《The fool's paradise (dungeon novel)(complete)》


 Unforeseen consequences (prologue) 0

    Prologue


    In a vast empty void.


    A small misty orb floated in the emptiness and radiated a gentle light, then suddenly it moved. It had become aware, it shifted in all directions as if looking for something, but it was alone in this void, so it soon stopped moving and became dormant.


    Time slowly ticked past and it would occasionally look around. When it found nothing the small entity reflected on its own existence, it had been in this void before, invited by poor circumstance, but this time it arrived willingly and with purpose. Although that would have to wait for the journey to be over, so it went dormant once again.


    Then after awakening from its dormant state it saw a new scene, the previously empty void was filled with uncountable orbs like itself, they were slightly smaller and dimmer than itself and the orb was refreshed at finally seeing something other than absolute darkness.


    It was close. The orb didn¡¯t know how much time had passed because it had no reference point before, but it knew that the wait would be over soon.


    After awakening again An unfathomably large disk came into sight, the orb thought that the disk was actually a sphere, but the disk was somehow darker than the pitch black void, so it could not see a curve. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    The ¡°doom portal¡± as the orb called it would take it back home. The orb felt mixed feelings about this, the dormant nothingness was a kind of relief to it, but the slowly growing disk took that option away from the orb.


    Gradually the disk got larger and larger at a faster pace, The orb took its last chance to enjoy oblivion and was woken up with a jolt. The orbs entire forward view was taken up by the black disk for a moment, then everything went black for a moment and changed into a strange corridor of twisting and weaving energy.


    The orb flew through the tunnels, carried by unknown currents. Thus began a shorter journey, The orb along with dozens of similar entities moved along the path, occasionally an orb would drift to the side and enter a hole in the energy tunnel.


    A Larger hole appeared, it was dimmer than the rest of the pathway, all of its energy seemed to be leaking onto the main path in the form of a purple nebula like mist. The orbs non-existant eyes lit up, this was the path home.


    However, excitement soon turned to panic as the currents seemed oblivious to the orbs intended destination. The orb struggled, but it didn¡¯t have a choice in the matter and simply flew past.


    With its goal and purpose crushed, the orb went back into a dormant state, The magical scenery had become uninteresting.


    The orb awakened to absolute darkness, perhaps the journey failed and it had to start again it thought. However, the orb soon noticed that it felt different, it was still an orb, but it was no longer gaseous, it was solid, much like its surroundings that it could instinctually feel and such an instinct was foreign to the orb. Something is weird the orb thought.

 chapter 1. Change

    Year 9683


    My domain extends as far as the eye can see. It''s grand beyond compare, filled with creatures the minds of mere mortals cannot fathom. MWA HAHAHA


    ahem


    Day 15


    I''ve dug a hole around myself to make a circular room a few meters in diameter which is my new home, the only decoration is a pale glowing stone gently floating above the ground, corpses litter the ground. Bugs... most of which are so horrid-looking I have no idea how they managed to pass the filter of evolution, there is even one that can''t walk and it''s not some kind of snake, the only means of motion for this abomination is by moving one of its many what I can only describe as thorny mouths. This thing is 90% teeth, I wonder what would happen if someone swallowed one of these horrid creatures.


    Now rewind a few days minus a tirade of swearing after arriving, I soon found myself faced with the worst fate imaginable... boredom, a terrible fate. So after some highly scientific experimentation, I thought how good it would be if this wall wasn''t there and bam the wall was gone.


    It appeared that the rock face simply disintegrated into nothing or at least a meager amount of it had, as surprising as it was to be the almighty god of rocks I quickly grew accustomed to my new Diggy Diggy hole game and made myself a more presentable hole.


    Never one to be entertained by something for more than a second I quickly got bored of this old past-time digging holes. Luckily, my boredom was alleviated when digging down into my DOMAIN...


    <cough>


    ¡­home and enlarging the pinprick of light into a golf ball sized ray of light. This showed me two things, 1. My walls look like crap, they were uneven with cracks here and there, apparently, even if I can sense my DOM--- home without light, seeing the finer details is impossible, 2. Not as important but... OH, MY GODDD! when that hole opened wider I may have wobbled a little and it felt so amazing, like getting your first bike as a child multiplied by 10, then your neighbor''s kid that you always hated falls into a spike trap and you get to watch him gurgling as the last vestiges of life drain from his face.


    But I digress.


    I think I''ve become the devil, since the beginning of day one I felt strange urges to dig down to the center of the earth. Seeing as I am not a Chinese roadway made it easy to deduce that my new body is the cause, this is nothing new to me as this is not my first time around the circle of life, I''ve done the whole puberty thing twice now, well I''ve only finished it once, but I think it''s still a valid experience for sudden onset insanity and overreactions.


    After the existential crisis of 3.5 seconds, I came to realize that Mr. nightmare-fuel was not the only Mr. nightmare-fuel here anymore. Numerous bugs joined the fun with the larger opening, the first few insects quickly became Biteys lunch, however, soon the amount of creepy crawlies managed to overwhelm the little guy. Consisting of nothing but teeth and impudent rage is not one of the steps to success in the evolutionary game here apparently.


    Sparing a little time to spruce up the walls a little, I enjoyed watching my games of Ultimate Fighter bug edition. The victor of which was surprisingly a group of ants with large mandibles, while not particularly strong by themselves they can match up to anything with teamwork and enough sacrifices filling up the airways of anything bigger, with the battle won and space theirs, they soon they began to dig, those huge mandibles were not just for show either, they could go through stone like tofu.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The cave system over the past week became increasingly complex and they even seemed to have stolen a queen from somewhere else to make more drones for them. These little cute clever monstrosities.


    During the digging of a new growing chamber for the moss they feed on, they hit something. More like something has hit me, suddenly a wave of memory''s seemed to come from the nucleus of the world beneath my non-existent feet straight into my mind.


    The memories feel so close but also seem so distant and fuzzy, but with hardships comes success... and sweat, which I actually can¡¯t do with this body.


    While concentrating, the memories become clearer, soon after I discovered what the memories were, they¡¯re a strange sort of packet filled with information, it comes in the same form as the energy that I absorb from the area around me, it feels the same but different to the energy that I receive when something dies in my domain.


    Several days late I''ve come to master the ability to read the what I call Earthmail and have found the information within interesting. Most of the information seems to be on how to use the energy the DnD character in me calls mana. How to curve it bend it twist it, to my desire creating phenomena such as a giant ball of fire that burns half of your ants and puts you to sleep for an undetermined amount of time. Or a ball of water to drown half the remaining ants.


    After some less destructive experimentation control becomes more manageable. Days since last accidental genocide 0, but it''s looking to be 1 quite soon. Something to look forward to.


    Apart from the accidents for fun, I have begun to start digging in earnest making rooms of different sizes and shapes. I can feel that the Earthmails are under me just ready for the plucking, I just need to get a little deeper.


    After quite some time there has been little success in getting more Earthmail so far. It''s just out of reach just a little lower, where I need to go. Trying to dig straight down or make just a simple ramp has met with failure. Not because of any lack of ability but it seems that digging straight down is against the instincts of whatever I am right now. So when I try it feels terrible and I don''t like feeling terrible I like feeling amazing like when I''m digging around so I can wait.


    Slowly digging in random directions creating what seems like a maze of passages and intertwining tunnels. I notice that the mana feels denser here the deeper I go and I feel the need to be here not where my body is. The urge grows stronger the deeper I go soon enough becoming too tired to fight it I decided to make the move.


    Learning that you can''t just walk around is a hard lesson to learn but not an impossible problem to solve. I am a ball and my domain does go downwards so I figure that I might as well just roll down to the bottom. Just gotta figure out how to do that.


    A few days later after experimenting with different means to move myself using mana, I''ve managed to really gracelessly roll myself to the bottom of my current deepest hole. There was no light here at first but was easily fixed with mana like it seems all my problems can be solved with at this point.


    With a little glowing ball of light above my little glowing ball of a body, I relax in my new location. Feeling the massive increase in mana coming to me is the best feeling yet and I look forward to getting even more.


    Digging is slow... so boring. So I decided to find out what happens to the ants if I push raw mana into them, which should prove to be quite interesting. Pushing mana that has been changed to cause a specific phenomenon aka fire tends to just turn them really well done... Ramsay would be furious, and it¡¯d be hilarious. Might even make an idiot sandwich.


    But I digress. After experimenting for some time and some acceptable casualties in the face of boredom I''ve found I can grow them larger, stronger, and even meaner. The best part is I can, within some measure, attempt to control their evolution from just a single ant in a single lifetime all the way to through generations by altering either the worker ants or the queen respectively.


    Now with a new and improved army of 1 foot long horrors, I can finally relax and let them dig for me.


    Hmm, time for a nap.

 chapter 2. Experiments

    Awakening from a deep slumber I instinctively stretch my nonexistent legs to begin my day. Only to be surprised by what appeared in front of me, or more specifically what appeared in the part of my conciseness that governs the sense of my domain.


    What was shown was not a few corridors and rooms going down, but a massive network of tunnels and chambers creating a complex network. Even with my instinctive sense of my domain, the idea that I could become lost here seems plausible.


    How long was I sleeping for?


    Wandering around the new areas with my conciseness, I discovered that most of the walls were smooth, round in shape and only wide enough for 2 or 3 people to stand shoulder to shoulder.


    Soon the ants who were responsible for the changes came into view, and I was surprised to find they had far evolved from what I remember modifying them. Even culture seems to have appeared in these creatures with the modified brain size, something I spent a long time to accomplish.


    All the ants have different patterns from a large variety of ore and rock minerals painted or even carved into their hard exoskeletons, with some having shiny and even glowing minerals adorning themselves. These ants were usually larger and more dangerous looking. Most ants avoided these better-equipped ants like some sort of show of fear or respect, perhaps both.


    I arrived at the largest room in the nest and found the queen sitting atop the lifeless bodies of various creatures most of which were no longer identifiable, devouring them, all the while laying eggs.


    The eggs were quickly taken away by smaller ants as they were laid, to be taken somewhere else, probably the chambers that were filled with the young. When I moved closer to the queen to see her changes more clearly she startled, quickly looking up and around.


    For a moment I thought that she must have seen me but it appears she can only sense my presence. But soon she surprised me again, she sent out waves of mana crashing out in all directions, Initially, I thought it was some kind of attack but the familiarity of the energy made it apparent that it was not an attack but a message.


    The message was simple in comparison to the memory packet I received from the earth, almost primitive, all it conveyed was emotion in its rawest form, glee, happiness, awe, respect, and worship. I think I have a loyal fan of my work, her messages please me so I should reward her.


    Hmm, perhaps I will give her a name, Elise it is. The moment the name was created I felt mana leave me at a rapid pace. not knowing what was going on was worrying but soon Elise started to wiggle strangely which caught my attention. Her movements were rapid and seemed to move in ways impossible for her body to move in seemingly restructuring itself.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    After a gruesome few minutes, she stood up in her new body. It was larger with thorny bone plates protecting everything except the joints, the abdomen grew to nearly twice the size, probably to increase the birth rate. Most importantly of all her mana messages became significantly more complex, not mere emotions now but short bursts of speech. While her stuttering would not be able to hold much of a conversation, it can convey meaning.


    We conversed for the first time, she called me Master and I referred to her as Elise. Elise was ecstatic to find out her name and thanked me profusely all the while slipping in some emotion messages of loyalty and thankfulness. I asked her about why she calls me Master and her reply was that I freed her from her captors with my wrath of fire and water, killing off enough of them for her loyal brood to take control of the colony.


    After learning the reason for my domains expansion and find out a rough time frame for how long my "nap" was I proceeded to go back to my experiments with magic. During my "nap" with the expansion of the ants, I was able to receive quite a few Earthmails most of which, even after serious amounts of effort, were nothing but garbled nonsense.


    For example, one of the largest pieces of information I received was a skeleton as far as I can tell and I don''t know how having a perfect memory of a skeleton can help in any way. Just for shits and giggles, I decided to try making one with mana. At first, it was difficult but soon I got the hang of it and making something with mana became easy almost like I was born to do it.


    While staring at the still skeleton thinking of what I could do with it a sudden urge caught my attention it feels like my other energy is vibrating and pulsing trying to connect to the skeleton''s body. Almost all the urges so far have been an interesting experience so far, then I guess I''ll give it a shot.


    Slowly pouring the energy into the body being careful not to have an accident like with my mana tests. The skeleton moved or should I say twitched, since pouring several hundred large insects worth of energy into the skeleton it started to move. Slowly at first but after putting in more the skeleton became more nimble and after commanding it with mana messages like what the queen uses I was able to figure out that its strength increased too.


    The experimenting came to an abrupt halt when the skeleton suddenly violently exploded after pouring more power in. By that point the skeleton was exhibiting superhuman levels of movements and reflexes along with its almost perfect flexibility because of lack of ligaments would make it an extremely dangerous foe.


    The amount of improvement, however, seems to have a limit based on the strength of material I''ve tried to replace the bones of the skeleton with harder material from different magics like stone with small success and it does allow to increase the amount of energy I can put into my creation but stone seems to be a poor conductor of the power and requires a far greater amount of energy to get the same effect.


    After exhausting my energy I now call life energy due to its ability to animate objects I must wait to accumulate more through the deaths of my underlings, a time-consuming task


    <sigh>


    <bang>


    What was that?

 chapter 3. Captured

    Several days earlier, on a road leading to a group of adventurers next mission. The adventures each wear cloaks that cover most of their bodies in a green and brown color that seems to blend into the background sporadically. The adventurers all have different equipment tasked with different objectives.


    Leading the group, a tall female walks a couple steps ahead surveying the area in front, the sword on her hip tied to the sash, that holds the sword allowing it to move freely so she can draw in a single action. A testament to the extended use of the weapon.


    Behind her stood the biggest of the group, obviously too large to be only human. This man was covered from head to toe in armored plate dulled by its constant use, covered in dents and scratches from things seemingly as large as himself. He holds a mace in one hand, which has long since lost any resemblance of sharpness on its points and a thick tower shield.


    The third party member was wearing comparatively little only wearing simple cloth garments and thin leather over vital areas, he carried a staff with glittering gems inlaid along the shaft and a large crimson crystal on top. At the back of the group watching behind occasionally was the last of the group. Wearing a short sword at his waist and a blow on his back with leather and chainmail covering everything else.


    As the group moved along the road they came to a fork in the road and waited for the leader to make a decision on the path they would take.


    She thought for a moment and simply announced, "We will go up the mountain path"


    "Urgh, another mountain climb I am not a dainty little elf like you" responded the plated man


    "Perhaps you should wear less of that cumbersome armor then"


    "I don''t hear you complaining while you''re behind me when the arrows start flying."


    "If you want to die in the valley forest be my guest." she snapped back


    "Children, calm your tits" interjected the archer and was awarded a sharp glare by both parties. Still walking the mage tries to calm them down, "Relax Bard it''s not like we have to go to the mountaintop, we just have to go a little less than halfway up and cross there"


    "Still don''t like hiking it up a mountain when I can walk through a forest," said Bard


    "You will walk right into your grave down there fool unless you''re hiding a platoon of knights in that armor of yours," she said


    "Hmph"


    "Perhaps we should make camp and tackle the climb tomorrow" suggested the mage while rubbing his sore legs.


    Later that day as the sun was setting, the group sat by the fire cooking a simple stew, the archer sitting upon a branch of one of the sparse trees as the lookout. Too tired from travel to talk much they only made a few pleasantries or talked about a brothel they visited in one of the cities they passed by.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    It was getting late and they were setting up tents for the night the elf now had her hood down revealing her beauty, wavy golden hair sharp emerald eyes and skin like jade. The other adventures stole glances now and then still unused to seeing her face uncovered.


    She felt rather off something was tugging at the back of the mind making her feel uneasy but she couldn''t put her finger on what was wrong, after checking her surroundings a couple more times she dismissed it as paranoia. Lifting the glass she took a gulp after looking at a ring on her index finger holding the glass, she downed almost all of it immediately. Thirsty from the hard day of travel and wary of the even more difficult day that is to come tomorrow.


    After a few minutes as she was preparing to take the first shift of rest she felt that something was terribly wrong, she jumped up scanning her surroundings her party following suit. Scanning the surroundings a few times and seeing nothing unusual she turned back ready to laugh about her frayed nerves. Only to notice that her party was not getting prepared for battle like they usually would in response to her outburst of vigilance.


    Instead, they were just staring at her, her heart rate rose, now intensely aware that something was wrong. Looking down she sees the cup she used and a chill runs down her spine. she checks her ring finger and sees the enchantment on the ring is still working and becomes confused, as if to answer the confusion in her heart the mage starts to stutter "I... I''m s-sorry about this but we''ve got no choice".


    Immediately she leaps back taking distance mentally checking her body for poison and going over previous events. The water was given to her by the rogue David who tried flirting with her as usual, so she ignored the shifty look in his eyes as that look was always there when he looked at her. Having learned better than to eat something that left her sight she cursed herself in her mind before remembering her ring. The ring on her index finger should light up whenever poison is present nearby, by no means a powerful enchantment with a range of a couple centimeters, but useful nonetheless when you use it with the hand you eat with.


    Sudden realization hits her of why is happening as the group closes in on her position each step signifying her capture on shaking legs she draws her blade, completely unconfident in killing someone at the moment, she puts the sword between herself and her former party members.


    Bard gravely says, "You should just give up, you have been poisoned you can¡¯t use your oversized sword without your magic enchantment" as he moves closer. She edges away from him to the right getting closer to the archer. She can¡¯t get away from them if the archer is alive, with just a twang of the bow away from being crippled escaping would then be impossible and you can¡¯t capture an enemy that is burned to a crisp so the mage is not a problem at the moment.


    Heavy steps resound as Bard gets closer with arms outstretched unafraid of the blade in her hand. Her bad state coupled with the fact that her weapon is primarily used for slashing made him confident his armor would protect him. "I know you want to fight but you can¡¯t win. I''m sorry about this but I''ve got a family to look after now and adventuring is gonna kill me sooner or later you know that".


    Just as he was about to lunge she drops the sword in he hand knowing it¡¯s useless without mana or strength to try to use it, she rolls away towards the archer he pulls his bow with his tranquilizer arrows ready, but she is already on him pulling her backup dagger and cutting the bow in two and going for his neck for good measure. He reacts just in time and jumps back drawing his twin blades ready to lunge but is dumbfounded when the moment his feet left the ground she started running away.


    No one can outrun an elf in the forest without four legs so she runs as fast as her legs will allow towards the valley in hope of making the act of catching her not worth the reward they¡¯d get.


    Just as she passed a dozen paces the warrior throws an object, it flies right at her. She hears it but it''s too late the rope between the two weights catches her midsection and wraps around her. Noticing the marking on the bola used for grounding powerful flying creatures and griffins, equal parts maddening rage and despair engulf her heart as she lays there helpless.

 chapter 4. Escape

    Captured, her thoughts erratic desperately trying to think of a way to escape her predicament, they get closer. The rogue seems like he wants to eat her alive for the loss of his favored bow. unable to do anything she surrenders thinking its unwise to get their guard any higher right now. After seeing her surrender her party eased up somewhat, The tank ordered the rogue to get the ropes used for tying baggage after explaining that the wolf pelts weren''t worth as much as her and were not worth their time lugging it up a mountain the rogue went to work finding a strong rope. She looked so pitiful and defeated the mage just couldn''t stand it and went to her to apologize and explain his actions, she saw her chance as soon as he got close she jumped up and wrapped her thighs around his face sitting on his shoulders. Before the tank could react she arched her back and using her weight and legs flipped them over onto their backs then kicking off with what little strength she had with the leg not locking together onto the other, twisted her body like a constrictor snap!. With the mages low strength coupled with his surprise, he was easily killed by this A rank adventurer. Even with her hands behind her back, she was still deadly, she was then violently grabbed and thrown over to the tents while the tank checked on their companion.


    The next day when she awoke battered and bruised thanks to the rogue''s anger at having his friend killed, she was beaten so badly she could not walk. So now she was carried between the two men tied on a pole like some swine ready to be roasted.


    Carrying their luggage along with the woman up the mountain quickly took its toll on the two of them especially the tank wearing such heavy armor. During the break, she tried to slip her ropes several times only to be beaten every time she tried and the ropes retied even tighter. When they resumed travel she continued to scheme ways to escape and thought to herself "I''ve already killed the mage so they can''t have any tracking spells on me, they have beaten me and poisoned me frequently to keep my strength down, but my bindings are close to breaking. Every time I loosen them and the bastard starts his work I use the time to use the backup dagger in my shirt to cut a few ropes, Then when he tightens them like the sadistic pervert he is I make sure to have the frayed ropes covered by the strong ones, all I need is a chance. Without the bow they will never catch me once I am free, they will pay for thinking I''m an elf.


    During the journey on several occasions, the tank tripped and fell, leaving new scars on his armor. Each new scratch elicits a growl from him as his irritation grows, unknown to him the woman he is carrying is shifting her body weight to trip him when his feet near any rough terrain. Slowly the constant slips cause the pain in an old injury to become unbearable and the frequent beatings become worse because he''s too preoccupied to stop the rogue from going too far. Just as they make it to the top the last hill of the part of the mountain they are ascending he falls causing to make him cry out louder than usual. the rogue says "you better get off that leg or if we are attacked carrying Selenia while traveling we won''t even know how we died, we can set up camp here for a few days our supply of poison should last I brought extra"


    "I want to get this done and get back to my family, adventuring has been hard on my wife"


    "It''s no good having a woman on her own in a city like that"


    "I know that''s what makes me nervous especially with the pregnancy"


    "ay my brother says that the cities near the border are stocking up"


    "your brothers in the city guard in Ivani right"


    "yea city guard right"


    "..."


    The tank slowly hobbles away to get some wood to splint his leg to better rest it for the next couple days. Now with just the two of them alone together the rogue leers at the elf doing all but lick his lips. "Now look at what we have here our little local hero Selenia is oh so helpless I''m sure there is plenty of guys that would love to see you like this back at the guild."


    she asks "why are you doing this"


    "money" he spits back with a playful smile


    "rogues really will do anything for even a couple gold won''t they" she grumbles with as much sarcasm as possible.


    "you got me, I''m not here for the money the money is just an extra. I''m here for you. My employer has some interesting things to say about you."


    "hmph don''t believe everything you hear"


    "well it was oddly specific to just be random talk, said something like you were not 137 like you claimed to be. Should I start to cause you a pixie instead little trickster"


    "..."


    "or that you keep a necklace of your masters around your dainty little neck, oddly specific I''ve been with you for months and only glimpsed it by chance."


    "it''s not my masters its mine I carved it"


    "aye, but they are the one who taught you to carve right I''ve seen your knife work before you should of been a rogue."


    "you should of been less of a bastard"


    "Don''t like bastards, such poor people already suffering without a father and you just have to add insult to injury oh the humanity"


    She snorts then rolls over ready to try another round at loosening ropes but as she just starts to Maneuver her hand to the secret pocket in her undergarment the rogue chimes in with a chipper voice "still trying to cut the ropes" causing a chill to go down her spine "I''ve known what you have been doing for a while now, R-O-G-U-E remember traps and bindings are my things. He moves closer and she realizes why she didn''t warn his companion about shifting her weight to work against his old injury. It was to get her alone.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    Backing up the best she could before a rock outcropping stops her she sees him getting closer grinning widely unbuckling his pants. he sees her shivering uncontrollably and it only makes him harder just as he is chuckling to himself the ropes tying her ankles to her wrists snap with the free leg using the most strength shes ever used kicks towards his groin. He tries to dodge but his pants make him stumble then it becomes too late foot meets groin, two sloshing pop sounds are made shortly followed by a high pitched scream. She stands up quickly unbinding the ropes around her arms and says "yes you knew about me undoing the ropes on my arms but you were to busy staring at my tits to notice the frayed ropes on my feet fucking perv" she dives down to grab her weapon and starts to run. Loud footsteps are followed quickly behind but she can hear that they are uneven, she would laugh if she could afford the breath because that big oaf''s bum knee he bitched about constantly would mean he has no chance of catching her.


    After running for a long time she stops to take her breath on shaking legs and takes a look around. Only to see that all the area is surrounded by high rocks that could be the dens of monsters. The only way was either over the mountain, impossible without supplies. Through the Forrest equally suicidal with the amount shes bleeding, anything with a decent nose would find her easily in her weakened condition. Back and fight her captors goes through her mind for just a moment before realizing that she can''t take them both on without mana, She could follow the road but would be outrun on flat ground by the rogue using his wind affinity the only choice was to hide and wait for the poison to wear off.


    she scrambled up a couple high rocks into a small stone Forrest then walked until she found a cave with an exit for an emergency that was vacant of things that wanted to eat her. Her racial traits aiding her in not running into anything dangerous, something she keeps absolutely secret. Even going so far as to "accidentally" get into dangerous situations so no one finds out her abilities. Exhausted from the constant pain and mental fatigue of another betrayal, she closed her eyes for a second


    Selenia Suddenly wakes up to the sound of footfalls, cursing inwardly to stupidly falling asleep at a time like this she gets up and makes way to her escape tunnel. As she''s about to get to the exit a shadow moves in front of the exit. "how did you find me David is a shit tracker"


    "You always underestimate humans with that arrogance of yours."


    the rogue chimed in from the entrance "you think because Gene is dead we cant have a tracking spell ha. What did you think we were doing when you were knocked out, twiddling our thumbs"


    "you can use a little wind magic but you are no mage"


    "he is right you are arrogant you don''t seem to have a clue how much our employer wants you. He gave us a little charm to track lost items. After all you do always wear your masters necklace"


    Hearing how she was found causes rage to boils within her, if only she had her magic she would have easily sensed it. Her racial ability only works on things she can see. Not ready to give up and annoyed at the day-jar-vu of them edging closer she pulls her sword and the tank foolishly dose the same thing as last time under the assumption she cant hurt him, now fully convinced that he is the arrogant one, she begins to move. Just as he thinks she is dropping the sword to make a run for it she instead takes the sword in one hand and places the other hand halfway up the blade on the blunt side and uses both hands to stab right into a fold in the armor. Using her upper hand to push the tip into the armor with her momentum and body weight he is immediately surprised when he feels the heat of blade cutting flesh. After a short startled cry he steady''s himself with his years of being a tank pain is nothing to him but now his shield arm is done, the ligaments severed. Unable to continue to mess around he finally pulls his mace out read to fight seriously, only for Selenia to rush past his injured side, his injuries preventing any counter-attack. In a moment of rage he grabs his shield with his good hand he throws it at her, hearing the sound of wind parting. She takes a half step to the side thinking it was just his mace only to be clipped in the side with the heavy tower shield. on her way to the ground, she manages to get on top of the shield mid-air, one of the perks of an elves light frame. The shield crashes into the ground making a sound akin to thunder before she is able to start to flee again with her new wounds the ground trembles.


    The ground unable to take the sudden impact because of what lies underneath crumbles causing both her and the shield to fall into the ground. after only a moment of silence, another bang is heard as the shield hits the new ground. As she lays there momentarily stunned checking her wounds she discovers that one of her lungs was ruptured and is filling with blood. Tears finally make their way down her jade face. Angry at her fate, of humans, of everything she stands on shaking legs determined to make bringing her body back as hard as possible. Starting to stumble into the darkness the adventurers only arrive to find a hole in the ground and a blood trail leading further into the darkness.

 chapter 5. Hunt

    As I was experimenting a loud noise came from the upper levels of the hive which is new and exciting. Immediately after the first bang, there was another and this one was quickly followed by huge waves of rage and an instinctive knowledge that someone has invaded my domain. Not some harmless insect this time either, Bigger more powerful. The mana in the atmosphere seems to be joyous of its presence. I move my consciousness towards the disruption all the while my image of the intruder becomes clearer.


    The Mana in this being is strange, not ordered like most mana...chaotic. It is doubtful this being can use any spells, anything they tried would just go out of control and blow up in their face. Then I finally laid eyes on her, she was the most beautiful thing I have seen in all my lives. Even the bruises didn''t detract from her beauty, personally, I think they add instead...not quite sure if that is because of my current body or strange preferences. The bruises are not the only trauma she had received, I can sense one of her lungs has been ruptured by a rib and is filling with blood. A shame that something so right can die so pitifully, perhaps I can have the queen send her ants to eat her, That is a far more fitting death for something so beautiful. Not sitting around bleeding to death, how boring. She seems to sense me the moment I laid eyes on her she shivered and now she occasionally looks in my general direction, I did not know people could sense me so easily. Taken from my thoughts when she suddenly stood up on shaking legs, dripping blood she hobbles deeper into my domain. Beginning to like her more by the second I notice two more people above, But they bore me because they are men and are not invading so I continue to observe the beautiful woman instead.


    The ants of the colony heard the sound and start coming up to find out what happened, lead by the larger warrior ants with their more complex designs giving away their identities as the higher class. After noticing the movement of ants I sent a mental message to the Queen to only observe the intruder at the moment or capture her if possible. I received an instant reply of an excited over-sized bug of confirmation. A few moments after my message all the ants moving towards the surface tunnels started slowing down forming what could only be described as ranks, small groups occupying the floor ceiling and both sides of the tunnels they travel through making an imposing sight indeed. Any person who tries to attack the ants on one surface would then be overrun by the ants on the other side, or worse have them landing on you from above. The tunnels are not easy to traverse, to begin with, I don''t believe giant ant rain will help any would-be intruders with the trip.


    The girl is moving deeper into the hive, perhaps she wants to die I cannot think of any sane reason for someone in her state to go caving at a time like this. My attention is distracted when I feel two more intruders enter through the new entrance. leaving the girl to the ants I move my consciousness towards the new intruders. They seem to be just standing there checking their surroundings, one of them has a strange tool and is discussing something about dungeon levels with the other before grinning and following the blood trail. It seems these two cant sense me at all even when I move my sight right into their faces, perhaps the girl is the strange one and I''m not really obvious when I stalk-cough observe.


    After following the blood trail for some time the drips started to become larger and more frequent causing the shifty one to become excited. They began moving faster, while following them and listening in on their conversation I can only guess that they want to capture the woman, an easy task considering her state if not for the fact that the ants beat them to it. She is being carried back towards the queen now unconscious, I send a quick message to the queen to divert the warrior ants to my core instead.


    Meanwhile, the two men cautiously made their way deeper while I observed waiting for the attacking group of ants to arrive, I have no use for these ugly men especially the one with two short swords he looks like a rapist if ever I''ve seen one. Soon the sound of skittering clicks and rubbing bone plates were heard, The two armed men come on guard drawing their weapons the shield user in front and the sword user behind, they won''t be able to stop the enemy''s on the ceiling and the walls with a shield even if it is as big as a normal man. Waiting with mounting excitement the soldier ants arrived and the two did not seem to panic to my displeasure. They could have run and got lost and died one by one a little couldn''t they?.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Hundreds of ants vs two men the outcome seemed clear from the start, but once the ants got near the shield bearer suddenly gave a shout and his shield started to glow then a wall of golden brown energy blocking most of the tunnel emerged from the shield. The ants attacked the energy wall but found that each time they struck it the force would be rebound into their body, ants having a hard exoskeleton meant that the damage from the charge did little to harm them. So they tried to go around the gaps in the shield near the walls only to met with accurate stabs to the vitals by the short swords wielding man. Irritation quickly grew that these pests would not die and my pets were dying for no good reason instead. I called the queen to retreat her forces only for her to disobey me by saying that the children''s lives were not worth my safety in her limited ability to communicate. I tried asking her why letting them live would endanger me, I thought they were just annoying pests but she could not tell me how she knew but told me that she just knew, So I cut the link with her. Going back to myself to begin my work.


    Afterward, the two men defeated the ants then they continued following the blood trail, continuing to be slowed down by several waves of ants. The ants Trying to get them to split apart with ambushes failed the rogue seems to have a sixth sense about any hidden dangers. ants tried to form groups and attack from different angles at intersecting tunnels but the rogue told the tank of any attacks beforehand so they could always hole themselves into a single tunnel or a group of rocks to limit how many could attack them at once. Progress was slow however for the men because the tank could only use one arm which he used to hold the barrier in place so the number of times they could attack in a span of time was limited to what the rogue could accomplish alone and his twin swords better suited for slashing made for a poor weapon against armored ants.


    Their doubt that the girl still lives grew with every step deeper they took and with every enemy they slew. The tank tried to convince to rogue to go back several times because they could only collect the reward if they were still alive, but the rogue seemed to be carrying a deep grudge because he outright refused every time, telling him to go back himself. "do you think I can make it back on a bum leg with only one arm by myself" he tank spat.


    "then you better hurry up and find the bitch then" replied the rogue.


    "this is a dungeon, not a playground shes already dead" the tank argued


    "The gem still glows so she''s alive somehow and I''m going make sure she pays for what she did!" he growled


    "gene died because of his own stupidity, what did you expect for her not to fight back at all, she was an A ranked adventurer long before us and we are only in A rank because of her she taught us most of what we know Gene should have known how dangerous she was even bound"


    "hmph" the rogue snorted and continued walking


    Several such conversations took place as they ventured deeper, each less productive than the last. Meanwhile in the core room now stood seven skeletons made of what looked like translucent jade. Their lifeless eyes reflecting the dim light from the core and the image of an elf lying unconscious. She had been delivered by the warrior ants earlier the master of the dungeon almost too busy making preparations to notice. The cores consciousness floats there just above the girl observing her filled with indecision, he then switches his vision through different spectrum''s trying to decide the girl''s fate. After switching to the mana spectrum he sees the mana in the air moving around erratically almost seeming happy to be in her presence, The mana''s purity increasing a fraction. This mana''s excitement interest the core greatly, acknowledging the usefulness of having mana with a higher purity to a core, Because a dungeon core can only use the purest of mana which is why they are capable of so much more than any mortal with magic. not because of anything lacking in any mage but because of a difference in skill and control that make up the fundamentals of advanced magic.


    With this new information, he decided on a course of action. He began to pour life energy just like he did earlier to create his skeleton minions but focusing mainly on the wounds in her body. The wounds re-knit themselves under his powers guidance, his experience with evolving ants showing its use with the greater control on targeting particular organs now than when he first used life energy. After a short time, she began to stir first cringing because of the pain but then slowly opening her eyes. The last thing she remembers was being taken down by masses of giant ants too weak to fight back. Now shes found herself in a small circular room with a glowing rock the size of a tennis ball in the center. just as she is becoming accustomed to the light she notices she is surrounded by skeletons, going unnoticed for a moment due to the fact they don''t move at all. just as she goes to grasp her sword and notices that it is missing and feels her heart drop. He sees her panicking and says with a deep almost inhuman voice "Greetings I am Lucifer Morningstar you can relax if I wanted to kill you, you would be dead. Want to make a deal".

 chapter 6. Deal with the devil

    "Greetings I am Lucifer Morningstar you can relax if I wanted to kill you, you would be dead. Want to make a deal". I said¡­But to be answered with only silence how frustrating I¡¯m finally talking with another intelligent being and this is all I get. How about I continue the conversation and hope she responds to the beautiful stone without thinking shes lost her mind OK. ¡°do you know where you are¡± she flinched to that and started backing up to the wall only for the skeletons to grab her shoulders and restrain her. After struggling briefly she calmed down or at least seemed to give up considering the strength difference between her and her captors.


    Selenia¡¯s Pov


    Waking up with a start from horrendous pain in her chest and limbs she found herself in a circular room with a glowing stone in the center, after my eyes adjusted I became aware that I was not alone in the room. 7 skeletons made from beautiful translucent stone stood guard around the exit and near the stone. I looked around for my weapon but found it missing. Fear started to grip my heart as I realized that I''m not going to die a quick death, dungeons are not known for their benevolence. Then it spoke and introduced itself startling me once more.


    Taught that dungeons are only beings running purely on instinct for a long time and that named dungeons are extremely ancient and powerful made her instantly wary the moment it spoke. Then it asks if she knew where she was which sounded like a threat from such a cruel being, panicked she started to back up. Looking for a weapon after finding none she was quickly subdued by the skeletons, surprised that these simple undeadhad such great strength she gave up resisting them in her current state and can only hope she could stall for her mana to come back.


    Lucifer¡¯s Pov


    She still unresponsive, But knows her place now which will help move things along. Becoming impatient with the rate of the conversation I decided to speak first ¡°do you want to live¡± the statements meaning being further demonstrated by the skeletons that moved their bone taggers to her jugular. The pupils in her eyes become pinholes making her bottomless emerald eyes more apparent before quickly stammering out ¡°yes I would not believe anyone who would say otherwise¡±


    ¡°I can see you are trying to get into a philosophical debate but I care little for human beliefs, so I¡¯ll skip the chatter and get to the point. Become mine.


    ¡°what do you mean become yours I am no slave I would never give up my freedom just to live an imprisoned life¡±


    ¡°then I will hand you back to the men above,¡± he said as he chuckled a Little inside


    ¡°you bastard¡± Selenia yelled getting up to her feet ignoring the blades drawing blood on her neck.


    ¡°for someone willing to walk into the abyss to get away from someone I am sure you would rather die then place your fate with them so I will not be so boorish to threaten you with death.¡±


    The girl remained in quiet contemplation for some time. Her beautiful face changed many times some expressions I recognize some more complicated to see through with a glance/ but soon she came to the desirable outcome her desire to live and something else prevailing, she said ¡°fine¡± while glaring at me so intensely that if stares could kill I would be in pieces by now.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    With her decision now made I proceeded to instruct her on how to help set up the contract. The contract is one of the first things I received via Earthmail that I had yet to see a use for. Taking the free will from others is not something that strikes my fancy, but after realizing the dangers of people and knowing quite well of their insatiable greed humans possess. I began to see the necessity of such a spell, my only comfort is the fact that the spell is so complex that even using the most basic willpower to resist it would cause it to fail. During the process, she screamed quite loudly when I carved my seal onto her soul, quite a treat for the ears if I may say so myself. After complaining about the pain I forgot to warn her about I returned her weapon while wondering whether a Japanese person crafted the sword with its similarity to a No-Dachi katana. She said that was a unique sword she found in a dungeon that she created a style for herself which I am interested to see.


    Pov adventurers


    We have been walking in this dungeon for what seems like hours now and it is becoming eerier by the step, because all the dungeons we have explored so far have had small first floors with nothing really dangerous in them for anyone trained, but this place¡¯s first floor goes on for god knows how long and has these bloody ants everywhere. They are not particularity difficult for us to handle even without a mage with just the two of us but the strain has been building up David¡¯s leg is now dead practically dead weight.


    After Davids'' leg started acting up again we started to backtrack to the surface, although slower than when we came in we are making progress. The bloody ants are coming in droves now with little break in between waves, if we weren''t A rank adventurers with good gear we would have been buried here a long time ago. I realize too late that these things have been toying with us this entire time, they attack a little to keep our guard up and test our defenses. Until we are either too tired, wounded or too far into this deathtrap to escape, then they come in force. Several times we have had to stop for what feels like several minutes just to pass a junction so we don''t get surrounded moving past it. I can feel the wind moving now we are close to the surface and if I remember right this is one of the last junctions we have to cross before we can get out of here David seems exhausted, can¡¯t blame the guy bleeding from his arm moving on a bum leg all the while keeping the barrier up whenever any enemy''s come up. I have been trying to move ahead when there is only a few around to let him get a little rest now and then, the thought of just ditching him going through my mind on several occasions.


    We come up to the entrance of a junction and I see only 3 of the little buggers so to save some time and hopefully get out before they send reinforcements I rush forward to kill them. The first jumps at me and I step at forty-five degrees and twist my hips dodging the charge leaving my blade in its path decapitating the thing, too flashy I know but I''m getting impatient. Then the second and third jump me from both walls at the same time trying to clothesline me. While derisively spiting on the ground I lunge at them fast enough I pass by them both before they can turn mid-air and attack leaving a sword in each one of their skulls as I pass by, just as I pat my hands and start to retrieve my weapons I see a shadow lunge for me shit its bigger than the rest.

 chapter 7. A new addition

    Selenia ¡®s pov


    I hear my former comrades coming closer as I hide in a crack just large enough for me to fit in. waiting for them to get close enough to cripple in a single move. Previously I cooperated with the dungeon to get the ants to move in a predictable pattern to try and lure out the rogue''s retarded special move, that regardless how much I drilled into him that it was a bad move that left you open to attack, he insisted on using anyway.


    The ants attacked one in front to grow his ego then two at the same time to give him the chance I need, he took the bait. With the two swords in the modified skulls of the second and third ants, he''s now disarmed. Seeing the best chance I jump out of my hiding place lunging as fast as my legs will take me, slashing my blade right down towards his head. He dodges the first slash with a quick dash to the side and pulls his dagger while backpedaling trying to get some space. The warrior charges forward trying to cover the rogue with his defense but he''s too slow I caught up to my target first because moving forward is always quicker than backward. I try to cut again diagonally this time he dodges under the opposite side, but he failed to notice my all was not in this strike. Twisting my hips and re-orientating my wrists while enhancing my body with mana I changed the direction of the sash upwards. I¡¯m awarded a scream of pain and two fingers go flying his index and middle finger now detached, he will never use a bow again. Smirking I go for another slash to cripple his legs but the moment he sees the telltale signs of mana on my body he activates his greater power he can only use once every week or month. His body is wrapped in green swirls of energy that contain strange runes inside, his speed more than doubles as he turns around and dashes into the darkness, to the curses of the tank.


    Now alone the tank sees me and I can see the despair on his face because he knows his life is forfeit, but he is wrong this dungeon won''t let him die so easily not if I can do anything about it. He seems to be torn between apologizing and begging for his life, something I¡¯m sure that the dungeon is enjoying seeing. I am waiting here not attacking not because I won''t win but I¡¯m waiting for more ants to arrive crushing any chance of victory for him, seemingly impatient with the sound of ants coming he decides to charge at me shield raised I dash back into the junction and move around the blind spot granted by the shield and stab the back of his knee on his good leg, cries of agony sound as he falls to the ground.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Lucifer¡¯s pov


    Sweat would run down my spine if I had one because Selenia is a lot more powerful than I realized after watching her fight. After learning of the poison in her body was the reason why she was unable to use the ridiculous amount of magic she has, I spent some time injecting a mixture of mana and life energy into her liver and kidneys to faster remove the poison unsure of which organ dose that. She was in pain making some delightful sounds during the process. Although now I don''t think she is completely human anymore. The poison left her body so quickly after the adjustments that I doubt any poison would affect her in the future for very long, or at all.


    Now with my new little informant and the tank she insisted I save in my core room, I ordered her to kill him if he tried anything. Seeing him just stare at the blank wall lifelessly seems like a poor use of a potential worker so I say ¡°greetings I am Lucifer Morningstar if I wanted you dead, you would be dead. Do you want to make a deal¡± to the delight of Selenia?


    Looking slightly startled that I spoke to him he replied ¡°what kind of deal¡± while looking at my core as if it was about to sell a blind man a wristwatch.


    ¡°A deal where you don¡¯t die today, are you interested¡±


    ¡°Of course, I want to live I¡¯ve got a family to look after with 3 little girls¡± he pleaded desperately all the aura of a strong warrior completely nonexistant.


    Selena cut in ¡°you don¡¯t have 3 children you despicable little lair¡±


    ¡°you would sell me out to a dungeon¡± he roared.


    Seeing that this was going nowhere I interrupted the argument with my deep voice ¡°Become mine or die, answer the question¡± said with a sense of finality I didn''t know I had in me.


    Hmm, he didn¡¯t say he wanted to die so I''ll take that as a yes on his part. I like this making deals thing it was a great idea to name myself after the devil, not only does it sound cool but it means if there is another reincarnated person I can test whether they are telling the truth by simply asking what my name means, practically everyone on the planet knows of the Bible to some extent but I doubt people of this world would know of it. If I suspect that they are dangerous I''ll just say that I overheard the name from some passersby and liked the sound of it hehe.


    After branding Davids soul with my power I moved him to a smaller temporary cell I made and thought of my next move, I¡¯ve become painfully aware that I cant just sit back and relax in the ground around here because Selenia tells me that dungeon cores are worth a lot of money on the black market. She later seemed disillusioned that I¡¯m not some emperor class dungeon even though I can speak. Apparently, dungeons that can speak are millennia old at least, which is somewhat comforting for the fact that I won''t have to go doe nut diving again anytime soon, assuming that I''m not killed by some idiotic adventurer that is.

 Chapter 8. Upgrades in defense.

    Lucifer¡¯s pov


    Dungeons log star date 412-cant see the sky. I have been working on upgrading defenses in my dungeon to the criticism of Selenia, arguing that the first level is not supposed to be ¡°a giant death trap¡± and that I won''t attract any adventurers with such a design. Her opinion has been noted, then disregarded because if her former group of adventurers was hostile to me I would be floating towards a celestial doe-nut by now. A highly unfavorable situation considering I have found myself in an interesting body that I¡¯m not quite ready to give up yet, it''s not every life you become a shiny rock with godlike abilities.


    I began with the disobedient little queen by forcing the contract onto her. She is a creature of my dungeon so she could not resist, not that she wanted to. She seemed strangely happy about it if you ask me. Now I can control the entire hive and have higher authority than even the queen. Then I started to implement rules, well I¡¯m going to call them laws because it sounds more impressive, wait commandments, commandments it is. My new commandments created the groundwork for a civilization you know don''t kill your fellow ants don''t steal your fellow ant''s fungus and so on. I also implemented a class system where the higher classed ants were treated better by law regardless of the individual''s strength in battle and added an arena system where you can raise your rank. With these changes, it should bring out the ruthlessness and intelligence of the strong and have the ants kill each-other less to thus increasing their numbers. The ants are my mutual destruction plan aka going nuclear, if the country I¡¯m situated in decides that my powers are better suited to serve them than myself I can send a massive army of modified ants to the surface to ravage the land so badly it will take decades to recover in which time I¡¯m told their enemies would not sit idly by and twiddle their thumbs. I¡¯ve even added the ability for the queen to make more queens as a nasty surprise for any survivors thinking the antageddon is over hehe.


    After laying the groundwork for a civilization I began to work on the logistics of feeding my army of little warriors. Firstly I modified the moss they feed on making it hardier, grows more efficiently and spreads faster. Secondly, I commanded the ants to start clearing out large caverns 20 meters in height, then I had them go outside and collect flora and fauna so I can copy them by devouring them. After spreading the seeds of various plants around the new caverns and injecting life energy and mana into them they grew to full sized trees in mere moments, next adding lights that run on mana, an abundant resource in a dungeon the plants should grow naturally. Now with the food problem sorted with the underground Forrest biome, where the ants cut the leaves of the trees and have the moss eat the plant matter then the ants eat the moss, a perfect symbiotic relationship. With the added benefit of the trees grows faster with mana, the food problem for the ants should be solved for quite some time with added room for expansion.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Now with the ants taken care of, they can expand for themselves, so I can now work on my defenses, as much damage as an ant army can do. A trained military force with mages using similar magic to my own attack spells would be able to wander around my dungeon at their leisure. With such a thought in mind, my defenses should be focusing on picking on the weaknesses of large trained forces. I cant dig down very far yet the amount of energy to do that is absurd and the ants cant break the earth past a certain depth, even when I modified some to have pincers almost the size of their entire bodies they were only able to go an extra 50 or so meters down. So I have to make my dungeon long in one direction, I¡¯ve since learned that I can strengthen the walls of my dungeon so the enemy breaking through the ground at the end of my dungeon is unlikely even in the case were they somehow figure out where my core is located from above ground. Even so having a single path would be just as bad as having a surface level core room because they may be able to create siege equipment to just roll over any opposition directly to my core so I''ve made it winding going up and down with dead ends everywhere to split up any large force with large rooms appearing now and then with holes in the roof of the cavern and on the floor allowing the ants to attack from all directions, but not allowing an army to take rest there, that have holes leading towards other active tunnels so they cant even use the mana flow to find me, Something that I¡¯ve seen the adventurers tracking Selena doing with a device they cacrried. Next was adding small tunnels connecting the main ones together to allow only my ants through so they can attack any potential supply lines or unwary attackers.


    With that completed, I began working on my trump card. I ordered the ants to dig through the mountain and connect up the river on the other side diverting most of it, one of the more useful things Selenia has assisted in is her maps she supplied which provided valuable Intel on the surroundings of my dungeon. After digging a tunnel several meters in diameter and hardening the walls I had Selenia place my core in a room several hundred meters in the mountain after several corners of course just in case and a couple doors. Then after having Selenia go back to her room, I opened the floodgate and the water rushed down the tunnel out through the mountain and to the other side creating a new river going to the Forrest bellow. Relieved that the cages I placed on the opening of the tunnel mouth and various sharp protrusions didn¡¯t break I can rest relatively easy. One of the things I learned quickly was that I can¡¯t block off my dungeon completely because its highly unpleasant, but I can, however, make doors or other things as long as its possible to get to me. I didn¡¯t make the rules but apparently a tunnel with thousands of gallons of water pushing you down on to sharp rocks, does count as being able to get to me but who am I to complain.

 9 A scoundrels tale.

    Several weeks later in the largest mansion in a small city stood the rogue, surrounded by armed guards as he waited covered in sweat. During the wait, he imagined what his employer was going to do to him after his failure to capture Selena, nothing nice he is sure. Although he contemplated running away several times he was only able to come up with one ending such an act would bring about, death. Even the splendour of the waiting room could not catch the attention of this greedy man with the stress he is feeling, his keen senses not even picking up that all the priceless artwork furnishing this room have been recently placed, such a thought would only intensify the terror he feels toward the man he is about to meet.


    Soon an ornate door opens and a man wearing impeccable butler attire hires sharp eyes and scarred features letting all that see him know that a butler is not the third man''s main profession. This person always put the rogue on edge, the bloodlust this apparent servant emits while just attending his duties is greater than any bandits in the midst of slaughter or so the rogue believes.


    Soon he was lead towards an even more gaudily decorated room. Upon opening the doors the rogue sees the man he wants to see least in this world, hires appearance quite unassuming to those who don''t know him. He had blue eyes and blonde hair and a face that while not beautiful is handsome enough to warrant a second glance, An appearance very common in Nobel households.


    Upon seeing the rogue his reserved demeanor instantly morphed into one of fury. After learning of the failure to capture Selenia. The rogue shaking tried to explain himself but found the words stuck in his throat. After a moment of seeing the stunned rogue, the man suppressed his anger and returned to his business facade before calmly asking ¡°why are you here empty-handed in either going to have her head on a pike or yours¡±


    Stolen novel; please report.The blood drains out of the rogue''s face as he tries to coherently explain what happened while desperately trying to twist the facts to make him sound like a most loyal and obedient servant, something the man would have none of as he''s spent too much time in the courts to be fooled by such armature deceptions. With every lie and twist of the truth, his face becomes more gentle, terrifying the rouge because he knows that the man only looks kind to those he''s ascot to stab in the back.


    Suddenly when the rogue''s tale reached the point where Selena attacked with the aid of the dungeon the man began to grin. He then asked a few questions about the validity of the claims even mixing in a subtle threat, starting the price of lying. Meanwhile, the rogue was ecstatic as he appeared humble because when he was being questioned he realized that there was something in his journey that interested the man so he could hope to be useful enough to live a little longer.


    After discussing more certain details of the rogue''s story he allowed the rogue to leave before warning the rogue not to disappear for he had more uses. The rogue thanked the man profusely bowing low below scurrying off into the city. Upon entering the city he breathed a sigh of relief before making his round to various shops in the district selling the enchanted gear puff the mage Gene. With a heavy coin purse, he happily hummed a tune while making his way to the familiar backstreets where the more unsightly professions are performed.


    Later in the brothel, the rogue lays in the most extravagant room in the building hugging the waist of two beautiful women while recounting his heroic deeds during his days adventuring, but when the story came to a climax and his ego thoroughly inflated he found that only his stories could become grand under his power. After looking at the escorts faces and seeing what he believes is mockery in their gazes he explodes into a rage and punches the closest one in the mouth. Two front teeth go flying followed by a scream then heavy footsteps climbing the stairs, panicked the rogue uses his gifts in wind affinity to escape through the window all the while vowing to slowly torture Selenia for ruining him.

 10 Warning

    While following Selenia as she walked from the ant''s farm area to David''s cell carrying food we discussed the future plans for the dungeon. During such conversations, I''ve become aware that with the escape of the rogue my discovery has become inevitable. Most dungeons were discovered by villagers and farmers while hunting or tilling the new land and with the reward for any confirmed information on a new dungeon being enough for a simple villager to become a minor Nobel in a small town, the discovery never stays a secret for long.


    Soon I can expect adventurers to show up to cordon off the entrance before a more permanent guard can be put in place, in case I ¡°turn into a spawning ground for demons¡±. Humans don''t really appreciate endless swarms of monsters spewing out from their land. Worse yet mages from the arcane university will be coming to study the early stages of dungeon development to judge if I''m a risk to their country, a decision which could very well mean an early end to my dungeon. I will be doubly screwed if they find out I''m intelligent, having a being capable of creating anything with enough time and power under your control would be too good an opportunity to pass up for most countries. The only reason this has rarely happened in the past is that dungeons run purely on instinct, an instinct that would rather collapse itself than be controlled by another. So I need to make my dungeon seem like a good little dungeon while protecting myself from brilliant mages all the while seeming like a dumb-ass ¡°sigh¡±.


    Selenia is unfamiliar with all the criteria the university uses to judge a dungeon as safe, but she knows that most dungeons use everything they have to repel intruders even going so far as to harm themselves during their infancy. Then after a few years, they begin to lure animals and other creatures into their domain often to be corrupted by miasma the dungeon creates giving control of the creature to the dungeon only for it to make them fight to the death to obtain their life energy. Older dungeons learn to attract adventurers with rewards accompanied by serious danger to obtain them, resulting in adventurers dying and their life energy being consumed by the dungeon.


    With this in mind, I''m going to try to appear like an older dungeon that has yet to be discovered thus being considered safe by the countries standard. While contemplating on what the first floors of my dungeon see going to be like we arrived at David''s cell. The moment she sees David she frowns which is rewarded by David teasing ¡°to be waited upon by such a beauty I''m sure moving up in the world¡± which Selenia ignored before walking away. After leaving earshot she asked ¡°when are you going to start torturing him?¡± leaving me confused.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.¡°you insisted I save him why would I torture him?¡±


    ¡°aren''t all you dungeons cruel monsters who enjoy the suffering of others,¡± she said


    ¡°I may enjoy being sadistic on occasion but without a reason, I won''t harm another. So do you want me to torture him?¡±


    To this she snapped back ¡°of course why would I get you to save him if not to make him pay for betraying his comrades¡±


    ¡°betraying you¡± I rebutted then left before she could reply. I know what I want to work on now, a new body to use


    While my ants dug the new first floor I made my way to the lab, an area I use to experiment with new ideas and evolutions of my ants. One there I began working on the skeletal structure, After experimenting with skeletons in the past this past was easy. Then with an iron frame, I began grafting muscles onto the frame from previous experiments with animals my ants captured, using the faster-possessing speed of my core body this didn''t take long to get the shape and function right. Then adding skin and a few finishing touches such as long wavy blond hair it was complete. The body was complete but it could not house my consciousness it was too simple for that and was closer to a golem than a living being but it would be enough for its purpose. I will have to create a homunculus to use as a body in the future that can house my consciousness, hmm I wonder where I can find a dog and a little girl.


    Now with my little project complete and the ants nearing completion of the first floor my time for playing around is over. So I went over to Selena ''s room and fetched her. Silence rules the air as I guided her to the lab and when I open the door she gasped upon seeing my newest creation. Enjoying her surprised expression I told her the reason I brought her here ¡°she''s quite beautiful, isn''t she? I call her Selena version 2¡± as the doll is introduced it stands up and nods. As Selenia sees this copy of herself animate I can see the fear grip her heart as her face pails, Not allowing her time to regain her calm I activate the mark on her soul bringing out the longest and most delightful sound she had made yet. I only stopped the pain when she stopped making noise because she was out of breath and could not breathe. As she gasps for breath I tell her my reason for doing this ¡°I will tell you this only once. Do not try to manipulate me because it will only bring you unimaginable pain and suffering. Next time you want something simply ask I don''t care if the request is absurd but if you try to manipulate me, even in something you think it''s benign I WILL make it my mission in life to destroy everything that makes you yourself¡±. After my warning, I leave the fool to her own devices as she shivers uncontrollably on the ground. It was cruel I know but she must learn her place if she is going to continue existing. Because there is nothing I hate more than manipulative people.

 Chapter 11. First floor

    After settling things I went to the new first floor the ants have just created. When I reach there I see a sprawling cavern 20 meters in some places and shorter in others without any lighting it''s hard to see visually but with my dungeon sense, I can ¡°see¡± that it will make a splendid first floor. With the digging out of the way I can move on to populating the caverns with life, First I start with the lowest on the food chain, moss. This moss glows slightly in the dark and grows in next to no light, using mana as a substitute, a perfect start to the food web I¡¯m going to create. Selenia has told me that most dungeons summon, create or lure the creatures used to defend the floors, but I don''t want to do something so bothersome as that. I am a dungeon with almost godlike powers if I don¡¯t use them to automate some things and instead did everything manually I would be retarded and a waste of mana.


    After adding the moss I started on the insects most of which are harmless, they just fill the gap between the smaller animals and the moss in the ecosystem. These insects I¡¯ve already absorbed before from my beginnings as a dungeon so I can re-create them with one of the advantages of a self-created organism is they are created with enough miasma to be instantly controllable by me which usually takes time for larger creatures and is impossible with the stronger verities of monsters. Now with the insects out of the way I need things to eat them too so I added some frogs and a few birds and added trees, vines and other assortments of plants to populate the cavern floor making it seems full of life, feeling as if something is missing I notice that there is virtually no light here so I add the same glow-stones I used in the ant farming area to brighten it up. It''s not as bright as daylight but I think the gloomy atmosphere adds to the aesthetics of the jungle like cavern. Now the small animals can reproduce rapidly in the mana-rich environment. Finished with the small creatures I can now start to work on the larger ones that make my dungeon just the right amount of dangerous.


    I have several creatures that I can create from the Earthmails I have received until now, but most of them that I have experimented with are either too big too deadly or just plain wrong for a jungle environment to use. The ants have gone on several expeditions outside, something I have to put a stop to now adventurers are coming. The ants found several species of animal and monsters and brought some of them back from the valley below some of which I¡¯m impressed they managed to kill let alone hike up a quarter of a mountain. One such animalwas an over-sized black panther, truly a beautiful creature, even if your sense of beauty does not stem from how deadly something is. Nearly 1.5 meters tall on all fours with fur as dark as night, in the dark the only part of this creature you would see is its eyes if your lucky enough to get a glimpse of it before you are mauled to death by it. Despite its size, it moves with speed and fluidity on its large paws the claws of which are retracted until the moment 4-inch long razor blades become useful to mangling something it finds unpleasant.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Originally I planned to make my own creature to be the main monster on the first floor but this thing is awesome, it requires no modifications to be dangerous. I¡¯ve already killed the original so I can make more of them but too many would make it impossible to have anyone survive here, which would not be good for what I am planning. So I have to make sure to keep their numbers low, So I lowered their fertility then made some fast deer species that breed rather rapidly for their source of food.


    Now with the main predators on the first floor complete, I need to make a boss ¡°apparently¡± to give access to the second floor and so on. The thought of just making a giant version of the panther crossed my mind but I don''t think an ambush predator really suits a first boss. After looking through the various animals that I can spawn and find nothing that particularly stands out, I decided to simply use a modified boar. Making the boar larger more muscled with thicker fur and a hardened skull then elongating and sharpening the tusks to a razor edge, then widening the hooves to give better traction in the muddy terrain of the jungle. After carving the wall to make a cave for the boar king and linking the back of the cave to the ants maze as a pseudo second floor for the moment, all that is left to do is to distribute rewards around the area of the dungeon for the mages to deem me at the adolescent stage at least.


    After thinking about it for some time I decided on what kind people I want living near the dungeon, which is mostly workers and the professions that sustain them because miners and such will enter my mine in large numbers if it is safe enough with escorts of a few competent adventurers. No-one will really care if one or two of them go missing by cat related causes so I can even make some profit too, I just have to balance the amount that I give with the amount of danger it poses. Too many resources and greedy nobles might try to stick their noses in and I don''t need learned people getting too close to my dungeon, too little and no-one will bother coming meaning I¡¯ve wasted my time trying to lure some easy life energy and mana to my dungeon only for it not to be interested.


    So with this in mind I began creating ore deposits obtained from a particularly interesting Earthmail, the deposits look more like crystals growing from the cave walls made from different ores. This part is easy and should automate the rewards to some extent because the crystals automatically grow in the dungeon with enough time and mana. I¡¯ve asked Selena if the mages use similar crystal ore deposits but she says that the amount of mana to create any sizable amount of ore is enough for a mage to create several scrolls or enchantments that would sell far better or they could even just go to any street corner and sell buffs to wandering adventurers going on a particularly dangerous mission or they could store the mana in gems and sell the mana itself to other mages and people with artifacts requiring it for a greater profit.


    After spreading these ore deposits around the first floor with more of the cheaper metals scattered about and a few more expensive ones tucked into corners here and there I have finished my first level of the dungeon and I can relax for a while, maybe work on figuring out how to get these Earthmails by choice rather than random chance.

