see it. Oddly enough, all it listed was my name, that I had 13/20 HP, and... literally nothing else.


    "What does it say?"


    "Name: Constanze Czarina. No family name, strangely. I also have 13/20 HP, which is hardly a surprise. Annnd that''s all."


    "Weird. What does it look like?"


    "Black, transparent. No ornaments or anything."


    "Hmmm... mine is a very dark red and it has silver ornaments around the edges depicting orbs. They might match the dungeon core?"


    We pondered the oddity for a moment, but frankly I was getting sick of standing or sitting on the cold stone floor. I was really starting to feel chilly.


    "Mimissa?"


    "Yes?"


    "Would you... mind if I get into the chest with you? I''m really starting to feel cold here."


    She blushed at that, a little, while smiling.


    (Why''re you blushing?)


    "Not at all. Just be careful you don''t slip."


    She held out her hand, and taking it I carefully stepped into the chest. Despite that, it still did not overflow. I sat down on something, the chest being oddly more spacious than it looked.


    "Make sure all your hair is inside."


    I did as she said. Then she lay on top of me. She smelled so incredibly good.


    "Now you''re my friend for real."


    The lid snapped shut! The interior was only lit by her reddish-orange eyes, and before I knew it her lips were on mine! Was I shocked? Strangely, only a little, since my thoughts were suddenly much more occupied with the kiss of the naked girl on top of me. I even dared to grab her butt.


    *Ding* [?????????????????? ''Constanze Czarina ?????????????????????????????'' has been registered as a dungeon monster for ''NULL'']


    I heard the system message and wondered... had I already messed up?

 4 Prologue Ch.4: Help

    (Summoned as a hero, turned into a dungeon monster... and lolified on top of that...)


    Mimissa was still hugging me; I couldn''t see anything because she had closed her eyes, but I could feel her body - and her lips - on my own. Things started feeling off somehow. This moment... my moment of unexpected happiness felt spoiled.


    I broke the kiss. I could feel that Mimissa didn''t want to stop just yet, but the more time went by, the more my mind cleared up. It had fogged up, somehow, and that concerned me.


    "...Mimissa?"


    "Mmm? What is it?"


    "Why are we doing this...?"


    She looked at me, her glowing eyes the only thing faintly visible in the otherwise perfect darkness inside her chest.


    "...Aren''t we friends...?" Her tone of voice told me she was sad and lonely, and I shouldn''t bother with useless questions. In other words, she was a needy girl. But I had to.


    "Not girlfriends, no. Please let me out, or at least open the lid."


    She hesitated for a moment, but before I thought I''d have to repeat myself - and wouldn''t that be ruining things entirely? - she popped the lid open. I didn''t leave the chest just yet because the warm chocolate felt and smelled like a lovely bath; something about it was energising.


    "Are you alright, Constanze?"


    At least she was... seemed genuinely concerned for my well-being, so that was nice. Could I trust her though? I had a suspicion on why I willingly - literally - ''stepped into the box'' with another girl not an hour after meeting her.


    "I''m fine now, but I have to ask: what are your abilities? Aside from controlling chocolate. Oh, and would you mind calling me ''Czara'' please?"


    "Czara, got it. And hm, I have some skill named [??????????????????????????????????????????????] which I got from eating those old people, but since the name is unreadable and it has no description, I''ve got no idea what it''s even for. It''s also grey on my stats sheet, so I can''t use anyway."


    I grimaced. A broken skill sounded like trouble, but if it''s greyed out it probably just wouldn''t do anything. I wondered if maybe it was incompatible? Like say a [Poison Stinger] skill being unusable by someone without an actual stinger.


    "Anything else? Maybe passive skills?"


    "Only the usual mimic perks: [Slug Movement], [Minor Transformation], [Fluid Control], [Allure Charm], [Acidity]..."


    I perked up, that had to be it!


    "What was the last one?"


    "[Acidity]. It''s how I turn-"


    "No, sorry, the one before. A [Charm]?"


    She nodded.


    "[Allure Charm]. ''Perk. Makes user alluring to targets within radius of 3¡Á(user level)¡Á(perk rank) metres. Affected targets have lowered inhibitions and impulse control, and heightened drive to fulfil a basic desire or need such as food, sleep, greed, or love.'' Is that bad...?"


    It certainly explained why I''d been so careless. I mean, obviously! Mimics prey on greedy adventurers, who go to dungeons for the sake of treasure hunting. My needs meanwhile were food and sleep, and maybe also love. A triple-whammy of unfulfilled desires and needs that hit me so fast and hard, I barely even noticed what was happening until I''d already been taken in. Didn''t help that I was also feeling cold. Heck, actually that''s four needs at once! Scary!


    "No, it''s fine, it''s not your fault."


    She looked at me, not understanding what I was talking about.


    "I was affected by your charm perk, hard."


    "Ohhh! Oh dear, I''m so sorry! I can''t shut perks off and... and and... I''m really-"


    I put my pointer finger on her lips.


    "Shhh. I said it''s not your fault, I was just too weak to resist."


    She gave my finger a lick. Right, it was covered in chocolate.


    (I wonder what happens if I sleep in this stuff...)


    "But now you''re fine...?"


    "Yeah, probably because I''m now a dungeon monster just like you. Actually... [Stats: Czara]."


    The stat screen confirmed my suspicions. It was a maroon red with vine-like snaking silver ornaments repeated in each corner, and one bright silver orb held in each ornament. The fact it worked with my nickname as well was not too surprising.


    Name: Constanze Czarina


    Species: Aesir, Monster, ???


    Class: NULL


    Affiliation: Dungeon ''NULL''


    Health Points: 19/25


    Mana Points: 5/5


    More...


    Skills: Spear Proficiency 1, Charm Tolerance 3*, ???


    Status Effects: NULL


    More...


    "Interesting, my total HP rose by 5. I also got Mana, and it shows skills and affiliation. ''NULL'' must mean ''no data'' or ''not applicable''. What''s with the star after [Charm Tolerance 3]?"


    "A star? Not a rhombus? I heard a rhombus shows a skill cannot be removed or copied, but a star I don''t know."


    *Ding* [Constanze has been affected by Sleep Deprivation.]


    I suddenly felt sleepy, but shook my head and thought a little. Mimissa''s side info that skills could be copied or even removed (and stolen?) was concerning and something I''d have to remember for later. Then it clicked.


    "I think I get it. I got [Spear Proficiency], and that''s one heck of a misnomer, from using the spear I was given. Not sure why it didn''t show before, but oh well. The [Charm Tolerance] is probably a borrowed skill I got since I''m a dungeon monster now. And... *Yawn* Wow, I''m really sleepy... That status is no joke."


    Mimissa suddenly hugged me, lifted me up, and put me on top of her. I didn''t really want her to do that at first, considering what happened not even ten minutes before, but she set herself down and put my head on her chest like it was a pillow.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    It was so very comfortable hearing her heartbeat, though I also noticed just before dozing off that she didn''t breathe... probably because otherwise she might drown herself by accident.


    And yes, she grabbed my butt same as I had grabbed hers before. I felt too comfy to mind though. The lid closed with a soft thud, and I was out like a light.


    ~~~~~


    As it turned out, sleeping while covered in warm, nice-smelling liquid was rather pleasant. Doubly so when you''re in the arms of a cute girl. I couldn''t remember what I''d dreamed, if I even dreamed anything, but waking up made me oddly sad like I''d lost something, yet at the time couldn''t quite figure out what.


    Anyway, as much as I wanted to spend more time lazing around, I wanted to explore. My HP had capped off at 25, my status was [Well Rested] which gave me a supposed +25% bonus to stats which I hadn''t seen yet, and generally I felt pretty good.


    Mimissa looked a little sad when I left her embrace - she really had fallen for me hard, huh? - but she accepted that I needed to actually walk to stay in shape and sane.


    Which brought us to one of my original problems.


    "Brrr... it''s still cold in here..."


    I had remembered that all I was wearing was literally three band-aids worth of white sticky cloth, the ''Pasties Bikini of the Succubus'' (Cursed?). While it technically protected my modesty, it made me look like a total slut more than anything.


    *Ding* [Equipment ''Pasties Bikini of the Succubus'' is cursed. Cursed equipment cannot be removed.]


    Yep, just as unremovable as before. The biggest irony was that since it covered my crotch - if one were to really bend the definition of ''covering'' - I couldn''t even properly mast- do things that are necessary once in a while.


    Now you might be wondering: was I still covered in warm, liquid chocolate? And the answer''s that I wasn''t. Mimissa''s control over it as well as her ability to make it acidic actually turned out to be a fantastic method to get clean. She covered her whole body in chocolate daily, which removed any dust and the like, and then used the acidity to melt it into nothing. It worked just as well on myself. The fact that chocolate''s normally rather sticky didn''t seem to matter whatsoever.


    Still, I was feeling cold. But I also didn''t want to just go straight back into Mimissa''s treasure chest since it felt like admitting defeat to the environment. I did some warm-up exercises instead.


    "What''re you doing?"


    "Warm-ups. They''re necessary before doing sports or battles to ensure the body''s ready. Do you want to try?"


    Her face made a complicated expression, as if she wanted to but couldn''t. I took her hand that was resting on the edge of the chest and tried to pull her up, but...


    "AHHH! NOOOOOOO!!!"


    Her unexpectedly strong reaction made my hand slip out of hers and I fell over backwards. At least I managed to fall in a non-harmful way and didn''t hurt myself.


    "Czara!"


    Concerned, Mimissa''s chest slid over with a screech. That was roughly when I realised that she probably could, in fact, not leave the chest.


    "I-I''m fine... sorry, I should''ve figured you can''t get out of that thing."


    "It''s really scary to think about getting out. I envy people like you who can just walk around..."


    I got up and put my hand on her shoulder.


    "It''s fine, really."


    She calmed down, and there was no harm done. In any case though, I did want to explore, so we headed out. To help Mimissa be a little faster, I heaved the chest alongside her controlled chocolate to ease the weight up a little. She got some of that under it, and suddenly the entire chest rested on around 1cm of chocolate. Compared to my walking speed, she was still slow, but it was a consistent movement instead of screeching, small bursts.


    The corridors looked all the same. The same stonework, the same eerie, blue-burning torches. We went the way I hadn''t gone before, carefully checking around every corner and intersection.


    There were lots of traps. Sometimes the floor was rigged to open up and make you fall into a hole filled with sharp spikes or suspicious liquid, probably acid. Other times small holes in the walls shot out barrages of arrows or maybe crossbow bolts. But none of those were of concern to us. Why? Because we were dungeon monsters and as such got a free pass. We instinctively knew what and where all the traps were and how to not trigger any of them. It was like some sort of new sense, a [Sense Trap] skill, if you will.


    Just as I thought that, I got a notification. *Ding* [Perk [Sense Trap] was uncovered.]


    (''Uncovered''? Not learned? Now that''s peculiar.)


    "Isn''t this dungeon pretty deadly? We''re still on the first floor, why are there so many traps?"


    "Traps are cheap to make and can be recycled... I think. Monsters cost a lot of energy, the stronger the more expensive."


    "What happens when someone dies from a trap? Do their corpses just rot or get eaten by wandering monsters?"


    "I may be able to answer that~."


    I turned around, recognising that voice. Mimissa also turned around, just a little slower.


    "YOOOOOUUUU!!!"


    "Me~." The succubus pointed at her face with both pointer fingers. Her smile showed she wasn''t taking this at all seriously.


    Now if you''ve ever seen art of a succubus from anime or video games, you know how they come in all sorts of sizes and colours, from adorable if cheeky lolis to cool teens to mature, voluptuous motherly types. This one was very clearly the mom type. Long shiny hair, leotard, arms and legs covered in latex or leather or something. Majestic black horns, black bat wings sprouting from her shoulder blades, and an oddly thick, scaly... tail? Uh-oh, was this woman actually a dragon!?


    Since I was taking a closer look, I noticed her face actually looked slightly different. The first succubus - and I was damn sure she was definitely one - had a slightly softer face. She also had a more regular tail, leathery black and thin with a heart or spade at the end like a stinger.


    "Uhm, do we know you?"


    I tried playing it cool. It seemed this wasn''t actually the one who cursed me to become a loli, they just had the same voice.


    The dragon (?) came closer, got on one knee, and suddenly hugged me! I could feel the anger and jealousy from Mimissa trying to burn holes into the woman, to no effect of course.


    "No, not yet. But I''m happy she finally decided to spawn a new monster. What''s your species? Oh, and I''m Anastelle, a dracubus."


    (''Dracubus''? Like a mixture of dragon and succubus then? And what''s that with no monsters getting spawned anymore?)


    "I''m... uh... I don''t actually know."


    I looked at Mimissa, but she crossed her arms. ''Don''t tell her!'' Yeah, I figured as much.


    The dracubus - Anastelle - ended the hug and rose back to full height. She was naturally far taller than me and even more than Mimissa since she was vaguely sitting on her chocolate again, legs dangling over the edge.


    "[Identify: Target A], [Identify: Target B]."


    A tingling sensation went through my body. Also Mimissa''s, judging by her reaction.


    Anastelle''s expression almost instantly darkened, but then it gave way to confusion.


    "...You''re a contractee? Why would a heroine decide to become part of the dungeon?"


    Welp, the cat was out of the bag already. I decided then and there to invest in something like [Identity Protection] ASAP.


    "It just kind of happened? I didn''t actually get a choice..."


    "Ah. You submitted to a dungeon monster then. I assume it was Mimissa who made you submit. Good job!" She patted Mimissa''s head, who didn''t look very happy with that.


    "That''s right, Czara is now my friend, you can''t have her!"


    "*Chuckle* She doesn''t belong to you, she belongs to... to..." Anastelle''s eyes widened, then she fell deep into thought. "How weird, I seem to have forgotten her name."


    Needless to say, this powerful-looking kinda dragon kinda succubus lady forgetting the name of the dungeon master or whatever didn''t bode well.


    "Oh well, I gotta go. It was nice to meet you, Constanze, Mimissa. But before I go... are you sure you don''t want to wear at least a little more than that?"


    She looked straight at my chest, which made me blush.


    "That''s... not by my choice, either."


    "Ugh, you had a run-in with Dolores or Malfissa, didn''t you? They sure love their cursed shreds of cloth. Head to the next floor by going- actually, here. [Summon Imp]."


    A bright, purplish light lit up from the floor in the shape of a complicated magic circle. Anastelle summoned a small, goblin-ish creature - an imp - on the spot. It was slightly smaller than me, had grey-blue skin that was perfectly smooth and hairless, and a slightly oversized head for its body, forcing it into a bit of a hunch. Tiny grey horns, bat wings the same colour as the skin, and wearing little more than a loincloth... basically just like you''d probably imagine an imp to be. More disturbing were its neon-green irises surrounded by black sclera and its sharp, brilliant-white teeth that wouldn''t be amiss on a much larger predator like a shark.


    "You, slave, guide these two girls onto the next floor to treasure chest #17. Defend them with your life. After that, follow the orders of the mimic... that''s the one in the chest."


    (Her needing to point that out probably means it''s a dumb monster.)


    The apparently nameless imp turned around and saluted Anastelle, who then vanished before our eyes into shadow. Without another word, the imp started marching forward, clearly knowing the layout of the dungeon.


    "Uhm... Mr. Imp?"


    He turned around.


    "What''s your name?"


    He shook his head. Apparently he really didn''t have a name. He urged us on with an over-the-shoulder wink of his hand, so we followed him.


    (Still though, ''slave''? And she was so casual about it too, yikes. Anastelle isn''t someone to mess with!)


    "Wait a moment... she didn''t tell us anything!"

 5 Prologue Ch.5: Core

    "That must be the chest."


    We had followed the nameless imp, ''Mr. Imp'' for short, through various corridors connected by T or X junctions. Considering how many times we seemingly randomly went left or right, I was starting to feel we were hopelessly lost. Not so; Mr. Imp knew exactly where to go, and we reached a winding staircase set into an alcove. What was weird was how we didn''t see any other monsters on the way.


    We followed the staircase downward, putting our hands on the wall to the right, and found ourselves in a different type of biome. The area had changed from spooky castle basement to a lovely open field seemingly going as far as the eye could see. There was a glowing, warm sun in the sky, wind rustling through the leaves of trees and the long grass, and even the fresh smell of flowers.


    The chest, apparently #17, was a little away, down a flattened dirt path. I turned around to look at the staircase one more time and was surprised how it blended into the background, only becoming visible again if I stood within 5 metres of it. My shadow showed on the disguised wall to the side as well.


    Also, you might be wondering how Mimissa got to the second floor. The answer''s simple: Mr. Imp literally grabbed and carried her on his back all the way down the stairs. Just how strong was that guy really?


    The chest in question was buried halfway in the sandbed of a slow-flowing river. Mr. Imp pointed in confirmation that this was the right one. It looked pretty much like any other chest, including Mimissa''s, if a little lighter in colour than hers and slightly rusted around the edges.


    "Do I need a key?"


    Mr. Imp shook his head, then mimicked throwing open the chest with both arms like the mute protagonist from the The Legend of Princess Z games. Seeing that, I was totally going to hold whatever''s inside up in the air.


    "Should I help drag it out of the water, Czara?"


    "...Might be a good idea."


    Mimissa drained all the chocolate inside her chest, then we stepped into the river together. She actually floated like a boat, so her pulling on the chest ended up not doing anything until Mr. Imp shook his head and pulled on her chest in turn. We eventually got the thing on land. Thankfully the warm sunlight dried us up quickly.


    "Alright, here goes!"


    I threw the chest open like Page the hero would and held the thing up without looking first to see what it even was.


    "Tatatadaaa~!"


    The stares I got were slightly embarrassing... In any case, it was cloth, so that was promising. Dark blue cloth, to be specific, and not a whole lot of it.


    (Please don''t be panties, that''d be even more embarrassing!)


    It turned out to be a pleated skirt several sizes too large for current me, though it did not seem to be particularly long either. Confused, I checked the chest again and found several more articles of clothing; the first was a matching dark blue blouse with a light, sandy-brown flap collar with a thick white stripe around the rim, and a large white bow on the front... and thankfully quite a bit longer than it was wide. There was also a silver-blue anchor symbol on the part just below my clavicles. I then grabbed a pair of long gloves the colour of the blouse and skirt, matching long socks that also had a white stripe slightly below the thigh end, shiny black shoes, and - you guessed it - black panties with a white bow at the front. They were side-tied too... and low-leg. Yeah. But considering what I was wearing - ''wearing'' being used very loosely here - this would still be like a hundred times as much coverage. No bra could be found, not that I would''ve exactly needed one.


    "What a lovely dress!" Mimissa approved of the set, though it wasn''t exactly a dress set. Mr. Imp crossed his arms while looking away as if gentlemanly waiting for me to put it on.


    (Dude, it''s not like I can get much more naked than this, NOW you''re turning around?)


    In any case, I did put the top on of course. It might have been a little oversized for me, but it covered enough that I could probably walk around normally in warm weather, and-


    "Aren''t you going to equip it?"


    Mimissa''s comment made me hold my breath. ''Equip it''? Then I remembered, right, fantasy world with game elements, one of which was staring me in the face right that moment. How silly of me to think that putting something on is enough to-


    (Oh... should I have ''equipped'' that spear too? Well fuck, too late for that now.)


    "[Equip the... uh... sailor girl dress]?"


    *Ding* [''Suit of the Lady Seafarer'' has been equipped.]


    I felt the change in my body for a moment, and then on my body; the formerly-oversized top the size of an actual dress - on my body at least - began to shrink. My butt was completely visible again, followed by a small part of my belly.


    (Oh... is this actually a crop-top? Figures...)


    Thankfully it didn''t turn out to be so small as to leave me belly-free. But bizarrely enough, my body then started moving on its own!


    "H-Huh!?"


    I put on the gloves, the socks, the skirt, the panties whose strings were so long they dangled from under the mini-skirt, and the shoes. Kind of the opposite order of how I''d have done it myself, but oh well.


    Everything fit so perfectly, it was as if this outfit had been made for me. Then I reached into the chest one more time to fish out a flat, round hat that I had completely overlooked beforehand, and tied it with its attached transparent strings to my head. It was not too large and the same sandy colour as the sailor collar; a silvery-white, thick stripe went around the lower edge and it had a golden anchor symbol facing forward. Judging by the length of the strings, it was intended to be worn slightly askew on the left side and back of the head, so that''s where I ended up putting it.


    Mimissa was very happy with me wearing the outfit, calling it ''extremely cute'' and other flattering things. The fact that it wasn''t nearly as belly-free as I feared it could be meant the skirt being a little low on my hips didn''t bother me that much. I''d get used to it. I had to wear this thing, after all.


    "Czara, come here."


    Mimissa suddenly hugged me, then showed me the strings of the panties: they actually had small silver anchors at the ends! I had to explain what anchors are for, afterward.


    "I really want to visit the sea one day then."


    One day, Mimissa. One day for sure.


    ~~~~~


    I checked my status because I wanted to know if this thing had stats, but before that I wanted to check how unequipping worked.


    "[Unequip ''Suit of the Lady Seafarer'']!"


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


    My body moved unconsciously again and didn''t stop until I had taken off the entire set, thus standing in my ''bikini'' (read: three white band-aids). The entire set was clearly one piece of armour - for lack of a better word - and absolutely refused to be equipped in pieces. I knew this because it also expanded back to its original size.


    I experimented a little with only putting on the oversized top and the panties manually, but I felt nothing from it. Putting them on that way was possible, yes, but it didn''t do anything special. I had to consciously equip something and say as much.


    *Ding* [Equipment ''Pasties Bikini of the Succubus'' is cursed. Cursed equipment cannot be removed.]


    On the plus side, wanting to unequip something actually didn''t require me saying so, just willing it was enough. Why the discrepancy? Who knows...


    "[Status: Czara]!"


    The sheet revealed that this armour - yes I''d stick with that term - gave some minor protection against water damage, which I guess was sensible. I also felt a little quicker while wearing it.


    I stretched a little, then considered what to do next. Mr. Imp seemed bored, so Mimissa started throwing a stick for him to catch and bring back.


    (Oi, he isn''t a dog you know?)


    At least he got some chocolate for playing along.


    "Mr. Imp? Any idea what to do next?"


    He looked at me, but otherwise didn''t say or do anything.


    "Mr. Imp, it''s not nice to answer. Talk to Czara properly!"


    He bowed to Mimissa, but then pointed at his face and shook his head. Guess he was mute after all.


    "Seems like he can''t speak." I looked at him. "Do you mind looking for the next staircase? Based on what Anastelle said, I have a suspicion that we''ll get some answers if we get to the dungeon core."


    Both Mimissa and Mr. Imp perked up at that.


    "It felt weird that she forgot the name of what I think is the core. Then there''s how my stat sheet doesn''t have a proper dungeon name entry, just ''NULL'', so that kinda matches. Also, we''ve seen a total of like 3 monsters. Her, you Mimissa, and the succubus who cursed me. Aside from you and them, this place''s empty because apparently nothing''s been spawned in ages."


    They thought about that, nodding in agreement.


    "And finally, I''ve never heard of a dracubus before. I can see a mimic mutating to have a different fluid, but a fusion of dragon and succubus is just... weird. So there, I think something happened to the core."


    "You''re right. The dungeon isn''t dead or else I would be too, but it''s been really quiet recently. Do you think we can fix whatever the problem is?"


    "...Probably not. But we can at least try take a look."


    ~~~~~


    We decided to go further down. Mr. Imp scouted from above, and between two hills we found the staircase. I felt a little sad to leave the warm, beautiful nature behind so quickly, but if I was right we probably had to hurry. Unfortunately, I was...


    *Crumble!*


    "Uhhhhh- ahhhhh!!!"


    "Czaraaaa!!!"


    The next floor did not exist. Only a black void yawned in front of us except that far, far below there was a strange swirl of glowing colours. I tried to carefully go down the stairs, but the staircase abruptly ended and the stone I stepped on was loose. So I fell while screaming-


    "Help meeee!!!"


    Mimissa grabbed for me, but to no avail, I was already plunging into the abyss. Mr. Imp was carrying her chest as before, but then...


    "Drop me and catch her!"


    Her chest closed shut, so Mr. Imp threw her back up, then jumped after me.


    (Catch me, oh please catch me!!!)