 12 Intruders

    To the south within the city of Chorrol of the Kasnia grand duchy there sat a small group of Five adventurers discussing future dungeon expeditions inside a cramped room in the local adventurers guild, after their return from the underground dwarven kingdom found in the center of the mountain range that splits the continent into two. With new gear forged by the dwarves using money from ill gotten gains, something common for this group. They were able to advance to A rank, usually, this would be quite the achievement with the very limited amount of people ever making it to A rank. Most die before they ever reaching B rank or quit due to injury or just stay around C rank, doing safer missions more frequently while spending most of their time drinking in taverns or at brothels. The A rank these adventurers obtained was not gained through skill but solely due to the fine craftsmanship and runic magics the dwarves make their lives goal to perfect.


    The adventurers consisted of a tank, warrior, cleric, mage, and rogue with their own respective roles, the tank holds the front line to protect the cleric and mage. While being protected by the tank the cleric''s job is toward undead heal allies and be aware of any fluctuations of mana in the area. The mage will focus on doing as much damage to as many enemies as possible while being an encyclopedia on magical creatures and traps or anything that may be relevant. He also controls most of the magic consumables the party uses. The warrior will act as a secondary tank if needed but most of the time he will focus on killing and wounding anything too big for an area of effect magic to kill immediately, giving time for the rogue or mage to do damage. The rogue¡¯s job is the easiest while being the most difficult to do well while traveling he must detect traps or hiding predators while keeping an eye out for any hidden treasures. Most rogues will be experienced herbalists and have enough alchemy knowledge to make a few potions. He¡¯ll switch roles during combat between a finisher, flanker or an archer depending on the situation. When a sizeable creature becomes crippled he will use his extensive knowledge of anatomy to fatally wound the enemy, precision and knowledge is often required on enemies with such large armored bodies where simple slashing of a warrior won''t cut it. If he decides that the enemy won¡¯t go down easily he will flank them, often using poison powders on large groups or dealing directly with magic casters, this is particularity effective against human adversaries. Lastly, when the enemy has ranged attackers such as archers and mages he will use his bow to take down any threats to the healer and mage.


    As they were arguing about which dungeon they should dive into an unfamiliar rogue entered the guild and asked for a private room. With no private rooms available the receptionist asked if they could share the room the A ranked adventurers were in to which they agreed thinking that a distraction would be good at this point. The rogue looked displeased at having to share a room but after learning they were A ranked adventurers like himself he dismissed the idea that they would be greedy people unlike himself especially with the expensive gear they were wearing. Once the receptionist sat down with the rogue on the shabby chairs he began discussing the reward for finding a new dungeon which immediately perked the group of adventurers ears up. After confirming the location of the dungeon on several maps the rogue left the guild waiting for the information to be confirmed to receive his payment, the adventurers begun to discuss their plans again only for the mage to stop them midway saying ¡°shh quite for a moment, if this dungeon is undiscovered right now that means they won''t be any guards at the entrance to see if the dungeon collapses who can identify who destroyed the dungeon¡±


    ¡°so,¡± the tank asked blankly as he leaned back in the chair that is screeching in protest at having a large man In full armor on top of it abusing its proper use.


    ¡°well don''t you know dungeon cores are the purest of mana stones¡± the mage repliedUnauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°so, you cant sell dungeon cores in any country without being labeled as traitors and being hunted down and hung, Most rulers don¡¯t appreciate silly little adventurers killing their gold mines even if said gold mines kill large amounts of people to be harvested¡± said the tank while frowning at the prospect of being a fugitive.


    ¡°SO¡± the mage replied in frustration ¡°IF there are no guards to identify who captured the dungeon then who will know who did it, Do you remember when I fenced the last items we ¡°found¡± well that person happens to be in the market for a dungeon core¡± he said while becoming more excited by each word that came out of his own mouth.


    After discussing it for a few minuted they all got their gear ready for travel, not willing to waste time because the more time they wasted the less time they would have to capture the dungeon. They bought the needed supplies and signed up for a quest near the unconfirmed dungeon that would not make the supplies they were getting or the time they would take away suspicious with ease of experience. Setting off before the sun rose allowed them to leave the city with almost no one seeing them leave bar a few slum dwellers near the south gate where all the poor lived and the guards were laxer or just plain corrupt.


    Travel was relatively relaxed, with the rogue scouting ahead with his keen senses he was able to steer the group clear of any merchants or bandits that may get in the way of their task, only a few wolves slowed the journey, adding their pelts to the adventurer''s wagon. When they arrived at the mountain of their destination they had to ditch the horses and wagon leaving them tied in a grove of trees camouflaged with a few poisons around it to keep wildlife away from it.


    Finding the dungeon took a little longer than expected because the entrance was just some small hole in the ground about the size of the tanks shield with miasma leaking out, a telltale sign of a dungeon. When they entered they found themselves in a deep jungle area with enough light to make their torches pointless to the delight of the rogue at not having to strain his eyes to see in the dark.


    They began to make their way in the dungeon slowly because of the difficult terrain, they could not take two steps in any direction without running into another plant and the mud on the ground made watching your footing a requirement to not falling flat on your face. After trudging through mud for what seemed like hours they finally found a patch of dry ground and decided to rest. While eating they complained that this dungeons first floor is way too long and that they haven''t even been able to kill anything yet which they found suspicious as they started to wonder if this was even a dungeon if it had no monsters.


    The group started to move again following the small device the mage carried directing them to the core, but after moving through a particularly dense area of trees and bushes the rogue suddenly gave out a warning ¡°There is something watching us, be careful¡± then the rest of the group tightened their formation protecting the weaker members. Before they could enclose the cleric behind the warrior the trees moved and something large and black lunged at the healer. Before he could move his head was already crushed beneath the powerful jaws of the panther, but instead of the cleric being shoved to the ground and torn apart by vicious claws his body just vanished leaving the panther to sail through the air uselessly, confused at what happened to its prey. The adventurer''s images suddenly appeared several meters ahead of where they were a moment ago, the illusion the light mage created losing its effect when he began to cast another spell.


    The panther started to run to the cover of the jungle but had several arrows lodge themselves into her hind legs slowing her greatly. Just as she was about to make it to safety with a few more wounds to show for her hunt, a fireball almost the size of the panther itself a meter and a half wide engulfed her, the impact threw her several meters into the underbrush slamming her into a tree leaving a charred corpse of a once proud predator behind provoking a response from the rogue ¡°you didn¡¯t need to cook the thing yet, the hide on that thing would go for quite a lot you know¡±


    The mage replied back ¡°we are here for the core we cant be slowed down by the extra weight, we will make enough money to retire if we complete this job successfully¡±. Unknown to them the master of this domain could understand them perfectly as it watched them announce their own demise.

 Chapter 13. Exploring the dungeon.

    Lucifer''s Pov


    Furious at what I had just heard, I raced over to Selenia''s room and startled her when I entered her room abruptly finding her carving something out of wood. Before she could finish her first word I interrupted her ¡°are the first adventurers that come here supposed to try and come to the core of the dungeon for some mission¡±. Only to be met with a blank face for a moment before she realized that something was wrong and asked when they entered and what they looked like and some other minor details before telling me that ¡°they are not the adventurers sent to guard the dungeon entrance the response is several days too quick for that and the mention of my core and large rewards would mean that they are thieves trying to take my core for profit, bringing my wrath on to a whole new level.


    After telling her to get ready for combat and get David ready which she looked at me confused for a moment, I made my way back to observe the adventurers. They were walking towards the first floor boss room or should I say cave, I have little hope that the boar king will actually inflict any damage to these adventurers if what Selenia told me about them based on their description is right, they are A-ranked at least and the only reason she thinks they aren''t S ranked is because the dungeon is still standing. S rank was something she forgot to mention about adventures and when I asked her about that important information her face paled as she recalled what I did to her last time I thought her information was unsatisfactory. I didn¡¯t have time to deal with her now because I¡¯ve got more important things to do now.


    Putting everything on hold to deal with the new threat I observed the adventurers trying to glean some clue to their weakness which will lead to their inevitable demise while watching I split a small part of my consciousness to activate some stone doors that lead into the ant nests, the doors containing my newest creation. This creation is something quite simple but will solve the current problem of the energy shields that are apparently common in the later tiers of adventurers These creatures are ants, but not like the foot long ants currently walking the underground hive but almost normal sized ones with the larger ones being 1 inch long at most. while Not particularly deadly by themselves with numbers they can drown someone in their mass of bodies alone, But their quantity is not their only weapon I''ve modified spider venom from a particularly nasty arachnid onto the ants so it be injected into humans from stingers on their back section or whatever its called. Once injected with one ant¡­ nothing will happen, but injected with 20 or 50 maybe 500 then the small amounts of poison will add up causing their bodies to stiffen and soon become paralyzed if the poison accumulates, only to be drowned by ants blocking their noses and entering their lungs. That''s if the larger variety of ants don''t eat them first, They may eat fungus and moss normally but they quite enjoy meat from my observations.


    The adventurers finally reached the end of the cavern. Completely drenched with clothes and boots full of mud they looked miserable. Finally finding hard ground to stand on they cheered while the rogue surveyed the surroundings before remarking ¡°this seems to be the end of this floor the boss should be up ahead¡±. Hearing this the adventurers threw away their smiles and replaced them with serious faces fit for high ranking adventures in a dungeon before moving on cautiously I must admit that they show some serious professionalism for a bunch of thieving bastards.


    Suddenly as the adventurers were forming up to go into the cave the boar king came from a thicket of woods to the right instead. The adventurers reacted instantly the tank going to the front and activating the runes on his shield causing a stake to shoot itself from the shield into the ground fixing it into place. The boar king charges head first into the shield, but just before it¡¯s head and tusks make impact the tank forces a massive portion of his mana into the enchantment on the shield and a blue barrier radiates outwards from the shield dampening the charge of the boar until it hits the dug in shield only to come to a complete stop. Not allowing a chance to slip by the rogue dashes into combat with his dual daggers and strikes with his left blade and as he strikes activates his weapon lengthening the weapon with a razor-sharp energy blade that cuts straight through the eye of the boar directly severing the brain stem killing it instantly. After seeing the ease which the adventurers killed my first-floor guardian I decided to lay a few more traps ahead of them. I would just roast them alive with magic but when they are so far away from my core I cant use magic near them because the natural mana they emit causes my pure mana spells to be extremely unstable usually unraveling themselves before they can be any use or just plain damaging me with a negative feedback from failed magic. I have not tested it yet but I''m sure I can pump enough pure mana into my core room to use magic directly against my enemy''s if they ever make it that far.


    While the adventurers start to make their way into the ant maze I begin to harden the floor on a particular spot with massive amounts of mana hardening it to an extreme degree.


    Adventurers pov (mage)


    I have been In this party for several years now, being one of the first to join. It started as just a warrior and rogue, two friends that grew up in the same village, best friends since childhood they got along like brothers until their village was destroyed by the wars to the south forcing them to grow up fast as pack mules in dungeons. Mules are children orphaned for whatever reason who decide to carry loot for adventurers in dungeons, you would think that the adventurers would use actual mules because they are cheap and can carry more, but you cant. Any animal that enters a dungeon lower than C rank almost instantly turns into a dungeon minion once it enters. Hence the need for people to carry the heavy stuff, but adults are too expensive or have better options than being a mule so all that''s left is orphans with nothing left to lose and a stomach to fill, this is one of the dirty secrets you don¡¯t hear about adventurers. Most people think adventurers just go to a dungeon kill something then go to drink for a few days like its some fucking game. They don''t know the death and suffering that we face on a daily basis for their safety or at least that what I used to believe in. Gone are the days of lore were the adventurers go out and slay the monster and return hero¡¯s, now its just a dirty job someone has to do and the nobles won''t pay for. Making for a lot of rabble with a lot of power with no one to answer to creating a lot of its own problems, pack mules being only one of them.


    Zeke and Alen weren''t the only ones to become mules in the dungeons most of their friends had nowhere to turn to either. Survival of the fittest for a mule would be an apt description if you were stupid brave or both, it''s more like survival of the luckiest. Or survival of the guy who can see who doesn''t take a mule with them to use as bait when they find themselves up shit creek, it''s in the eyes apparently. Something Zeke is good seeing with scary accuracy, he can tell a mans nature by the way he looks at another person, which has saved us on a lot of occasions in this line of work, but I think all skills come with a price and it was a heavy price on him for that particular ability, he cant trust a person more then a knifes distance away. Alen got off relatively easier during his years as a mule he caught the eye of a particularly good warrior who trained him for a while so he didn''t have to resort to thievery like Zeke did. After a couple years Alen started adventuring soon taking Zeke under his wing to teach him everything he has learned.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Then there is me the sheltered kid, I grew up as a minor noble in a small town, Nothing special I could just eat my fill, order some maids around and have some security in my future, better off than most with the noble title being hereditary. Spending most of my youth studying light magic to try to gain immortality like the great mages of the country was my fantasy and I had fun trying to accomplish that goal, but all good things have to come to an end. This particular end came from my father, too greedy like most noble''s he tried to ally with a smaller country to the south. After the rebellion if something so small could be called that, he held 2 towns and a large area of the Etherwood forest to himself, the towns themselves would be quite profitable but the forest of magical trees would mean he could become a very rich merchant noble with how expensive wand or staff wood is when its usually monopolized by the elves.


    Too bad that kingdom to the north is very pissy about annexing their lands and towns so they sent the arcane university to take it back. Three weeks later the country trying to expand its borders is destroyed completely all the people in positions in power dead, some in their sleep others roasted alive. The country was soon swallowed up by the surrounding powers in the power vacuum that was left after the destruction.


    With my country destroyed my nobility no longer existed anymore more and neither did my family because they were executed for treason, I¡¯m only still alive because the family were out at a party with the other greedy nobles to suck off each-others egos and I was in the library studying my craft, it¡¯s a good thing soldiers are lazy and stupid. I sat there in the corner of the library for almost a full day concentrating on keeping my optical camouflage active to evade detection.


    After wandering around for a long time using basic healing magic on adventurers and villages to get by I traveled around nameless for a while. I met Zeke and Alen a few years later. We didn''t get along very well at first but when I helped them on a quest into a poisonous marshland something they couldn''t do themselves without cleansing magic, we started to get along better. Then after several years of adventuring we had added more members, even done some things I''m not too proud of but by now I am too jaded to really care not to do them again if the need arises then made it to A rank. Now we are going through this crappy dungeon that has nothing in it to kill so no rewards and the only thing that did attack tried to bite my head off. Luckily my optical camouflage trick still works against cats and it didn''t notice I was actually a few feet ahead of where it looked like I was, In frustration I burnt the thing to a crisp earning a scolding from Zeke, but I don''t get to use my fire magic very often, being a light mage primarily means my fire magic is not as good as my light but even so with lights poor attacking methods to non undead even half the power of my fire magic still trumps my light magic in power.


    After a very short battle with a boar boss, we found ourselves in a maze with foot long ants attacking from all directions. The bloody dungeon guide doesn''t even work here we keep coming up to cave walls, which is not unheard of with dungeons with moving walls, but these are just normal cave walls and the dungeon guide is telling me to go through a fist-sized hole to another part of the dungeon which we cant do.


    We have started mapping the cave system while making our way through hoards of ants on our way, annoying little buggers but fire magic is quite well suited for clearing them out from behind a tanks shield. The cleric has started to complain trying to warn us to go leave this place saying that the mana spirits are acting weird, as a mage I can''t even feel anything so I think he''s just being a coward like he usually is, I don''t even know how he became an adventurer, to be honest but he''s a good healer if a little cowardly.


    It feels like days since we have been down here killing ants and mapping this infernal dungeon. With potions and items, we have from the elves and dwarves respectively its not like the ants are any threat but they are just unending and my mana is starting to become harder to control for some reason.


    After the excessive whinging of the cleric, Zeke finally snapped and told him ¡°if you speak another word I''m gonna cut your tongue out if it''s not for a healing spell you useless bastard¡± leaving the cleric stunned and me very satisfied, a cleric telling a mage about mana is ridiculous.


    It seems as if we have made some progress the enemies have changed to include regular sized ants that have little stingers that the cleric warns us it has poison, at this point everything this cleric says goes in one ear and out the other. After being stung a few times by a few that got past my ring of fire Alen started to complain of stiff muscles, not being one to complain much meant it was serious. The cleric finally had something to do now which is nice to see him do something for once. As it turns out the little ants are more dangerous than the big ones, the poison they carry will paralyze you if you get stung fifty to a hundred times, not a lot when there are a thousand skittering towards you at any one moment. A party without a mage wouldn''t last 5 minutes down here, they would be stung by thousands of tiny ants too small to fight and become unable to fight the larger ones. That makes this one scary dungeon, I¡¯ve never heard of a dungeon trying to kill you with things that get smaller as you go along usually it tries to throw things at you that are ever increasingly large or deadly to ridiculous degrees.


    Things are not looking so good anymore, after constant use of fire magic and drinking mana potions as if they are shots at the tavern, at a drinking contest, I¡¯ve become exhausted and the cleric has been constantly using cleansing magic on all of us. We don''t even know when we were stung to get the venom inside us, but we continue trudging on no longer in a good mood about the prospect of rewards or living an easy life full of riches after this because we might not live until after this. We realized too late the danger this dungeon posses, my fire has been our own undoing, I thought that the small ants had venom in them, a word I use interchangeably with poison a lot, even when I know the difference, which is why I didn''t take the warnings of the cleric seriously. The fire has been evaporating the venom in the bodies of the small ants and entering through our lungs something the cleric didn''t know could happen and something I was too dumb to remember sooner. Now we are surrounded deep underground by huge swarms of ants making the amount we fought before seem like a lie.


    Unable to push back through the huge caverns with holes in the ground and ceiling we are slowly herded deeper into the dungeon probably to our deaths. We have tried pouch bombs, chemical scents even our prized portal scroll to no use. Too far underground to teleport apparently.


    We soon come up to a roaring underground river that seems to go into the cave wall, it is probably the river that was diverted killing huge swaths of farmland nearby. I believe that the exit to the water-flow should be down into the valley below the mountain the dungeon is on top of. This being probably our only chance to escape we contemplate jumping in to take our chances, but Alen and Zeke don''t agree they think we should fight our way out instead of a gamble and ¡°that we have been through worse¡± and we have, but the length of this dungeon will mean that some of us probably won''t survive the whole trip and the exhausted cleric, tired from all the cleansing magic is the first to suggest jumping in because he is the most likely to die if they fight their way out.


    Our decision was made for us when the ants parted and a man wearing full black obsidian armor stood in front of the ants with a large tower shield. Tired and momentarily stunned at the new enemy we didn''t react fast enough. The tank is tired but still moves forward as usual and activates his spike to steady himself, but the stake hits the ground and bounces off, unbalanced the tank only had time to activate his barrier which only worsened the situation. With the larger size of the charging man along with the heavy weight of his armor, he easily pushed the tank back and his barrier caught all of us with it pushing us to the edge. Just as we are about to go into the water we manage to slow the momentum. Thanks almost solely to Alan using his brute strength to hold up the tank¡¯s shield so he could stand again.


    Before we could regain our footing however a shadow flew straight at the charging mans back and dropkicked him forcing us over the edge with the attacker barely staying on flat ground, weren''t they allies they both attacked us, why did she try to kick him over the edge with us?.


    As those thoughts go through my head we tried to hold our breath or use whatever trinket we thought could help as I fiddle with the drawstrings of my pouch looking for something useful in this situation. I''m trying to figure out why would a river suddenly divert. When the realization hits me that the dungeon must have done it the air in my lungs escaped in a scream just before sharp rocks started to appear then everything went black.

 Chapter 14. Reward.

    Lucifer¡¯s Pov


    Well that was interesting, not everything went exactly as I imagined it would, but the situation sorted itself out better than I anticipated. Originally I was going to use my trump card if they could get up the water current but it seems my choice to use poison instead of venom was a wise choice, I thought that the adventurers would squish the ants with their hands when they were bitten allowing the poison to be absorbed through their skin, something that venom cannot do. But it seems that the fire magic vaporized the poison to a similar effect, I''m just lucky that the fire didn''t alter the poisons chemical properties turning it inert or something.


    Initially, I began to sweat a little when the mage started using the ring of fire magic that didn''t allow the small ants to get close to the adventurers. The plan was for the adventures to be swarmed when they were tired which is why I held most of the ants back in the initial attack, but they seemed to have an endless supply of potions and magic items. This allowed them to continue further into the dungeon, they were careless because they made the assumption that I would throw everything at the wall to see what stuck, but instead, I made sure they were in a position where they couldn''t turn back before I committed my main force. They also should have guessed from the first level that my dungeon floors are significantly longer than other dungeons. Perhaps the dungeons running on instinct can¡¯t figure out that distance can kill a person just as well as a big monster can.


    I¡¯ve realized that even if I added stronger monsters instead it would not make me any safer, larger monsters are harder to create and take more energy to sustain. I can, however, choose to feed my creatures either mana or food so I¡¯ve currently got my minions eating food instead of taking in mana because my farm is sufficient to feed the current amount of minions but soon I will have to expand the farm. Anyway even if I made a colossal monster it probably would not amount to much against strong adventurers, especially with the number of magical items these ones had. I¡¯ve found magic weapons on all of them and the mage had a holding bag that can hold more than it should, some trick of space magic apparently. Although it can hold more items it still weighs as much as whats inside it. I asked Selenia if there is a version which cancels the weight but apparently, those are only held by royalty and the fact that these adventures even had a holding bag meant that they were up to no good for quite some time and were quite successful at it. Only high nobles like dukes can get a holding bag normally, it''s not something most countries want people to own when they are trying to secure their borders.


    Sadly quite a bit of the gear they had was washed away and having Selena go down to the valley below did not yield any results as I hoped. I didn¡¯t realize how cooped up Selena was until I saw her come back into the dungeon after being outside looking for the adventurer''s gear, she looked happier than I''ve ever seen her. That is not really saying much considering I¡¯m her captor but still, I should make her stay more habitable. Her room only consists of a bed with leaves for comfort a dresser for the few clothing she has left and whatever she can make out of things she finds in the dungeons jungle areas. The wild look when she is wearing mostly jungle weaved attire I must admit is quite sexy.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    During the incident, she played a key role in taking down the adventures. She used her abilities to communicate with spirits to stop aiding the adventurers and to start to become more chaotic, something that makes it really difficult to use the mana in the atmosphere that the mages are fond of doing, as a side benefit it slows the number of mana people in the area can create or take into their bodies because they cant get the mana to align with the mana in their bodies. To do this she had to follow the adventures stealthily while concentrating on the spirits the whole time, by the end of the ordeal she looked more exhausted than when she first fell into my dungeon. So I should reward her by upgrading her living environment. Although I am probably only doing this because of that fantastic kick at the end, the look on the mages face was priceless.


    I guess I''ll go do that now, when I enter her room she looks over pausing from her current carving and asks ¡°is there something you need me for¡±, I do like that she has started to act more servantly if that''s a word so I told her ¡°get out of your room, I¡¯m going to be modifying it¡± she then stared suspiciously at my general direction for a moment then looking unwilling but still leaving her room making sure to pick up some of her better carvings before leaving. That unwilling face is quite nice. Now I should get started, using some of the knowledge from the Earthmails I began my work, starting with expanding the room to five by five meters, then with the extra room I started to imagine the object I wanted to create and the properties that it needed, without the Earthmails this would be difficult but as long as I have enough information about something I can create whatever I imagine, but the less I understand something the more mana it takes to create it the point of some tasks are just a waste of time and effort. During one of the experiments I was able to make a handgun, but it could not fire because my knowledge on the inner workings of a gun is non existent, I had better luck with a revolver even still it could not fire very well because I don''t know the ingredients of gunpowder and smokeless was powder even more out of my range of knowledge.


    After a few minutes pouring mana into the air I was finally able to make a king size bed, by earths standard I''m sure the kings in this world have far bigger beds. With a canopy, silk sheets and a pillow-top mattress, something even the kings of this world would not have it is complete. I originally planned to carve the wood posts with images of mythical creatures but it seems Selena loves carving so I left the posts and headboard bare. Now moving on to other amenities I started creating other things now less out of good will and more out of creative desire now than anything else. I created a mirror on the wall which took a lot of mana, apparently knowing what silver nitrate does not make it easier to create if I haven''t eaten it before as a dungeon. Then I worked on a bathroom, Selenia usually bathes in the jungle biome in a stream that goes through the whole floor, it¡¯s something I''m sure is not particularly pleasant to do in cold water. This part is where the items left by the adventurers came in handy, they had lots of magic stones filled with mana to do different things. After eating the stones I can now create them and a bath does not take much mana to make, its just a hole in the ground something I''m quite good at by now with my time as a dungeon. After sticking in a water stone to fill the thing and a drain with a plug leading to the jungle floor I added a fire stone which she can pour mana in to heat the water, then adding a toilet that runs out of the dungeon and I''m done.


    I should make something for David because he helped out too but my creative juices are running low so fuck it. So now I can go back to experimenting on the items the adventures donated.

 Chapter 15. Selenias New room

    Selenia¡¯s pov


    Suddenly Lucifer the dungeon ran me out of my room, saying that he was going to modify it. As I looked at him suspiciously I made my way out, deciding that annoying him is not worth arguing with him to stay in a dingy room.


    After about an hour I sense his presence once again and ask ¡°have you finished because I want to complete today''s carving¡± sounding more docile than I had intended.


    sounding slightly confused he said, ¡°you do a carving every day?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t particularly have anything better to do when I''m stuck in a dungeon for the rest of my life¡± I snorted


    he replied ¡°I guess I should create more things for you to do then, anyway aren''t you going to go into your new room now. I worked quite hard on it¡±


    Looking at him even more suspiciously than when I left my room I spoke carefully ¡°I¡¯m not going to be stepping into a trap or something am I¡± while cautiously opening the door and peering through looking for tripwires or other triggers. I found his silence discomforting enough that I stopped opening the door.


    He soon replied sounding annoyed ¡°Why would I set traps for you, YOU belong to me it would be like scratching my own car¡±


    Not quite understanding the reference he used but understand the tone of what he said felt like pins stabbing into my heart. I¡¯m able to forget sometimes that I¡¯m a captive here because of how peaceful it is here but it still pains me to remember what I¡¯ve become, a simple slave to a dungeon.


    I spend most of my time carving new tokens or figures and the rest of my time I spend walking around the ants farming cavern. Both these things remind me of home which is somewhat comforting, if I was not captive I might think of living a decade or two here because its so peaceful and no one would think to look for me here.


    During my reminiscing he started to sound impatient and spoke in a slightly more threatening tone ¡°just go in already this is a reward for doing a good job on your last task¡± then I sensed him get significantly closer to me then said ¡°besides I have far more efficient methods to punish you¡± sending shivers down my spine, something I imagine he takes great joy in.


    After finding his threat strangely convincing I decided to see what changes he had made, It¡¯s not like I had the choice anyway. I pushed on the only wooden door in the dungeon and it creaked as it slowly swung open. The first thing I saw was a huge mirror with perfect clarity, unlike the mirrors the nobles have that are just polished bronze or the mages mirror¡¯s which distort the image from mana interference. This mirror seems to perfectly reflect my own image. Around the edges of the mirror, there was a gold frame with intricate carvings of monsters I have never seen or heard of, the worth of this mirror alone would be astronomical to those nobles that must compete in having the most ridiculously lavish homes against each other. When I finished opening the door I could see a doorway that was not there before and a bed fit for a queen, it had a canopy with seemingly see-through fabric and the posts were made of a very beautiful hardwood, but seemed somewhat bare without any carvings like the mirror had confused me slightly. Then I realized that he decorated the metals but not the wood because he has seen me carving wood on several occasions so I could decorate it how I liked, which filled my heart with warmth for a moment, which I found strange because I could not remember when someone did something nice for me without hidden motives, because if he wanted something from me I couldn''t refuse anyway so there would be no point to gifting such expensive things to me. Causing the feeling of warmth to be immediately polluted with a mix of other complicated emotions.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    I walked towards the bed and parted the fabric around the bed and sat on the mattress. This mattress is by far the softest thing I¡¯ve ever felt in my life, the top feels like a high-class pillow and the bottom is like sitting on a cloud The sheets felt like the smoothest silk that noble wives would wear for important occasions. Something so expensive they would wear more than once which is saying something, and blankets and sheets of it no less. The power of a dungeon surprises me even now after years of delving into them.


    Now curious about what is in the next room because of how amazing the things are in this room. I made my way through the doorway into the second room and when I entered I was stunned. It was an enormous bath, getting near the water I could see fire and water stones in the middle of the bath which is strange because no normal person would waste mana on making a bath this big and anyone with enough mana to do it easily would be able to afford servants to heat the water for them. I then saw a small rock a few centimeters in diameter on the bottom of the bath with a small chain coming off of it adding to my confusion. Bewildered by the strange design I asked the still present Lucifer ¡°what is the rock on the bottom for, and why is there a fire stone on the bottom when you would usually use wood to heat the water and as for the water stone I have no idea¡±


    After a moment of silence, Lucifer answered ¡°for the stone, you can pull it and the water will leave out the hole under it and the water stone is there to refill it after you put the stone back. As for the Firestone it absorbs mana over time so the mana input is tiny unless you bathe more than once a day, besides it not like you have a lack of mana even the mage I¡¯ve seen doesn''t have a tenth of the capacity you have¡± surprising me that its not a mana stone like I thought but the far more expensive mana crystal, the lower grade mana crystals look almost identical to mana stones but they absorb mana from the atmosphere.


    Suddenly I feel a jolt go through my heart as I realize the misunderstanding he has and remember how much he dislikes not knowing things I spoke hastily ¡°I do have a lot of mana but I cant use most of it because of a curse my master put on me¡± I almost stuttered saying more than I intended, only now realizing how much effect his little punishment a few days ago had on me and being angry at myself for behaving like scared little girl. But unlike how I thought he would react he simply replied ¡°I see¡± sounding completely uninterested about me and not even trying to probe into my paste like most people would after my little slip-up.


    Calming down a little curiosity trumped my fear considering his easy-going mood and I asked ¡°what is the weird seat with a hole for¡± realizing too late that I¡¯ve said something insulting calling it weird, I tense my muscles and wait for the pain to start¡­ but It never comes. After a few moments of silence, he seemed to sound amused as he replied and soon explained his toilet design to me, all the while sounding as if he was speaking to me like an adult would to a child. I tried to glare at him but it only seemed to make his voice more condescending and amused frustrating me to no end. I will not comment on that thing but the bath was amazing its been years since I¡¯ve used a bath and I¡¯ve never used one so big before, I haven¡¯t felt this relaxed in years, after a bath and getting into the softest bed I¡¯ve ever known, sleep and sweet dreams of a better time quickly overtook me.

 Chapter 16.

    Lucifer''s pov


    It is becoming even more apparent that I cannot sit idly by and expect the humans to play by the rules, I need better defenses. My current defenses don¡¯t work very well against certain types of enemies like mages, I¡¯ve only scraped by the skin of my teeth in every encounter. Sometimes because I don¡¯t know how the enemy fights or more importantly because I cant determine the intent of those entering my dungeon. Without some method to filter those who are my prey and the others who are trying to prey on me, I am just waiting for the inevitable strong opponent to come that I cant deal with. During the last encounter, I still had an ace or two to use but that is still too close for my preferences.


    After finishing Selenia''s room I¡¯ve decided to start working on a way to filter out the bad from the good because soon when this place is full of adventurers as I plan to have it, I won¡¯t be so lucky to overhear some idiot speak his plans out loud. During the process of studying the holding bag, I obtained from the adventurers I was able to discover that a large portion of my first Earthmail was dedicated to a similar magic. This magic works by creating a separate space and making a doorway into this new room. The size of the room is directly proportional to the amount of mana I pump into the spell and its cost is astronomical, it''s cheaper to just have the ants dig further. However, if I just have my dungeon dug further in a straight line then someone could just break through the surface if they were bothered enough to do it. Also, the new dimension allows me to have completely different environments only a few feet apart, like walking directly from an oven into a freezer after a few steps. I would imagine that would do some serious damage to the human body with the rapidly changing temperatures.


    I plan to have only the first floor open for the moment and have the ant nest disconnected from the first floor. Instead, I will have the second floor connected to a random door on the first floor, with the dimension between the two floors being full of my most deadly creatures and traps. The floors the adventurers will be using won''t be connected to a pathway to my core at all and will continue on a different path. The idea behind this is to filter those who are after my core and those who come to make a living because if you are just here for loot you won''t enter the well-known death door of doom and will continue to go deeper into the path with the best loot. However, if you are after the core you will know that the path of dead bodies is the way to me, simply by using the doorway leading to me I can filter those who I need to kill and those who I will kill a little slower with their own greed.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Starting by connecting the ant''s nest to the room and the room to a ten by five meter stone door in the center of the first floor, so people don¡¯t mistake it for the entrance to the second floor and hopefully the weight of the door will make most adventurer parties not bother to try the door. I then sealed the connection to the ant''s nest because if I did it first I would be cut off from the surface, something highly unpleasant to the current me. It looks strange to have a huge stone door just standing by itself in the middle of a small clearing but hopefully it¡¯s likeness to the gates to hell with the images I¡¯ve carved into it deter most adventurers.


    Now with my new defense complete, I can work on creating a real second floor. The ants have been digging out another cavern just as big as the first for some time now and a few extra caverns after that too, these new caverns will soon become the lower floors when they are finished. For now, I plan to make the second and third floors a jungle just like the first with the flora becoming denser as you go deeper.


    Creating the first floor was a valuable experience for making the second floor, with all the necessary plants already in the dungeon I simply had to copy them into the next cavern. After finishing placing the plants and making sure to add more plants than the previous floor making it denser, then pumping mana into them to make them grow enormous I was half done. With that finished all that is left is for me to decide what creatures I want on this floor.


    Thinking it over I¡¯ve decided to move the cats to the soon to be completed third floor and have simple boars in the first floor then add bears and lions to the food chain for the second floor. The third floor will have ambush predators which will probably be my main source of life energy from overconfident adventurers or miners. After the first floor, there will also start to have traps occasionally, just simple ant hills that if you step into it will cover you in the smaller variety of ants to paralyze you, making you vulnerable to the other creatures of the dungeon. Another trap is just spider webs with over-sized spiders in them, the silk from their webs I would imagine is worth a lot of money and I¡¯m sure some idiot will end up spider food at some point trying to get some.


    As for the rewards I have increased the purity of the copper and iron veins of ore the further you go into the dungeon and placed plants that are worth not too much but not too little after discussing it with Selenia which plants are suitable so there should be no problems with people wanting to enter my dungeon.


    I also want to grow the surface just as much as my dungeon too. I plan to have the greed of the nobles work in my favor eventually. If there is a city built on top of the dungeon the people living in said city would really hate having their money printing mine destroyed so they will help protect me too without me having to deal with them.

 17 Arrival

    While Lucifer studied in silence the sound of thunderous hoof-beats reverberated above ground. There were several hundred riders swiftly moving towards the entrance of the dungeon. The man leading them was a stout 40-year-old man that had a fierce aura, the large swaths of scar tissue telling of many life or death battles that forged the man seen today. Wearing light chainmail armor graying with prolonged use, axes hung on his back the blades a dull sheen from constant use and resharpening. The smell of blood never seemed to wash off this man, not all of it was human.


    The leader rode ahead of the group following a map in his mind he memorized in the adventurers guild, being an efficient guide is but one of the many skills he picked up after his years as an adventurer. He then saw some distinct standing stones from his memory and lifts a hand and every horse slows to a controlled stop showing the strict discipline of the riders. Then he scans the area finding a suitable area to camp and suitable places to find materials and begins giving his orders to his closest subordinates. A few hours later the scene looks vastly different, now full of tents and bustling activity, the several hundred men have dismounted and set up their base and begun gathering construction materials for defense and more permanent residences. It is becoming clear that these men are getting ready to stay in the area for an extended period of time, even taking the time to dig latrine pits and temporary stables for the horses.


    Meanwhile, in the dungeon, Lucifer was busily making traps and modifying his creations to ever increasing deadliness only limited by his imagination and mana reserves. Suddenly he felt his domain vibrate ever so slightly in an almost imperceptible manner and he began to send his consciousness to the surface to see what was going on. Just before arriving at the highest point in his dungeon before the entrance he was stopped from going any higher due to the restriction of his domain, dissatisfied about being stuck where he can''t see anything he funnels mana into the air above the entrance in hope that making some sort of mana geyser would allow him to let his consciousnesses to climb the mana ridge to get a better view of his surroundings.


    To his surprise he found that the more mana he put in the air the larger his domain became even going up into the air was possible intrigued he pushed half his mana reserve vertically out the dungeon entrance, the domain rapidly rose dozens of meters high. He then quickly shot his consciousness up high, upon seeing the scene of at least two hundred horsemen galloping towards the entrance of his dungeon he began to feel the sweat run down his nonexistent spine.


    He quickly flew towards Selena¡¯s room and ordered her to go above ground and scout out the force above, then he flew back to his high perch to observe the situation. Feeling relief from observing the group set up camps rather than charge straight to the depths of his dungeon giving no time for him to prepare. Lucifer watched the men set up their camps with practiced efficiency and looked on with confusion when he saw them taking down trees and taking them towards his entrance. By now Selena had finished her reconnaissance and was returning to the dungeon entrance, once inside Lucifer floated beside her and asked ¡°who are they and what are they doing here they look a rather hostile bunch¡±


    Selenia looked in Lucifer''s direction and calmly replied ¡°they are the punitive force tasked with guarding the entrance before the lord of this land can arrange guards who can properly secure the area around the dungeon¡±


    Lucifer said ¡°so soon... but the last group didn¡¯t even come back to report if the rumors of my existence were true or not¡±


    Selenia frowned ¡°The last group were no pushovers the very fact that they did not return is what gives enough credibility to send a punitive force¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t look like any adventurers to me they look more like bandits or something¡± Lucifer replied


    Startled momentarily they Lucifer knew what bandits where Selena said ¡°you are right that they are not adventurers in the strictest terms they are more like mercenaries under the guise of adventurers¡±


    ¡°you said mercenaries don¡¯t mercenaries work for money how do they differ from adventurers¡±


    Selena snapped back ¡°they are not the same, Adventures work for the adventurer¡¯s guild and mercenaries work for themselves first and the highest bidder second and are just plain bandits whenever they can get away with it.¡±


    Surprised Lucifer asked ¡°if they are bandits sometimes why don''t they get wiped out by the nobles controlling the land they must know that trade becomes stagnant when you have wolves circling the flock¡±


    Ignoring Lucifer''s weird sayings she replied ¡°they are hunted in some countries and territories depending on the local lord but they are smart enough to latch themselves onto the shady nobles in the areas they operate by giving a fraction of their ¡°earnings¡± to the nobles, this is what allows them to operate with impunity to the laws of the kingdom. Worse yet when they enter a territory where they are deemed bandits they joyfully take the title like it''s an honor and proclaim that they are in enemy territory, to justify the raiding on villages and caravans, which is something they are fond of doing when they don¡¯t have many contracts at the time or when they plan to cut ties with their ¡°friends¡±.¡±


    After contemplating for a moment Lucifer then said ¡°why doesn''t the king get involved and declare these groups as enemy''s of the state and try to get the people joining mercenary bands to instead join the military¡±


    to which Selenia coldly replied ¡°the king would if he could but he is pressured by the nobles to let the mercenaries do as they please because they use them for their shady business, If they need a village withholding taxes to be made an example of, the soldiers patrolling the roads are conveniently absent when a group of raiders suddenly appears out of nowhere and burns the village down or when the nobles want to trade slaves but can¡¯t they use these mercenaries or any other vile thing you can think of¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°the nobles can¡¯t trade slaves? I thought that the slave trade would be going strong¡± asked Lucifer


    Selenia said ¡°while the slave trade was banished nearly a hundred years ago that doesn''t stop slavery from happening in other forms, it only stopped people from using magic to forcefully enslave peoples wills. But the nobles are especially restricted from any form of slavery because that was how they originally got rid of widespread slavery, the king made it illegal for nobles to own or profit from slavery because it was impossible to outlaw it everywhere with how common it was, which was genius because the nobles in their foolish envy stopped everyone in their lands from having slaves on their own volition because if they couldn''t have something they didn''t want anyone else having it either¡± Selena sneered


    Curious Lucifer asked, ¡°if the former king could stop slavery then why can''t this one-stop some mercenaries now?¡±


    Selena sighed looking dejected ¡°the old king was wise and personally powerful, his word was iron law and nobody would dare go against his wishes. He was strong enough to destroy almost half the noble factions by himself with his heaven-sent physique and even frightened kingdoms on the other side of the continent, that along with his fierce intelligence he was able to make strong supporters in the nobility making his rule unquestionable. But time ravages humans much quicker than us elves and after nearly three hundred years of living the king''s body deteriorated regardless of any


    But time ravages humans much quicker than us elves and after nearly three hundred years of living the king''s body deteriorated, regardless of any potionor magical elixirs he consumed. Once this happened the previously suppressed nobles came out in force against the king''s faction who were lax on their guard against those from within and quickly started to lose power. All wouldn¡¯t have been lost if there was a competent successor to pass the throne to but the king''s only son was a wastrel piece of garbage that spent his whole youth on women and carnal pleasures, he was not someone ready to take on a shaky throne. Instead, the nobles started to form their own factions around who they thought should be the next ruler of each group proposing their own sons. The


    The king''s useless son got caught up in the nobles schemes and allied himself with the nobles faction after he became fed up with the king trying to get him to calm his desires and become an able ruler. After losing the trust of his only son the king''s health further deteriorated and he could barely leave the castle anymore, Seeing this the nobles gathered their armies to force the king to abdicate the throne to his own son who was now a puppet for the nobles. The king


    The king would have gladly given the throne to his son years before if he just showed some initiative to become a good ruler but, now his son was twisted into something he didn''t even recognize as his son anymore, he was constantly surrounded by beautiful woman, he killed anyone who disagreed with him on anything without reason, then granting titles to those who licked his shoes the best. With no chance of return for either him or his people the King grew enraged and donned his armor once used in his glorious past, then took large amounts of magical elixirs to boost his body''s vitality without care, he then charged into battle in a mad drug filled frenzy with his most loyal followers at his back and carved his way into the traitors, killing large swaths of enemy''s until his old body finally gave out, but only after he managed to slay the main instigators of the rebellion. Now with their leadership dead the traitors soon found they couldn''t control the kingdom with the wise king dead and turned onto each-other. Each noble carving a piece of land for themselves to rule over as kings and whatever absurd titles they proclaimed themselves. The battles during this time were fierce and the elves only survived because there was no force large enough or cohesive enough anymore to take us on while we were in the Forrest. The situation didn''t last long before a bastard child from the old wise king emerged in the north, using his god given body he like his father to cut his way through all his enemy''s reaching nearly halfway down the continent until he was gravely injured in battle and had to maintain the land he managed to take back and heal his injuries. After stabilizing his kingdom he began to find out some of the promises he made to his brothers in battle catching up to him strangling his hold onto the throne until he could not accomplish anything except keep the kingdom together and barely keep off the attacking nations. That''s why the king cant getrid of the mercenaries. Because he gave the nobles too much power when he was reclaiming the kingdoms land no his hands are bound and his body is not what it used to be any more so he can¡¯t force the issue either¡±


    Now with their leadership dead the traitors soon found they couldn''t control the kingdom with the wise king dead and turned onto each-other. Each noble carving a piece of land for themselves to rule over as kings and whatever absurd titles they proclaimed themselves. The battles during this time were fierce and the elves only survived because there was no force large enough or cohesive enough anymore to take us on while we were in the Forrest. The situation didn''t last long before a bastard child from the old wise king emerged in the north, using his God-given body he like his father to cut his way through all his enemy''s reaching nearly halfway down the continent until he was gravely injured in battle and had to maintain the land he managed to take back and heal his injuries. After stabilizing his kingdom he began to find out some of the promises he made to his brothers in battle catching up to him strangling his hold onto the throne until he could not accomplish anything except keep the kingdom together and barely keep off the attacking nations. That''s why the king can''t get rid of the mercenaries. Because he gave the nobles too much power when he was reclaiming the kingdom''s lands so his hands are bound and his body is not what it used to be any more so he can¡¯t force the issue either¡±


    With no chance of return for either him or his people the King grew enraged and donned his battle armor he once used in his glorious past, then took large amounts of magical elixirs to boost his body''s vitality without care he then charged into battle in a mad drug filled frenzy with his most loyal followers at his back and carved his way into the traitors killing large swaths of enemy''s until his old body finally gave out only after he managed to slay the main instigators of the rebellion. Now with their leadership dead the traitors soon found they couldn''t control the kingdom with the wise king dead and turned onto each-other. Each noble carving a piece of land for themselves to rule over as kings and whatever absurd titles they proclaimed themselves. The battles during this time were fierce and the elves only survived because there was no force large enough or cohesive enough anymore to take us on while we were in the Forrest. The situation didn''t last long before a bastard child from the old wise king emerged in the north, using his God-given body he like his father to cut his way through all his enemy''s reaching nearly halfway down the continent until he was gravely injured in battle and had to maintain the land he managed to take back and heal his injuries. After stabilizing his kingdom he began to find out some of the promises he made to his brothers in battle catching up to him strangling his hold onto the throne until he could not accomplish anything except keep the kingdom together and barely keep off the attacking nations. That''s why the king can''t get rid of the mercenaries. Because he gave the nobles too much power when he was reclaiming the kingdom''s lands so his hands are bound and his body is not what it used to be any more so he can¡¯t force the issue either¡±


    Lucifer calmly replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t ask for a history lesson¡± leaving Selenia speechless.

 18 Rodrick

    Rodrick Barker''spov


    sifting through mountains of paperwork containing new contracts, some are offers from nobility and others are intel about potential targets from my spies create apile on my desk. Simply looking at it gives me a headache, I left the knights order to get away from this kind of work.


    The tent flaps open and my most trusted subordinateentered and salute towards my direction before giving his report "The dungeon entrance has been secured and we are working on getting the blockades set up but are experiencingdifficulty, the camps are set up we are working on setting up more permanent shelters for the horses, The livestock will arrive with the old guys soon and already have pens ready for them to use. Preliminary scouting has found that the first couple hundred meters are bare tunnels that look like they were dug out by something then it opens up to an underground jungle, Danger seems minimal at the moment with no response from the dungeon thus far. Loot is abundant if the reports are correct, the rogues have found quite a few useful plants used for beginner alchemists and animals have fine furs. Most importantly there seems to be ore crystals present and Oliver says they are of high purity which is strange for a first floor. So boss coming here was the right decision we are going to make a killing I''ve alreadysent some of the fast guys to go get picks from the nearest towns to begin collecting."


    he was grinning the entire time he was reporting about the possible rewards from this place but I''m more worried about something else so I ask him "There is a jungle in the first floor" then he immediately nodded his head and said "I''ve checked myself after the reports of the danger level there is a fully functioning ecosystem down there which is strange for a first floor, most dungeons only have anything resembling an ecosystem onlyfrom the 20th floor onwards and only simple ones at that"


    After contemplating for a while I questioned "did you find any other anomaliesin there, this dungeon seems like an anomalous one to me we have no idea what these types are going to throw at us at any time which makes me nervous"


    he didn''t think for long before replying which is even more disconcerting he said "there was a large door in the middle of the first floor just standing there"


    "what do you mean just standing there where did it lead to?"


    "don''t know" he replied


    "wouldn''t it open you can get Brigham to build some siege equipment if you need it"


    while looking like he was straining his head how to explain he said "didn''t need to open it we could see what is behind the door"


    "what was there"


    "Nothing" he simply replied.


    "How is there nothing behind the door"


    with a cramped smile, he tried to explain "you don''t understand boss there is nothing behind the door because the door is just a door like it''s just sitting there in the middle of an island with nothing but the door there no walls holding it up just a door"Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    I was starting to get annoyed and snapped back "did it escape you that it may have been a dimensional door it would be strange for one to appear on the first floor but nothing is impossible to appear in ananomalousdungeon especially a new one"


    beads of sweat begun to form on his brow as he started trying to explain "I know that but the door itself is frightening it has carvings of monsters that make undead and ghosts look like baby otters, none of the men were willing to try and open it some of the scouts even refused to go back into the dungeon after seeing it. They kept saying that it''s the doorway to hell or some other shit sir"


    resisting the urge to use the loaded crossbow trained on his manhood that is attached to the bottom of my desk I dejectedly reply "you mean my mean who have weathered a hundred battles, these battle-hardened veterans are afraid of a bunch of pictures on a door"


    "You haven''t seen this door sir I think I''m going to have nightmares tonight"


    I know for a fact that the man in front of me doesn''t have a single bone of a coward in him I started to contemplate our next course of action before saying "ok don''t put too much into this endeavor just send the newbies in for experience and collect some things to sell don''t commit too much resources or valuable members of the mercenary band to this. If all goes well the newbies come out after this mission more experience and we come out richer or we look for more recruits later. Also, tell the leaders to be ready for an attack at any time they will know what it means"


    he said with a knowing smile "we plan to ditch this mission if it goes down shit creek right boss"


    while nodding I think to myself that he seems smart in the most random ways, we are indeed going to ditch this if it even smells like shit. I''ve heard stories ofanomalousdungeons that give people heaven-defying treasures for no reason, but I''ve heard plenty more stories of these types of dungeons suddenly spewing out floods of monsters from the stories that preachers tell to scare children and no ditches, doors or traps we could make would stop that. My mage acquaintance while drunk at a tavern once said that the cities built on top of dungeons have no means of stopping an invasion of monsters from the dungeons they are built on top of and that the sigils and rituals they perform are only to make the masses feel safe living on top of a living disaster waiting to happen.


    Now that I think about it Richard said something about problems with the barricades for the dungeon so I ask "you said there were issues with the barricades for the dungeon entrance"


    being let off the hook about the previous matter he sighs in relief and says "yes we are having difficulty making any barricades because there is no real entrance to the dungeon, there is just a hole in the ground as if something smashed through the roof of the cave so we can''t put doors on it we can''t dig ditches around the entrance to use spears to kill anything charging out we can only put fences around the opening which takes up significantly more time and resources and only Oliver has any experience making anything other than basic siege equipment or homes and the floor is a dungeon roof so it''s nearly impossible to get any foundations deep enough"


    This place is becoming more strange the more I hear about it, There is reinforced dungeon walls in such a low floor and no real entrance to it. Most dungeons have a ramp down which makes it easier to take out heavier and larger things I think that I''ll have my horse stabled nearby just in case this place gives me an ominous feeling. that and I could feel something with a massive mana signature skulking around earlier than vanishing soon after. This special ability of mine has saved me on many an occasion but is equally a curse too I could barely keep myself from mounting up and running at full speed the moment I sensed it, the only reason I kept calm was with years of experience and the knowledge that if something with such absurd mana found out I had this ability I would undoubtedly suffer a bad ending.


    After several minutes of silence, I order Richard to go and get the men who refused to go back into the dungeon and give them 50 lashes each. Afterward, I get a drink of some wine I "requisitioned" from some merchants in some backward country then went to bed early so I would be ready for anything tomorrow when the main force entered the dungeon.

 18 A thiefs journey

    Byron''s Pov


    Byron Price was once a proud adventure with limitless potential, with his natural talent as a thief he could join any B rank adventurer team he wished, But during a mission to the south, his team got ambushed by bandits. After a drawn-out battle his team fell one by one to the sheer weight of numbers leaving Byron to be the only survivor, only due to luck did he manage to escape the encirclement, he used all his flash powder at once mixed with lady''s smock creating a blinding light and a faint purple mist with a pleasantodor. The enemies unprepared for this attack became blinded and by the time they regained their vision Byron was gone, only then realizing the smell and seeing the smoke in the air started panickingthinking it was poison instead of a flower used by royal ladies as perfume.


    Byron did not manage to escape unscathed, his trick with the flash powder was a last ditch effort to escape and when he used it all at once the heat from the explosion melted his arm completelyburning off his left hand. On the bright side, the wound was thoroughly cauterizedleaving behind a stump where his hand once was.


    After the event he went over it millions of times in his head to try and think of what he could of done differently to maybe save his comrades lives but came up with nothing, the only thing he noticed in hindsight was that after the men regained their sight they were panicking behind him loud enough for him to hear during his escape after the explosion was still ringing in his ears.


    With several years of experience adventuring and encountering bandits he knew for sure that the people that killed his team were not bandits at all, bandits would not panic at the signs of poisonthey would have antidotes with them ready to use at a moments notice, It is unavoidable that bandits that are barred from entering cities would run into poisonous beats every now and then so you won''t meet a bandit that doesn''tcarry poison antidotes by habit.


    Then several years went by, which he lived by being a teacher for rookie adventurers who specializes in teaching the muscle heads how to spot and disarm traps the money was terrible because anyone who needed his servicesweren''t earning any decent amount money themselves and refused to pay any reasonable amount of money even for something that would inevitably save their lives one day.


    Heading south one day to move to a adventurers guild with more newbies to teach he heard some information that peaked his interest while drinking in a tavern. Two drunken men with rod straight backs complaining about various things in the army, when one of them said rather loudly "I''m sick of these bloody dutchy soldiers coming into our territory dressed as bandits and raiding villages" only for the other man to drunkenly reply "yeah it''s obvious they aren''t bandits, do bandits destroy roads and bridges and raid villages but don''t steal shit instead burn it down, no... if you''re gonna pretend to be bandits at least rape someone or something


    At that moment Bryon''s world was spinning and not from the alcohol, he felt sick like everything he once stood for was a lie. Bryon was an adventurer who braved untold dangers for the safety of humanity and maybe some glory on the side, but his team was killed and he was crippled because of some greedy noble and sent soldiers to attack the kingdom he was doing work in. It was only then that he realized that the nobles petty squabbles didn''t only involve the nobles and the people who swore allegiance to them but even the people of the lands they are supposed to protect.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    What angered Bryon the most was that adventurers were killed by these petty fights for land when it''s these people that keep the lands safe for the farmers to be able to feed the large cities. Years traveling as an adventurer taught him the humanity is not a stable existence nor are they the rulers of this world like the preachers tell the masses, No there are monsters out there that can snuff out humanity like a candle in a blizzard. These tales of the hero killing the dragon sure. but there are far more stories of the dragon burning down the country and taking a nap on its preferred mountain of gold.


    This is the main reason that there is no way to tell the age of a city past 1000 years old regardless of what some noble heritage might say how old it really is. Simply because no city has survived 1000 years without a calamity erasing it from the map with very few exceptions. The human race just rearranges its territory to fit the old monsters whims.


    Each time this happens it''s called a new age, usually named after whatever caused the most suffering during that era. The past era was called the era of nomads before that was the era of famine and before that was the era of dragons. Now it''s the era of prosperity, but scholars are starting to call it the era of war.


    In that day Bryon lost all naivety of a young man trying to become a hero to save the people and born was a man with no moral compass, he believed if others did not care what happened to anyone else he shouldn''t care either. With this mentality, he used his thief skills in the truest sense of the term and made quite a sum for himself, but if he could use his adventurer skills to steal from the rich the rich could always hire adventurers to guard their blood money, So during his usual rounds he was caught by a trap sprung from the very people he taught how to use them.


    Luckily these students were quite appreciative of the help they received from Bryon in the past and tried to convince him to stop these ways. Bryon''s reply to their sincerity was some fine acting than a knife in the back before fleeing.


    Now with a target on his back and his hand being a distinct feature, he could not stay in the cities anymore, so he left and after surviving in the forests for more than a year he was found by the Black Hawk Mercenaries. They had attached themselves to several nobles in the area which allowed him to walk the cities with impunity along with his brothers, he was also able to retrieve his funds from his time as a burglar.


    After some time with the group, they left the area after stepping on the nobles toes a little too hard and made a hasty escape with the band.


    After successfully escaping thanks to the wise leaders escape plan he had already set into motion several weeks prior they found themselves in a territory that did not like mercenaries and actively hunted and killed such groups. This seemed like a problem but with the leaders guidance the group managed to completely avoid any patrols or harm and they even got to attack several villages on the way through the territory and Bryon cannot help but remember thinking as he left a small hut with the sounds of sobs coming from behind him "now this is how a real bandit acts" while smiling devilishly

 Mission ego 18

    After years of traveling Bryon''s reason and restraintbecome non-existent under the harsh reality of constant life or death battles and seeing the worst facets of humanity day after day.


    Now all he lives for is money and power, although he is just a subordinate to the second in command of the Night Hawks Mercenary band, he lusts after the position himself and to one day take over leadership of the band. Ambition drove him to gather the newbies into his own camp giving him a base of power and training them to be proficientin battle and thief skills all the while getting into the good graces of the higher-ups by giving up the morefavorable loot and to their subordinates and taking the dirty jobs everyone hated, all in the name of making the mercenary band more prosperous.


    After lots of hard work, he now has a large base of power and he is almost rivaling the second in command in popularity, it''s only a matter of time before he takes the position for himself.


    During the current mission, the band made their way as a punitive force to suppressand maintain the security of a newfound dungeon. During the first few days, he helped out in making the perimeterof the camps and even lent his men out to other people to help in creating the barricades. Bryon then sent his men in first who were proficient scouts when the others were waryof enteringan undiscovered dungeon, the recruits trained by him showed their worth when they returned with valuable inteland every one of them came back alive valuable loot, making it difficult for him to hide his smug smile for hours afterwards, surely the top brass would see his worth as a leader and a trainer after these results.


    However, after the initial search, the scouting party encountered a door and after seeing it refused to even go back into the dungeon resulting the leader sentencing them each to 50 lashes, during which they cried like little girls and begged for mercy when there was none to give causing the mercenaries watching to laugh, having his men be seen as such useless wimps was utterly humiliating for him and made him grind his teeth in anger.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Afterward, he put together a team to delve into the dungeon and regain some of his reputation as leader, his goal this time was the very same door that caused this humiliation in the first place, he refused to believe that a simple door would stop his advance, he had broken past so many so called impenetrabledoors in the past that noble used as a safeguard against theives.


    When he entered the dungeon with his men the first thing he saw was a dark tunnel so he took out a light bead from one of his many pockets and attached to his false hand and continued deeper.


    Several hundred meters into the dungeon it opened up into a dense jungle leaving him breathless for a moment, he just wasn''t prepared to see such a scene underground even with the reports from his men. Continuing deeper he found several rare plants and even managed to kill a deer with a throwing knife to the endless praises of his men.


    He began to inspect the corpse and discovered that this deer is a little larger than the normal ones outside and its fur is the finest he has ever seen from a normal animal, after ordering his men to dissect the deer and to remember to save a large piece for him he continued on towards the door with the shabby map that his scouts had drawn up.


    It did not take long before he arrived at the door but, when he did he froze there for almost half a minute in mute horror at the visage of it. after calming down he said amazed "if the preachers were half as artistic as this dungeon, parents would have far more obedient children." eliciting awkward laughs from his subordinates.


    Making sure to steady his voice he commanded one of his subordinates at random pointing towards the person wearing a bright red shirt named John the shirt being his most prominent feature other than his Expendables he says that "he wears the shirt because it hides the blood better".


    John startled jumped a little but soon started making his way to the large door with unsteady steps.

 The Door 19

    John moved closer to the door slowly, trying his best to look for any potential traps, as he was moving the rest of the group slowly surrounded the door and raised their weapons in preparation for anything that would come out of it.


    When John got closer he realized that there weren''tany handles to hold onto, so he tapped one of the carvings of a demon that protrudedfrom the door with his sword scabbard.


    Relief washed over him when nothing happened so he grabbed the sculpture by the some of the shells of the monster on the door and started to pull. Slowly at first then with increasing force, he pulled, trying to open the door but it wouldn''t budge at all.


    After growing frustrated at the door he thought that the door was just jammed with its huge weight and the fact it may have never been opened before, so he began to push and pull on the door rapidly trying to loosen it to no avail.


    Just as he heard something make a soft clicking noise Bryon called for more men to come help open the door, drowning out the noise John was trying to listen to.


    Meanwhile deeper in the dungeon, Lucifer floated next to Selenia and projected an image of the mercenaries attempting to open the door. Lucifer with a voice tinged with excitementsaid "watch this hehe this is going to be fun" and murmured"I wonder how many are going to die" while smiling to himself devilishly.


    Selenia chose to ignore him talking to himself and asked "so what does that door do exactly, nothing good I am sure" in a calm manner, Lucifer just remained silent causing Selenia to pout "fine it will be a surprise I guess"


    Watching the screen they watched the group of men trying to pull on the small outcroppings the door provided. When suddenly five of the ten men pulling the door screamed and jumped backward shaking their hands and wiping their bodies down while looking around in a panic, confused Bryon called out to find out what happenedas he saw the men grabbingat their coats and quickly taking antidotes with pale faces.


    After seeing them using antidotes he realized that there must be a trap on the door, interested he walked past the pale faced members and inspected the door.


    Bryon started cursing loudly after he saw the door in more detail, the carvings had depressionsin them to create details which his men were used as handles, but inside the crevices were insects that blended into the dark stonework of the door.


    He had never seen such a devious trap where the door itself is a living thing that attacked you, enraged that the men trained by him fell for such a simple trap he ordered the single mage under his command to douse the door in fire before proceeding.


    Lucifer started cursing himself when they started to burn the insects he specifically planted into the doors, then Selenia looked at his direction with a face that said what did you expect them to do?