    His descent was fast, much faster than my own, and he managed to get to me within a few seconds. His surprisingly strong arms held onto me and he spared no effort in making sure his flapping wings kept us up. Very slowly did we go further down, touching on the floor at the very bottom. It was covered in smooth white sand. Mr. Imp then flew back up and got Mimissa safely down as well.


    I meanwhile took a couple deep breaths to calm down. Had Mr. Imp not reacted so quickly, I''d probably have ended up as a red stain on the floor. Mimissa, her chest now open, moved over and hugged me like a bear. I am fairly sure she didn''t accidentally crack any ribs.


    "Oh, oh Czara, I''m so glad you''re alright...!"


    I patted her back.


    "So am I... Good job, Mr. Imp. I actually owe you my life, so thank you very much."


    He nodded with his eyes closed; I figured it wasn''t a big deal to him.


    In any case we could finally look around. A weird jumble of all kinds of things was strewn about the place. Broken statues, earth, plants, a bubbling puddle of lava, and a lot of corpses. This confirmed my suspicions, something terrible had happened in this dungeon. I looked up, but only more black void could be seen. Then I looked around, as did the others. We had to find the core.


    ~~~~~


    After searching the surprisingly expansive area, we finally found what we were looking for. The dungeon core was a grey sphere with silver bands in the shape of leafy vines holding it in place atop a small pillar. On one side it had a very wide crack, with several pieces of it on the ground. It was not fully destroyed, but terribly damaged.


    "Looking at this makes me really sad for some reason..."


    "Me too, probably because I''m a dungeon monster now. Guess it also proves beyond doubt that this thing''s the dungeon core. Damn, what the heck happened here...?"


    I touched the smooth sphere. It was slightly warm, but felt as damaged as it looked.


    "Can this thing even be repaired?"


    We thought about it, but since Mimissa was a low-tier mimic and I was completely new to this world, it was obvious we couldn''t do anything to properly repair the core. Maybe Mr. Imp could help?


    He shook his head. So that''s a ''nope'' too.


    "Well, if all else fails, hotwire the car."


    "Uhm... what does that mean?"


    "Oh, that''s an expression where I''m from. It''s not really important. I''ll try to connect to the core."


    Mimissa''s eyes went wide.


    "Connect? How would that work?"


    I touched the core again. I felt a slight connection to it, though I wasn''t sure if it was due to being a dungeon monster or something else. My theory was that since the core could create monsters, it might also be able to take them back. So if I offered at least a part of me to it, it might be able to initiate self-repairs. Why? Well because if I didn''t do anything we''d all eventually die from the destruction going on regardless.


    "I''m an aesir, right? I ought to have a lot of power, even if it''s not yet awakened. I''ll offer a part of me and see if the core can''t kickstart some regeneration to-"


    "What!? NO, NO!!! You don''t know if that will kill you!"


    Mimissa slid over and tried to pull me away. But I refused to let go. Though I patted her head.


    "Listen, Mimissa. I''m only trying to give a small part. Something I can hopefully get back later. But if we do nothing we''ll just die anyway. I''d rather die doing something than stand idle. I''ve already done that too much back on... back in my old life."


    I could see the conflict going on in her head based on her shifting facial expressions. But she did eventually back off.


    "I trust you not to overdo it..."


    "Thank you."


    I gave her a light kiss, which made her blush, then focused on the core again. If this was a game, this would mark the end of the prologue - the heroine loses her mighty powers and has to start properly. Not like I got to use mine so far...


    I tried connecting to the core. It started lightly pulsing and I could feel a very faint pull of energy. It heated up ever so slightly as I kept touching it, and then-


    "Woah!?"


    Suddenly both my hands went into the sphere! The object had become strangely liquid-like and was now actively pulling me inside!


    "Czara!"


    "Mimissa, please stay back! This- it feels like I can help the core, just-!"


    I didn''t know where my own confidence came from, but a flood of information went into my head. I couldn''t make head or tails of it all; much of it consisted of emotions, sounds, feelings of touch. The rest was more visual in nature; strange symbols, endless amounts of text, diagrams of magic circles, and so, so much more.


    And then... I was gone.


    ~~~~~


    I woke up in a white room. The floor was solid, and after my eyes got used to the light I realised I was standing on tiles. They resembled the ones from floor 1, but were spotlessly clean.


    "Wh-Where am I- argh!"


    A massive headache suddenly assaulted me, so all I could do for a good minute was clutch my head in pain and wait until it subsided. And then I knew.


    "Oh wait, this is the control room of- wait, how do I know that!?"


    The flood of information had settled inside of my mind and I could use it as if it had always been there. Always been mine.


    "Oh... I''ve not just saved the dungeon core. I''ve become the dungeon core."


    ~~~ I became a Smol Dungeon Core in Another World - Prologue over ~~~

 6 Im a Core!? Ch.1: Functions

    "...§á§â§à§Ú§Ù§à§ê§Ý§à §ã§ä§à§Ý§Ü§ß§à§Ó§Ö§ß§Ú§Ö §æ§å§â§Ô§à§ß§Ñ §ã §ä§â§Ñ§Þ§Ó§Ñ§Ö§Þ §ß§à§Þ§Ö§â 95. §³§á§Ñ§ã§Ñ§ä§Ö§Ý§Ú §Ó§ã§Ö §Ö§ë§Ö..."


    The television was shut off. A man and a woman were huddling together on the sofa in their small apartment, quietly crying due to the reality of the situation finally setting in. Their daughter was dead, and they would never see her smiling again.


    ~~~~~


    An unfamiliar ceiling, again. How much time had passed?


    I was lying on warm white ground, staring at white walls and white ceiling. The soft glow was soothing. It then came to me what had happened. My death, or at least near-death. Being rushed to an audience of an uncaring royal couple, then brought to a dungeon without a clear reason.


    ''Save the country''? I probably would have if they''d just bothered to tell me what their issue was. But they didn''t, so there. I got up when my thoughts drifted to Mimissa''s face. She must''ve been worried sick. I held out my right hand, palm forward - the archetypical magic casting pose.


    "[Menu]."


    A transparent maroon screen popped up. By its top-left corner was a second, smaller one with an iconographic repre- an image of the dungeon core. In other words, an image of myself. It was in 3d, bars and wild text surrounding it to indicate its functions. My sacrifice had not been in vain - the core was repaired. It even ran at 109% expected efficiency. I smirked.


    I decided to familiarise myself with the system - I instinctively knew what was where, but actually seeing it helped make it properly familiar. As I looked through the menu functions, it became more and more clear to me that someone must have programmed this interface. It was all too much like a video game HUD.


    There was of course the image of the core itself, always visible alongside its vitals in its own little window. I set that one more to the left, then embiggened the main screen.


    (This is surprisingly easy to use.)


    The main window could be duplicated to have certain functions visible next to each other, like having several computer screens. The visible options included "Basics", "Floors", "Monsters", "Traps", and "Treasures", and each of those had many, many sub-options. Several other options were listed, but greyed out and thus unusable. For the time being, at least. Probably.


    The very basics of any dungeon are placing monsters and traps, exactly what they sounded like. Treasure is the same. After all, a dungeon without rewards will eventually be abandoned and forgotten - good if you''re making a tomb, bad if you want to attract people.


    People give energy - DP or Dungeon Points, which allow a Dungeon Core to buy monsters and traps, place treasure chests, and generally add and modify floors. I knew instinctively that both living people i.e. ''invaders'' and their corpses gave DP; over time and in one go, respectively. Offerings could also be converted into DP, but not as efficiently.


    (What''s this? ''Relocate monster''?)


    Under the big category for monsters was of course not only the buying option, but also functions to place and retrieve them.


    (I should place Mimissa here.)


    A map screen opened automatically. The map was normally under Basics, but if not already open it would show up on its own. Very convenient. I clicked on the physical core, which changed the map view to the inside. The map was a rough approximation of my surroundings, with a 2d circle showing my own position in green. By clicking a bending arrow I exited again and could see all the floors.


    (This place had 37 floors in total? It''s really just a shadow of its former self.)


    Floors 3-36 of course factually didn''t exist anymore. The fact the map still showed them probably meant it never properly updated. In any case, Mimissa and Mr. Imp were on Floor 37 as expected. I looked at the time, then remembered I didn''t know what time it was before, so comparing was pointless.


    "Ahaha, go! Come to me, Mimissa!!!"


    I selected both Mimissa and Mr. Imp, and clicked on "Place". Since I''d probably need to do that often, I copied the map screen and set the internal view of the core to the side. Click, place. Two magic circles appeared next to me, and both Mimissa and Mr. Imp showed up, confused.


    "Huh- wh-where the heck am I-?"


    "Mimissa, Mr. Imp! Turn around."


    The moment they spotted me they came over. Mimissa being slow meant she couldn''t tackle-hug me, but not for lack of trying.


    "Czara! You''re alive! Oh I''m so glad- but, wait? What happened? There was a quake and-"


    I put a finger on her mouth.


    "Shhh, it''s all good now. Have a look around."


    Mimissa took in the sights - not that there was much to be seen in the white room. I showed her the menu, but she was confused.


    (Oh right, the Menu''s probably invisible to her. Errr, make visible... here!)


    "Ohhh, is that?"


    "The dungeon menu, correct. Or [Dungeon Menu]? Well in any case, to summarise: I''ve become the Dungeon Core. I learned everything the dungeon knew, what I should know. Problem is I still have no idea what happened here."


    "Kinda sad. But you saved us, so I''m happy for that at least."


    "Ahaha... haaah. Yeeeaaah, I don''t want to die a second time in a week if I can avoid it."


    We looked over the menu. On the permanent screen with the core was the DP counter. It was at a low 187. Considering even a basic Goblin cost 20 points, we were effectively broke. Except it then ticked up to 188. I made a mental note to figure out how slow that was.


    "By the way, I was super scared when you got sucked into the core! Don''t leave me again, got it?"


    "Of course. And hey, if you want you can be my co-Admin."


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "...''Co-Admin''?"


    "Yeah. I doubt I can do this whole control gig by myself, so I''ll rely on you."


    "Sure!"


    ~~~~~


    Mr. Imp had gone to sleep while Mimissa and I explored the menu. One of the first things we did was place the Dungeon Core on Floor 2, reason being that each Floor requires a little bit of DP for maintenance reasons... even if the floor is a gaping void. It was probably some spatial field effect or something.


    We collected everything we could on Floor 37, all the corpses of monsters, all the treasure chests - most of which were empty, and even the beautiful white sand. The sand was actually the most concerning, because it was from Floor 2. The void had crept so far up it was gnawing on Floor 2''s bottom side.


    We then scrapped Floors 3-37, which got us a refund of like 50 points - probably because effectively nothing was regained but the space itself. We also refunded all the monster corpses. A Goblin refunded for 2DP, or 10% its initial value. In total we got 639DP out of this, most of which came from a Frost Wyvern (400DP, i.e. 4000DP original cost). A monster called a Cave Leech was also in there, and I resisted my immediate urge to burn it. 20DP saved.


    Our passive income sped up a little, indicating the 34 broken floors were not as much of a drain as I thought, but what was done was done. We were now a 2 Floor dungeon.


    "Should we summon the remaining monsters?"


    Mimissa looked at me while nibbling on a piece of chocolate. I took one she offered me as well. Ah, marzipani bliss.


    "Good idea. Since Floor 37 had only corpses, there should have been no issue with the floor delet- we should have checked on that first, dammit..."


    "Oh... right..."


    We checked the monster list. It contained two lists actually - Unnamed Monsters simply grouped by species that were sorted by Floor such as "Floor 1: 125 Dire Rats, 57 Red Bats, 1 Bulk Petonator, 3 Goblins" while the Named Monsters list of 27 was purely alphabetical (cyrillical?) regardless of where the monster in question currently was. This then tipped me off to the fact that monsters - or at least Named Monsters - could leave the dungeon.


    "Oh look, here''s my name." Mimissa smiled. Among a decent list of greyed names was hers in shining white. Mr. Imp was surprisingly also on the list.


    "Huh, guess we accidentally named him for real."


    But I was trying to find Anastelle on the list.


    "[List Search: Monster, Anastelle.]"


    The list scrolled down, then started from the top again. The result blinked white.


    "We should summon her first, she was very helpful."


    "Moooh, I don''t like her! She looked at you funny!" Mimissa was cutely pouting.


    "True, but she got us Mr. Imp. We wouldn''t be here without his help."


    "Riiight. Okay, [Summon Monster]!"


    Unexpectedly I didn''t need to manually place her, her magic circle showed up automatically next to us.


    (Can this be any more convenient? That programmer deserves a raise!)


    Anastelle in all her draconic-succubusian glory towered before us.


    "A monster summon? Oh goodness, it has been far too long. Do say, how are you do... ing...?" The moment she looked at us, her face showed pure confusion. "Please do explain why you two are in the Dungeon Core room."


    I correctly guessed we had some explaining to do.


    ~~~~~


    "You did WHAT!?"


    Several maid servants cleaning the adjacent rooms and the corridor connecting them all cringed at the outburst. One would wonder how loud it really must have been, considering the heavy wooden door to the Dean''s chamber was closed shut.


    "I-I-I did as y-you suggested!"


    The other voice was not as loud, a lot more shaky, and implied the man speaking was growling on the ground or otherwise looking downwards.


    "No, you imbecile! You were supposed to keep people AWAY from that dungeon!!! Have you forgotten that it''s full of alluring females that could easily tear anyone apart if they felt like it!? Seriously, the ROYAL DUNGEON is a proving ground for none other than ROYAL FAMILY MEMBERS! How did this even get approved!?"


    "The czarina will have my head on a stick for this, won''t she...?"


    "If, IF she''s feeling merciful." The Dean slumped down, all his power leaving him. "And you won''t be the only one, she might execute me for this as well." The two men stayed silent for a moment. "We have to enact an immediate information ban. Claim we sent the subject matter to some dungeon in the ice desert of Sybillia. It''s unlikely anyone would return from there, so we can just claim there was probably a failure and thus not the hero material we were looking for."


    "B-Brilliant idea, Dean. I''ll do that at once!"


    The man made to leave, struggling to get the heavy door open as fast as he could, and was out of sight within seconds.


    Dean Kristofferus slumped even further down in his ornate chair and grabbed for his pipe. Naturally it was a gift by the czarina - the former one - for many years of distinguished service. Now it could only remind him of the wrath the current ruler, Czarina Alexandra II, would inflict on him should she ever find out that someone as low as a commoner was let into the Royal Dungeon.


    A maid knocked against the open door, waiting until she was allowed to enter the study that was also his office.


    "Dean? We have unfortunately heard part of your altercation," he looked at her, then double-facepalmed in despair, "and I would like to say that I and the others who happen to have heard are all behind you."


    He looked at the wolf girl maid, unbelieving what he was hearing. This girl spoke so casually of what would be treason, but in a way it also made him proud.


    "What...?"


    "You''re a good man. I and the others here have never heard anything bad about you, and I think you do a fine job as Dean. A single mistake shouldn''t cost you your life."


    "Thanks... honestly, thank you. But I expect you to forget what was talked about in this office today."


    She made a mock gesture as if thinking.


    "Hm, was there anything important discussed today? I can''t seem to remember."


    He smiled. Maybe, just maybe, things would work out.


    ~~~~~


    "Is that really what happened? Goodness me, no wonder this place had become so... quiet."


    "Did you never check?" I really had to wonder about monster behaviours.


    "Of course not, I was told to never head below Floor 2. I could not go against... against... well, her wishes."


    "Who''s she? Our Dungeon Core?"


    "Ex, it seems, since we evidently got a new one." Anastelle pointed in my direction with her right hand." On that note, why was I summoned? Did you just wish to announce yourself, hmm?"


    I blushed a little because Anastelle leaned a little forward. ''Mom'' type indeed.


    "That, and I also wanted to say thanks. Without Mr. Imp we''d all have died, most likely. So thank you, Anastelle."


    "My pleasure. It is rather unfortunate that we lost... ah, her, but since I cannot remember her name or face, this is probably for the best."


    (Aren''t you being a bit too nonchalant about that? These are your memories being messed with, you know?)


    "Right, in any case. What''ve you two done before this? Even with the whole Dungeon Core knowledge doesn''t mean I can just do everything right. Kinda need some info here."


    This felt like the saying ''the inmates running the asylum'', but well, I kind of wanted this, so I''d just roll with it.


    "Right, of course. Well, first of all..."

 7 Im a Core!? Ch.2: Testrun

    "I think it''s about time we do something."


    The four of us had waited for the DP counter to reach 1000 points, which seemed a sensible number. It didn''t take too long due to the 827 points we had after everything unnecessary was refunded. Mimissa had spent the time hugging me from behind as we fiddled with the menu, trying to learn even more about it. I had also asked Anastelle to release Mr. Imp from her service, so he was free to go or stay as he pleased. He decided to wait.


    "Oh? Like what?"


    "Well, have a look at the map. Anastelle, you better take a look too."


    As the two leaned over my shoulder, I zoomed out of the dungeon to see the surrounding area. The map screen was of course only in a pseudo-3d view (2.5d?), but it showed a group of red marks. Invaders.


    "Those tossers must be some sort of watchmen, probably the same ones who brought you here. It surprises me they have not left yet, surely they noticed the quakes?"


    I smirked.


    "Sounds like the perfect training dummies, then. Anastelle, do you mind going outside and herding them into the dungeon? I''ve got some ideas."


    She licked her lips.


    "With pleasure."


    ~~~~~


    The Imperial soldiers were sitting around a campfire, trying to keep warm in this environment. Since the dungeon was located at the foot of a mountain and a frozen lake was nearby, not many trees stood around to keep the chilly wind at bay. It was snowing, too, but not so much as to force them into their tents.


    "Why''re we even still here? It''s obvious that so-called heroine screwed up royally. She''s dead, I tell you."


    "Shut it, Gregor! Orders are orders, so we''ll stay for another five days. If she still won''t come back out by then, oh well."


    "I don''t get you, Mikhail. But it''s whatever, so just gimme some more booze, I''m freezing my ass off here."


    Invader B - Mikhail - chucked Invader A - Gregor - a bottle with the supposed booze. The fact alcohol cools the body did not seem to occur to them.


    Anastelle observed them from above. There were five invaders in total, one standing guard a little ways away, the two sitting by the fire, and another two in one of the tents. Of the last two, one was walking in circles while the other stood in place. Probably a commander and their underling. So to get everyone into the dungeon...


    "[Fireball]!"


    A sphere of flaming gas shot from Anastelle''s hand and hit the empty tent straight on. Then she chucked a few more for good measure to get the snow-covered tent hot enough to catch fire. She needn''t have bothered because the first shot already got the soldiers'' attention.


    "WE''RE UNDER ATTACK! COMMANDER!!!"


    Thanks to the map view projected to her side, she saw that the supposed commander and their underling - both apparently women as far as Anastelle could tell from her position high in the air - came running out. The surprisingly well-trained soldiers dragged all sorts of things out of the burning tent before their belongings could catch on fire too.


    Another barrage of fireballs followed, but then...


    "Wyvern, above us! Open fire!"


    *BANG, BANG, BANG*!


    The soldiers started firing back. The guns were long contraptions made from wood and metal, and shot with a surprisingly high fire-rate. Of course, the bullets couldn''t reach Anastelle at her height, but she assumed they would actually hurt if they did reach. The fact they insulted her by calling her something as low as a wyvern angered her, so she decided to teach them a lesson!


    "Wyvern, was it!? Fine you morons, you didn''t want it any other way. [Dragon Breath]!"


    Anastelle inhaled, then spat out a huge cone of fire as she strafed over the small group. The snow-covered ground started steaming, then glowed hot, forcing the soldiers to jump out of the way. Unfortunately there wasn''t much for them to take cover behind or under, so they were effectively sitting ducks. Anastelle kept adding to the inferno, making sure to create a massive firewall that would ultimately help to entrap the enemies.


    This was of course only part 1 of the plan. Anastelle, on orders of Czara, clicked on her own map symbol and added a text to it which read "Ready, place at entrance"; this action cost a single DP but the tag would stay in place and be visible until changed again or manually removed. Since monster placing was a free action for the Dungeon Core, it made sense to do that rather than teleport on her own which cost a lot of mana outside a natural mana field - such as a dungeon.


    "[Disguise], [Charm]."


    Anastelle felt her body shrink slightly, the idea being that she would make herself look like Czara. The [Charm] would lower the soldiers'' inhibitions, making use of their confusion to enter the dungeon even if they would otherwise refuse to do so.


    Looking like Czara, she exited the dungeon, pretending to be shocked at seeing the devastation she had brought about herself.


    ~~~~~


    "She''s actually doing good work, I''m kinda jealous!"


    "Well she is a dracubus, so I assumed she''d have both dragon and succubus skills. Though if that''s the dragon side''s power and I''d guess her powers aren''t as strong as those of a regular monster, I don''t wanna fight a real dragon anytime soon. I''ve already had enough with the succubus who did this," I gestured vaguely at myself, "to me."


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "Well I''m not complaining about your looks, you''re adorable!"


    I blushed at that, but hesitantly nodded.


    "Anyway, looks like they''re all shuffling inside, so we can actually try out this camera function."


    "What''s that do, Czara?"


    "Let me show you."


    I set a camera view onto the entrance area. While only in black and white, the quality was quite decent. It showed five soldiers in thick winter coats wielding ancient Mosin¨CNagant type rifles. One of the group stood out due to having slightly more ornaments, I assumed she was the commander. Another was also a woman, the rest were men.


    "They''re pretty disciplined, I almost feel bad about leading them into a trap."


    The fake Czara was leading them to a supposed ''safe zone'', a place where monsters could not enter unless they were a ''mutant species'' to which the rules of a safe zone didn''t apply for whatever reason. Well, I had two ''mutant species'' monsters under my command, so even if that was a real thing - and, hah, it was not - I wouldn''t have had any problems.


    I rubbed my hands. Epic puns? My campaign would be an epic slaughter.


    ~~~~~


    "Area secured. Commander Anastasiya, your orders?"


    Anastasiya, despite orders from her superiors not to enter the dungeon until the heroine from the otherworld would return, had made to do exactly that. Technically she did as commanded since the heroine had returned, but just after entering the safe zone, or "safe zone" rather, she had disappeared again.


    "Stay inside the safe zone. With the provisions we managed to save, we should be able to survive at least two days. By then the fire will have died out and I doubt the wyvern will stay around that long. We''ll retreat to the next-closest village and requisition some horses to replace the ones that bolted on us."


    (This is a disaster! Why does a small-time squad like us have to protect one of these so-called heroes? Why does everyone put so much faith in them!? They just started showing up 50 years ago and nothing''s been the same since. With the country on the brink of war with-)


    *KABOOM*!!!


    An explosion rocked the place, making the five soldiers scramble into positions. Bags of snow had been piled up as a small barrier, behind which they lined up to have a defensive view down the two corridors connecting to the safe zone room. The explosion sound came from the left corridor.


    "Be ready to fire! Take aim!"


    A cloud of smoke started wafting down the corridor, then a strange sound of a thousand tiny feet scratching on stone came closer. From both corridors.


    There were rats. Easily over 300 hundred of them.


    ~~~~~


    "Rat swarm deployed! Go, ratties, eat your fill!"


    We watched as the screen filled with a sea of green, making it hard to discern where one ally symbol ended and the next began. The red invader symbols stayed in place momentarily, then we saw on the camera view that they started retaliating.


    "Oh, fire spells? They were better prepared than expected, Czara."


    "I think those are actually Molotov cocktails."


    "They''re... cocktails?"


    "Nah, they''re just called that. Basically a breakable glass bottle full of flammable liquid. You put an alcohol-soaked tissue or cloth into it, light it on fire, and throw. The bottle breaks, spreading the flammable liquid all over the place."


    Small gaps in the sea of green opened up, and the rats were smart enough to keep those gaps. On the video feed we confirmed they were actively evading the fire and otherwise fearlessly marching, homing in on the enemies.


    "...Maybe this was a little overkill."


    I tapped on the screen to open the Monster section, rechecking the price. One group of 10 rats cost 1DP, so our DP counter was currently at 877. There weren''t quite 300 rats in truth, I just made them jump at random intervals so they looked like more than there actually were. In any case, the soldiers were now properly panicking. I would too if faced with over 250 rats out for my blood.