    After the door had been doused in a fire the men began trying to pull the door open again. However, the door would not budge at all, now frustrated Bryon called them to regroup and rest while he figures it out.


    Bryon stood there for quite some time before he came to a realization made him curse the dungeons mother in more than a few languages.


    Lucifer was floating there watching him curse then started to curse back in whatever language he could think of because he could understand everything that Bryon was saying. While Selenia just shook her head silently at both these idiots.


    After Bryon calmed down he told his men to open the door from the other side while looking exasperated. after realizing that the hinges on the side they were trying to open it from were fake the group made more progress.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    They washed down the other side with fire to not make the same mistake again then started pulling on the other side when they pulled togeather the door began to slowly creak open.


    Just as a sliver of light could be seen from between the door, the sound of something falling onto the ground could be heard from the other side. Then immediately the door swung open almost instantly, the men pulling the door didn''t have time to get back in time and were turned into meat past before being flung across the dungeon.


    Even the men near the edges of the door did not get off easy, as when the door flung open any remaining insects that still lived were sprayed onto them.


    Bryon stood there in a daze looking at the aftermath of the door, Seven men died instantly from the giant springs now visible behind the door, leaving blood splattered everywhere. One man died from the poison of the insects that were dislodged from the door trap, he couldn''t reach for his antidote in time because of a nasty paralysing poison mixed with a few other insects biting him all over and the door shoved him so far away that he was found dead before anyone could help him.


    Looking at the inside of the door didn''t raise morale like normally would when the band managed to get inside heavy fortifications, instead, it left them solemn as they looked at the dead bodies of their comrades. They just thanked the gods that they weren''t picked to go in first.


    Meanwhile, Lucifer was at the end of his dungeon laughing maniacally, Selenia looked on stunned at what happened and said "The door itself was a trap... and not only that it tricked you first and bit you causing you to become frustrated. Even I may fall into that trap, it wouldn''t kill me but would definitely do some damage", she looked in Lucifer''s direction and her fear of him became a little bigger at that moment and his joyous laughter didn''t help.


    Bryon looked at the door with a seriously while thinking that he could not go back empty handed after taking so many losses, so he pointed at a random person and commanded him to go through the portal.


    The man that he pointed at jumped when he was chosen and only after seeing Bryon''s face did he reluctantly start to go towards the portal in the middle of the now open doors.


    He looked at the entry and the doors now made a small passage a few meters wide leading to the portal, with the skeleton carvings on the inside of the door creating a passage of the dead giving this man the creeps, at the halfway point the skeletons suddenly became alive and used their clawed hands to grab the intruder.


    The group charged forward to attack the skeletons but their swords were very ineffective against the fleshless skeletons causing another person to be grabbed. Bryon called the men to get back and attack with spears and staves.


    A short time later all the skeletons were shattered into little pieces on the ground but the two men that were grabbed had already been torn to pieces.


    Bryonspatience began to grow thin at the constant failures and commanded another person at random to go forth.


    Being pointed at by Bryon the man shuddered then he began to move towards the door then suddenly drew his sword and charged at Bryon screaming that he was trying to get him killed while madly swinging his blade.


    As the man entered the range of Bryon he was stabbed in the back with a spear. Suddenly having a spear grow from his chest the man struggled fiercely trying to pull it out. It only took a moment before the other got out of their daze and attacked the traitor who took several fatal wounds before staying down.


    People began to murmur and some claimed this place was cursed. Bryon felt as if his head was going to explode and shouted to everyone to shut up then pointed at John and told him to go next, John looked back at him without moving.


    Bryon looked back at him and suddenly smiled and started telling him of the rewards he will receive when he succeeds and convincing him that there are only a limited amount of traps a dungeon will use in a room.


    At first, John was unmoved but after some flowery words from Bryon he started to change his mind, He was thinking that there can''t possibly be any more traps on the door left to spring.


    Now with newfound confidence and rewards to look forward to he started to look towards he began to edge his way towards the portal using his spear to hit anything and everything that looked suspicious.


    After testing the waters his confidence was now unwavering so he stepped through the portal.


    The moment his foot came down before even his face made it out of the portal he stepped down onto a pressure plate, click.


    John had enough time to blink before a large blade swung across the entire inside of the portal.


    All Bryon and his men saw was John stepping into the portal then his body falling backward out of the portal with his mid section almost completely cut through.

 Its a trap 20

Bryon stood there dumbly as he watched John die just as he passed through the portal. The men surrounding him came to and looked at Bryon as they reached for their swords. After witnessing one man turn on him Bryon was far more alert for potential treachery.

 Lucifers pov 21

    Lucifer''s pov


    Lucifer watched the group enter the dungeon. This group consisted mostly of thieves, they were the ones that scouted his dungeon first. The man leading them was missing a hand and appeared much more experienced than the others.


    When the group arrived at their destination Lucifer sneered at them for their arrogance, They stood just before the door leading to his core, behind the door were some of his most dangerous creations.


    Lucifer called Selenia then projected the image of the group of men in front of her, after seeing the group she said: "They are nothing to worry about, only the man leading them has a little bit of competence".


    The group sent people to try to open the door but, they tried to open the wrong side, because of Lucifer''s false hinges. After being unsuccessful at moving the door more people gathered to try, only for them to be rewarded by the stings of poisonousinsects that hide in the crevices of the door, eliciting a chuckle from Lucifer. Selenia asked, "is that the reason you had me mixing poisons?", Lucifer replied, "yes, I''ve incorporatedthe poisons you created into those insects".


    Selenia looked in his direction and murmured"dungeons are really dangerous if they can farm deadly poisons like this", Lucifer replied, "Heh if you think that this little trick is what makes me dangerous then you are far too nieve".


    Meanwhile, the group took their antidotes and finally figured out the door opens from the other side. After a little flame throwing, they attempted to open the other side, Lucifer could feel his nonexistentlips cracking into a smile at what would come next.


    The mechanism behind the door slowly moved as the men pulled the door. Once the mechanism activated there was nothing stopping the springs from pushing the door open, Mana exploded from the springs as they accelerated the door in the men pulling the door.


    Lucifer laughed as the men were mangled and crushed by the doors momentum. The group now argued amongst themselves for a short time, they then sent someone to go into the portal first. Lucifer was surprised when the man that was sent, turned around and tried to kill the leader, so he asked Selenia what happened, she replied, "That was an elven druid poison that caused irrational paranoia and the cheap antidotes they used would not help. the elves use this poison in the foreststo confuse armies, this poison is one of the main reasons that the elves are still alive today."This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Lucifer happily replied "good work on the poison Selenia remind me to reward you later" causing Selenia to confusedlysay "I''m your slave why do you need to reward me?" Lucifer chuckled and replied "You are a servant not a slave to me. If you do your job well then I will naturally reward you. My only rules are don''t betray me and don''t try to manipulate me, other than that I don''t care what you do.Unless I''m under direct threat you don''t have to do anything you don''t want to. Anyway if I think that you served well enough, I planned to let you free after a few years of service when I can properly protect myself, of course, you would still be under the spell but, that is simply to make sure you don''t tell anyone of what you have seen here.".Salenia just stood there in a daze as complicated emotions ran through her mind, she thought she would be a slave forever and die to some strange dungeon''s cruel game as tears streaked down her beautiful face.


    Lucifer left her to settle her own matters and moved his consciousnesstowards the group. He arrived just as they were entering the portal so he entered himself to observe them. When he came through the portal he saw them using spears to check the pressure plates, luckily Lucifer asked Selenia how adventurers usually countered traps, so he had several counter measures put into the traps themselves.


    Some of the pressure plates did not activate on the first time they were stepped on, most of the pressure plates would not depress without the weight of a fully grown man on them, some even required the person to be wearing full plate armor to activate.


    The group didn''t survive for long, which was unsurprising to Lucifer. They did not even make it past the first hallway disappointing Lucifer a little bit, he wanted to test some of his other traps. Lucifer was rather pleased however with his steel wire trap, he thought for quite some time to come up with a way to stop people like the rogue from just using abilities to sprint past traps, like when the first intruders came in and the rogue just ran out throwing his plans into the garbage.


    After several hours the men stationed outside the portal got impatient while waiting, they assumed that everyone inside was already dead. So they began to make their way outside, but not before collecting several valuable things in an attempt to appease the anger of the boss of the mercenary band.


    Several days passed and no large groups of mercenaries entered the dungeon. Only small groups of 3 or 4 entered and they left quickly after taking something valuable. The first floors were relativelysafe, only animals that were slightly stronger guarded this floor and they were mostly there as loot.


    Noone had made it past the first-floor boss yet but Lucifer had to make the bosses of the second and third floors.

 Floor masters 22

    Things have calmed down after the group of thieves died from entering the door. With the free time before new enemies arrived Lucifer decided to create floor bosses for the 2nd and 3rd floors.


    He searched his memories and the distinctive part of his mind the Earthmails were kept, Lucifer wanted something that would give him some life energy, so far very few people other than the first group have died in the dungeon. The dungeons first floors are too safe by design but, that doesn''t mean that Lucifer didn''t want people to die there. So he decided to make the bosses more lethal to compensate for the floors safety.


    Lucifer started with the third-floor boss because it was easy todecide on the base. He grabbed one of the Panthers from the third floor, then started by strengthening it with mana and keeping the Panther''slean build by only focusing on the muscles, giving it strength but not increase its size too much.


    After Lucifer completed the base he began making it deadlier, first, he extended the claws length and added darkness elemental damage to them, allowing the claws to ignore small amounts of armor. Second, he added the darkness element to its fur, which lets it blend into the shadows easier. Lastly, he added a core to the beasts forehead and pumped darkness elemental mana into it enablingthe use of basic darkness abilities.


    When Lucifer finished he created a den for the new boss he called Kuro and let it free into the third floor, He briefly thought of naming her bunny but, decided against it because it wouldn''tbe funny if the people entering the dungeon wouldn''t know her name.


    With only the 2nd-floor dungeon boss to go Lucifer planned to become creative with this one. Firstly he used the base of a pixie then took some blood from Selenia and fused it with the small creature, done with that, he began to mold the Pixies appearance by altering the bone and muscle structure. Then he spent the rest of the time giving the little pixie abilities before naming her "Little Lucky" while laughing menacingly. With the second floor completed, he gave her instructions and gave her free reign to go around all three floors.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Meanwhile, above ground, the leader of the mercenary band was greeting the scouting party of the local Baron. The scout''s leader was arguing with the Second in command of the mercenary band about payment.


    Finally, the leader of the mercenary band became fed up with this person and took the money from the man. The leader chose to keep quiet instead of making a fuss showing his wisdom. Taking a smaller reward now is better than making a powerful enemy later, right now the baron is not something the band would worry about but, with such a profitable dungeon opening in his territoryhe is likely to end up dead or jump ranks in nobility.


    While the scout leader stood there with a smug smile on his face, he watched the mercenary band pack up in record time, then before he could say anything they set alight their homes and fortifications around the encampment before leaving on horseback.


    The man was so stunned that he couldn''t even react, he thought of chasing them down but, chasing a band of mercenaries was a good way to get killed, even if you did work for the nobility, mercenaries deal in death and chaos, so they don''t appreciate being followed, even less when they are carrying goods. If the man knew of all the loot they obtained from the dungeon he would know why they left in such a hurry, there were too many stories of rich mercenaries disappearing when nobility are close by.


    After leaving the mercenaries checked that they weren''t being followed and changed course, they headed for a merchant city a few territories away, where the things they picked up would be worth more.


    The scout leader stood there in a daze until the main force caught up, Immediately upon finding everything burning, the commander marched over to the scout leader and demanded an explanation. After finding out how the scout treated the mercenaries he was enraged, It was obvious that they would leave and take everything with them when you short change them on the money. After finding out that the scout wanted to embezzle money from the baron, he ordered the scout leader and those under his command to be executed in the town nearby.


    The commander began setting up camp much like the mercenaries did earlier but, with the ground littered with burnt log cabins and similar structures progress was significantly slower.


    Lucifer observed the new group to take up residence above his dungeon, he saw that these men were more disciplined than the mercenaries earlier. Lucifer began to calculate how to deal with these new "guests" if they became unwelcome in the future.

 Progress abound. 23

    Wolfram Wehingerwas the commander of Baron Gunther, he stood 6 foot 4 with broad shoulders and a solid build, Scars riddled his body and face from his adventuring days and his attitude mirrored his life, cold and harsh.


    He stood in the commander''s tent while giving orders to subordinates before they rushed off to complete the tasks he set out for them. The camp was now complete with stables and the only thing they needed was more wood. After taking over the dungeons defense he was plagued by material shortages because of the former mercenaries spite, they burned all the buildings they built and the fire spread to the only small forest on top of the mountain.


    Wolfram clenched his fist in irritation, he needed more wood to make temporaryfortifications until the stonemasonsarrive. After thinking it over he called for his second in command, then ordered a small elite force be made to clear out a section of the forest below the mountain for the lumberers.


    Just as he finished giving orders to solve the wood shortage a strange man walked into the tent. he was 40 to 50 years old and wore black mage robes, immediatelycausing Wolfram''s guard to come up, not only did this man have access to his tent unannounced, but he was a dark mage if his clothes were anything to go by.


    The man walked up to Wolfram''s desk and made shallow bow before introducing himself "I am Thorbald Thune, instructor of the mages guild and former leader of the Kavatchadventure guild in the grand Dutchy to the south", he spoke as that was supposed to mean something to Wolfram but, instead he just came off as a self-important ass, which is common of mages and nobility.


    Since the man did not seem to be in a hurry to explain his presence, Wolfram stood up and walked right in front of him the shook his hand roughly, while grabbing his arm with the other hand and making sure to shake the man a little... Wolfram stood there, unsmiling, staring into the man''s eyes. Finally, when Thorbald was about to speak to break the silence Wolfram spoke "Welcome to MY Lord Baron Gunther''s territory of the Kingdom of Swadia, my men will be sure to take care of the safety of this esteemed guest to our great country, a dark mage can''t be too careful with the poor perception of your kind enjoys."


    Thorbaldnarrowed his eyes when he noticed the threat within Wolfram''s words, so he opened his mouth to speak but was interruptedbefore he could by Wolfram speaking "why are you here, and speak fast because entering an officers tent is a capital offenseunless invited, and I don''t remember inviting you."


    Thorbald was enraged at the rudeness of the man in front of him, with a spell on his lips he decided against it when he heard armed men moving outside the tent. A mage is far more suited to attacks from afar, attacking now would only lead to his death, instead he vowed to make a fool of this man and put on a smile and amicably said "I''m here to be the branch leader of this dungeons adventuring guild, I''m just here to meet the new town captain of the guard", While not forgetting to mention Wolfram''s new post from a commander of an army to a town guard.


    Wolfram smiled and took a step forward so they were nose to nose and said: "I don''t know whose boots you licked to be assigned this post when someone from this kingdom should have been posted here instead". Thorbald visibly shook briefly after this statement, he could understand the underlying meaning behind that statement.


    After exchanging some meaningless words Thorbald left the tent, then proceeded to take over a small area near the dungeon entrance for the future adventurer guild. While Wolfram sent messengers back to both the king and the baron.


    Meanwhile, Lucifer was using the time that no one was in the dungeon to make a few adjustments to the ecosystems in his dungeon. after messing around and tweaking some things he decided to create a proper entrance to the dungeon, he began by adding a ramp straight down into the first floor for easier access for the miners, finally he added cheap glowing mana stones as lighting, lastly, he added thick iron gates that would only allow 2 people through at a time near the entrance.


    With the new entrance complete he went over to Selenia''s room, Lucifer found her carving some sort of bear, She noticed his presence and looked up "do you need something Lucifer, perhaps my hair next time"A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    After seeing the pouting Selenia his mood improved a little and he asked "Are you still not over that, anyway I came to give you your reward, so what do you want"


    Selenia thought for a minute and said "I''ve got everything I need to live so perhaps new armor or clothes"


    Lucifer replied "ok I will make you new armor but, with my current methods the best I can make is lightly enchanted mithril armor, as for the clothes I can think of a few things"


    She looked at him strangely and said "I know you will make good armor your a dungeon, I''m more worried about the clothes you will make"


    Lucifer laughed told her not to worry, then after straitening out the details about the armor she wanted, Lucifer went to his lab to create the items. First, he started with the clothing, as a dungeon his ability to recall memories was far greater than when he first lived, so creating decent clothing that suited her figure was not an issue, he even went so far as to make different styles from other cultures around the world and went a bit overboard.


    After he finished the clothing he started on the clothing he started crafting the armor, something that is a lot easier when you don''t have to forge metal, instead Lucifer just had to imagine the material he wanted and the shape it was in, then pour large amounts of mana in and the item came into existence.


    The resulting armor was mostly plate armor with sections of mithrilchain mail on the joints to give freedom of movement, There was no helmet to the armor instead, a hood made of woven strands of mithril took its place, a benefit of being a dungeon is he can manipulate materials in near impossible ways such as this. Normally only the grand mages of the famous guilds can make metal fabrics, but they only keep a portion of the materials initial strength.


    Now with the base complete, Lucifer tried his hand at enchanting, he practiced the enchantments of the things he took from intruders but, he had not tried something so complex as enchanting an entire set of armor yet.


    He started with the boots, Lucifer embeddedseveral small gems into them and started writing runes into magic, then he bound the finished runes to the gear, initially, the materials offered resistance making the runes unstable, but Lucifers control of mana was better than any human, so he easily restabilised the enchantment.


    After finishing the first enchantment he continued adding more enchantments until the material started to show signs of instability, Lucifer was able to put several small enchantments on most of the gear and a few larger ones on the other pieces, because of his skill and Mithril conducts mana very well, which is why it is so valuable to mages and warriors alike.


    The boots had a sound muffling effect so Selenia would be as silent as a rogue in the night, the only other enchantment he could fit onto the boots was a grip enhancement, which would allow her to put more mana into her legs to go faster without slipping or using an ability to compensate.


    The Greaves had strength and speed enhancements while the gloves had grip and dexterity to allow her to jump higher run and move around the forests faster and more easily.


    Lucifer only added one defensive enchantment onto her chest-piece, it allowed her to pour mana into the armor and create a barrier with her ridiculous mana reserve. Lastly, a hood was used instead of a helmet because a full plate helmet would limit her acute elven senses, Lucifer spent the most time on this piece of armor.


    After some trial and error he managed to finish the hood, the enchantments on the hood were his own creations, so it took some time to figure out how to stabilize them, when it was complete it had 3 enchantments, first it allowed the user to see in the normally invisible spectrum of light, giving the user thermal vision. Lucifer spent a long period of time developing a method to counter illusions or invisibility magics after the failed panther attack earlier and this magic was the result, the second enchantment allows the user to see mana, Lucifer watched the few mages that have entered his dungeon and found it rather strange that the animals don''t react until a spell is almost in their face, he didn''t realise that normally you can''t see mana, you can only feel it, so being able to see it should give Selenia an advantage against mages. Lastly, the third enchantment was a detect life spell which causes all living things to give off a purple glow that you can see even through walls, which will help in ambushing people in the dungeon.


    After completing the set of armor it looked like a beautiful white set of plate armor, the hood gave it a mysterious air and after all the enchantments the surface of the armor had ancient runes all over it, making it look even more valuable. Lucifer looked at the complete set and thought that it was a little too visible for ambushes, so he added a spider silk dark green cape that blends into the environment that can cover the whole armor if needed.


    Lucifer looked at the completed set with satisfaction and realized he had spent several days working on it, He went over to Selena''s room to find her asleep, she was murmuring about her master or something Lucifer didn''t quite catch so he left the room and would give it to her tomorrow.

 Gift. 24

    After leaving Selenia''s room Lucifer went towards to surface to check on what this new group was up to, He pushed a column of mana out of the new entranceand moved up to get a better view. Lucifer saw the soldiers bringing materials up the mountain via carriage, but the amount was clearly lacking.


    There were very few wooden structures to house people, most of the wood was used to make a stable for the horses. Most of the men were living in tents which would cause problems when winter came soon, the first snow fell only a few days ago.


    The few earth mages present were working overtime to construct a proper drainage and sewage system from the rediverted river that now came straight out of the mountain near the entrance. Clearing and flatteningland for buildings would have to wait until the waterways were completed, trying to finish them after a city is built on top of it would be significantly more difficult.


    A man in fine clothes was ordering the earth mages in the construction process, Lucifer guessed that he was a town planner of some sort. Lucifer looked at the way the waterways were set up and sighed.


    Large sections of land that had relatively narrow waterways would mean these areas are most likelygoing to be low population areas, Nobles probably. Then as you went down the flow of water there were smaller sections obviously for the rich, even further down was small plots with less access to water, these would be for the shopping district, shops don''t use much water after all.


    Even further down was a large section with slightly larger sections than the shops but, the amount of water diverted was the greatest in this area, this place seemed to be the factory area used for warehousingand factories.


    The reason Lucifer sighed was because, lower than the area for construction related jobs there were numerous tiny plots of land, where the earth mages obviously didn''t care and just half Hazzardly laid out the waterways.


    It was apparent that this was the area for the poor, what was worse than the poorly constructeddrainage systems was that these houses were not only at the bottom but, they were below the constructionsection, so they would get the worst water. The idea that the rich would not dump their waste into the waterways was simply nieve, the same could be said about the lower sections.


    The poor may even have to go upstream just to get clean water. Lucifer made a mental note to have the water system turned into a closed system for that reason. He was almost impressed by the technology these people showed, but the way they used it spoke volumes of the type of people they were.


    Lucifer was mostly satisfied with the progress above ground was making, he even saw several caravantrains come up the mountain and start heatedly arguing with the town planner. It appears that a new dungeon being found does not stay secret for long, the merchants are already trying to beat the competition to a new avenue of profit and gain the most benefits.


    after taking one last glance Lucifer flew back into his dungeon towards his lab. He planned to tinker with a few of his creations and experiment on his current project. just as he arrived the ant queen was found sitting in the lab, Lucifer asked: "Do you need something, or do you want to be my guinea pig heh heh." She looked in his direction and spoke telepathically with crude words "done... floor...order?". Lucifer was surprised at the efficiency of the ants and decided to go take a look.


    When Lucifer arrived at the location the ants were working he found a huge empty cavern instead of solid rock, after making a mental note to reward the ants he gave orders to continue making more floors.


    Lucifer returned to the lab and thanked the queen for the good work, causing her to squirm around in delight, he decided to upgrade the queen as a reward, after thinking for a bit and not coming up with anything imaginative he just pumped her full of life energy and pure mana without intent, then left her to go on her way, she can''t control what changes will happen but can direct it towards a direction if she chooses. Lucifer thought it would be interesting to see what she came up with.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Thinking of his subordinates reminded Lucifer that he has yet to give Selenia her rewards. So he made his way to Selenia''s room for the second time carrying the armor and clothing with his mana manipulation.


    When he arrived a found her practicing her swordsmanship, she didn''t notice his entrance at first so he floated there and waited while he appreciated her beauty even when she did mundane things. After finishing a form she finally noticed the floating pile of clothing and looked surprised for a moment before greeting Lucifer.


    Lucifer replied, "good morning, I was going to give you your reward before but, you were asleep when I arrived last time.", Selenia smiled faintly and thanked Lucifer for courtesy.


    Lucifer placed all the clothing onto her bed and watched her look through it with sparkling eyes, after a short time she spoke "I was worried that you would have no sense of fashion, but it turns out that you make the best clothes I''ve ever seen. Some of the styles of clothing I have never seen before" as she held up a silk blood red qipao. Lucifer chuckled and replied, "I was more worried that a warrior like yourself wouldn''t know what fashion was."


    Selenia pouted for only a moment before smiling again and looking back at the dress "it looks good and with the slit up the side, the movement would not be hindered like most traditional dresses".


    Lucifer said, "I thought you would like that one, I imagine that the style came about because of the martial art style of the people who wore it."


    Looking confused for a moment she asked "sometimes you speak as if you were not a dungeon, it''s like you were a person before"


    Lucifer replied darkly "I was once human, twice actually, but I died I suppose so now I''m here"


    This small statement filled Senenia with so many questions but, she could sense Lucifer did not want to talk about it so she kept quiet. After looking around the room to try and find something to change the subject, she saw floating bundle wrapped in cloth and asked about it.


    Lucifer returned to his usual voice and told her "this is your other reward", then took off the cloth wrapping the armor. he watched her reaction, but she just stood there blankly for a moment before gasping.


    Selenia moved forward and took the armor while admiring its beauty, after several minutes she finally snapped out of it and asked "is this for me, a full set of armor made by a dungeon has never been seen before, it would be priceless"


    Lucifer chuckled and replied "Indeed it is for you, but this armor is not just for your accomplishments in service to me, It is also a tool to let you better serve me in the future. anyway what do you think of it, I kept your fighting style in mind when I made it, but I don''t know much about armor aside from what I learned from books. So I don''t know how functional it is"


    Selenia looked at the armor feeling mixed emotions, then told Lucifer "most of the armor is great, the Mithril is light weight and strong which is perfect for my fighting style, even A ranked adventurers like myself can''t obtain such amazing personally designed gear. The only drawbacks are the lack of helmet and the cape"


    Lucifer replied "the hood is made of steel thread to both protect you and hide your identity when needed, the enchantments on the other gear make up for the lack of protection of a solid helm. Besides, it would be a waste to cover that pretty face". Selenia smiled wryly at the real reason at the end.


    Then Lucifer asked, "what is wrong with the cape?"


    She thought for a moment how to best explain it and said "most capes or cloaks are attached with a cord tied with a slip knot, so if it is grabbed in combat the person can''t be pulled down with it, but this one has a metal clasp so if they grabbed my cape I would lose my balance, something which can be fatal in combat."


    He thought for a moment then picked up the cape with mana and re-crafted the clasp to let go when a certain amount of force is applied. Selenia stood there with her mouth hanging open and mumbled "a dungeons creation ability is absurd" after seeing it up close for the first time.


    Lucifer told her to put on the armor and get used to the enchantments on them and left for his lab. The next day Selenia spoke like an excited child on Christmas day for nearly an hour about how amazing the armor was, Lucifer both found it amusing and enjoyed seeing her so animated for the first time.

 Diggy Diggy Hole 25

    While those above ground worked on creating new futures for themselves and their families Lucifer worked in his lab, He was working on finishing his longest running research goal. After failing again Lucifer left the lab in frustration, he simply did not have enough information to work with, Lucifer was attempting to create a body that he could inhabit because he was still a little bit uncomfortable without a real body.


    However, so far he has been unable to create a body that is able to accept his consciousness, he has tried, runes, enchantments, and even carving runes and enchantments onto a live person, but it was unsuccessful.


    Lucifer flew around his dungeon inspecting various things when he came across a group of adventurers. These people looked strange, none of them had proper gear for killing, most of them were carrying picks and sacks. After a moment Lucifer understood that these people were miners here to mine the ore crystals.


    They walked in a group near the cavern walls looking for minerals, after a short time they came across the first ore deposit. The ore deposit was a group of geometric rocks that gave off a faint light.


    Once they saw the deposit the group gave a cheer then quickly made their way over to the deposit, They checked the area for hazards then promptly began to furiously attack it with their picks.


    Small chunks of material fell after every strike, then the pieces were picked up by the people around them and put into sacks. The ore deposit quickly became a stump that would take time to regrow so the menmarched further into the dungeon looking for more ore.


    The group was largelysuccessful during their journey only receiving minor injuries from the occasional boar attack. Now with their sacks full, they began tojoyfully return from the dungeon.


    As they were chatting one of the men spotted somethingmoving in the air, the group stopped and raised their picks and readied for combat. What they saw was a little woman with butterfly wings floating above them, jaws dropped as they stood there in stunned silence when they saw this beautiful creature. One of the men mistakenly mumbled something about an angel before the leader of the group who was older and more experiencedshouted, shaking the men out of their stupor.


    The little fairy giggled cutely and pointed to a group of bushes off to the side, a beam of light shot out of her finger causing the men to tense up at the sight of magic. After the magic hit something in the bushes the area started to glow a faint red with sparkles appearing randomly. Then the fairy flew away while constantly giggling.


    After she left the group re-composed themselves before they stared at the remaining red glow, after a short time one of the men let his curiosityget the better of himself and snuck towards the bushes, the leader tried to quietly tell the man to come back to the group, afraid that the noise would attract the little magician again.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    When the man pushed the fernsaside he yelped excitedly, startling the group, he then quickly spoke: "There is a rare ingredient over there, I''ve seen it in an alchemist shop in the capital before".


    After hearing the man exclamation a few more people put down their sacks and shuffled over too. with backup, the man became more daring and scampered down the small hill towards the glowing plant, he was unwilling to share such a treasure with people who weren''t willing to risk even taking a peek over here, until he checked it first.


    He reached the small plant, it resembles a rose with petals made of translucent rainbow colored petals. The man carefully used a dagger to dig out the roots because he knew that some ingredients are worth significantly more with the root structure in tact. As he was working he found the ground around the roots to be rather loose, as if this plant had been moved recently but he ignored his instincts telling him it was a trap and continued working.


    Just as he was about to unearth the treasure the bushes next to him rustled, revealing a hole in the earth. Before he could even stand up a boar charged straight out of its den, aiming directly for the man, he tried to stand up and use his dagger to defend himself.


    The dagger slashed towards the charging boar only to be deflected by the thick skull of the beast, once in rage it viciously raised its tusks as it ran into the man, tearing his leg open from shin to the groin. He screamed as arterial blood sprayed everywhere like a fountain to the beat of his heart.


    The boar turned around ready for a second charge but, the men that were left behind finally caught up and quickly killed the boar with heavy strikes with their pickaxes, the boars'' skull gave way after the second strike immediately killing it.


    The man''smiserable screams rapidly died down as he breathed his last breaths, without healing magic the group could do nothing for the man except give him a merciful death and take his belongings to his kin.


    Meanwhile, the fairy flew around the dungeon before stopping in a seemingly random spot then said "so how did I do" in an almost sickeningly cute tone. A disembodied voice rumbled "Little Lucky you did well, although there is not supposed to be traps on this floor... I was wondering why you were moving plants around the dungeon if I remember correctly that plant is only found in my garden..."


    The little woman cheekily smiled said "teehee" then promptly flew off to continue her games. Watching the little trickster fly away Lucifer shook his non-existent head and chuckled to himself and returned to the lab.


    On the way back Lucifer was suddenly struck with a huge amount of information from below. The ants that were tunneling a new floor suddenly broke through a layer of rock and mana gushed out at an unstoppable rate, the ants nearest to it suddenly started to grow and mutate at a visible rate with no signs of stopping, while they were stunned they continued to mutate and evolve suddenly several of the ants exploded, The mana overloaded their bodies causing them to explode, more ants followed suit after the first and exploded.


    After several minutes most of the ants that came into contact with the mana had died, only leaving a few left clinging to life.

 Beginning. 26

    Harsh winds rushed past the wings of a wyvern as it torethrough the skies, its scales giving off a cold green glint as it flew in the setting sun. Atop this beast''s head sat an old man, his wrinkled face was relaxed with half lidded eyes which contrasted greatly with circumstance. He wore plain deep blue robes that fluttered in the breeze, sitting behind him several others with similar clothing only more extravagantenjoyed the scenery.


    After flying for several hours they spotted their destination, the Wyverncircled the encampment several times while releasing colorfulmagics into the sky.


    At first, the civilians panicked at the sight of the monster but after seeing the signals they visible calmed down and began chattering excitedly. Wolfram gathered his generals then marched towards the only bare surface in the budding town.


    Just as Wolfram arrived he was assaulted with gusts of winds that threatened to take him off his feet from powerful wing beats. The Beast landed making the ground shudder in the process, everyone on the mountain could hear the thump of its landing.


    The Old man stepped off the Wyvern''s head in mid air and floated down briskly accompanied by his followers. Wolfram led his men to salute "Greetings Merlin arch mage of the arcane university." said Wolfram in the most formal tone he could muster.


    Merlin gently smiled back at Wolfram and softly replied "no need for pleasantries, I was once a commoner too you know, so there is no need for such stiffspeech". Wolfram would have visibly sighed with relief if not for his training. Wolfram gave a crooked attempt at a smile back and started to speak with Merlin about business then asked if he could assist in anything. They chatted amicably for a short time, the mood only soured slightly when the other mages didn''t even look at Wolfram or his men as they struttedpast towards the dungeon.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The group of magesfinished their preparations outside the dungeon entranceand began to voice their dissatisfaction at being dragged here, one of the older men ranted "I don''t know why the king sent most of the main forces of the arcane university simply to check on a new dungeon, this is beneath us, is the king trying to get back at us for not involving ourselves in the last skirmish. we are an institute of knowledge, not some mage corps he can order around", the others simply meditated in silence to better prepare themselves.


    After nearly an hour Merlin accompanied by his student arrived at the dungeon entrance. The party of mages entered the dungeon after applying several spells to themselves and each other, they walked in a circular formation with Merlin in the middle, as they walked an occasional spark of mana would betray the barriersthat surrounded them.


    Meanwhile, Lucifer was in his lab studying the ants that survived the mana overload, when he felt dozens of immense mana fluctuations, startled he put down everything and alerted Selenia and David to be battle ready. Selenia immediatelystarted to equip her new armor hastily while asking what was happening.


    Lucifer replied "Several large mana fluctuations just entered the dungeon entrance" causing Selenia to slow down then said "Then I think they are the arcane university, they are checking this dungeon for any potential threats to the Kingdom".


    Lucifer acknowledged her and then left to go observe the intruders.

 Mages exploration 27

    The Group of mages shuffled along the corridor until they entered the first floor, Merlin gasped when he viewed the first floor, there was a dense jungle right under the earth''s surface. The mages began todebate the meaning of this, quicklycoming to the conclusion that this dungeon is in the anomalous classification, Merlin listened to his colleague''sdiscussions but didn''t add any input to the conversation himself, he only became more solemnand continued with renewed wariness.


    They continued unobstructed through the first floor with any wildlife posing no threat to the veteran mages. After finding a large obsidian door the party stopped to study it, The group concluded that there was a portal behind the door, it was trapped, the dungeon core was most likely behind that door and some unlucky fool tried to open it, judging by the blood spatters and bone shards scattered over the area.


    Merlin simply looked at the door in quiet contemplation for a short period, then nodded his head several times before telling the party "The dungeon core is most likely behind this door estimatingby the manaflow, so let''s continue on through the floors to gauge the reaction of the dungeon". One of the group members asked, "we are not here to take the core?", the confusion apparent in his aged voice. Merlin replied "no we are here to judge if this dungeon is safe for adventuresto come here and seek wealth, not cause it to go crazy and attack human civilization but, if it does we are here to destroy it", he spoke in a strangely loud voice than necessary causing the others to raise their eyebrows at that and the overlyexplicit speech, although most of the group seemed to think that it was for his students benefit, so they thought nothing of his strangeness and continued deeper into the dungeon.


    Several of the guild members were alchemists causing progress to slow down somewhat, exclamationswere heard from these members every now and then after finding something rare or valuable, one such member remarked "Maybe I should go back into the field more often you can never find ingredients as good as this, and even if you do some scruffy adventurerdamages the thing to near uselessness.". The others just looked on smiling wryly, knowing they don''t have to deal with such things in their fields of study.


    Merlin fought the first boss alone, the giant boar charged at him only for Merlin to simply wave his sleeve and the boar turned into a fine red mist. Several members rebutted that it was overkill jokingly.


    Meanwhile, Lucifer watched the group intently,watching for any signs of hostility, Lucifer jumped when the man spoke about taking his core, before he could raise his defenses the boss of the group spoke strangely specificabout why they were here, then Lucifer relaxed a little and immediatelybecame more suspicious of the old man.


    He watched the group progress unhindered in his dungeon which irritatedLucifer, he thought "I may have designed the first floors to be safe but that doesn''t mean you should strut around it without dying a little or something, if one of you old farts slips on some moss and breaks his hip I will be satisfied"The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    They continued through the first floor and looked confused when they passed the second without fighting a boss, then continued on through the third. Panthers hiding in the bushes tried ambushing the group several times but the barriers they put up repelled the beasts every single time, then they would be incinerated, or frozen and evenshocked to death.


    An alchemist who was keenly looking for rare plants spotted a soft red glow behind a brush. He moved aside the plant and jumped up swearing in several tongues with glee, the other surprised that he could still move so fast watched him leave the barrier before anyone could tell him to stop. he babbled something about a new type of magical plant while he scrambled to get closer to his new discovery.


    The other mages simply rolled their eyes at this eccentric old man and started securing the area. Just as they were casting a new barrier to include the area the plant was, an enormous shadow loomed over the man not paying attention.


    One of the flame specialists was the first to see the creature, it was several meters tall with the legs of a man, the torso was covered in fur, horns produced from its skull. It lifted its arms and the mage saw that it held a great axe large than himself, he hastilychanted a spell and threw a firebolt at the beast.


    The man finally noticed his folly when he was the axe descending, before the axe could fall the beast was struck by several powerful spells blinding the man temporarily, but instead of the beast being blown apart like it should have it simply faded out of existence.


    Sooner than anyone could comprehend what happened the bush next to the ingredient exploded with a shadow moving through it, with the mages having just finished their spells they could not cast again so soon. Dark claws met flesh, throwing blood everywhere, the man screams were cut short by the fangs tearing out his jugular.


    Merlin again waved his sleeve this time without the dullness of the past and the large cat was flung across the dungeon floor, after several seconds a sickening splat was heard as it hit the cave wall.


    Merlin was nowfurious and his gaze shot straight up into a seemingly random empty location and narrowed his brows. His eyes flashed emerald and a wave was released from his eyes.


    When the wave passed the space he was watching a tiny woman with butterfly wings appeared, after being found she said "teehee I have places to be, sorryfor not keeping you company", before fluttering away. Seeing this Merlin cast a spell and a hand appeared in the air, with another wave of his hands the floating hand stretched impossibly far, before Little Lucky could dodge she was already grasped, she tried to use some of her abilities to escape to no avail.


    Once she was held by Merlin she pulled a token out of nowhere and cutely said "ok you pass with this you can get past the second-floor congratulations hehe", someone rebutted "this is the THIRD floor we already passed the second floor you incompetentfloor guardian". She replied while looking surprised "OH MY how did you do that the door was closed", the same man harshly spoke back "then you left it open". She replied sheepishly "oh no I guess I have to go close it then" while she vainly tried to struggle out of Marlin''s grip. Before he could scold her more Merlin''s student suddenly spoke up "there was no second-floor door" leaving everyone speechless, while the fairy pretended to look exaggeratedly shocked.


    Merlin finally had enough and called for everyone to suddenly leave this dungeon without giving any reason, confusing most people.


    Lucifer watched them release Little Lucky adding validity to the name and leave the dungeon. He asked Selenia what she thought of things but she didn''t know either.

 The student. 28

    After returning from the dungeon the group went their separate ways, most went to the inn reserved by Wolfram for them, others chose to find a quiet place to think. Others formed groups to discuss the dungeons matter and the alchemists went in search of somewhere they could practice their craft in peace.


    Merlin''s student quietly walked to his room and knocked before entering, once inside she placed a bottle of wine onto the study next to Merlin, when he looked up he saw his student of almost 10 years staring at him with a worried look on her face, he gently sighed before telling her softly "I''m fine you don''t need to worry about an old man like me, besides if you don''t smile more often with a face like your''s you will never get a husband little Ahri" he teased half heartedly.


    Ahri blushed while she tried to retort, but could not come up with any response to his teasing, instead, she changed the subject and asked: "why didn''t we go to the core, weren''t we supposed to test the dungeons aggressiveness". Merlin''s demeanorshifted into that of a teacher and responded "we already finished the test" Then he looked at his student with a kind smile to see if his student would be able to figure out this little puzzle.


    It did not take long before she revealed a beautiful smile and the little hop she dose when she solves a puzzle. Before Merlin could finish half a word of praise she interrupted"I know, if the dungeon was dangerous it would have sent a tsunami of monsters at us when such powerful Magi entered the dungeon. it also did not send any scouts to look for us once we exited the dungeon either..but we could have learned a lot more if we went to the dungeon core we might even be able to control it, master Ore-", Merlin interruptedher long speech "no we would of have learnt nothing, I know you don''t have much experience interacting with people but what do you think would happen if we confronted the dungeon"


    Ahri lowered her head to think then spoke without any confidence "umm maybe... the dungeon would have attacked, because it would feel cornered", Merlin patted her head and smiled producing a yelp from Ahri before she jumped back with a blush present on her cheeks again.


    Merlin praised "It''s good that you can still empathize don''t lose that quality" then explained "We are only here to judge whether this dungeon will better serve the Kingdom as a dungeon, or as a resource. However, with how close this is to the Dutchy border, the King is worried that a dungeon opening here will cause the fragmented Dutchys to form an alliance, Swadia has not fully recovered from the rebellion and cannot take a full-scale war at the moment, so sadly we most likely will be taking the core"This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    After seeing her master disappointedAhri attempted to brighten the mood, "A dungeon core is the best magical stone in existence I''m sure that the University would be able to research some things that would be impossible otherwise" making Merlin smile wryly before he divulged "The University will not get the core even if we take it sadly, Swadian nobles will have it taken away because we are not strictly a part of the Kingdom".


    Ahri showed a rare expression of anger and almost shouting replied "Those damn nobles again, they have no one that is even close to qualified to use a dungeon core, even the court mages are 10 steps behind us in the most basic magic, I would be able to take the position of the leader of the court mages.


    Merlin interrupted her rant and tried to calm her down "Calm down little Ahri, the core won''t go tot he nobles, The king is not that weak. It will be placed into the royal vault for safe keeping until war breaks out... and if it ever is needed the King will hand it to me personally to use. Besides if you think the Kings right-hand man is so easy to replace you are nieve, remember there is a reason I don''t let you show your powers freely"


    Ahri pouted for a moment but felt better knowing that the nobles wouldn''t get the core. she then asked "when are we going to take the core than"


    Merlin replied "I had already sent for high-leveladventurers before we left"


    Ahri thought for a moment thenquestioned "why didn''t we take the core when we were in there earlier"


    Merlin found this amusing and said "do you think that we could haha, we are teachers and researchers mostly not battle mages, those court mages you are so disdainful of would probably be more effective than us at taking the dungeon core. Understanding the profundities and depths of magics secrets won''t stop yourself from being drowned in monsters. There is nothing more dangerous in this world than a crazed dungeon, when I was a mage apprentice and snuck into the forbidden mages tower, I read records of past dungeons attacking civilization, do you know what a crazed dungeon is called... it''s called a demon lord, the stories that preachers tell children to scare them into obedience are not about some random member of the demon race gaining power, it''s about a dungeon core going rogue because someone tried to control it which is why Kings and Rulers don''t have a dungeon on a leash yet.


    Ahri felt a chill run down her spine when she thought about her earlier statement and finally understood what kind of damage naivety can cause, which was something her master tried to teach her so many times, but she insisted that nothing is taboo if you take appropriate preparation and caution.

 Clue 29

    The morning fog was denser than usual on the mountain, the men standing guard outside the dungeon entrancecould not see the other mountains in the distance, creating a low-spirited atmosphere for the men. Rain softly started to fall adding to the soldier''s grumblings. All around the camp scenes of men running back to their tents for shelter and the less prepared ones were scrambling to put the waterproof covering over the tents, because they were too lazy to do it before they thought it was going to rain they were caught unawaresby the sudden downpour.


    The soldiers guarding the entrance of the dungeon entered the opening to get out of the rain that was starting to become heavier, one of them could be heard complaining "Bastard Jason traded shifts with me, no one told me had the weather predicting ability".


    Soon the guards were forced to go back out into the rain to allow adventures to pass the small entrance, then they moved back under the shelter only slightly damper than before but, after only several minutes they were forced to give way to another small group, and again, and again.


    Soon they were more wet than dry and every adventure that passed by receiveda cold glare. The guards did not even have the diversion of gazing at the adventurer''s gear, then making commentaryon what that adventurer possibly dose and making bets whether he will come out of the dungeon alive today, because all the adventurers entering were wearing heavy cloaks to ward off the rain.


    One of the younger guards was spotted fidgetingmore than usual when watching the adventurers pass, the older guard thought he had to piss so he told him to just go already but, the young guard went up to his superiorand began to whisper into his ear "I think there is an invasion from the Dutchy going on" causing the officers face to stiffen for a moment then seriously replied in soft tones "you better not be pulling my leg kid cos if you are you''ll be executed if your unlucky"


    The soldier''s face paled but he still continued on in hushed tones "my parents used to run a tannery back in Feldran-" "so" the officer snapped back, the young man jumped a little from the harsh tone his superiorused, however the more he thought about it the more certain he became so he continued "the point is the adventurers entering have all been wearing Vale Runner Leather", upon seeing the officers expression he increased his speaking speed and resumed "Vale Runner Leather is only found in the lower reaches of the continent in the Dutchies and my parents complained that they couldn''tget any from tradersanymore because of all the wars, Look every adventurethat had entered has cloaks made of that leather. don''t you think its strange? the other soldiers were saying the Dutchies might attack this place, maybe this is it"The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    After hearing his subordinates explanation his expression became increasingly grim, he ordered the alarmto be sounded, then to block anyone entering the dungeon no matter their rank until he said otherwise and lastly he commanded the youth to quickly go inform the commander, Wolfram of the situation, because he would be able to explain it better than he would. The youth ran off leaving behind solemn guards and a nervous officer.


    When the youth entered the commander''s tent he was nearly out of breath, he pushed open the flaps and ran in while trying to speak but, before he could even speak he found himself on the ground with several sword points on his neck.


    Several elite men had come out of hiding and captured the boy thinking he was an assassin, Wolfram got off his desk about to question the foolish guard when he heard the alarm bells going off, Wolfram knew they would not sound the alarms just because someone tried to attack his tent.


    The captured guard tried to speak but felt a sword start to pierce the neck so he stopped, noticing the boy trying to speak and his guards stopping him from casting any spells he waved his hands to have them back off and asked: "you seem to know something about this, explain".


    He said "I''m the one who started the alarm-" earning a chilling glare from the commander while he continued "i... I m-mean officer Alen called the alarm and umm", Wolfram thought for a moment before recalling an officer he promoted himself of the same name and thinking he would not raise the alarm without good reason. Growing frustrated from the boys stuttering he calmed the boy before getting the full story.


    Every word the boy said made Wolfram progressively grim and furious, the moment he had understood enough of the story he ordered for his personal guards to act in his stead and call together the generals and inform them of the situation. Then Wolfram turned around and to the boys surprise just vanished.


    In a room lit up by candles Merlin was sitting at the study going over his notes when he heard rapid knocks on the door, wondering who would come at this time he called them to enter. After the door opened he saw Wolfram with an expression even more serious than normal and attempted to ask what was wrong before being interrupted. Wolfram said, "I think the dungeon is being attacked by people disguising themselves as adventurers, I just checked on my way here, the man I was talking about was not at the guild".


    Merlin frowned then reached into his pocket and activated a small stone which sent a signal and a short message to all the members of the University and the King. Wolfram was impressed by Merlins Initiative by acting so soon, even he waited until he heard most of the story before making his move, but Merlin only needed a sentence to figure out the correct course of action.


    When Wolfram finished the story Merlin gave a smile that didn''t reach his eyes and started to send messages to his subordinates, as he expected several members didn''t respond causing Merlin''s expression to become ice cold. Wolfram asked what the military could do to help, Merlin simply replied "surround the entrance" causing Wolfram to confusedly ask "won''t they just take the core then teleport out?", Merlin chuckled then simply put on a mysterious smile and asked Wolfram to follow as they left towards the Entrance.

 Attack 30

    Merlin arrived at the dungeon entrance with Wolfram in tow, soon the rest of the University members on this mission showed up quickly followed by Wolfram''s generals and Elite soldiers.


    Noting the missingmember''s Merlins mood became noticeably darker, Archmage Jacob along with a few of his loyal followers were missing. Ahri found her master and hurried over "whats happening" she softly inquired, loud enough that only Merlin could hear her speak.


    He sighed then spoke to both Wolfram and Ahri "Archmage Jacobs has betrayedus, he is trying to take the dungeon core" causing Ahri to gasp in surprise before Wolfram added "he is likely working with the adventurer guild master that was sent to take over this area, I''ve found him missing when I searched for him earlier and I already have my men searching for him".


    Ahri thought for a moment and tried to speak but nothing came out, observing his student''s difficulty Merlin continued "The new adventurer guild master was sent by one of the Grand Dutchies. The adventurer guild does not partake in politicson the surface, but they are smart enough not to send people from different countries to oversee others guilds, the Nobles are always looking for a reason to meddle with the adventurer guild... sigh"


    Ahri nodded in understanding the studiedher master''s eyes, Merlin seemed to understand and replied: "we are going to surround the entrance that''s all". Wolfram didn''t understand the girl''s silent conversationinterjected "Then what, won''t they teleport out of the dungeon once they take the core", Merlin revealed a cold smile that sent chills down everyone that saw it and replied "That ungratefulbrat never finished a book in all his life, he thought with the little amount of talent he had he could be arrogant".


    His student was not phased by Merlins outburst and crossed her brows trying to convey her confusion. Merlin chuckled "did you know that you can''t teleport inside a dungeon, or at least its a terrible idea to try. Did you also know that even after the dungeon dies or is removed the area is still protected against teleportation, That''s something you read at the end of the book." revealing his wicked smile once more.


    Meanwhile, Lucifer was observing the people entering the dungeon, he immediately noticed that almost everyone that entered had much larger mana signatures than normal. The adventurers would walk around the dungeon exploring, but Lucifer noticed that these people seemed to have difficulty traversing his dungeon, they slipped often and fell for simple traps on the second floor, he even found a group that was lost.


    When Lucifer heard the bells he thought to himself "it''s already started" while grinning to himself and thinking that it was a great idea to have a city built on top of the dungeon instead of claiming the land, the humans have already alerted him to a threat.


    He flew into Salenias room only to find her in the middle of changing, without missing a beat he said "enemy''s, lots of them, high leveled, good luck" before flying off again to prepare a few nasty surprises for these people.


    Lucifer arrived at his destination, a small dark room above the first floor completely full to the brim with an unknown liquid, the room had several fire red gems that gave off a magical glow embedded into the walls, thousands of tunnels the size of a finger connected the room to small openings covered by meshes of leaves all over the dungeon.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    With a nasty grin he activated the gems embedded into the walls, immediately the gems gave off a stifling heat, the liquid started to simmer and release a gaseous substance to the sound of diabolical laughter.


    One group was moving through the dungeon, as they stomped through the underbrush someone said "this is easy I don''t know why adventurers die in places like this", another replied "I don''t know maybe they get eaten by spiders" sarcastically, causing the first man to glare at him while the rest of the group laughed.


    In the group there was a former adventurer who felt something was not right, he quietly spoke "something is not right, it''s too quiet", his senses were screaming danger at him, the others simply laughed, "we have been in wars I don''t think some boar is going to kill us haha".


    After pushing past a layer of foliage they spotted a group of men in adventurer gear in battle formation facing them, The leader yelled "this is our spot go find fortune somewhere else", behind the group laid a dead creature with fur dark as night, blood pooled under the creature with some already congealed.


    The first group looked at the adventurers then at each other and laughed then bellowed "It''s quite dark here brother" while smiling. The leader of the other group looked confused for a moment but remained silent and said a simple spell to boost himself.


    They waited for several moments for an answer, then suddenly pulled out crossbows that were already loaded and fired at the party''s mage.


    The mage didn''t even have time to react before his barrier was broken by the siege crossbows, his body then was riddled with bolts tearing him apart before he could scream. seeing this the party leader roared then charged into combat, arrows flew towards the attackers between the time it took to reload the cross-bolts, the arrows deflected off the superior armor but, the archer was an experienced marksman and managed to score several hits in unarmored sections, dropping 2 men.


    Now the group was no longer carefree as they watched 2 of their companions fall, they raised their crossbows and let off one last volleythen drew their swords, the bolts were deflected by the party leader this time when he was prepared, only 1 managed to clip his allies side, but only managed to slow him down a step.


    Melee combat ensued with the occasional arrow flying from a random brush, the party did not last long against the other group, with superior armor and more experience fighting humans the first group had the overwhelming advantage, a lucky arrow managed to kill several members before only the leader remained standing.


    Breathing heavily the leader growled at his enemies as blood flowed out of his wounds, the archer long since left leaving him alone, unwilling to die like this he roared "Fucking soldiers take your wars elsewhere motherfuckers, you''ll regret pushing adventurers this far", he then reached into his pocket and sprinted unguarded towards the group of men.


    Before the group realised what was happening the man injected all of his mana into a gem in his pocket and crushed it with his hand, as the cracks in the mana gem crew it''s instability reached critical levels, just as he reached the group the gem critically failed and released all of its energy at once, causing a massive mana explosion, the closest members simply evaporated the ones slightly father away were thrown across the dungeon floor slamming into trees and rocks with broken limbs and burst lungs.


    The only survivor was the man who chased after the archer, he walked to his injured comradesor the only ones he could find and couldn''t do anything for them, potions could only heal so much and he was not a cleric.


    Similar scenes played themselves all over the dungeon to Lucifers delight, he watched them killing each other and thought "hmm... they are getting rid of any witnesses or people who would fish in troubled waters. quite the vicious bunch, I like them" while he searched for the leaders of this attack. It did not take long because there was a group with huge mana signatures moving leasurly though the first floor.

 Chapter 31

    Selenia stood in a high branch looking down on the third floor, her sight shifted through several spectrums, first the normal visible spectrum where she could see only the thick jungle, even with her sharp elven eyesight, second she looked around with thermal vision gifted to her by the hood she wore, with this she could see people and animal shaped glows moving about, lastly she changed her vision to see mana in its true form.


    She studied several targets she had found earlier with her heat vision and gauged theirstrength, Selenia found worthy enemies so she jumped down from the branch, hoping off smaller branches on her decent before nimbly landing on the ground without a sound thanks to her boots.


    After taking a glance at her surroundings out of habit she mounted an Onix colored Panther, the Panther then ran towards the direction Selenia indicated with practiced ease while it traversed the dense jungle.


    They soon reached their destination a short distance away from a group of soldiers, the panther releaseda soft breath from its exertion then crouched low and moved with its belly almost touching the ground.


    chopping brushesand anything that got in their way the soldiers moved unawares of the dangers stalking them. These 4 men formed a group immediately when they learned of their mission because they were elite warriors forged in 100 battles togetherand have saved each other''s lives on no less than a dozen times, hence their bond was stronger than blood siblings and each would die for the others.


    Red shirt 1 led the other 3 towards their objective slowly with caution in every step, all the battles they survived have since weeded out anyone without a cultivated paranoia. He stepped over a felled tree when he heard the rustle of leaves behind the party, he called out a warning as yellow eyes flashed in the darkness followed by several hundred pounds of muscle covered in black sleek fur.


    The group had already reacted the moment a sound was made, facing the pouncingpredator with raised spears they channeled their mana into the muscles holding their weapons and dugtheir boots into the ground ready to impale the beast, but several meters before it reached them it strangely twisted in the air, changing its direction in mid air.


    The Panthers paws touched the ground and with their large surface area its large weight didn''t let it sink down into the mud, then it growled at the group.


    They stood their ground and waited for the inevitable attack, when suddenly 1st red shirt heard the whistle of a blade cutting through the air behind him, he turned around only to have his head leave his body before he could even see his attacker.


    Salenia performed an almost perfect ambush if the man hadn''t heard her sword, the sound of leather being cleanly cut through drew the attention of another redshirt, Salenia noticed him turning his head so she didn''t give him the chance to retaliate.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    She stepped in deeply with a diagonal slash, the blade cut the man from the collar bone down to his opposite hip, now she had the attention of the last 2 men remaining, however, 1 was forced to keep his attention on the Panther only meters from him.


    Redshirt 3 coldly said "I don''t remember having any grudges without my lord why have you attacked us?", Selenia chuckled when she perceived him adjusting his position to run, Selenia returned "Thank you, this is nice armor isn''t it" in a light tone, as she pumped mana into her muscles in preparation for a burst of speed, then gave an almost imperceptible nod.


    Redshirt 3 fainted a charge then turned around to flee, the moment his weight shifted away Selenia released the pressurized mana in her body, producing a burst of speed as she lunged forward dozens of meters in a single step.


    When Selenia charged the Panther used the moment of distraction its prey presented to lunge itself, it swiped the spear to the right causing it to only graze its shoulder, then landed on the man with several hundred pounds of now angry cat, for a moment screams were heard before the Panther managed to disable his arms with its claws and latch onto his throat.


    The Panther looked up to see Selenia wave her sword around her head to a sudden stop, driving blood off the blade into a morbid spiral on the ground and trees. Redshirt 3 only had time to regret his assumption that Selenias armor was too heavy to move fast in, instead it allowed her to move even faster than normal so he only made it 2 steps before he heard the sound of the blade that killed him.


    Lucifer watched as Selenia whistled happily with a newfound appreciation for her armor as she looked for a suitable tree for scouting her next prey, he found it amusing that she did not even change expressions when she was killing those men and seemed to be in a better mood than when she started.


    He concluded that Selenia would be fine on her own and flew around to observe the other groups, there was significantly less fighting now, Lucifer found animals feasting on the remains of adventurers, upon closer investigation he found that most of them died of bolt and blade wounds, after scouting around he found that the groups were starting to regroup into a larger force, Lucifer thought that this was probably because they had compleated clearing any witnesses.


    He watched a group make their way towards the main crowd and paid particularly close attention to one man who had claw marks all over his left arm, it was bandaged tightly but was still bleeding as evidenced by the blood soaked bandages. The man complained "it''s still bloody bleeding the potion did nothing give me yours", the person he was talking to replied "You know that''s a bad idea you''ll get the rot of you drink too much of that stuff, just wait until we get back to the group, the healers will take care of ya".


    They continued moving when suddenly the man collapsed, the others checked on him and found him pale as a ghost, the bandages were completely soaked through, along with his shirt and pants, one of the men asked "maybe we should give him our potions? he''ll die without it", another answered "he''ll die with it, do you think we get the good stuff? if it doesn''t heal you with the first bottle you get rot on the second" the group frowned at the nearly unconscious man, then suddenly the leader thrust his spear through the dying mans throat and said "take his stuff, he wouldn''t have made it anyway, we don''t have time for burdens, he was dead the moment he let his guard down and that cat got him" sending chills down the others spines. After taking the mans belongings they moved on.


    Lucifer smiled menacingly with a hint of pride mixed in while he chuckled.

 chapter 32

    Salenia stalked her next prey with her Panther mount only a few steps behind, the wound on its shoulder slowed it down slightly, but not enough to stop it from mauling the dungeons intruders.


    Steps sounded from barely 2 meters in front of her hidden figure, leaves across from the party''s position rustled and the group turned in unison to face the threat, but they only found a doe standing there before it bolted, Selenia thanked Lucifer in her heart then used the opportunitygiven to her by lunging forward with her sword already cutting down towards the first enemy.


    He was able to lift up his shield in time to block the strike, but the attack was so sudden that he could only raise his arm up from its horizontal position, when the two handed sword made impact on his shieldit tore the rotator cuffs in his shoulders, rendering his arm useless.


    Selenia clicked her tongue in annoyance then readjustedher hands and attacked from the side, again the warrior was able to repel her blade by placing his sword against his side and using it as a shield.


    She was about to go for a third strike however, the other party members had started to surround her, she pumped mana into her legs and started to leap back into the jungle covering, except when she was about to leave the ground an arrow whistled towards her.


    Salenia only had enough time to drop to the floor as the arrow flew overhead, now they had completely encircled her, the men did not give enough time for her to steady herself by charging all at once with spears point forward at differentparts of the body.


    Just as she was about to be impaled her breastplate gave a blinding light then discharged a brilliant emeraldfield, shielding her body and repelling the spears, Salenia reached into the pouches at her waistand spread a powder over her sword during the flash, then spinning around in a mana induced blade storm she cut several spearheads from their shafts.


    Another arrow whistled past but this time she was ready for it, the moment she heard the twang of the bow she had pinpointed the archer hiding in the trees. after cutting down the arrow she stood in a stance in preparationfor attacks from any angle, then said as demurely as possible, "You don''t fight like adventurers, are you here for the core like us" causing pause in the others.


    The warrior that blocked her strikes cautiously replied: "You''re her for Prince Geof" while trying to watch for any attempts of deception from his armored foe, Selenia paused then spoke slowly "You and I both know that if we were working for Prince Geof neither one of us would say we were on this kind of mission", before the leader could speak again a familiarvoice shouted from the trees "she is trying to delay you for the poison to take effect" immediately the men''s face''s paled while they tried fumbling for their antidotes.


    She took a step into one direction and started to run towards the weakest person in the encirclement before suddenly jumping back and charging straight for the leader, her sudden change of direction caused the arrow to miss badly as she lunged towards the leader.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    As expected the leader was once again able to repel Salenia''s sword with his own, then again, now the men had now taken their medicine then caught up, they attacked again in formation, not allowing her any room to dodge the attacks from mutable angles.


    Salenia repelled the men with her shield once again, but this time more than half of the men repelled coughed up blood and were forced to kneel down from the backlash. Using the opportunity she lept over the encirclement, cutting one man down as he was reduced to a coughing fit on the floor, then she used the gripenchantment on her boots to run vertically up a tree.


    She switched to thermal vision as she cut through the canopy to a surprised rogue, then swung down her sword on the unprepared man, but just like last time he used his ability causing his agility to skyrocket as he dodged away swinging from branch to branch in an erratic manner.