    The scene was gruesome, a little like what I saw just before I died. The rats mercilessly jumped and gnawed at the soldiers, who desperately tried to get them off. Their bayonet knives were detached and they wildly swung them around, getting many of the rats cut - and some even sliced in half - but that didn''t help them much because ultimately there were just far too many for five people to fight off, no matter their skill.


    ~~~~~


    "AAAARGGGGHHHH!!! GET THEM OFF ME!!!"


    Gregor was flailing, bent down under the sheer weight of rats. Neither he nor the others knew where this giant mischief of rats came from, but the situation was how it was. In a word, horrible. The multitude of painful bites tore at his willpower, and eventually he couldn''t do anything but fall to the ground. He was as good as dead already. Nobody was screaming anymore as they were all getting eaten alive. At least until...


    "Verminbane!"


    A feminine voice came from nowhere, and suddenly all the rats had stilled. He dared not look up for a few moments, thinking his dying mind was playing tricks on him, but eventually he got the courage to look up. Indeed, all the rats were dead but, unfortunately, so were his compatriots.


    Before him stood a mature-looking woman wrapped in an ethereal glow. His immediate reaction was to prostrate himself before her, for she was as perfect as a goddess in his hour of need. Without a doubt he knew she was the one who''d saved him. But then tears ran down his face as the realisation kicked in - everyone but him was dead. He would have to report on this. The dungeon was infested, possibly forsaken even.


    "Go, oh soldier of Smirnov. Your people need thee."


    He didn''t say anything, he just grabbed what he could and ran towards the exit. The laughter he heard was surely just an illusion.


    ~~~~~


    "Three corpses get."


    I collected the dead bodies for a total of 350DP, more than making back the amount spent on the ratvalanche''s rats that had actually died. The rest were obviously just playing dead after hearing the code phrase ''Verminbane'', which I doubted was even a real spell.


    "Three corpses? Aren''t there four- oh, one of them is still alive, Czara."


    "Mhm, based on video footage that should be the commander. She''s tough, tougher than I expected even. Hmhm, now what to do with her?"


    I changed Anastelle''s tag to stop her [Glow] spell and grab the woman. We could collect the stuff they left behind once she was pulled far enough away. My guess was that corpses were ownerless and thus always free to absorb, but items would belong to someone unless ''left behind''; otherwise a dungeon could just ''collect'' equipment off of a person at the drop of a hat. Video game balance? Video game balance.


    "Hey hey, Czara, we should make a prison for her or she''ll probably try to run away."


    I nodded.


    "Well, we got some nice juicy DP out of this, so I think we can make a small prison complex on Floor 2 for this."


    We got to work on this project, but first...


    "Let''s grab their stuff first. Collect this, and this, and aaaaall of this. Also, rats, you can go on Floor 2 and bask in the sun. I''ll give you all some cheese."


    The rats all woke up at once and jumped in joy at the news. Cheese tasted so much better than sweaty wool and skin, after all.

 8 Im a Core!? Ch.3: Rewiring

    The rats were happily nomming away at their cheeses while sitting by the cool, artificial river where we found chest #17. Some of the rats also bathed in the river or helped groom each other. I left a video feed open to look at them on occasion since the sight was soothing.


    I sectioned off a room with a brambled door - fitting the green valley-like environment - with a wall made from rough stone, then added snaking vines across to make it look old and overgrown. Beyond the door was the Dungeon Core. I of course instinctively knew if the core died, so would I - as it was really the true me - and everyone else, but this new drive to keep it protected and hidden was new. Not unwelcome though. Self-preservation just makes sense after all.


    I added a lot of trees with the DP we had - I should note that environment changes on an existing floor are very cheap, but not free - to make it look more like a forest and to hide the actual door. A fake trampled-down path snaked through the woods and branched off at various points.


    "[Menu]. [Traps]."


    I checked if I could make pitfalls that would open below unsuspecting invaders. Each pitfall cost 25DP, which was not a lot but it added up if I want to add enough to reasonably trap the entire forest. I turned my head to Mimissa.


    "What do you think? Should we go through our spoils of battle first and convert useless things into DP, or should we trap the forest first for safety?"


    Mimissa cheekily pushed a bar of chocolate into my mouth. Nom nom. Oh yes, I had bought a pillow in the meantime so I could sit on the floor while leaning against Mimissa''s chest.


    "I think security is more important, but those traps are expensive. I really thought they were cheaper considering how many are on Floor 1."


    Floor 2 was apparently conceived as more of a rest stop after a labyrinth. That was oddly nice of the ex-core. Moving traps from Floor 1 to Floor 2 didn''t work since they stopped functioning anywhere but where they were placed first. Could I make a boss that uses traps as weapons? Food for thought.


    "Want to dig some pitfalls then? Mr. Imp looks bored, so I could provide a shovel. You can collect foliage to disguise the pitfalls as regular ground."


    "Sure! Mr. Imp, we''re going!"


    It seemed like he was fiddling with something metallic - perhaps a piece of something he''d taken from the corpses to alleviate his boredom - but snapped to attention when Mimissa called his name. I gave him a sling pouch to stuff his things into and placed the both of them on Floor 2, next to the new forest.


    The unconscious commander woman was already heaved away by Anastelle, so I decided to start working on the prison... only to find out I couldn''t.


    "Anastelle?" I changed her tag. "Please bring the commander or whatever back up the stairs. It turns out I can''t edit floors while invaders are on them."


    Based on the movement, she actually chucked her right back. This lifted the building restriction.


    (I''m gonna need to make a prison floor or something later, but defining new floors is expensiiiiive...)


    I erased a shaved cube of earth about 5x5x3 metres roughly 1 metre below ground, then added a staircase and a door made from stone, reinforced with metal bars - basically old-school concrete plates you''d find in any ex-So- my old world - and set the hinges to open inward. Due to the position of the door relative to the 3 metres tall cube wall, it wasn''t really possible to hide behind it.


    The staircase was covered with a trap door opening sideways which I''d ask Mimissa later to also disguise. Since the whole thing was close to a particularly loud part of the river, even if someone would hear the prisoner shouting through the air holes, they shouldn''t be able to make out their voice in all the noise of the scenery.


    I ordered Anastelle to drop the prisoner into the cell. Since I was nice I''d given her a wooden board chained to the wall as a make-shift bed and a bunch of cloth to cover herself with as she pleased. Her belongings were of course all stripped off her body, and Anastelle checked if she was hiding a small knife or something in her hair bun. Go figure, there really was one.


    Since I decided to take a break, and I was sure Mimissa would want to go through the spoils with me together, I decided to check my status.


    "[Status: Czara]!"


    Name: Constanze Czarina


    True Name: Dungeon Core Czara


    Species: Aesir, Dungeon Core, ???


    Class: New Core Lv.1


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Affiliation: Dungeon ''NULL''


    Health Points: 50/50


    Mana Points: 100/100


    More...


    I didn''t realise at first, but the ''More'' part was actually clickable. The fact I had gained a ''True Name'' which was my nickname prefixed by ''Dungeon Core'' was a little ominous, but I guess it made sense. ''True Names'' always held power, so I''d need to ensure it stayed secret, but as long as nobody would find out my identity as a Dungeon Core, they were unlikely to figure the full name out, either. Probably. My health points had doubled and my mana had shot through the roof.


    I clicked on the ''More'' to see what else was hidden.


    Equipment: Pasties Bikini of the Succubus, Suit of the Lady Seafarer, Samson Robot phone


    Right, I figured the band aids would stay in place. Whoever that succubus was that tricked me into putting this so-called bikini on would suffer once I got her to show her face again. Anastelle''s input meanwhile was helpful, so I''d do something nice for her later. We did kinda owe her for gifting us Mr. Imp as well. But then I realised.


    (Wait, my phone? I was totally sure I''d lost it. Uh, let''s see...)


    "[Equip ''Samson Robot phone'']."


    *Ding* [Error. ''Samson Robot phone'' is already equipped.]


    "...But where IS IT!?"


    *Ding* [Locating object ''Samson Robot phone''... ... ... Object found 17.4 kilometres south-west-west.]


    (Oh, huh. So as long as something is properly equipped, I can- but wait, I didn''t equip the phone in the first place! Does it count since I had it on me when I got here? Does it show on the map? What if someone else finds and equips it? Are objects forcefully unequipped if the owners die? Is that what decides if Dungeons can collect them?)


    I had a whole slew of questions pop into my mind that I''d need to go through later. I first opened the map screen to look outside our area, but it didn''t let me scroll very far. All I could see was the border of a huge mountain range, a giant lake nearby - guess that would explain the marine-themed dress I got - and a whole lot of nothing but sparse needle trees here and there. The quintessential ''bumblefuck nowhere''.


    (There ought to be a village in the vicinity, at least.)


    I got back to my status, wondering why Health Points and Mana Points had to be full words. In games you''d just shorten them. The menu did exactly that, also showing more stats.


    HP: 50, MP: 100, STR: 13, AGI: 37


    That was better. I realised that the short-form got rid of the maximum value, but that was acceptable. My values for strength and agility were... Well, I had no real comparison, but I guess they made sense for the body of a loli.


    (Still feels low, though.)


    Skills: Spear Proficiency 1, Charm Tolerance 4, Sense Trap 1, Dungeon Menu¡ó, ???


    My skills hadn''t changed, aside from gaining the [Dungeon Menu] or just [Menu] skill. [Sense Trap] was listed since I''d ''uncovered'' it earlier, while [Charm Tolerance] had upgraded a little, possibly because I''d spent more time with Mimissa and also Anastelle. The fact the * was gone likely meant the skill was now properly mine.


    Status Effects: Vengeful


    Allies: Mimissa the Chocolate Mimic, Anastelle the Dracubus, Mr. Imp the impertinent Imp of Impington


    I read the last one three times, it didn''t change.


    (Very funny, menu.)


    I wondered if more things would be added later. Titles were usually a thing in games, and they would represent achievements and sometimes even have actual effects.


    *Ding* [Dungeon Core Czara has gained title ''The Curious''.]


    (Well speak of the-)


    *Ding* [Title ''The Curious'' has raised MMP by 5.]


    (Coooool.)


    So all in all, my stat sheet looked like this, reformatted to make more sense to me:


    Name: Constanze Czarina


    True Name: Dungeon Core Czara


    Species: Aesir, Dungeon Core, ???


    Class: New Core Lv.1


    HP: 50; MP: 100/105; STR: 13; AGI: 37


    Status Effects: Vengeful


    Equipment: Pasties Bikini of the Succubus, Suit of the Lady Seafarer, Samson Robot phone


    Skills: Spear Proficiency Rk.1; Charm Tolerance Rk.4; Sense Trap Rk.1; Dungeon Menu¡ó; ???


    Titles: The Curious; ???


    Affiliation: Dungeon ''NULL''


    Allies: Mimissa the Chocolate Mimic; Anastelle the Dracubus; Mr. Imp the impertinent Imp of Impington


    Important stats and notes came first. Things that wouldn''t change all the time, or were otherwise pretty inconsequential should come later - my species changing of course having major potential for concern since it was kinda like a whole status on its own. Gameplay first, then lore!


    (Mental notes: Punish the succubus who lolified me. Gift Anastelle something nice for her help. Gift Mr. Imp something too. Cuddle more with Mimissa. Finish prison. Check on the prisoner once a day, figure out what to ultimately do with her. Check on traps on Floor 2. Test idea of boss equipped with traps as weapons; flamethrowers maybe? Check outside dungeon for signs of civilisation and/or stuff to kill and turn into DP. Prepare for inevitable attack from Smirnov. Anything else?)


    I typed those things into a memo on a separate screen like a quest list, then let my thoughts drift for a while.


    *Ding* [Dungeon Core Czara has been affected by Sleep Deprivation.]


    "Yes, yes, I know. Are you going to do this every time now!?"


    *Ding* [Dungeon Core Czara is being a brat.]


    "Ha ha haaah... Well then, good night."

 9 Im a Core!? Ch.4: Deception

    I woke up, feeling quite refreshed, but even so my sleepy mind needed a few seconds to realise where I was: inside of Mimissa''s chest. Which happened to be closed. Also, I was naked (or at least as naked as cursed ''clothes'' allow one to strip down) while Mimissa was underneath me like a pillow. Also naked - if obviously chocolate-covered - as before. I briefly wondered if I should buy her at least a swimsuit or something.


    How I could suddenly see in the dark I didn''t know. Mimissa''s eyes were closed because she was sleeping herself. At least it made sense I could only see in greyscale.


    (Some kind of microwave-based night vision, perhaps?)


    Her sleeping face was too cute for me to dare wake her up, so I simply map-placed myself outside. I then realised I was covered head to toe in chocolate because of course; Mimissa didn''t will it to not stick to my body.


    (Is there maybe some cleaning spell?)


    I checked the Treasure section and bought a skill scroll of [Purification] for the cheapest price of any scroll, a unique 50DP. Scrolls for basic element spells like [Fireball], [Icicle], or [Lightning Bolt] cost 100DP each, while stronger spells got exponentially more expensive. Based on the numbers, it seemed utility spells got 50% off, so it basically went 50, 100, 500, 1000 and so on.


    (A Light element scroll of [True Resurrection] costs 1,000,000,000DP!??!?!!?!? Yeah, nope!)


    In any case, I infused the [Purification] scroll with some mana by focusing on my body in a meditation-like way to feel my magical energy. It collected in my hands and was slowly sucked up by the scroll, which contained arcane text and a magic circle - of a simpler design than the summoning ones - and promptly crumbled to dust.


    *Ding* [Dungeon Core Czara has learned ''Purification'' Rk.N/A.]


    (Neat! I already knew knowledge infusing is a thing, but I wish I could''ve done that in ?????????????????????????????????????????; I''d have been a genius in no time!)


    "[Purification]!"


    A warm, fuzzy feeling and a faint smell of vanilla soap overcame me, and from my head to my toes the chocolate and perhaps other things simply vanished, leaving me standing in my glorious, for-all-intents-and-purposes nude form. Now I just had to find my armour and get dressed, but then a thought came to me - I still had to visit the prisoner at some point.


    For this I first checked the DP amount, realising it had gone up by quite a bit as we were at a comfortable 1503. I found that odd since I doubted the prisoner was worth THAT much, but apparently because she was both in a locked room AND a designated prison - I had no idea why that would be such a pedantic distinction and doubted I''d ever find out - the DP we got from her being around was doubled for each condition met, i.e. a total multiplier of four.


    (I need something to look trustworthy. A bit pitiable, too. This world has maids, so perhaps a maid dress? Maybe something that shows some skin coupled with a collar? I think slaves were mentioned who have their ears mutilated...)


    I was quite certain that even in my dazed state of nearly-dead-then-isekai''d I had heard them mention slaves who have rounded ears. It was my best bet, in any case. The woman had white hair when I watched her group on the screen, so she was probably blonde. She also wore a pretty tall hat; a bunny kin perhaps?


    I enacted the plan to disguise myself as a maid, and checked the Treasure section again. A ''Maid Servant Dress (Dark Blue) (Evening Hours)'' and a ''Slave Collar'' cost 185DP, an amount we could nearly get back in a day now. I bought some basic food for 10DP as well, so that would be the daily cost. Still, an additional 164DP/day were secured.


    I equipped the Maid Dress after ensuring it was belly-free and a bit short but not too fetishistic - I wanted to look like a slave maid but not a sex slave after all - and then foolishly motioned to put the very real Slave Collar on, only to stop it mere centimetres away from my neck.


    (What the fuck am I doing!?)


    I felt like that one time I was cooking, holding a very sharp knife and absent-mindedly almost stabbing myself with it before very slowly putting it on the kitchen counter. In a similar manner I put the again very real Slave Collar onto the pile of stuff we''d looted, then bought a similar-looking dog collar for a mere 10DP.


    (Right, that''s better. But wait, what if she got [Identify]? I''ll also need [Identity Protection].)


    I bought the scroll for 500DP - plummeting our budget but knowing this would pay off in the future - and activated it.


    *Ding* [Dungeon Core Czara has learned ''Identity Protection'' Rk.3.]


    (Rank 3? How cool is that!?)


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ''[Identity Protection]. Perk. Grants user protection from [Identify] and similar skills, making their stats unavailable to others unless opposing skill has rank greater than user''s.''


    (In other words, if they don''t have at least a Rank 4 [Identify], their attempts would just fizzle out.)


    For the sake of appearances, I made one more purchase - a silver ring worth a paltry 1DP. Even if the [Identity Protection] trick worked out, the Commander woman would probably wonder next how a ''simple maid'' got such a skill. The ring should hopefully throw her off; since it''s not enchanted at all, she would probably assume it''s too high-tier to get truthful results on.


    I was finally ready, headband and collar in place and properly visible. The detached sleeves, short-ish skirt with lower-body apron and dark, thigh-high socks set in shiny black shoes made me look like a maid from a fanservicy loli manga, but that was the whole idea after all. I started to blush looking at myself on the screen.


    ~~~~~


    "And you are? If you''re a monster in human form, know you will get nothing out of me!"


    She was certainly attentive. I had provided her a loose shirt and short pants alongside the pieces of wool for her bedding - I was not so cruel as to force her to be naked - and she was busy doing stretches yet immediately noticed me opening the door and stepping inside. Around 2 metres from the door was a row of diagonal steel poles of which some could retract into the ceiling so a crouching person could go into the sectioned-off part. 15 square metres of walking space, basically.


    The woman was in fact silver-haired, but my guess regarding her being a bunnykin was on the money, ears and tail being both present. She was also tall and athletic, with an assortment of scars but not a hideous amount.


    I gulped as I took her form in, feeling actually intimidated by her. This must have worked to my advantage, since her stern face softened ever so slightly; for all intents and purposes, to her I was just a random little girl dolled up in a maid outfit you''d find in a slightly risky mo¨¦ manga - or maybe some mildly pervy noble''s mansion - and meant her no harm.


    "I am... just a maid. Offered a new life by this dungeon."


    "Just a maid, sure." She was looking at my bare belly, then my neck, and cracked a sneer. "So you are to bring me food for the dungeon''s sake? Yet you even look like her."


    I feigned ignorance, even though I knew she was obviously talking about the me before I entered this place. I carefully placed the food tray down and slid it under the one slightly-raised steel pole into her section.


    "Who is... she?"


    She sniffed the food, but made no attempts to eat just yet. Her expression turned sour, regretful.


    "Someone we were told to guard. We weren''t told the reason to bring her here nor who she really was beyond a strange name." She studied me again for a moment. "Actually... you do look remarkably like her. What''s your name?"


    "What is yours? I heard it is courteous to name yourself first."


    "Ah, of course. I am... was Commander Anastasiya. My squad is dead, I am certain. Such failure can only result in demotion, which means I am merely Anastasiya now. Now name yourself, maid."


    "...Feema." A name I''d read in a novella once. In a cast of nutcases, she was the only sane one. Also a maid, incidentally.


    "Feema. Feema, Feema. Might you know a ''Constanze''?"


    "You could... say that."


    "Truly? Is she your sister perhaps? Oh, that would certainly explain some things... [Identify]! ...What!?"


    The spell fizzled and failed, harmlessly deflected by a wind-like magic barrier around my body. Rank 3 or less, confirmed.


    She looked at my ears. Yes, they''re round. Round ears are unusual. Only slaves and heroes have such round ears. Next she looked at the Slave Collar (fake) and the Identity Protection Ring (fake) which I helpfully kept visible. I could see the gears turning in her mind.


    I smiled a faint smile, those acting lessons really coming in handy. I''d taken them for the sake of fashion modelling.


    "Please, you need to eat something. I can only visit you once a day, I''ve got other duties, too. Others who rely on me..."


    Anastasiya finally grabbed the halved bread spread with butter and a piece of cheese. She had not noticed how hungry she actually was, ravenously biting into the soft, warm bread. The cup of hot but not boiling tea helped her wash it down quickly. She repeated that with the other piece.


    "Before you go, how did you get here from Alheim? When did you get enslaved? Does the dungeon have a direct hold over you? A slave to the dungeon?"


    ''Alheim'' was a new term, but it sounded Germanic.


    (Are there fantasy Germans in this world? Are they elves maybe? If they are it''d make sense they look pretty much like ?????????????????????? with long ears. Maybe if the ears are some sort of status symbol, cutting them is done to criminal slaves?)


    I again realised I need much, much more information.


    "...I am bound to it for reasons I cannot tell. But before you suggest you will attempt to escape and take me along, I can tell you this: you''ll fail." I tucked on my slave collar. "The dungeon has ears everywhere. Any plan you hatch will be known as soon as you voice it."


    I subtly pointed at my eyes while pretending to fix my headband, then pointedly stared at Anastasiya. With a very shallow nod, Anastasiya confirmed she understood the idea I tried conveying to her: ''I''ll be your eyes.''


    "Well then, at least I thank you for the food. May we talk some more another time?"


    I smiled and bowed lightly; I figured I''d managed the first step to fool the woman. Did I feel bad about exploiting her hunger or tricking her like this? No, of course not. I''m a Dungeon. These sorts of people would send someone to destroy me without a second thought if they knew better.

 10 Im a Core!? Ch.5: Professionals

    A few days went by, or at least I knew they did by watching a video feed then and when which pointed outside the dungeon. Neither the abstracted dungeon map nor the dungeon floors ever changed in brightness, so they were not reliable indicators. I did have a digital clock on the display - which surprisingly told me days were only 20 hours in this world - but it was set to the wrong time until I could manually fix it.


    (Can I synchronise it with something? Then again I doubt there''re atomic clocks in this world... and it''s probably wrong from being stopped while the Dungeon Core was out of commision.)


    Mimissa and Mr. Imp had dutifully placed a bunch of trapholes in my new forest, which saved a lot of DP. Oddly enough when I came to look, I didn''t know where any of them were, and-


    "Czara, stooop!!!"


    I almost fell into a hole - disguised to look like the forest floor - until I managed to just barely throw myself back. I still landed on my butt, but not in said hole.


    Mimissa moved over to help me up, concern visible in her eyes. She told me that the holes were filled with highly acidic chocolate, just barely not too strong as to melt the material lining the bottom. Well, I doubted it could be that strong if it couldn''t melt through stone or even just earth and roots and whatnot.


    Our DP had gone up nicely, in part because we got around DP-fying our loot from the first battle. It roughly went like this.


    "These guns are ancient, I doubt we can really use them."


    "Oh truly, I assumed they were the newest type. Look? One of them is worth thiiis much."


    "Huh, okay that''s worrying. In several ways. What about these fur hats? They kinda feel like ushankas, although they''re made for people with ears on top of their heads."


    "That''s fairly high quality wool, Czara. Same as the winter coats, underlining, and the boots. There''s also a lot of other stuff; we got maps, writing utensils, all sorts of things to cook with, and a lot I don''t even know what''s what for."


    The Menu helped us figure out what was what. But ultimately we didn''t need much, so we kept a rifle with ammo, a compass which Anastelle wanted because it was ''sooo shiny'', a fidget toy for Mr. Imp, and a bunch of smaller trinkets not worth turning into DP. These could go into treasure chests. What did Mimissa want? Cuddles and kisses. I was all too happy to provide plenty of both.


    So as it went, a few days came by, as did finally the people I expected. More soldiers. A lot more soldiers. I may have underestimated the response...


    ~~~~~


    Our group of four was in the Dungeon Core room. Mimissa and I were sitting in her chest while looking at the map screens and video feeds, now enlarged and projected onto a moveable wall. Anastelle and Mr. Imp had their own seats.


    "So how do we go about this? I figured we can bait a response and gain more DP by luring people into the dungeon. I didn''t expect a whole 30 people to show up at once, all armed to the teeth!"


    The video feed outside promised nothing good. 30 heavily-armed soldiers had come, a mixture of roughly 2 men for every woman, but most of the more obviously decorated ones were the latter. Were women granted more advantages in this land?


    "I could burn them all to cinders if you would wish me to do so."


    I considered it; something told me that, whether we killed everyone here or not, if no further answer came reporting a success of the troops over the ''forsaken dungeon'' - whatever that meant - the country would then stop at nothing to destroy us outright. I really wanted to kill them all, but that hunch kept my urges at bay.


    "Grrr, I''d like to give you the go ahead, but it feels like a bad idea."


    "Hm, Czara? How about this: we let them in, but send less rats than last time. If they throw their cocktails again..."


    "Molotov cocktails."


    "Those. If they use fire against the rats, have the rats flee. Only a few have to die to make it convincing. Then lure them into traps so a few of the invaders die."


    "And then what would be the next step? Once the invaders are inside, Czara cannot modify the layout or place more traps."


    "Guess we have to provide some incentive to let us stay alive."


    I opened the Treasure menu. Over the last couple days I''d figured out an interesting tidbit: it was essentially an instant mail-order catalogue, but it was not at all restricted to the things it offered. When I thought of a samovar, a new option popped up to buy one. So as a test I bought two, and they even looked quite different from each other; one was a regular type and fairly unassuming, but the latter - bought with more DP - looked like a priceless antique.


    "Alright, let''s do this. We''ll send out a swarm of rats to provoke a response, but let them flee if they want. Once the invaders enter, the treasure chests I''m setting right now should be found. If the items inside are to their liking, they might leave us alone for at least a while longer. And if not... it''s leech time."


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


    ~~~~~


    The assault went about the way we planned. Although the camp outside was obviously bigger than the mere two tents from before, the rats still advanced. I was genuinely surprised how utterly fearless they were acting. Were dungeon monsters always this drone-like? Oh, rats are actually critters, not even proper monsters per se? Go figure.


    The response was immediate. Some of the soldiers went prone and started throwing their fiery bottles. Others were clearly mages since they sent actual [Fireballs] and [Firebolts] at the incoming horde. We lost around 20 ratties, then ordered the rest to disperse in all directions. The moment they left the immediate area around the dungeon they stopped being under our control.


    "Mimissa? Why does that one very big rat act differently?"


    "That''s Sergeant Jerry."


    ''Sergeant Jerry'' was a big rat, and not in the sense that he was fat. He led a group of rats along the edge of the encampment, in a much smarter way than the others which in their drone-like manner mostly picked the shortest paths possible. Who was it to program the A* movement for our rats?


    In any case, the soldiers didn''t bother hunting mere rats. Instead a battleworn woman stepped up, her face hard to see under her head and mask, but she had an almost stereotypical scar under her eye.


    (At least it''s not across the eye.)


    Due to one other rat hiding nearby we could hear her commanding a squad of five to scout ahead.


    "Here they come!"


    The scouts went inside, careful with pistols drawn and ready. Yeah, those were professional soldiers, not the sort of useless trash guards you find in RPGs. I assumed the ones who formerly accompanied me would be the exception rather than the rule, but clearly not. Though their equipment did look a little bit more basic. Hmmm.


    In any case, we held our monsters back. I did want to see if the Bulk Detonator was more than just a scary name - as anyone who played Space Dwarfs Mining would understand - but once again decided that it would be overkill. If real I''d rather leave the nukes for when we needed them.


    "Entrance sector clear. Map checks out. Send next group."


    Riiight. I didn''t change Floor 1, and of course they would have detailed maps of the dungeon they were told to invade. I mean we found some maps among the former group''s possessions, too.


    Slowly the invaders entered squad by squad. One squad of 5 stayed outside to protect the tents, which meant a total of 25 invaders were slowly spreading across and conquering Floor 1.


    "Treasure chest found."


    The oddly neutral statement confused me, but I guess it made sense since they weren''t adventurers or mercenaries or whatever; they didn''t care for riches. A female soldier dressed in thicker clothes went to the chest and examined it with a strange tool that kinda resembled a big magnifying glass. It glowed for a moment.


    "Safe. Opening!"


    The chest was flipped open, and inside was...


    "Playing cards? This doesn''t match the documents."


    This sort of scene repeated, with the soldiers finding more decks of cards, a total of 3 samovars, and one pink winter coat.


    "I will ask the commander if I may have this one for my little sister Sasha."


    (How sweet, ha ha ha.)


    In any case, the soldiers were getting suspicious that we held our monsters back. As for the traps? Yeah, all useless. It turned out these tools they had let them know where the traps were and what type they would be. I could only hope those were in limited supply, because that was just downright cheating!


    "I''ll send the bats out, Czara! Red batties, gooo!"


    I smiled as Mimissa imitated my commanding posture.


    Thanks to the bats we could hear the sudden confusion. Red Bats are vampiric in nature, so the first swarm of 28 surprised the squad of five soldiers who had finally let their guard down.


    "WHAT? BATS!? Shoot them down!"


    The squad leader and two others went prone and fired their rifles. 6 Red Bats died, the other 22 managed to swoop in. If you think death by rat bites is awful, it bears repeating these bats are bloodsuckers; once they bite down they won''t let go. Five quickly-exsanguinated corpses fell to the ground. I immediately collected them and all the spilled blood.


    "Good work with the bats, Mimissa." I patted her head. "But remember, we can''t kill too many right now. Anastelle, you''ve been oddly quiet?"


    "I believe you are too nice to these invaders entering our home without permission, that is my honest opinion."


    I gulped, but I would otherwise agree, so I just nodded.


    "As I said before, this is for the sake of distraction. Later we can- oh?"


    A squad had made their way to the staircase leading to Floor 2, and went down to take position. The snow in their bags immediately started melting, so they emptied those out. They would probably fill them with sand later.


    "Floor 2 entered. No resistance encountered. Terrain features match records."


    Floor 2 was not nearly as big as Floor 1, seeing how it was clearly a ''nice'' floor. I still had the 3 Goblins from Floor 1 lay in ambush. Why were there only 3? I genuinely had no idea. If you think of Goblins, it should be at least 50, right?


    "Goblins ahead, open fire!"


    ...And several shots later, the admittedly-badly-hiding goblins were already dead and done for. Well shit.


    Floor 1 still had 3 squads, i.e. 15 people total, in various strategically-advantageous positions. They couldn''t cover each other, but they were still quite smartly spaced about.


    "Now we do have a problem... If they stay on both floors, can I still make things?"


    Traps and Treasures were nominally features of the dungeon itself and thus - like Floors - could not be placed or changed if invaders were on the respective Floor. I could make them in the core room though. As for monsters...


    "Anastelle, I can see you''re bored. Feel free to pick off one squad on Floor 1, then please pretend to be hurt and retreat. I have an idea."


    Once again she licked her lips.


    "I will head out to alleviate my boredom."


    And she was gone. Why she didn''t wait for me to place her myself to save on mana, I could not figure out.

 11 Im a Core!? Ch.6: Emergency

    I racked my brain on how to solve this. I did claim I had an idea, but this was mostly a bluff because I already noticed how Anastelle seemed to have a short attention span. The idea she could lose faith in me seemed silly since I was now her Dungeon Core, but it remained a nagging piece of doubt in my mind.


    Situation: 5 people (1 squad) had been picked clean off at the cost of a mere 6 Red Bats. 1 squad was outside, including who I assumed was the Commander of the whole group. 3 more squads (soon only 2) were on Floor 1 in smartly-chosen positions, but not close enough to directly support each other. Taking out any one of them before the others could react seemed an easy prospect. The scout squad had gone to Floor 2 and killed the 3 Goblins we had left over.


    In other words it would have been good if we we were able capture this Commander too, but figured I''d be happy for the time being with just 10 kills to let them think they achieved victory against a respectable but not ''must destroy by any means necessary'' foe. The victory condition being they would find the core and realise our tiny mine dungeon isn''t worth killing. At least not yet.


    "Mimissa, what do you think of Anastelle?"


    She made a face I hadn''t really seen before.


    "She''s so lewd and disrespectful! The way she eyes you is just all kinds of wrong!"


    (...Lewd? I mean I guess she''s half-a-succubus, but by the standards of lust demons from fiction she''s positively decent.)


    "I actually think she''s being respectful and polite, especially how she talks."


    "But she''s not your Co-Admin. She should bow while talking to you!"


    (Oh I get it. Mimissa wants a clearer display of the hierarchy we got going.)


    "She''s not a maid, you know? I don''t expect anyone to bow to me. What about you, Mr. Imp? Do you like Anastelle?"


    He made a thumbs down, then pointed at his neck. I got the slave collar reference. Stupid questions were asked. Stupid questions were answered.


    "Czara, how about this? We lure the scouts to the forest and drop one or two into our traps? When they realise the traps are strong, they could learn to respect us."


    "They do have tools that are essentially [Sense Trap], you know? That just won''t work."


    I really didn''t understand why Mimissa suggested this, we had all seen that the traps on Floor 1 were useless. Yet she made a smug face, cutely, full of confidence.


    "Something tells me it''ll work. Just trust me. Rather, how about we bet one wish the loser has to fulfil?"


    "Oh you''re ON!"


    ~~~~~


    Anastelle was happy for a change. Her boredom was really starting to get to her, her instincts telling her she had an obligation to fulfil: to defend the dungeon. She was strong and she wanted, or rather needed to show it. These foolish invaders should learn true fear. So when she got the order - or at least suggestion - to kill five of the fools, she gladly obliged.


    "Hey guys. Who of you is ready to meet Lady Marena today?"


    "Succubus ahead!"


    The soldiers went prone on the spot and started firing. The scene was getting a little repetitive, so Anastelle changed it up by running forward and jumping at the walls, the ceiling, and while doing so contorted her body in ways more similar to a snake than a humanoid body should be capable of. All the bullets but one missed, which hit her in her upper left arm. The wound started oozing dark-red blood, but she did not seem caught by surprise.


    The soldiers fired another barrage, none of the shots hitting, the sounds from a few ricocheting bullets quickly fading. Stone work behind her came undone and mortar dust became visible.


    (A good attempt. But not good enough!)


    Anastelle wasted no more time. She rushed forward, then jumped, her clawed legs striking one of the soldiers right in the face. She used his head as a springboard, turning it into mush in the process, and swiped a claw across the chest of another so deeply she cut several of his ribs, and part of his lungs, to shreds. The man gurgled and started drowning in his own blood.


    The three remaining compatriots stepped back, then pulled at something and threw small objects. A loud noise rang out alongside a white glow, forcing Anastelle to momentarily shield her eyes and try to get the ringing out of her ears. Before she could, she felt something very strange: a blade had pierced her own chest, just barely under the heart!


    "Wha-!? You would dare!?"


    A minor wound like a blade to the lung did not bother her physically, but it certainly enraged her. She grabbed the head of the fool who did this and squished his head to nothing with only one hand, then collected fire in her throat and unleashed a dragon breath. The two soldiers still standing and charging were vaporised.


    (Oh... oh dear me. Now we cannot gain any DP from their corpses! Czara will certainly be furious with me!)


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    She ripped the bayonet out of her body and threw it away, then tried to heal herself. Keyword being ''tried''.


    "[Healing Balm]... what? [Healing Balm]! What is this!?"


    She checked her status, and what she saw did not ease her worries. Quite the opposite.


    Status Effects: Cursed wound


    Anastelle''s eyes shot fully open for the first time as the realisation hit...


    (These invaders are truly here to annihilate us! I-)


    ...And felt weak to the point she almost fell to the ground.


    "Ugh... d-damned be their entire bloodlines!"


    She knew she still needed to actually breathe to remain alive, hand pressed hard on the gaping wound. She pinged Czara and asked for an emergency placement back into the control room.


    ~~~~~


    "Anastelle!!!"


    When I saw the blood on Anastelle''s body, I of course rushed to her.


    "I am- I will be fine. I just require a little rest. Ah ha ha *Cough*, t-to think I was merely supposed to pretend being wounded..."


    I thought of a medicine kit you''d find in any car and bought it for 300DP. The wound on her chest looked very bad and made no attempts at resealing itself, so despite my limited knowledge of medicinal procedures I did my best to wrap a big patch of material into place so Anastelle would at least not die from lack of air.


    (A hole in the lung!? Is there a danger of blood blocking her breathing?)


    "Why isn''t it closing!?"


    "*Cough, cough* Th-The wound is cursed according to my st-status. Healing magic does n-nothing... I will require rest and see if the curse will dissipate..."


    A futon mattress and blanket set was available in the catalogue, so I bought one for 150DP. The bayonet had not pierced all the way through, so if Anastelle remained on her back it should be okay for the time being. I could only hope; there really wasn''t anything I could do about a wound that actually resisted healing magic.


    "Czara, I''ve retrieved all the corpses and their loot. One of these... bayonets feels terrible. It''s also smeared with blood, this must be the one that hurt Anastelle."


    I nodded.


    "Good job. We have to check on that later."


    We had run into a different problem. The scouts had found the forest without our prompting. With a rat we listened in.


    "This forest does not match the documents."


    "[Tracker], check for traps."


    The same woman who had found the first treasure chest before went to the edge of the forest, her magic tool magnifying glass held in front. It shone again, but she nodded.


    "Clear! Advance along path!"


    Mimissa looked at me smugly.


    "I win."


    I threw my hands in the air in defeat.


    "Fine, yes. But leave it for later, we aren''t out of trouble yet!"


    We kept listening, the cute ratsy observing from a hidden position. Next time I would use squirrels for this kind of observation work.


    "Treasure chest ahead. Checking... It''s safe!"


    The woman stepped closer, and then-


    *Krrrr* *Break*


    "Wha- aaaahhhhh!!!"


    She fell into the disguised trap hole.


    "What happened!? Are you-"


    "AGGHH! AAAAAAAGHGGHH IT BUUURNS!!! HELP- HELP ME- AAAAAAAHHHH!!!"


    The sudden screams of agony accompanied by the vision on the monitor made my stomach roil. I couldn''t help but snap my head in Mimissa''s direction, eyes wide open.


    "Mimissa, what the actual fuck kinda substance did you put in these traps!?"


    "Acidic chocolate, as I said."


    The struggling woman was buried to her torso in the chocolate, which started steaming as it dissolved her in a way so gruesome I momentarily forgot everything else. I couldn''t avert my gaze from the scene. Her lifeless body fell over and sank into the dark mass, out of sight, her horrified screams having died in her throat already.


    "Impressive, isn''t it? Come on, praise me for a job well done!"


    I vaguely heard Mimissa''s voice. I looked at her again. She smiled at me like a child who got one of their most favourite sweets. A smile of someone who would most certainly not simply kill another intelligent being by literally melting them to death.


    Yes, I was being totally hypocritical considering I had made monsters bite and gnaw those very same people to death myself. But in that moment? I was in genuine terror of the Mimic by my side.


    ~~~~~


    "Report from Scout team: [Tracker] Olivia missed trap hole located in front of chest. [Tracker] Olivia perished in action."


    "[Tracker] Olivia of Scout team perished, confirmed. 2 combat squads are not reporting, considered MIA until death-by-dungeon confirmed... *Sigh* Search the floor for anything out of the ordinary, then return to Floor 1. Follow-up orders in half an hour."


    "Orders to search Floor 2, then return to Floor 1 confirmed. Will await further orders. Scout team leader out."


    The Commander sighed again. 1 person confirmed dead, another 10 almost certainly dead. ''MIA'' was basically just code for ''dead until proven otherwise'' after all. Add to that the original 4 deaths, and...


    "Adjutant, prepare two messages to the barracks. One for the case we will lose no more people and another for the case that we do. Subject matters respectively will be observation order of the dungeon and request for dungeon-extermination experts to be delivered post-haste."


    "Yes, Ma''am!"


    "Also, you are to personally bring the message in 2 hours. I will stay here until there is no other choice."


    "...Yes, Ma''am..."


    "Move it!"


    ~~~~~


    We had heard the exchange. So this was it, we couldn''t kill any more of them or they would bring the most powerful troops their army could muster.


    "I hate doing this, but perhaps this can foster some goodwill."


    "What do you have in mind, Czara?"


    I started stripping and then put on the maid outfit.


    "I think Feema has to go make a plea."

 12 Im a Core!? Ch.7: Break

    People like me don''t sleep long. I''d been in the military for five years, climbed my way to Commander status, and led a squad of four others who were considered somewhat experienced. So it came as a surprise that, after the disastrous battle against an unholy amount of vicious rats which ended in our apparent complete annihilation, I actually had somehow survived. Lord Veles would not yet meet me, it seemed.


    (But Czarina help me, what did I do to deserve such a fate?)


    I wondered as I looked around. A prison cell with strangely-angled bars criss-crossing over one-another. It was a little roomy, with spots of light in the ceiling. The stone work felt old, but not too worn to be considered ancient.


    I got off the bed, my body feeling... rested. Only then did I realise the bed was a plank of wood chained to the wall, and the bedding was an assortment of furs and wool. As for my body? Naked, naturally. Nobody would let a prisoner keep their belongings. I grabbed for the hidden knife in my hair bun, only to realise my hair was loose.


    (So they found that one, too. Whoever owns this prison is smart and careful.)


    I spotted two light grey pieces of clothes on the ground. A loose shirt and a pair of pants that barely reached to the mid-thighs. I put a knot into the shirt to secure it against my body; the pants had a string lining the inside. I tried ripping it out to perhaps use as a hidden weapon, but it was stuck. At least with the string knotted they would stay up. Did I have to fear for my modesty being violated?


    (Surely that would be the only reason to put a woman into a solitary cell...)


    The fairly dark cell felt oppressive and lonely, but the temperature at least was decent. Certainly nicer than the first floor or even the snowy outside. I strained my hearing and realised a powerful river was nearby.


    (Of course, that would mask any screams once they begin violating me.)


    I did not sigh in resignation of my fate; I steeled myself for the event by beginning my daily routine after waking up.


    ~~~~~


    A maid had come and brought me food. She was a blonde little thing with green eyes, which shimmered a suspicious white in their centres. The light level had increased not even a little until she took out a small glowing orb, which allowed me to see her, and the cell, in better detail. Not like the cell had much to show for to begin with.


    In any case, the maid was young. At most 10. The dress she wore was either a dark blue or black, but the frilly cloth looked supremely expensive. The fact her top was separate from her sleeves and short enough to leave some of her belly uncovered was utterly scandalous! Her skirt covered not much more of her legs either, with a noticeable - if perhaps fashionable? - gap between it and her dark leg coverings. Were those not expensive socks and shoes? Just who was I dealing with?


    Then the puzzle pieces fell into place. She was obviously a dungeon monster enchanted to take human form. Except... something felt off about her. She was too timid. Did she fake it?


    We had a short talk, and she explained her name to be Feema and that she was a slave from Alheim. An elf then, taken in by the dungeon for a reason I couldn''t discern quite yet. She looked like a younger version of that so-called heroine Constanze, who she confirmed she knew. Clearly her sister then. Were we fooled by those Alheimian bastards? Had they dared to send a fake heroine whose goal was to retrieve her sister all along? I grew furious at the deception!


    In any case I finally ate my ration - the only one I would get for the day - and realised just how hungry I''d really been. The bread was warm, and the cheese so soft it almost melted in my mouth. How had I never eaten something like this when I risked my life on a daily basis? But no, I was a soldier. Enduring hardship was my job so others would not have to.


    The conversation ended with Feema indicating she would be on the look-out for a chance to escape. With her knowledge and my skill it should be simple. Easier still if the dungeon was busy repelling someone at the time. Before that though she indicated the dungeon would know what we say. I blatantly tried [Identify] on her, which unexpectedly got blocked. The ring. Of course. Maybe I could get her to take it off and see the truth underneath. Until then I would have to take her word for it.


    ~~~~~


    Feema returned after what felt like almost exactly a day. The food was the same on the second day, but on the third day it came with an addition of greens. Beans, and even a cucumber. It was quite the feast for a mere prisoner.


    (Clearly this is all a trap to make me lower my guard. Surely a truly hideous dungeon monster will enter my cell soon and be rewarded for whatever dungeon monsters do by having its way with my body. A strong body breeds strong offspring, after all. What a trap this is. If I aim to remain strong and fit, the offspring will be stronger. If I slack and weaken, I''ll be an easier lay. Regardless, I''ll still get violated.)


    I decided to stay as strong as I could for my possible chance to escape.


    Feema looked at me, not saying a word this time. Had she already been found out and forced to be mute? Damn it!


    "Why so quiet? Can you not talk?"


    "Hm? Oh, yes yes. I was just not sure what to say."


    (Good, so no forced muteness at least.)


    I still had a chance to learn of the environment. I looked her over again. Her dress was impossibly pristine and - aside the scandalous cut - looked truly like something I could not ever afford even with a year''s worth of pay. I felt envy rising in my throat, threatening to overwhelm my common sense. To perform my services in a beautiful, expensive dress like that? In an environment where I would not have to risk life and limb on the daily? The idea felt alluring, at least for a moment.


    But then I came back to my senses. No, a trick, that was all it was. I had sworn on the good name of my family to serve my country. The Czarina and Czar themselves were present every year for the vow of military service.


    (Perhaps... perhaps in a few years I can ask to retire and exchange this service for another?)


    I threw myself at the food, trying to banish these intrusive thoughts.


    ~~~~~


    In the guise of Feema, I visited Anastasiya again. I had not learned much about her the past couple days, but she seemed to at least appreciate my company.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    "I think you''re late."


    ...She was still very straight-forward though.


    Anastasiya was as always doing her routines to stay fit when I entered. It was the only thing she could do all day really, having nothing else to do but be a DP booster for us.


    "My apologies, but the dungeon is under attack, so it was not safe for me to come until now."


    (Safe for anyone who can''t put themself wherever they want via [Teleportation] or dungeon menu shenanigans, anyway.)


    "Ah, I see. Is it the response from Smirnov?"


    "It is, yes. According to what I heard, they have lost a total of 15 people now-


    "15!? I did not exp-"


    "Please, allow me to finish." I lightly held my hand out. She nodded. "You are among those 15."


    "I am? But... oh, I am assumed dead then."


    "One other of your group has also survived and managed to escape. He was the one to alert your people. So in addition to the supposed 4 deaths of your squad, really 3, 11 of the current invaders have also perished."


    "Less than the necessary threshold, if not by a lot. But so what? I am imprisoned regardless, and based on our talks I will likely never escape on my own. I can only await being freed. Which will also free you from your slave contract I am sure. Because the dungeon will be eradicated soon."


    I shifted uncomfortably, staring my own death sentence right in the eyes. With some courage I finally opened my mouth again before I dragged on for too long.


    "I would prefer not. I... like it here."


    Anastasiya looked at me with pure confusion in her eyes, but then nodded to herself.


    "You''re only saying this because the dungeon forces you to be happy about your situation."


    I internally groaned. That was exactly the kind of thing I hoped she wouldn''t assume!


    "M-Maybe. But I am happy, fake happiness or not. Due to this, the dungeon makes you an offer. You will be let go, provided you do your best to convince the current invaders to not destroy my- much of anything. The dungeon wishes to live, but it sees people entering it as hostiles. This need not be so, for everyone''s sakes... Please..." I laid it on pretty thick, even making a kind of praying hand gesture and some fake tears. It seemed to work.


    "*Sigh* Alright, if the dungeon will hold its end of the bargain. Avoid any more deaths for the time being. I swear I will do my best to convince the army to retreat to Floor 1 and not attack even if it pains me to have lost 3 comrades. But we all knew the risk..."


    "I''m sorry for your loss." (Not really, your people have been plenty awful so far.)


    I raised a few of the steel poles so Anastasiya could exit her cell. She insisted on taking my hand as we ascended the stairs and pushed the trapdoor open. It had been a while since she saw this much sunlight - dungeon-made as it was - and needed to orient herself for a moment.


    She dragged me to the river and, with only one hand, scooped up some water and threw it into her face.


    "This is... quite good. Cool and pure, not at all like the industrial run-off we have at home."


    She sniffed the fresh air, a light scent of maple was carried by a faint breeze to her. She inhaled deeply, her eyes closed. The outside was a snowy wonderland, but on this Floor ruled the permanent early summer.


    "If this was no a deathtrap I might call it a paradise."


    A nearby fallen tree, which even I had not noticed before, proved a suitable bench, so Anastasiya dragged me over and sat down. Her long white bunny ears twitched, but she only heard the river and some rustling of leaves.


    "No birds. No insects either. This shows how fake this place actually is."


    "It''s still pretty though, you know?"


    She stared at me, which made me uncomfortable once again. Not least because, while we were both adults, she was the only one who actually looked the part.


    "I have been wondering, Feema. How do you understand the dungeon?"


    "Huh? What do you mean, can''t you understand it?"