    Frustrated Selenia screamed "I''ve taken your balls next I''ll take your life traitor scum" then she dropped from the trees and ran away on foot, only now noticing a Panther on the ground with an arrow between the eyes as she left.


    Lucifer watched the whole battle because most of the adventurer teams were dead so nothing exciting was happening elsewhere. he frowned as he watched the familiar rogue escape Selenias grasp. Now with everything over the party regrouped and bandaged their wounds, the leader spoke to the rogue when he returned "you seemed to know her", the rogue replied "she can hide her face but I recognized her sword easily enough", the leader frowned then said "half of my men are still coughing up blood, what the fuck did she use"


    After contemplating for a moment the rogue answered "mana-rupture poison, something only high-level druids can make, nothing to worry about it only activates when you use your mana with high intensity causing your mana to go wild and attack the user" The leader frowned even deeper when he thought about the deeper undertones of the rogues replies than said "so your saying that we are in a dungeon with an unknown girl hunting us and we can''t use our mana because you want some elf cooking recipes", the rogue shrugged then simply disappeared into the underbrush.


    The leader was furious, upon seeing one of his men scratching himself bloody he roared at him to stop before he gets an infection, then he noticed that all of his men were scratching themselves silly, he looked down and found himself scratching his arm lightly to ward off an itch but, instead there was a large gash where he was scratching and blood all over his nails.


    He roared at his subordinates to wash themselves off, never in his life did he imagine that itching powder would be used as a weapon instead of some stupid prank by alchemy students on the army recruits. They had cleaned themselves off several times and


    They had cleaned themselves off several times and the itching had stopped but, the wounds kept bleeding vigorously. He ordered a forced march back to the others to get healing before they all bled to death, after taking a healing potion each they found that the potions had limited effect at stopping the bleeding, the potions only speed up the body''s regeneration to insane degrees but without blood that was impossible to be effective.


    The smell of blood perforated the air as they trudged through the floor, unknown to them inside the shadows stalked a far larger cat along with some of her friends attracted by the stench.


    The party only had enough time to scream as they were pounced on from all directions when they were at their weakest.


    Lucifer finally let a small smile emerge when the last screams died down, then he went to find Selenia, all the while thinking he really needed a body soon so he could give a good spanking while smiling at the thought of it.

 Meaningful Number 33

    Lucifer found Selenia grinding some medicinal herbs for the next battle, he said "You have performed very poorly Selenia" in a grave tone, she snapped back "you do better" as she continued to grind the plant matter, He coldly replied "If it were me I would not have attacked the strongest person first with such a simple attack, do you think that you are a master swordsman or that your gear makes you invincible, foolish.


    After your first strike failed you should have pulled back to avoidbeing surrounded" Selenia shouted back "That damn rogue got me by surprise" then screamed in intense pain, Lucifer harshly rebutted"Why do you think I gave you those tracking enchantments, they should give you an absolute advantage in this dungeon, but instead you don''t even use them for more than a cursory glance, would the rogue still live if you found him earlier". Selenia bit her lip in frustration as she straightened her hair from writhing on the ground.


    Lucifer continued "you are arrogant, sickeningly so, you seem to think that everything will go according to your plan and they should just sit back and die and when they don''t you lose your head, why did you continue to attack the leader when you could have attacked anyone else weaker, the mana shieldwon''t last forever, by relying on it all you accomplished was giving time for the enemy''s to get reinforcements"


    Lucifer became more irritated the more he thought about it, "just go kill the weaker stragglers that have yet to regroup into the main force now. Sigh... Kuro has accomplished more than you and she doesn''t have the benefit of your armor nor experience, I''m disappointed in you"


    Selenia left teary eyed on slightly unsteady legs as she thought "I know he was worried about me but he didn''t have to be such a bastard about it", then stomped away.


    Meanwhile Lucky flew around frantically from place to place, the soldiers on the ground had begun to spread the news that red glowing things had treasure in them. Lucky wiped the sweat from her brow with a sigh of satisfaction, after taking a deep breath she flew off again busy as a bee.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    A group of soldiers moved around the dungeon floor while the main group slowly prepared for the main assault, the groups of soldiers hoped to find some fortune for themselves while everyone else was busy.


    As they walked through the jungle suddenly a familiar red glow caught the soldiers eyes, they begangoing towards it but, when they caught sight of what was glowing they found that it was not a treasure or rare plant, instead, the glow came from a group of confused soldiers.


    One of the men whispered into the leader''s ear "Boss we saw Gabe get treasure from a similar glow only an hour ago", the boss looked at him and said "well if want them I can introduce you to them" causing the others the barely contain their laughter, the man replied back "No you idiot, I think they already have the treasure", The groups eyes flashed with greed, then their face darkened.


    Lucky floated high above the ground while she watched the groups start to squabble about non-existent treasure, one group wanted to "share it between brothers" the other insisted that they had nothing of value, every time they said this the other sides bloodlust grew because they thought the other side was holding back on them.


    She held her hand over her mouth to contain her laughter as they began fighting to the death. After the battle one side obtained victory, but at the cost of most of their group, they quickly searched the bodies and started cursing when they found nothing.


    Lucky whistled softly enough that the sound was inaudible to human ears, then out of the groves several leopards with flowers weaved around its heads and ears appeared, The surviving members could only stare in horror as a cute fairy fluttered down, then spoke in a cutesy tone that seemed childish "get em FLuffy hehe"


    The last thing heard from those men were screams as they were torn apart by claws and fangs, Lucky suddenly jolted and spoke to herself "Oh no I''m late for work" before fluttering off again to cause more havoc.


    Similar scenes of groups killing each other played out again during the next several hours, causing no small amount of amusement for Lucifer as he thought "Note to self reward Lucky"

 Scheming. 34

    Archmage Jacob''s watched the soldiers getting ready for the final assault with cold eyes, these men go by the name of "The Crimson Company" a nickname he heard bragged about endlessly on the way here, consisting of 100 elite soldiers they received the moniker after the battle of Drognalton, where the Company was reduced to less than a squad after they were surrounded by the enemy, only 5 members made it out of the encirclement, completelyred with blood and it was impossible to tell whose it was at that point, theirsor the enemy''s.


    Jacobs found the constant braggingto be crude and could not wait to as far away as possible from these peasants, he turned back around and pretended to pay attention to the meeting with the Company Leader and the Adventurer guilds Leader (whom the Author forgot his name).


    The company leader discussed plans with the other man and tried to formulate a plan, his inexperiencein dungeons rapidly became apparent to everyone here, most of his plans revolved around creating siege equipmentand slowly grinding his way through, however, each of his plans was shut down by the guild leader, the first by the winding ant tunnels he was informed about from his master.


    After an hour of debate, they finally agreed on a course of action, the main force would keep a simple formation around the mages and healers, with the addition of a small elite force following behind them, fondly referredas the cracker by the company leader, if they were ever surrounded this small force would push in from the outside to open the way while the main force focused on defense, but if the cracker was better used to attack a ranged contingent they would move autonomouslyand split off from the main force, So this group consisted of people with strong specialisations for killing mages or speed.


    Jacobs thought the whole idea was ridiculous for dungeon warfare but kept his mouth shut, the more men that died the less he would have to kill he thought to himself silently. He was offered a substantial reward for his services, an Archmage from the rival kingdoms famous Arcane University fetched a high price in any country in addition to his 2 subordinates that follow him.


    However, Jacobs ambition was greater than any position of servitude, he lusted after the dungeon core to improve his magics and with these new found powers he would recreate a kingdom run by the superiormages, a Magedom.


    One of the Dutchys would be sacrificed for this endeavorbut Jacobs could not care less for the well-being of the unenlightened. Now as these men schemed to take the core he schemedto take the core for himself, he studied at the guild leader in an attempt to find a weakness of the only man he considered a threat, Jacobs could feel the mans power radiated from him, although not as powerful as his own but, dark magic is hard to deal with because of how unpredictable such magic is. Jacob thought to himself "if he is still alive as a dark mage with those fanatics running about, then his combat abilities must be quite seasoned and the fact he doesn''t hide what he is shows he won''t hesitate to take an enemy''s life".Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Just as they were finishing their preparations a rogue with a peculiar gait walked up to the dark mage and whispered something into his ear causing him to frown, he then turned and asked Jacobs "you can teleport us out once the dungeon is dead right" with a questioning gaze, a devious smile hid itself under Jacobs facade as he found an opportunity, he leisurely spoke "of course, but only when the dungeon no longer holds power over this domain" as his mind rapidly spun the possible ways he could turn this to his advantage, while he was thinking he was asked "how many can you teleport".


    Jacobs could barely contain his passive face as he responded "10 of us normally, however, if I use the core several hundred would be an easy feat", the man sharpened his gaze on Jacobs unbeknownst to him, then ordered the company leader to start the operation.


    The company leader observed his men then asked his captains "where are all the red shirts?" The highest ranked captain saluted and spoke powerfully "The initiates have gone out to hunt in the dungeon for experience", after thinking for a moment the leader ordered "tell them they failed and to find a different company, I don''t need men who have no sense of time when they return", the captains remained unfazed by this because they were used to their leaders harsh recruitment standards, some promising recruited were failed for arbitrary reasons all the time.


    The ground shook with every step taken by the soldiers in unison, they pushed a small amount of mana through the ground every step they took, not enough to deplete their mana faster than they recovered it, but it was an effective tactic to affect morale before the battle begun.


    Soon they arrived at the Obsidian door, then suddenly their stomping seemed ridiculous compared to the mental attack the door exuded from its mere existence, many men froze at the sight of it upon recognising this as the gates of hell, the carvings on the door left a deep impression on all the soldiers unused to fighting monsters and less experienced with fighting the nightmares that appeared on the door.


    detecting his men''s moral being cracked the company leader roared out commands and the soldiers reflexivelystood at attention, which tore the attention of the soldiers off the horrific images but, just as they seemed to recover the images on the door started moving, startling everyone, the monsters began separating from the door gradually.


    Fear spread across the company, the smell of urine and something even fouler pervaded the air. When the men were gripped by terror suddenly screams were heard from the outer edges of the group, the men in the middle could not see the ambushing Panthers that attacked suddenly only worsening their anxiety. Then an enormousarmored boar charged through the sides of the formation and the only thing those in the middle could see were armored men being sent flying with crushed plates and crooked limbs only causing their terror to worsen.


    However, the army did consist of competent soldiers so after taking serious casualties they managed to kill the beasts and regain a semblance of order.


    Disgusted and annoyed Jacobs looked to a seemingly empty space of air then suddenly sent a bolt of lightning through it.


    A soft scream was heard as a small figure fell out from the air and landed on the ground lifeless, its wings burnt to ashes from the heat, then the images on the door suddenly returned to their stone state, followed by a yell from the company leader telling his men it was just an illusion.


    The guild leader did not miss the inaction of Jacobs, but he only snorted and continued to save his strength.

 Leaving 35

    Lucifer chuckled to himself as he watched the terror filled faces of the intruders when the door suddenly animated itself, suddenly the strongest mage sent a bolt of lightningcutting off Lucifers laughter, instead, it was replaced with a burning fury when he identified Luck''s corpse.


    She was not even a combatant all she did was play a little prank... and maybe cause a few maulings Lucifer thought to himself. he could not deny that he was fond of the little trickster despite her shenanigansand even though he could revive her because she was a boss, he disliked seeing her die.


    Now Lucifer had lost the mood to watch them attempt the door "puzzle" so he left in search of Selenia.


    It did not take long for Lucifer to catch up to her with his dungeon sense, he found her standing amongst a group of corpse''s of Soldiers, Lucifer thought "aren''t there too many cuts on these bodies?"


    Selenia noticed his presence then said irritably "here to scold me like a child again", the sarcasm did not escape Lucifers notice causing him to frown slightly.


    "No, I''m here to give new orders t--"


    "I''m already killing your intruders what more do y--" she cut it in


    Lucifer started to get angry and interrupted her "Lucky is dead", Selenia had everything she wanted to say get stuck in her throat as tears welled up in her eyes, she softly asked "can''t you bring her back, she''s a boss right, bosses die all the time in dunge--"


    Lucifer cut into her rambling "yes and no, I can revive her" Selenias eyes lit up before immediatelylosing the light out of them from lucifers next words "but, I don''t know whether she will be the same person or simply a copy of Lucky"


    Selenia thought for a moment then said "don''t you resurrect the boar boss all the time, I''m quite sure the mercenary band that came here earlierate that boar every couple days"


    Lucifer stated "That is true however the armored boar is not intelligent, so I don''t know if it''s the same personality every time I bring it back"


    Lucifer knew that Selenia and Lucky got along very well during their free time, at first they didn''t like each other, Lucky dislike her because she was in the dungeon even though she was not created by me, and Seleniagrew frustrated at the pranks Lucky pulled on her.


    After one such prank, Selenia retaliated by carving a small idol of Lucky with a really large head then showed Lucky and said "look at this fat head" causing Lucifer to laugh hystericallyat the childishness of the statement, he could not believehow silly her insult was, however, Lucky seemed to love the little carving and bounced around like a rubber pellet shot out of a cannon in excitement. Later they became friends in such an absurd way and even Selenia admitted that the little statue was kinda cute.


    After reminiscing Lucifer saw a familiarfire of vengeancealight in Selena''s eyes, so he quickly said "go to the ant''s plant farm and climb the biggest tree, there is a hatch on the top of the trunk that leads to the surface, I''ve checked outside and it''s the only way out that''s not blocked"


    Selenia looked confused for a moment then protested "there are still enemies here--"Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    but Lucifer cut her off "go its an order... do I make myself clear" causing Salenia to close her mouth. He thought to himself "even if you are here it won''t make much difference with 1 person anyway, besides with a little firecracker like you running around you will probably cause more soldiers deaths over the long run than you can here" causing him to smile slightly.


    Selenia looked like she still had something to say but turned and started to leave after some hesitation, Lucifer said "you are free from your soul binding now, live long and prosper" before flying away before she could reply.


    She left the dungeon with a heavy heart, after she opened the secret hatch she quickly ran down the mountain and soon disappeared into the forest below.


    Meanwhile back at the door, Lucifer observed the situation, they seemed to have just finished killing the bugs on the doors and figured out the correct orientation of the door.


    Out of nowhere several Kittens appeared and awkwardly walked to Lucky''s body, they had small flowers creating a wreath on their heads, several soldiers looked at each otherwith greed written all over their faces, they quickly picked up the kittens and started making their way over to their superiours.


    The kittens put up a struggle in a futileattempt to escape, they were presented to the captains to see what rewards they could claim for baby Panthers, that could one day grow up to be fierce battle companions or a powerful mount.


    After glancing at the kittens a captain asked them to be checked by the mages and clerics for possible diseases, when the two soldiers arrived with a cute kitten in each arm the female clerics and mages split off from the others and started to play with the kittens, squealing in delight when the little creatures tried to paw off their affectionate petting.


    All the male mages and clerics only rolled their eyes and ignored their antics, while being slightly jealous of the cats as they wished they could receive such attention. One of the girls remarked "these little ones have huge quantities of mana in them for their age, they will grow up to be powerful magical beasts", another spoke "I wonder who owns these cuties they are so lucky, they even have little floral reefs on their heads... so cute"


    When one of the men heard that he looked confused when he thought about where he heard they came from and started to make his way over to the women, but before he made it there suddenly the kittens started to grew right before everyone''s eyes, one moment they were in the hands of the girls and the next they had already grown to the size of horses, causing screams to erupt as they began to attack.


    The Warriors tried to push through and the mages could not get a clear shot because the enemy was in the middle of all the mages and clerics. The now fully grown Panthersroared in apparent glee as they tore through the unarmored magic users, they seemed to specifically target those who pulled on their ears and paws earlier.


    The Soldiers managed to push through and attack the Panthers after most of the clerics were already dead, but they found their spears could stab the beats but they did not care, a small amount of green fluid would come out of the wound then stop bleeding altogether, the soldiers started to get torn apart once they realised their weapons were useless.


    Fangs and claws met metal as the 4 beasts tore apart everything that got close enough to sink their teeth into, however, the mages finally found a clear shot after the cats cleared enough area.


    Gouts of flame hit the beasts and they seemed to wither from the flames, soon they were all dead but not before taking a few more mages with them for good measure.


    After they were killed a mage walked up to the corpse to try and figure out why it was so hard to kill, to his surprise he found the body to be hollow inside, the shell was made of woven vines and other plants, even its fur seemed like some kind of modified thin leaf that imitated hair.


    Meanwhile, the company leader finally made it here and surveyed the scene, soon two soldiers found their heads on pikes after the leader''s explosive anger.


    The company leader said to himself "this mission is already off to a terrible start, the newbies were useless, and we already suffered large casualties from the sudden animal attack, now most of our healers and mages are dead and the real battle hasn''t even started yet.


    If he knew of what was to come he would have kept his mouth shut thought Lucifer.

 Lions den 36

    Lucifer watched the kittens being carried by the soldiers while wondering why they seemed so familiar, when they turned into full sized Panthers and started to tear apart the magic casters limb from limb Lucifer finally recalled where he had seen them before, they were part of his earlier experiments in creating a body for himself, he thought if flesh could not hold his consciousness maybe sturdier plant fibre could.


    A cramped smile crept onto Lucifer face as he wondered how Lucky had taken them from his lab, or why they even listened to her and follow her out,Lucifer knew Selenia would not be so mischievous as to take something from his lab so the culprit was easy to guess.


    "I have to remember to reward her again for the kitty surprise... even if she''s not herself when she comes back," Lucifer thought to himself, then his mood lowered again at the thought of the pointless death.


    The soldiers below had just triggered the spring trap behind the door, bodies turned to paste and twisted body parts with metal armor and weapons shot out, the body parts hit the ground and the surrounding people with a wet thump, which was quickly drowned out by the screams of unlucky people who lost limbs to shrapnel and flying weaponry.


    Lucifer was as surprised as the company leader, Lucifer because he thought the last group''s survivors would have told these men about the trap, the company leader because he ever expected the door itself to be trapped, so he sent his physically strongest men to pry open the heavy door.


    A collective gasp was heard as the men realized that the inside of the door was as frightening as the outside, skeletons lined the inside of the door but, they were wearing the bloodied gear of adventurers in some kind of disturbing warning to those who would trespass.


    Soldiers made their way to the portal then jabbed the skeletons, mainly to ease their worries that they would suddenly come to life then soon be adorned with theirarmor instead. Nothing happened when they poked and prodded the skeletons relieving the soldier''s tension.


    they began to line up against the portal, but once they passed the skeletons they suddenly sparked to life, using the crude weapons from former adventurers they hacked and chopped at the soldiers, being caught unawares several soldiers immediately lost their lives, however, thier armor stopped most of the attacks from the crude weapons.


    The company leaders expression became increasingly ugly while Jacobs secretly became brighter after the constant failures and setbacks, he ordered them to adhere to normal siege practices and charge in, the idea is to overwhelm any mages behind the portal before they get to react, but this was a dungeon,


    5 men ran in shoulder to shoulder with weapons held high, only to be promptly cut in two, with no confirmationof a clear room the next group sprinted in after them, these people were luckier by comparison, the sword trap had already sprung so they only ran into a stationary blade, their armor stopped most of the damage, but they had a deep cut on their chests when the fell back out of the portal.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    The next group saw the group fall and prepared to charge themselves when the leader bellowed "HOLD" causing the men to instantly freeze on instinct, then he gave orders to check on the situation inside and get the remaining healers to the injured.


    After a quick investigation the company leader was grinding his teeth and his eyes were red with rage, of the 200 he brought 100 were redshirts who had not come back yet, probably killed by the Panthers that attacked earlier, now less than half remained of the main force and worse yet the magic division was almost all but dead.


    If he was not ordered here by his majesty himself he would have called this mission off already, now he was forced to continue this mission, even when it is becoming extremely apparent they were not well prepared enough to complete it.


    Grinding his teeth in frustration he glanced around to look for a better solution when he spotted Jacobs and the guild leader, viciousness flashed in his eyes as he sarcastically spoke to them loud enough for everyone to hear "are you mages just going to sit there and let us poor soldiers throw our lives away for you, or are you going to actually be useful".


    Jacobs glared at the man before he replied amicably "why didn''t you ask earlier" before telling his 2 students to go help while he thought to himself "It''s best not to have a falling out so early, I would like them to let me save my strength for the battle later". The guild leader looked at Jacobs when he was acting and decided that he is better off dead sooner rather than later.


    The 2 students appeared to be about 40 years old, they wore simple blue robes with gold trimmings, after being told to go into the portal they started casting enhancement spells on themselves, then their bodies straitened up and their posture strengthened as they walked into the portal.


    Other than chanting spells they did not speak, they like the air of mystery it gave them to talk to each other directly through magic.


    When they stepped through the portal they were dumbfounded and all they heard through the link was %@#! after they saw the impossible floor design, they had gone through dungeons before, but every floor usually was quite possible to make it through safely, or else no one would dare enter the dungeon, however, because Lucifers dungeon linked to his core in a strange way he did not require it to be reasonable to enter.


    One man nodded to the other in understanding then started a lengthy chant, after several minutes passed he waved his arms and pointed his palms to the end of the hallway, sending a wave of force down it, as the wave moved it forced down all the pressure plates causing multitudes of traps to activate.


    They watched in awe at how many traps there were in such a small space, they could barely see the end of the hall with all the projectiles and pistons moving about.


    After a minute all the traps had finished theirattacks, so one of them signaled the other side that it was safe to enter while the other moved forward.


    The man stepped on pressure plates causing them to depress with each step as he marveled at some of the strange traps he has not seen before, one was a pit with strange thin wire in it coiling around itself, some of them even failed to activate, like the one he was just stepping past that resembled a log... he steppedpast the low hanging log while chuckling at its poor design, then suddenly the log accelerated towards him, he tried to dodge but he was a mage and his ability was lacking even with enchantments enhancing his body.


    The man signaling the others heard a surprising bang behind him, he turned around to see his companion crushed against the wall by a log with a piston extending from the wall, his companion had a terrified expression frozen on his face lying on top of the log, he swore he could hear inhuman laughter from somewhere but could not locate anyone around.


    Meanwhile, Lucifer was laughing above the man''s head and thought "it''s a good thing I made some of them activate on the second press HAHA"

 Create it and they will come. 37

    Jacobs frowned at the sight of his dead student, he snuck a glance at the company leader and spotted a smirk flash past his face. The guild master just ducked under the blade trap and saw the dead student then chuckled to himself, earning himself a glare from the archmage.


    After asking his student how this happened he swore at the man''s arrogance before sending a similar spell down the hallway with a wave of his sleeve, several traps that had yet to activate exploded into action, sending objects flying everywhere, a strange wire mesh fell from a hole that opened in the ceiling.


    All the leaders stood there dumbfounded that so many traps did not activate, suddenly Jacobs realized that the pressure plates did not activate the first time because they had to be pushed twice to activate, not because his students force magic wasn''t strong enough, he thought "there is no way to be sure of how many actions would activate the traps and I have no intention of using all my mana to test them either.


    Jacobs casted a short spell, green waves of energy surrounded him forming a cloud then he started to rise into the air, the others watched him float over all the potential danger with stunned faces, then the company angrily yelled: "Are you going to fly my soldiers over too... you said you would help!", Jacobs loftily replied, "I did help, my students and I activatedseveral traps" while gesturing to all the objects now lying on the ground, then continued "besides I showed you the way to avoid the traps" then burst into laughter.


    The company leader watched him fly pastthe traps while grinding his teeth, thinking "only you can fly you pompous ass", then the student and guild leader made their moves, the student gathered winds underneath him and flew across to the end of the hall, although it was could not be called flying because it looked like he threw himself more than anything.


    The guild master took a ball out of his robes and rolled it across the hallway leaving behind a black line on the ground as it went, when it reached the end the guild leaders body dissolved into his own shadow and moments later recreated itself above the ball on the other side.


    Now by himself, the company leader had to order all the soldiers to manually check the ground with spears and he made sure to have them check at least 3 times before attempting a plate. Progress was slow even with plenty of troops available to test the plates but, it was relatively safe in comparison to just taking a walk of faith, somethinghe considered more than once when looking at the resting mages on the other side.


    Lucifer observed them play around in his dungeon and imagined them being squishier over and over again in his head, he made a mental note to add several hundred steel wire across the hallway after the archmage just floated above it, then tens of thousands after the student rocketedpast it with only inches from losing his legs.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    He watched the soldiers slowly make it to the other side, only a few died from activating a trap and got impaled on wall spikes, one unlucky soul had barbed wire drop on top of his head, he struggled to get it off him for nearly 30 seconds before he realised that struggling was only cutting him up worse, it took nearly 10 minutes to free him from the entanglementwhich uplifted Lucifers spirits and irritated the company leader.


    Another man stepped into a leg trap but his armor blocked the spike at the bottom and he was not moving fast enough to hyperextend his knee into the opposite direction to Lucifers displeasure. Finally, the walls on the side opened from a pressure plate activation, sadly the soldiers made short work of the jade skeletons, however when the floor near the portal dropped away it took several of the last surviving mages into a pit of spikes, the sudden shock on the spikes woke up a colony of insects that made their nest in the darkness of the pit trap.


    The company leader heard curses then small explosions as the last surviving mage attempted to push back the wave of insects with gouts of flame, the corpses on the spikes already turned into skeletons by the time the mage started casting, terrifying the man, so much so his spells were unstable and he burned himself several times.


    The company leader looked to Jacobs for help and saw his indifferent attitude, he roared with fury and charged forward to the end of the hallway, soldiers quickly followed suit and the smarter ones copied the leader''s footsteps.


    The leader saw a wire strung at head height several steps ahead with his mana infused eyes, furious of this dungeon he cut through it as he passed, amoment after the wire was cut a click was heard then the floor several meters in front and behind the wire fell away revealing another spike pit, the leader, and those following closely had already made it to the other side by sheer speed.


    Lucifer looked on dumbfounded, he made another mental note to change most of the traps to the activates on the 3rd or 4th attempt kind after he watched the leader and roughly a dozen men make it to the other side.


    Several men who were close behind the leader weren''t fast enough and fell down the pit, they died the moment they were impaled and the unlucky ones were alive just long enough to be eaten by the insects.


    Now cut off from the leaders the remaining men tried to defend their island of ground from the wave of insects coming from both sides, they changed the attribute of their mana to fire and attacked the incoming insects as they climbed up the pit walls, they were able to hold them back for several minutes but, once the insects started to climb onto the roof and drop from above they started losing ground quickly, soon the mage holding off one side by himself found his back up against the soldiers defending the other side, his mana was almost depleted and the antidote only helped for the first few bug bites he received, he felt his body weakening and in a last ditch effort to survive he looked behind him and yelled for help from the leaders and Archmage, only to find that they had already moved on.


    The leaders along with a dozen soldiers heard screams behind them as they walked into a new area, this place did not look like the previous one, the walls were rounded and looked as if they were made by monsters rather than a dungeon, they could see claw marks were rock was taken away all over the walls, they found several branches in the cave wall, Jacob thought "this seems like a giant ants nest?"

 Casual walk in a dungeon 38

    Jacobs studied the markingson the wall closely, after a moment he gave up trying to figure out what had dug this cave system, he pulled a device out of his robes and chanted a short incantation, a needle on the device pointed into a branch of the cave system so they continued deeper into the dungeon.


    they began to hear skittering occasionallyputting the soldiers on edge, after watching their comrades die to insects did nothing to improve their deposition on insects, they turned a corner and raised their weapons in preparationfor the new enemy.


    Ants the size of dogs filled the tunnel and were skittering towards them on the floor, walls, and roof, with spears in hand the soldiers took the front line, individually the ants posed no threat to the soldiers but, they fell from the roof and walls not allowing them to properly settle into their positions.


    Suddenly curses were heard from the student as he threw wind blades around, Jacobs frownedat the man''s antics, he spotted the ants and used an ironskin spell causing the student''s skin to become impenetrable to the small insects attacking him, the student said his thanks and continued to attack the swarms of small ants.


    The student found his body to be rather stiff after the bug bites so he gritted his teeth and swallowed the disgusting antidote, Jacobs said "don''t burn them or we will be poisonedby the vapor of the poison", the student nodded his head and continued to send wind blades across the cave surfaces.


    Jacobs spotted the small insects crawling over the soldiers but they had not noticed yet because of the adrenaline coursing through their bodies, he sighed before commanding"stand closer to me I''m going to erect a barrier", the soldiers moved back and the barrier was created around the group, after checking with Jacobs they continued stabbing out of the barrier to kill the ants who had no way of harming them.


    The company leader looked at his soldiers and noticed the small bug bites were still bleeding after several minutes, he asked Jacobs to see what the problem was despitehis obvious hate of the man, Jacobs looked at the wounds chanted causing a bright light to coalesce onto the soldier, Jacobs frowned "The small ants have a paralyticvenom, however, such a small amount won''t effecta warrior at all, but they seemed to have been poisoned previously, and this poison has removed the bodies ability to clot blood", company leader asked "why don''t you just heal it then?" Jacobs answered "only high ranking healing magic would be able to heal this because the poison is a naturallyoccurring part of the body, not some foreign invader"


    The company leader was growing irritated at Jacobs circular speaking and spat back "then use high-grade healing then", Jacobs looked at him disdainfully and responded harshly "do I look like a healer to you, I can use most systems of magic, but I only specialize in one ignorant fool"


    Before this argument comes to blows the guild leader chimed in with a smug smile "perhaps you are in the need for some dark magic haha", causing the arguing men to look at him with a look that said "why are you butting in", he saw the look and chuckled to himself before speaking "dark based magic just happens to have a spell that can turn a mans blood solid" while grinning.


    The company leader firmly replied "and what use is it if my men die from a blood clot instead of bleeding to death", Jacobs sighed "it''s plenty useful you idiot, he just has to tone down the power of the spell and they will be able to heal normally again".


    He watched as the guild leader used a spell and a dark wisp of energy entered the men, they looked like they would rather bleed to death than have dark magic cast on them but the company leaders glare cut of any discussion on the matter.


    After finishing the spells he asked if Jacobs would like to solve his problem to which he replied "I don''t plan on bleeding so I''ll pass", the leaders could tell the real reason he didn''t want to have the spell cast on him was that he didn''t trust the guild leader.


    Meanwhile, the ants weren''t just sitting idly by either, larger ants with thick plates on their skulls started to appear, they then pushed their armored skulls against the shield from all directions, the soldiers attempted to kill these ants halting their advance but found their spears could not penetrate the new ants.


    Armored ants piled up against the barrier while more ants pilled in behind them, the small ants then filled the gaps left by the others creating 1 solid mass of ants, they began to rapidly spasm their muscles.


    In the barrier the mages felt the heat first, it was warm at first, then the increasing temperature started to become unbearable and the warriors started to feel the heat too, one soldier remarked "they are trying to cook us alive sir" while trying desperately to stab the ants blocking the way, they began to feel difficulty breathing after a while longer.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Jacobs grew increasingly annoyed until he yelled "fucking useless" before casting a spell, the resulting shockwave sent all the ants flying through the cave system, the group could now feel the fresh air and sighed in relief.


    after a short break, they continued deeper, they passed several larger rooms with holes all through it, but the barrier allowed them to easily pass, another man stated "I think that those rooms are not to stop people from entering, you can use the opening as a kill box to funnel the enemies at a reasonable rate to kill them, but once your through they don''t have to come at you several at a time, they can just wait on every surface and in the small tunnels, It''s nearly impossible to go back that way without being drowned in enemies", causing a shiver to go down the other soldiers spines.


    They turned a corner and there was a wall instead of a path, the company leader remarked that Jacobs tool was broken, then the guild leader replied it wasn''t broken but there was small fist sized holes where the mana was going through instead which sent the device down the wrong direction.


    Several minutes of debate later Jacobs with a look of unwillingness had a darkness spell cast on him and everyone present, at first nothing seemed to happen then they begun to shrink.


    Lucifer was chuckling to himself and insulting these idiots when they hit a dead, then cursed their grandmothers when he watched them shrink and swagger through the holes he thought were impassable.


    He began to sweat as he realized they were getting closer and closer to his core, he wished he had more time to create traps, he vowed to spend less time researching things he found interesting and spend more time on researching how to kill cheating assholes.


    The group made good progress in the dungeon and took only short breaks to regain some of the soldier''s stamina but, the constant waves of armored ants had drained the mage''s mana significantly and their progress slowed, after taking some potions they decided that it was better to push on instead of trying to wait for their mana to regenerate.


    Nearly a day had passed since they had entered the dungeon and Jacobs started to worry that their plan would be uncovered soon, he did not want to be chased by the entire university before he got ahold of the core, so he pushed harder and ignored the fact that the guild leader had used almost no mana himself, he had a plan to get rid of him the moment he contacted the man and thought nothing of him.


    Breathing heavily the soldiers arrived at an underground river, beads of sweat rolled down Jacobs'' face, he said "the dungeon core is close, I can feel the mana getting richer here, it should be just up this river"


    The soldiers and company leader looked at him in disbelief, they never imagined they would be stopped this far into the mission by a simple river, there was no way they could swim upstream these rapid waters even if they were in top shape instead of exhausted as they were now.


    Jacobs said "right now I don''t have the mana to take you all up with me, I can only take three people" as he looked at his student and the guild leader as he hid a devious smile and felt a small gem in his sleeve pocket.


    He threw down a small disk onto the ground and a small barrier formed around the soldiers and company leader, he then said "this should protect you until I come back", the company leader glared at Jacob but could do nothing to prevent him from leaving, so he told his men to rest well because they would be likely attacked again soon.


    Jacobs erected a smaller barrier around the 3 of them and jumped into the water together, in a small glowing ball they slowly made their way up the waterway, the guild leader knew that they were close to their target and Jacobs would make his move soon, so he prepared a spell in advance, he had chanted most of his spell and only required a single word to complete the spell, this was why he hadn''t spoken for some time now.


    Jacobs could feel the mana in a semi locked state it the man and guessed his plan, the moment the man looked up to see how far they had to go he pulled a small white stone out of his sleeve and cracked it, the guild leader saw his move and was horrified when he saw the stone, he desperatelyspoke the last word of the spell and his body began to fade to black, but before he could finish the stone exploded into rays of blinding light, Jacobs was forced to close his eyes for a minute as they floated there, when he opened them he found no traces of the other mage and smiled to himself as he finally let down his facade and revealed his wretched expression, he began to laugh hysterically causing his student to feel the barrier was not large enough from him to distance himself from this crazed person.


    Lucifer watched their act play out with interest and once he thought that everyone who was going to get killed had already died he activated his trump card, several kilometers down the enclosed waterway a block of steel dropped from the roof and blocked all the water from continuing downstream.


    with nowhere to go all the water crashed into the steel block cracking the stone around the area for several hundred meters, with the sudden stop all the water behind pushed futilely onto the block but only moved it douzen meters, the water compressed from the weight of the water behind the block, a shockwave of pressure shot up the waterway at the speed of sound cracking the tunnel all the way up.


    When the shockwave reached the opening with the soldiers a small amount of pressure was released sending thousands of liters down the small cave, the soldiers didn''t have time to react before they were swept into down the cave system, crushing their bones from the impacts on the walls and junctions of the cave.


    Jacobs felt something was amiss and looked down and didn''t see anything strange, suddenly the pressure wave passed him, his barrier collapsed in an instant, unable to bear the pressure, both his and his student didn''t even have time to scream before they were crushed into a fifth of their original size by pressure that submarines don''t have to deal with at the bottom of the ocean.


    The shockwave continued up the tunnel until it reached several kilometers of empty tunnels that relieved the pressure, leaving only a small geyser at the opening to the hallway to lucifers room. Lucifer smiled at the success of his pet project then mumbled "yeah science bitch" before chuckling to himself.

 Unfinished business. 39

    Lucifer suddenly stopped chuckling to himself and sent his consciousness back to his core, a man that was missing his right arm and left leg crawled out of the water into the cave, blood sprayed with every heartbeat as he struggledonto solid ground, with a pale face and blue lips he stuttered out a spell and darkness coalesced around his bleeding stumps, almost immediatelythe blood hardened halting the bleeding.


    Ignoring the pain in his limbs he struggled to sit upright, when he looked up greed and desire flashed across his pale face as he beheld a beautiful glowing stone gentlyfloating a few feet off the ground, his eagerness to obtain the object he desired led him across the room in small painful drags across the rough ground opening his wounds once more.


    He hoped that once he obtained the core he would be able to use its power to restore his wounds with the pure energy it would grant him, even high-level light spells would be available to him with such pure mana despite his specialty in the opposing arts.


    once he entered the cores chamber he froze, surrounding the core was a dozen skeletons made of emerald translucent bones, they carried twin short swords of the same material their of bones.


    He had already taken damage from the light crystal shattering and while in his shadow from the shockwave passed him without harm, but the walls cracked his shadowseparating his limbs, there was no hope to defeat undead with dark magic on a good day let alone trying to win with someone in his current condition.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    The skeletons shambled towards him with raised weapons that gave the promise of death, his mind worked swiftly trying to calculate a way to escape the situation, grittinghis teeth he concentrated on his spell as his body melted into the shadows, hoping that the exhaustion and pain would not break his concentration and have his shadow fragment into pieces.


    Floating in a dark world the man ignored his pain as best he could while trying to calculate how far away the core was, if he miscalculated the distance he would not be able to take the core and use it to empower himself and kill his enemies, instead he would simply be cut down by low-level undead and die adisgraceful death.


    Meanwhile, outside the world of darkness, a wall dropped away revealing a passageway into the core room, inside the passageway a Panther stalked into the core room to the sound of fur rubbing against stone as it squeezed through the passage obviously meant for humans.


    Dark waves surrounded the panther as she prepared to pounce, several minutes passed when the Panthers lowered body abruptly sprung forward.


    The man was shifting his shows position closer to the core when he noticed a ripple in the endless void of the shadow world, he turned around and screamed out as claws clad in darkness wiped his gut sending his organs flying outside, before he could attempt to cast a spell to halt the damage or defend himself fangs found themselvesaround his soft neck.


    A soft crack later his lifeless body fell back into the overworld crashing into the ground in a wet thump. Lucifertook in the sight of her bloody fangs and claws and said "good work Kuro", the panther replied with a soft purr then stalked back out of the core room to look for more prey on the lower floors.

 almost forgiven 40

    Lucifer frowned at the corpse in his core room, he accused Selenia of being arrogant when he himself was guilty of the same, Lucifer believed that the swarms of ants and their variations along with his vicious traps could stop anyone dead in their tracks, however, the body in front of him told him otherwise, he still had a trick or two up his sleeve but, he now realized that this train of thought was nieve, if they had simply brought more men, better-specialised people for trap dismantling, even a just a single more archmage, or they didn''t sabotage each otherat every opportunity, he would be unable to keep his fate in his own hands.


    This infuriated Lucifer, he roared "I am tired of PEOPLE DECIDING MY FATE" to no one in particular, he grew madder the more he thought about it, then suddenly he remembered something was missing, after checking the surroundings of the core room several times he abruptly became enlightenedas to what was bothering him.


    All of the leaders have already died... except one...


    "WHERE IS THAT FUCKING ROGUE!%#$@"


    Lucifer shot his consciousnessout of the dungeon mouth along with a surge of mana, he looked down and studied the faces of the surprised mages and soldiers, after not finding the rogue among them a vicious smile formed on his face, all the anger he had towards himself morphed into hatred of this rogue he barely knew.


    The exit was blocked yet Lucifer was not willing to waste a second and allow his prey a chance to escape him again, using his utmost concentration he felt the first floor, then when he found it empty of intruders he scanned the 2nd and found the rogue hiding in one of the tall trees well above any of the traps and spiders, Lucifer was quick to act once he located his target, the ant queen received a message to send half the entire nest to the first floor and the other half on the third.


    Several minutes passed and new tunnels were dug with lucifers help to allow the ants access to the first and third floor undetected, Lucifer thought for a moment that this was overkill for a single man but immediately reminded himself of his previous arrogance, he was not going to underestimatethis slipery rogue again.


    Meanwhile, in a treetop the rogue laid on a branch with every muscle relaxed, he remained cautious of his surroundings even when he laid several warning traps around the area earlier, thoughts of different ways to torture Selenia replayedin his head to pass the time.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Nearby rattling was heard which started the rogue, this was the sound of the warning traps being activated, he peered down between the leaves and saw a swarm of ants climbing the tree, cursing his luck he leapt from the branch he was resting on and swung on a vine to another tree before acrobaticallyclimbing onto another tree, only when he was several hundred meters further away did he give a sigh of reliefand settled down.


    Lucifer watched the man with a gaze that was colder than absolute zero, then he sent another group to the man''s new location.


    Adrenaline still coursed through his body when he heard a familiar skittering, he had just sat down when he found that this tree was being swarmed too, after relocating for the second time he cursed his luck and sat down with a plop, however, the moment he sat down he saw the familiar sight of a swarm of ants surrounding the trunk.


    This time he was sure something was wrong, once was life, twice was bad luck, but three times, he rushed away to create distance to the swarm and found a stream and quickly rinsed himself off, then he took out a small pouch from his backpack and covered himself in the contents, after sneezing several times he traveled several hundred more meters in another direction and hid himself as best he could amongst the canopy.


    Lucifer''s consciousness floated above the new hiding place as he commanded the ants to the new location, he watched his prey''s terrified face as he realized he had been followed, then continued to spy on the man as he became increasingly desperate in his attempt to shake off his pursuers, the man had found that everywhere he went the ants followed as if they had a map that marked his location with a big X that read "here is the idiot".


    He found to his horror that the third floor was practically covered in ants severely limiting his space to maneuver, he couldn''t even run to the opposite side of the dungeon and rest while they caught up to him, as exhaustion started to settle in he gritted his teeth and decided that it was better to be captured by the mages blocking the outside than being devoured my giant insects.


    However, once he arrived at the opening of the dungeon he found that the entire thing was stuffed full of ants to the brim, air would have trouble getting past those armored ones that locked their heads together to form a wall, let alone a human being.


    The rogue felt true despair for the first time in his life, the sounds of ants grew closer causing him to shiver uncontrollably, the sound was now a trauma that would haunt him for the rest of his life, suddenly an idea came to him giving him a sliver of hope, he breathed in with all his might and yelled "I know you''rea dungeon with a will, I want to pledge servitude to you like the elf girl did, I''ve seen her in the dungeon working together with its creatures, I can be useful too"


    Lucifer infused mana into his voice so the rogue could hear his laughter as response.

 Gotta catch em all. 41

    When the rogue heard the laughter tears welled up in his eyes, he had known about the cruelty of dungeons before and only held onto the slightest sliver of hope, the sounds of ants climbing the tree he was on roared in his ears, unwilling to die he forcefully activated his innate ability.


    Blood splattered on the tree as he coughed up blood from using his ability again so soon, muscles tore as he leaped from the canopy from one tree to another several times faster than before, he could feel his teeth crack from clenching his jaw because of the pain as he was tearing his body to pieces.


    Lucifer watched on with glee at the man''s desperate attempt to survive, he followed the rogue and was soon surprised by his direction, he was heading straight for the "door", he chuckled to himself then issued a command then followed to watch the show.


    The rogue slid through the portal and jumped the moment he passed the blade over the several meters put filled with spikes, there were almost no traps left to trigger by now so the rogue managed to leap across the next gap to the end of the hall without so much as a glance at the now almost bare bones impaled on spikes.


    He now ran straight into the ant''s network of tunnels that made up their nest, Lucifer watched the mans speed gradually slow down as he became lost in the maze of tunnels, sweat fell down his face in beads, blood dripped from his mouth at a constant rate and his eyes now possessed more red than white.


    The rogue eyes perked up when he heard the familiarsound he wishes he could forget, Lucifer had sent the ants down a tunnel he quickly made to beat the rogue to the core, Lucifer was surprised at how far the man had made it even though the traps were nonfunctioning.


    On unsteady legs exhaustion finally overcame his willpower to live so the rogue fell to his knees, the light left his eyes as he waited for deaths cold embrace, however, once he was surrounded the ants only stood there.


    Lucifer said "you forgot to wait for my answer, allow me" then sent tendrils of mana to wrap around the rogue''s soul, disbeliefpainted the rogue''s features as he mumbled "I''m going to live?" almost incoherently.


    Lucifer replied "only for as long as you are useful to me", the rogues features visibly relaxed as he fell onto his back while allowingthe tendrils to do their work with no resistance, once the spell was done he fell unconscious. Lucifer sighed, he knew his anger was merely redirected at this person from his own self-hatred for his own stupidity and arrogance.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    He studied the rogues body and found several problematic areas, namely his lungs that were filling with his own blood, so he sent a small amount of life energy into the mans body, only enough to keep him alive and stop the bleeding but enough for now, Lucifer had other more important matters to attend to than nursingan enemy.


    The ants quickly returned to their nest and set about their work digging new floors, while Lucifer inspected the damage done to his dungeon, the waterway was still blocked likely creating an overflow up stream, he immediately fixed this by lifting the metal block into the roof cavity and re-supported it, then he fixed all the cracks in the tunnel that could be used as possible hand holds by warriors climbing up the waterway.


    With the problematic damage fixed he flew back to the hallway of traps just past the "door", he sighed at the sight of the mess and began re-arming and resetting all the traps, this took only a couple minutes when using magic with his superiorcognitive ability, now with all the traps reset he inspected the rest of the dungeon, there was significant damage to the dungeons wildlife, namely the kind that tend to maul intruders.


    The Panther population had been almost decimated from the attack, therefore, he spent some time mana and life energy raising the population by summoning more, after he summoned them he began to wonder how normal dungeons ever have any time for fun or the mana to spare when they are summoning all their monsters, he thought "even so I should repay the good work the Panthers did in the attack, I''ll somehow get them a pond with fish when I can, oh and whatever boars like I can give to the armored boar, Ajax I think his name was???"


    After thinking about the armored boar Lucifer was reminded of the situation with Lucky, he frowned then looked into his Earthmails and located the information on reviving boss monsters that he only had used on the boar so far, a spell weaved through the air in the shape of strange winds made up of uncountable strange runes that coiled in onto itself, the mana gave a final flash of light than in place of it was a tiny woman with butterfly wings coming out of her back, she stood there looking confused, Lucifer asked "do you remember where you are or who you are?"


    The fairy looked up in wonder and asked "who are you" cutely, Lucifer could feel a pinprick of pain in his heart for a moment, he turned to leave when he hears behind him "got you, Lucy, hehe", he looked back only to see the back of her wings escaping along with the sound of childish laughter, He smiled a heartfelt smile that he thought was impossible for him now and swore to get the little bugger back one day, then left in a good mood.

 Renovations 42

    On his way back towards his core room he wondered "if the boss monsters revive with their full memories, then doesn''t that mean that they will continuously improve over time? hmm... I think I will have to keep an eye on the bosses combat abilities so they don''t get too powerful for the floor they are on", just as he finished that thought he arrived at the core room then looked to the back wall furthest from him.


    After concentrating for a moment the back wall disintegrated,the falling stone dust revealed a luminescentstone several sizes larger than his core that glowed a soft blue hue, Lucifer has had all his floors dug by ants instead of doing it himself and all of his monsters except the bosses are able to breed to repopulate, this saved him from using his own mana, causing the dungeons upkeep coast to be near zero, so he saved any of the access he could not store directly inside his core in this oversized mana crystal.


    If any mage''s in the continent learnt of the existenceof this crystal there would be fierce wars fought over its possession, normallymana crystals only grow slightly larger than a fist before splittinginto multipleseparate crystals which then absorb the mana instead, however, since Lucifer is a dungeon he can artificially create any size crystals he wants and with the abundant mana of a dungeonfeeding it, the amount of power this stone possess would put any Archmage to shame.


    Lucifer had filled it several times and considered creating more crystals to hold his spare power, but he found when he used multiple crystals the surface area allowed the mana to radiate out faster because the crystals were not a perfect storing system, so he simply increased the crystal size every time it became full and when any mana leaked out his core simply absorbed it and put it back in creating an almost perfect cycle of mana.


    Originally he planned to use the mana on somethingamazing when he had the chance, like some sort of indestructible boss of some sort, but the Eathmailshe received thus far did not contain anything powerful enough to warrant such an amount of mana so the crystal sat there unused.


    Now, however, he had a need for the power he should have used before to better defend himself, tendrils of blinding light emerged from the crystal as Lucifer refilled his mana reserves from when he was repairing the dungeon, then only a thin line of mana linked the two stones as he left flew away.


    With his mana restored he begun creating better defenses, first he added more trapped hallways, he added them sporadicallyon the path to his core, someone may be able to disarm or negate his traps with magic once but they may not be able to after drowning in a swarm of ants.


    He made sure to add sufficienttraps to prevent someone from just flying through the rooms then began work on his creatures, the variety of ants was too limited causing them to be ineffective against a portion of the enemy''s, Lucifer could not think of any way to have them defeat the mages barriers, however, he could think of ways to attack the supported warriors.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    First, he added a species of ants that had sacks of acid inside their heads, they could not spit it and they required more food to regenerate the sacks that held the acid, but they look exactly like the normal ants so when the adventurers attack these ants their weapons will start to dissolve and break faster.


    Second, along the lines of head mounted weapons, he added a small fire crystal just behind the skull of a small group of ants, these ants would require a longer time to mature because some of their mana would go into filling the fire gems, however, once their gem was pierced or destroyed they would violently explode, the explosion would likely kill more of their allies than enemies, but Lucifer had never run out of ants before, however, to offset the friendly fire problem Lucifer modified the back and sides of the skull to be thicker to potentially direct most of the explosion towards the front.


    Adventurers with a keen eye would be able to tell these ants apart from the slight difference in the shape of their skull and mages would be able to feel the ants fire magic coursing through their bodies, so adventurers may learn to avoid such an attack by attacking the body instead, Lucifer thought for a moment then decided to add muscles around the crystal that could break it when the ant willed it causing him to chuckle a little at the thought of little ant ackbars.


    while he was in the long process of modifying the ants he went around the path to his core creating stairs, slopes small cliffs and other obstacles, Lucifer noticed that most mages were rather old and weak physically, so he added lots of stairs and small drop offs and ledges to tire the physically weak into exhaustion and hopefully cause them to make mistakes, or if Lucifer is really lucky an old archmage might just trip over and die on the way.


    Meanwhile, a week had passed during lucifers renovations and outside the arcane university stood guard outside the dungeon, finally, Merlin could no longer deny the possibility that Jacobs was already dead, the fact that the dungeon did not go insane and spew out demons gave some measure of comfort to Merlin.


    He called for a meeting with the other mages and discussed the next strategy to deal with the situation, they decided that it would be best for Merlin to go in alone to search for the rogue Archmage, he had the best chance of killing him and if Jacobs somehow got past him and had the core in his possession then the rest of the mages would be required to stop him.


    Merlin called for his disciple and the pair entered together after passing through several barriers created by the mages, his disciple asked "if this is a trap set by Jacobs then wouldn''t I just be a burden", Merlin chuckled then thoughtfully replied "even if it is a trap from Jacobs I would still win even with you accompanying me" then his expression darkened as he continued "besides I think he is already dead"


    Ahri looked at him with surprise evident on her face "This is a new dungeonhow could he die so easily in here, there are only 3 floors"


    "Not everything is as it seems, besides this is no young dungeon, it was only "discovered" recently that does not mean it is young or helpless" replied Merlin


    Ahri thought deeply as they walked and could not understand her masters meaning, unable to contain her curiosity she finally asked "what makes you think this dungeon is different"


    Merlin gravely replied "this one is conscious" to the exaggerated surprise of Ahri.

 Dance 43

    Lucifer suddenly felt someone powerful enter his dungeon, he stopped what he was doing and flew over to the entrance to find the arcane university leader along with an average-looking woman following along behind him entering the dungeon, he heard them conversing and confirmed that the old man knew what he was.


    As they walked through the dungeon Lucifer thought of several ways to deal with the pair, but he needed more information, did they tell anyone else and if so who knows, how big a threat are these people and other things.


    For the moment Lucifer decided to let them sort themselves out if they fell into a hole and died it would be their own fault and Lucifer would not have to deal with it, he would have preferred that no one knew about his uniquenessfor another few years when he could properly protect himself however, it seems that fate really does not want to allow him any peace and quiet to accomplish this.


    They approached the gate unhindered and after a short chant opened the door, the springs activated and flung the door open showering the two with insects, however, a small barrier revealed itself once the insects made contact with the two preventing any harm.


    The old man mumbled about devious traps that Lucifer took as a compliment and watched the man cast a long-winded spell that took nearly 10 minutes to cast, Lucifer wondered how anyone would remember the words to such a long chant as the spell activated, bright lights flashed and the man split into a dozen images of himself, the images then walked straight into the portal.


    Lucifer wanted to see what the images would do so he entered the portal himself to observe but, found a dozen images of the old man singing poorly and dancing on top of the pressure plates all the way down the hallway stunning Lucifer, the pressure plates activated from their feet but the traps passed right through their bodies, it seems that only their feet are tangibleand they seem to weigh enough to activate the pressure plates.


    After several minutes most of the traps had been activated and Lucifer did not know whether to laugh or cry at the ridiculousmethod his traps were deactivated, Lucifer flew outside to see the mage again and was speechless again when he found the old man standing there looking dignified as if he did not know what his images were doing on the other side of the portal.


    When the old man thought it had been a sufficient amount of time he escorted his apprentice through the portal in a dignified manner while he concealed a childish smile under his stoic appearance, they entered through the portal and found the mess from all the traps having activated and it was their turn to be speechless causing Lucifer to grin from ear to ear.


    His smirk was short-lived when he watched them float up and over the entire hallway, Lucifer thought they would feel that all the traps would have been sprung already and maybe fall on some spikes that had yet to be activated yet, he cursed their cautious nature as they stepped onto solid ground at the end of the hallway, the wires he created to stop people from flying across the rooms seem to offer no resistance to the mage, he simply waved his hand and the wire was cut, what irritated Lucifer, even more, was that the strings having been cut just floated in the same place as before they were cut, Lucifer looked closer and found little balls of magic holding the strings in their previous place in mid-air, this meant the trip wires would not activate because they were under constant tension even after they let the mages past.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Fucking cheaters," Lucifer thought to himself.


    Suddenly the duo stopped and the old man loudly yelled with a mana-infused voice "I am Merlin of the Arcane University in the kingdom of Swadia, I would like to welcome this dungeon to this country officially and would like to speak to this dungeon about profitable friendships, if you don''t want to talk I guess I''ll just have to go back empty-handed and go to a tavern to tell others of my grievances"


    Lucifer listened to the man and he did indeed want to talk to the person and probably kill him after however, the not so subtle threat did not pass his ears unnoticed, so he decided to get back at the old man a little before speaking to him.


    Merlin stood there for a few minutes waiting for a response when a single ant approached the two, he held his hand up to stop his student from attacking and observed what the ant would do, the ant walked in front of the two of them and then turned around and started walking at a slow pace deeper into the dungeon.


    Ahri looked at her master and asked "is it trying to say follow me?", Merlin responded I think so, I''ve never been escorted by a dungeon creature before this should be interesting" then he proceeded to follow the ant at a leisurely pace.


    Lucifer chuckled to himself as he watched the old man start to sweat and pant after 20 minutes of having to climb up stairs and small cliffs then go down other obstacles, his student looked at her master with worry apparent in her expression, she said "maybe we should take a break then was surprised when the ant stopped and seemed to lie down after her words, she asked does that ant understand us?"


    Merlin tried to catch his breath as he replied "no it''s brain is too simplistic for such thought, however, the dungeon commanding it does haaah",


    "how do you know that this dungeon in even sentient, other than the strange ant I can''t see any signs that it exhibits consienceness," Ahri asked.


    After taking several deep breaths Merlin answered "several reasons, firstly the layout of the dungeon, a dungeon wants adventurers to be as far away from its core as possible so why would the door to the dungeon core be on the first floor instead of the last, Secondly the floors themselves, starting from the first floor the entire dungeon is full of life with a fully functioning eco system, such floors usually only start after the 20th or so floor. Thirdly the floor monsters and loot, dungeons want people to enter and die to get their life force, so why are the monsters on the first 2 floors completely harmless to anyone with a brain, only the third floor has something that would actively hunt you and even still it''s just large cats that would only kill people who don''t pay attention to their surroundings or idiots who don''t belong there.


    The loot is common alchemical plants to treat most of the common diseases and ailments, there are plenty of ore deposits scattered around that are not guarded well and finally, the river that was redirected through the mountain to outside the dungeon entrance, the dungeon seems to be trying to create a thriving city through its actions. One or two of these actions could be contributed to coincidence but not all of them and these actions speak of an intention that is too complex an idea for something that runs purely on instinct." after finishing speaking he closed his eyes and meditated to restore his stamina and let his student maul over the information he had told her.


    Lucifer was once again speechless, he thought that he hid his abilities quite well, but apparently, anyone with a brain could see straight through him, Lucifer sighed and thought "If I truly wanted to be incognito I would have already been killed several times over already because any normal dungeon would have been destroyed by now, how the hell do any dungeons still exist when there are so many assholes around?"


    After an hour they began their journey with the ant again.

 Talk. 44

    Lucifer watched the old man getting more and more tired again, having decided that it was a perfect time he opened a wall just in front of the group revealing a shortcut. Merlin saw the wall opened and gave a sigh of relief, his old body was just about to give out on him and he would require to rest again or use magic to restore his stamina, however, he wanted to keep his mana spare just in case and couldn''t waste it on such a pointless use.


    They walked through the passage and Ahri gasped when she reached the end of the tunnel, "is that a living dungeon core, it''s so beautiful". they walked into a small circular room with a table and several chairs surrounding a gently floating stone that gave off a blue glow, both the mages could feel the massive amount of mana inside the stone and shuddered at the thought of such a thing becoming angry, Merlin thought to himself "this dungeon core is alotolder than I thought it was" and became 3 parts more cautious.


    Lucifer injected mana into his voice and projected it into the room "Take a seat, then we will discussthis profitable friendship you spoke of", Ahri found this voice highly discomforting to listen to, it sounded like hundreds of voices speaking as one with no change to tonation.


    Merlin took a seat and spoke "you don''t seem too trusting with that invisible barrierof yours" when he notices a slight refraction of light surrounding the stone.


    "your attack earlier does not generate a sense of trust of your people" Lucifer replied, he wanted the mage on the back foot throughout the negotiations, that''s why he had the magebecome exhausted before starting and why he mentioned the attacks.


    Merlin seemed to expect this responseand replied "those were not my people I assure you"


    "So it was not you who caught my fairy" Lucifer returned.


    Merlin suddenly remembered when he entered the first time and wryly answered "that was part of my job as part of this Kingdom to test whether you were a threat to the Kingdoms people", as Merlin finally realized that this dungeon had experience in negotiations and would make this several times more difficult, he felt how tired he was and now understood why they had to walk so damn far to get here when the dungeon could have just made a path directly here.


    Lucifer smirked to himself and asked "is it also your job to send scouting forces into my territory to test me, if I had not defeated those men would my core still exist"


    Merlin frowned and replied "As I said those were n--"


    "I saw 3 of them enter with you before and they took orders from you" Lucifer interrupted, causing Merlin to jump slightly, he found the dungeons voice impossible to read and without a face, he could not see the dungeons expression either putting him on the backfoot from the start.


    Lucifer continued "you could have passed the hallway of traps easily without breaking any of them too. If you wanted to speak to me why not do it outside my core path, I assume this is some kind of threat to me by showing me how easily you passed my traps", Lucifer then had the stone release pure mana to allow him to use a spell inside the barrier causing both mages to jump back ready to fight, however, Lucifer only showed an image of the 12 dancing and singingMerlins in the hallway previously.


    Ahri''s shoulders drooped as she watched the mana screen play, she was completely stunned at the sight of her master acting like a clown and singing some old folk song terribly along with the strange dance.


    Merlin coughed several times to try and lessen the embarrassment of his antics, he quietly said "I was only being cautious of your devious traps", his voice got noticeably quieter when he saw the disillusioned face of Ahri staring back at him.


    He took a deep breath and said with as much authority as he could "ahem well you are not being truthful yourself, I''ve seen several dungeon cores before and that is not one of them", he was pointing at the glowing stone in front of him as he continued "dungeon cores do get larger over time but they don''t get that big" as he motioned to the false core that was almost a metre in diameter.


    Lucifer replied "this is simply to protect myself, have you not done the same with your destructive trip here, also why are you so tired when you could have floated all the way here, it is obvious you are keeping your mana spare to fight me if the need arises, what is the difference between that and this"


    Ahri interrupted Merlin before he could speak as she tried to mediate the argument that was about to form "umm I think what master is trying to say is that it''s deceitful to greet someone as something else", meanwhile she had managed to somehow have her chair behind Merlin as he voice got smaller and smaller, Lucifer was almost surprised at how small she managed to make herself as he thought "she''s a terribly shy one... it''s kinda cute"


    He replied, "that is an interesting thought coming from someone who is magically hiding their appearance" causing Ahri to jump at being discovered.


    Merlin sighed and motioned Ahri to dispel the illusion as he spoke "let''s start again shall we, let''s talk about what we can do for each other"


    Ahri''s spell vanished revealing a completely different appearance, she had long red hair jade white skin, luscious full pink lips and curves that could not be hidden by her loose robes, what caught lucifers attention was not her beauty that equaled Selenias it was the small fox ears on top of her head and the multiple tails behind her back.