    "No, of course not. Dungeons don''t speak to us. There are only two types: the ones we can exploit for their riches, ''mine'' dungeons, and the dangerous ones suitable for training. Well, I guess there are three types."


    "Those who''re enemies and must be destroyed?"


    She nodded grimly.


    "I''ll say it again. You must come with me. I can free you from the dungeon''s influence!"


    She suddenly stood up and pulled hard on my wrist!


    "Ah- no, nooo! Y-You promised!!!"


    "Oh please, a promise under duress means nothing! Now come with me, I think I can see my comrades."


    "St-Stooo-"


    At that moment I knew that, once again, people couldn''t be trusted to do the right thing even if the right thing stared them right in the face or maybe kicked them in the ass. Whether it''s asking you to help them and then they treat you like disposable tools or trash, or someone who swears an oath only to break it not 15 minutes later, nobody actually has any honour - or even just common sense - to not lie for even the most meagre benefits.


    And yet I could do nothing but be dragged along by this powerful bunny woman. It literally was the difference in strength between a trained soldier and a little girl, after all. I just hoped Mimissa wouldn''t do anything rash since I was confident I could still speak reason into at least the other Commander. To be safe, I stealthily tagged Mimissa to inform her.


    "Commander Anastasiya!? We thought you- uh- ahem, it''s great to see you alive, Ma''am!"


    The scout saluted stiffly.


    "At ease, soldier."


    "Who is that little maid, Ma''am?"


    "A benefactor of ours."


    ~~~~~


    Anastasiya insisted on actually bringing me all the way to the entry point. The colder ambience of Floor 1 did not bother her in her rush, though admittedly she had received a coat at least.


    The other Commander woman had already been informed via what I by now had realised was a bulky communication tool. It did not feel very magical, which made me assume it was perhaps more mundane or at most magically enhanced rather than a true magic tool.


    "Commander Anastasiya, reporting for duty!"


    Like the soldiers before, she saluted.


    "It''s good to see you alive, Ana." The two women smiled. "So this is the little benefactor who helped you escape?"


    "I didn''t-"


    She glared, making me shut up on the spot.


    (Why are these military women so scary!?)


    "I was incarcerated on Floor 2. I managed to trick the dungeon into letting me go free, and dragged her along. On the way I have been informed that 3 members of my squad are dead. I will take full responsibility for my blunder!"


    The other woman raised an eyebrow.


    "Nonsense. You managed to get an intelligent dungeon monster under your control. She even speaks our language. That is worth the price of 3 deaths." She rolled her eyes. "Why, imagine if me losing a mere 11 soldiers was grounds for punishment. Perish the thought." Then she finally addressed me. "Now about you. What kind of monster might you be? [Identify]."


    The spell shattered my [Identity Protection], and the Commander woman keeled over dead, her mouth foaming. Everyone was shocked, including myself...


    "Wh-What!? Alert!"


    Anastasiya smartly let go of my hand. Suddenly no less than 10 soldiers had their rifles aimed at me, from a sensible distance. I slowly, very slowly, raised my arms.


    I changed my tag again.


    ''Plan C, now!''

 13 Im a Core!? Ch.8: Panic

    (Shit, shit, shiiit!)


    My arms were raised, not like it mattered. I was no longer considered harmless, whether as a hostage, a slave, or a dungeon monster. I''d somehow blown my chance. And I was already feeling heat build up in my body, making my cheeks flush and my skin develop a light layer of sweat.


    (Mimissa, please help me!)


    ~~~~~


    Mimissa was observing the situation. The death of the second Commander woman was not unwelcome since that meant more DP; she had realised her acid trap was overkill because they couldn''t get DP from a corpse and their belongings if neither of those remained. No wonder Czara was horrified!


    But now these invaders - well technically not all of them were invaders since some had not gone through the entryway yet but whatever - had Czara surrounded, their rifles aimed and ready to hurt her.


    "Oh a tag change. ''Plan C''? I don''t want to, but fine. If Czara gets turned into holey cheese she''ll probably complain for days. She''d look very uncute too. "[List Search: Monster, Dolores.]"


    The search function looped, then returned an error.


    ''No matching monster found.''


    "What...? [List Search: Monster, Mimissa.]"


    The search function made a second loop, then showed Mimissa''s name in white, accompanied by several blinks.


    (So it''s not broken, there''s just no entry?)


    "[Menu], skip the search display, just be faster! [List Search: Monster, Malfissa]!"


    The list jumped directly to the name, it was white and blinked. Her position indicated she was outside the dungeon.


    "[Summon: Malfissa]!"


    A magic circle appeared before Mimissa''s screen, and a light wind picked up. She involuntarily moved back since the effect was downright ominous.


    Before her stood a demonic woman. A tall, and very, very attractive demonic woman. Her very long, red hair and pink glowing eyes were accentuated by uncharacteristically tanned skin, while a pair of complexly spiralling horns sat on her head like a crown. Her wings, majestic black things that would make any bat go mad and die from envy, partially wrapped around her body while her long tail of a similar colour and material whipped around in a flurry, its end a mean-looking stinger.


    The entire ensemble was ruined by the large pink sweater and plush in-door shoes she was wearing.


    "You daaare summon me thiiis soon after the last time!? Was I not here but a few days ago too? You have NO sense of-" She looked at Mimissa, her anger completely forgotten in an instant. "...Mimissa? Why''re you in the Dungeon Core room? No, wait, HOW are you in the Dungeon Core room!?"


    Did she know? Did she not know? Mimissa needed to establish that first, or this would almost certainly backfire.


    "Malfissa, you know me even though I only know your name. But that''s not important right now, there''s an emergency! The Dungeon needs your help!"


    Malfissa''s face contorted, unbelieving what could possibly be the problem.


    "I fail to see how a nearly dead dungeon could have an emergency. Nobody but that little girl has been here in... in... well, a long time or whatever. The fact I''m still bound to it annoys me so make it quick, I''m missing my favourite radio show."


    "Right, that ''little girl'' is named Czara. She saved the Dungeon Core and, uh, also became the Dungeon Core-"


    "SHE DID WHAT!?"


    Powerful wind erupted from Malfissa, proof of how incredibly displeased she was at the news.


    "C-Calm down! Look, Czara is now our core, and she needs help! Anastelle is out of it due to some cursed bayonet thing, and I''m not a fighter. Please, help her!"


    "Ffffffffff- you do realise I was hoping the core would die so I could be free again? Besides, what does it matter? Are they next to the core and ready to blow it up?"


    "N-No... Czara is at the entrance with enemies aiming rifles at her. Err, here."


    Mimissa showed Malfissa the video feed. Czara''s body was on the ground and being tied up. Her head was bleeding lightly; she had possibly been struck and lost consciousness.


    "That sure is the girl. So she took a shortcut to Dungeon Avatar by keeping that body. *Whistle* The fuck, I didn''t even know that''s a thing. Ugh, fine, I''ll rescue her. Mind if I slaughter all of those people?"


    "No, don''t. Please charm them so we can plan what to do next."


    "Meh, sure. Oi, Anastelle, are you asleep?"


    She was, so Malfissa stepped over to her.


    "Oh Anastelle, sooo nice and defenceless for once. I really want to kick you a bit. But then I''ll probably get told off. The laugh. A little girl inherits a whole-ass dungeon... Whatever, place me. We still have Bulky?"


    "Y-Yes, I think I saw it."


    "Place him and me close to the entrance. Now!"


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Malfissa disappeared, leaving Mimissa and Anastelle alone again.


    (This is all going wrong. I just wanted a friend.)


    ~~~~~


    "Hi, Bulky. Did you miss me?"


    "Grumguhuhuha."


    "Good boy, good boy. Will you make mama happy today, too?"


    The creature nodded quickly and repeatedly despite the shadow of the alcove making it almost impossible so see.


    "Then let''s go."


    ~~~~~


    The soldiers were preparing to send the adjutant and two escorts by horse. Commander Anastasiya, now properly clothed and outfitted, had taken over but decided to stay with the troops. Or at least she wanted to, but everyone present insisted she should leave. If anyone could make it back, it would be the adjutant and her.


    "Alright, before I spend too many words on a pointless speech, let me just say this: you all are fine soldiers. Hold the position until reinforcements arrive, then leave the dungeon to them!"


    She was getting up on the horse, her left foot already over the saddle, when-


    "Guurgggahuhuhuhaaa."


    The strange sound was unlike anything anyone present had ever heard before. Commander Anastasiya got off the horse again in reflex. This would be her last mistake in this place as she spotted the monstrosity crawling out of the shadows.


    The... thing was easily 5 metres tall, quite wide too, and dragged its misshapen body along the ground. Its crooked face full of oddly-angled teeth seemed to be smiling a demented smile, its tiny legs too small to allow it a proper walking gait.


    "What... in Perun''s name is that...?"


    The body of the Bulk Petonator was covered in dozens of tentacle-like appendages ending in elven-like hands, all a faint pink-grey colour, which it whipped around in a flurry. Its gaze invoked confusion on anyone not strong-willed enough to resist it, making [Charm] skills all the more effective while the victims had their wits taken and resistances damaged.


    "[Lilim Charm], you fools. [Lilim Charm], [Lilim Charm], and ohhh how about some more [Lilim Charm]!?"


    The voice came from behind the Petonator, which came closer and true to its name randomly started petting people with its many appendages even as Malfissa appeared from the shadows.


    "You, woman holding the reins, give me whatever papers you have for delivery."


    "Yes, your highness!"


    "A pleasing response."


    All the soldiers had been completely [Charmed], any thoughts of disobedience purged from their minds. Anastasiya handed Malfissa the letter.


    "Hand me the maid as well. You may spend some time with Bulky as a reward."


    She scratched him under the chin. He shook in delight, like a severely-oversized dog. Czara''s body was handed to her.


    "Pffft. Why didn''t that silly Mimic not just place you? Amateurs, losing their heads in a panic like chickens." She spoke louder. "Mimissa, you can hear me, I know. Get us in the room, it''s cold as hell out here!"


    ~~~~~


    "And that''s what happened while you were unconscious."


    I was being held by Mimissa, both of us with tears in our eyes. Malfissa looked away from what I assumed someone strong like her would consider just pathetic displays of affection.


    "So uhm, I know you just got up, but what''re we going to do now? We can still kill everyone for their DP, you know?"


    "I don''t know about that. But I do know I need to get stronger! I fucked up so badly from messing around and suddenly-"


    Mimissa held a finger on my mouth.


    "You''re new to this, it''s fine. Also, I promised I''ll be your Co-Admin, so I''ll do all I can to help."


    "I- You- *Sigh* You''re right, I''m being stupid. However, I think this position is no longer any good. We should try to run away and find more allies to-"


    "Ahem."


    We looked at Malfissa, who was seemingly getting really annoyed.


    "You two really are like little children. ''Run away to find allies''? You must be crazy. Czara, you are a DUNGEON! Unless you move your core, which will leave you utterly defenceless, you cannot simply run away!"


    We looked at each other. I then looked at Malfissa. The gears in my head were turning again.


    "Run that by me again, please."


    "What, that you are crazy? Because you are."


    "No, the... you said the core can be moved?"


    Malfissa crossed her arms. I wasn''t sure if that meant she was calming down, or getting even more annoyed at us.


    "Well obviously. Why do you think you can place it on a different Floor?"


    "That''s it! We''ll find a different area and start over. This time as a dungeon that helps people!"


    "Are you growing soft already?! A helpful-"


    Malfissa felt the urge to facepalm, but stopped, realising something. This could be her opportunity.


    "...You knooow, as much as it pains me, I guess I must agree. It would ceeertainly be better if you start over. Use what you have learned in a better position than this. A village exists beyond the lake. Stay in hiding for a month, then present yourself as a ''new'' dungeon."


    Mr. Imp came over and flexed his muscles.


    "Mr. Imp, you''ll carry the core?"


    He nodded.


    "Good for you, because I have no intention to do that. I will head home now and I expect you will not summon me for the rest of the year."


    Her tone of voice was really starting to annoy me. Grind my gears, if I had any. Well, maybe I did. In any case, I realised something; was she not the one to lolify me in the first place? I smiled deviously.


    "Before that. Say, Malfissa, aren''t you the succubus famous for her hobby of turning women into little girls to toy with them?"


    "I am a lilim, thank you very much. And it is not exactly a hobby of mine, but-"


    Eyes closed, a smile on a my face, I started my revenge.


    "Then as your Dungeon Core I command you to ensure our collective security for as long as it takes!"


    "You- You little shiii-"


    "Also, be silent."


    "..."


    The glare she gave rivalled the sun, but even though she seemed just about to start snarling and pouncing me in a very un-succubus- excuse me, un-lilim-like manner, she could not. Dungeon monsters in range of the dungeon''s mana field have to obey their dungeon unconditionally, contract or spawn. But admittedly I would not do such a thing to Mr. Imp or Anastelle... and certainly not to Mimissa.


    "Alright, Malfissa, for the sake of advice and advice only you may speak. How do we best go about this relocation?"


    "Well, Ms. Little Shit, for starters we..."

 14 Im a Core!? Ch.9: Sendaway

    While listening to what Malfissa suggested, I came off the adrenaline - or something that simulated such at least - and I actually found it harder to concentrate. I was confused by that, so I told Malfissa to take a break.


    "..."


    Forced to be silent when not advising as per the order, she just stomped away and sat down in a corner.


    I turned my wavering attention to Mimissa. My mind started swimming, my vision grew blurry. And I felt hot. So damn hot!


    "Uhm... Mimissa... I-I-I don''t feel so-"


    My hazy mind could barely manage to even form a proper sentence. My body felt tender, and numb, and...


    She said something, but I barely heard it. My vision was fixated on her lips. Those luscious, pink lips, which looked more alluring than ever. I think on some level I realised what this was. I had somehow gotten horny, my thought processes were crashing down, and I could only focus on one thing.


    (Kiss Mimissa! Kiss Mimissa and make sweet love to her!)


    I couldn''t resist the temptation, not that there was an issue. We had kissed before, several times in fact. Although we had never kissed this passionately...


    I turned my head and pressed my lips on hers. She was a little surprised, but let it happen. We wrapped our arms against each other to get closer. I could feel her heartbeat. I wanted to get even closer, but it was already impossible! I pushed my tongue forward, to see what she would do. She answered it, more pleasantly surprised this time. Our tongues touched, moved, coiled against one another. Hot liquid entered my mouth as she tilted my head back and hers down to match.


    I broke the kiss, and I hated it! But I needed a moment to breathe. As soon as I could I was back for more, pulling Mimissa again as close as I was physically able to. My mind barely registered anything anymore but the soft, warm feeling of her lips on mine, with as I realised a sweet taste of cherry.


    I don''t know when exactly it was, but Mimissa had somehow dragged my whole body into her chest; I let it happen. I had grown to feel safe in the chest. She snapped the lid shut, and there she was and only she, her softly glowing eyes and dainty body the only things left in my vision.


    We kissed for the third time; I just couldn''t get enough of her! I took her scent in, it was intoxicating. The chest filled with the scent, and I felt like passing out from this moment of... bliss. I wanted her, I wanted her so badly, but by some manner of nagging feeling I went no further than squeezing her butt again. My body refused to go any further. Perhaps I feared going even further would be too soon, so I made do with this to satisfy myself, and her.


    We kept at it, kissing and kissing and kissing until I genuinely passed out under, her smiling face the last thing I remember. Even as a blur it was beautiful. My body sank into the chocolate, but she would always ensure I wouldn''t drown so I let go of everything...


    ~~~~~


    I eventually woke up. The chest was still closed. Mimissa smiled at me, then put her arms around me. Despite the slightly awkward pose - it felt a little cramped for some reason - we managed to move a little to become comfortable. The level of chocolate in the chest barely ever changed, and I consciously knew Mimissa would always ensure I wouldn''t drown, so I could just relax. She kissed me yet again, but just a small peck on the cheek this time. I must have blushed so hard.


    Partly to distract myself, I took a scoop of chocolate from her back and tasted it. There was still some cherry mixed into it.


    "Czara, you''re beautiful."


    I blushed harder at the compliment, knowing how sincere it was.


    "Th... Thank you. You are too. And kind. Intelligent. I''m glad I met you..."


    I was not good with getting or receiving compliments, but Mimissa made me feel appreciated.


    "You too are very intelligent. Much more than I am. I... I was a lonely monster. A mimic''s life is not a very eventful one. Even after I was granted a name, I just spent my days eating and waiting for invaders." Her sullen face matched her tone of voice; sad, weary, depressed. I tried to lightly hug her, but she put her arms on mine. Not yet.


    "Nobody ever came. I did not feel bored, but I did feel... forgotten? Yes, forgotten. When you came around, I put up a front, but I really just wanted someone to talk to. Someone who understands my level. My perspective. And..." She started crying, unable to finish that sentence.


    "Oh, please don''t cry."


    "I-I can''t help it! I kept it in for so long! Why was I granted a name?! Why was I alone for so loooong!? Waaaaaah!!!"


    She broke into a stream of tears, so I held her close. I tried to make soothing noises as she quieted down, sobbing into my shoulder.


    "It''s alright. Let it all out. I''m with you now and I won''t leave you again."


    "*Sniff* D-Do you promise...? Will you be my friend?"


    "I''m already your friend, no? So yes, of course I promise!"


    "Czara... thank you..."


    In the darkness of a treasure box, I had found the greatest treasure of all. A friend who was like me. She had suffered, same as I had. So I would not let her suffer any longer.


    ~~~~~


    "I think we all should share our status screens now. This has been bothering me for a while but I kept putting it off. Ah, but before that... Malfissa, did you place that casket for me? The one with three white stickers?"


    She nodded. Since this was not advice, she couldn''t say anything despite her obvious frustration at the fact. Serves her right.


    "This... ''bikini'' wouldn''t happen to be cursed with lust? You may advise me on what it does, so tell me everything."


    I kinda already knew the answer. It was the only possible explanation I had at this point.


    "Why would I- yes, indeed." She suddenly made a face of realisation as she was forced to properly answer. "As a favourite of succubi, which are of course below my status, the bikini latches onto the wearer like any cursed equipment and will not let go. I had hoped it would drive you slowly mad as you came to realise you cannot please your own body with it on even while it would raise your lust further and further. But you managed to avoid this by becoming the new Dungeon Core before there would be any meaningful increase."


    I kinda recoiled in horror.


    (Holy fuck, did I really dodge a bullet there!)


    "A-Anything else? Does it offer protective measures?"


    "Apart from making your little front slit impenetrable?" She rolled her eyes, deeming the question so stupid it actually bothered her. "Obviously; even a trainee succubus ought to be dominant. You think a little girl like you would be able to fend off attackers otherwise? There would be no struggle in that, it would be just boring. It may be just a fringe benefit, but there is a little repulsion effect if the wearer feels threatened."


    "A repulsion? How strong is it? Does it scale? ...Does [Identify] count? And also, stop calling me a ''little girl'', I only look like this. I''m still 18, you know!?"


    "Riiight. But yes, it does indeed scale with power. Or perhaps, since you are a Dungeon Core, with everything that makes you... you. As for [Identify], since it is a spell which can indirectly threaten you, it should indeed count."


    She actually seemed a little unsure on that last part, but if true, then the puzzle pieces had fallen into place: that commander woman who had the powerful [Identify], which overcame my [Identity Protection Rk.3], was considered a threat. Since I perceived it, the defence effect had then activated... and with the Dungeon and all my monsters under my command, the effect must''ve been amplified so much, it turned into an instant-kill spell which ended her right then and there.


    (I''m genuinely appalled and frightened that''s possible! Like damn, people can die if I just perceive them as dangers and want them dead!? Also huh, guess that means Anastasiya survived by pure chance because her [Identify] wasn''t strong enough.)


    "Alright, that will be... all. Oof."


    My head hurt a little from the realisation, so I bought a cup of tea to calm down. Mimissa hugged me from behind with one arm, holding a tea cup of her own in her other hand. Not something I would call exactly ''safe'', but she made completely sure not to spill anything on me.


    "Alright, now for our statuses. I''ll begin, then I guess we''ll just go clockwise so Mimissa''s next."


    Name: Constanze Czarina


    True Name: Dungeon Core Czara


    Species: Aesir; Dungeon Core; ???


    Class: New Core Lv.2


    HP: 55; MP: 110; STR: 15; AGI: 39


    Status Effects: Angered


    Equipment: Pasties Bikini of the Succubus; Suit of the Lady Seafarer; Samson Robot phone; Nagant Bolt-Action Rifle Type R2150


    Skills: Spear Proficiency Rk.1; Charm Tolerance Rk.5; Sense Trap Rk.1; Dungeon Menu¡ó; Purification; Identity Protection Rk.3; Rifle Proficiency Rk.1; ???


    Titles: The Curious; ???


    Affiliation: Dungeon ''NULL''


    Favoured Allies: Mimissa


    Allies: Anastelle; Mr. Imp


    Semi-Allies: Malfissa the Grand


    "Oh huh, I got a level up at some point, neat. I also need to look into this ally system at some point."


    (Looks like the names also updated. A result of [Identity Protection] bleeding through?)


    Mimissa immediately hugged me again.


    "I''m so happy for you, Czara!" Then she remembered. "Oh yeah, here''s my status too!"


    Name: Mimissa


    True Name: Mimissa the Chocolate Mimic


    Species: Dungeon Monster; Mimic; Mutant; ???


    Class: Mimic Lv.3


    HP: 250; MP: 27; STR: 20; AGI: 7


    Status Effects: N/A


    Equipment: N/A


    Skills: Slug Movement¡ó; Minor Transformation Rk.2; Fluid Control Rk.6; Allure Charm Rk.3; Acidity Rk.6; ??????????????????????????????????????????????; ???


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


    Titles: The Lonely; Friend-seeker; ???


    Affiliation: Dungeon ''NULL''


    Favoured Allies: Constanze Czarina


    Allies: Anastelle; Mr. Imp


    Semi-Allies: Malfissa the Grand


    "Then I shall be next."


    Name: Anastelle


    True Name: Anastelle the Dracubus


    Species: Dungeon Monster; Demon; Dragon; Mutant; ???


    Class: Demon Lv.8


    HP: 562/750; MP: 568; STR: 47/57; AGI: 61/71


    Status Effects: Cursed wound


    Equipment: Demonic Armour; Dragon Claws of Rending+1


    Skills: Fireball Rk.5; Charm Rk.3; Summon Slave Rk.6; Glow Rk.2; Suggestion Rk.2; Healing Balm Rk.4; ???


    Titles: The Protector; The Executor; The Slavemistress; ???


    Affiliation: Dungeon ''NULL''


    Allies: Constanze Czarina; Mimissa


    Semi-Allies: Mr. Imp;  Malfissa the Grand


    "*Hrmpf*."


    Name: Mr. Imp


    True Name: Mr. Imp the impertinent Imp of Impington


    Species: Demon; ???


    Class: Lower Demon Lv.4


    HP: 108; MP: 27; STR: 34; AGI: 41


    Status Effects: Contract; Quasi-mute


    Equipment: Cheap Loincloth


    Skills: Minor Charm Rk.3; Poison Claw Rk.4; ???


    Titles: N/A


    Affiliation: Dungeon ''NULL''


    Allies: Constanze Czarina; Mimissa


    Semi-Allies: Anastelle; Malfissa the Grand


    "Finally."


    Name: Malfissa the Grand


    True Name: -No data-


    Species: Demon; Lilim; ???


    Class: Greater Demon Lv.13


    HP: 579; MP: 823; STR: -No data-; AGI: -No data-


    Status Effects: Contract; Angered


    Equipment: -No data-


    Skills: -No data-


    Titles: The Majestic; The Grand; The Indulgent; Plaything Maker; ???


    Affiliation: Chernobog''s Court; Dungeon ''NULL''


    Allies: Chernobog the Black


    Semi-Allies: Mimissa; Anastelle; Mr. Imp


    Allies of Convenience: Constanze Czarina


    Enemies: Baba Yaga the Mad Witch


    We all read the stats each other provided.


    "Malfissa, why does your sheet not show certain points?"


    "Because, dear Czara, it is advisable not to show as giving such information away is foolish."


    I stared in annoyance, but eventually just went with it. I''d figure her out later. Anastelle wanted to speak up, anyway.