    After a momentary lapse in concentration, Lucifer spotted an irritating smirk on Merlins lips when his little trick worked, Lucifer responded after the momentary silence "Indeed what can we do for each other"


    Merlin jokingly said "well you can have the girl for starters haha"


    Lucifer jokingly replied back "I guess I''ll be taking her off your hands then" causing Ahri to stop her feet, but she could not work up the courage to speak again in front of a stranger.


    She casted a spell and her appearance changed back to the ordinary girl from before and Merlin frowned at his student''s actions, she sighed and mumbled "that''s better", Lucifer heard and responded "I don''t know why you are ashamed of your true appearance but I think it''s a waste to hide something so beautiful" causing Ahri to blush slightly and dejectedly mumble "the first person to compliment me is a dungeon"


    Merlin asked "I''ve complimented your beauty before too you know"


    "but your like my grandpa it doesn''t count" she replied


    Merlin exasperatedly asked, "and a dungeon does count?" as he wondered about how this girls head was put together.


    Lucifer audibly chuckled surprising the 2 that were in their own world, now that the tension seemed to have been broken Merlin wanted to get straight to business now that he knew that he would not get any advantages from Lucifer with words of politics, he said "should we get to business now that we all well acquainted now, so I''ll state what I want directly and I hope you will do the same, I''m sure you would appreciate a direct discussion as would I"


    Lucifer nodded in agreement and noticed that he didn''t have a body so he replied "I agree, round about talks are tiring so what is it that such a powerful mage like yourself wants and what can you give me"


    Merlin nodded in satisfaction at Lucifer reply, he did not want to talk politicly because with all the things that his people had done previously he would get seriously poor conditions from the negotiations if he did, instead, he wanted a simple and direct exchange without the past interfering with negotiants, Merlin stated "My University is in constant need for materials, something a dungeon can easily create, naturally I would compensate you generously, If you want women I can give you that, if you want land I can talk to the king, if you want gold... well you could make your own, however, I could have more people enter the dungeon if that''s what you want too and I can offer my University''s protection"The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Lucifer replied "so much for a straight forward conversation, no one can stop me from taking land that I want, people will continue to enter my dungeon for its riches and naturally more will come with time, before you think of using the amount of people entering to manipulate me even if no one came I would not be fine with that and could develop just as easily without them. As for the protection that would be to your benefit, not mine, if your business partner is destroyed naturally business will be bad for you too, I can protect myself just fine, you simply want to prevent me from making deals with others"


    Merlin was starting to understand how intelligent this dungeon was from the conversation so far, he responded "my intentions are not as evil as you make them out to be, I just want to make a profitable relationship with you, I''m sure there is something I can offer you to facilitate a good relationship"


    Lucifer found it amusing that the man simply stopped trying to figure out what he wanted and finally asked, if he wanted to know instead of trying to cold read Lucifer he should have just asked from the beginning, Lucifer paused for a moment seemingly trying to figure out what he wanted and replied "I want knowledge", it was short and did not give much away and allowed him to further negotiate how much he would give for it, he also did not want to ask for things that granted direct power because he wanted them to think he was alot more powerful than he really was.


    Merlin looked confused and asked, "knowledge what kind?"


    "any and all subjects, but most importantly magic, I want to see what the mages of this world think of it and how they use it" Lucifer answered.


    Merlin was startled by the unexpected answer and thought of how dangerous it would be to give a dungeon thousands of years of mages accumulated knowledge before he could think further Lucifer interrupted his thoughts "if you are thinking that it would be too dangerous to give me such knowledge I would like to remind you that I would be fully capable of wiping this continent clean of any and all life if I choose to do so", memories of ancient scrolls in theforbidden seciton of the University flashed past his eyes as he recalled the texts that described the damage a sentient dungeon could cause, most Kingdoms simply ceased to exist leaving large gaps in history, meanwhile, Lucifer was thinking about his ant queen''s nuclear option of sending out swarms of queens to take root inside the kingdom and devour anything and everything edible in the kingdom, if the ants did not kill everyone they would still cause mass famine from all the farm destruction.


    Merlin took a deep breath and replied "I can give you books from our library in trade for sufficiently valuable materials"


    "And what would those materials be" Lucifer asked.


    Merlin thought about how difficult it should be for a dungeon to create certain things, after thinking about what would give the maximum benefits to the university he said "rare plants would be the easiest thing for you to cultivate considering your experience in creating such complex ecosystems, so I would like for you to have rarer plants in the lower floors that would eventually end up in our hands from the adventurer guild, naturally I could give you the seeds if you need them"


    "what would I receive for disrupting my ecosystem," asked Lucifer, as he tried to make it sound as difficult as possible.


    Merlin thought for a moment "depending on the rarity of the plants and the quantity I could give you access the the first section of the library"


    "how many sections are there," asked Lucifer causing Merlin to frown at such a critical question that revealed the true worth of the information.


    Merlin secretly sighed and replied "there are 20 normal levels to the library" with a slight amount of pride in his voice as he answered that question with the reflex answer he told all new mage acolytes, then immediately cursed his stupidity when Lucifer said "normal levels"


    He thought of lying but thought better of it because this information could easily be confirmed by any mage the dungeon may capture, the dungeon may already know the answer and just be testing him, Merlin replied "there are forbidden sections that only the University leader has access to--"


    Lucifer interrupted "aren''t you the University leader"


    Merlin...


    Ahri...


    Lucifer...


    Lucifer watched sweat bead on the man''s forehead then said "so the first floor is full of very poor information that I''m sure even new recruits can view and I''m giving you high-quality ingredients for your alchemists in return, sounds fair", somehow the monotone voice managed to sound sarcastic, then he continued "give me access to the first 15 floors and I will forget about the forbidden sections, you get to keep your last 5 sections that most likely have your master ranked magics and I get information I want"


    "It will take time to get 15 floors of books to you--"


    "It will take time to grow the ingredients" interrupted Lucifer.


    Lucifer looked at the man trying to make a difficult decision and gave him an olive branch "How about this, you add regular gifts of rare beasts that I don''t have to the deal and I will create a separate room to grow the plants for your University''s exclusive use, this means you won''t have to buy them from the adventurers guild and also you will be supplying the seeds of any plants you want grown"


    Merlins eyes flashed and he agreed instantly, he thought it was a wonderful deal for his university he only added the condition that the university''s room would be safe from monsters, he planned to use the mana rich environment of a dungeon to rapidly increase the power of the practicing mages of the University.


    They talked for several more hours to decide the small details and finally agreedon a final version of the deal, somehow Ahri became the ambassador between the university and the dungeon despite her protest against it and the deal was done.


    Although Merlin felt like he went to sell his cart and winded up selling his horse too without realizing it, he still felt like the deal was worth it, those old books and scrolls were not worth that much because almost any major power would have similar books from the first 15 levels or so.


    Just before the two got up to leave Lucifer said: "also remember not to tell anyone about me not even your king, just tell your people that you managed to find a hidden room in the dungeon that you have secured to explain the growing room, also as insurance against your betrail I will be putting the girl into a contract with me"


    before Merlin could protest the wall leading out of the room collapsed along with the pathway leading to the true core, Lucifer said "this is non-negotiable, I guess you could say I have trust issues so I will be keeping an iron grip onto something important to you"


    Once the entrance was blocked the mana in the dungeon started to become erratic because of the spirits agitation, Lucifer felt extremely claustrophobic as the path to his core was cut off however he endured the feeling. Merlin yelled "you are going to die if you don''t restore your connection to the surface you fool"


    Lucifer laughed and replied "AND SO WILL YOU", the spirits were going mad from being cut off from the world and the dungeon started to violently shake, stones the size of cars started falling from the roof onto the dungeon floor below.


    Merlin screamed "are you mad you''re going to kill us both" as he tried to use magic to clear the rubble as fast as he could.


    Lucifer calmly replied sending shivers down Merlins spinet "either you give me something important to you as insurance against your betrail or we both die"


    Merlin could feel the dungeon becoming more unstable by the second, suddenly Ahri yelled out "ok I will be your servant just stop before we are all killed, Master won''t betray you anyway" as tears filled her eyes.


    Merlin watched as magic coalesced and he ground his teeth as he watches his beloved student who he raised since she was a child be branded into servitude, he did not even have the confidence to undo a dungeons spell because he knew that even if he was capablethe dungeon would know that he betrayed it and it would go nuts like now, what was worse is the dungeon did not even seem to care if it destroyed itself or not and that would mean putting the entire Kingdom at risk.


    Once Ahri was branded Lucifer cleared the rubble blocking the core from the outside world and the dungeon stabilized after a few moments, he sighed in relief.


    Merlin grudgingly asked, "why didn''t you want to bind me instead."


    "Because if I wanted to bind you to servitude you would assume I was going to kill you for knowing my secret and the girl would die too, however, if I bind her, you can''t betray me and you won''t fight to the death for no reason. The only way a secret stays that way is if only 1 person knows it, isn''t that why the forbidden section is only accessible by the university leader" replied Lucifer


    "we already had a deal it was beneficial for both of us to not betray each other, why is there a need to be so extreme" Merlin lamented.


    Lucifer coldly replied "that''s exactly why, there is only benefits binding us to stay loyal to the deal, so by its very nature the deal can be broken by simply offering more than the deal provides, I know humans too well to be so foolish enough to believe that you are sohonorable, you will take your benefits now with a friendly smile and sharpen your dagger for when something better comes along or worse you will slowly gather information and strangle the other party until they are in the palm of your hands at the opportune moment, it''s only human to do so, now you have a real reason to keep up your end of the deal"


    Merlin angrily retorted "Yes I have a reason but do you!"


    "did you believe for a moment that this negotiation was on fair terms since the beginning" before he flew away leaving them to their own devices.

 Bending but not breaking. 45

    Merlin and Ahri exited the dungeon under the watchfulgazes of the soldiers and university mages, Wolfram, and his generals greeted Merlin before asking of the situation in the dungeon, Merlin frowned and told them "everyone in the dungeon is dead" then briskly walked past everyone''squestioning expressions without looking back or answering anyone''s doubts.


    Ahri noticed her master''s bad mood and once they got back to their living quarters she tried to cheer him up "don''t feel so bad about it, we managed to secure the cooperation of a sentient dungeon, no one else has ever been able to accomplish this, magic resea--"


    "I know" Merlin interrupted then he continued "things are more complex than you realize, there are undercurrents at work here that could sweep away entire Kingdoms into the forgottenriver of time."


    Ahri rebutted "you''re just angry that someone got the better of you"


    Merlin...


    "see, anyway it will be fine, we have no reason to betray the dungeon so it will have no reason to take my life, it seems kind of nice anyway"


    "kind of nice, nice in what way exactlyit forcefully bound you to its will which is illegal in this kingdom if you had forgotten" Merlinexasperatedlyresponded.


    Ahri lightly said "I''m here aren''t I"


    Merlin...


    Noticing her masters silence she continued "If the dungeon wanted to it could have kept me there permanently, that would be the most beneficial move for it to make because it does not know whether you would be able to unbind me from its will, then its only option would be to slowly have its demands erodedby bad negotiation conditions or attempt mutual annihilation. Instead, it let me leave so I could say goodbye to all my friends and family"


    Merlin responded "I think you are putting intentions you wish were true into the mind of the dungeon, besides you don''t have any friends or family"


    "It doesn''t know that" Ahri laughingly responded, causing Merlinto sigh, he knew that the smile she shows is just a facade to make him feel better, she can barely talk to anyone other than himself and suddenly living away from him must be terribly frightening for the girl, he patted her on the head then excused himself from the room.


    Once he was alone he felt around his robe and pulled out a small pouch, then he put his hand in all the way to the elbow and pulled out a small dull gray gem, it did not look expensive at all and if someone looked through his belongings they would likely ignore this gem because of how it looked in comparison to some of the other things he kept in this pouch.


    He chanted a small spell from memory and soon another voice filled the room "you called, I was in the middle of doling out punishment on the idiotic noble children" causing Merlin to chuckle.


    Merlin replied into the stone "give the order to have the arcane university moved to the new dungeon that just opened up"


    The person on the other end of the conversation paused for a moment then asked "can I know the reason I am ordering such a thing"


    "sadly I cannot tell you" Merlin replied


    "the nobles will complain about their safety--"


    "tell them the further I am away from them the safer they will be", prompting a chuckle from the other end of the conversation.


    The man said "I will trust you old friend but, it will take time before the move takes place, the university will push back and so will the nobles, I can imagine the merchants would not appreciate missing the university either"


    Merlin replied "don''t worry about the university''s end I will take care of that and you can tell the merchants to come to the new city once it''s built, I''m sure they would love the prospect of getting their hands into a prosperous city before it''s even built... as for the nobles... I think it''s time for you to bash some heads"The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The speaker on the other end paused for a long time before simply replying "that good" than cutting the spell off. Merlin put away the gem and prepared for travel.


    Merlin and Ahri boarded the Wyvern and started to fly back to the university, the other mages that came with him earlier would come back on their own after they made sure everyone inside the dungeon was truly dead.


    As they were flying Merlin suddenly felt a massive mana sourcecausing him to look around, he noticed Ahri''s confused expression staring at him and he realized his student could not feel it, he asked: "You cannot feel that mana source nearby?" Ahri shook her head so he directed her "use your vision to spot its location".


    Ahri''s eyes glowed a ghastly bluish green glow that would send shivers down the livings spines and looked down from the wyvern, she immediately spotted what they were looking for and pointed to a direction slightly off the road below them.


    Merlin drove the Wyvern into a landing just a couple dozen meters away from the person they found standing in a grove of trees with their large curved sword already unsheathed. Merlin studied the person and confirmed their massive amount of mana, the fact that Ahri could not feel anything despite her acute senses would mean that the mana is sealed in some way.


    He observed the person carefully, they had beautiful white plated armor covering most of their body except their head which was covered by a hood instead which Merlin found strange, he could not see into the hood at all despite using several types of vision, the only thing he could confirm is that they were female from the body shape.


    Ahri mumbled, "she seems familiar, like a sister" while frowning. Merlin was momentarily shocked then looked closer at her armor and turned speechless, he found all the armor had glyphs engraved on it most of which he could not recognize straight away or at all, this means that the entire set of armor is an enchanted set and the fact he could not recognise some of the glyphs meant that it was of high quality too.


    He suddenly realized who this was from Ahri''s comment then said "tell the dungeon that Merlin will come to dance again soon then had the Wyvern lift off and fly away again.


    Ahri asked "why did we leave with getting a name, someone so powerful would likely be very well known and how would they tell the dungeon something if we are the only ones who can talk to it and doesn''t this count as betraying the dungeon?" as she continued her voice became more worried by the word before Merlin interrupted her


    Merlin replied "No it doesn''t count as betraying the dungeon, I simply said to say to the dungeon, I did not say that it was sentient did I" causing Ahri to frown at the semantics her master was using to try and bend the rules already, he continued "besides that person already knew about the dungeon, you said she seemed like a sister to you right" after she nodded he resumed "that is because you are both bound to the dungeon so you are a kind of sister and you will naturally feel the familiar pull of someone bound to the same being, did you notice that she only pointed her blade at me and not you and the fact you did not prepare a spell in advance, this is because you both naturally don''t feel threatened by each other because you come from the same side.


    This was one of the more useful sides to binding people souls that nobles were fond of, anyway, that was the first clues, the others were her armor, a full set of plate armor that has high-level enchantments would cost more than most middle-level nobles are worth, so only the highest-ranking nobles would have such a set and they would only use it in the event that their entire family or Kindom was threatened, so it''s obvious that she is a servant of the dungeon ha", he finished his speech and started to hum to himself.


    Ahri calmed down after his explanation but still spoke: "so you didn''t break the deal just after leaving the dungeon, I don''t know why you are so happy about it?"


    Merlin replied "ask yourself why she is here just outside the dungeon when there was a major attack just a week ago, from her direction she could have made it back to the dungeon if she wanted to easily"


    "I don''t know," said Ahri


    "the dungeon sent her away when the attack happened, though some secret passage I would imagine because we did not see anyone leave, so this means the dungeon actually cares for its followers, it could have sent her to attack the intruders and die but instead it sent her away"


    Ahri was not convinced "all of your reasoning makes sense but they are all rather flimsy, there could be a million different reasons you found this person here"


    Merlin continued "the dungeon could use the soul binding to call her back at any time and did not so, just leave me to my delusions thank you, I would like to think you are going to be well cared for after I''m not around to take care of you" causing Ahri to sigh


    Merlin continued "I''ve decided that you will be staying in the dungeon from now on" while he thought to himself "it''s probably better for you to hide inside the dungeon while everything blows over" before handing her a small dull gem and saying "if the dungeon ever bullies you all you need to do is inject mana into that gem and I''ll be there to destroy it ok" with a smile covering his wrinkled face.


    Ahri took the small gem and hid it deep into her robes while she attempted to figure out what her master was thinking, she thought "perhaps master thinks by having me there inside the dungeon it would be an act of "good faith" towards the dungeon, leading to better relations, or maybe master is secretly an idiot... after all I did see that dancing"

 Selenias journey chapter I dont know.46

    Salenia watched the wyvern with two people sitting on top it fly over the horizon, she recognised the old mage to be the Arcane University''s leader and was about to attack him when he mentioned ''talking to a dungeon'', but once she thought of how powerful the man in front of her was she reconsidered, that and strange connection she felt towards the ordinary girl still sitting on the Wyvern gave her pause.


    Salenia checked her with different types of vision and found the woman''s mana pool to be slightly larger than a few archmages she had seen earlier which was quite surprising considering her age, once she switched to thermal vision she was given another shock, the womans facial structure was completely different when she looked at it through thermal vision, Salenia could not tell what she looked like exactlybecause of her inexperience in seeing in this way, but she could tell that the woman hiding her face was as beautiful as herself, enough so that even she would admit it.


    After they left Selenia put away her blade and continued further northeast, several hours passed and she came upon a small village, fields littered the area the walls wherever the ground was relatively flat and free of large rocks too large for a small village to move, a wooden wall made of rotting logs surrounded the village offering a small amount of defence against magical beasts or other animals, Selenia cycled her vision and spotted several guards patrolling the fields while the farmers worked.


    These guards were simple villagers who had trained a little to raise their mana pool or were born naturally stronger, they wore the same clothes as the farmers with leather armour only covering their vital areas which were dyed red, most likely the only colour they could dye their cloth with the abundance of Asua berries nearby.


    They carried simple spears that had either a sharpened tip or a stone head if they were lucky causing Selenia to frown, there seemed to be only three or four guarding the village and one of them was missing an arm, Selenia startedwalking towards the village attracting the gazes of everyone working the fields.


    She ignored the amazed gazes and walked straight through the open gate and frowned again at the negligence of the guards even if they were mostly for show, once inside her expression only worsened at the sight of the village''s interior, buildings were in disrepair only the stone buildings were fully intact, one the village elders and the largest building was the church, the people were worse off than the buildings, she noticed the same lifeless expression on everyone''s faces and their thin frames.


    Farmers were usuallythin with wire like muscles, but not this thin and Selenia had seen similar conditions several times in the past and knew what it usually meant, her anger reached its peak when she saw the village children just sitting in a circle doing nothing with lifeless expressions instead of playing happily, she rarely saw it get bad enough that even the children lost hope and the will to play and fool around.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    She almost took the door off the hinges when she barged into the village elders house, the village elder turned around after the loud noise and was immediately surprised by the person who appeared, clearly intimidated by the beautiful plate armor the person in front of him wore and stuttered "m-my lord, what brings you to my humble village".


    "I am not your Lord" she replied causing surpriseon his face before she continued, "what is the Lord of these lands doing" a little louder than she intended.


    "excuse me" he timidly replied.


    "forget it, where are the bandits that have been stealing your crops," asked Selenia feeling exasperated.


    he flinched then replied "I don''t know what your talking ab--"


    "I''m an adventurer tasked with killing all the bandits in the area, either you tell me where they are or I guess my team should just wait out front of the gates in ambush", she did not like to threaten the innocent man but trying to get the information normally would take too long.


    After hearing that he got onto his knees and begged "please don''t if they see we asked for help they will kill more people, just go back wherever you came fro--", he suddenly stopped talking when she started unsheathing her sword, the blood quickly drained from his face before he finally relented "they are to the southeast on a plateau just next to the river''s waterfall, you can''t miss it they are always loud enough at night to wake up the entire valley"


    Salenia turned to leave and just as she was before the door she said "the bandits will retire tonight, however, your problems won''t stop there, a dungeon opened recently to the south right next to the border, this place will become a battlefield sooner or later, or if your lucky only more bandits will show up to replace the retired ones and they will be former soldiers, then you can only pray that your village is too small to sate their appetite. If you value the lives of your people I suggest you move the village further north into lands with a lord that gives a damn about you... if you can find one", then she left without waiting for a response.


    Once she was back outside the village she wondered if they would actually move and wondered about the dungeon she was talking about a moment ago, the University leader seemed to think it was okay... or was crazy if he wanted me to talk to it, crazy seemed more likely the more she thought about it, she couldn''t figure out how she was connected to the dungeon so maybe the mage was missing a few marbles like so many of them did.


    She felt a pinch in her heart when she suddenly remembered Lucky, she didn''t like the little trickster at the start but grew fond of her anyway, she liked how the little fairy said what she thought with a sometimes annoying amount of honesty, Selenia could not think of many people who were actually honest to her without any ulterior motives, the image of a floating stone that gave a gentle glow flashed past her mind before thoughts of Lucky filled her mind again, Salenia sighed and hoped the revival went well if the dungeon was okay.


    A plateau came into view as night began to set in, smoke could be seen drifting into the sky and the edges of the plateau glowed a soft orange from the fires, Selenia probably could have found these bandits if she was blind with the amount of noise they were making, she could hear people yelling joyfully, glass breaking and even small explosions occasionally.


    Salenia found a decent tree and climbed onto a comfortable branch to wait for the opportune moment.

 Supplies47

    Selenia got comfortable in her perch and waited, the noise only got louder as the sun set so she got down from the tree and set several warning traps around the area then went to sleep in the branch after camouflagingthe position, she figured these were the types of people who drank through the night and slept most of the day and such people are easier targets when they are sleeping.


    After lightly sleeping for several hours she found the sun starting to light up the horizon and knew she needed to hurry if she wanted to use the darkness as cover, it seemed the stress had gotten to her more than she thought and caused her to oversleep, she promised herself to get more rest after this when she found some place safe prompting memories of the dungeon, she never thought of much before, but the dungeon actually made her feel safe, there is nothing better to keep you safe than hundreds of deadly traps and monsters she giggled to herself.


    During her absent thoughts, she scouted all the guards and found most of them asleep or paying so little attention that it didn''t matter that they were awake, Selenia was almost tempted to go through the most diligent guards just for the added difficulty, but thought better of it after thinking about how underestimating the rogue allowed him to escape.


    Selenia crept up the cliff face with the added agility and grip her armor granted her, the boots sound dampening magic allowed her to silently reach the top and use a dagger to dispatch the two guards silently, after glancing around for any immediate threats she decided to do this properly so she could get what she needed even if it would take longer.


    The bodies posed a problem if she wanted to remain in camp anonymously for long, she found some rope near a worn down ledge nearby that they probably used to go down the plateau, she tied the rope to the feet of the two men then wound the rope around a tree near the edge of the cliff and the slowly lowered them both down, using the bodies to counterweight each other at the endmade things simpler and faster, she would normally just drop them off the cliff, but it was not high enough for the bodies to hit the ground without being heard around the camp.


    After glancing down she grinned at her own handiwork and thought of a certaindungeon who would enjoy the spectaclethen continued into the camp, it was now almost dawn so the darkness would not hide her for much longer, she covered her armor with the cloak as much as possible and quickly climbed the largest tree she could find on the plateau, then scrambled back down as silently as possible after scouting the campsite.


    There were roughly two dozen tents and the larger one with a small stable for the few horses they owned and the leader to live in, Salenia frowned, the small group of bandits would be a tight nit group and would figure out if someone went missing quite quickly, so she could not poison their wine and wait like she had prepared to do.


    A gust of wind blew past her face blowing the hood about slightly, an idea suddenly came to her and she hurriedly tried to recall where the more diligent guards kept watch from, moments later she was hurrying towards the guard station, the sun was steadily rising causing the sky to brighten and lessened her time to act.


    Once she arrived and slowed her steps to catch her breath, the two guards were scanning the treeline below while chatting casually, Salenia scowled at the fools who did not even set one trap or have anyone watching anywhere other than below the plateau, snap she stepped onto a stick and the boots could only muffle the sound of her steps not what she stepped on.


    The guards started to turn thinking it was the next shift here to relieve them, Selenia thought "fucking stupid stupid!" as she reached into her belt and pulled two throwing daggers and simultaneously threw them at the guards in one swift motion, the guards fell off their chairs grasping at the daggers lodged into their throats, one started to reach for something but was swiftly cut down by Selenia, she had to compliment his tenacity rather than his intelligence when she spotted a small fire gem on the table just out of reach, if he had crushed that the sound would have attracted the entire bandit group.


    Selenia retrieved her throwing daggers and half sprinted towards the last group of guards, these guards were sound asleep when she arrived so she checked them for any alarm tools, then slit their throats with the throwing daggers in her hands, with the perimeter cleared she half ran making sure to stay hidden in bushes and trees but at a more leisurely pace this time.


    Once she arrived at the western section of the plateau she once again climbed the largest tree around, using the trunk to hide herself as best she could Selenia unwrapped a small package the size of a fist releasing a fine dust that was soon carried on the wind towards the camp, She had made several poisons on the way with local plants to deal with the bandits, the spacial bag on her waist allowed her to carry absurd amounts of many different poisons safely.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    The bandits in the camp slept soundly until they were woken up by one of the bandits coughing like he was trying to remove a lung the hard way, someone else remarked "whats that smell", most of the other bandits sniffed the air but found nothing out of the ordinary, the thick smell of sweat and booze covered up the scent of poison quite well to all but the keenest nose, soon more bandits started to violently cough, some found blood on their hands afterwards, someone yelled "we have been poisoned" causing mass panic.


    Salenia watched them from afar as they interrogated the man who brought the wine last, and a few others looked for the antidotes for the poison, the leader quickly awoke from the ruckus and exited his tent, he was a man who was easily six foot tall and had arms as thick as tree trunks, he saw the commotion and frowned, after hearing what was going on from one of his slowly pailing subordinate he frowned and thought "I drank the wine too, but I am fine, it''s too bad the kid has already lost most of his fingers or else I would be bothered to save him", he went back into the tent and came out with a longsword that was obviously too small for him, however, it gave off a soft blue light so everyone who saw it would know it was a quality sword, no one knew where he obtained it from and most rumors stated that he stole it from some noble he killed before he moved north.


    Once he returned he sliced the head off the man being interrogated that was missing most of his fingers already to quell the unrest, then told everyone to go to the stash and drink some antidotes for the poison, the group immediately rushed off as far as their sickly legs could take them and uncovered a hidden cave of the groups loot.


    Most of the loot was simple wine and food, only a small amount contained gold and jewels, the men ignored the gold and went straight for the medical supplies, they were sent into coughing fits again after drinking the potion too fast, but felt immediately better, once they felt better they eyed the gold, however, they thought better of it when they thought about it, there was likely a snitch amongst them, someone who would sell out anyone who took something to the boss for the promise of wealth, the ones who worked for the boss the longest knew better than to think the boss would reward anyone what they were worth because he was such a greedy bastard that made most bandits look likes saints in comparison, and even if he did reward them they would find themselves dead sooner rather than later, either from the other bandits that don''t appreciate snitches, or the boss himself as he doesn''t appreciate unloyal subordinates living for long.


    The few bandits still above ground that had antidotes on them started showing their boss with praise for his wise and decisive actions, when suddenly the bandits started coughing again, this time they bled from their seven orifices too, the boss watched on in horror as his subordinates died horrible deaths even after they took antidotes.


    He began checking his body for signs of poison and found none then he heard a feminine voice from behind him, "relax, I didn''t want to affect the horses next to your tent so I made sure the poison did not reach you"


    "what did you do to my men bitch" the man growled as he searched for the owner of the voice.


    Selenia came out from behind a tent and replied "I gave them a little poison that''s all"


    He saw a small figure come out but could only see a green cloak that covered the woman, he raised his and took a stance that was ready to sprint at her the moment she started to talk, so she would have trouble changing the word into a chant, he asked "if it was only poison then why didn''t the antidote work", he knew full well why they failed to work, high-levelpoisons won''t be cured by cheap antidotes after all.


    Selenia saw his actions and almost laughed as she replied "that''s the problem with using locally made antidotes, any poison master can tell what is in them and make something that would not be affected by its contents--" the man charged her the moment she started to reply and she just stood there continuing to answer the question, however once he got close enough her cloak burst outwards revealing her plate armor surprising the man, he thought she was a caster from the small figure and there were no ridges on the cloak giving away armor, it turns out that the armor is a full suit that is perfectly fitted so her silhouette did not change thus causing the confusion, the moment he hesitated Selenia drew her blade in a fluid motion and removed his arms and head in a single motion, he did not have time to recover from his absurd stance from sprinting at full throttle to get to an imaginary mage.


    Once she finished cleaning her equipment she started to gather the belongings of the bandits, the spacial bag allowed her to take all of the bandits loot and she also replaced her sword with the bandit leaders, the sword was worse than her old one but people that were close to her could recognise the sword so she had to put it into her storage for the time being, looting the bloodied corpses of the bandits was quite uncomfortable for her, Selenia would rather skin a dozen beasts than loot a single one of these disgusting men.


    After finishing looting she took the best horse she could find and rode it down the badly constructed ramp the bandits had constructed for the horses then began her journeyas the wind blew through her hair and the sun warmed the right side of her face.

 Pond 48

    Selenia continued her journeyMeanwhile Lucifer began working on a few projects he had been putting off while the attack was in progress, first he expanded the third floor by adding a large lake near the end of the floor, then he diverted the water from his trap into the lake to fill it up causing the people outside constructing the new city to panic at the sudden stop water again, the last time this happened was almost a week ago and the water only stopped for a couple hours unlike this time where it took days for the water to resume.


    Lucifer actions caused a panic of the construction teams and city planner and had inadvertently led to the creation of an artificial aquifer, which would be used if the waterway suddenly stopped having flowing water again.


    Lucifer gave a satisfied nod to himself at the geniusidea of using the water from his trap instead of creating his own to save mana, then once the lake was nearly full he started looking through his Earth Mails to find suitable creatures to fill the lakes eco system, he had messed around with small versions of the lake in his lab before so he had an idea of what to place where.


    Soon there were aquatic plants living in the lake to make cover and hiding places and food for the smaller fish, then he added some small predators, some were simple fish that were similar to piranhas of earth while others were more similar to crocodiles, Lucifer refrained from adding the more interesting aquatic things he found in his Earth mails because they were not suitable for the third floor.


    Finally, he created small breeding pools that a large salmon type fish would use, these shallow pools were small enough for the Panthers to easily hunt or play in, which was his original purpose for creating the lake in the first place before he got carried away, this was a means to reward the Panthers for their fine mauling skills they showcased during the invasion.


    While Lucifer was working on the lake Lucky appeared to watch the Panthers happily eating the fish, then fluttered over to where Lucifer was and suggested that he put something shiny at the bottom of the lake, he asked "why would I do that, dark waters are scarier than clear water"


    Lucky smiled deviously in complete contrast to her beautiful appearanceand replied: "But how are those big lizards going to eat anyone if no one goes swimming?"


    A short time later evil laughter and cute giggles intertwined as something shiny lit up the bottom of the lake giving off an ethereal light.


    Lucifer felt something move in one of the rooms he was keeping track of in the back of his mind, he said goodbye to Lucky and left her to play with the Panthers as he flew to the holding cells deep in the dungeon, when he arrived he found The rogue had woken up, he gingerly felt around the cell as his muscles were still damaged and caused him pain with every movement.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    After watching the rogue fumble around in the darkness for a couple minutes Lucifer decided to speak to the man once he realized that he was not going to escape.


    "There is no point trying to escape, those walls are made of the strongest material I can make, and even if you do manage to get out of that cell you will only be met with an unending maze of misery and suffering" Lucifer coldly said.


    The rogue jumped and the sudden voice then replied "What do you want dungeon"... "what have I done to deserve this?"


    Lucifer answered "You not only invaded my DOMAIN you also told others of my existence and of my sentence"


    "how did you know"


    "you told me" Lucifer sighed at the man''s stupidity.


    "what?... when"


    "just now dumbass"


    The rogue sat there in a stupor thinking about how stupid he was for admitting it so easily, he sighed in despair once again, he took a deep breath and seemed to calm down to the surprise of Lucifer, he had accepted his death.


    The rogue was not a good man by any metric of measurement and he knew his past deeds would catch up to him eventually so like most adventurers death was not an unfamiliar concept to him, however, he would have never guessed that his end would come from a sentient dungeon from the legends.


    His thoughts were interruptedby Lucifer "submit to my bindings and become a servant"


    The rogue could hear the slight tone of anger that Lucifer could not keep hidden and was reminded of all the other times he had heard that familiar venom filled tone, most of the time he had heard it the person on the receiving end died a long drawn out death, he paused for some time before he decided then almost carefreely replied "I''ll pass, I don''t like being anyone''s servant, I''ve already been there and done that so just kill me and be done with it"


    Lucifer chuckled sending shivers down the rogue''s spine then replied: "we can do this the easy way or the hard way and personally I recommend that you chose the HARD WAY, because that would be so much more FUN to me hahaha".


    The rogue could faintly hear familiar scuttling sounds over the dungeons laughter, he then swore that the dungeons voice became several times more sinister despite there being no change in the voice at all, all the hair on his body stood on end as he remembered the nightmare of being chased by the ants until he was exhausted and eventually overwhelmed.


    Lucifer watched the reaction of the man and when he thought that the man was on the tipping point of sanity he stopped laughing and with a sickeningly gentle voice said "don''t worry they won''t kill you that are actually quite friendly, although they like to play bite sometimes, but that''s just how they show affection,you don''t need to worry I''ll make sure to heal any little boo boos they cause so you can get along for a long time" Lucifer almost could not help adding a cutsey "teehee" a the end with a woman''s voice just for added insult to injuries sake.


    The rogue started to shake vigorously as the blood drained from his face, he then began to pat down his body in search of a weapon, Lucifer thought that maybe the weapon he searches for is not for the ants and was almost forced to give compliments to the man''s decisiveness.


    Just as the oversized ants came into view the rogue pleaded "okay okay I give up, just take those things away from me please" with a noticeable tremor in his voice.


    After binding him to his will Lucifer said: "now that initiations are finished my first order for you is to never lie to me, or hide the truth from me in any way, so shall we get started with the interrogation, first question what is your name".

 Uncooperative 49

    The rogue answered "Jeffrey" with a sigh of relief at the retreating sound of skittering insects.


    "Who do you work for," asked Lucifer then he waited for the vague answer to follow.


    Jeffery hesitated for a moment then replied "The adventurers guild", the moment he finished speaking he was filled with unimaginable pain so intense that the pain was the only thing that truly existed for that moment to him, after it passed hefell into a coughing fit on the ground and felt a slight tingle in his hands, when he looked down he found that his fingernails had dug so far into his palms that they were bleeding and some of them were bent backwards at the roots, he absentmindedly pushed them back into place then suddenly remember the dungeon was still watching him reminding him why he had just gone through such agony.


    Lucifer watched the man go into his own little world after 2 seconds of activating the soul binding then once Jeffrey seemed to jump to attention Lucifer continued the interrogation, "If you lie to me you will suffer" and before Jeffery could finish a word of reply Lucifer continued "I consider half truths to be lies also, I know that you were not sent by the guilds I am not an idiot and I would appreciate if you did not waste my time"


    Jeffrey thought for a moment but decided not to speak, Lucifer activated the binding again this time for 4 seconds, then after the man came to he spoke again "I consider omissionto be a lie too" and saw Jeffrey''s face contort into anger before he continued "since you don''t seem to learn very fast I think it will be more painless for the both of us if I just tell you the rules now, 1. don''t lie to me 2. Don''t try to manipulate me, whether it be by information control, emotional manipulation, subtle suggestions or any other means your tiny brain can think of, this includes not telling me things I would want to know if you did not know.


    How am I going to enforce these almost impossible rules you didn''t ask well I will tell you... torture, of course, something I am sure you are familiar with now" Lucifer saw the blood drain from Jeffrey''s face as he started to tremble at the thought of going through that again.


    Satisfied with his response Lucifer continued "now you may say that torture does not work, someonewould say anything to make it stop, and I would agree with you there, however, that is simply because of bad programming and has nothing to do with the effectiveness of torture" Jeffrey looked confused as Lucifer continued his lecture "if you want to make torture effective there has to be a reason for the person to tell the truth rather than anything that will make it stop, so here is a better program I thought of while you were unconscious.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    You will suffer until you give me the answers I want and it will only stop or slow down enough to keep you alive, once you give me the answers I will check theirvalidity... and if I found out that you lied then the suffering you will experience will make what you just went through seem insignificant" Lucifer voice took on a slightly more amused tone "like how you don''t even feel your hands right now or even flinch at moving your fingernails back into place because you have felt something so much worse than that small amount of pain is now insignificant to you"


    His tone became more menacing as he continued "You may be thinking that there could be nothing worse than what you had just experienced but I can tell you that your wrong, so horribly wrong in fact that even I don''t particularly want to use such methods unless I am forced to, however, I will if I need to


    and if your still having trouble imagining what will happen to you it''s not your fault because humans have such shallow thought processes, after all, allow me toenlighten you with a little thought experiment to show you how limited your imagination is so you will know that there is always something more than you can possibly imagine


    Think of a watermelon, its shape, colour, texture, taste if you want, easy right, well now think of 2, then 3, then 4 and try to imagine them in as much detail as you remember the first, quite difficult in comparison to just 1, now think of 10,000 watermelons, you can''t can you, if you are smart you will be thinking of a gigantic mountain of watermelons which is a nice shortcut that your brain uses to imagine things far out of its scope, so in this mountain of watermelons are each of the watermelons in said mountain round or are you just imagining a mountain with a green skin instead.


    If you can''t even imagine something that you know of to any depth then I''m certain that you cannot even begin to imagine what I will do to you, if you don''t tell me what I want"


    Once Lucifer finished he realised that Jeffrey had fainted... he sighed the realised that the man may not even know what a watermelon is in this world and said to himself "he could of been thinking of anything, watermelon could mean clowns here for all I know... well I''m sure a mountain of clowns is more terrifying than a mountain of melon and would be just as difficult to imagine so I guess the point got across"


    Once Jeffrey woke up Lucifer asked again who he was working for startling the man again, after stuttering for a moment Lucifer finally had the name of the person who sent an army after him... and a target.

 Selenia takes a walk 50

    Meanwhile, Selenia slowly trotted across a cobbled road on the only half decent horse she could find in the bandit''s stables, the road grew wider and caravans passed by more frequently untila wall came into view, it stood at 10 meters tall with towers rising along its surface, several sections of the wall appeared to be a lighter shade of grey as it had yet to be weathered by age, the obvious signs of battle once again reminded Selenia of how war torn the south truly was, she has yet to see a fully intact farm on her way here which is sure to cause famines and only help cause more wars between the Dutchys as they fight each other for resources.


    After queuingfor entry into the city Selenia began to observe the people that were in line waiting to enter the city, most of them resembled merchants of some sort, she frowned at the sight of their excessive amount of guards, which is common for merchants that deal in weaponry for war, Salenia thought of just cutting them down where they stood now instead of allowing them to continue in death profiteering, but decided her reason for coming here is more important than a group of low-level merchants.


    The rest of the people waiting mainly consisted of poor civilians with groups of adventurers found here and there, the only adventurers she could see were battle hardenedmen with none of the nieveadventure and fame seekers present amongst them, she usually found these conditions in areas with high mortality rates and she guessed that the adventurers here were forced to take on tasks they were not equipped to deal with, the dutchy leaders probably spent all their military strength on fighting petty wars instead of sending expeditions after the more powerful magical beasts that small groups of adventurers could not deal with.


    by now she had gathered the attention of all the people nearby, her cloak could not hide her armor perfectly and soon one of the merchants was coming towards her with his guards, he stood in front of Selenia and all but licked his lips, however, once he got within talking distance he noticed the quality of the armor Selenia wore and his greedy eyes immediatelymorphed into friendly ones as he changed tactics.


    "greetings I amCaArlllache of theHalseth household, what brings my lord to this corner of this small world"


    Selenia coldly replied "None of your business" then quietly added only loud enough for him to hear, "I''ve no interest in short stumped men like you caaarll",CaArllbecame enraged then roared "HOW DAR--", his guards raised their weapons upon seeing a sudden flash and saw their employers head fall the ground before they could do anything, Selenia lightly said "come if you wish to die" while brandishing her blade.


    Luckily for the guards, they decided against attacking the well-armored foe in front of them and instead chose to simply take theCaArll''s carriage and leave, whether they were going to return the goods to theHalseth household wasof no concern to Selenia so she simply let them go.


    The city guards finally made it to the scene and saw the headless body on the ground and pointed their spears and the only person with a weapon unsheathed and bloody, Selenia opened her cloak completely revealing her armor while pouring mana into the metal to highlight the runes etched into the metal.


    After seeing the armor accompanied with the complete disregard this woman showed for them they hesitated before one of the higher ranking city guards said "welcome to capital city of the Grand Duchy", then another retorted "but sir--" and was interrupted by the same man "do you think they are someone we can afford to offend, we should just welcome her in and tell the superiors about this, they deal with this kind of thing all the time" then he whispered to the man "they will send probes to find out who she really is and if she is someone important they can just pull back and pretend it had nothing to do with them"Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    The other man whispered back "but what if she is someone they can offend" the higher ranking man snickered and replied "well then, our lord is going to get a new set of armor, and we will get a raise for reporting about said armor"


    Selenia could hear everything they said but simply ignored them and continued into the city, once inside she sold her horse and a few gems from the dungeon to buy a better mount, she found a beast tamer guild and walked out several minutes later on top of a horse sized white dire wolf, while being sent off by the guild master and his servants.


    Salenia proceeded to visit several more shops and spent extravagantlyfor even the most basic necessity, once she was satisfied with the number of people tailing her she found a high-end inn and took the best room, then walked upstairs to her room leaving behind a grateful innkeeper behind.


    She did a once over of the room and sat down on the bed, after getting comfortable she began to meditate to get into optimal condition.


    An hour later she heard a knock on the door, surprised by how long it took for the information to reach the ears of the higher ups she walked to open the door, while thinking that perhaps they had already known earlier but were simply preparing, nevertheless the extra time was not good for her.


    Behind the door stood an old man in a well-kept uniform that is common of butlers or stewards that served large families, he bowed slightly and spoke "My lord I am honored to invite you to my master''s estate for dinner if it pleases you", without missing a beat when he saw the occupant of the room still fully armored.


    Selenia gave a slight nod then passed the Stewart without any real care then stepped into the carriagethe man came in, his brows lowered slightly when she opened the carriage door herself despite his presence, it spoke of either poor manners or an insult to his station to ignore his job of escorting the lady to their destination.


    He was beginning to think that this person was simply a high-level adventurer instead of a noble in disguise because a noble would know of such etiquette, adventures with such high-level gear do exist and are usually backed by kingdoms or goliath corporations, however, they are extremely rare and would not move without reason.


    During the carriage ride the steward spoke of his days as an adventurer in hopes that the person in front of him would reciprocate in kind, however, he was disappointed by his apparently mute companion, so he failed to gain any useful intelligence that would uncover who this mysterious woman was.


    they both exited the carriage and the steward led the way into a large mansion, the stewards mood improved slightly when he noticed the woman was not looking around at all the gaudy furnishings and artwork like someone unaccustomed to wealth would when they entered these halls, however, Selenia was too busy shifting through different spectrums of light and using the corner of her eyes to pinpoint all the hidden guards in the area.


    With every mana or heat signature her heart dropped a little further, they arrived at a pair of ornately crafted double doors with beautiful maids waiting outside, Selenia paused just before the doors this time and allowed the Steward to open the door for her and announce her presence to his master, another shortopportunity to look around for more guards then she entered.


    Selenia was almost surprised that no one had even stopped her to look at her face yet, she knew that this armor was good enough to get her into the mansion but she expected to have to sneak in afterwards, or even attempt a frontal assault, which now that she has seen the defences of the mansion seemed like a terrible idea to her now.


    Once inside she saw a man sitting behind a desk filling out a mountain of paperwork, the sight slightly amused her for a moment before the feeling was replaced with irritation at how slow she was walking, then rage, Selenia could barely stop her hands from shaking.


    The man stood up and introduced himself with a curt bow used between nobles "Greetings my lady I amErasmus B. Dragon of the Ironhide clan, I may not be the ruler of these lands but I am quite close to that and would...


    Meanwhile, in the dungeon, Lucifer spoke the name of his enemyErasmus B. Dragon, then laughed as he prepared to send a message to Ahri.

 Disarming 51

    Selenia stood there while the man in front of her spoutedsophistry about justice and what is good for the people in an attemptto foster friendship between two major powers, She could not help but think "if he knew that I was not part of some powerful faction he would not be so ingratiating towards me... if he knew that I was enslaved to a sentient dungeon he would kill his own mother to please me"


    During the speech, she looked around the room as far as she could without moving her hood and found several false walls that would immediately give way if everything went sideways, allowing a quick response to any threat to their master and making it significantly more difficult to escape, she needed him to be closer before she acts.


    Salenia interrupted his well-practiced speech "I suddenly remember where I heard of you before" grabbing his attention immediately, he was happy to finally hear the woman speak because he thought it meant she was finally coming around.


    "Oh I remember now it wasErasmus Ironhide, except the only thing he would get hard for men," She said with a chuckle, the man was furious and strode towards her with his hand held high in preparation to slap the disgraceful woman in front of him.


    He roared "that bitch adventurer was jealous that I did not like her appearance so she called me gay and I will not be spoken to that way by a woman" as his hand came down Selenia grabbed the handle of her sword and pulled out her sword with the intent to take his head in a single stroke, however in her anger she executed the move poorly and because she was unused to the new straight blade she was using the sword snagged in the scabbard.


    Erasmus saw her go for her weapon and quickly jumped backwards towards his desk while screaming bloody murder as a blade cut into his back, her blade had slowed down enough to allow him to duck out of the way, but Salenia still managed to create a deep gash across his shoulder.


    The ground opened up revealing a secret bright stone lined room under the floor surprising Selenia, The steward jumped out with two short swords that gave off a pale light in hand, Selenia saw the steward turn his head slightly to see the condition of his master with the corner of his eye.


    Using the momentary distraction Selenia poured mana into her legs and launched herself forward, the old man seemed to expect this and ducked slightly with his blades raised to intercept, she coated her blade with mana and struck with both hands sending shockwaves throughout the room when the three blades clashed.


    Erasmus had used the time his servant granted him to get behind his desk, he slammed his still functioning arm onto the only bare section of his desk with a grimace, lights shot up around the desk and created a soft glowing shield around him, he then gave a sigh of relief then slumped onto the ground in pain from the tear in his back.


    Several holes in the walls had opened up by now and soldiers were streaming into the room surrounding the duelling pair, Salenia continued to recklessly strike at the old man in an attempt to disable him so she could flee, however the old man seemed to know what she was thinking because he only stayed on the defensive even when she left gaps open on purpose, he was waiting for her to be surrounded then he could simply wear her down.


    The soldiers surrounded the group but kept back from engaging, they were confident in the steward abilities and simply waited for his order to attack, several people in white robes had started to make their way behind the soldiers towards the fallen lord.


    Selenias attacks were becoming more and more reckless as time wore on, she would not tire anytime soon with her mana capacity, however, if competent mages arrived then escaping would become impossible, suddenly with a crack Selenias sword shattered after a particularly heavy strike, the bandit that used the blade previously had never taken care of the blade and caused several flaws in the blade.


    The steward did not miss the opportunity and dashed forward, Selenia caught off guard by the sudden attack along with the sword breaking could not react in time, she brought her hands back dropping the blade entirely in an attempt to slow him down, while she reached for her dimensional storage at her waist, The steward used his first blade to strike away whats was left of Selenias sword and saw her reaching for her waist as a pale light started to surround her coming from her chest.


    Whatever she wanted to do The steward wanted to stop her from doing so he used his remaining sword that was ready to strike the hand reaching for her waist that was still not covered in light.


    Selenia''s screams filled the room as a dull thudsounded out, a gauntleted hand lay on the ground next to her feet as blood gushed from the stump at the end of her arm.


    The enchantment had finished activating from her chest piece, she was waiting for the old man to attack so she could block the blade with the enchantment and get a lethal blow, however, he chose to remain calm and wait no matter how reackless her attacks were.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Signals of pain bombarded her brain as she used her other hand to grab her blade from storage, the steward tried to strike again, however, the barrier that now surrounded her did not even shimmer after multiple attacks.


    Selenia had felt far worse pain so she could block out the part of her that said to give up and try to heal her injuries through sheer force of will, she used her remaining hand to wildly swing her two handed blades towards the old man, this time her reckless swings were not a ruse and had no set pattern or rhythm he could follow.


    He managed to deflect all of her unsteady strikes with relative ease, however, his mana was starting to run thin from the continuous exertion, he called out to the soldiers to attack so he could finish it quickly, the soldiers showed surprised expressions because they could not imagine that the famous former adventurer would lose to a one handed opponent that was recklessly swinging her sword around.


    Immediately behind her several spears charged for her undefended back, Salenia heard their steps and pushed her back into the spears by taking two steps backward, the steward not wanting to allow her to get distance where he would have to exert more force to deflect her blows dashed forward to stay in range.


    The spear heads shattered on her barrier and gave her forward momentum as she dashed forward into the old man, he was shocked by the sudden change and hastily brought his blades up to parry the blow from Selenia.


    Blades clashed and one of his swords slipped from his grip due to his exhaustion and sweat, this time Selenia was the one to benefit from an opportunity, she quickly struck again while he only had one weapon, he saw the path of the strike and easily deflected the blade then prepared to dash backwards, however this deflection felt odd to him.


    He looked down and saw her blade flying towards the side of the room and was too late to react when a hand appeared in front of his face.


    Selenia screamed incoherently from rage and pain then triumph as she caught the steward by the throat, he looked surprised and confused by her actions, without a weapon she could do nothing to him but wait to bleed to death, he grabbed her hand and tried to remove it, however, he realised the shielded arm that was grabbing him would not let lose no matter what he did.


    Several soldiers grabbed the two and tried to separate them to no avail, they attack Selenia with everything they had but found the Barrier to be impenetrable, the steward roared to keep attacking to wear out her mana of whatever artifact she had.


    While the soldiers desperately attacked Selenia she was watching the old man as she tightened her grip, then smiled as she saw the person who cut off her hand start to panic, panic soon turned to fear, then terror, as he realized that he could not breathe.


    The steward began frantically attacking Selenia with his remaining weapon as his face turned blue and the grip tightened.


    His attacks became fewer and fewer and her gauntlet started to crack as she kept feeding mana into it, a wet tearing sound echoed throughout the room andErasmus stared in horror at his servant falling to the ground with part of his throat still clutched in the woman''s hand.


    Erasmus saw soft lights enter through the second story window and gave a sigh of relief, he said "you see that bitch, that''s the sign of your impending slow torturous death, I''m going to send you to a brothel and make sure that every man in the city has a taste of you"


    Selenia ignored him and picked up her blade after kicking and tearing a few of the soldiers apart with raw strength, she charged towards the barrier protectingErasmus and struck it, only for the blade to be deflected to the sound of his taunts, "This shield will last long enough for the Imperial mages to arrive and put you in chains whore"


    He wanted to continue to taunt his attacker however her soft laughing caused anything he was going to say to become stuck in his throat, she reached for her waist again and he had a bad premonition about what she was going to use this time.


    She softly said "you and I still need to breathe don''t we" sending chills down his spine when she honestly admitted the fault in such barriers like her own.


    Selenias blade disappeared and she pulled out several packages and let them fall to the ground with a thud as each one landed on the hardwood floors, the smell immediately caused alarm forErasmus and he began to beg the woman in front of him.


    Salenia laughed and lowered her hood revealing her face, he was stunned at first, then his begging turned to insults "It''s you, you bitch, ever since you came around everyone was suspicious of me, the rumors never stopped no matter what, do you have any idea how much I lost when deals fell through because other nobles thought I liked men, I will fucking rape you to show you I am a man, then when I''m finished raping every hole you have I will make more holes then fuck them too, until you are nothing but a pile of disgusting meat you arrogant bitch, just because someone doesn''t find you attractive makes them homosexual fuck you and anyone who looks like you"


    Selenia chuckled again and pulled her sword out then slashed all the packages open as she sprinted away, after she leftErasmus was sent into a coughing fit as the poisons entered his system through the air, he grabbed a pouch from his back waistband and took several pills, however, the amount of poison in the room immediately overpowered the antidote.


    He began striking his own barrier in an ineffective attempt to get out however, the barrier was set to only deactivate from an Imperial mage or his steward in case of mind magic attempted to manipulate him into deactivating the field and make trying to threaten him with family pointless, he continued taking the antidote pills as the poison overpowered them.


    As the mages arrived a cloud of dust floated out of the mansion causing them to pause, the leader used a small chant then immediately waveda hand signal for everyone to stop before saying "Don''t enter yet, the amount of poisons in there would kill us all 100 times over", someone began to ask about the Lord, however, the leader continued "no noble is worth the lives of a group of Imperial battle mages".


    They entered the mansion after several minutes of blowing wind magic through the building and found a shriveled corpse inside a barrier clutching a small pouch.

 escape 2.0 52

    Selenia felt her arm throbbing now that the adrenalineof battle had worn off, she stumbled through the mansion and found what she was looking for after dispatching several guards that were already half dead from the poisons floating in the air.


    She entered an oval room lined with stone with several chimneys leading outside and the heat immediately hit her stinging her face, tools laid were the men had dropped them before they died with blood leaking from every orifice in their body.


    The forges were still hot with some pieces of metal still sticking out of them being reheated, Salenia grabbed the flattest piece she could find that was red hot, then canceled her barrier and pushed her still bleeding stump onto the glowing surface, the sound of sizzling flesh was drowned out by screams of agony.


    After cauterizing the wound to stop the bleeding she reactivated her shield, however, the damage had already been done, Salenia had taken a dozen or more antidotes that she made specifically for the poisons she used which werefar more effective than a general antidote, but the huge amount of poisons in the air merged and combined together in ways she could not anticipate.


    Every piece of exposed skin started to burn and melt before she activated her barrier again which slowed the effects of the poisons slightly and gave her time to think, outside there was likely going to be dozens of high-level mages waiting for her so she could not just exit the building, however, staying inside the building for much longer would kill her all the same.


    She started to frantically search the mansion for any escape passages that nobles usually kept secret, while her eyes still worked Selenia switched through different spectrums of light untilfinally giving up and using the mana vision, by now she was starting to cough up blood and she was not sure whether it was caused by the poisons or the mixture her antidotes had created, nevertheless she took another general antidote anyway.


    A small mana signature caught the corner of her eye surprising her because it was located inside one of the walls, it was weak and whatever it was would likely die soon, she did not have time to look for an opening as her eyes were starting to become blurry, after storing her sword she sprinted head first into the wall in front of the mana signature.


    The section of wall was only made of wood and shattered sending splinters everywhere, after looking at what she found she froze for a moment, on the ground laidan unconscious woman holding a small child and even though her vision was blurring she could see the resemblance to the man she had just killed.


    They were long gone and she could do nothing for them at this point so she pushed any other thoughts out of her mind that would not help her escape, the hallway was dark and her night vision was failing her, she placed her hand on the wall to feel her way and winced at having just placed the stump against a wall, she started coughing again then took her last antidote on her, Salenia never imagined anyone would need as much as she had used in the last couple minutes and hoped her body could handle it briefly before she started to stumble through the darkness away from the poisons.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    The howling of wind caused Selenia to speed up her escape, now she was barely feeling the walls she just sprinted down the hallway and relied on her barrier to take any damage when she bumped into a wall occasionally.


    She could smell fresh air and increased her speed slightly, the hallway finally came to a dead end so she started to feel around and found that the roof was lower than she realized, after pushing on the roof a section of wood lifted up allowing light to spill in, She blinked a couple times at the sudden light then climbed out into a small shack.


    The walls were thin because she could hear the bustle of the city outside, the building was old and smelled bad, there was only the most basic furniture and she was sure that even farmers had better furniture than this house.


    It was only a matter of time before the poisons cleared the mansion and they found the hole leading to this place, she knew that this was an escape tunnel for the mansions nobles to use so she looked for a stash of items one would need when they used the tunnel.


    After searching for several minutes she found a hidden compartment under the bed with clothes money and fake documents stashed away, Salenia stored her armor inside her storage bag and then saw the state of her skin, there were boils all along her rough red skin, she looked like a burn victim, holding back a tear from falling she pulled on the clothing designed for commoners and poor people then put an even poorer quality cloak over the top to hide her features.


    Salenia left the small house after storing the stashes contents into her storage bag on the back of her waist, she would have preferred to place the obviously expensive storage bag somewhere more discrete but, if she needed her weapons quickly she needed it to be quickly accessible.


    After exiting from the house she found herself in the slums of the city, poor people that could barely afford to eat milled around the area and Selenia perfectly blending into the crowd with her new attire.


    Following the flow of people she watched the city guards and the people, the commoners were oblivious to anything other than a noble house was attacked, but could not care less because that was a common occurrence in this city which gave her a slight sense of relief knowing that not everyone would be looking for a suspicious person, however, the guards looked to be on high alert as they glared at anyone with even remotelygood armor.


    After drifting towards the gates she spotted large groups of soldiers checking the people leaving the city, one of the commoners was being searched when a soldier grabbed her arms and lifted them, after doing so he let her go and waved on the next person, chills ran down Selennias spine at how quick they started the search for her, they had already started searching everyone who left the city essentially locking her in like a caged rat.

 Escape 2.0 2 53

    Salenia moved with the flow of the crowd away from the gates while planning ahead on how to escape the city, her vision was getting progressively worse as time dragged on causing her to start to become impatient, dozens of plans danced inside her mind but, were all dismissed when they arrived at the part where she ended up dead in them.


    A group of children caught her attention as they moved through the crowd with ease of practice, then one of them bumped into a young man who was obviously a merchant judging from his clothing, the man yelled at the foolish child and kicked the small boy before simply walking away, the other children surrounded the boy and helped him up before they walked over to an alley and disappeared from view.


    Moments later the merchant came back while frantically looking around with a red face, Selenia watched the entire show transpire and was given a good idea, now with a plan set in her mind she started moving out of the crowd with determined steps and a sliver of surviving this ordeal and perhaps a slightly devious grin.


    She entered the stables she bought her mount earlier then pretended to be a poor woman that needed to leave the city to escape an abusive husband, Salenia showed the shopkeeper her "family heirloom" that she wanted to sell for a mount so she could get as far away from her husband as possible, the heirloom in question was simply one of the mana stones Lucifer had given her.


    At first, the shopkeeper acted as if the heirloom was not worth much and she could pay off the rest in other ways, however, once Seleniarose her hood slightly he quickly changed his tune at the sight of her burnt skin, she never thought being ugly would be useful before but she was glad for the burns for a moment.


    After seeing the burns that still looked fresh even the shopkeeper felt bad for her and "generously" traded the heirloom for a "slightly" old horse, Selenia cursed the man in her mind for being such a perverted cheap bastard before leaving with the horse.


    Salenia slowly rode the horse to an abandoned building then dismounted, she walked up to the door and crushed the handle dropping splinters on the ground then opened the door, once inside she entered the buildings small stables from the back and found the wolf she had bought earlier.


    The wolf looked up at her expectantly and she obliged by taking some meat out of her storage to feed it, while the wolf ate she looked around the abandoned rooms and saw a bed, she took the dirty sheet that would serve as a blanket and placed it over the wolf to hide its features.


    She exited the building with the wolf on a lead and mounted her horse then started to trot towards the southern wall, to the left and right were the gates that people rarely used several hundred metersaway, they were lightly guarded in comparison to the other gates because these gates faced a forest that ishard to traverse.


    Selenia prepared her mounts then started taking out a small pile of mana stones from her storage, the amount was excessive to have but Lucifer insisted that she has something on her that she can trade with, so she could settle down wherever she wanted and would not have to take up adventuring work for a long time.


    Now a small pile of mana stones layered against the wall as she moved into position, Selenia pushed mana into the stone and felt it tremble and continued shoving mana into it.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Meanwhile, in the mansion the mages were scouring the building searching for anyone suspicious, soon they started looking to find anything alive rather than someone suspicious, they had already found the broken wall with the hidden tunnel behind it and saw the nobles dead wife, several people were already searching the end of the tunnel and questioning people outside, but the people of the slums were rather reluctant to help any of the authorities even when threatened.


    Suddenly a deafening blast startled the mages that had gathered in the main room, the leader grinned at the sudden commotion that he may be able to do something about rather than pretend to find an assassin that would be long gone, he ordered everyone to gather at the location of the disturbance then activated strengthening magic and jumped from building to building towards the explosion, the other mages used their own spells to follow behind him some flying and others getting on mounts of varying species.