    "Czara, I have got an, ugh, idea. How about we leave a smashed Dummy Core behind to fool whoever will show up to investigate?"


    I perked up at her idea.


    "A Dummy Core? That''s a thing?"


    "It costs a *Cough* a decent amount of DP, but it is absolutely worth it, yes."


    I checked the menu. 5000DP was not cheap for us, but we had a juicy source of DP standing eagerly in wait. If this would help keep people off our trail, it would make sense.


    "Okay, due to the price we need to alter the plan; it''s probably best if we kill all but 4 of the invaders, that should be a reasonable gain of DP- is there a problem, Malfissa?"


    She looked at me, an oddly surprised look on her face. But then she shook her head.


    "Oh no, no, of course not. For the sake of advice, I could recommend several ways of action. But really, I was just wondering if you are in fact quite sane? You do seem to switch between wanting to help people and wanting to murder them for their DP at the drop of a hat. Ah, but that must be my fault. Do go on."


    "Well, we do need the DP right now..."


    "Actually, Malfissa, how long''ll the [Charm] hold? Can they remember what happened here?"


    "Not if we permanently alter their memories so they will believe the same thing regarding what happened. Do you have anything in mind?"


    We all thought about that.


    "Well, ideally they''d forget the dungeon was ever here, but that''s not an option considering, you know, everything so far... Anastelle, Mimissa, you got any ideas?"


    Mimissa spoke up.


    "Czara, I think it might be best if they believe they managed to destroy the dungeon on their own despite suffering many losses. With only four of them, we''ll just make them all think the same thing."


    "I agree," Anastelle offered, "we should strip the dungeon bare. If we turn everything into DP, then with the addition of the killed invaders we should have enough DP to leave a smashed core behind. Alongside their testimonies, whoever will come here should confirm their story."


    "Right, then let''s do that."


    ~~~~~


    We were standing outside, just about ready to go. The dungeon had been emptied out, everything we could turn into DP was converted back. A Dummy Core cost 5000DP, and we were still at a mere 3521; not nearly enough to enact the plan. We really ended up having to kill them, but that''s just how things go.


    The still [Charmed] soldiers, and a couple horses, were waiting outside the entrance but inside the dungeon-claimed area. Bulky the Bulk Petonator, as a monster that didn''t actually have a name - only Malfissa called it such but it was not registered - was already gone, same as the ratsies and batsies. If it left the mana field it might have become hostile, and it was far too big and conspicuous to keep around anyway. Also, I originally totally misread its species name...


    (This must be how people feel when they misread ''Wurm'' and ''Wyrm''.)


    This left the soldiers as the sole source of DP unless we decided to cut down a whole forest - and considering how cheap a forest was to make with DP, the payout seemed just not worth the effort.


    "All of you," Malfissa began, "are fine soldiers of Smirnov. Your Lady, that is me, now demands only one further sacrifice. Your lives must be given for the sake of the future."


    They all saluted.


    "I offer my life for her Highness!"


    "So do I!"


    "And me as well!"


    I could only stare in discomprehension.


    (As if I needed any more proof of how worrisome mind control is. Their faces are eager beyond reason to die and become energy.)


    "...What a drag. Well I am not that much of a sadist so I will just roll a die or something, that way this will be fair. Everyone aside from Anastasiya and adjutant Whatsyourface, line up over here. Two of you will be spared."


    (Russian roulette with one chamber empty would make this quicker, but no one here seems to have a revolver. And I''m not going to buy one from the catalogue when I need all the DP I can get for a Dummy Core.)


    Malfissa did some dice rolling; two were spared as promised. The others, well, after she and I killed the rest, not even their blood spilled on the snow was left once I absorbed them. I quickly went into the core with Mimissa to separate the bodies from their belongings, just in case there was anything worthwhile to keep.


    "Czara, how about we keep one of the four to interrogy... uhm, interrogate later? Like we ask questions so we know more about them."


    Mimissa had a good idea there, so once we exited again, one of the remaining two regulars was bound and gagged. Which of course meant removing his mask. It hadn''t occurred to me before, but the fact they were all wearing such masks made from some dark material that roughly matched their fuzzy coats and ushanka-like hats kinda suppressed their individuality. The only marks of identity were the various lines on each side of their masks and matching ones on their shoulders. Rank insignias? It was as good a guess as any.


    I bought the Dummy Core for 5000 DP. Via map placement, I zipped to the inside of the locked room - my first proper creation I guess, though there was also the prison - and formed a pedestal that matched the one the true Dungeon Core rested on. With a rifle taken as spoils, I went prone, pressed it against my shoulder, and... remembered to put the real Dungeon Core outside first. Then I fired the first shot...


    "Ouch! Ffffffuck, that''s some kickback!"


    I really felt that recoil; no wonder they had such padded coats. But I bit the pain down and shot the Dummy Core several more times. When it lost its ethereal glow, I knew it was considered dead. I felt the urge to turn it into DP, but resisted.


    Once outside again, now with the real thing by my side, we were finally ready since Malfissa had already reprogrammed the three soldiers - that is, Anastasiya, the adjutant, and the other soldier who I noticed was holding a pink winter coat in his arms - and had them on their horses.


    I summoned a wooden cart. Mr. Imp stepped up. It was time.


    ~~~~~


    I looked at the core, propped up on the pillar. Outside. For everyone to see. It was so very foolish of Czara to attempt this. I only waited in glee; my chance of freedom had finally come.


    "You three better get inside the core now, or your bodies will stop working."


    Anastelle, Czara, and Mimissa all disappeared into the Core Room; Mr. Imp and I were the only ones left. I looked beyond the border of the dungeon''s influence. As a contract I could leave the area, but I''d be compelled to regularly return whether I wanted to or not.


    I spotted a group of rats. Their burrow was nearby, but outside the mana field. If I had been a critter, even despite being dungeon-born I''d be weak enough that my body could sustain itself without issue. I would not be compelled to return, either, the connection would simply have broken entirely.


    One of the rats caught my attention. It was bigger, stronger. It was no mere mindless drone, it seemed to have a mind of its own.


    "[Identify]."


    Name: Sergeant Jerry


    True Name: Sergeant Jerry


    Species: Rat; Dungeon Critter; ???


    Class: Critter Lv.2


    HP: 25; MP: 4; STR: 9; AGI: 17


    Status Effects: N/A


    Equipment: N/A


    Skills: N/A


    Titles: The Leader; The Alpha; The Messiah; The Shoutout; ???


    Affiliation: N/A


    Allies: Cheese


    (Imagine naming a mere rat. A critter with a name, something no sane dungeon would ever deign to create. And those titles, it''s so laughable.)


    I turned my attention to Mr. Imp.


    "Are you ready to put the core into the cart and start pushing?"


    Perhaps I should have felt lucky I was at least spared this menial job. Mr. Imp was a contract as well, so he would not shut down from this. He stepped up to the pillar and carefully grabbed the core in both hands. He took firm hold and raised it.


    The change was immediate; the inside of the dungeon died. The torches all went out in a second, the corridors crumbled, crashing, breaking, as stone walls fell to pieces and ceiling tiles rained down in dusty explosions. The underlying cave partially disappeared, anyone seeing this would have to sift through tons and tons of rubble to arrive at the false conclusion that this dungeon was, in fact, killed. I smiled.


    Mr. Imp stilled, confusion clear on his face. I observed the change, the smile on my face turning into a grin. A dungeon acts as an amplifier of the core. Like a dungeon-born monster, a contractee must obey the dungeon as long as the dungeon core''s will reaches it. Since the core had lost its permanent connection to the ground, its reach had been reduced to exactly zero.


    "Grrrrbbggtttff... fffffr... fffree...dom..."


    I waited. I wanted to see if all their misplaced trust in this imp would pay out for my amusement. Whether it would bite them in the ass. He struggled, oh he struggled so much. It was delightful seeing him squirm as he gripped and tangled with the fact he did not have to go through with this. If he just smashed the defenceless core, he would be permanently free, no questions asked. Tears ran down his face.


    (Wait, tears...? What is happening!?)


    I motioned to him to trample the core. A good kick would damage the artefact, a few more would completely shatter it. The two of us would be free to go and live as we wanted. But something was off. He made no attempt to destroy the core.


    I lost my patience and snatched the core from his vein-covered hands. It was just a Dungeon Core like any other. Small, smaller than before. Dungeon Cores grow with the amount of Floors. This one had further shrunk since it technically had not a single Floor to its name anymore. My hands were placed to its sides and I wanted to push.


    But I could not!


    (Why? Why why WHYYYY!? If I just destroy this accursed thing I will be free!!!)


    It made no sense. I tried dropping it, get the damned thing away. I could not even do that.


    (What kind of bondage is this!? Why can I not-)


    Mr. Imp pulled on my sweater, not unlike a mother''s young child would pull on her skirt. He wanted it back, so I gave it to him. This, at least, was possible to me. I felt weak in the knees, and fell to the ground in defeat.


    (I don''t understand a thing...)


    With the care of a mother to her baby, Mr. Imp put the core into the cart. Several layers of cushioning and cloth were in the cart so the core would not get damaged during the trip. I internally cursed, or rather wanted to, but my mind felt blank. My freedom had seemed so close, but it was further away than ever before.


    I forced myself to calm down. Took deep breaths. But my pulse was racing. I decided to figure out this mystery. What had gone wrong that day. What it was that made us care for an object that by no means should have had any hold left over us.


    With a light breeze of fluffy snow for company, we began our trip towards and across the lake.

 15 Im a Dungeon! Ch.1: New Beginnings

    I once thought I knew things. Great, terrible things. Things no mortal should ever know. That my knowledge of such things made me superior to others. But such prideful folly got me into a contract of servitude I was not prepared for. The Dungeon Core showed leniency for my plight, but even so I was bound to it and had to fulfil my duties as it saw fit.


    Many, many years have passed since then, but I came no closer to ending the contract I have grown weary of. Then a moment of opportunity had presented itself. The Dungeon had unexpectedly become... damaged. It began to wither away, and I could feel it weaken. It was a slow process at first, but eventually it accelerated.


    ''Only a little longer,'' I thought. A year? Perhaps two. The Dungeon would have died, as peacefully as it could. But then she had to come. I had hoped she would understand the dangers, but no. She had to mess things up. She and her annoying friend. The death of the Dungeon slowed.


    Then she had to make me act. I tried to not repeat my mistakes, and yet I did. She did not leave, instead she went deeper. The Dungeon had nearly completely withered to nothing. Its Floor 2 was already being scraped on. I assumed she would see the void and reason, and turn around. That she would look for a way to undo my machinations.


    Just how did she survive the descent? Certainly someone had to have helped her. Then the worst possible thing happened: she repaired the Dungeon Core, making it her own in the process.


    How mysterious that such a thing was possible. But perhaps it makes sense in retrospect. Alas, my journey to freedom had been undone due to her actions. Then, even as a final hope spot appeared, it too was taken away from me.


    (I want to hate her. I want to hate her with every fibre of my being. But I cannot.)


    I looked around, taken out of my thoughts by Mr. Imp. He actually looked concerned for me even as he pushed the cart containing the very cause of my predicament. An imp, concerned for one such as I. It was laughable.


    The afternoon sky overhead was a lovely shade of pale blue as we made our way. I breathed in, eyes closed. The air was clean, cold, but also soft in a way. The faintest smell of pine reached my nose. I opened my eyes as I breathed out once more. The sight of the winter forest around us, its trees and the ground covered in beautiful, freshly-fallen snow, was incredible. I listened to a pair of birds chirping.


    "How unusual for there to be birds here."


    "Birrrrds... fffffooood?"


    I shook my head, realising I should have brought a shawl. Boots would have been good as well.


    "I doubt these birds will be easy to catch."


    I looked at the tree tops; I could hear the birds, but not see them. They were lucky and got to live another day. More animals appeared, mostly small things that were no danger to me. A fox here, a deer there. Mr. Imp might have struggled against them had we been forced to fight the wildlife. I think I spotted a large shadow between some of the trees further to our right, but it disappeared before I could make it out properly.


    I flapped my wings and rose into the air for a moment. The wind felt exhilarating, and I wanted to freely fly around. But I stayed low to not get spotted, so I carefully sat atop a pine tree to look ahead.


    The lake beyond was a majestic thing, several kilometres long and wide, its surface made of ice easily over a metre thick.


    I spotted several figures in the distance, in front of the smoking chimneys of the village. They were on the ice, gliding in circles around each other.


    (What are those? Beastkin, dancing on the ice?)


    I dropped down again, thinking of the strange sight. Certainly the lake''s ice would hold their weights easily, but it still felt weird to me.


    "People are on the ice near the village, we should avoid their attention."


    "Yessss. Careeeffful with c-c-corrrrre."


    At some point I would have to teach Mr. Imp proper speech. The fact he was beginning to speak at all was already strange, but his attempts felt pathetic and thus were no good to leave as they were.


    We reached the lake proper. The figures were still busy dancing, but if they were as skilled as me - unlikely but not impossible - we might have gotten spotted had we not stayed low. We went around the lake with care. A bear found our scent and figured it could have us for dinner. Why it was not hibernating like any sane bear should, I could not explain even if I tried.


    "Raaawwwrrr! Groooohhh!"


    The animal was big, with large claws and light brown, thick fur. It tried ramming us, shouting loudly all the while.


    (Damn you, don''t give away that we''re here you dumb pelt on legs!)


    I took the bear head-on, pushing against its head. It was confused for a moment that I stopped its charge dead, but then it tried to swipe at me with its front claws. I kneed the bear in the chin, which dazed it, then delivered a kick to its side which made it slide a little across the ground.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    It actually survived, but after a short defiant glare got the hint and left us alone. We did not give chase, naturally; we instead continued on our way. The lake was beautiful in the setting sun, the reflections of red evening light sparkling upon its surface in a myriad of shades. I decided to watch it again the next day if I could.


    Closer to the village still I could see the figures on the ice more clearly. They were sliding on shoes that were mounted on thin metal blades, doing pirouettes and other complicated movements around one-another. Based on their differing sizes, there appeared to be children and adults alike, though none seemed to be working age males.


    (What a curious way to spend your time...)


    This too I decided I would have to try for myself.


    Eventually the sun fully set, causing the villagers to head home in the twilight. Lights started glowing from inside their houses.


    I was quite certain we could find a good spot to start the dungeon somewhere now that less people would be around to spot us.


    "We will need to go to the mountain on the left. Can you manage that?"


    "Can ma...nage. C-Cooold..."


    Mr. Imp started to shiver; hardly a surprise considering he was wearing an ill-fitting coat and not much else.


    (Czara better give him proper recompense, or else...!)


    Slightly up the mountain trail, we found a small plateau. I was wondering if we could find a mine, or at least a natural cave, but luck would not have it.


    "Hmmm... now what do we do?"


    I sent a pulse of mana into the Dungeon Core. With the core not being grounded, I could not have used the [Menu] even if I were given such permission; had I been I would have used the tag system that was explained to me as a communication tool. But the infusion of mana worked; the Dungeon Core, put on the ground, rose slightly atop a vine-covered pillar growing from the rocky surface. The process to claim territory had begun.


    A light shone, and Czara - wearing a fur-trimmed light blue winter coat - appeared via magic circle. The moment she spotted me...


    "Oh my goodness, Malfissa! Thank you... so..."


    ...she tried running to my position and then fell to the ground, her eyes lifeless.


    "Goodness me, I was sure I explained that."


    I rolled my eyes. Mr. Imp was more concerned, running to her body and feeling for life signs.


    "She... dead...? Why deeead!?"


    "She is not dead. She just left the mana field."


    I picked up her body and propped it against the pillar. A few seconds later, she breathed in deeply, nearly smacking her head against it. She looked around in confusion, then her glowing eyes focused on me again.


    "Uhm... what happened?"


    "..."


    "Ah, right. Please advise me on the problem."


    "Grrr, and I could speak so freely too. Well, my advice is that, since you left the mana field and your body stopped working, make sure not to do that." She dusted herself off. The dust was really snow, but I digress. "You will want to start claiming territory. You should find a ley line or a mana vent or something otherwise rich in mana if you dig a little into this mountain. I advise that you hurry with that so you can dig out at least a room for the core to hide."


    "Okaaay~! One-room strat is go! [Menu]!"


    (At least she has enthusiasm this time. I wonder what happened inside the core.)


    ~~~~~


    "Hey hey, Czara, how about this one?"


    "I think you''re wasting DP, you know? We''re gonna need it later to make stuff."


    Inside the Core Room, Anastelle, Mimissa, and I were having a tea party which then changed into a fashion session. Ironically it was me who thought we should be careful with that because our DP was a scarce 473 already. If you take the cost of even just a single Goblin at 20DP, it was honestly close to nothing. But both Anastelle and Mimissa wanted me to try a couple different outfits, so I obliged.


    Anastelle first wanted to see me, err, wearing only the ''bikini'' - which is only such since it technically covers something - but at least she justified it by using a measuring tape. Despite how Mimissa had already seen me like this, and so had Anastelle for at least our initial encounter, it still felt embarrassing.


    "Hold still, please, or the measurements will be useless."


    "Yes yes, sure."


    After that, I rolled the moveable wall over and hid behind it when I changed my clothes. Since I had precisely two sets for now, the ''Suit of the Lady Seafarer'' and the ''Maid Servant Dress (Dark Blue) (Evening Hours)'', Mimissa said I should at least buy a winter coat and boots. I decided on a light blue coat with white fur trim and hood; it covered my arms to my fingers and reached to around my mid-calves. The light grey boots covered the rest.


    "Alright, how''s this?"


    "It''s lovely!"


    "I agree, it suits you very well." Anastelle stepped over and fixed the coat a little. "With this, you should easily fit in should you ever want to visit somewhere. Would you mind if I sew a bow to the coat?"


    I liked the idea, so I handed her the coat after getting dressed in my usual sailor suit.


    Some time later, I felt a surge of mana. It was faint, but I knew it must''ve been Malfissa sending a signal. Since the Dungeon Core had been disconnected entirely, I did not know if I could use the map function at first, and when I tried it I noticed there was nothing on display. I then focused on the outside environment, expressing my will to claim territory, which with some concentration worked out.


    The map started displaying a tiny amount of area, but oddly there were no green symbols indicating our allies. This wasn''t good, so I foolishly placed myself outside - I should have considered potential enemies.


    When I saw Malfissa and Mr. Imp then, I was elated and started running... and my consciousness suddenly stopped as if an old roll of film had a tear. After what felt like barely a second, perhaps almost instantly even, I was in a different position. Malfissa explained that I could not just casually leave the mana field projected by the Dungeon Core.


    Thus I started claiming territory to fix that issue...

 16 Im a Dungeon! Ch.2: Baby Steps

    How does a dungeon design itself? It should actually be quite simple, really. After all, consuming matter and growing are the fundamental basics of any life form, magical or not. Though while I had the knowledge, that once again didn''t mean I knew what I was doing.


    (Ha, ha, no wonder I didn''t really do anything. I''m actually a little scared, what if I mess- gah, stop thinking like that! Just go with the flow!)


    I focused inwards, trying to imagine something. Nothing fancy for a start, just a room. A single room that-


    *Ding* [Error: Room cannot be placed.]


    "Uhhhh... might I know why?"


    *Ding* [Error: No Floor has been defined.]


    (Derp, of course.)


    I pressed my eyes shut, suppressing how I was feeling like an idiot. Before I started losing myself in that feeling, I just did the reasonable thing: define a dang Floor.


    (Okay, deep breaths. Floor, define Floor... Ah!)


    I realised that I needed to assimilate some of the area first. Malfissa was right about that. A cube of about 3 metres to every side was taken over by my mana field.


    (Yeah, I''ll totally need more practice for this.)


    The cube was defined as Floor 1, necessitating me to place an entrance corridor since the Floor itself was roughly two metres deep into the rock, otherwise I could not make a room. My DP dropped by around 50, but I got it.


    (There, one cubic room, one corridor.)


    An entrance with a stone arc frame was automatically added.


    (Actually, since we want to hide, can I...?)


    The leafy door frame-like... frame disappeared, leaving only a cave-like entrance. I already needed a couple deep breaths.


    "Hah... hah... Th-This wasn''t nearly as hard when I messed with the old Floor 2..."


    "Well you are starting completely anew, so it stands to reason the Menu cannot provide you with automatic assistance."


    "I guess the building assist functions or somesuch got reset... bummer."


    I stood upright again, not at all discouraged. The fact I just claimed a (small) part of a mountain for myself with magic was obviously not something just anyone could do. I felt a tiny bit proud.


    I placed the Dungeon Core in the middle of the room so it would be a little more secure, then Malfissa, Mr. Imp, and I stepped inside.


    "Rock wall, rock wall... right."


    For the sake of disguise, I altered the location of the entrance to the side - which meant overtaking more rock of course - and disguised the entrance with rocks that seemed natural enough in colour.


    *Ding* [Error: Cannot place. Dungeon must have non-closed entrance.]


    (Right, so we can''t be fully cut off... okay, how small an opening does this allow?)


    As it turned out, if I left a winding gap which at best a child could fit through, it was acceptable to the system. I made the entry corridor snake about so any eventual light from the inside could not be seen by anyone standing on the plateau.


    I placed a torch on the wall for some additional illumination. The light from the Dungeon Core was fairly faint in this darkness, so the torch helped quite a bit. Then I called Mimissa, who quickly appeared next to me. She promptly went for the obligatory hug.


    "Oh, you''ve already made a room. That''s so fast."


    I did not admit how much I actually had struggled at first, though perhaps this was more some form of stage fright than anything else really. Mimissa patted my head.


    "Good girl, good girl. I''m so proud of you!"


    I could feel the blush coming on, but it did feel nice. Alas, I had work to do...


    "Ahem, I advise that you continue with this."


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    ...which Malfissa as kindly as ever reminded me of.


    "Right, of course. What was it? Mana vents, ley lines? Charged crystals perhaps? I doubt you picked this position for no reason." She nodded. "Let me see..."


    I focused on further expansion. The Dungeon Core glowed ever so slightly brighter, the function graphs and waveforms on its screen becoming more busy with activity. Admittedly I had no idea what they represented; the only thing I could possibly imagine the point of was the 109% efficiency rating.


    (Claiming costs DP, which we don''t have much of... I should try for small tendrils to poke around.)


    In a rough cone I send out groups of mana field tendrils to go ahead and claim everything in their paths. It was difficult to keep them relatively even and stabilised so they would not just claim everything around them as well.


    Mimissa touched my hand and squeezed lightly. The feeling reassured me that she had my back. I just had to go slow and steady. Unfortunately I could feel a headache coming on, and-


    "Gah!!!"


    Said headache hit me all at once, making me fall to the rocky floor.


    "Czara!"


    Mimissa had me wrapped in her arms in a second. I pressed my eyes shut, trying to drone out the headache assaulting the front of my brain. My hands were pressed hard against my temples.


    "I-I''m fine... I just need a moment..."


    She summoned a cup of tea and also provided a nice bar of chocolate filled with nougat. The sweetness helped lessen the headache.


    ~~~~~


    At Mimissa''s urging, I sat down - more comfortably this time - and leaned against her chest. I was a little frustrated that I couldn''t finish this task as quickly as I wanted, or at least thought I should. Mimissa hugged me, so I just tried to not think of anything for a bit.


    "Mimissa?"


    "Mmm? What is it?"


    "I worry about Anastelle. If I don''t manage this, she... you know."


    "I know, but you can''t rush this. I also know you''ll succeed, so she''ll just have to try not make her wound worse. Once we got enough DP to buy an anti-curse scroll, everything''ll be all better."


    I nodded.


    (She''s right, if I rush and mess this up it won''t help anyone. Alright, time for a different approach!)


    ~~~~~


    I got up shortly after, having recovered enough to try again. I realised I tried to keep too complex a form with the many mana tendrils, which overloaded my inexperienced dungeon mind. In other words, while precision was key, being this precise was like trying to control a person doing complex surgery remotely, and I attempted several of those at once.


    "Actually, can I help you with this at all?"


    "I''m not sure you can help with the mana field. This whole assimilation process is a lot less based on the [Menu] and more a matter of feeling around."


    "Oh, that''s... I''m sorry, I-"


    "You don''t need to apologise. Just you holding my hand as before and catching me if I fail is enough. All I could ask for, really."