    The leader arrived on top of the wall shortly followed by his subordinates, he saw a white wolf with a slumped over figure on its back wearing intricate white armor sprinting towards the southern Forrest, surprise flashed across the leaders moment when he realised the person matched the reports of the last person to meet with the noble and not only that they did not look very healthy judging by the way they rode the mount, he roared that is the assassin we must capture them then started jumping down from the wall followed by the others, he thought in his mind "I heard that the armor this person wore was of a very high grade, enough to be invited by nobility for dinner just for wearing it, if I can get my hands on that armor my battle power would triple no quadruple, I guess this person has to be guilty then haha".


    The wolf ran deeper into the Forrest, it was unhindered by the trees or the weight on its back as it had lived in dense woodlands all its life, the Imperial mage leader saw the wolf getting further and further away then shouted "hurry up it''s going towards the elven territory, once it entered we will never be able to capture them", then increased his speed himself, those flying above him started to increase their speed and passed by their leader.


    The wolf could hear people chasing after it and with freedom, right in front of its face the wolf redoubled its effort to escape, whistlesgrew louder and the wolf suddenly changed directions going around a tree that it would have just passed by and the ground where it was going to be exploded with sparks flying everywhere, several trees caught alight and the wolf continued its mad dash for freedom.


    Several more spells exploded and only left minor flesh wounds on the nimble wolf, but eventually it''s luck ran out and a lightning bolt struck its flank, the wolf gave a yelp and fell to the ground dropping its rider as it rolled, the wolf stood up and started to limp away when the mages finally caught up.


    The mage leader ignored the wolf and ordered several mages to send lightning attacks to make sure the armored person was disabled or dead, once he was satisfied he had someone check the body, the man that was sent forward used his staff to roll the body over then gave a quick yelp then looked around in embarrassment.


    When the body was rolled over it revealed that it was not a body at all, a blanket rolled up and tied to several pieces of armor that gave the illusion that a body filled the armor, someone asked: "Where is the assassin?" the leader walked towards the bundle then answered "right here, along with my new armor, good work killing the assassin" then frowned when he got close enough to see that several pieces of armor were missing, the chest piece, helm and left gauntlet were missing.


    Previously, after the explosion Selenia sent the wolf running by itself with a bundle of her armor tied on top of its back, then she dashed back into a building and waited, she spotted the mages arrive through the walls with her mana vision granted by her hood that she kept, after they left she went out the back door and mounted her horse that was waiting in an alley nearby and left before the guards made it to the disturbance, she took one final look behind her to see if she was followed and saw no one, luckily the guards on both gates were ordered to never leave their posts regardless of what happened, so if someone made a disturbance they could not just waltz out the front door, however, no one expected that a person would blow a hole into their thick walls and just waltz out.

 Sometimes people just go missing. 54

    Selenia rode her horse around the wall briefly before departing on the road with one last glance into the forest the wolf escaped into, all the pain she had been suppressing came crashing down and tears began to fall endlessly regardless of what she did to try and stop it, she could feel the pull of her homeland just a few miles away, but she could not go back.


    Meanwhile, Lucifer''s consciousness floated over a shy fox girl as she tried to explain what took her so long to arrive after he called and unsuccessfully trying to hide a small mountain of luggagebehind her with her tails, Lucifer asked "I asked you to come here as the ambassadorfor your people, why have you brought so much luggage".


    She continued to stutter out an apology, however, Lucifer interrupted her "then write it down if your tongue does not work silly girl" with a little more force than he intended, then a pen and paper fluttered down above her and landed on the ground in front of her feet.


    She gingerly picked up the pen and paper then began to write, after she finished Lucifer almost laughed out loud.


    Apparently, Merlin had sent her here to live and she was told to ask Lucifer if he would offer her a room in the dungeon, Lucifer was baffled at why Merlin would send this little sheep into the wolfs den, after thinking it over for several minutes and enjoying the fidgeting of the fox girl as she waited for his response he decided he did not care why she was here and just sent her to a room he just created next to the secret entrance of the University''s farm area, which she was immenselyrelieved that she was not going to be kicked out.


    The room was just a smaller copy of Selenia''s with fewer carvings lying about, Lucifer considered just having her live in Selenia''s room, but her room was quite close to the core room and Lucifer did not quite trust this person yet, something just felt fishy about her suddenly showing up to live her after what happened during the negotiations.


    Lucifer initially intended to discuss things about his new enemy, but the idea of having to communicate with the mute again gave him a headache, instead, he looked around the dungeon and watched some adventurers pass through.


    At first, they seemed competent as they managed to slay to Panthers that ambushed them at the same time, the warrior managed to catch a slight case of dying, however, the group''s healer managed to patch him up enough so they could start to move towards the exit with their new loot.


    They passed back through the third floor easily enough then continued towards the exit, one of the membersspotted a red glow shining under a fallen tree, the mage which appeared to be acting as the group leader decided to ignore it and pass through because he had heard from several adventurers in the tavern tell stories of such a glow, some of these stories ended with a group of adventurersobtaining something valuable, one such group earned enough to live lavishly for several years or could bump up their retirement by a dozen years, however, just as many stories there were of people making a fortune, there were stories that ended tragically, most of the time by terrible luck, someone digs a hole and falls into a trap of burning insects, another climbs a tree only to find that it had several spiders hiding in ambush waiting for something to climb up into their trap, this persons team members could do nothing as he was spun into a cacoon and injected with poison, another person found a rare plant and managed to be gored by a boar and these are only the stories that the mage has heard.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The others argued with the mage for several minutes and the wounded warrior suggested that they go for it and that he could still run with a broken arm, the mage finally relented and sent the rogue to check for anything dangerous.


    After scouting around the area he found nothing and reported back, once the group received the all clear they started to cautiously move towards the glow with weapons raised and prepared to face anything the dungeon would throw at them.


    Once they were close enough to see a small rainbow flower with nothing around they gave themselves a silent cheer with a slight wave of their weapons, the rogue gently grabbed the base of the plant and started to dig out the roots, but the roots went down further than a foot and the rogue did not have the tools to dig further, he started to pull on the roots to free the plant in hopes of gaining as much of the plant as possible, however, he was not strong enough and the plant remained rooted in the ground.


    The warrior grew frustrated at watching the weak rogue try to pull out the plant so he grabbed the plant and pulled, several small snaps were heard as the roots broke and freed the plant suddenly causing the warrior to stumble and fall onto his ass, the group laughed at him before they realised that the hole they had dug was moving, millions of small ants rushed out of the hole the plant made.


    The warrior cursed as he was bitten and the group scrambled away from the area, they made it about 100 meters and estimated that it was far enough then stopped, the rogue lifted up the plant and gave a cheer along with his party members, someone asked where the warrior was and everyone looked around and found he was missing.


    They ran back the way they came and could not find any traces of him, they gave a sigh after searching the area once again and left, they knew that sometimes people just went missing in dungeons for no reason and nobody could understand why.


    The warrior laid up in a tree inside a cocoon of webs, he tried to scream out to his companions to help but he was paralyzed and couldn''t move, once they left8 monstrous hairy legs came into view before his insides were sucked out of him while he still called for help in his mind.

 Under construction 55

    The party left the dungeon with one person less and one story more to add to the mythos of the dungeon, which would circulate throughout the taverns of the budding city above.


    Lucifer watched them leave then found Lucky "You have been having fun," said Lucifer.


    "of course, there are so many people to play tricks on" answered Lucky.


    Lucifer spoke "Some time ago I told myself that I would reward you for your efforts during the attack, sorry for taking too long because I was busy with the dungeons business", then a small round leather bag with a triangle opening appeared and was caught by Lucky, she grabbed it with a curious expression on her face then asked "what is it?".


    Lucifer laughed then replied "let me show you how it works"


    Sometime later a party of adventures noticed a red glow, they searched the area for any dangers then cautiously approachedthe area, one of the warriors stepped onto a pile of dead leaves which gave way revealing a hole filled with spikes, the man screamed on the way down and tried to grab the edges of the hole unsuccessfully, a heavy thud resounded along with loud farting sound, the man absentmindedlymoved his hands through the spikes and found them to only be illusions, he looked up and found his party laughing so hard they could barely stand straight, the rogue was curled up into a ball on the floor clutching his stomach, the warrior stood up and found a small pouch under his ass then proceeded to cut it up into tiny pieces in embarrassment.


    Over the next couple days, reports of this strange trap circulated throughout the taverns and the small pouches became a popular novelty item of the dungeon frequently used at parties.


    Lucifer watched Luckys antics whenever he had free time from construction, the ants had managed to dig out 3 new floors by now and he now had enough free time to fill them, after creating the lake for the Panthers the idea of some water-themedfloors seemed quite appealing to Lucifer.


    he started with the fourth floor and filled it with trees and wildlife similar to the third floor, then he created pipes going from the water trap towards the roof of this floor and made tiny holes throughout the roof of the cavern, water started to drip from the holes creating a pseudo rain effect, he could have used enchantments to get a better effect but he would rather save his mana for the later floors.


    Now, this floor would always stay wet and make adventurers footing harder, after several hours the rain started to create channels in the ground and formed rivers leading towards the 5th floor, something seemed to be missing so Lucifer created a few minor enchantments on the walls to create fog and reduce visibility.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Lucifer tried to think of what creatures he wanted to wander the area but came up with nothing so he continued on with the next floors, the fifth floor was similar to the forth except all the water added up from the floor before it and created a swamp with 2 feet deep waters covering the entire floor.


    Some of the trees from the earlier floors had trouble surviving in this environment and he was forced to replace most of them with types of mangroves and other aquatic plants, these trees did not grow as tall and their branches grew out wider near the base of the trees, some areas were so dense they created networks of roots and branches that would act like nets and walls.


    He considered changing the species or modifying the trees themselves, but thought he should add the monsters on the floor before he decided how he should do that.


    This part was easy because he already had in mind what he wanted to eat adventures here, he started at the bottom of the food chain like usual, first adding the tiny plants and mosses the prey would feed on, then he added several varieties of fish into the shallow waters for the bigger predators, then he modified a medium-sized fish that liked to swim around in schools.


    First, he made their jaw muscles several times larger and stronger, then he modified their eyes to have poor eyesight so they would not make getting to the other side of the floor impossible, lastly he used mana to forcefully grow the fish so they could rapidly go through generations while he attempted to modify their behavior, after several hundred generations the fish began to swarm and frenzy at wherever they could find a light source causing Lucifer to laugh manically, he had expected it to take longer for them to learn, he was beginning to truly realise how powerful the abilities of a dungeon were.


    After a short break he began to work on the last predator of this floor, he used a creature that looked similar to a crocodile then simply enhanced the strength of their scales and bite strength, adventurers would line up to get scales like these for their armors and hopefully they will be lining up to be dinner too.


    Lucifer decided not to do anything to the trees at the moment and left them as they were, overall he was quite satisfied with this floor and considered it his best one yet, you either had to flail around in the dark and be ambushed by an armoredrazor sharp-toothedvice or use lights and take the risk of attracting a swarm of frenzied piranhas.


    For the boss, he just made a snapping turtle the size of a tank, called it snappy then went onto the next floor.


    The sixth floor slowly filled up with water and Lucifer had to wait for it to be nearly full before he stopped the water from rising and could adjust the runoff back into the water trap to maintain the water levels.


    This floor was going to be entirely flooded, Lucifer guessed that it would take some time before everyone figured out that you would have to make boats to cross the floor, however, he made the exit to next floor underwater in a random location, the water was very murky from the runoff of soil from the previous floors making it impossible to see the bottom and it would take some time before people discovered the entrance to the next floor that Lucifer had yet to build.

 Still under constuction 56

    While the sixth floor filled with water Lucifer went back to the fourth floor and began adding monsters, first he let loose several dozen species of prey, boars, deer, rodents and several other small animals to wander the floor, then he started to work on the predators, he wanted the floor to feel safe to people not obsessed with greed and they could use this floor as a rest stop before they entered the higher leveled areas.


    The worst thing Lucifer could do, was to make it impossible to all but the strongest of adventurers to advance further into the dungeon, most of his methods of killing adventurers did not function from exhaustion, they either killed you instantly for not paying attention or were relatively easy to survive if you saw them coming.


    On the first floor, untrained people occasionally get maimed by boars but very few are unlucky enough to die from them, the second floor is similarly safe as the first floor, a few people have managed to get themselves caught in webs while collecting the sticky silk and became food, however, most of the people who go into the dungeon to collect spider silk move in groups, so even if one person becomes stuck the others can fend off the spider while they cut them free.


    Most of the deaths from the wildlife are caused by a specific spider, Lucifer noticed it after finding a tree riddled with animal and human skulls attached with old webs, Lucifer waited at the tree for the occupant to come back and what he found was a giant spider dragging a paralyzedadventurer up into the canopy, he found this spider odd because it did not match the ones he had created, this one had much longer forelimbsand larger eyes.


    After watching the spider for a few days he had to guess that it was a variant of the species he has in the dungeon here, this species was far more dangerous than he intended to have on the second floor so he did a once over of the entire floor to make sure they weren''tcommon, after finding no more of the longer legged species he decided to leave this one alone to see what it could do and decide if he wanted to breed this one if he ever got a pair of them.


    He found this species hunting strategy highly amusing, it would weave a web in its four longer limbs and wait inside a dark area hidden by leaves and shadows, once something alone walked below the spider it spun a web and lowered itself over its prey and stretched its pre spun web over its target, once its prey was captured it used the longer more powerful legs to spin the prey and cover it in thick webbing until the prey was stuck inside a sticky cocoon of spider silk, then it dragged its bag of food up to its nesting area and injected poison into its victim then drank the person afterwards when they liquified.


    other than that spider most of the deaths came from Luckys traps and occasionallyher pranks would "accidentally" kill someone.


    The third floor was by far the most dangerous so far, the oversized Panthers proved to be quite efficient hunters in the darker third floor, experienced partiescan move through the third floor unhindered if they are careful or have a good scout, the Panthers tend to only attack people who are alone or in small groups as most of their lethality comes from surprise attacks, Kuro however seems to love attacking larger groups and would target them over smaller weaker groups, she stalks them while waiting for the opportune moment to strike then attacks the groups weakest point, she will continue to stalk the same group even after having killed someone and keep picking off the group one by one, often allowing opportunities to kill someone pass so she can continue hunting them later, the other thing Lucifer found strange in her behaviour was that she often allowed one person in the group to live, even going to far as to "escort" them back to safety more often than not with a limb taken for payment.


    However, Kuro changed completely once someone hurts her kin, all of her playfulness disappears and is replaced with viciousness. A group of adventurers was becoming known for trading Panther furs every couple of days and were later found mangled and dead at the entrance to the first floor, she had methodically torn them to pieces with her darkness enhanced claws but did not kill them, instead she dragged the half-dead group onto a fire ant mount on the second floor and watched them slowly die while gently swaying her tail.


    Lucifer did not know how Kuro found out about them but he suspected a small fairy to be pushing her nose into other floor guardian business, Lucky is often seen frolicking with the Panthers at the lake and appears quite fond of them, enough so that Lucifer noticed that people who killed them would have better chances of meeting some of her more devious traps.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    After thinking it through Lucifer decided on the inhabitants of the fourth floor, keeping in theme with the rest area idea he started with a Venus flytrap, first he added a small alchemical ingredient inside the traps mouth, he was not so worried about using expensive ingredients now that the mages guild was his partner and did not mind if powerful alchemist came this way as long as they were part of the university, which he was sure that the university would keep out any outsider alchemist trying to set up shop in their playground.


    Next Lucifer added hollow thorns inside the mouth of the venus flytrap that excreated poison when they punctured something, lastly he increased the strength and size of the trap tremendously and changed the outside flesh to a thick hardwood to increase durability.


    Once he planted the trap he noticed that even with the limited visibility of this area the Venus flytrap stood out quite badly, the idea behind this creature was for brave idiots to try and get the alchemical plant inside and wind up crushed and poisoned, then they would be slowly devoured if they were one of the adventurers that liked to move around his dungeon by themselves because they don''t work well with others, or they simply wanted all the loot to themselves.


    Lucifer added leaves and bark to the creature so it could blend in with the environment better, after he finished he was quite satisfied with his new creation, if you looked where you were going, you would not get caught by this trap unless you wanted the ingredient inside it, he briefly thought of ways an alpha tester would break his new creation and he immediately thought why wouldn''t you just kill the creature before you retrieve the ingredient causing Lucifer to frown.


    After thinking for several minutes he decided to add small plates of hard flesh on either side of the ingredient, so once the mouth closed it would mash the ingredient into juice that the plant would reabsorb to grow a new one.


    When he finished Lucifer sighed, he was happy about his newest trap/floor guardian, however, modifying creatures cost a considerable amount of mana and at this pace, he would not have enough for the sixth floor, if he continued creating such heavily modified creatures he may not even finish the fourth floor, so he decided to add a few creatures from his EarthMails without modifying them because that was cheaper.


    Lucifer set loose several species of poison dart frogs and several more species of snake, some were poisonous and others were not, the adventurers would have to figure that out for themselves before they ate or cooked anything from this floor if they did not want to kill themselves, lastly he added a larger python species and only enhanced its size and strength, this should prove to be more of an annoyance rather than a threat as long as they worked together to kill it before it crushed one of their companions to death.


    Now that he had finished this floor he flew over to the sixth floor and found that it was ready to be used, the entire cavern was under several meters of water leaving only 1 meter of roomon the roof of the floor with breathable air, Lucifer suspects that people would soon create boats to use on this floor but he did not care because all the loot would be below the surface on this floor.


    First, he cut off the water flow from the floors slightly above this one by raising the opening to the six floor, then started messing around with the water flows from the water trap to get everything to maintain and equalize itself, once he completed that he started adding the plants and small prey for the larger creatures to eat.


    The main plant he added was what he called "strangle kelp", this was a grass that grew from the floor all the way till the surface, the only modification he made was to give it small feelers that when triggered caused the kelp to pull down into a bundle on the sea floor, which is not particularly harmful unless you are tangled in the stuff while swimming, or a small boat gets caught in a forest of the stuff.


    He was about to add sharks when he noticed that he was almost completely out of mana, after this killed his mood he decided to go back to his lab and work on some things that would be less mana intensive while he waited for his mana to regenerate.


    Once he arrived he looked around the room for something to spark his imagination then caught sight of an object in the corner and frowned for a moment, he decided to instead work on something outside the lab that he had intended to do for a while.


    He found an area devoid of ants at the deepest area of the hive, mana gushed out of a hole in the ground where ants had unearthed this thing and died for it, Lucifer could absorb the pure mana from the flow easily enough, however, the amount of mana kills anything living that comes near it because they are forcibly evolved too rapidly and explode.


    Something Lucifer intended to use to his advantage, after witnessing the strength of the variant spider Lucifer became interested creating mutated species, he just needed to somehow town down the effects, at first he wanted to use enchantments to lower the amount of mana that interacted with the creatures he was trying to modify.


    Without any better ideas he simply increased the distance from the mana well, he created a fenced off area then added several different creatures inside the Penn, he left and would return later to see what happened.

 Ingredients. 57

    Ahri sat at her workbench filled with various glassware filled with unknown liquids that gave off many different smells and odors, some boiled without a heat source and others froze the objects holding them and a small area of the table they were on.


    She sighed as the last of the material she was working on went up in smoke, with a quick spell the smells vanished along with the table as it slid behind a false wall, the wall closed with a thud which momentarily caused her to pause her incantation.


    Once her spell was finished she was surrounded by multicolored lights before her appearance changed back into the middle-aged woman she appeared to be when she first met Lucifer, after changing into her apprentice robes she began chanting once again and once this spell was completed she vanished completely, several moments later the door creaked open the closed itself.


    Ahri walked through the dungeons the first floor and exited the dungeon without anyone noticing her and only had to make a few quick sidesteps to avoidjumpy adventurers.


    She walked past the barricades that surrounded the entrance and saw the new city that was starting grow from the once barren area of only a few months ago, platoons of earth mages spent massive amounts of effort to flatten the area where the city now stood,the dungeon entrance is situated part of the mountain that has a gentler incline, but this meant that even with the considerable effort of the earth mages the ground was still sloped upwards the closer you came to the mountain peak.


    However, this allowed the waterways to be installed much easier as the mages did not have to use any enchantments to force the water to go away from the city, this would mean that the slums area that is present in every city would not have sewage issues like most major cities because of poor maintenance of the complex enchantments that require skilled mages to repair.


    Just outside the gates of the barricadesdozens of merchants set up stalls to buy the goods adventurers obtained from the dungeon and sell things adventurers would need inside the dungeon, Ahri watched these merchants with their bored expressions and gave a nod of satisfaction to herself.


    The adventurer guild was supposed to take care of buying and selling the dungeon''s lootthat adventurers obtained, the fact that the merchants that would set up temporarystalls outside of dungeonswere having poor business meant that the adventurers guild was doing its job properly.


    Normally the adventurers guild takes a small cut from anything they buy from adventurers by buying the items slightly cheaper than they are worth, however, the adventurers are willing to be paid slightly less for the security the guild provides, the guild does not ask where someone obtained loot because most adventurers would like to keep any profitable information to themselves and the amount of people that suddenly go missing after trading something valuable with other unaffiliated buisnessesis far higher than the adventurers guild, also the guild is almost always fair when making trades for items, so uneducated adventurers or ones that simply don''t have the experience required to properly judge the worth of an item can still sell their items with confidence because adventurer guilds that break the trust they have with the adventurers tend to end up very quickly replaced with less than friendly means by the adventurer guilds enforcement teams.


    The guild itself is rather well known to have fanatics that work for the inner sections of the guild that put most religious zealots to shame with the extremes they will go to for something they believe in, most of the population have no idea what it is they believe in except "they believe that humanity must band together with the other intelligent races to defeat the magical beasts and take back their lands", which most people have no idea what that means but are thankful they have people making sure they are safe from magical beasts.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    It is these fanatics that keep the large corporationsfrom trying to edge into the adventurer''s guilds business, there are several instances of businesses backed by high nobles being crushed completelyby small groups of adventurers, something which the country''s leaders seem bizarrelyfine with even when the nobles bloodlines completely vanished over the course of several days, since then no one is willing to try to compete with the adventurers guild except small independent store owners who would not be able to gather the attention of the guilds even if they tried.


    While thinking of random things Ahri strolled around the city and took in the sights, most of the plots of land were still empty especially the shopping district which only had a dozen or so buildings for adventurers to buy armors and potions.


    She walked into the alchemy shop after disabling her invisibility spell, once inside she saw glass cases full of rare ingredients and could feel the mana passivelycoming from the old man behind the desk that was strangely pure when it was coming from a human, Ahri tilted her head slightly and then wrote into the air with magic "why is such an accomplished alchemist in this small city",


    The old man stroked his beard and casually replied "I like to move around", which seemed like a plausible answer considering most accomplished alchemist were slightly off in the head, however, this sounded wrong to Ahri so she wrote the list of ingredients she wanted and made sure to use the apothecary''s names for the plants rather than the slang adventurers used.


    His eyes widened for a moment before replying "I see your a fellow alchemist, I will get you the ingredients you require" then he spotted Ahri''s expression and continued "if you really want to know why I am here then if you can answer my question I will tell you...", "... the question is red and blue and black all over"


    Ahri was beginning to doubt her earlier assumption that this old man did not have a few screws loose, the answer that immediately came to mind was the Soutlg flower which was a rather rare ingredient that most alchemist would not know of, however she decided to give a different answer, she wrote in the air using magic and made sure to mirror the writing so the other person could read it,"an idiot who ate Soulscratcher leaf instead of mugwort to cure Silver fanged spider venom"


    The old man looked at the writing for a moment then burst out laughing, "that was not the answer I was looking for but technically it is right and its the best answer I''ve ever received too." after he finished laughing he continued while clutching his sides "ok so you wanted an answer, fine I''ll give you one but keep it a secret to other alchemists, it''s not often you find something so valuable, perhaps once in a lifetime even when you are as old as I am" he gave a cough and looked around to make sure no one else was around then said "this dungeon is strange, I''ve been around for a long time and seen everything there is to see but I''ve never seen anything like this, there are species of plant inside that dungeon that does not exist anywhere else ahem, so you can see why an "accomplished alchemist" like myself can be found in this small city."


    Ahri was surprised for a moment then asked: "have you made any new discoveries to the world of alchemy?"


    He shook his head then replied "no that is not where my research is directed at right now", he saw her about to raise her hand to write again and answered her question she was about to write "I am trying to find a way to cultivate the new varieties of plants outside the dungeon" then sighed and continued "so far I have been unsuccessful, it seems that the plants require the specific environment of the dungeon to take root or grow, I am now trying to emulate the environment of the dungeon but it''s quite difficult as dungeon studies is not my fortay. hmm considering your clothing you must be from the University, perhaps we can make a trade of sorts, I can give you several recipes I have gathered from my travels and you can give me some books on the subject of dungeons from people who are better suited for that field"


    Ahri looked towards the man for a moment then replied: "I will ask my master" then left after taking and paying for her ingredients.


    The old man smiled and asked under his breath "which one" as she closed the door behind her.

 Alchemist 58

    Lucifer noticed Ahri leave while he was constructinghis floors then she returned once he had run out of mana, with nothing better to do he decided to attempt to talk to her again.


    Ahri entered her room and released the invisibility spell, she was about to use the stone she was given to contact her master but before she could Lucifer''s voice interrupted her "is there anything interesting above ground?" causing her to jump.


    She tried to talk but the words only came out as unintelligible stutters, Lucifer became frustrated "just write what you want to say like I showed you" he said in the most casual tone he could muster because he remembers hearing about some random study where two groups of children with stutters were having their stutterers treated differently, long story short the people who were scolded for stutteringkept their speech impediments for the rest of their lives.


    Ahri felt slightly warm in her heart as she thought "most people become frustrated and start yelling at me when I can''t speak", she hesitated for a moment before writing in the air what happened with the old alchemist, Lucifer asked "how powerful do you think this reclusive old man is"


    she thought for a moment then replied by writing "I think he is a very powerful alchemist, a master at the least and perhaps a grandmaster considering how old he is"


    "how old is he?" Lucifer asked.


    Ahri replied, "I don''t know because he only vaguely referenced his age but I feel he is similar similar to my master, so he is probably several hundred years old at a minimum."


    "I thought Merlin was a human, how can he give the same impression as someone several hundred years old at a minimum," Lucifer asked.


    Ahri answered "well, I''m not too sure how old he is exactly, but I do know that master is at least 700 years old, because I''ve heard him tell stories and show me memories of times that were at least that far back.


    and as for the human part, I think you have an incorrect presumption about humans, while most of them live for only 45 or so years on average the more powerful ones can live just as long as the elven races, there are even rumors with some evidence that suggests there are "old monsters" walking the world, who have long since surpassed mortality."


    Lucifer thought for a moment then asked "what is the difference between the two levels of alchemy"


    "the former is only able to make potions and elixirs, the latter is able to create artifacts through material means rather than enchanting" she replied.


    "does that mean an artifact created by a grandmaster alchemist can then be enchanted to create a stronger effect"


    "yes and that is why they are very valuable to any power who has access to one, even the king would have to be polite towards one if he ever met one" she answered.


    "is that where the University gets the power to be free from the Kingdoms grasp and be an independentexistence," asked Lucifer.


    "no, sadly we do not have a grandmaster alchemist at the University, elder sun is our alchemy master, but with the time he took out of his studying to teach me and the limited resources of the University along with the fact that he did not have a teacher above the master level himself he has been unable to pass the hurdle to become a grandmaster alchemist" she explained.


    "then I take it you were about to inform your master of such a valuable resource, don''t bother, go and informthe alchemist to come here" Lucifer replied.


    Ahri''s expression darkened as she secretly berated herself for telling the dungeon about the alchemist first, now there is no chance that the university can get any benefits from the transaction if the dungeon dealt directly with the alchemist, she wrote "you should keep yourself a secret to as many people as possible because it''s safer, so why don--" Ahri''s writing was halted when she suddenly felt soul-searing pain, she sweated profusely and convolced on the ground for several seconds before it stopped.


    After the pain stopped she gasped for breath to fill her empty lungs which were emptied by incoherent screams, she noticed that her hands were bleeding and her throat was sore so she started to cast a healing spell, however, the words would not form and she only made croaking sounds rendering her incapable of casting spells.


    When Lucifer judged that she was lucid enough he harshly spoke "DO NOT try to manipulate me, foolish woman, do you think I would allow the University to become the middleman in all of my dealings with humans, you can tell your master that I can be your University''s greatest asset if we work together, or we could continue to play these political games with each otherand we both know who has the upper hand in that.


    and as for you personally, you forget that Merlin is not your master anymore, you are merely an ambassador and technically you are my pet, so if I were you I would quickly decide where my allegiance lies because I am not a lenient person when it comes to things like this... Now go get that alchemist."


    Once she left Lucifer sighed, it was only a matter of time before she attempted something like this, although it took longer than expected mainly because she doesn''t talk, he hoped that she will quickly fall into line and understand what is expected of her and if she doesn''t, he is going to have to force her to understand which he would prefer not to do.


    Later the alchemist was sitting at the counter trying to imagine a way to mix several ingredients without them blowing up when the woman came back into the shop, he was initially surprised by her quick return, he expected her to go back to her master and then take several days setting up various means, he was slightly disappointed that he did not get to use thethings he made in preparation for such an event, maybe she would say something stupid and he would get to test a few things to show he is not someone to be messed with.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    The woman started writing in the air again with her magic but he noticed that her hands were noticeably shaking and she looked to be in more of a mess than the first time she came here, he raised his eyebrows when he read the message "come to the dungeon please, there is someone who wants to meet you".


    He was excited for a moment when he thought that it may be a trap but then realized that his theory was correct and that he was going to get what he wanted directly instead of having to fart about with nobles first which he thought was excellent, he thanked the University good judgement and made a mental note to help them out a little bit in the future if the opportunity presented itself then followed the woman to the dungeon.


    The guards outside the dungeon entrance looked at the odd pair entering the dungeon and exchanged glances with each other then shrugged and continued keeping watch, completely oblivious to the stares of those around them the two walked leisurely into the dungeon.


    His heart rate rose in excitement when he notices the dungeon creatures simply avoiding them on their way without him using any repellants, they continued deeper into the first floor until they found the demonic door in the middle, then they turned towards a seemingly random tree and walked towards it.


    His confusion grew with every tree they approached, she simply touched the trees that she randomly chose and even he could not find anything unique about the trees themselves, after half an hour they made it to the wall of the dungeon, the stone walls rose at a sharp angle directly to the ceiling and were completely smooth.


    Once they arrived at the wall she pressed her hand against the wall and fed mana into the bare stone, just before he wanted to ask whether she had taken something that had expired a part of the wall suddenly fell away into the floor.


    Behind the wall, there was a dark hallway which he could not see the end of and he just shrugged and walked behind the woman as she entered.


    After several minutes of walking in the dark, they finally found themselves inside a small circular room with a round table and several chairs, a light attributed mana stone sat in the middle of the table giving off a soft glow illuminating the room.


    She said to sit down and the one meeting him would be here shortly, then she walked out of the room and back down the hallway.


    The alchemist sat there with his heart beating wildly like it hadn''t done in decades while he waited, suddenly a disembodied voice cut through the silence "Greetings alchemist, I am Lucifer Morningstar" then he watches the mans expression intently for any signs that he knew the name beforehand, but he only found an exited old man fidgeting in his seat like he was a child before Christmas and the presents were about to be opened.


    He said, "are you the dungeon?"


    Lucifer answered "you could say that, I am sure an alchemist like yourself is inter--", Lucifer was interrupted when the man got onto the ground and kneeled then yelled "please take me as your servant and in exchange make materials for me so I can delve deeper into the dao of alchemy"


    The sudden turn of events stunned Lucifer for a moment while he thought "Well I suppose that would make things simpler than trying to cooperate", then he answered "ok, I will bind you to my will and you will be my servant and in exchange, I will create materials for you to further your studies".


    Lucifer started the binding before the old man decided to change his mind and tried to resist the binding, several moments later the was binding competed and Lucifer asked "now that the binding is complete is there something you want"


    The alchemist answer was immediate "I want accesstothe dungeon to find all the new species of plants"


    Lucifer replied "you have access to all the floors and no beast will bother you and you can access the forth fifth and sixth floors that no one has accessed yet, however, stay away from the door on the first floor, there are no plants behind there, only deadly traps. Oh and what was your name"


    "it''sRick" he replied.


    Lucifer asked "just rick?"


    Rick nodded his head then walked outside the room with a grin on his face and a spring in his step causing Ahri who was waiting outside to look at the man in confusion, then she felt the familiar pull when he walked past and she gasped, Ahri never would have guessed that only after several minutes the alchemist would come out bound to the dungeon, she thought to herself "I wonder what the dungeon offered him to accept being a servant so readily, it was probably something better than what the University obtained".


    Lucifer found Ahri and said "you can tell your master about this if you want, just remember he is my servant now then flew away before she could reply, he thought "I wonder what she will choose to do".


    He decided to go and see what Rick would do with his new unrestrained access to the dungeon and did an imaginary facepalm when he found the old man practically prancing around with a massive basket strapped to his back filled to the brim with ingredients and he was still picking plants into a spacial pouch at his waist, Lucifer said "you know if you take every plant in the dungeon they won''t grow back"


    Rick looked around in confusion then replied: "don''t you create these plants with mana from the earth, why would they not grow back?"


    Lucifer replied "because I am not making them individually like most dungeons do, I simply created an ecosystem that they thrive in and let them spread themselves using the natural mana in the dungeon"


    Rick looked surprised and exclaimed "that''s amazing, that means that you have more mana to make my materials right" causing Lucifer to do another imaginary facepalm.


    He replied "just plant the seeds as you go or I will spend the whole time being a farmer sowing seeds, the high mana content in the dungeon causes the plants to grow quickly here so you don''t have to worry about not having anything to experiment with"


    Rick thought for a moment then looked at his current haul of ingredients "I guess this will have to do for a couple days" stunning Lucifer.


    "how many plants do you need exactly?" Lucifer asked


    Rick smiled then replied "ha do you think the job of grandmaster alchemists are easy, they spend decades collecting magical plants to create theirworks" before Lucifer could ask why Rick continued explaining "before you ask this material is not enough to create an artifact, why do you think there are so few grand alchemists, it''s because you have to take a mountain of magical plants then grind them down to their pure essence, only then can you attempt to combine it into something useful.


    Even the Kings don''t have enough resources to train a grand alchemist, especially in these times of war--"


    Lucifer interrupted the lecture "ok I will look into creating a farm for you to cultivate ingredientsin, probably in the lower floor where the mana takes physical form th--"


    Rick excitedly interrupted "YOU HAVE ACCESS TO A DRAGON VAIN... AND THE PLACE HAS NOT COLLAPSED", then he started to lick his lips with a disgusting look on his face,


    Lucifer took some distance and replied "if you bring me good results I will make a farm for you near there, but for now behave yourself because I still have work to do on the other floors, plant some seeds on the first floor that you somehow managed to clear out in the two seconds I was not watching you and go collect some ingredients on the other floors, I''m sure the fourth floor will interest you." then flew away to make preparations for completing the sixth floor.


    Rick with renewed vigor ran around the floors of the dungeon collecting anything and everything in sight that gave even a faint impression of being magical in nature, this caused a rumor to go around the taverns and adventurers guild above of a pest entering the dungeon that devours magical plants which was not too far off.

 Indecision. 59

    Ahri paces around her room in indecision. What if she just pretended that Rick did not exist, why didn''t she contact her master immediately after finding the alchemist. She was not absolutely sure that he was an alchemy grandmaster but the probability was high. Ideas and worries flooded her mind as she slipped out of her University robes and changed into something that was more comfortable.


    After her feet became sore she sat down at her workbench but the intrusive anxieties continued their assault on her psyche. Rick could be an invaluable asset to the University especially after the years of decline when the old king died. could the university even tempt such a person to begin with?.


    The alchemist would have had knownabout the university before, there is no reason why he would not go there if he wanted to so maybe Ahri''s worries were for naught.


    What if she just went on another walk, the dungeon would never know, she walked to her bed and picked up the university robe she discarded there earlierthen hesitated. The thought that the dungeon was watching caused her muscles to lock up, then she looked around futilely to find an existence that she could not perceiveanyway.


    Ahri normallythought that every line of magic should be studied but now firmly believedthat the ban on soul-based magic was banned for good reason as the memory of what she had gone through only hours earlier sent shivers down her spine.


    She dropped the robe back onto the bed and continued pacing again, she thought to herself ''I doubt that a Grandmaster Alchemistwould be interested in anything the University could give so it''s not like I did something wrong, because there was no opportunity to gain, to begin with so it doesn''t matter'' and nodded to her own reasoning.


    ''Now that he is bound by the dungeon he will be stuck in one place and we could slowly build a relationship in the future which is better than just randomly approaching his shop which I''m sure would be received negatively, ok I''m going to befriend this person first before making any decisions''. Ahri suddenly realized how tired she was after she calmed down and decided to go to bed before trying to befriend the alchemist, satisfied with the knowledge that he would not be going anywhere and time was the one thing she had plenty of now that she was not studying in the university.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer watched Ahri pace around the room seemingly in an attempt to wear out the floor of her room, he saw her indecisively pick up her robe then drop it again moments later. When she got into bed and started to sleep he gave a sigh of relief that she did not immediately speak to her master, even if it appeared that she knew he was watching her.


    The idea of what he was going to do did not sit well with him, but he needed to be able to trust the people he was working with and if he had to resort to manipulation to get that, he would grudgingly do it. Unpleasant memories from the past flashed past his mind before he violently suppressed the thought.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile on the dungeon floors groups of adventurers began running for the exit after the dungeon shuddered for a moment. The cave roof still seemed to be stable but any shaking the dungeon did was considered a bad omen and historically ended with everyone inside dying horrific deaths.


    It took several days before adventurers started to enter the dungeon again after several scout groups declared it safe, or at least as safe as a dungeon full of monsters trying to kill you can be.


    When the adventurers entered the dungeon again it did not take long before a group discovered the entrance to the fourth floor. News of undiscovered floors flooded the town above and caused celebration in the taverns and even the nobility who had moved to the new city heldextravagant parties in celebration.


    New floors meant that more people could enter the dungeon at once and more materials would be available,so every new floor regardless of how dangerous they were, are welcomed by the populace with celebration. The nobles who mostly consisted of 3rdor 4rth born sons and daughters again praised their own insight at moving to this new city before anyone powerful moved in and their lands were increasing in value at a frightening rate now that the dungeon was known to be expanding.


    Lucifer was having a celebration of his own but for different reasons, he celebrated because an unprecedented amount of adventurers died in his dungeon. The only other time he receivedmore life energy was during the attack, so he decided to spread treasures around the dungeon in appreciation of these people willingly giving their lives to him.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The sudden appearance of valuable loot appearing throughout the dungeon soon became known to all the people above ground and caused even more people to enter in hopes of making a fortune. The guards even had to stop people from entering so the dungeons resources would not be depleted.


    They received complaints from everyone trying to enter and tried to convince them that this dungeon has a delicate ecosystem and could not support hundreds of people entering at a time, however, the would-be treasure seekers were not convinced and the guards were having a hard time keeping everyone back.


    Just as the group of guards was being overpowered and started to get pushed back into the barricades surrounding the dungeon entrance a person flew overhead and heavily smashed against the barricade then fell onto the ground unconscious.


    Everyone suddenly froze at the sudden turn of events and looked behind them, the guards protecting the entrance saluted as Wolfram came into view followed by one hundred of his elite soldiers. Before anyone could react he picked up another man and yelled "IF YOU WANT INSIDE SO BADLY LET ME HELP YOU" then threw the person over the heads of the crowd, the man sailed past and like the one before him slammed into a barricade and slumped down unconscious on the ground.


    Wolfram made a grabbing motion towards the closest man, but the person left the crowd and ran away, Wolfram continued to walk and the people parted like the red sea in avoidance of him.


    Once he was standing between the dungeon and the crowd with only a few men by his side he announced "this is not like a normal dungeon that you are used to, it has a functioning ecosystem down there and I would prefer it if you people did not trample it into dust because we don''t know how long it would take to recover and start producing materials for the city again. Now if you still want to enter LINE UP, we will be allowing5 groups of 5 an hour, no more. If you don''t like the rules you can leave."


    The crowd grumbled as they started to form a line under the watchful gaze of the soldiers. Some disputes arose during the process however, the soldiers simply grabbed these people and threw them to the back of the line.


    One of the mages began explaining the rules reasonings to his party, he said "although this rule seems intrusive to what adventures do, but it''s for our own good in the end" his party looked confused at him before he continued "think about it, he is only letting in groups of 5, which means that these solo adventurers that are here for the sudden increase in loot won''t be entering by themselves, instead they will form groups which are safer" someone from another group overheard and interrupted "yea sure, but they only do that because the city wants more adventurers to live so we can brave the dangers of the dungeon to get them more money".


    "yea sure, but they only do that because the city wants more adventurers to live so we can brave the dangers of the dungeon to get them more money".


    The mage paused for a moment then retorted "is living longer such bad thing." then seeing as the other person was silent he continued "also the dungeon is an ecosystem type which is much more fragile than the normal type we are familiar with. I can see you don''t understand, so for example if all the Panthers of the third floor died what would happen in a normal dungeon, it would simply summon more to compensate, however, this is not the normal type of floor, everything is in balance with each other, so if all the Panthers died then the deer that they feed on would have an explosion of population, then they would eat all the foliage until there was no food left and they starved to death, but it is a dungeon so I doubt that they could outeat the foliage... but I digress.


    so we could never predict the outcome of any action we take in there, if we send in hundreds of people we might have thousands of deer just wandering around the third floor... or more frightening, having thousands of Panthers wandering around"


    The rogue cut in when he saw that the mage was starting to go off into his own world "more importantly, having hundreds of greedy adventurers suddenly looking for loot would cause no small amount of fights. There would probably be more deaths related to looting than monsters".


    The mage finally snapped out of his own thoughts and added "these rules are already in place in most dungeons, just not officially" the others cast questioning gazed towards him so he elaborated "well normally the floors that have fully functioning ecosystems are much deeper than this one, so only powerful adventurers are able to even get there which acts as a sort of filter to limit the amount of people entering such floors. You may not know this but there is an unwritten rule about such floors which is, if you can still hear the battles from an adventurer party you are too close, this spreads out the amount of people on such floors so they don''t damage the ecosystem. Of course, there are exceptions where there are giants and such which make enough noise that you could hear it wherever you were in the dungeon but --" The mage had gone off on a tangent and everyone zoned out.


    Similar scenes and discussions were taking place throughout the crowd and they slowly started to calm down. Seeing the way everyone was behaving Wolfram decided to only leave twenty men to maintain order then left with the rest to attend to military matters.


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    After a sudden influx of adventurers since he added temporary treasures to the dungeon floors, Lucifer noticed that the amount of adventurers entering the dungeon started to even out to a suspiciouslyidentical frequency of roughly one group of five entering every ten or so minutes. This caused concern for Lucifer as he thought that he may be under attack again but after observing the groups move about the dungeon like normal adventurers for a few hours he went back to the lab for more experimentation.

 Nobility 60

    Deep in the Kingdom of Swadia in the sprawling capital city the King awoke from his slumber, he yawned while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and gazed at the sleeping forms of the women laying naked on his bed. A grin spread across his face as he thought about last nights happenings, then a solemnexpression replaces the grin as he remembered what happened to his brother when he lived a life of indulgence.


    He had promised himself that he would not make the same mistake as the previous king by only have one heir, which lead to a completebreakdown of the kingdom when no one suitable could take the throne.


    The king sighed for the umpteenth time in the last week and stood up to dress himself, the head maid insisted that the maids do it for him but he thought that anyone who can''t even dress themselves has no business ruling a Kingdom.


    Before he could finish pulling his pants on there was a knock on the door, the ladies on the large bed stirred and the man behind the door announced "your majesty the noble house lord of --"


    The man behind the door was cut off when the King coldly replied "tell them to wait" with the expectation that his trusted butler would convey his message in a more fitting way for a Ruler to speak but somehow manage to communicate his displeasure at the same time, something he found highly amusing to see in person and had inadvertently become one of the only methods he had to get back at the snobby nobles.


    Nothing makes his day like watching his butler politelytell someone to fuck off in a way that sounds both elegantand greatly insulting at the same time, the King grew up as a Knights family which was fairly good considering his bastard status and something he would have to thank his father for in the afterlife, but a knights education does not include how to deal withconniving women or ambitious greedy men born into nobility.


    The training did, however, help immensely with the wars he would fight on the front lines of later in life. he often wondered what it would be like if he hadn''t been injured in battle on that day and instead went on to retake all the Dutchies instead like he was supposed to. During the wars, all the nobles were terribly well behaved and were all too happy to help with the lives of their subordinates, however, once the war ended and their lands stopped expanding they started to reveal themselves for what they were "greedy bastards" as the king called them.


    That is not to say every noble was such a person. There were a few nobles who actually work for their people but they werebadly outnumbered by those who would not.


    With his mood ruined by some entitled twat thinkingthey could call on the King while he was sleeping, he began walking towards the kitchens. The chefs had long since gotten used to the Kings quirks and only bowed to him before getting back to work feeding the rest of the castle.


    After getting something to eat and ignoring the head maids customary lecture about what the King of a country should or should not do he found his way to the throne under the gazes of all the nobles waiting to harass him about whatever small trouble they could come up with.


    Everyone stood up after the king took his seat and he swore that one of these days he was going to have each and every one of them take strict etiquette training for their poor displays of loyalty, he was not so bothered by the act itself because he found all the formal bowing and kneeling to be pointless however, he knew they were trained since young to do a better job of it and he knew they were doing it simply to spite him because he was born to a commoner mother.


    The king had yet to speak and already one of the greater nobles with the backing of his own rather large faction started to discuss this weeks world ending matter.


    The Arcane University was going to use its magics to move the entire structure to the mountain where the new dungeon had opened up by order of the king himself even though it was secretly the university masters wish. Naturally, the nobles are not particularly enthusiastic about having their supply of magical objects and skilled mages suddenly fly away to the edge of the Kingdoms borders.


    If this was up to Merlin himself he would have already had the University sitting snugly on top of the mountain above the dungeon, but the amount of mana the University core requires to fly it across the kingdom is too much for the University to supply. This would require the help of all the nobles to succeed in any decent timeframe.


    But the King knew better than to think that the nobles would help out of the kindness of their hearts and the last week of mind-numbing, headache-inducing complaints showed this well. They were constantly discussing amongst themselves and proposingdifferent deals for the University to "buy" their magic crystals they kept in their coffers gathering dust and they were lucky Merlin himself was not here because there would be more than a few fried corpsesin the throne room if he were to hear some of the proposals, some included having their daughters marry Merlin himself or have their sons become his disciples or other ridiculous statements.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The king knew that Merlin would never allow the nobles to worm their way inside the university willingly so he shot all the proposals the nobles made almost immediately.


    The noise inside the room grew increasingly loud until the King finally had enough and infused mana into his voice then shouted "SILENCE!", The room immediately became silent and the king gave an imperceptible nod to himself, satisfied that his injuries did not prevent him from a show of force occasionally.


    He continued "do you think that the Dutchys will sit idle with a new dungeon opening so close to the border, the borders are already tattered enough as it is after all the raiding from so-called "bandits". The only reason the Dutchies have been so passive all these years is that they have been too busy fighting amongst themselves and they don''t have the resources to mount a proper attack.


    And the only reason the Dutchies are still poor is that they only have a few weak dungeons in their territory that have not expanded in decadesnor do they give any decent resources, so what will happen when they take a dungeon that expands every few months" The king let that information sink into their brains for a while before adding, "did you know why there are no great dungeons in the Dutchies, this is because all the dragon veins converge in the south and run straightbetween the middle of the Dutchies before going back deep into the earth, this means that the great dungeons only appear in the middle of the south where the mana is richest"


    He paused again for added effect and one of the younger nobles gasped "that''s where the elven forest is, they can''t access them even if they wanted to"


    The king gave a faint smile as they started to realize the problem with just sitting idly while the dutchies expanded their territory and he could see the worry rising up in the eyes of the nobles whos land was close to the dungeon. These lands would be the new frontier that "bandits" would constantly raid and the king was almost tempted to allow it just so they could have their power worn away like his followers who he was forced to put on the frontlines to protect the borders.


    Some of the king''s most trusted allies now had their lands completely decimated by the raids and were now worthless, however, the nobles on his side refused to leave and continued protecting the barren land from invasion, they had once been powerful nobles from the Kings faction and now they were merely acting as generals protecting the border because they had no people on their land to govern anymore.


    The King stood up and left the throne-room because the nobles here would not agree to anything at the moment so he let them stew in their own turmoil, he could already hear some of the smaller nobles that governed land near the border trying to convince others to lend military aid to protect their lands.


    Such pleas resounded on deaf ears and the king couldn''t help a smile from forming as he imagined all the desperate nobles quickly changing sides to the king''s faction, they may only be minor nobles because they are located so far from the capital but every person swings the political power in his favor a little more.


    The King made the mistake of ignoring the nobles that were not causing trouble after the wars which allowed the large noble factions to grow from behind by recruiting all the minor nobles. During the war, he had set up the lands and powers so that his people would end up with the majority of the power, but he did not expect that all the minor nobles could make so much of a difference, so he focused on getting the Kingdom back onto its feet after the war, however, once they had majority vote the King''s faction has been put on the back foot and has not been able to recover since.


    After a short walk, he reached the garden and found his butler with a pot of hot tea already waiting for him next to his favorite chair. Once he sat down he started to tell his butler about what happened. When the king reached the part about the dragon veins the butler looked at him with a strange look before asking "I assume youreceived that information from Merlin after all the nobles harrassed you about this all week" because he knew the king was not so magically inclined to know such things.


    The King laughed then replied "no I did not call him for such matters, truth be told I have no idea if that stuff about the dragon veins is true or not" then laughed again when he saw the other mans expression, "well I did hear him talk about such things when I was a child"


    The butler smiled in response then said "They would never guess that you and Merlin are friends, even I did not figure it out when we were on the battlefield. I only found out when I became your spymaster"


    The King smiled as he reminisced about the past and lightly said "of course they don''t know, nobles only keep track of other nobles, they would never imagine that a lowly knights son was being trained by the strongest mage in the country as a swordsman no less"


    The Butler replied "so that''s how you knew him, I had no idea he was proficient in swordsmanship, although he is an old monster so it''s not too surprising"


    "ha, he can''t even swing a sword properly let alone teach someone the ways of swordsmanship. No, he taught me to use my physique more efficiently and he also taught me some magic that would help during battle" answered the King.


    The butler nodded then his voice lowered as he asked "is the dungeon really worth it"


    After thinking for a moment the King answered "I don''t know if the dungeon is worth it, but I do know the friend is"

 Reconecting 61

    Selenia pulled on the rains of her mount and squinted at the sun, another sigh escaped her lips as she realized that her vision was still getting worse. Now Selenia could only see vague outlines of anything more than a few feet away from her face and everything was significantly darker, enough so that she could stare directly at the sun without any discomfort.


    A flick of the wrist had the horse moving at a slow trot again. The best she could do at the moment was to tell time by the sounds of familiar insects and usedthe warmthof the sun as a rough guide for where she was going, however, she was not sure how accurate her navigation was because she was forced to stay off of the main roads to avoid patrols.


    Luckily her ears still worked well so whenever she heard any groups of animals or people moving in the scattered Forrest she was able to guide the horse in the other direction or moved around them,all this turning around had made navigation significantly more difficult to the already confused woman and now she was not sure where she was headed anymore.


    She estimated that the sun was going to go down soon and she needed to find shelter for the night. Normally she would simply climb up a tree and make camp there, but she had a mount at the moment that was probably better at navigating than her at the moment and she could not afford to lose the mobility it gave her.


    After deciding that this patch of blurry darkness was as good as every other patch of blurry darkness Salenia dismounted and tied the reins to a tree in a loose knot that would slip if the horse needed to run quickly.


    Going through the mental checklist in her mind she found most of them did not work without her sight.


    ''1. is the area safe... no idea I can''t see anything, I could be making camp inside a dragon''s nest and I wouldn''t know.


    2. Do I need to set up any special defenses to stay safe... I can set up traps while blind but I can''t do that one-handed.


    3...


    4...''


    Salenia sighed once more and grabbed the closest branch she could find and started to climb the tree by touch until she found a suitable branch to sit on.


    Perhaps she should just give up, her face and skin were burnt to a crisp her eyes now near useless moreover her hand was missing. At best she would live out her life as an undesirable cripple who could only rely on others to survive and at worst she would be captured and tortured to death for killing a noble. She laughed bitterly at the thought and imagined that it would not be so bad in comparison the soul branding''s pain, she would probably laugh at her torturer.


    Selenia found the thought slightly amusing, the last time death drew so near her sole mission became "make it as difficult as possible for my enemies to win even if I lose" and she intended to do so again.


    Nails dug into her palm as a fist hit thetrunkand a strange light entered her dull eyes.


    After running away from home she had promised never to use this magic again, but old grudges would be of no use now. Salenia wrapped her arms around the trunk of the tree she was sitting on and poured mana into her arms. It had been so long since she had done this that she was finding it difficult to mentally direct her mana to connect with the nature spirits in the area.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    At first the spirits ignored her silent pleas, then she directed a small amount of mana into herhead justabove her eyes. A long since dormant stone began to glow with all the colors of the rainbow and a small section of light managed to pass through herskull and gave herface a soft greenish blue glow.


    Upon seeing the light the spirits immediately connected with her allowing mana to freely flow between them. The connection to the spirits filled a part of her that she had long since forgotten about. A smile bloomed on her lips for the first time in weeks as she basked in the primitive communications the spirits sent in waves of pure energy.


    Now that she was reconnected with the spirits of nature she could ask for their help, at first she sent them a small amount of mana as a token of gratitude for answering her, however, what was a small amount of mana for her was a massive amount of mana for a normal person. Witha plentiful source of mana the spirits began their work while sending small burst of energy to Selenia communicating happiness and feelings of being grateful for the mana.


    The ground glowed a faint green while the tree grew almost twice its original size, branches weaved themselves around Selenia creating a small room with springy leaves on the ground. plants on the ground started to grow rapidly until they were as taller than the horse concealing it completely and left several edible plants growing around the animal. The roots absorbed water from below ground and filtered it through itself while bringing the water up into a small indent inside the newly created room. And finally a thick layer of leaves spread out concealing the treehouse.


    Selenia thanked the spirits and drank for the first time in days and washed her tender face making sure to wash any poison out of her eyes in the process. Feeling the cleanest she had in what felt like forever she drifted off to sleep.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    flecks of light passed through the gaps in the leaves and branches lighting up the small room Salenia slept in and she woke to the sound of chirping birds. She began to rub her eyes by habit then noticed that her skin felt significantly better than the night before, after feeling around the scars she found that they were less pronounced than last time and she guessed the color would be a little better now.


    The birds outside were making a racket and she wondered how she managed to sleep through that. She had been more tired than she thought, suddenly the amount of birds around the tree caught her attention, she could hear at least a dozen identifiable species by their songs and a dozen more that she could not identify.


    The basic checks she did whenever she encountered something suspicious revealed that almost half of her mana was missing. She had forgotten to cut the connection with the spirits last night and now they had passively taken her mana while she slept.


    After a quick message the branches opened up below her and she was able to climb down the tree and find her horse, her sight had improved slightly from last night and she could easily imagine what the spirits did with her mana, they were not particularly good at healing magic but they were effective if you just shoved massive amounts of mana at them along with enough time to use it.


    Sounds of movement caught her attention just before nearly half the birds took flight, with no time to spare Salenia untied the horse and mounted before giving it a kick in the rear. Initially the grass slowed the horse''s speed but once it cleared the initial tall grass it was able to get to a full gallop and was noticeably faster than before last night.


    Salenia glanced behind and even with her poor eyesight, she could tell that the entire area around where she slept had overgrown into a thick forest in stark contrast to the sparse forest she was traveling in before. This would be obvious to anyone with a brain and there would be search parties converging on her location the moment that the first light of dawn shone on the area.

 Escape 2.0 3 62

    Hoves thundered over the flat planes. Riders whipped their horses into a frenzy in an attempt to catch up to their prey. A small figure could be seen just several hundred meters in front of the swarm of the horseman, riding a paint horse with seemingly endless amount of stamina.


    The better riders managed to notch arrows at a full gallop and take aim, but whenever an arrow fell close, nature itself would intervene as if to mock their efforts. At first, they believed it to be a coincidence that the wind changed once the arrows drew near. Then horses along with their riders began crashing down taking the riders nearby and behind with them.


    Those who were lucky only broke bones and lost their mount, the unlucky ones were trampled to paste beneath the hoves of the riders that followed. A man wearing a direwolf fur with a scar running across his face bellowed "it''s a mage watch your footing and spread out. In a moment the group forty or so were spread thin to combat the unknown attacks and now only a single rider would be added to the dozen fallen whenever they were attacked.


    The lone rider lays low in the saddle with an arm ending in a stump wrapped around their mounts neck in the attempt to stay mounted, while the other hand waved in the air accompanied with a soft green glow. Unseen spirits danced to the pure mana radiated from the rider with the rhythm of an unheard song as they molded nature to their will, roots grew from the ground from angles too difficult for the animals chasing to avoid, winds gently guided arrows away from their charge creating an invisible barrier of safety for the lone rider.


    However, the spirits are masters of manipulating mana, but everything has a price, The riders mana was the lowest it had ever been and the unfamiliar dizzyness effected her more than it would have with someone familiar with the sensation. Concentration became difficult as the already fuzzy picture her eyes showed her became even more blurred. This forced the rider to limit the mana to the spirits of air and cut off any means of attack.


    She slowed the mana output to a fraction of what it was and returned her flailing hand back to the mounts mane. The added stability eased the dizzyness slightly. Her mount breathed heavily under the strain of the forced march against those of its kind that were bred for such marathons.


    Once again power entered its body when the horse felt that it could not go on and it noticed its rider slacken its hold on it, but it did not have the intelligence to understand why so witch renewed vigor it galloped at full strength once again.


    The lone rider felt the world spinning and blood dripped from already scarred lips as she bit down in an effort to stay conscious, her foot slipped from the stirrup and she fell from the saddle before she caught the animal with mana enhanced thighs. The horse gave a whimper as the rider pulled herself back into the saddle.


    Behind the lone rider the group now only had a few riders left to chase after their target. Their horses had long since been exhausted and only the fittest still remained under the overenthusiastic persues whips to give chase. The lone riders slip up had not gone unnoticed and the leader called for a halt under the questioning gazes of his subordinates.


    He ordered the men to regroup and take care of their mounts because they would be riding early the next day. While dismounting and giving his mount some much-needed rest he thought ''the woman is on her last legs but we can''t catch her, I still don''t believe that paint horse was able to outrun our warhorses and it even seemed to gain energy once it tired,... perhaps that person has found out how to feed a potion to a horse while it is running without dying which would be difficult to deal with, however, that stunt after falling off would have likely broken a rib or two on such a frail-looking horse''.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile, Selenia kept going until she was sure that the pursuers were left far behind and taking several random turns to throw off any trackers for a little while. she tried to dismount and fell onto her back causing her to gasp for breath momentarily, she could hear the horses breathing starting to turn into a wet rasp but could do nothing for the animal at the moment.


    Selenia forced herself into a sitting position and thought back to lessons more than 20 years ago. Memories of her master flooded her mind once she tore down the wall in her heart preventing her from remembering things she would rather avoid, however, right now she needed help, and if she would get that help from dredging up old memories she was prepared to do that.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    At first, she gave a soft smile at the image of her master ''she still looks the same in my memory after so long'' then remembered that she would look the same even now, she had spent too much time amongst humans and was starting to find the unchanging elves to be the strange ones. Then she remembered the breathing techniques from a lesson amongst the flowers of the grove, that was her favorite place and her master liked to give lessons there when she was good.


    Selenia''s breathing started to steady and follow a set pattern and she thought ''I never expected to have to meditate like a mage, usually I just wait for my mana to regenerate because I''ve never run out before''. Mana began to flow towards her, slowly at first and then like a flood moments later as her mana pool acted like a black hole for mana. The more mana someone has the easier it is for them to attract more, usually this effect is small, however, Selenia''s mana capacity was larger than most which amplified the effect several times over.


    The dizziness started to fade once her body was not mana deprived and her memories became clearer. Times where she played with the animals of the grove others where she weaved flowers together into a wreath for her master... then a time when she snuck into the elder''s house by asking the spirits to make the tree open a hole in its trunk. Her scarred features turned into a scowl and she wondered what if she just ignored it and what would have come of her, life would have been so much simpler.


    Unknowingly Selenia had started to gather the spirits, they felt her mix of emotions and started to frenzy, they started to draw in mana and the area around her became extremely saturated with mana. her mind was still stuck in the past so she failed to notice the amount of mana she had absorbed or the odd behavior of the spirits.


    Suddenly she opened her eyes startled at the bright light coming from her chest, ancient runes crawled all over her body covering her skin completely, she could vaguely identify some of them to be elven in origin, but had no idea what they were for.


    The mana she had absorbed had completely filled her mana pool and the spirits were still gathering mana, some of which was absorbed into several of the runes that ran across her body. abruptly, several runes cracked then unraveled into oblivion in front of Selenia''s eyes. Once one rune destroyed itself several others attached to it were affected, some unraveled like the others seemingly exploded taking other runes along with it while a few simply shimmered out of existence.


    The small explosions startled her but they were simply projections of the real spell and caused her no harm.


    By the time the chain reaction finished almost half of her arm was free of runes starting from her stump. The damaged spell let its effect slip for a moment and Selenia''s mana pool became unrestricted. She felt her mana pool that was like a lake suddenly connect to what felt like a previously undiscovered underground aquifer that was several times the volume of the lake she was used to.


    Her control of her mana started to slip as it became affected by the frenzied spirits around her. Selenia could not control such a large amount of power and the chance of it simply exploding was increasing by the second. The runes on her body began to reknit themselves and the ''aquifer'' was once again sealed away, however, the mana that had leaked into her body from it was still outside.


    Now that the amount of mana was more manageable she struggled to force the energy into stabilizing but was unsuccessful. she realized the problem and cut her connection with the spirits and once she did they started to calm down.


    Her mana pool was full so she could not re-absorb the mana so she had to use it, she drew her sword and slashed while enhancing the swing with the wind element. The horizontal slash howled as she swung then the sound of the wave of power leaving the sword drowned out her sword, the wave formed a crescent wave as it left the blade and flew off into the distance. Once it hit a hill an explosion shook the surroundings then dust covered the entire area cutting off vision in an entire direction.


    She cursed at having made such a spectacle after having to flee for her life because of the last one. However, the mana was still rampaging inside her body, the last slash had only used a small portion of it cutting her future worries short.


    The explosion had woken up the horse that was lying nearby and it started to weakly wheeze again. Selenia heard the noise and turned around. The horse gave her an idea, This time she purposely activated the connection to the spirits and gave them a specific goal before drowning them in mana. They happily jumped around the horse while they directed their energies towards its wounds, the wheezing started to soften and its breathing steadied.


    After several minutes the horse was completely healed but there was still mana trying to burst out of her body. With no options left she redirected the spirits and had them indiscriminately grow the surrounding plants.


    The soil became several times more fertile and the plants started to grow out of control with the help of the spirits.


    After half an hour the mana was depleted enough that it would not cause any danger to Selenia anymore and she sighed in relief. However, once she looked around she found that the previously flat ground had completely overgrown and a forest now took its place.


    She once again sighed before mounting the horse and mumbling "the entire continent is going to become aforest before I get home at this rate". Then she began her frantic journey once again, and this time hopefully there would be fewer people who noticed the forest that suddenly appeared.


    The horse began to gallop and neighed in excitement at its newfound strength as it pushed itself to go faster than it had ever gone before ''at least someone is happy'' thought Selenia.

 45 or something. 63

    poAhri wandered around the dungeon floors. She had been inside the dungeon for several days now and had familiarized herself with the layout of the dungeon''s normal floors. She passed an area for the third time this week and thought ''he''s been here'' when she noticed the missing plants. Once again she stopped and changed direction with the thought that the seeds would be planted in the direction of the last plant he picked.


    Several hours later she came back to her room exhausted with nothing to show for it, the old alchemist had proved as elusive as the first day he entered the dungeon. The only evidence of his existence is the large spaces that are barren of anything even remotely useful for alchemy and the occasional sprinkling of seeds.


    Initially, Ahri intended to find the alchemist and possibly learn a few things from him while she tried to befriend the old man. However, she could never manage to find the man in question and she was starting to realize that he was avoiding her, although she could not figure out when she had offended him.


    Early the next day she sat up on her hard bed that she brought from the university and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. ''today he''s not getting away'' she thought to herself even if she did not entirely believe it.


    After slipping on something better suited to traverse a dungeon she exited the secret passage. She softly chanted a short spell then turned invisible.


    Imprints of small shoes started appearing leading away from the secret entrance as Ahri stalked her prey.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer watched her antics with his unique method of vision granted to him by being a dungeon, he sighed and flew away to find the alchemist.


    Once he found him he said "the silly girl is now using invisibility to try and catch you unawares"


    Rick replied "hey you ruined the fun, don''t give spoilers"


    "she will never get what she wants while continuing to go against me" returned Lucifer.


    Rick smirked and replied "does she even know that you know because it seems you are being a little passive aggressive"


    Lucifer snapped back "if she does not come to me on her own accord then I have no use for her. I need allies at the moment"


    Smiling wryly Rick replied "no one does anything for nothing, perhaps if you show her your abilities she may be more receptive to becoming an ally"This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Lucifer growled "as if I need another woman who only acts when there is something to gain from me"


    Rick could tell that he had inadvertently stepped on a nerve which he found strange considering Lucifer was a dungeon, but he decided that it was best not to anger the being who had a leash on his soul. "well if you are interested in hearing my opinion. You have almost completely cut off communication between her and her old life and what she is doing now is only a desperate attempt to cling to her old master by being useful. Once she gets used to being here those feelings will fade and in my experience, after long years of being a captive, she will come to rely on you with an almost unhealthy attachment to you. At this point, she will be yours to do what you will to her."


    By now Lucifer had calmed down slightly and managed to casually reply "you are talking about Stockholm syndrome which I am already familiar with, however, I don''t intend to wait several years before I make my decision about her, by that time I would already have surpassed her usefulness".


    After some thought, Rick replied "I guess we will see then". "oh by the way I have finished the artifact that you wanted".


    Lucifer happily replied "good work, just leave it in your room and I will come get it later I have some things to set up now" before flying away.


    Rick thought to himself ''That dungeon has issues'' while reminding himself to watch what he said and thought ''it also seems like the dungeon has had a relationship that went sour?''. With those thoughts, he shuffled away and occasionally bent down to pick up useful plants only stopping to scratch his head at the confusing thought of a dungeon with a wife.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile, Salenia was riding north at a moderate pace, slow enough that it would not tire the horse out and fast enough that only someone in a rush somewhere would catch up to her.


    At first, she was relieved after the last incident when no one came looking for her after the forest suddenly appeared in the middle of the day. However, she soon noticed the lack of animal movement, normally the birds would be chirping and competing in areal dances, but today they seemed still.


    This stillness was not unfamiliar to Salenia, she had seen it several times before. The other times there were packs of magically enhanced wolves hunting her party. She could feel that the mana was sparse in the area so the chance of large predators in the area was slim to none, a lone best that was driven out of its territory would be possible but the animals would not act in this way if that were the case.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    In an area not far from her a group of hooded men on large lizard mounts spoke in hushed tones.


    "the mages have communicated with all the groups and we have her surrounded"


    "are there any chances that she could escape"


    "no she is only on a small horse and she is wounded if the last group is to be believed." the man speaking patted a net of severed heads hung from the back of his saddle.


    "good we will attack just before the sun sets. make sure to keep ahead of her and keep communicating with the other groups"


    another man said "don''t worry if she notices and tries to break the encirclement one of the men will activate one of their transmission gems which will tell all the other groups"

 That was easy 64

    Selenia continued as if she did not know she was being followed while trying to communicate with the spirits, She had not used her connection to the spirits since she was a little girl so she was very clumsy with her communications and was having difficulty getting them to do anything advanced for her.


    After several hours the light trot of Salinas horse was now a slow gallop, she had slowly increased the speed of her mount over a long period of time to hopefully fool the people following her into thinking she was oblivious to their presence.


    The sounds of the horse''s steps started to change into the clacking of horseshoes against stone more often and she could faintly tell she was on an incline. This meant that she was close to her objective. However, the sun was setting and the others would likey attack very soon.


    She had an advantage of constantly giving her mount energy from the spirits so her mount is still fresh and ready to run while the others following her would have mounts that were ready to stop and rest, but Selenia knew that this would be enough to get away unscathed from these people.


    A spirit came back and sent over several emotion filled packets of mana telling Selenia a vague message. Her eyes widened after a brief moment to consider what the message was, the people following her had started to close the distance, She could not hear them yet but it was only a matter of time before they were right on top of her.


    It was now or never and never seemed like a bad idea, she kicked the horse into a full gallop in an attempt to catch the people in front unawares when they were spread the thinnest.


    The horse gives a happy neigh to be able to run at full speed again and starts to send the new power it had recently received to its legs causing it to nearly double in speed, Selenia almost slips out of the saddle at the unexpected speed but after reseating herself she strokes the horses main in appreciation and sends it more energy.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile, amongst the group tasked with staying ahead of Salenia, one of the men suddenly lifted his hand to motion for silence and tilted his head from habit. After several moments he announced "The boss just called it in, start closing the circle", The men slowed their mounts down and started to prepare for battle. They loaded their crossbows in preparation for the fight and started making bets with each other to psych themselves up.


    The man who made the previous announcement earlier smiled wryly at his men''s usual prefight antics. He could faintly hear the sound of a galloping horse and thought the other group leaders were closing the net too fast which was likely to create holes, but he shrugged it off because the person they were following showed no signs that they knew his group were hunting them other than the fact they sped up a little and the fact that even if they got outside the net, the group could still track them with the mage in the main party.


    The noise of the hoves made when they started to hit stone resounded louder than previously over the noise of his men. Something felt off to the man, the sound was coming from directly behind them not from the side where the other group leaders should be coming from.


    Just as he was about to order his men to halt and turn around he received another message from the main group''s mage, "the target has started to flee, everyone who is on the front of the net prepare for combat remember the person we are tracking his extremely dangerous".


    The blood drained out of his face as he bellowed "SHUT UP AND PREPARE FOR A FIGHT" while point behind them. Their mounts dug their hoves into the ground to slow down, several of the horses were running on stone at the time and slid quite a while further than the rest.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Crossbows were raised and aiming towards the incoming sound, and only a second after stopping a rider burst out of the brushes into full view of the group.


    The rider drew closer by the second on a deceptively fast paint horse while the group waited for the rider to get closer before firing. They would only get to fire their crossbows once before they were in close combat so every shot counts.


    The leader was about to order his men to fire when he noticed that the mana around the area was strange, he was the only person in the group who could feel mana to at any level of proficiency which is why he was made the leader of this group, he could receive the messages of the mage significantly easier than the others even if they were better suited to serve in a leadership role.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Selenia''s mount bust through the bushes and she spotted the group ahead. She had been slowly giving the spirits mana and desperately trying to convince them to not use the mana yet, which was like trying to tell a child to go to sleep before Christmas (utterly pointless), they lost focus and began to grow plants and she would have to step in to remind them to wait a little longer, that proved more difficult the more mana she gave them. She was almost thankful that the enemy decided to attack because she was not sure if she could continue to convince the spirits to hold on.


    With a sigh of relief, she sent a final message to the spirits, "go nuts". The overeager spirits immediately jumped at the chance and began releasing all the mana in whatever magical means they could.


    Roots burst from the ground, shooting up through the men''s mounts impaling them and their riders together. Seeds that had been in the ground for decades suddenly sprung to life and grew at a visible rate. The surviving members of the group frantically tried to dodge the surge of growth, stones were bound and crushed by newly growing trees as they reached for the heavens. Plants of all shapes and sizes sprung up from the ground without any competition for food or nutrients with the spirits providing both, this created a thick blanket of solid plant matter so dense no one would be able to tell you the color of the ground at the moment.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile at the main group. The leader was bellowing out orders while his giant lizard mount climbed the newly growing trees in an attempt to get away from the dangers below. Here there were few roots targeting people directly, however, the thick undergrowth had trapped several men to their mounts while the plants continued growing, several moments after they were overgrown harsh cracks were heard shortly before the short-lived screams of the men and their mounts before becoming eerily quiet.


    The leader had never encountered any magic like this, he wanted to ask the mage about this but just before nature started running wiled the mage started screaming something incoherent about the spirits while bleeding from his 7 orifices. He had heard legends of such magics hundreds of years ago when the human kingdom was whole and they tried to attack the elven kingdoms, the history books or at least what counted as history books said that nature itself fought for the elves which was why the ''''heroic'''' humans were unable to subjugate them.


    His mount hissed and licked the air as he witnessed several fireballs climb into the sky until they lost too much speed then arced back to earth and fizzled out before hitting the ground. These were his men''s flares which they would use in case of emergency if communications were down. He growled in frustration, most of his men were probably being attacked by the same thing and he could tell the growth was thicker ahead of him where his men were starting to converge.


    He put his fingers to his lips and whistled, several seconds later several more whistles sounded. Moments later 6 of his men emerged from the undergrowth mounted on the same giant lizard that the leader rode. These land dragons had definitely paid for themselves several times over by now. Satisfied with the performance of the mount he made a mental note to get more for his other men that survived then ordered his closest subordinates to follow him.


    The small group riding land dragons promptly disappeared amongst the new forest in the direction of the flares.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Selenia sat on her mount as it dumbly stood there munching on some leaves in front of it. ''This was probably the reason those old coots were so adamant about having me so restricted'' she thought.


    The path was blocked, however, one quick message to the spirts later and nature curve out creating a path for her to go. Once there was a path to move on the horse seemingly forgot about the leaves and started to gallop along the convenient path.

 Finale chase. 65

    The leader growled to the lightly robed man next to him "what''s taking so long", only for the other party to snort in disdain while continuing his complex chant.


    Right now the leader had his target in the palm of his hands, but he failed, again and again, to grasp her firmly. His troubles started with the initial encirclement, using some sort of magic trickery she was able to just waltz out of the carefully planned encirclement. Then he and his closest men rode their precious savanna lizard mounts to give chase, however, again she proved difficult, the advantage of the reptiles eyesight should have lead to a quick capture against a normal horse, instead he found out that her horse could run just fine during the night as it did during the day.


    Hours passed with no side gaining the advantage, she could not get away because anytime she got out of sight the Lizards could follow their noses without missing a beat, and they could not get closer due to occasionally losing sight of her coupled with the slowly declining stamina of their mounts, giving the man a splitting headache with another thing that her mount seemed to surpass common sense with.


    Slowly the distance increased as losing sight of their prey became more frequent and it took longer for the panting reptiles to follow her scent.


    Ignoring the twisting of his stomach he ordered for his men to "dope" their mounts, the lizards had small vials of liquid shoved down their open maws then soon after their eyes became bloodshot as they seemed to gain a second wind.


    At first, the leader was hoping this would allow their mounts to keep up long enough for the woman to make a mistake and allow them to catch up, but once their mounts ingested the liquid they began running faster than they ever had before, giving him quite the surprise.


    He could see the distance visible closing and he gave a mental note to himself to thank the alchemist that suggested the potions to them when he saw their mounts.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Presently.


    Salenia swung her sword around frenziedly only hitting the mark occasionally, but glancing off a blade or shield every time. The men surrounding her did not attack and only focused on defense, they seemed perfectly content to keep her here forever and she could feel her face heating up as her attacks became more reckless.


    Several corpses littered the ground around her feet as a testament to prowess as a swordsman, even one handed and almost blind she could still kill the less skilled amongst the people surrounding her. however, they quickly learned that the energy shield that covered her body was impenetrable by any of their current means and every time it seemed to disappear it only did so for as long as it took for someone to get too close, then find themselves missing limbs.


    As time wore on and both sides continued to get nowhere the man in robes suddenly stopped muttering to himself and the leader started to grin viciously. The man pointed his palms towards the woman that was encircled and shouted: "OLNGVBO" (<---- smacked keyboard) and a soft light shot straight towards to woman.


    Salenia saw the mage casting but the people dancing around her gave her no room to retaliate only adding to her frustration. when her sensitive ears caught the end of the chant which he so graciously yelled for her she rolled to the side directly behind one of the enemies to dodge.


    The man that suddenly found himself between the spell and the target paled and jumped to the side too, however, Selenia expected this and the moment he put his guard down he found a sword pass through the back of his neck.


    Salenia''s small victory was short lived as she realized the spell turn midair to target her again, she was in no position to dodge so she pulled her blade in front of her to mitigate the damage if it passed her barrier.


    As she moved her wrist she realized too late that the spell was not targeted at her, but her sword instead, before she could move it behind her the spell hit the blade and tore it from her grip.


    The blade made a whistling sword as it cut through the air and the leader who was waiting for this bellowed "NOW".


    A man that was standing at the back that Salenia thought was either useless in a fight or a coward suddenly jumped towards the unarmed Salenia.


    She could still her sword falling so she decided to go for the fool closing in on her first, she was confident her shield would protect her from any harm in the meantime anyway.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    When the man was less than a meter away from her he suddenly spun around throwing ropes everywhere.


    Salenia managed to grab the man by the throat before he finished his spin and started to squeeze. As his throat collapsed under the pressure she noticed that the ropes were a net causing her to scoff at the man in her grasp before dropping his lifeless body on the ground with the others, their blades could not harm her what could a net do?.


    While removing the net scuffling boots caught her attention and she realized the other men were each grabbing an edge of the net, they pulled hard and she lost her balance then hit the ground. The shield would stop them from pushing her further down but whenever she started to try and move they would throw their bodies against her causing her to fall and roll around, soon she found herself sprawled face down on the ground with a man standing on each limb.


    One of the men asked "boss should we just wrap her up and offer her up for the price or should we stab her shield until it breaks".


    The leader thought for a moment before ordering "just keep stabbing her, I don''t want to take any chances with this one, she has already caused enough damage. besides it''s going to be a long ride back" then gestured towards the collapsed savanna lizard mounts, the "doping" had given them a boost, but there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Several hours later the sun had started to rise revealing a half-dozen exhausted men and beasts surrounding a tied up individual that was surrounded by a soft glowing shield.


    The mercenary group had spent hours trying to deplete Salenia''s shield with no luck and now they were as exhausted as their mounts which they had drugged the previous night. if they knew Salenia was communicating with the spirits to help gather mana faster than they could deplete it they might just die of frustration where they stood.


    However Salenia was in no better condition, she thought to herself ''I thought I had learned from my mistakes of underestimating people, if only I did not use the rest of my armor as a decoy to escape the city then the enhanced grip of the gauntlets would have made it impossible for that S%#(*@ mage to disarm me. if I learned to communicate with the spirits better when I was younger then maybe I could use them to attack right now, or if...''


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    During her self-loathing episode, another person had overheard the noise and now observed the situation from the shadows of a tree in the distance. They sent mana into the lens of an eye and bent it slightly to gain a better view of the disturbance. They saw Salenia as she struggled to fight against her captors and those people attacking the prisoner with their weapons while she was bound and unarmed.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The leader stood next to the mage quietly as he mused on how to solve the barrier problem, the mage had said the barrier would not hold long, but that was hours ago and his patience was wearing thin. he decided to take another stab at attacking the prisoner when his men became too tired to do it anymore.


    He picked up a spear from one of the fallen and started his assault, his attacks were much more powerful than his subordinates and managed to bring out a crisp bang every time he struck the shield, every time he struck his subordinates would cheer him on in hopes of gaining a few brownie points over the others.


    "Wow boss you sure are skilled with that spear"


    "You should be able to break that shield in no time if it''s you boss"


    "Kill that annoying bitch"


    "yea fuck her up"


    gurgle*


    "turn around an hit her without looking boss"


    The strange sound in the middle caused him to raise his eyebrows and turn around to see who made such a weird attempt to gain his favor. Once he turned he found a blade lodged in his chest, gurgle*, he thought ''so that''s what that sound was'', before collapsing on the ground.


    The other men jumped up at the sight of an intruder appearing out of nowhere and stabbing their boss, but they were already exhausted and could not put up much of a fight before they were all cut down.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Salenia heard the noise and assumed some other party had come along to take her for the bounty, but she felt the ropes loosening, she jumped up and cautiously watched the blurry figure while feeling around for her sword. The figure just stood there silently until she had retrieved her sword again, then asked "what happened to you for there to be so many assholes trying to kill you ms''s well done" while pointing to Salenia''s burnt face.


    Salenia felt immeasurably better once her sword was back in her hand and she replied "It''s a long story, can you point me towards the direction of the new dungeon city"


    The other party shrugged then replied "its that way" while pointing slightly away from where Salenia had just come from.


    Salenia frowned and squinted trying to figure out where the other person was pointing when the other person saw her eyes they exclaimed "oh your blind, it''s a wonder you managed to kill this many of em with one hand and no eyes... you can just follow me I suppose, I''m going that way anyway and its only a couple hours away on foot"


    Salenia thought for a moment then thanked her savior before setting off on foot now that her mount was limping with bolts stuck in its behind and the lizards were in no shape to move right now.


    They walked together with Salenia occasionally stopping to heal her horse with what little spirit magic she could use.


    Salenia muttered to herself "finally the Salenia mini-arc is over" the other person asked, "what arc something?" Salenia replied "oh its nothing important" and continued walking.

 Slippery 66

    Lucifer watched a group of adventurers delve into his dungeon which had become his hobby since becoming a dungeon. he licked his imaginary lips in anticipation as the group fumbled around the third floor, Lucifer was not waiting for this group to be killed, however, instead, he was hoping that this group would be able to spot the recently created "GIANT GAPING HOLE IN THE WALL".Unlike the last few groups who managed to pass by completely oblivious to it, even sending Lucky over to play with them didn''t put him in a better mood, regardless of how "imaginative" she was.


    Just as they were passing the opening like the last group and Lucifer was considering "sending Kuro to give them an encouragement mauling in the right direction or add some lighting near the hole" (probably the former), the group scout stopped and sniffed the air. Moments later she said, "I smell a different place".


    The mage of the group replied "vague as always, I don''t know why Lee tolerates your kind"


    "I don''t know how he tolerates "your" kind either" replied the mage tauntingly.


    hmph*


    Shaking his head the group leader shook his head and sighed before directing the group "stop fighting amongst yourselves, there are plenty of enemies around for that. Show us the way towards the new area Lex".


    Lucifer sent a mental command to Kuro "take a rain check on the mauling lil Kuro, they seem to be going in the right direction". Large claws retracted into the paws of the silent predator prowling above the group as it melded back into the shadows and disappeared.


    Slowly the party Lucifer was observing made their way towards the hole, once they entered the group looked around briefly before leaving the area, then they started to head back out of the dungeon at a brisk pace.


    Lucifer quickly sent a message to Lucky "come here quickly, there is a group of people who pissed me off royally." he growled then continued in an almost whisper "I want you to use orange".


    Luckys reply came back almost instantly in a timid voice "a-a are you sure you want to use...orange"


    before he could reply he overheard the mage say "we can earn big at the guild if we report a new floor and its location, and better yet we can get some other idiot to see if it''s safe", Lucifer paused for a moment then replied "wait, it turns out they were not as bad as I initially thought, you can take a rain check on orange this time"


    ----------------


    somewhere a fairy gave a great sigh of relief then flew back to play with some cute panther kitties.


    gaww*


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile, in another part of the dungeon, a certain fox girl stealthily moved around the dungeon while invisible. Ahri had initially thought that becoming invisible would mean she would easily be able to catch Rick, however, he proved to be more slippery than a greased up deaf guy.


    She had tried just walking around areas with large amounts of alchemical ingredients, but after several days she had to give up after she noticed that when she went to her room for sleep, all the plants she had just passed were now missing and the idea that he was following her the entire time was a major blow to her self-confidence.


    She tried to wait in an area he was likely to visit, but whenever she became tired and fell asleep for a moment she would open her eyes a second later and find all the plants missing with no old man in sight.


    She tried setting traps for him, but not only did she not manage to catch the old man with physical or magic means, she only received praise from the dungeon for setting traps that managed to kill a few adventurers which appalled her. The dungeon simply replied "even if its a non lethal trap that doesn''t mean that its not lethal when your running away from a giant cat trying to maul your face off", he even told her that it has become a habit for the some of the Panthers to wait near the traps she set just so they could play with the swinging prey according to Lucky. Worse yet, when she went to take down the traps after failing to catch the old man she somehow managed to end up caught in her own trap.


    As she hung there wondering how she activated the trap when she was sure she didn''t put a trigger there she heard muffled high pitched giggled coming from the bushes nearby, Ahri started to panic at the thought of being seen in such weird position so she started to cast a spell to cut the rope, however, half way though the chant the dungeon spoke startling her "I had no idea you were into this sort of thing you should have told me, I could have made a special room for you to "play" in so you wouldn''t be seen... although being seen might be half the fun for you... well then don''t mind me carry on"The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Ahri refused to come out of her room for a week after and a certain fairy got a newly created painting from her master named "foolish foxy" from the image he captured of the incident, which now hangs in her own dungeon boss room.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Later


    Ahri finally came out of her room after a week, the only other time she left her room was briefly to receive a message from the mages guild.


    In her hand, she held a small circular disk with a golden arrow that occasionally spun slightly in the middle, this is what she had spent the week working on. This disk was something she enchanted after numerous failures, normally she would have given up after the 5th or 6th failure but after the previous incident, she couldn''t stand to give in to the slippery old coot and promised to catch him if its the last thing she did.


    The pin spun several times then slowed to a specific direction and halted, she smiled in such a way that it did not reach her eyes giving an eerie feeling to anyone if they saw her.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile, Rick practically flew around the dungeon collecting ingredients. The past few weeks were heaven for Rick, the number of alchemical ingredients here for the taking made this place a virtual paradise for any alchemist when they can move around freely without the threat of monster attacks or worse, dungeon attacks. He had accomplished more in a week than he had in a year outside, unless he wanted to venture out into the deep forests where the savage beats ruled, yet even an ancient like himself would not live long in those places that could rival this area in terms of rare plants.


    Once he became a grand alchemist Rick ventured into those lands where normal humans could never go and long story short he left faster than he came, even the rarest of ingredients that have been absorbing mana for hundreds of years could not sway him to return there, he had learned the hard way why humans continued to wage war against themselves and the other races when there were so many unclaimed lands to take. It''s not that there is not enough land for all the races to live peacefully, they only occupy around 10% of the landmass, It''s because the lands the races occupy are the only areas the truly scary monsters allow them to live, areas so barren of magical energy they could not be bothered to claim it themselves.


    This is what made Swadia such valuable land, the dragon vein that ran underneath it was close enough to give its inhabitants a boost but deep enough underground to stop anything from taking a closer look.


    While reminiscing about his childish past when he was only a couple hundred years old he noticed the fox girl was closing in on him for the third time today, ''this girl is getting better'' he thought then changed direction to avoid crossing paths.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    An hour later he felt her presence once again, he sighed in resignation, he could keep avoiding her forever if he wanted to but that would cut into his collecting time significantly and he didn''t have the energy for that, so he chose to wait for her to hear what she wanted to say even though he could guess what she wanted anyway.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Ahri stalked closer to the old man who suddenly stopped for no apparent reason, she paused too for a moment before continuing slower and more cautiously than before. The hair on her tails spiked up and her eyes unknowingly became bloodshot, each beat of her heart was like a drum in her ears, as she got within pouncing distance from her prey it began to speak.


    After failing time and time again to capture this one she was not about to let the prey escape again so she leaped with all of her muscles empowered by buffs she spent the morning applying.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Rick was about to say "we meet again little fox", but he only got to the first syllable before he found himself tackled and rolled down a small hill with limbs and tails fumbling about.


    When they came to a stop Ahri yelled: "I''VE GOT YOU NOW!!!" with a savage triumphant smile.


    Rick layed there underneath the crazy woman dumbfounded that the mute girl would act in such a way, he began laughing and when he saw her confused face he laughed even harder.


    After she finally came back to herself and noticed what she was doing she jumped back while blushing down to her neck as if her head was about to explode. Rick was only chuckling at this point "it seems your the type of beastmen that easily succumbs to instinct"


    Ahri began to spell in the air with magic when Rick waved her off "you don''t need that right now, your basking in your beast mode at the moment so to speak, which is to say you should be able to speak right now"


    Ahri tried to speak and was surprised when the words easily flowed even with a stranger around even if it sounded a little gruff "I- I can''t tal-- ... it seems I can, how did you know"


    Rick replied, "I''ve been around for a long time and I''ve seen more than a few mutes, bestmen are a little easier to treat in that aspect because your kind can enter the "savage", at least I think that is what your people call it. simply put a few well-timed triggers can cause beastmen to go towards the more best side of their nature."


    "so does this mean that I can talk to anyone now," she asked


    "not really no, some beastmen can activate the savage whenever they want, but that requires training from an Elder shaman which I am not. speaking of which it is quite strange that you don''t know about something that affects all of your race"


    Ahri smiled wryly and decided to use this opportunity when she can speak to tell her story, perhaps she might earn the goodwill of this senior or maybe she will get another perspective that she had not thought of and she might be able to get past her traumas and regain her voice permanently.

 Build it and they will come. 67

    News of a new floor quickly spread around the city''s taverns and by the end of the day there was a record number of adventurer deaths in the dungeon, it would take the adventurers guild several days to distribute the information related to the dangers in the new floor. By that time dozens of adventurers either died or simply went missing.


    Adventurer groups would comb through the safe appearing floor only to find nothing and upon turning around finding one or more of their members missing, never to be seen again.


    Others just fell to the ground and died on the spot with no visible injuries, the adventurer guild sent people to discover the cause of death and found the victim''s hearts had hardened into a solid mass causing death.


    A man attempted to sell several beautifully colored frogs as pets in the markets, the ensuing aftermath led to the discovery of the hardening heart toxin the frogs excreted from their skin, this toxin was so potent that it only required skin contact to kill its victims and common antidotes have no effect on it. Research is being conducted for a potential cure or preventative measure against the toxin, but have met with no success. The current recommendation by the guilds is "if it''s in a dungeon and it''s bright and colorful you shouldn''t touch it AND IF it''s trying to touch you RUN"


    The frog that caused the incident was captured by experts and now lives in a small glass case in the adventurer guild as an example and warning to any who venture on the new floor. The frog is affectionately called Sir Hugs-a-lot by the reception staff after witnessing the frog attempting to jump at people outside its enclosure like it wanted to hug them.


    After the news of a new toxin spread to neighboring cities the guards found increasing numbers of "unsavory" people appearing in the city, but after it was discovered that the frogs lose their potency after they leave the dungeon most of those people soon left the city, either by choice or not at all after meeting Wolfram.


    A city lord was appointed to the city with the city planner stepping down as temporary lord, The man was named Albus D''ellinoris and was secretly part of the King''s faction.


    Upon gaining power he immediately summoned Wolfram and his generals to set up laws for the city that he entrusted Wolfram''s men to enforce. Most of these laws were the common ones in other major cities that favored the nobles and stabilized his position, however, he snuck in a few laws that seemed innocuous at first glance, but they would allow him to monetize certain commodities and give benefits to those who were loyal to him. This would allow him to build a strong base of power so his family could plant strong roots in this city for his successors to inherit and allow him to discreetly starve out the nobles faction from the city.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    One such law forbids the act of taking living animals outside the dungeon... unless you pay a fee. A new market was created within several days as large businesses and Noble retainers fought to gain a monopoly on the rare and/or dangerous pets market, but a timely gift to the new city lord allowed a large business called the parasol corporation to bypass the expensive live dungeon pet tax and beat the competition through sheer economic force.


    While the nobles ground their teeth in frustration Albus met with the leader of the parasol cooperation and gave the gift back while receiving a bag of jewels in exchange. then the leader of the parasol cooperation left to report to his backers in the King''s faction.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile, Lucifer having finished the first couple of boisterous days after the discovery of his fourth-floor stopped observing adventurers and begun work on the sixth floor again.


    He thought about adding the pirhanas of the fifth floor but that just seemed unimaginative, so after thinking about it he decided to start with the boss this time instead. A brief scan through his Earth-mails showed the viable creatures that could live in this environment and some of the others that could probably be modified to live here.


    Even though his mana was full at the moment he had no intention of spending all his mana on the boss so modifying an unsuitable creature to be the boss just seemed like a waste when he had to create an entire food web on this floor.


    A small amount of life energy and pure mana disappeared from his control and a moment later a baby octopus appeared in front of his consciousness.


    Lucifer had to admit that the only reason he chose the octopus instead of a more dangerous monster was because he always wanted to say "release the Kraken" like davy jones, while this little octopus was cute it was definitely no Kraken.


    Hours later and a healthy dose or perhaps unhealthy dose of energies supplied by Lucifer, the baby octopus was now nearly a dozen meters across and that was only his main body, it''s legs were more than triple that of its body in length.


    Lucifer was unsure if he should add any more weapons to the creature because it seemed dangerous enough as is, so instead, he chose to give it a name and modify it later if he found it too weak.


    and thus CUDDLES was born, the Kraken of the deep, nightmare for all those who braved the dark waters of the sixth floor.

 Problems and solutions 68

    Lucifer floated above the sixth-floor sea, wondering ''what will I put on this floor to attract adventurers''.


    Initially, he was content with continuing to create progressively stronger monsters the deeper the dungeon went, however, there was a problem with this line of thought. If the later floors only contain stronger and stronger monsters, what reason does anyone have to go there.


    This seemed to go against any cost-benefit analysis he could think up and every conclusion he came to pointed towards the later floors being completely empty.


    Another problem was the limited resources on the earlier floors, his dungeon floors may be dozens of times larger than the standard dungeon, but with the progressively more dangerous floors, the number of valuable materials on the first few floors that newbies could target was limited.


    Lucifer started to think about his dungeons location and more headaches started to form, he had used his mana tower technique to see outside several times and was quite impressed with what had been constructed in such a short time.


    Most of the nobles district above the dungeon entrance were now under construction, they had used mages during construction so they had already created a sizable home for the nobles to temporarily stay and the rest of the mansions seemed to be built in extensions from those homes.


    With nobles comes money and with money comes merchants. The shopping district had shifted from mostly comprising of people selling directly from their wagons to small stalls and more permanent storefronts.


    And that is where Lucifers contentment stopped, although the upper levels of the city were making great progress the lower levels were non-existent. Without laborers and tradesman, the city will never flourish. It had become immediately obvious Lucifer needed to be able to see the city for himself up close and interact with the people personally if he ever wanted to impact the growth of the city in any meaningful way.


    He did not know how to do that at the moment but a significant portion of the research was already been put into getting a body yet it seemed a long way off, if he pushed his little prisoners any further they may break prematurely. So he settled for using second-hand information and set off to find his little ambassador.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile, Ahri was telling her story to Rick, it was nothing new for him if not disappointing, not at her but at humanity in general. After she finished telling her story and sat in silence with a dazed expression Rick sighed before responding "I thought humans were long past such behavior, or at least not in a such a position to breed such people capable of it, the last time I saw such things was in the age of famine"


    This time it was Ahri''s turn to be shocked, The age of famine was hundreds of years ago at the earliest and a thousand years at the latest, with the ages having no particular set dates of when they started or finished. She knew he was old but was never able to confirm it, she would never have guessed he was truly "ancient" by human standards. Merlin was only a few hundred years old by comparison and he was already one of the most powerful mages on the continent.


    As for someone significantly older than him, Ahri could not even imagine what the ordinary looking old man sitting across from her had experienced, or even how powerful he was. Humans who reached the pinnacle of power could extend their lifespans significantly, living 3 or 4 hundred years was not out of the question, however, to live longer than that required either extream levels of power that only existed in legends or reach the pinnacle of a profession that could extend ones life.


    Light mages could heal themselves indefinitely when they reached a high enough level, but after long periods of doing that they started to have abnormal growths, sometimes it was visible with large lumps growing on their bodies and any healing magic would only cause the thing to grow and other times it grew inside them even causing insanity on rare occasions. The upper echelons of the church survive this way and are forced to cut each other open to remove the growths only for them to grow back most of the time.


    Dark mages can also extend their life by turning themselves into the undying or undead, while this attracts a lot of power hungry people who are interested eternal life, but the drawbacks are not any better than the light mages which made Ahri shiver unconsciously.


    Rick did not seem like either type of those and the other ways of extending your lifespan with other magic systems were even rarer.


    Ahri racked her brains but could not figure out how he managed to survive for so long, then she muttered "elixir of life" with a gasp.


    Rick waved her off saying "if you''re wondering how I''ve come to live so long you can forget it, all your going to do is strain your brain thinking because you would never guess it anyway. As for the elixir of life, I do know "of" it, however, considering the main ingredient is massive amounts of human lives I''ll pass"


    The blood drained from Ahri''s face, she had heard rumors in alchemy manuals, mostly scribblings of a madman or almost unintelligible notes in alchemy study documents, something about equivalent exchange, but most of these sources were unreliable, one author who went into detail on the subject started to write about the fusion of a little girl and a dog. Absurd things like that are what she considers red flags when reading research papers. Too many an experiment have gone wrong because she listened to the ramblings of a madman who breathed in too much of their own work.


    With her thoughts still wandering Rick interrupted her daydreaming "do you know why I have been avoiding you?"


    Ahri frowned "I don''t know"


    "your willing to admit you don''t know something ha, that''s good too many in the academia are simply unable to do that... cough* anyway I shouldn''t be telling you this but Lucifer told me to avoid you"


    "Lucifer??"


    Seeing her confused expression Rick explained "the dungeon"


    Ahri exclaimed, "the dungeon has a name??... wait why did it tell you to avoid me?"


    Ignoring the fact that she was a servant to a being she didn''t even try to find out the name of he replied "isn''t it obvious, your trying to get between me and him, since I am his servant then you would have to go through him to get anything and you want to go behind his back and "avoid the middle man" so to speak. and its a wonder why he wants to prevent that"


    Ahri started to look frightened by this point as she squeaked "was it that obvious"


    ...


    "you were not exactly subtle about it, do you think a dungeon would not notice the goings on in his own body, I wouldn''t be surprised if he knew anything or everything going on in here"Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Ahri was becoming paler by the second as she remembered the last time she upset the dungeon, it was not pleasant. She thought it was strange that a stranger was sticking his neck out for her so she quietly asked "why are you telling me this when you could be punished for it"


    Rick chuckled "you mean the soul fracturing he can use on those who are bound to him. I''m not particularly worried about it, besides I''ve talked to him for a little while and can understand his character enough to be at ease"


    He could tell that she was still uneasy about the dungeon so he wanted to help her along and probably help Lucifer in the process. "he is not an unreasonable person... well sort of... what I mean is he won''t punish someone for doing something for him, so I am safe to help you as long as it helps him. I''m also quite sure that if he has not killed you yet then he has given you another chance to come around to his side.


    However, I will warn you now, I''ve been alive for a long time and met a great deal of people, so I''m rather confident in my abilities to discern peoples characters. So although it may sound strange I think that he was hurt by a woman before judging by his attitude, Therefore you are on rather thin ice considering your a woman and have been trying to go around his back, something such people tend to explode into irrational fury easily from. Therefore if you want to live much longer I suggest you forget your old life and get accustomed to the new one. the start of which should start with "encouraging" your old master to finish sending over the promised library"


    After finishing his intended speech he stood back up, dusted his clothes off and disappeared into the darkness leaving a silent foxgirl behind to figure out what she is going to do with her life.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer floated gently above Ahri''s head after having observed the entire conversation. ''While it is true that I won''t punish someone for doing something "for" me, that doesn''t mean I won''t punish someone for doing something I don''t desire regardless who it is "for". Although I think I will let off that old coot this time even if it is against what I said because I want the girl to finally make a decision before I am forced to seal her away to avoid future troubles. perhaps I will give her a few more days to decide to be on my side, I can''t have an enemy in the castle''.


    Lucifer decided against interrupting the girl''s existential crises for some basic information on the town and instead went to look for Rick.


    He found him collecting alchemical ingredients as always, he wondered why it took the adventurers so long to figure out the venus fly traps had ingredients inside them, the reason stood before him, Rick had taken all of the alchemical plants on the entire floor only leaving behind seeds in their place.


    Just as Rick was bending down to pick an ingredient he heard Lucifers voice causing him to freeze. "It seems like you are enjoying yourself after picking several floors almost clean the last few days."


    Rick smiled wryly as he slowly continued to harvest the plant. Lucifer was starting to get irritated "considering you just went against my orders a moment ago you have the balls to continue picking plants in front of me, especially after you cleaned a few floors clean of plants. And yet I know that I did say that you could pick whatever you wanted as long as you left seeds behind to regrow the population but, we both know that having several floors missing anything that remotely looks like a plant for nearly a week straight is taking it too far. ah and before you answer you might want to tell me what use I have for such a pest with such an insatiable appetite"


    Rick never thought he would be the one being lectured right after he finished one he coughed then replied "I have been gathering essence from the alchemical ingredients, since they are not very high level it takes alot of them to create anything useful, but now I have enough to create something"


    Sighing in his mind Lucifer asked "what can you make with such a large accumulation of ingredients"


    "well I can make a variety of things but, I think the thing that would interest you the most would be assimilation stone. before you say that it sounds useless considering all the alchemical ingredients I took that you could have turned into life energy from dead adventurers I will say that any kingdom would go to war for such a thing and I will make quite a large one with how much essence I have"


    interested Lucifer asked "what does it do for entire kingdoms to fight for it"


    Rick explained "It gathers mana from the atmosphere at an alarming rate and purifies it, even several arch-mages would not be able to mimic such an effect of a decently sized one. The arcane university has a small one which allows the mages of this small Swadia kingdom to compete with the Magedom that has significantly better resources than it.


    Now, most people use it to make a training room for talented upcoming mages, by surrounding the person in controlled high-density pure mana they can train at a frightening pace compared to others. the other ways of using it involve allowing it to store large amounts of energy for years then releasing it all at once in a spell, as you can imagine this is the reason why grand alchemists are respected, no one wants their castle to disappear.


    Such things probably mean nothing to you, however, you can use the stone in much more imaginative ways because you are a dungeon. you can absorb an absurd amount of mana and you are only limited by the purity of said mana, but the stone is not limited in such a way. You could use this stone as an intermediary between the polluted mana and yourself."


    After finishing his little sales pitch he looked smug when he thought that the Lucifer could not complain about a few missing alchemical ingredients when he could obtain something so valuable.


    "well get on with it," said Lucifer.


    [Rick]...


    Lucifer suddenly remembered why he came here in the first place and asked "what do you think I should add to the dungeon to make people enter the lower floors"


    After getting over how casually Lucifer skipped over the assimilation stones he answered "If I assume you want large amounts of people to enter the dungeon and die I would suggest something useful for a warrior to use, right now you have plenty of things for alchemists but nothing in particular for a warrior to use, which most adventurers consist of warriors or people who would benefit from the same things one would use"


    "thank you, that has given me some good ideas. ah also I wanted to ask you for any ideas to increase the number of people of the lower and working class in the city above, there seem to be very few houses built in that area."


    Rick thought ''one second he seems like he''s about to murder someone the next he thanks them...'' then replied "I''ve had my shop built there shortly after the first group arrived to build the city and I''ve noticed a lack of commoners too. hmm... I would have to say that the problem is the lack of work and food."


    "the dungeon has plenty of food" Lucifer returned.


    "how do you expect commoners to pay for food obtained from a dungeon, you seem to think if they are hungry they will go to the dungeon to hunt for something to eat, despite the fact that most commoners don''t know how to hunt for one and secondly they would never enter a dungeon because they don''t know how to fight, nor do they know the first floor is relatively safe for anyone to hunt in." lectured Rick


    Lucifer said "It seems I have overlooked such an obvious thing. when you finish making that stone you can move into the alchemical farm that I have created for you." then he left and proceeded towards the 6th floor.


    Rick reflected ''I''m starting to think I haven''t quite figured out this one yet''.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer arrived back on the sixth floor. Then he looked through his Earth-mails for a suitable material or creature for a time. After several minutes all he could find was a giant clam shell that created some sort of mana crystal in its mouth instead of a pearl, the crystal could be absorbed by the body to strengthen it slightly, but the crystal could only be used on a person a limited amount of times, even so Lucifer was sure that such a thing would be quite popular amongst the adventurers.


    The clams were a good idea for the floor, but they did not seem to have any killing power and Lucifer was not going to just give people valuable material for no reason. He could not figure out a way to modify the clam to be any real danger so instead, he modified a crab species to be 2 meters in height, upgraded their claws then made the clams grow a fungus that the crabs liked to eat on their shells.


    Now the crabs would protect the clams for the moss and the clams could do their clam things in peace.


    This floor did not seem deadly enough considering the floors before it so he added a fish similar to a swordfish and only increased it''s size''speed and aggressiveness.


    Although this floor did not feel complete to him he decided to leave it at that for now because the author is tired. and instead, he went towards the Ant queen because he had a new objective for the worker ants.

 Unexpected 69

    Lucifer flew down the ant''s nest and entered the deepest chamber that belonged to the queen. this chamber was nothing like the rest of the nest, the chamber itself looked more man-made than natural. walls consisted of large stones perfectly fitted together to form flat walls with relief carvings depicting unknown stories. Larger ants with obvious mutations that gave them elemental abilities and greater strength patroled the chamber, unlike the ants outside these ones did not carve symbols into their shells leaving them a pristine obsidian black.


    In the middle of the room sat the queen, she was obviously much larger than even the mutated ants and she gave off a soft glow of dark light which looked eerie to the eye.


    Something seemed off to Lucifer and the feeling only became stronger the closer he came to the ant queen, it seemed like her, but not her at the same time.


    He began to closely inspect her and once he approached within a dozen meters she reacted, her mandibles twitched and she began to tremble slightly as she spun around looking for something.


    All the guardian ants sensed their queen''s agitation and began to search for whatever it was that displeased their queen.


    Moments later Lucifer received a packet of emotion over his psychic link to the queen, happiness, excitement, loneliness and sadness along with devotion, so many things were shoved into the small packet that some of them merged together and simply became noise.


    Lucifer who was doubting the authenticity of the one in front of him had his doubts dispelled after the message, the ant queen always tried to shove 30 things in something that could only carry 10 even in her messages to him.


    He had spoken to her several times over the mental link and found nothing amiss, but she looked so different from the way he made her, she looked like a slightly bigger common ant queen she sometimes gave birth to.


    Perhaps she decided to use the energy he gave her to evolve into something that looked more like her children. The more he thought about it the less sense it made, so he decided to just ask her directly instead, "you look different, why?"


    Then he remembered that she could not speak and only sent back packets of information containing emotions and regretted asking her. Just as he was preparing to receive another overstuffed message he noticed the black light around her start to ebb and flow.


    A gravely distorted voice came from the ant queen, "You gave power to evolve, for me choose, chose this."


    Lucifer was initially surprised than relieved that he wouldn''t have to decipher noise packets for the rest of the day. he asked "you chose to become a normal queen?, I''m sure the power I gave you earlier was greater in the old form"


    After half a minute the queen replied, "had power, undecided, kept power, master sleep, many cycles, old, infertile, can''t serve, decided, use power switch bodies, new queen, many times"


    While the message was rather bare bones he could understand the idea. Apparently, he had slept longer than he had realized and he started to grow a fondness for this loyal little creature. Then he asked "I don''t remember you being able to speak" and the only word he received as the reply was "Lucky".


    He found it surprising that Lucky manages to get around as much as she does and even managed to teach an ant basic language, although it did not surprise him the Lucky would enjoy speaking to the queen with her impossible to understand fast-paced emotion packets.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Then the words "many times" struck him, at first he thought that the queen had only transferred bodies once or "switched bodies" was a bad translation of evolved, but "many times" suggested something different. He asked "did you switch bodies or evolve into a different one to avoid dying of old age"


    The queen replied "show", then walked up to one of the guards and the dark light around her wrapped around them both for a moment before the queen fell to the ground unmoving. Then Lucifer felt the queens link with him waver for a moment before it shifted into the ant she had approached.


    After a moment the ant looked around before the same dark energy appeared on it and Lucifer heard it say "see, switched" in the queen''s voice.


    If Lucifer had a jaw it would be dropped at this moment, he had been trying to figure out how to put his consciousness inside a body since he became a dungeon, but his own creation seemed to be able to do it easily.


    During the next few hours, Lucifer had the queen switch bodies dozens of times while he watched in every conceivable way he could, he looked at the mana, he looked at the life energy, he looked through thermal vision, however, he tried copying the magic and failed every time. Every time his consciousness started to push into the body of a creature it overloaded and exploded violently.


    Although this seemed like a good weapon for him it was not what he needed right now so he could only continue to practice. Only when the floor was covered in ant gore did he give up, he was getting closer to succeeding, the last few corpses were still in one piece. It turns out that copying mages abilities were far simpler because all he had to do was watch the flow of magic in the air weave around and create the same effect, the inherent magic monsters knew looked rather unpredictable to him and he could tell some of the spells was cast inside their bodies which he couldn''t see. This made it almost impossible to replicate the effects without understanding the creature casting it with great depth.


    With a sigh he gave up for the moment and decided to research it later then asked the said "ah I came here because I wanted the ants to stop digging new floors deeper down and instead dig large caverns near the surface, also make sure to not let the caverns cave in, the rock walls are enhanced with magic but that doesn''t make them indestructible.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    After showing the ants where he wanted the new floors he felt an annoying feeling gnawing on the back of his mind. He soon found himself on the sixth floor again and he thought ''It seems this floors "incompleteness" is still bugging me''.


    He flew around the floor while thinking of what he could add and said "hi" to cuddles while pass in hopes it would learn to talk at some point too.


    ''fuck it'' he thought and he started modifying one of the fish. First he looked at their teeth and turned them up to 11, so now they were sharp jagged and almost as tall as the fish itself, second he increased its size to more than 3 metres in size, thirdly he grew a small stem on its head and added a small amount of light attribute to a bulb that grew at the end of it. ''now it won''t only be people who are fishing in these waters hue hue'' Lucifer chuckled.


    Satisfied with his work he let the fish swim away to create more nightmare babies with whatever it could find, and hopefully, it did not end up too weird, some of his creations had to be put down that way.


    Lastly, he skipped through his Earth-mails and simply created a shark-like creature. It seemed rather unimaginative to him but that seemed fine, the only thing he modified on them was darkening their upwards facing skin so they were harder to spot when they were beneath you, then increased the toughness of said skin.


    ''hmm,'' he thought. ''something seems missing''. After a moment he realized that he increased the danger on this floor significantly but did not increase the rewards that much.


    So he added several glowing plants that thrived underwater to the sea-floor and created several mineral crystals on the floor, these crystals grew a material he had recently received in an Earth-mail. it glowed a faint blue and seemed to absorbed fire according to the Earth-mails and was later confirmed by him. This should raise the value of the floor enough that people brave the dangerous monster Cuddles.

 Decisions 70

    Lucifer watched the ants construct the new floors he ordered and frowned, they were working significantly quicker now that they were working on stone that was so close to the surface, but, this was something he wanted to finish quickly so he could go back to studying the queen''s body switching magic.


    The ants used their specialized mandibles to crush and chip the rock before carrying it off to the waste room. Once the rock was thrown into the waste room a special breed of termite began eating the stone. Lucifer realized why the efficiency was so slow even with an uncountable amount of ants working on digging.


    There was a limit to how fast the termites could eat the stone so the ants could only give them so much, the termites had grown the waste room significantly by their own means, but that could never keep up with the demand.


    After pondering on the problem for a minute he thought ''I made this waste room as a solution ages ago when I first started having the ants dig for me, back then I didn''t have portals or personal dimensions''.


    Then he promptly created a portal near the working ants and connected it to a newly created dimension. Normally it would take a large amount of mana to create a dimension with any sort of capacity, however, that was only if he wanted the things inside to be stable. This time he just half-assed the dimension and he absolutely no idea what would happen to anything that went inside, but this didn''t matter for waste material anyway.


    Lastly, he annihilated the termites with fire.


    Using magic near living creatures is difficult for a dungeon but not if they are his creations.


    It only took a moment before the termites stopped existing. Which was better than going to sleep and waking to find his entire dungeon eaten.


    This casual destruction of an entire species he had created caused him to pause, he thought ''It seems that my personality is starting to warp at an increased pace''. Lucifer did not mind the traps and monsters aspect of his personality shift because he thought of as "just self-defense against intruders", but the slow erosion of any emotion other than a sadistic joy of killing intruders and expanding his dungeon was definitely something he was worried about.


    Research into transferring his consciousness into something else became the top priority and he had no more time for playing in the dirt. He manually removed circular tunnels a few inches in diameter several hundred meters deep, then he grabbed all the mana crystals forming around the mana well and shoved them down the tunnels.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Ahri was wondering around the first floor aimlessly lost in thought, she occasionally met with adventurers which she casually greeted as she passed by, the adventurers she greeted looked disappointed when she ignored them. They wanted the "beautiful fox lady that wanders the dungeon" to give them some pointers about becoming better adventurers like the rumors suggested. However, Ahri was too distracted by her internal dilemma to teach some newbies things they should already know.


    After her talk with Rick, it was apparent that Lucifer was not happy with her, she had only learned its name from Rick yesterday let alone learn anything about how a dungeon works like she originally intended. The negotiation where she was made "collateral" flashed through her head and it only made her realize once again how dangerous the dungeon was, It had put itself in mortal peril just to prove that it could not be manipulated, or that''s the conclusion she came to when she thought about why it acted the way it did.


    She had to decide whether to stay with her master and risk the potential fallout from that, which could lead to the destruction of the entire kingdom if the dungeons words could be trusted, or become truly loyal to the dungeon and leave her master. She and Merlin both knew that one day she would leave for her own reasons, whether it be to further her research or rejoin her clan, but she had no idea it would be so soon.


    Ahri''s thoughts were interrupted when a familiar feeling popped up out of nowhere and she couldn''t quite remember where she felt it before, but it reminded her of Merlin. The feeling seemed to be stronger in one direction so she started to follow it.


    The feeling got stronger and when she turned a corner the tree in front of her started rustling, then a figure came out of the leaves.


    They wore a tattered cloak that covered most of their body, what caught Ahri''s attention was the figure had their arms in front of them appearing to feel around them like a blind person. This seemed odd because a blind person would never survive in the dungeon even on the first floor.


    She went closer to help this person, once she was close enough to grasp the person''s hand she noticed the horrible burn scars that covered the persons face causing her to gasp, she had no idea how anyone could survive something that would leave a person scarred in such a way.


    The person stood still like they were thinking of something, then they suddenly asked: "do you know someone "here" called Lucifer?"


    Ahri took a sharp intake of breath at the mention of the dungeon she was just thinking about which the other person''s sharp hearing didn''t miss. They said "so you do know "him", can you ta--


    BOOM----


    The ground trembled on the first floor and tremors were felt throughout the city, many noticed the roaring sound exiting the dungeon entrance and became panicked, the mages guild activated the seals on the dungeon entrance in hopes of stopping whatever was inside from coming out.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The two girls stood there stunned for a moment before Lucifer spoke to them "what brings you back here Selenia, I thought you wouldn''t come back and what happened to your face"


    Ahri jumped at the dungeons sudden intrusion after the explosion, she shouted: "what was that explosion just now?"


    Lucifer casually replied "I was digging"


    Both the women rebutted "What kind of digging causes explosions" and they looked at each other.


    After sighing, Lucifer replied, "Digging was taking too long so I sped up the operation by blowing the rocks up with mana crystals so the ants only had to transport the rock not cut it".


    [Ahri]...


    [Selenia]...


    Before Lucifer could ask again Selenia answered his question, "I left with the gear you gave me and initially I thought I would live a peaceful life of adventuring, no one would pick a fight with someone wearing that armor set nor would anyone guess that I was the one wearing it. However, the idea of that bastard living a carefree life after he had sent countless bounty hunters after me, forcing me to flee every town I tried to settle down in, made my blood boil. So I used the equipment you gave me to attack his home and kill everyone. Which is why my face looks like this... I had to use poison to kill my way out... then I was forced to flee all the way back here"


    Lucifer listened to her story then dryly added "so you underestimated your enemy and suffered because of it"


    If her face still had an unscared area she would be blushing after Lucifer hit the nail on the head like that, but there was a part of the story she had to tell that she wished she didn''t have to. she began timidly "to create a diversion to escape I had to "lose" some of the armor you gave me" as she gestured to the chest piece that remained and her arms and legs which were obviously missing pieces of armor.


    Ahri interrupted "that armor could be traced back to a dungeon and it''s only a matter of time before they figure out this is the most likey place for it to come from", the end of her sentence had a little more venom in it than she realised when she thought of how Merlin could be implicated in the matter.


    "b-but they might think its just enchanted gear and there are plenty of dungeons how could they track it to this one" studdered Selenia, she did not want to be punished for lying because she knew how much Lucifer hated manipulation and the punishment for it, but she had no idea that it could lead to him being in danger. Salenia could not imagine the punishment for that.


    Ahri scoffed "I now remember that chest piece, it was a part of a set of armor. Dungeons make enchanted armor for adventures to kill each other over, but they don''t make matching sets. It''s obvious that a sentient dungeon made them and my master knew they were dungeon items from a glance, as if others would mistake it like you too. besides a sentient dungeon suddenly appearing is obviously connected to the new dungeon that was discovered"


    Selenia paled even further, she recalled that the familiar feeling that made her ask this woman if she knew Lucifer, was the same feeling from the girl on the wyvern she met when she left the dungeon.


    Just as Salenia was starting to regret coming back here Lucifer cast a spell, a soft white glow appeared and floated towards Selenia, she shut her eyes and prepared for the worst, however, once the light engulfed her she did not feel pain like she expected, instead it felt pleasant. She thought it felt what being wrapped in compassion or some other word that she could not describe felt like.


    She wanted to stay in that comfortable warm light forever, but Ahri''s gasp woke her from her enjoyment as the light started to dissipate.


    Ahri commented, "all of your wounds are healed, even the churches high priests could not heal such serious injuries that fast". While she absentmindedly thought ''she is more beautiful than I am'' and feeling slightly inferior.


    Salenia looked at her hands to see the skin by reflex and she was surprised that she could see clearly and her hand was back. She could not believe what was happening as she absentmindedly touched her face, it was smooth as if the scars were just a lie.


    She asked "why didn''t you punish me"


    Lucifer replied "the fact that you came back would indicate that you had no intention of betraying me and that anything that implicated me was an accident, I don''t punish accidents because I think that actions without intent are not evil in of themselves. Although if you make the same mistake again I am willing to change my mind. anyway, welcome back."


    Salenia fell to her knees in relief, she hated that she was so scared of Lucifer punishment, but the idea of having a home again pushed those thoughts aside. she didn''t realize how much she missed the simple days she had in the dungeon, where she did not have to worry about someone tracking her down and forcing her to move locations or worry about someone stabbing her in the back for reward money. Here she knew exactly what everyone wanted, Lucifer wanted Truth without hidden motives, adventurers wanted to strike it rich and the workers that entered the dungeon only wanted to earn enough to feed their families.


    Lucifer disrupted her thoughts "so who or what do I have to watch out for"


    Salenia suddenly had her newfound comfort disappear as she meekly answered "probably the Grand Dutchy Royalty" expecting Lucifers apparent benevolence about accidents to have a limit, but Lucifer only replied with "hmm" before vanishing, allowing Salenia to heave another sigh of relief.


    Ahri waited for Lucifer to act but instead, he left after healing his follower''s injuries and welcoming her back after she screwed up so badly, she thought ''maybe being Lucifer''s follower is not as bad as I thought, even Merlin would punish me if I did the same''.


    Abruptly, a small humanoid crashed into Selenia''s face. before Selenia could recover Lucky said "your back big sis I missed you soooo much" before buzzing around her head in a joyous ariel dance.


    Before Salenia could talk Lucky fluttered up to her ear and said in a conspiratorial tone "you know Luci misses you too even if he doesn''t say it" then fluttering around in another dance that Selenia could only identify as her "pulled a prank dance"


    Selenia laughed at the little one''s antics and grabbed her out of the air and gave her a gentle kiss on the head, "I thought you were dead, anyway I''m glad your alive I''ve missed you a little too"


    Lucky puffed her little cheeks up and pouted "you don''t believe me do you hmpf, well did you know that Luci keeps a doll that looks exactly like you in his special room (laboratory), and when I touched it he scolded me, he never scolds me even when I take the creatures from his special room to play with"


    Salenia blushed and asked "he still keeps that I thought he would have destroyed it or fed it to his ants or something"


    Ahri was feeling left out and confused asked "who is Luci?, and why is it a he"


    Lucky flew next to her ear and whispered "its Lucifers nickname, but don''t tell him only I can call him Lucy" before flying off giggling like she usually dose.


    "I''m glad she is still the same," said Selenia.

 to those who wait. 71

    Lucifer returned to his lab and took a glance at the doll in the corner and sighed, should he continue his research on gaining a body which he was close to completing, or focus on defenses for the incoming enemy.


    The problem was, he had no idea of 1 when they were coming, 2 how many were coming and most importantly how strong they were. If the people Salenia said were after him then security was more important, but if they ignored him or simply couldn''t like the equipment to him, then saving what little of his humanity would be a higher priority.


    He could feel irritation building, but then just disappear. At that moment he had made his decision, he could die and that wouldn''t be a problem for him, he would just start again, but if he lost his humanity then he wasn''t sure that even going through the doughnut would bring back his humanity. (he his him he his him god dangit)


    He flew towards the cells where he kept his prisoners, The rogue sat in the corner muttering something about ants but Lucifer did not want him to die just yet, so he passed the rogues cell and arrived in front of the tank''s cell.


    Inside the cell, he found a broken man, Lucifer had looked in on the man occasionally but for the last week he noticed the man hadn''t moved, he sat in his own excrement apparently too apathetic to even use the toilet. Several days worth of food sat untouched near the door where Lucifer created them.


    he was already talking to himself as a coping mechanism before Selenia left. Without her daily visits and verbal battles he quickly fell deeper into insanity, he was suffering from hallucinations and then he became paranoid about the hallucinations. Prolonged isolation is a reliable method of sending someone insane, but Lucifer could never have guessed that the man would break so quickly.