    I smiled, and Mimissa smiled back after a second or two. As for Malfissa? She and Mr. Imp sat in a corner.


    (Are they playing cards? Guess they''re bored again.)


    I needed to focus in a more efficient way, so I put my attention back to the task at hand.


    "Alright, I''ll try again. *Breathe* Here goes..."


    My concentration went back to the tendrils of mana. This time I decided to advance only a few of them at a time, kind of like cracks in the stone formed by water ice expanding, breaking them piece by piece. Time went by, an hour, then another half. The piecemeal approach worked, giving me far less negative feedback. Any bouts of headaches I could anticipate made me stop for a few moments. And after all the poking around...


    "Oh? Ohhhh? Mimissa, everyone, I think I found something in the depths."


    Roughly 60 metres away from us, at a depth around 40 metres below flat ground and a little to the right - relative to the entrance as far as the map was concerned - was some kind of disturbance. It felt energetic and the moment I tapped into it, my DP counter shot up by 15 points.


    "Very well done, you found a natural source of mana. How does it feel?"


    "Feel? Uhm... energetic, pulsing. A little like a heartbeat, but very slow. Maybe one pulse every ten seconds? More like twenty, really."


    Malfissa smiled. That clued me in that I had found something useful.


    "I believe you have hit a minor ley line."


    "A ''minor'' ley line? That kind of implies ''major'' ones exist, too. What''s the difference?"


    "The ley lines are a network of energy which the world cycles both through them and the air in an infinite loop. Minor ley lines split off from major ley lines, which in turn were split off from primal ley lines. Imagine it a little like a web, with the big strings forming the base structure and the smaller strings giving it the shape and function of the actual web."


    "I think I get the picture. So if we keep searching, we''ll hit a major ley line or maybe even a primal one?"


    "Only if you are very, very lucky. Even finding a minor one is already quite the boon. Its source, the major ley line, might easily be hundreds of kilometres away. For the time being, attempt to make a permanent connection via your mana field so you can fully tap into it. The mana flow will then regularly add power in the form of DP to your Dungeon."


    I went and did just that. The mana field tendril which had hit the vicinity of the ley line was made thicker by my will, and I grew it further to wrap around the ley line proper. Or well, I tried; the ley line was at least 30 metres in diameter, although more oval in shape than perfectly circular, so I kind of just rested the tendril on it. I would have to observe how much mana we could really suck out of it, but for the time being we had gained a steady supply at least.


    "You did it, Czara! Here, have some more chocolate."


    "Nom, nom¡­ shooo good."


    *Ding* [Access to Minor Ley Line established. Continuous flow of DP is being calculated, please wait warmly until it is ready.]


    Job well done!

 17 Im a Dungeon! Ch.3: Turned Off

    Around two hours after the first contact with the minor ley line, I got a confirmation. For the first few days, we''d get 10DP/hour, or 200DP/day, completely for free. Once the connection stabilised it would increase to 300DP/day, completely for free aside the initial costs. Unfortunately, this wasn''t the actual passive income though since we also had operating costs - extremely low for the current Floor 1, but noticeable for the monsters under my command.


    "Well this isn''t good."


    "What''s wrong, Czara?"


    I showed her the screen, so we sat a little closer.


    "Look at this graph. This is a prediction of our future DP based on passive generation from the ley line, assuming we start getting 300DP/day when we''re at around 800, which would be in about 2 days."


    "Well 300DP/day is a lot, isn''t it?"


    "It''s not. Look here."


    I pointed at the graph going up in a steady line."


    "This is the optimal case, so even if we get 300 every day, it''ll take over 160 days to reach 50,000DP for the [Dispel Curse] scroll."


    "That''s... oh, I see..."


    "And it gets worse. We''re actually bleeding around 40DP/day from operating costs. I think this shoots up every time we fight, too, because energy is being spent by monsters. Typically this wouldn''t be a problem since enemy casualties turn into far more DP than we use, but that kinda means fighting all the time or we''ll stall... So I''m not sure what to do here. Malfissa, you got an idea?"


    "You want my advice? Let me see... hmhm, yes, I understand the problem. You need to reduce daily costs while increasing your income both passive and active. You could try converting material into DP for starters. People also provide it if the dungeon considers them to be invaders."


    (Well I knew about invader DP already, but considering we want to stay hidden right now, it''s not really a viable option, is it? So that leaves converting material. How would a Lazy Dungeon Core do this?)


    I closed my eyes and thought about it until I was surprised at Mimissa shoving a stick of chocolate into my mouth while poking my cheek.


    "Uwah!?"


    "Tehe. You always get so serious about problems."


    "I-I do...?"


    "At least I think you do. Just go with the flow. Rock can be made into DP too, right?


    Mimissa''s smile made me start to think chocolate really could bring happiness. I nodded, a possible solution forming in my mind.


    "Alright, I got an idea. This is a mountain, so there ought to be an ore vein or something. What I''ll do for now is two things: look for ore and have Mr. Imp mine it with a pickaxe... err, that''s alright with you, yeah?"


    "Issss finnnne. Borrrred."


    (Imagine being bored enough to want to mine rocks. I''d rather shoot aliens- err, yeah, gotta focus.)


    "Okay, thanks a lot. Here''s your pick. Anyway, I think claiming material costs a fractional amount of DP which is why extending the mana field costs, but if I''m right about us mining it first and then converting manually, maybe that''ll turn a profit."


    "And if I may be so adviceful as to point out the flaw... what if it is not?"


    "Errr... then we might be royally screwed regardless. But that''s where the second idea comes in to possibly unscrew the situation. I''ll carefully sneak a thin line from my mana field to the village nearby and go under each house. It''ll form a net so people give us DP as passive invaders. Since they''ll be in closed rooms, that means we''ll get double the DP income whenever they''re home."


    My knowledge from the prison cell I''d dropped Anastasiya into came in handy here.


    "A decent plan. I shall disguise myself and scout around a little."


    "And I''ll help with converting the material!"


    "Then I shall..."


    We all turned around. Anastelle had come out of the core at some point, none of us even noticing until she had done so.


    "Anastelle? You shouldn''t walk around with that wound."


    (Why''s she up again? Didn''t I tell her to lay down and not stress herself? What if the wound goes worse and she loses even more HP and stats?!)


    "I understand your concerns, which is why I intend to sacrifice myself."


    We were all shocked by her declaration and tried to speak all at once!


    "What!? No, you-" "Why, y-you can''t, what if-" "You would throw your life away-"


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    "Please, *Cough, cough* please everyone, hear me out before you start objecting."


    We managed to calm down, at least a little, and let her speak.


    "I am a Dungeon Monster, and as such I am replaceable even with the name I was granted-"


    "You aren''t replaceable to-"


    She held her hand out. I quieted down.


    "I am replaceable. I am a tool of the Dungeon Core and my, like any monster''s, ultimate purpose is and will always be to lay down my life for the sake of the dungeon and its inhabitants. In truth, the wound has already gotten worse and I cannot stop it."


    Name: Anastelle


    True Name: Anastelle the Dracubus


    Species: Dungeon Monster; Demon; Dragon; Mutant; ???


    Class: Demon Lv.8


    HP: 387/750; MP: 568; STR: 39/57; AGI: 43/71


    Status Effects: Cursed wound


    Equipment: Demonic Armour; Dragon Claws of Rending+1


    Skills: Charm Rk.3; Summon Slave Rk.6; Glow Rk.2; Suggestion Rk.2; Healing Balm Rk.4; ???


    Titles: The Protector; The Executor; The Slavemistress; ???


    Affiliation: Dungeon ''NULL''


    Allies: Constanze Czarina; Mimissa


    Semi-Allies: Mr. Imp; Malfissa the Grand


    "Even if I were to stick around, it is doubtful aside from a miracle happening that you will gain the [Dispel Curse] scroll before my health runs out and I die anyway. I refuse to be a burden!"


    I didn''t know what to say. None of us did, except Mr. Imp because he understandably didn''t like Anastelle very much. Not like he said anything, having enough sense to just stay quiet and look away.


    Honestly I wanted to say something, anything, because Anastelle had helped us both directly and indirectly, and she''d taken the brunt of things. And now she was asking us to let her die! I started crying because who wouldn''t?


    "I... I don''t want to! No, no, NOOOO!!!"


    I hadn''t known her for long, and it made no sense since I was the Dungeon Core that technically owned her, but dammit I still considered her a friend!


    "Czara..."


    Mimissa held me close, crying just the same.


    "Goodness me, nobody has to die outright!"


    Words that should come from an angel came from a demon.


    Everyone, even Mr. Imp, looked at Malfissa.


    "I advise you to look at the Monster List and select Anastelle''s entry." She smirked. "See for yourself."


    I was honestly getting a little confused by how much Malfissa actually seemed to know about dungeon features, but I still followed along.


    "Okay, [Menu]! [Search List: Monster, Anastelle]!"


    The list seemed strangely short.


    "Uhm, Mimissa, is this list correct? I don''t see Dolores or some of the other entries."


    She looked, nodding.


    "It''s shorter than before. I count, uhm, 15 entries even though the upper right corner- oh, it updated. How weird."


    Yet another mystery to figure out, but I had something to do.


    "Okay, so, I clicked on Anastelle''s entry. Hourly cost: 1.82DP. Huh, so fractional DP is a thing, good to know."


    For comparison, Mimissa''s hourly cost was 0.07DP. Contracts and critters had no hourly costs, but in turn they had other restrictions, which is why critter spam can be useful in a pinch if you put out the sheer numbers needed to actually make a dent.


    "If I understand this right, there is a way to make a monster hibernate. This kinda works like what some animals do, shutting down their life signs to near-nothing in a sort of fake sleep. ''The minimum DP needed per hour cannot go below 0.01DP, but nearly no monster requires power input to go above this value.'' So if we do this, Anastelle''s DP upkeep will be only like half a percent of the current amount."


    "That''s it! Anastelle, will you please reconsider outright dying? If we use [Turn Off] on you, you get to live. Nobody has to die, okay?!"


    She actually grabbed her head, or tried to because she flinched - that wound must have become incredibly painful to boot so no wonder she wanted to end herself - but our stares were clear so she eventually capitulated.


    I read the red text that followed.


    "''Restriction: A hibernating monster cannot remain inside Dungeon Core room[...].'' Ugh, whyyyyyy?!"


    "I accept the conditions. Please put my body where it will not bother anyone as I... rest."


    I decided to create a sarcophagus in the style of the great revolutionary Lenin at a later point, but not too long after. If Anastelle was to rest motionlessly, the least I could do was make it comfortable for her.


    After she laid onto the ground, which I covered with some furs, the [Turn Off] command shut her down. It was just like an electric device turned off but still plugged in, drawing a miniscule amount of energy. The look was rather creepy for the first time.


    Then, with new determination to get things underway, I focused on the mana field again. My entire being in fact focused so much, everything around me went quiet, as if I had shut off my hearing. All that mattered at that moment was finding useful minerals and/or some ore.


    My mind projected something not unlike a holographic, three-dimensional space that I could rotate around as if I was looking through some sort of intangible camera. It was much like the camera views my dungeon could project, but without the need of a screen.


    Something faintly yellow-orange pulsed in the distance, giving off a slightly different vibe. A tendril bore its way to that spot, thin as a wire and extremely fast. Within seconds it had covered 10, 20, 40, a 100 metres forward into the depths, more, then abruptly stopped when it hit the orange material. I hollowed out a little space, just enough for Mr. Imp to experimentally strike with his pick, and placed him.


    He began swinging the pick a couple times, managing to break off a roughly fist-sized chunk of the stuff, and placed it beside him. I felt its energy, learning its name. I opened my eyes, my mind back on Floor 1.


    "...Would anyone happen to know what bornite and tyuyamunite are?"

 18 Im a Dungeon! Ch.4: Moral Weight

    Bornite and tyuyamunite were the ores I found in the depths. They were also ores neither Malfissa nor Mimissa had ever heard of. I opened the [Menu], and together we looked around in the Treasure section in case ore veins could be bought for DP. Surprisingly enough, they actually could, although...


    "This doesn''t really help because every ore listed is just some generic ''element x ore'', not those weird names."


    "But Czara, how''d you know the names of these? Can''t we search for them same way we can search for monsters?"


    Mimissa to the rescue. I did just that.


    "Right, I must still be a bit out of it. Controlling the mana field this precise really messed with my head..."


    "Aww, please don''t overwork yourself."


    "I won''t, I won''t." We smiled, though her smile was more happy than mine. "Anyway, uhh, [List Search: Ore, Bornite]."


    *Ding* [Error: Ore is not a category.]


    "Okay, I''m just about ready to say this [Menu] isn''t as convenient as it could be. System, would you kindly make a sub-category under Treasures and put every item with ''Ore'' in its name and/or description into that sub-category?"


    *Ding* [Processing request...]


    We waited for about two minutes, hopeful this would actually work.


    *Ding* [Sub-Category ''Ore'' under category ''Treasures'' created. 11589 entries added.]


    "*Whistle* That''s quite a bit. Okay, please do [List Search: Ore, Bornite]."


    *Ding* [Ore, Bornite: 14 entries found.]


    We selected the actual bornite, ignoring the entries that only had it mentioned in its description. This was starting to feel closer to a wiki, but fair enough.


    "''Bornite, also known as peacock ore, is a sulphide mineral with chemical composition Cu5FeS4 that crystallises in the orthorhombic system (pseudo-cubic)[...]'' Yeah, this is just straight-up Vikingpedia at this point. Anyway, this stuff contains copper, sulphur, and a little bit of iron. Good to know."


    Both girls to my sides looked at me funny.


    "What is it...?"


    "Uhm, Czara? Where does it say copper, iron, or sulphur?"


    "I too am confused. Is it perhaps that strange word with the numbers written in different letters?"


    That was when I realised neither Malfissa nor Mimissa had probably ever seen Latin letters, only Cyrillic, and thus had no idea what a chemical compound is.


    (Maybe they don''t even know about atomic theory, which is taught in early ????????????????????????????????????????? chemistry classes all over the world.)


    My former world, anyway.


    "Right, I''m not surprised. So before I can explain this, do you two know what ''atomic theory'' is?"


    "''Atomic''? As in... ''atom'', the uncuttable? I admit I have only heard the term a couple times, once from a pair of heroes who talked about it and I happened to listen in. I advise you to explain it properly to us."


    Mimissa meanwhile was just staring blankly ahead, eyes comically wide open. She clearly had no idea.


    "Fair enough. So this is knowledge I learned in ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????, but it''s actually taught almost anywhere. The basic idea is that matter is composed of extremely tiny particles, far too tiny to see with the naked eye. These particles are called atoms, though it''s kind of a misnomer because atoms can actually be split due to the fact they''re made of even tinier particles called protons and neutrons, which form their core, and electrons which kinda float around the core in a fairly chaotic swirl. This sort of orbit system is much like how all kinds of things like planets orbit a star, a moon orbits its planet, etc.


    "Atoms were believed for thousands of years to be uncuttable, but they really aren''t. They can be split into parts, which forms at least two separate atoms that aren''t even necessarily the same element - mostly they aren''t, really - which each have smaller atomic mass than the original atom."


    Malfissa nodded. Mimissa just kept listening.


    "I see, and these... new atoms. They have lesser ''atomic mass'' because, say, if you take a bucket of water and put all its water into two buckets, each has less water volume? I assume there is a set number of protrons, neutrons, and... negatrons?"


    "Protons and electrons."


    "Yes, those. So atomic mass is the amount of these particles an atomic core contains or is surrounded by. I assume the numbers also define what element it is, as you mentioned that mattering somehow."


    I was honestly a little astonished by how quickly Malfissa understood an almost entirely new concept. Mimissa was... cutely struggling, I guess.


    "Correct. The smallest possible atom is of the element hydrogen, which due to that is also the most common element by far. It contains 1 proton and 1 electron, though it''s also possible for hydrogen atoms to have up to 2 neutrons. This adds atomic mass but doesn''t make it a different element."


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    "But the neutrons do have some other effect, right?"


    "Yeah, the amount of neutrons an atomic core has defines what isotope it is. For example, many elements have some form of stable atomic mass, but others are what is called radioactive. Even different isotopes of the same element can be radioactive."


    "Radio- you mean they produce radio? Radio waves?"


    Now it was my turn to feel a little embarrassed because admittedly I had no idea where the term radioactive exactly came from aside from, well, radiation I guess.


    "Well it mostly means they produce some form of radiation. Radiation''s kind of a bunch of energy or particles that stream through space and often even matter. So-called alpha particles are essentially a bunch of helium cores, 2 protons and 2 neutrons, and are so weak a sheet of paper can block them. Beta radiation is mostly electrons and needs thicker protection, but it''s still weaker than gamma, which is really bad because it''s basically an energy wave. You need really thick, pure lead plating to block that stuff."


    Mimissa had long since left the conversation and did some searching on her own instance of the [Menu], while Malfissa''s curiosity had been awakened so much, her eyes were practically sparkling.


    "So why is radiation bad? Can it be used for good? And how does one split atoms?"


    "Right, okay. So radiation is usually bad because if there is a lot, it can cause things like cancer. That''s like when the body''s cells start malfunctioning and start growing endlessly with no purpose other than to consume. Radiation can also damage the DNA which is essentially a kind of blueprint that makes your body grow in proper ways. Small doses of radiation can be beneficial if used in the right way, like how some medicine is made from snake poison and whatnot. Atoms may naturally give out radiation, which can be measured with a device called a Geiger-M¨¹ller counter, or just Geiger counter for short. Let me see if I can-"


    I looked into the [Menu]. The amazing thing was that even technology from my world could be created from DP if I knew about it, though the complexity seemed to increase the price roughly exponentially not unlike the skill scrolls. The ''Geiger counter (ultra basic)'' cost 450DP, so I wasn''t sure if I should buy one, but Malfissa looked so insistent I just had to. I justified the expense with the knowledge we could make up the difference in under 2 days.


    "Since we''re fairly protected, the device doesn''t register much, if any, radiation. Each time it registers radioactivity, you can hear a small ping sound."


    "Amazing..."


    She grabbed the device and waved it around. Some spots showed slightly more activity, but not by much, the needle barely moving.


    "Anyway, the thing with atoms splitting is called nuclear fission, and my old world had many stations called power plants that used nuclear fission for the sake of creating electrical energy." (And other things, like nuclear weapons, ???????????????????????? having nearly the most bombs, missiles and whatnot of any country.) "Of course, nuclear fission isn''t without its risks, but unless you royally screw up, it''s fairly reliable. Radioactive elements like uranium are fairly plentiful, though plutonium, while similarly useful, is a whole lot rarer and mostly made by scientists."


    I wasn''t sure if I should mention Pripyat - better known as Chernobyl - Three Mile Island, or Fukushima, so I kept those disasters out for the time being as they would just get her needlessly concerned. Malfissa was too engrossed in her new ''toy'' anyway, so I think she was satisfied for the time being. I focused back on Mr. Imp, who''d been busily mining the bornite ore, but I got a message pop-up.


    *Ding* [Mr. Imp''s status has changed to ''Poisoned''.]


    Shit! That wasn''t good; I immediately recalled him, and he didn''t look well at all, breathing heavily and twitching badly.


    "Mr. Imp, what''s wrong!?"


    Everyone came over, trying to figure out what had happened to him down there. Then it came to me; of course, the bornite contained sulphur! I checked his status right away.


    Name: Mr. Imp


    True Name: Mr. Imp the impertinent Imp of Impington


    Species: Demon; ???


    Class: Lower Demon Lv.4


    HP: 79/108; MP: 27; STR: 34; AGI: 41


    Status Effects: Contract; Poisoned


    Equipment: Cheap Loincloth


    Skills: Minor Charm Rk.3; Poison Claw Rk.4; ???


    Titles: Rookie Miner


    Affiliation: Dungeon ''NULL''


    Allies: Constanze Czarina; Mimissa


    Semi-Allies: Anastelle; Malfissa the Grand


    "Oh my goodness, I''m so sorry! I shouldn''t have let you mine stuff that contains sulphur!"


    I frantically checked the Treasures section for some form of anti-dote, but Malfissa seemed utterly aghast.


    "Czara, sulphur does not cause boils like this to a demon! Rather, I have never heard of a demon getting poisoned by anything but the most dangerous substances in existence!"


    I looked at her, dumbfounded.


    "Wait, if it''s not the sulphur, then...?"


    I collected a piece of the ore, then wanted to place myself into the Core Room, but before I could, Malfissa had - perhaps by chance - pointed the Geiger counter at Mr. Imp. It screeched like mad.


    "Oh fuuuuck!" Both my hands were over my head in a second. "He wasn''t poisoned by a chemical, he was poisoned by radiation! Those are radiation burns!"


    I disappeared into the Core Room and analysed the rock. I actually felt sick from it, too; I had taken the Geiger counter with me and it confirmed that this stuff was very, very radioactive. At least it gave an incredible amount of DP from converting.


    The [Menu] gave me the answer to the puzzle, and ashamedly I came back to tell the others.


    "Girls¡­ this stuff isn''t just bornite. Remember when I asked what ''tyuyamunite'' is? *Sigh* It''s actually uranium ore..."


    Thankfully the [Menu] offered a kind of balm made from ginger, ginkgo, and lemon that helped with radiation damage and seemed to also have some preventive effects. I bought enough of that stuff to cover Mr. Imp two times over, and we all carefully applied it. It seemed to help, and Malfissa cast [Sleep] so he would hopefully heal while resting.


    "So, as ashamed as I am, we''re facing a difficult decision here."


    Malfissa and Mimissa looked at me.


    "What would that be? It has to do with that accursed ore, correct?"


    "Mhm. This stuff''s honestly incredible. That fist-sized rock provided me with 583DP when I converted it. I felt a little sick from it, but I think I can take it. Imagine that, almost 600DP from that little; we could heal Anastelle from less than 100 of those."


    "Czara¡­" Mimissa hugged me hard. "If even you feel sick from that, you can''t! Your health''s more important. I''m sure Anastelle can wait, we can find a different source. Just leave that stuff in the ground where it belongs."


    Malfissa looked as conflicted as I did. Should we really go this step?

 19 Im a Dungeon! Ch.5: Command & Construct

    "I do feel similar to Mimissa, but this also presents a great opportunity." Malfissa stood straighter, with a seriousness even she rarely showed. "You said your people found ways to safely utilise this material to generate power, correct? Do you believe you can find a way to replicate this yourself?"


    I considered it. I was really tempted to mine the stuff, as if something or another wanted me to. It just made sense, I even called the tyuyamunite ''incredible'' after all. All kinds of ideas went through my mind; the main issue was safety, Mr. Imp''s beaten - but thankfully nowhere near dead - body a stark reminder that power always comes with responsibility. I grimaced for a moment.


    (I won''t fail a second time!)


    "I believe I can. No, I''m sure I can. Radioactivity protection suits are a thing, the balm we used can deal with the damage, and as long as I keep it in small doses I should be able to not get harmed beyond repair. With a proper shift system in place, we can reduce the harmful effects to basically nothing." (Not to mention its potential use for weapons, should things ever turn that desperate.)


    I sincerely hoped that wouldn''t ever have to happen.


    "Then I advise absorbing the material, but you must go at a very slow pace. If you feel too sick... no, if you even believe you begin feeling too sick, you must immediately stop and take a break. Also have someone else mine the ore, Mr. Imp will almost inevitably refuse now and I cannot fault him for that. Your best bet is using a mindless monster for the task."


    Mimissa hugged me tightly, clearly in fear of the task ahead, but I steeled my resolve and nodded.


    "Of course, making Mr. Imp do this is out of the question. I promised I''ll try to do good, so I will. Thanks, Malfissa."


    I patted Mimissa''s head. She looked at me, teary-eyed.


    "And thank you for everything."


    She didn''t smile for once, but that too was proof how worried she was for my well-being.


    ~~~~~


    The first task was to get a monster, ideally several, that could mine the tyuyamunite without suffering radiation sickness.


    "I think some form of rock monster would be best suited for this, Czara."


    "I advise that as well; these ''Hazmat suits'' are very expensive."


    A single suit cost 3000DP, nearly half a Dummy Core and way over our current budget, and even if they had the property of changing size by being equipped, we still needed a strong monster to do the actual mining. I kept looking.


    "This ''Rock Eater (ape form)'' sounds about right. Judging by the picture, it kind of resembles a gorilla in build, but it''s made of boulders and soil. It costs 800DP base, but that''s no problem since I got nearly 600DP just a few minutes ago. I think if we buy two more in a few days, we should have a decent production of DP down."


    We decided to pay the DP and thus went into the Core Room. Cute ratsies aside, this was actually the first time I properly bought a monster, so I was excited. Mimissa and I pressed on the button together to make it more official. A summoning circle started forming on the ground, then a copy of it - both spinning in opposite directions - floated into the air. The area between the two began to glow, the DP ticking down so quickly, the numbers on the counter blurred together.


    When the lights dimmed back to nothing, a roughly 4 metres tall monster stood before us. The rock eater, as per the full name and picture, had a build similar to that of a gorilla, standing on its hind feet and fists. It looked around, its grey stone reflecting some of the light of the room. I could see sand-coloured sediment between the boulders making up its various body parts, but its head was about as simple as can be, lacking even a mouth and sporting only two slits from which shone green lights.


    It suddenly stood on its hind legs and rhythmically clapped its open palms against its chest. That was a good sign since it meant it could grab things like a pickaxe. Aside from the sound of rock banging on rock, it was completely silent though.


    "Rock Eater A, and no that is NOT your official name, I am your Dungeon Core, Czara. Will you obey me without question?"


    He looked down at me, and instantly nodded once. I specified that it was not its name since we needed drone-like monsters for this task. Robots, if you will.


    Incidentally we could have gone with golems, but Malfissa objected to the idea on the grounds that golems utilise magical circuits which might just possibly get fried by strong enough radiation. Also, while a golem can do commands such as ''Mine this rock, put mined material aside, repeat.'' they had a very limited memory. The rock eater may have cost 8 times as much DP, but it was stronger and would be able to follow more complex commands. But its main boon was that it was able to learn to become more efficient over time, which a golem apparently can never do even if you do name it.


    "Why''d you ask if it will obey you, Czara? All monsters of a dungeon must obey."


    "I just wanted to say it to be cool..." I said with a pout.


    Rock Eater A was given the pickaxe and the task to mine the ore. It looked a little small in its hand, but down the line I bought it a bigger one. Since I didn''t want it to crouch needlessly I made the air gap a little bigger. It hacked away with gusto, and even half an hour later its health had not dropped by even a single point nor did I get any notifications that it got poisoned. That was a relief.


    ~~~~~


    Mr. Imp had woken up, and we all hurried to his side.


    "Mr. Imp, how''re you feeling?"


    "Weeeeaakkkk... but willlll fiiine."


    He wasn''t shaking and his health points had become nearly full again, so it was probably more of a psychological thing. The signs of radiation poisoning had nearly fully disappeared, and the Geiger counter proved it had only been a little worse than skin-deep. Still we, Malfissa in particular, insisted that he must keep resting until he would feel better again.


    "Is there anything you want? We''re going to mine the ore, but this time we''re using a drone monster immune to the effects, and we''ll give it rest even so."


    "Ffffff..."


    "F?"


    "Fffffeeasssst-"


    "A feast? Of course, we''ll hold one tomorrow or the day after once you''ve fully recovered." I smiled, happy that he was feeling well enough again to want food. "Anything else?"


    "Nnnnooooo uncurse..."


    "Uncurse... who? Me, or Anastelle? If it''s her, I can''t just not. This whole thing''s done for her."


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    "Ah, then nooo waking yeeeet. She... baaaad."


    I could see that at least. She''d literally enslaved him, after all, so I just nodded. I checked the [Menu], and his point could be easily fulfilled since - and I would have known had I just bothered reading the full red text - [Turn Off] actually has a 100 day cooldown, i.e. a full season.


    (How fitting.)


    "Okay, we won''t wake Anastelle yet, and you''ll get a feast in your honour. What else?"


    "Juuuussst ressst."


    That made sense as well, so we left him alone for the time being.


    ~~~~~


    Days passed, and Mr. Imp did a full recovery. Our DP counter rose by an unprecedented ~1500DP per day. We bought two more of the rock eaters, working names Rock Eater B and Rock Eater C, and made them work in shifts. The vein turned out so big they were really busy, though from what I could tell it was still more than 90% bornite.


    Since the tyuyamunite was very dangerous if handled carelessly, I installed a box made from a solid 85 centimetres of lead encased in 10 centimetres steel and another 5 centimetres of acrylic glass in one of the corners of the Dungeon Core Room. The box itself was inside a reinforced tank of water. Every chunk of the bornite/tyuyamunite was only put into that box, and only then did I turn it into DP. Each time I did so, I felt a little sick from it so as per Malfissa''s advice I kept it slow and steady. One time I overdid it by accident and promptly vomited on the spot. I spent the rest of that day in Mimissa''s arms, after she used her chocolate to clean me up.


    Malfissa came over, having learned of what happened via Mimissa''s tagging message.


    "I really advise against you doing that. If you become genuinely sick and start malfunctioning, who knows what might happen."


    "Awww, so you do care."


    "I don''t actually care about you as a person, you know?" She turned around. "Stop insinuating things, idiot."


    "Tehehe... thank you, Malfissa"


    ~~~~~


    About a week after the project began, I had also manoeuvred my mana field so I could claim everything within its corners for the sake of emptying out a large chamber below the small cube room housing the Dungeon Core. As it turned out, you can kind of compress space with the mana field to claim a pretty large amount all at once. Similarly you can use spatial effects to make the volume of the space bigger than it looks like from the outside. Yes, it was time to make Floor 2!


    While we were in the Core Room we thought about what kind of dungeon we should make, but I had a question before we would start.


    "Say, can a dungeon control gravity?"


    "Gravity? What is that?"


    "Gravity is, uh, basically it''s the force of attraction between objects with mass. Objects with more mass tend to have a stronger gravity pull and if the difference is really big, then smaller objects will fly around or stand on them."


    (Or stand if there''s ground to stand on, anyway.)


    "Ah, I understand what you mean now, I just did not know the word. Yes, gravity can be controlled by a dungeon even on a floor-by-floor basis. You can have no gravity, more gravity than the outside, even direct it with traps I believe? Of course, all of this costs DP to make and maintain."


    "Cool, because I want to make a dungeon that goes up, but the mountain might be too small so I kinda want to invert the gravity and go up by going down.


    Malfissa smiled. It seemed I had woken up the scientist in her with our talk about nuclear stuff and chemical elements.


    "I would love to see that."


    ~~~~~


    I was getting so excited I started shaking. Forget inheriting floors and monsters, forget tiny cube rooms. This was going to be a capital-F Floor!


    "[Menu]!!! And also [Breeze]."


    Yes, I had bought a [Breeze] scroll for 100DP solely for the sake of making some dramatic wind billow around me. It was childish, but it felt cool so I didn''t care.


    *Ding* [Floor declared. Assigning number ''2''. Size specified. Select biome.]


    "I want a [Grassy Field] biome in honour of the old Floor 2. Daytime, grass, rivers, light wind, trees, the whole thing. Also [Spatial Effect: Inverted Gravity]."


    The dungeon map expanded. Since we stood by the Dungeon Core, we had to wait for a moment until the option to place the staircase came up. I selected a spiral made from polished granite since the distance between the two floors was quite a bit. We went down the spiral staircase and saw a Floor with rolling hills in the distance, entering the Floor proper by a glade with a pond fed by a small river. It took a moment to get used to walking on walls and then what should logically be the ceiling, but we managed quickly. The trees were lush and green, and smelled slightly sweet. Of course, no animals could be heard since none existed.


    "It''s very pretty."


    "Meh, I rate it 7.8/10, not enough water." I resolved to fix that. "Let''s see, geographic alterations... Here!"


    A waterfall rose in the distance. If you go by the shadows the fake sun in the sky cast and think of its position as being around noon, we were in the south-western corner of the Floor. We left the glade via a path I mentally drew, which removed some of the trees in the way. Once outside, I needed a moment of rest since the process did give me another headache.


    "Ugh..."


    "Are you alright, Czara?"


    "Yeah, I''m fine. I just need to become better at this so all I need is some practice."


    I got up and pointed towards the south-eastern corner. Or what I knew was that corner since the Floor actually looked as infinite as its predecessor.


    "Watch."


    I had thought of water coming down from a hill, flowing down into a basin, and then via a large river snaking across the landscape the water flow would culminate roughly middle-west. Water came from the hill alright, but I got the order wrong and promptly flooded that part of the Floor by accident.


    "Uhhh, not good!"


    I focused again and drew a mental line from the waterfall''s basin to the intended end point, and deepened it. The mental view I got was simplified, not unlike see-through polygons on a computer screen, but I figured the actual water would smooth it out once it got flowing. The water receded and started filling the large ditch. At the end I tried to make some kind of drain in the earth that would automatically teleport the water back on top of the waterfall, so I added some big rocks at both spots to hide the process. It had to look good, not be real.


    "*Huff, huff* Alright, there. One infinite dungeon river."


    Both Mimissa and Malfissa looked on, as quiet as Mr. Imp was most of the time, but they were smiling. Mimissa did eventually say something.


    "So what''s next? You said you wanted to help people, but... people need things, right?"


    "Food, water, shelter, places to relieve themselves. Of course, this place isn''t exactly real, but maybe we can eventually have actual people live here. And for that¡­"


    I focused again. On a particular memory. A memory of a town in summer, when flowers were blooming, the sky was clear, and even the smell of industry was for once as faint as if non-existent. I was younger and less worldly, but I got to visit my grandmother in her dacha. She lived a little ways away, but it was always fun when I got to see her. She had a lovely garden where I helped her grow things like strawberries. My grandfather, born after her - though neither had to witness the Great Patriotic War - was a car mechanic and had a nice dog.


    I could feel it, the memory, the sound and sight and smells. Mimissa told me that my eyes were shining brightly during that moment. The earth split perpendicular to us and I raised a black road from the depths. It ran along the forest where we were standing, pavement to walk on its opposing side. I lowered the terrain beyond. Laid out foot paths made from gravel. Hedges and tiny houses that, for the time being, were mere props appeared, constructing themselves in physically impossible ways straight out of a computer game.


    Further in the distance I made another road, a bridge from large smooth stones crossing the river, one side of it connecting to the first road in a y section. The ground was flattened and three monoliths of light grey stone rose. Buildings made of concrete and rebar. They had rows of windows, one side each dotted in balconies. Grandmother''s dacha? I placed it in the optimal spot with the largest garden, of course.


    "What... are those? They are as large as some forts, but resemble no buildings I have ever seen."


    "Those... are housing complexes from my grandmother''s home town."


    If people were to live on this Floor, they should have housing. If they were to gain food, they would get fields on Floor 3. I decided I would look into weather patterns next.


    The dungeon "Mimissa''s Hope" would be a success story fit to turn into a legend.


    "I''m scared of these blocks!"


    ...Once I managed to convince Mimissa that the apartment blocks were perfectly harmless so she wouldn''t need to close her chest in fear. And I got less headaches from doing this stuff.

 20 Im a Dungeon! Ch.6: Czaras Responsibility

    I wasn''t sure what exactly it was about the apartment blocks that managed to scare Mimissa so badly, but I got her to come out of her shell again. For the rest of the day I just rested because a couple moments after my declarations I was struck by my worst headache to date. I paced myself better over the following days, spending a couple hours depending on my mood on Floor 2 walking around and modifying things.


    Our DP income remained steady, and when we reached 20,000DP, I felt it was time for a little celebration. On Floor 2 the sun was always shining, and everyone insisted this was normal. But I wanted something resembling a day-night cycle that matched the outside, or people might be unable to sleep there. People who can''t sleep well can be cranky, and crankiness can turn into violence - not good.


    The actual celebration was prepared while the DP was at over 19,800 points. We bought a round marble table and finely crafted chairs, and a longer rectangular table with a beautiful gold-rimmed white cloth. Plates and cutlery, fine china with pink flowery accents much like the ones grandmother used to own, and several cakes.


    "You know what''s missing? A gazebo!"


    Mimissa had never heard of such a thing before, and neither had Mr. Imp, but Malfissa liked the idea. They''re not tacky!


    I flattened the ground, destroying one of the prop buildings next to grandma''s dacha and enlarged her garden that way, then raised it a tiny bit in the middle where the white-painted gazebo was to stand. It offered more than enough space for the table and chairs, and we eventually began our little party proper after I had DP-fied, and recovered from, another chunk of material. I didn''t even feel as sick as before.


    "I might be building some immunity to it. But in any case, everyone, I present our DP counter!"


    We sat at a nice 20,234, which I didn''t want to accept as it was. For 200DP I bought a function to dim the fake sun to nothing, leaving everything in darkness. From the rest I bought several candles, torches, and wooden stands, which we lit and placed around. Then I activated the second function.


    Stars started shining in the sky, resembling my memories of home. Everyone stood by me, marvelling at the stars from another world - though maybe there wasn''t that much difference. Mimissa, at least, had never seen a starry sky, so this was still new and beautiful to her.


    I myself involuntarily remembered my uncle and cousin in Murmansk, a city proof of the late Soviet and post-Soviet depression and ruin brought about by those in power not caring to, or at least not able to, help the people they''re in charge of and responsible for.


    (I''ll do better!)


    I shook the memory away. To them I was dead and we would probably never see each other again. I had a new life now, so I forced a smile.


    "...Now let us celebrate."


    We went into the gazebo, which I promptly gave a second type of access via ramp for Mimissa - and apologised a lot for forgetting something so basic - and we had food and drink a plenty. Malfissa ''advised'' us on proper table manners such as how to hold the small forks correctly or how to sit ''like proper young ladies''. It seemed she was starting to come around and warmed up to us.


    I asked everyone to put down everything and follow me into grandma''s dacha and to its first upper floor. The ramp I had not forgotten this time ran along the outside. I altered the balcony a little so we had more space, then pointed in the distance.


    "Mimissa, please press on this button once I have counted down to 1. And everyone please look in this direction."


    I handed her a remote. It was just a prop, the real thing was activated by me ordering Rock Eater A who stood with his companions in the distance.


    "3... 2... 1!"


    Something I had bought in secret began, leaving everyone speechless. Even Malfissa had only heard of such a spectacle before.


    Fireworks.


    The night sky was lit up in a myriad of colours, from colourful explosions shining lights onto the big buildings, to streamers and perfectly circular rings of fire dancing across the sky. Rocket barrages rose in quick succession, bringing sounds and images from my childhood back into my life as I fondly stared at the lights not unlike that one grand celebration which made the city look like any other should - bright and beautiful.


    ~~~~~


    After everything was over, we proceeded back to the gazebo and had a little more for dessert, but before long it was time to rest. Since the sky now observed the local day-night cycle, albeit with a pale yellow moon rather than a green one as was apparently the case outside, we all went to sleep.


    Except for Malfissa, that is. Sometime during the night she had gotten up and left her bed in the dacha. I myself had woken up, in the arms of Mimissa as per usual, but felt like taking a short walk - that''s how I noticed Malfissa''s bed was empty.


    "*Yawn*... [Purification]. Now where did she go...?"


    I equipped my Suit of the Lady Seafarer and opened the map screen. Malfissa was on top of one of the apartment blocks made in the brutalist style of the Soviet Union.


    "Can''t sleep, either?"


    I had placed myself and happened to end up behind her. She turned around. Her eyes were glowing a strong pink. The fact that she was completely naked was weird, but I didn''t question it - we all have our hobbies and preferences.


    "I wanted to be the first to experience the night sky atop a building from another world."


    (A romantic idea, minus the... nudity.)


    "And? Do you like it?"


    She nodded. I moved a fake cloud in the sky so the fake full moon would shine down on us. She turned around again, staring down the edge, towards grandma''s dacha where Mimissa and Mr. Imp were soundly asleep. I joined her. She sat down on the edge, so I offered some furs, and sat down by her side. Our legs were dangling down; I suppressed the building feeling of vertigo. Eventually she spoke up.


    "Czara."


    Her tone was clear. Serious.


    "Yes, Malfissa?"


    "Would you mind doing me a favour? Consider it something you will also do for the sake of everyone else in the dungeon." My eyes opened wider, but I nodded, listening. "You are... strange. To me, to us, to this world. An enigma that I cannot solve, and it greatly bothers me when I cannot understand things. So for the sake of honesty and, yes, also convincing you, I will tell you the truth about one thing. I had truly hoped that the moment your core had become defenceless, Mr. Imp would shatter it. But he did not. I grabbed it, and even so I felt powerless to do it."


    I swallowed hard, but before I could say anything she held out a hand. I kept any comments to myself.


    "I still desire freedom, but for now I will suppress that desire. Your predecessor... he was uncaring. A simple Dungeon Mind, barely better than a machine. It fed on things, she grew, he built. They were fractured, like many Dungeon Minds tend to be when they begin and even for some time after. Normally these different aspects emerge and then fuse again, creating a greater whole than the sum of its parts. That did not happen to them. They were aberrant. This drew my curiosity, and I have paid the price ever since. You... are different. I know not what you have experienced in your old world, but I do know you suffered mentally and physically. It is clear as day to one such as I. And this... makes you weak."


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    I wasn''t sure where this long-winded explanation was supposed to go, but I was apparently supposed to draw my own conclusions.


    (Strange? Weak? Isn''t at least one of those your fault?!)


    But before I could answer, once again Malfissa continued. Her tone became more positive.


    "But strangeness can be a blessing. Weakness a wellspring of inspiration and power. As such, the favour. The request, really. Please do as I say for the next couple minutes. I promise it will be to our collective benefit."


    Her eyes'' glow intensified. Was she trying to [Lilim Charm] me into obedience? No, no that wasn''t it.


    "I only have to do what you say for a bit? You won''t make me obey you via slave magic, right?"


    She looked at me as if I''d asked the dumbest possible question in the world.


    "No, of course not, I am not like Anastelle. But I cannot tell you what it is, exactly, or it will not manifest properly. It requires either dominance, or trust. I choose trust."


    (Do I trust her? One the one hand, lolification and cursed clothes. On the other, as stand-offish as she has been a couple times, she helped us much more often.)


    I thought back to her impromptu etiquette lessons earlier. Was that it? Something she wanted to teach me. Something that would make me stronger. I thought it back and forth, but in the end I had a responsibility to become stronger for everyone.


    "I accept. I trust you and will do as you say."


    She smiled, but a sincere smile. This put me at ease - a mischievous smile would have made me flee on the spot.


    (No, no, even if so, I must trust her to do what''s right!)


    She stood up and walked to the block with the door. On top of it was an antenna; it was the maintenance access.


    "Stand in front of this door and... ahem, strip down all you can."


    I wondered if I had heard her right, but since she herself had been naked this whole time, what else was I supposed to do? I said I''d do as she wanted, so I striped down. It was a little cold up there.


    Malfissa came closer, leaned down and hugged me, sweeping me off my feet. Her claws dug into my backside and I suppressed a pained yelp. Eyes closed, she pressed her lips on mine and in seconds I went slack. It was similar to that first time over a month ago, just with more blood. I could feel it running down my back and butt and legs, but the kiss kept my focus so that pain disappeared.


    Energy entered through my mouth, making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, my slack body just kinda hanging on to her as she wrapped her wings around me. Then I screamed from a new, different pain!


    "AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHG!!!"


    The feeling was searing for a few moments as my shoulder blades and my tailbone felt as if burning. I desperately grit my teeth to bear it.


    *Riiip*


    Two skeletal wings shot out of my back while a bushy tail covered in fur the colour of my hair grew from just above my butt. The wings flapped and started filling out, getting covered in golden feathers. I managed not to pass out from the transformation even as Malfissa retracted one hand and pressed the nail of her pointer finger into my belly button. A pink triangle sitting on one edge appeared below it as a mark of power.


    Finally she let me back on my feet, but my knees felt so weak I dropped down like a sack of potatoes, desperately gasping for air. She kneeled down and softly caressed my head. After a few minutes I had calmed down enough to be able to listen to her.


    "Hah, aaah... W-Was the pain really needed...?"


    "It felt painful to me as well since I injected life energy into you. I am just more used to such things. Now rise, oh sister of mine."


    I got up once I regained all feeling. Slowly, but surely.


    "Sister?"


    She smiled.


    "Check your status."


    "[Stats: Constanze]."


    Name: Constanze Czarina


    True Name: Dungeon Core Czara


    Species: <Aesir>; Minor Succubus; Dungeon Core; ???


    Class: New Core Lv.6


    HP: 213/225; MP: 213; STR: 29; AGI: 51


    Status Effects: Dazed


    Equipment: Pasties Bikini of the Succubus; Samson Robot phone


    Skills: Spear Proficiency Rk.1; Charm Tolerance Rk.8; Sense Trap Rk.1; Dungeon Menu¡ó; Purification; Identity Protection Rk.3; Rifle Proficiency Rk.1; Breeze Rk.2; Allure Charm Rk.2; Float; Energy Drain Rk.1; ???


    Titles: The Curious; The Trusting; Aspiring Leader; ???


    Affiliation: Dungeon ''Mimissa''s Hope''


    Favoured Allies: Mimissa


    Allies: Anastelle; Mr. Imp


    Semi-Allies: Malfissa the Grand (elder sister)


    "I''ve become a Minor Succubus...?"


    She nodded.


    (Well, now that I think about it, didn''t Mimissa ask me if I''d come to this place for the sake of training to become a succubus?) I facepalmed. (And I said it would''ve been interesting. Yeah, this is all on me, I guess.)


    "So why do I have, you know, these?" I pointed at my wings. "Not exactly demonic, are they?"


    She shrugged, hands pointing away from her. Well, if even she didn''t know, who was I to question it?


    The wings were big, but felt very light and when I focused on them, they glowed a little green. If I hadn''t already known any better from my status, I''d have called myself an angel instead. The [Float] skill I''d gained wasn''t just for show, I actually managed to hover off the ground for a few seconds. The tail meanwhile seemed pretty much functionless though; it was fluffy and bushy, but seemed more like a wolf tail than a fox one. At the very least it wasn''t a cat tail, that much I could tell.


    I remembered that I still had some blood on me, so I cast [Purification] to get rid of it. My wounds didn''t ache, but I still bought some band aids which Malfissa put in place. I prefer my blood inside my body, where it belongs.


    "Right, so. Wings, wolf tail. Any new ears?" I felt at the top of my head, but there was nothing new. No new pair of ears, no horns either. "What''s with the symbol below my belly button?"


    It was a regular triangle from my point of view. I focused on it, which made it shine slightly pink. It also felt a little warm.


    "The mark of a succubus. It will empower you when you require it."


    I made a face at that, remembering something like this from some game my brother played. Admittedly the succubi in that game were more like Anastelle and Malfissa in looks, but one was more appealingly cute to me.


    "...It won''t force me to do lewd things to gain energy, right?"


    "Hahahaha, ahahahaha..." She wiped a tear from her face, having laughed in a way I had not seen her laugh before, loud and sincere. "No, no it will not. I ensured that only the most basic functions are in yours, which is why its shape is so simple."


    "Well that''s a relief. For many reasons."


    She nodded. I remembered the fact that we were still very much not properly dressed at all, so I equipped my Suit of the Lady Seafarer. At first I worried the wings would get in the way, but as if by magic - or well, it was magic - the back of the top opened up and the wings slid through just fine. The panties and skirt similarly weren''t an issue, mainly because the former were lowleg and the latter now had a hole for the tail. Long strings appeared which I turned into a bow knot.


    Malfissa got dressed in a new outfit, a red little number that I felt looked rather too cold to wear at night, but she had to be happy with it, not me. We went down the stairs of the building, mainly so I could get used to my wings and tail and not start bumping into every little thing, descending the 8 floors worth of staircase to the ground floor where a long row of mailbox slots was. I then had to explain what they were for.


    So we exited and strolled back to the dacha made to look like grandma''s, and I entered Mimissa''s chest. Or well, I tried until I eventually managed. Folding the wings took some practice. Mimissa didn''t wake up because, as I had noticed over the weeks, when she was asleep she really was asleep. I cuddled with her, and even asleep she wrapped her arms around my body automatically. Since she had also given me permission to do so, I closed the lid with a thought and was out like a light in minutes, any worries that I wasn''t at all prepared for the future for once put to rest.