    Lucifer intended to use the man in other experiments, but in his current state, Lucifer was sure that was pointless trying to get him to do anything. Besides he had a greater use for him right now.


    The problem with Lucifer''s attempts at entering a new body was everything he tried to possess could not contain him, his consciousness seemed to be made from pure mana and forcing it into a living being usually ended in an explosion.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    It''s not that he had not used that much mana on something before, but then it was used to evolve the creature so all the mana was absorbed and used by the creature''s body, however, when he tried to shove his consciousness inside a body, it had to hold all the mana at a single moment for an extended period of time.


    So Lucifer intended to simply create a stronger body.


    First, he shot a water jet at the man to clean him, the high-pressure water pushed him into a corner, but the man did not even react so Lucifer stopped before he accidentally killed him. Second, he started to shove large amounts of mana and life energy into his body. The tanks body bulged and grew, the already tall man went from 6 foot to 7 and his shoulders widened, finally, his muscles started to increase in size until Lucifer was sure the man was at the limits of what is still considered human.


    With his first body complete all he had to do was possess it, he began to slowly force his consciousness inside the tank''s body, however, there seemed to be some sort of resistance from the man''s soul preventing Lucifer from taking over.


    Getting so close to finally obtaining a body and then being bodyblocked by his prisoner''s soul pissed Lucifer off, so he activated his the tanks soul binding and instantly crushed the soul into non-existent. He was only surprised by the effectiveness of the soul binding for a moment before his vision shifted to black.


    After a moment he felt his arms, then his legs. He felt all the muscles in his body to get a feel for it then stood up. Lucifer flexed his muscles and felt the power he had gifted this body.


    Although he could feel a slight connection to his core reminding him he wasn''t completely human (not that this body was still human), however, he was glad that he could feel things physically again.


    After focusing for a moment a mirror appeared infront of him and he sighed in relief, if he lost his dungeon abilities that would be a shame.


    The image reflected in the mirror was of a tall man with sharp features and absurd muscles, he looked like the mountain with the body toning fo bruce lee. The only thing that disappointed him was the previous owners face, however, after a little magic the problem was solved and Lucifer left the cell satisfied with the experiment.


    When he walked past the rogue''s cell Lucifer could hear screaming fade behind him about betrail and getting out together which he ignored.


    Lucifer still needed to plan for a possible invasion and this time he wanted to be well prepared. Instead of going directly towards his core to start increasing the defenses he wanted to get the opinions of those working under him. he definitely wanted to know what Rick had to say considering his abilities, perhaps he could make something fun for the intruders.

 Planning 72

    Lucifer called for everyone to meet in the room he used to negotiate with Merlin and the mages guild, then he started to make his way over there himself while testing his new body.


    At first, he was rather clumsy and nearly tripped several times, but after several minutes he managed to start moving at a competent level, he thought ''note to self, create an obstacle course to practice on later.


    With a gentle push, the door swung open and crashed into the stone behind it making everyone already inside jump. While he was again reminding himself that he needed practice with this absurd body, he ducked through the doorway and entered.


    Once inside the small round room, he found that everyone was already here and Salenia and Ahri were staring at him with an odd look. Lucifer looked behind himself to see what they were looking at, but then he realized that he wasn''t etherial anymore and they were looking at him.


    Selenia asked "who are you"


    Lucifer coughed to clear his throat when he caught Rick''s grin in the corner of his eye, this gave him an idea.


    He replied "I''m Draven Green, most just call me Green" and motioned to shake Selenia''s hand. She looked at his outstretched hand and just rolled her eyes and chose to ignore the new man.


    Lucifer thought ''It seems elves are immune to a beautiful face unlike the unblinking Ahri''. Noticing his hand still hovering there Salenia wanted to change the subject so she asked: "where is Lucifer".


    Lucifer lowered his hand and casually replied "he is upgrading the defenses of the dungeon" then he put his arm behind his back and formed a crystal used for recording things and placed it onto the table, "he wanted your opinions on how best to fight off the Dutchy if they come knocking".


    Everyone was slightly surprised for a moment before Lucky popped out of nowhere and started playing with the shiny crystal on the table, all the while taking sneaky glances at Lucifer and trying to hide her laughter at the trick being pulled.


    Selenia was the first to give her opinion. "we should create more poisons for the ventilation system"


    Rick countered "If the Dutchy itself is our enemy then a few poisons would not do much"


    She replied "it worked quite well last time"


    Rick explained "our enemy is not a simple noble with his personal guard this time, its equivalent to a small country and they will have an army to back it up too. Most armies are designed either for sieging or defending against sieging and the Dutchy has been having skirmishes with the Swadia kingdom for decades now, so most of their forces are designed to attack strongly defended positions and won''t fall to poison"


    Before Salenia could argue further Ahri interjected "the arcane university occasionally trains military mages and since most military mages aren''t very well educated in comparison to someone who studies the art, we focus our their training on support based spells that are easier to understand and cast. Anyway the point is they have contingents of mages who watch for things like poison, once they spot it they will cast the wind-based magic "Air control" which is an inferior version of "weather control" which allows them to create a bubble of air that would not let in any poison, also --"


    Rick interrupted her overly educational lecture with "they have counters to poison even touching their armies and they have large groups of healers spread out in the army to heal any such casualties so its a waste of time"


    Lucky suggested "why don''t we just stick a sign outside that says "out of order" so they don''t come in"


    Everyone looked at her for a moment then went back to their conversation causing Lucky to pout.


    Ahri said, "why doesn''t the dungeon just create more monsters?"


    Lucifer replied, "because it takes energy for every monster the dungeon summons, and a trap can kill dozens or even hundreds of people while a single monster can be outsmarted and overrun with no casualties whatsoever."


    She thought for a moment then replied "then if traps are better why not just keep making the traps behind the door they seem quite effective to me and if there were more of them no one could pass without running out of mana and dying"


    This time Rick answered her "traps can be disarmed and more importantly an army does not have the same limitations as a person, they can rotate the active warriors and mages to keep them fresh, also if they set up a decent supply line then resources they can use basically become infinite."


    The group stood there in silence for a while before Rick suggested: "The problem is not whether we can defeat the army but whether we can hold off long enough that Swadia repels the invaders, I''m sure the Kingdom does not appreciate an enemy power stealing a new lucrative dungeon from their territory."


    Ahri added "Merlin was going to move the arcane university in a few months to this mountain, Once I tell him about the threat I''m sure he will move his timetable up and I''m sure the nobles will be quicker to act once the University is involved"


    Rick nodded to himself as he thought that it would help but not why she thought it would. then he added "It is a bit short notice but I can create some things to help against an army"A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Selenia announced "I am not leaving this time, they came because of me, its only right that I face them"


    Lucifer split off a part of his consciousness back into its phantom state and used his old voice to say, "good, I will make a new set of armor for you using some of Rick''s materials.


    Ahri, you try to get the University here sooner.Rick work with Selenia on creating a poison for me to gift our new guests with, then work on whatever you were thinking of working on. Green, you can do what you do best. Lucky... just.. have fun I guess"


    After giving everyone a task they began to disperse with a sense of purpose, except Lucky, she just flew off with a strangely happy expression that sent chills down Selenia''s spine.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Once Lucifer walked outside the room he saw Ahri waiting and when she saw him come out she greeted "Hello green, when did you become a dungeon servant like me?"


    Taken back Lucifer reflexively replied "several months ago" when he thought about the previous owner of this body.


    "It''s a shame that I hadn''t met you then, anyway Lucifer told you to do what you do best, what is it that you do best?"


    This seemed so out of character for Ahri, Lucifer was not sure it was the same person, after a moment of thought he replied: "I grind my enemies to dust with my bare hands".


    Lucifer could not say anything other than some type of warrior type line because it would seem weird with an 8 or so foot tall mountain of muscle saying "I''m a mage" or "I like playing with potions". So instead he decided to stay in character.


    Before she could ask something else he asked "how is the dungeon", he thought that being his own spy would be useful for finding out what people really thought and where their allegiances lie.


    Ahri thought for a moment then replied "I don''t know, I''ve only been here for a short time and have only spoken to the dungeon a few times in total. it seems to treat its followers rather well considering its a dungeon, although if you try to manipulate it... it won''t like that, but I know it only does that in self-defense so I can''t really hate it for that... I don''t know. It''s sort of good but also evil at the same time."


    Lucifer asked "do you want to leave the dungeon"


    Ahri looked around for a moment then started staring at Lucifer again, then she replied "umm, I guess if you''re here it''s not so bad to stay here"


    Lucifer was starting to feel a chill run down his spine at the complete 180 her personality did and decided he would rather be somewhere else right now. He said "look at the time I have some things to do" before waving her off and leaving.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Ahri felt slightly disappointed after he left and began walking back to her room to make the call to Merlin, but when her heartbeat slowed down she noticed that it had been going fast for quite a while now, she thought back to the conversation that she had with "Green" and her face flushed red.


    She had no idea what had gotten into her to make her say such embarrassing things, she was red all the way down to her neck on the way back to her room, however, the embarrassment did not go away after she was back inside her room. She wanted to disappear and tried an invisibility spell to see if that would help but now she was just an embarrassed invisible girl instead.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer was walking back to his core so he could leave his body in a safe place and modify the dungeon in peace, when Rick appeared from behind a tree with a shit eating grin on his face.


    Lucifer knew that this conversation was likely going to be as unpleasant as the one before so he wanted to get it over with quickly, he asked: "and what do you want".


    Rick chuckled for a moment then replied "what, don''t like that I can see through that little charade haha. Anyway, I''ve come with some "good" news" before he started chuckling again.


    Lucifer waited for him to continue...


    Finally, Rick seemed to have finished laughing he continued "did you know best people have some animal instincts that are significantly more potent than a normal humans. Well if you didn''t know I''m sure you would be wondering why Ahri has been acting in such a way which is contrary to her character" then he began chuckling again. " well you see beast people value strength amongst all things, and you happen to fit that description perfectly", causing Lucifer to regret "staying in character" with Ahri around.


    Lucifer was unamused and asked, "so she''s got the hots for me who cares, she''s a smart woman I''m sure she will figure it out and stop her weird behavior."


    Rick laughed "you could call it the hots, but it would be more accurate to call it heat."


    Lucifers expression only made Rick crack up into laughter again before he continued: "normally the best people would have a shaman use a ritual on them on the extremely rare occasion where one of them would go into heat, this is usually done if the person the "heat" is targeted towards does not reciprocate the same feelings"


    Lucifer frowned and interjected "this does not sound like the heat animals I''m familiar with go into"


    Rick answered, "indeed it''s not the same kind, the shamans call it "the bonding" which causes one of their kind to become almost obsessed with their target of affections. Most beast people think its an honor to be a target of "the Heat" they think it means that the Beast god is matchmaking for them."


    Lucifer asked "so what your saying is Ahri is in idiotic love with me and I can''t get rid of her"


    "yep" replied Rick with a barely disguised shit-eating grin.


    Lucifer said "I''ll just switch bodies then ha"


    Rick rebutted "then I hope the rumors are true that it is soul-based"


    ...


    After a short silence, Rick asked "do you not like the girl, she said her master thinks that the only reason you took her was that she was beautiful"


    Lucifer thought for a moment and replied "I''m not getting together with a woman who is not completely loyal"


    Rick laughed "well she will be soon if she doesn''t do something about "the heat".


    Lucifer was starting to get irritated at Rick because he knew that Rick only liked this outcome because it gave him trouble. Meanwhile, Rick was thinking that maybe the dungeon would lighten up a little if it got a good woman.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile outside the city to the south stood a general on his warhorse in front of an army. he cursed "what the fuck are all these forests doing on the fucking path all of the sudden". He had gotten orders to send the first major attack on Swadia in decades and he planned to rise in ranks quickly during this conquest, however, at the very onset he found that getting to the destination was more difficult than he thought because several thick forests suddenly appeared recently, this made moving a large army slow and cumbersome.


    He thought of going around it several times, but he needed to keep his army concealed until the attack so he couldn''t just march around it along the roads.

 instincts 73

    While Lucifer thought of how to get a shaman into the dungeon if things became too complicated he returned to his core.


    He could still feel a strong connection to it and no matter how hard he tried he could not force all of his consciousness into the new body, a small part remained stuck inside the core with an ever-present connection that scratched at the back of his mind.


    Returning to the core room was taking too long for Lucifers liking so he started to manipulate the stone in front of him to create a walkway that closed behind him, moving stone like this was as simple as breather for him at this point, however, doing something like this on a large scale still involved using massive amounts of mana, something this small was easily covered by his passive mana regeneration.


    Once he arrived at his core he laid down and with a force lesser than he used to get into his body he exited it and returned into the core, he found the feeling slightly strange again, but somewhat refreshing to be inside the core again.


    Being inside the core gave him a sort of detachment from humanity and allowed him to escape all the negative emotions that came with it., bar the very limited repertoire of dungeon emotions that was usually limited to murderous rage and amusement at the end result of its murderous rage.


    He wasn''t sure if he liked being the cold emotionless core of a dungeon or being a human more, being a dungeon was easier, you didn''t have to think past how to create a new devious trap or a different way to have intruders more interested in killing each other than him.


    however, choosing to stay as a dungeon would mean he would be giving up to good along with the bad, he had many things he wished he could forget and not feel, but he also had things he wanted to remember and taking the emotion out of those memories takes the meaning out of them.


    With a soft sigh he decided that for now, he would alternate between the two states until he is sure.


    What he needed right now were better defenses, something that could stop an army of trained soldiers who have spent their entire lives preparing and training to become the best at bypassing said defenses.


    The one advantage he had at the moment was the people attacking the dungeon were not his "customers", so he could kill them with whatever method he liked, however, the disadvantage was that he had limited time to set up because he had no idea when or even if they would attack.


    If his defenses were going to be quick and dirty he had to think like people who used said tactics, he wanted every step the enemy advanced to cost them and every soldier to be too terrified to take that step.


    He started by reconnecting the ant nest to the main dungeon, so now when the enemy advanced through "the door" they would go through all the traps, then pass through the entire ant nest and instead of coming to his core they will be spat out a tunnel above the first floor, This is bound hurt moral significantly and force the entire army to go through the entire dungeon which is sure to tire them out.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    After several dozen hours of working on dungeons defenses while trying to keep the mana usage to a minimum, Lucifer ran out of mana, even depleting his reserves.


    WIth nothing left to do Lucifer reentered his body and walked aimlessly around the dungeon and perhaps see something he missed, or think of another way to kill the invaders.


    Up ahead he heard voices so he walked over to investigate, once he was just a dozen or so meters away he could hear their conversation clearly with his absurd body, while he was thinking to himself ''enhancing this body was a good idea, although the smell are a bit hard to bear''. Then one of the men spoke, "I mean it, something fishy is going on here, look around there aren''t any monsters around and we just found the same on the second floor too."


    Another man replied "who cares, with no monsters around we can mine the ore crystals freely"


    The first man said "who cares, I care, every time something fishy happens inside a dungeon something bad happens everybody knows that so we should leave while we still can"Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    A different man from the second spoke up "would you relax, if something was really happening we would hear the screams of the less skilled adventurers considering how densely packed the first three floors of this dungeon are. Besides this is a good opportunity for us, most of the miners are on holidays for their rock god or something so the crystals have been growing for nearly 2 days without being touched, and without the monsters to bother us we can gather more today than we would in a month or even a year"


    Then the second man added "exactly, and I suggest we hide the or sacks inside the dungeon and go a general store to pick up a couple more"


    Another person asked "why would we need more sacks, we can just sell the ore in these ones then come back"


    The second man continued "yes we could, but who buys the ore, the same guys who are on holiday and once they find out that the monsters are on a holiday too they will flock here to take our score, those "miners" have to hire us at a high price to keep them safe and without the monsters they will gladly take all the ore in the dungeon...", he looked around to see that his point was made the resumed "that''s why some of us should go outside and smuggle some sacks in so we can collect the ore in peace".


    Now the first man asked "why do we need to smuggle in the sacks, there is nothing illegal about bringing sacks into a dungeon we do it all the time"


    The man replied "Now who''s knowledgeable about dungeons, most dungeons have guards watching them, and people who suddenly leave only to return quickly with more carrying equipment tend to end up dead"


    "what do the guards watching the dungeon have to do with people dying in the dungeon," said the first man.


    "Sometimes I question your intelligence Berkley, it''s obviously because the "outlaws" get their information from corrupt guards for a cut of the profit, I would prefer to not be hunted by outlaws because you behaved suspiciously near some guards and they thought you had some treasure. This sort of thing is why people say that having a treasure in a dungeon or outside a city is a crime, you punished for it even if you''re innocent"


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer who was listening behind a tree only a dozen meters away suddenly heard a twig snap above him, instinct kicked in and he jumps backward and rolled away, Lucifer stood up in a guarded stance only to see a masked man rush towards him with a dagger drawn.


    Lucifer could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins as he turned his body to the side narrowly avoiding the man''s thrust, he grabbed the attackers forearm and slid the grip to the wrist while bringing down a knife hand attack on the mans inner elbow, this collapsed the outstretched arm and allowed Lucifer to control the knifes direction with leverage. A moment later the attacker found his own knife lodged in his jugular, the man gasped and tried to say something, but no sound came out.


    Lucifer retrieved the knife as he was laying the body gently down and surveyed his surroundings, the curiosity of why the man suddenly attacked him was pushed to the back of his mind as he went through his mental checklist.


    Area safe = haven''t cleared


    Snipers = haven''t checked


    escape route = unknown, best bet way I came


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    After several seconds Lucifer finally came to and realized he had gone back into old habits and now stood over a corpse, he guessed that this man was probably this teams scout and had found him secretly eavesdropping on their treasure talk and decided to end the problem prematurely.


    However, he did not expect the Lucifer to react so quickly, Lucifer found a small throwing knife where he was originally standing, so the scout must have thrown it on the way down just to make sure, but it seemed a little bit amateurish to Lucifer, ''if he wanted to kill me he should have just fallen down with the knife pointed downwards, if he didn''t try being fancy he probably wouldn''t have broken the branch that warned me''.


    He sniffed the blade of the throwing knife just to check and found a rather foul odor on the blade, This gave Lucifer a higher opinion of the man.


    The group was deciding who would go outside to fetch the sacks when one of them called "GRAY YOU COMING OR WHAT". One of the people in the group slapped the caller upside the head after he made so much noise causing the others to snigger, however, after several moments their expressions froze.


    Normally after the scout was called he would appear out of shadows like he had been next to them the entire time, in fact, the man seemed to make a game of scaring the crap out of the party members by suddenly appearing right next to them unexpectedly.


    People who had their weapons sheathed unsheathed them and those who already had their weapons in hand raised them.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer thought to himself ''probably better to sneak away if possible, I only have 2 daggers and whatever I can find on the corpse before they find my position''. Just as he was about to make a tactical retreat he noticed his arm that was holding the dagger, it was far bigger than he remembered.


    Then he realized once again where he was and reminded himself not to go on autopilot like that whenever a threat appears and his adrenaline is running. He figured that he needed to test his new body out and home invasion victims *cough burglars would be a good test. Besides, It''s not like he would die even if this body was destroyed.


    A vicious grin found its way onto Lucifer''s face and a mad gleam entered his eyes.

 Going for a walk, a very enthusiastic walk. 74

    Lucifer did a list minute mental check while planning, ''I don''t know the enemy''s numbers or strength, but Since I can''t die from this there is no problem going in hard and loud''.


    He began infusing mana into his main muscle groups like he had seen Selenia do when she was training, The link to the core allowed him to still have access to the extra computing power that he was now used to, this made the control aspect of the ability as easy to him as breathing, he could feel the power flowing through his body and it felt like he didn''t weigh a thing, his muscles itched to move and exert themselves.


    The party was slightly spread out, not too far from each other, but not quite close either. Through the gaps in a bush, Lucifer could see something which reflected light that looked metallic, after it moved around he was able to identify it as someone wearing plate armor, he had watched enough adventurers to know anyone wearing plate was important, so he crouched low and with a sudden burst of mana to his legs lept forward.


    The ground cracked under his feet and explosions sounded from where his feet previously were, the armored man was only able to turn his head slightly before Lucifer burst from the bush between the two of them sending leaves everywhere.


    Lucifer had his dagger prepared to strike any gap in the man''s armor but the unexpected level of acceleration caught him off guard, he didn''t have the time to look for any weak points before his giant chest barreled into the unprepared man.


    Armor crumpled under the absurd force and bones shattered, the corpse flew several meters before impacting into a nearby tree with a sickening wet thump.


    The others turned to see what the noise was, some found a man that was several sizes too big to be human and the others saw a corpse that was mangled beyond recognition, limbs pointed in different directions, the armor looked like it was crushed under a bolder and whatever was left inside of it was bulging out of the crumpled armor in a squishy crimson mess.


    Just as they were reacting to his presence Lucifer noticed a woman in robes, he injected mana into his arm and the trowing dagger and flicked the weapon towards her, then dashed towards the closest enemy.


    The throwing dagger entered the woman''s chest before she could react to the situation, then the pure mana inside the dagger fused with hers and became unstable.


    Lucifer pushed his body forward toward another person who looked three parts terrified and seven parts confused, another party member saw what was going on and tried to cover for his comrade, he raised his spear and charged forward, however, Lucifer was faster, he arrived before the confused man regained his senses and grabbed him with both arms.


    At this point, another explosion blasted the area and spread a red mist, the pure mana in Lucifers throwing dagger had become unstable after it quickly merged with the woman''s mana and exploded, shrapnel of bones hit several of the closer party members, one shard entered through someone''s eye socket and they crumpled to the floor a moment later.


    Now the spearman charging at Lucifer was about to land his attack when Lucifer suddenly turned with the confused man still in his grasp, the spearman tried to change the direction of his attack but it was too late, the spear went through mans body, hit a few bones and stopped with the spear point sticking out the back of the mans leather vest.


    Lucifer threw the impaled man aside taking the spear along with him and charged the spearman, the disarmed spearman backpedaled to gain distance so he could draw his secondary weapon, however, Lucifer had already reached him and used his height advantage to elbow drop him from above.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The spearman''s collarbone shattered, his shoulder colapsed into his abdomen leaving his head hanging where his elbow used to be.


    Suddenly a sharp pain entered Lucifers back, he turned around and saw an archer notching another arrow, Lucifer immediately threw his remaining dagger towards the archer.


    The dagger flew through the air and caught the archer in the shoulder before flying away into the darkness.


    Now that his shoulder was injured the archer wouldn''t be able to use his bow properly so Lucifer turned his attention to the last two remaining members, one held a shield and pick while the other used a spear.


    Once Lucifers eyes met theirs they dropped their weapons and sprinted in opposite directions leaving the archer to fend for himself, Lucifer scoffed and prepared to chase the faster of the two, but when he tried to push mana into his muscles an excruciating pain passed through his organs.


    Lucifer cursed and reached behind him and pulled the arrow out of his back, to his surprise he found that the arrow only entered an inch deep into his enhanced skin and muscle, he sniffed the arrowhead and couldn''t detect any poison, then he realized that this was mana exhaustion, he had seen several mages die in his dungeon while grasping their chests in agony when they overused their mana, or tried to use mana when it was already depleted.


    He had asked Ahri about the phenomenon before and learned that a normal human would not be affected if they lost all their mana, but if someone who practiced magic whether it be though magecraft or warrior body enhancement lost all their man, they would feel excruciating pain and suffer from organ failure when their organs which had previously adapted to use mana to function better suddenly ran out of it.


    Once Lucifer knew what the problem was he used his connection with his core to pull a small amount of pure mana into his body, his body absorbed the pure energy greedily and once he saturated his body with almost enough pure mana to destroy it he dashed after the people who ran.


    The archer was easy to find, all Lucifer had to do was follow the blood trail and he found the man huddled up in a tree hiding.


    Lucifer kicked the tree and infused pure mana into the base of the tree a couple times before leaving.


    Several moments after he left the mana reached critical mass and exploded, the base of the tree vaporized and almost half of the tree became splinter shrapnel which cut apart the immediate area, the archer fell from the tree and hit the ground breaking several bones, then passed out from blood-loss from his earlier wound and the newer puncture wounds from the explosion.


    Lucifer had no intention of allowing the other two to escape even if his reason for attacking them was flimsy at best. Normally he would have trouble tracking 2 people in a dense forest, but he was the dungeon master of this forest.


    He released more of his consciousness and formed a map of the dungeon in his head, the shield user was running towards the entrance and the spearman was hiding in a rock crevice. Lucifer intended to rush towards the entrance and wait for them there but it seemed that wasn''t necessary. Instead, he charged towards the shield user.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    A man was frantically running through the dark forest trying to escape a monster in human form, the rest of his party was wiped out without even being able to retaliate and he wasn''t dumb enough to stick around to see if he could do any better.


    He was getting close to the entrance, to safety. However, the uniform thumps were getting louder and he could tell they were getting closer, his heart rate increased as he realized they were footsteps and whatever was making them was gaining on him.


    His legs felt like they were on fire at this point but he pumped them even harder as the fear blocked the pain and allowed him to run faster than he ever thought he could. He wished that he could breathe in more air because it felt like he was suffocating regardless how much he gasped, but he still pushed on despite the discomfort.


    There was a sudden Boom and something grabbed onto his leather armor, he struggled to slip out of it, but before he could it grasped his entire head, he felt his neck forcefully extended for a moment then everything went dark.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The spearman''s struggle was even shorter, he heard a grunt then the rock crevice he was hiding in closed.

 Politics abound. 75

    Merlin just received the message from Ahri and he stormed towards the arcane university spire, apprentices and master mages alike tried to greet their archmage, but when they saw his face they stapped back out of his way, they had never seen him like this before and did not want to know what was going to happen to the poor soul who pissed off the most powerful mage they knew.


    Merlin waved his hand and the grand doors slammed open, once of the apprentices wanted to say "that was locked, you''re supposed to use the key, but another more experienced mage quickly covered his mouth.


    Once inside Merlin stood in front of a panel with glowing runes circling in a seemingly random pattern and touched a few. A moment later the ground beneath him started to give off a dim purple light and Merlin vanished.


    He appeared again inside a spherical room with no openings, the walls were completely covered in soft glowing runes, the only thing inside the room was a small box off to the side made of gold.


    Merlin activated his storage ring and thrust a dozen mana crystals inside the box and cast a spell, the soft purple glow from a moment ago returned, except this time it was far denser, then he disappeared again.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Merlin appeared in a similar spherical room a moment later, he touched a set of runes on top of the box and then reappeared in a smaller version of the room with a door.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Swadia''s king sat in his personal chambers reading and signing documents when a section of the wall swung open, Merlin appeared, The King was about tell him to wait for him to finish this page, however, Merlin spoke before he could "call an assembly, its time you cleaned up your house"


    The King was startled by the abruptness of the request and asked "why now", then he finally looked up and saw Merlin''s face, just like the apprentice mages he had never seen Merlin like this either. It appeared the situation was more serious than he thought.


    Merlin spat "The Dutchy very likely attacking in full force now and the bloody nobles that you refuse to rid of are trying to screw the entire Kingdom with their stupidity."


    Abruptly receiving new of an impending attack from their enemies was surprising, The King narrowed his eyes and asked "how sure are you"


    Merlin answered "sure enough" while glaring at the King, he did not find his student''s attitude amusing.


    Sensing the severity of the situation the King replied "I will call for an assembly after Kede''s wedding, most of the nobles will be in the city then so it will be easier"


    Merlin flicked his finger and all the documents on the table instantly turned to ash, Merlin growled "you may be King in these lands but remember I am what made you boy, I said to call an assembly. Which means NOW understand"


    Annoyed that all of today''s work went up in flames the King rebuked "was That really necessary, if the situation is so serious then explain it to me, we both know I don''t work very well while blind"


    Merlin retorted "Finally in the mood to listen, fine, do you know of the dungeon that just opened... that is what the Dutchy is going to take--"


    The King interrupted "Yes I know of the new dungeon, I''m the one who sent a mercenary band to verify and protect it. And I am the one that hired the best city planner on the continent to design and build the city being constructed on top of it. And I am the one who sent his personal army to guard the entrance and keep the city''s order, as well as to keep out any of the unmentionable guilds and groups that like to take root inside cities. And lastly, I am the one who maneuvered the city lord that is secretly under my banner into his position under the noses of the Noble''s faction."


    Merlin smiled slightly and replied "you have improved quite a lot in these few years, if it was the you of now back then, there wouldn''t be a nobles faction. However, you still fail to grasp the seriousness of the situation, do you think I would come here just for the petty games of fools who think they have real power, no. I''m here because Swadia is going to be washed away by the rivers of time if things continue this way"


    The King slammed his fist on the table shattering it and sending the ash on the table everywhere, he growled "stop speaking in riddles this is not magic training anymore, so just tell me what is happening so I can deal with it"


    "for various reasons I can''t tell you very much, however, I will tell you that if the city falls so does Swadia along with it."


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The next day.


    The king sat on his throne gazing upon all the nobles below him, the nobles waited to be addressed by the king while kneeling, they wanted to know why they had been called her on such short notice, but they couldn''t speak first because that honor was solely for the King himself, so they waited on sore knees while sending glares towards their opposing factions.


    However unbeknownst to the nobles the King was also waiting for Merlin to appear, but he was late and the idea that a mage who could freely teleport anywhere in the Capital being late was ridiculous, this caused the King''s frown to deepen the longer he waited and the Nobles, in turn, glared at their opposing factions with ever increasing enmity as they tried to pin the blame of having to kneel on the hard marble to the other party with their glares alone.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Finally, Merlin burst through the door and again nearly took another door off its hinges, he stormed in front of the everyone and the King quickly announced the start of the gathering before Merlin would speak out of turn.


    Merlin raised his voice and projected it with mana so everyone could hear it clearly, "The arcane university is going to move locations, but I have only received half of the requested magic crystals to do so", then he boomed "The request was made by your King anyone who has yet to hand in their crystals has committed treason"


    immediately people on the Noble factions side of the room jumped slightly, even the King was shocked, he didn''t think Merlin would start off the assembly like this.


    An older man from the nobles faction stood up and angrily retorted "treason.. treason your mother, It takes time to gather together the absurd amount of crystals you require"


    When everyone was agreeing with him he continued "And what reason do you need to move the university, our distinguished families have had good business with your university for generations, why do you want to muddy the waters with these baseless accusations"


    Throughout the nobles faction, there were individuals whispering to each other, and the people they whispered to would start to raise their voices in protest and soon half of the room was yelling at Merlin. The king paid particularly close attention to these people and committed them to memory.


    When the noise was getting out of hand the king shouted "SILENCE" and easily overpowered the crowd with his voice, the air shook and many of the weak nobles who live lives of comfort felt their chest impacted, causing them to take a half step backward.


    Now that the room as quiet again the King stated "Merlin, arch-mage of the arcane university you accuse these men of treason what proof do you have of this crime"


    Merlin expected this and casually replied "they admitted it themselves"


    Several people in the nobles faction stood up and argued "we have never admitted to anything of the sort, your misleading the King which is treason", once that was said they had smug looks on their faces as they thought they had gotten one over on the archmage of the university.


    Most of the older generation just shook their heads at this, they knew something was going on and these fools that chose to argue directly with Merlin without knowing anything are going to get themselves killed.


    Merlin sneered at those people who argued with him and said "You people said that you had not given the magic crystals the king requested. I guess you''re not well read enough to know.. When this Kingdom was created the King had a similar problem as now, so he created a law that all the magic crystals in the Kingdom belonged to the royal family, so refusing to give something that belongs to the King to him is treason. Thus you people admitted to treason with the King as witness"


    The people in the older generation had their assumptions proven correct and everyone in the nobles faction paled, they had always gone behind the kings back secretly but they never confronted him directly. Challenging the Kings authority directly was simply asking for death.


    One of the nobles who had just entered high society yelled back "Noone but you would know about a rule that is that old, it''s not treason if we didn''t know about it."


    Merlin chuckled "ignorance does not equal innocence, if it did, all the jails would be full of empty air because everyone claimed they didn''t know the law, besides you''re a noble whose job it is to govern the Kingdom so the idea you don''t know the Kingdoms laws is ridiculous. Even still if you got punished for it and actually were ignorant of the laws I don''t think it''s a huge loss to lose a fool."


    The man who just spoke kneeled back down while grinding his teeth in frustration and anger.


    Seeing the nobles faction miserable was quite refreshing for the King, but, he still had a kingdom to rule and had to "mediate" the situation before it got out of hand, he said "While it is true that certain peoples actions are guilty of such a crime... however, since it was a request, not an order and that law has not been in practice for so long it is unreasonable to assume anyone would remember it, I will let this pass at my discretion..."


    At this point everyone on the nobles faction breathed a sigh of relief, however, the King continued speaking, "but... you will provide the asked for mana gems as soon as possible... and anyone who continues to stall..."


    The sighs of relief the nobles faction breathed out suddenly were sucked back in as a cold chill went down their spines.


    Merlin gave an almost imperceptible nod towards the King to signal his approval, although he wouldn''t have minded if the king decided to kill a few of them as a message.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Later that day.


    Merlin walked into the King''s chambers once again, only this time he wasn''t as angry. The King was the first to speak "I was wondering what you would do to make them obedient, the way you scared the crap out of them could be considered art as far as I''m concerned"


    Merlin only smiled slightly saying "such things come with experience, even I ended up chasing my own tail several times when I started in the political arena"


    The King suddenly remembered something and asked "oh. Your not old enough to have seen the start of this Kingdom, where did you learn about that magic crystal law"


    Merlin laughed "what magic crystal law"


    [The King]...


    Merlin reassured "don''t worry, most of the library was destroyed during the revolt with the old king and no one can check the records so our little secret is safe. oh and now you can claim all the magic crystals in the Kingdom which is a nice bonus, however, since I''m creating the law lets make it so my university is exempt from it"


    [The King]...

 Precipice 76

    Lucifer ran around the dungeon as a form of training, his earlier hunt went rather badly, he didn''t lose of course, but he used too much force which was a waste of energy and managed to get an arrow in the back, then at the most critical moment, he ran out of mana.


    If he was a normal human Lucifer would have taken several arrows before he could deal with the threat.


    This was unacceptable to him, so when he was recovering mana he worked on increasing his battle prowess and he was able to think of a few good ideas while he was at it.


    Suddenly Ahri appeared slightly out of breath from the side so he stopped running. She spoke between gasps for breath "find-- Lucifer-- scout party-- missing- sent-- messenger bird-- no message on bird-- only bloody paper"


    Lucifer thought for a moment then replied, "I will tell Lucifer, go tell the others to prepare for battle" before starting to walk away, but Ahri called out "wait", then pulled out a translucent glowing gemstone out of her spatial ring.


    Ahri handed Lucifer the gem and said: "give this to Lucifer, it''s the library we promised him". Lucifer was surprised, the library he was promised was 20 floors or so of arcane knowledge, however, the only thing she gave him was a single gemstone.


    Noticing "Green''s" confusion Ahri explained, "this is an enchanted piece of equipment that holds most of the arcane library"


    Lucifer asked "if it was only something this small you shouldn''t you have fulfilled your promise much sooner"If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Ahri defended "it takes time to create such a complex enchantment and the materials take time to prepare", then in a quieter voice Ahri confided "also some of the material there even I haven''t had access to, so I took a peak first hehe".


    Lucifer had no idea what to think of this, he just stared at her dumbfounded she would tell him something that could get her into trouble for no reason. On one hand, she did go against his wishes by keeping the library from him, but on the other, she did give it to him although it was not him she was giving it to but "Green" instead.


    ''She did give it to me and said to give it to Lucifer which is me so I suppose that means she is giving it to both of us? Perhaps she thought "green" would be grateful that he could deliver something Lucifer wants and earn some brownie points?''.


    Instead of trying to figure out the strange woman in front of him he turned around and left while muttering "note to self, give a spanking Ahri for keeping things from me", as he did so Ahri''s fox ears twitched and she blushed heavily.


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    He stuck the library into a temporary room he made absentmindedly and headed for the surface, one of the advantages of being the dungeon is he could leave though anywhere he wanted by creating an entrance. He entered the ant''s farming area and used the secret exit Salenia had used earlier and left the dungeon.


    The moment he stepped outside his territory the slight pull on his consciousness from the core became a strong tug. He ignored the new sensation and started walking up the mountain, he could feel the pull get slightly stronger the further he went from his dungeon, so he imagined that he could probably explore the city just fine, but if he intended to go any further he would have his consciousness ripped out of his body and returned to the core, or at least that''s what he hoped would happen.


    Lucifer was going to watch the enemy army attack the city. He was curious how the people of this world laid siege to a city where magic exists.


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 Siege 77

    Several hours later dust began to rise in the distance, it was not obvious at first but soon a portion of the sky to the south turned slightly brown. Bells tolled from somewhere in the city and Lucifer could see people starting to evacuate to the north, however, he found the number of people fleeing was far lower than he anticipated, an idea struck him and made him realize Merlin must have pre-warned the city of the impending attack.


    Lucifer would have informed the people himself, but he doubted anyone would believe some random stranger, so he made a mental note to make a connection to someone in power inside the city.


    Before he knew it the walls created by the earth mages at a natural choke point were manned by soldiers, the walls looked rather simple compared to what he knew of castles when he zoomed in his vision, they were just tall and thick walls similar to the early castle designs on earth.


    Lucifer admired the troop''s response time even if they had been warned beforehand. they got to the wall quickly but they seemed quite busy with carrying boxes on top of the walls, but what these boxes contained was a mystery to Lucifer.


    Now the army finally came into view, because they were climbing a hill Lucifer could not see the entire army, however, the army has been marching forward for a few minutes without showing any sign of stopping and he could still not see the end of them. He found the numbers surprising because there were already multiple times more enemies than had attacked previously.


    The army formed ranks and groups of shield bearers moved forward in unison with mages hiding behind them. Once they were only several hundred meters from the wall they were peppered with arrows and bolts from the defenders, however, they expected this and already had their shields locked into a tight formation, occasionally an arrow would pierce the shields and hit the men behind them, but another would take the place of the deceased or injured immediately which stopped any holes from forming.


    The groups stopped just one hundred meters from the wall and the mages started to cast their spells, shortly after the mage''s hands glowed and a thick mist spread out before them.


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    General Drake Haynes sat atop his earth shaker mount and commanded: "they can''t see now, get the support mages back and send the ladders and the siege mages, I want that gate down before the mist clears".


    Rank of the army split open revealing giant ladders used for climbing walls, platoons of men equipped for close quarters combat while climbing rushed forward with the ladders, eager to get to walls before the archers could gain vision again.


    Behind the ladders, the siege mages closely followed on lizards the size of rhinos with hooves, on the lizards back there were baskets filled with iron balls the size of watermelons.


    When the mages were within two hundred meters they stopped and let loose the spells they were previously casting, each of the three dozen mages had a ball float out of their baskets and rocket towards the wall.


    Each iron ball impacted the stone gate with a deafening thump and shattered a small section of the door leaving a crater behind. The mages began casting their spell again and the ladders were just starting to be lifted to the walls.


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    Wolfram bellowed "NOW" over the sound of the impacts and his mages activated a spell.


    The mist that had been covering the wall was thrown into the air by a massive gust of wind and dispersed, Wolfram, drew his bow made from an unknown steel and on the arrow tip a crystal gleamed in the sunlight. He commended "FIRE" and all the archers on the wall with similarly modified arrowheads let lose the volley.


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    Drake saw the mist disperse suddenly and immediately called for the mages to retreat, however, it was too late. The volley of modified arrows stuck the group of mages and the crystals strapped to the shafts exploded on impact, most of the mages were non consensually spread across the battlefield in the form of an assortment of severed limbs.


    Just when Drake thought it couldn''t be any worse the people protecting the walls threw mana crystals down onto the ladders, the explosions decimated the people below and destroyed the ladders.


    After he witnessed the enemy using magic crystals so freely he wanted to find the person responsible for reconnaissance and tear them apart. Thay failed to mention that the city was being defended by elite troops because they would be the only ones who could afford to use magic crystals like this.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    He furiously thought of a way to breach the walls without taking too many casualties and becoming a laughingstock amongst the generals. This conquest should have been easy at the start, just capture a new city being constructed, the hard part came afterward when he had to keep it from the Swadian armies.


    However, the city defense turned out to be an elite unit and a rather rich one at that, this was the difference between a country with a dungeon and one without, one could simply throw money at the enemy and the other had to throw humans at the enemy.


    He knew that a Swadian counter attack would come quickly if he didn''t breach the walls and quickly set up proper fortifications, he had brought most of the Grand Dutchies earth mages specifically for this job. This gave him an idea, it was not a good one, but it''s the best he could do with the time constraints.


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    Wolfram wanted to know what his opponent would do next, Wolframs forces were rather limited in comparison to the enemy, so they could simply surround the city and climb the walls from all directions, most soldiers can use their mana to break small handholds in these bare walls and scale it safely, and the walls haven''t been enchanted to prevent this yet.


    The army started moving breaking Wolfram out of his contemplation, they moved towards the wall in a large group causing him to frown, he had no idea what they had up their sleeves this time, so he ordered the crystal boxes restocked from the boxes still below the wall.


    Wolfram spotted dozens of people wearing earthen brown robes spread out in the army and he broke out in a cold sweat.


    Earth mages make enough money from making homes that they didn''t need to join the army, but most importantly these mages could just reshape these unenchanted walls to have as many doors as they want.


    He ordered everyone to just start throwing the crystals because they didn''t have time to use them on arrows, even if this would not deal as much damage.


    Magic crystals started to rain down on the army below and they raised their shields and hoped they wouldn''t be the next ones to explode.


    The shields they used were lightly enchanted to absorb a small amount of mana, this was mostly used by generals to dampen the effectiveness of mages against their infantry, however, against the explosive mana crystals they offered no protection.


    The earth mages who were hiding amongst the normal finally finaly compleated their first spell, the earth raised in front of the walls and created a small ramp a quarter way up the wall. The soldiers that were under what felt like artillery looked at the ramp hopelessly.


    Wolfram looked at the ramp and nearly burst out into laughter, he thought ''the mages of the Dutchy are really behind, even the generals were unknowledgeable about magic. he grinned to himself and commanded his men to keep throwing with the extra time he had.


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    Drake was painfully underwhelmed at the earth mages performance, it would take nearly 5 times longer to take the walls than he thought like this, worse yet it seemed like the enemy had an endless supply of mana crystals which the people in the Dutchy would kill for.


    However, even if it took 10 times longer the amount of damage the enemy could do was like a drop in a bucket. It may look bad when dozens of men are being torn to shreds every second, but his army could take casualties like that without worry. The enemy simply didn''t have enough people to win, although the casualties he sustained against such a small force did erk him slightly.


    Just as he was feeling complacent he heard the sound of heavy thumps, he instantly recognized this sound as wings, large wings. He looked up and saw a lesser dragon flying towards his army with a man sitting on top of its head.


    He expected the mage to show up at some point, but not during the siege, he thought that he would have fortifications up and have his siege crossbows mounted in towers to shoot the beast out of the sky, then he could surround the mage and crush him under sheer numbers.


    Drake ordered his elite troops to return to the supplies behind the army and deploy the siege crossbows, however, Merlin was faster, he mount flew behind the army and breathed fire as it passed igniting all their supplies. The support mages casted rain magic to stop the fire and save some of the equipment while Merlin circled above.


    He flew perpendicular to the city wall and finished a spell he had been casting since the start of the battle.


    Everyone could feel a massive amount of mana surging, even those who never practiced magic before could feel its familiar tingle in their bodies.


    A deep blue hole tore open in the sky and a moment later a torrent of water flowed through. The water formed a large wave that flowed downhill towards the army, soldiers scrambled to get out of the way of the wave, but it still caught a third of the army in its currents.


    The men caught in the water were washed down the mountain across sharp and jagged rocks, armor gave no protection against being thrown down a mountain and most soldiers were crushed and broken only leaving a few lucky survivors that could be counted on one hand.


    Drake looked on in horror as Merlin circled round and reignited the supplies along with a few of the mages trying to put out the fire.


    Then he noticed Merlin flying away on his mount, he could vaguely tell that Merlin was slumped over and he realized that spell must have taken a lot out of the old man.


    Drake inspired his men by telling them the great mage Merlin only had that one spell in him and ordered the army to charge, the ramp did not reach the top, however, the soldiers simply jumped the rest of the way over the wall without any problems.


    The army was thirsty for the blood of those who rained death on them, but only found the city empty, their enemies had killed them when they couldn''t fight back and when they could finally battle they ran away.


    Drake sighed at the losses he suffered, but consoled himself that it was the great mage Merlin''s doing so it wasn''t his fault. He ordered the earth mages to start fortifying the city into a fort.


    Several moments later his lieutenant whispered to him "the earth mages were trampled beneath the soldiers when the wave was coming, I don''t think there are any left".


    F$@ %#@ @#%$@!@ %#^&$

 When the river runs red. 78

    Lucifer watch the army take the city and was rather unimpressed with this worlds methods, he could think of dozens of better ways to utilize magic to attack the city or even with physical means, he could think of a few ways to use the enhanced strength the soldiers posses, although he would have to attribute his knowledge to the rich heritage of the western world, The people of this world probably never advanced their war tactics because the stronger mage simply wiped out the enemy''s, as evidenced by Merlins ability to wipe out a third of the enemys force in one fell swoop.


    Merlins use of magic, however, was excellent, it was a simple use of brute force by overwhelming the enemy with his magic power, but he used the terrain to his advantage and washed the enemy down rocky cliffs amplifying the damage immeasurably. If he had used any other element to attack like fire, for example, the energy he used would only be enough to kill a tenth of what he did because there was nothing to burn to keep the fire going.


    And the main thing that impressed Lucifer was that Merlin didn''t use magic to create the water for the attack, instead, he opened a portal to somewhere with an abundance of water and gravity attacked for him.


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    Inside the adventurer guild, Drake set in the guild leaders office sipping the unnamed alcohol he found in the cabinet, his expression was grim, a group of soldiers removed several courses from the building that were foaming at the mouth.


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    Once they occupied the city the used the guild as the headquarters because of its convenient location and large size, but some of the soldiers thought it was amusing that a small blue frog was kept in such a strong box, with the words "sir-hugs-alot" written on the box.


    One of the men released it joking "oh it''s so scary"


    and another man joked back "It''s just a frog, what''s it do nibble your bum"


    Sir-hugs-alot jumped onto everybody while they laughed at the people who it jumped on, but, after half a minute people started dropping to the floor foaming at the mouth.


    Drake heard the commotion and entered the main reception room and found a group of dead soldiers and a small blue frog, it lept at him and by instinct, he drew his sword in a flash then cut it in two.


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    While Drake was still brooding and trying to figure out how to defeat the Swadian army that was inevitably going to come, a man entered the room unannounced. Drake recognized this man as the Kings aid, he didn''t know why he was here but he had a feeling he was about to find out.


    The Aid pulled a piece of parchment with a wax seal out of his pocket and handed it to Drake, the parchment had the Kings seal which surprised Drake, ''apparently, he is here on official business instead of honor seeking'' thought Dake as he opened the parchment.


    His brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed, the letter gave command of himself to the Kings aid and said to follow his commands to the letter, normally generals could only be commanded by the King and he didn''t like the idea of a servant telling him what to do, even if this person was the Kings servant.


    He dryly asked, "So is this the part where you tell me what we are really here for".


    The aid replied, "Sir Drake, his majesty would like you to forget about the city and instead acquire the dungeon core, then return with it to the capital".


    Drake rebutted "I know we don''t have a dungeon in the dutchy, but to so openly declare an all-out war with Swadia for one seems ridiculous, we are only evenly matched with Swadia at best and the only thing stopping us from being stronger is the lack of a dungeon, do you think Swadia will allow us to acquire one so easily, why do you think elite troops were guarding this city, for fun?"


    The aid simply replied "its the Kings order sir" before turning around and leaving.


    Drake grunted and slammed his fist on the table shattering it into splinters.


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    Lucifer re-entered the dungeon after the battle and started his plans, with a mental command the dungeon began to change, Lucifer thought ''if this isn''t a bad omen for invaders I don''t know what is''.


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    Drake had his army prepare outside the dungeon entrance. Although he found being commanded by a servant quite distasteful, he did like the idea of clearing a young dungeon and quickly returning, instead of fighting Merlin again because next time he probably wouldn''t be alone.


    Suddenly a red mist started spewing out the dungeon entrance and several soldiers exclaimed when the river turned a deep crimson. Drake could smell the familiar scent of blood from the mist and he imagined the river would be the same.


    He looked towards the aid and said "are you still set on coming with us, it seems the dungeon is not very friendly today"


    The aid looked towards the swirling mists and retreated a step back, after a moment he calmed himself and replied: "I have no such orders to enter the dungeon with you, just bring out the dungeon core quickly so we can leave."


    Drake sneered at the man''s cowardice and motioned for this army to march into the dungeon. The aid decided to wait inside the guild with the others who were tasked with guarding the escape route for the army.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


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    The small entrance which was now only one cart wide slowed the army from entering, it took several hours before the whole army was inside with their equipment.


    Drake found the atmosphere eerie, red mist swirled around the air limiting vision and spread its nauseating stench everywhere, he asked one of his mage advisors if the mist was poisonous and the other party tested the mist and found nothing dangerous so he ignored it.


    The scout parties should have returned while the rest of the army finished entering the dungeon and Drake didn''t have time to wait, it was only a matter of time before Merlin returned with an army and if his men were trapped inside the dungeon, it would be impossible to fight their way out.


    He ordered everyone to spread out and search the floor, with this many men searching the entire floor will be easy.


    The soldiers began to spread out and search for the next floor when some of them found the scouts, they were all gruesomely murdered in various ways and seeing the aftermath sent chills down the soldiers spines, they were used to seeing the dead, but these people were mangled beyond recognition which wasn''t something a human would do, only a few groups of scouts were cut cleanly in half which seemed like a mercy if compared to what happened the other scouts.


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    Meanwhile, Lucifer worked together with his people to kill the intruders. He used his vision as a dungeon to see what was going on and found them spreading out to search the dungeon, this suited him perfectly, he ordered Salenia to mount Kuro and attack small groups without raising the alarm.


    Kuro now had her own set of armor and saddle now, the armor was an abyss black plated armor and blended into the shadows as well as she did, it was made from shadowsteel Rick created just for this armor set, the steel absorbed the darkness attribute from mana in the air and allowed Kuro to use it.


    Selenia also had new armor made of a similar material which allowed her to blend in while on Kuro, the enchantments were similar albeit stronger, however, the hood had been replaced with a helmet and the cape removed for combat purposes.


    And lastly Lucifer now wore armor, but his was something cheap that he created because Rick didn''t have the materials to make a suit of armor for someone as big as Lucifer. Instead, he used the remaining metal to create an axe, the weapon was almost as tall as him and the head of the axe was a larger than a human head, the handle had a handguard that ran the length of the weapon and was as sharp as Selenia''s sword, the bottom of the shaft was spiked giving multiple attacking options. Although the weapon was heavy it was perfect for someone Lucifers size.


    Several of the scout parties were felled by this weapon, some were crushed under its blade inside their armor and others were hacked in two with the handguard. Kuro and Selenia formed a team to maul and slice their enemies to death, while their matching armor could complement the each other, Salenia could now use her shield over both her and Kuro while they wore their new armor.


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    Kuro jumped through the shadows with Salenia on her back as she looked for easy prey, normally she liked going after the stronger ones because they were more entertaining and struggled more, however, her master had told her to work with Selenia to kill as many as possible silently.


    She saw a smaller group of 2 soldiers walking by themselves with her night vision and pounced towards them from the shadows. They didn''t even have time to react before her maw wrapped around the first man''s neck and severed the spinal cord with her teeth, the second man was decapitated by Selenias long sword from Kuro''s back. Jumping from the shadow world allowed them to do all their movement where sound wouldn''t transmit from their armor, then they simply sailed through the air and tore their enemies apart.


    They continued to dash through the shadows together and silently dispatched all the small groups they came across.


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    Lucifer, on the other hand, was having trouble, even with dungeon senses giving him perfect situational awareness, he found it difficult to finish his opponents silently, with his size and armor he was about a silent as a tree falling down and several times he had alerted other groups.


    Once he did so he had to escape quickly, this, however, was easy, as long as no living enemy was nearby he could use his dungeon powers, so he removed the ground beneath him and tunneled away along with the bodies.


    After the third time he alerted other groups he changed his tactics, now he used his dungeon senses to figure out where the enemies were going and would hide behind something, once the enemies came close enough he would step out and swing, the last person he was aiming for would be hit by the axe head and be both crushed and cut, while the people between Lucifer and the last person would be cut in half by the handguard.


    This seemed to work quite well even if the sound it made alerted half the floor, he would just disappear and bury the bodies while he was at it before anyone could find him.


    Once in a while, a group member would be too far away to hit in one swing, but Lucifer could create whatever weapon he wished before the engagement so he created throwing weapons beforehand, so he could still kill the group quickly enough.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    She had qualms about killing people for the dungeon, but these people were enemies of both Merlin and Lucifer so she also fought, She wore a mixture of dark blue leather and cloth tightly wrapped around her for protection, occasionally a rune would shimmer into existence on the clothing''s surface before disappearing again.


    Lucifer saw her earlier and referred to her as a "ninja" to her surprise and he seemed quite familiar with the techniques she was taught.


    Once she found a group of 5 or so people she would silently walk in front of them for a minute spreading airborne poison, then she silently cast a sound muting spell and waited to activate it, once the group noticed something was wrong she would activate the sound muting spell around the group, then she would methodically slit the throats of the weakened group while invisible and making sure they didn''t make a sound to the others.


    Some groups fell over and collapsed simply from her poisons, others noticed something was wrong with them and started to chug down antidots to no effect, very few ever noticed someone was hunting them before they died.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Selenia and Kuro quickly moved over the battlefield killing small groups, Lucifer got into perfect positions to take out groups of 3 or 4 people instantly then disappeared underground, but Ahri was the one who was Killing the most which surprised Lucifer when he checked in on his people.


    However, even with the quick rate they were killing there was almost no effect on the entire army, Drake received reports of soldiers going missing at the location of loud thumps, and other soldiers were found poisoned and cut up, while a few smaller groups were found decapitated and mauled. He found the idea that the first floor was empty rather strange, he expected some sort of monster to attack and found nothing, but it turns out that the monsters were simply hiding.


    Soon he received a report of a strange door with demonic markings in the middle of the floor, before the doorway to the next floor with no floor guardian protecting it was discovered.


    He decided to visit this "door" on the way to the next floor, so he had a soldier blow a magically infused horn which allerted all the people on the floor to regroup.


    The army reformed around the core group that stayed with Drake in front of "the door", the core group consisted of all the remaining mages and healers, along with most of the elite troops under his command.

 "The Door" 2.0 79

    The army stood in formation around "the door" and waited for their generals next command, the faint smell of urine hung in the air intertwining with the already repugnant smell of blood, soldiers would occasionally take a glance at the unholy structure they had surrounded and break out into a cold sweat.


    The imagery of "the door" was quite effective on the inhabitant''s of this world, imagine someone from the dark ages stumbling across the artwork depicting devils for the first time, Lucifer had spent a significant amount of time and thought on this piece of artwork, he had carved the images of the most terrifying creatures from all the media he could think of into the door with exquisite detail.


    Drake was about to order the army to leave for the next floor, but something shiny fell from above.


    The soldiers immediately recognized the object falling as a magic crystal like the ones they were previously bombarded with, they raised their shields and only a dozen men were blown apart by the explosion, they looked around to see the enemy, but no one was there.


    A shrill yell warned everyone "ABOVE THERZ MORE OF EM", they looked up and saw hundreds of objects falling, most of them were magic crystals, however, some of the objects looked like they were coated in small plates giving them a pineapple like appearance.


    Explosions rocked the dungeon floor and severed limbs flew everywhere, now the ground matched the air as everything was painted red.


    The modified crystals caused the most damage with the small metal plates attached to them becoming shrapnel, they shredded armor and shield alike and turned an area of several meters around them into swiss cheese.


    Men with missing limbs gasped and called out for help, but there were far too many casualties and far too few priests.


    Drake was inside the core group which gave him room to move allowing him to dodge a falling crystal.


    Over the sound of men dying a constant thumping echoed behind the army, he turned to see a massive boar wearing armor that looked similar to the falling crystals charging through the rear, most of the soldiers were still shaken from explosions so they didn''t react in time before the boar plowed through the ranks.


    Tusks gored soldiers as it barged through the crowd, some soldiers were able to turn around and move behind their shields, however, the boar moved as if they weren''t even there.


    Normally Ajax (the boar) would have to chase adventurers around in circles while they killed him at a range, but the soldiers were packed so tightly together that they couldn''t run, so Ajax used his power to its greatest advantage and crushed them as he ran.


    Drake saw the boar charging towards the core group where all the healers and remaining mages were and panicked, "STOP THAT BOAR" he commanded the group following him closely.


    The group consisted of 5 people each wearing custom armor, they were Drakes personal guard and as former B rank adventures they could handle something like this easily, they dashed forward to the front of the core group and got into formation.


    A large man in the group took the front position and shoved a tower shield into the ground with just raw strength and braced behind it, a faint blue glow spread out from the shield forming a barrier a meter on each side for the party to stand behind.


    Ajax saw the glowing man as a challenge and charged straight towards him, The shield took the full impact of the boar''s charge and was pushed back half a steam, the barrier cracked and faded out of existence.


    Even after enhancing his body to the limit and bracing with an enchanted shield he still took damage, his shoulder had cracked and dislocated and his head was bleeding from the shield hitting it, but he had stopped the boar''s charge and his party used this opportunity to attack.


    An arrow flew into the boar''s eye causing it to rear back in pain, then a swordsman appeared by its side and cut the tendons in its back leg crippling it. The boar fell to the ground and before it could attempt to rise a rogue pushed a dagger through its spine from above, between a crevice in its armor.


    Nearby soldiers cheered the skilled display while the group checked their weapons. The rouge noticed something and said, "look the boar''s stomach is distended, that looks painful".This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    The other party members took a glance and saw that the stomach was starting to softly glow orange, the glow became more intense and lit up the boar from the inside, this made all the organs and bones visible from the outside and the group took a step back from the strange phenomenon.


    Yet they did not move far enough, inside the boar''s stomach 20 magic crystals cracked against each other from the impact of hitting the shield and started to become unstable.


    BOOM, the boar exploded and its brittle armor shattered, the explosion was larger than any of the earlier ones and it was close to the core group, dozens of mages and priests were killed instantly, others bled out on the floor while the priests tried to heal them, some of the wounded priests attempted to heal themselves when their fellow priests ignored them for people that might survive, one man desperately tried to push his intestines back into his body while his lower body was missing.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer laughed menacingly then activated the next trap.


    The insects that were previously on the door were now living in pockets in the roof and he had just commanded them to jump.


    The mist concealed the insects until they were landing right on top of the unsuspecting people below, soldiers started frantically brushing and slapping their bodies to get the insects off, but there were too many of them attacking.


    The wounded had no way of defending themselves and with weakened bodies, they succumbed to poison before anyone could help them, others managed to take their military grade antidote and stop the effects of the poison, but the insects were still injecting them with more poison, and it was only a matter of time before the poison overpowered the antidots in their bodies.


    Drake shouted orders and the support mages surrounded the insect infestation, they cast a water spell and torrents of water sprayed the soldiers, they got knocked around a bit by the water pressure, but the insects were gone now.


    Lucifer had to give credit to Drake''s quick thinking, water was an excellent way of repelling insects Lucifer would have just used fire, but that''s because they were Lucifers enemies.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Drake had just lost his personal guard and the only people who were experienced in dungeons to a suicide boar attack, and now more than half of his army were dead, he was now sure that the dungeon core was behind the door if it defended it so fiercely.


    He angrily ordered a group of men to open that door even if it killed them. (which it did)


    The fear they had of the door was almost as much as their commander considering his reputation, but they were still soldiers so the pushed through the fear and grabbed the door. A quick tug later and they found themselves as mangled corpses flying towards the other soldiers.


    Another group was sent forward and were attacked by the skeletons on the inside of the door, but they easily destroyed them and only suffered 2 casualties, those 2 were grabbed first and found knives in their eyes before anyone could react.


    Now they stood before a large inc black portal going to who knows where, if the carvings on the door were any indication of what was inside they wanted nothing to do with it.


    A moment later a frustrated Drake bellowed at them to enter.


    After the first group entered he sent another group, then another until half a dozen had entered without sending word back, they could be fighting but it seemed unlikely that none of them would be able to step back through the portal and call for backup.


    Drake thought there were traps inside so he sent a group of elite troops to enter and find out what happened to the others, they stood outside the portal and poked spears inside to check for traps or obstructions, and the others wondered why the earlier groups didn''t do that.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The group of 10 elite infantry entered the portal, they found an empty hallway that led to a door, they saw no enemies so they moved forward to see what was behind the door, however, once they took a step forward their weight pushed the floor down and it fell away on a hinge.


    The group landed on something squishy, they looked and found the crushed and dismembered corpses of the earlier groups.


    CHOMP!, The group looked behind them startled by the sudden noise and found what they thought was a rock had eyes, they jumped up and raised their weapons and noticed one of them was missing.


    CRUNCH!, the missing member was inside the rock monsters mouth and after the sound, the body dropped beside its head in two parts. One of the men said "that''s a bloody turtle" and the others strained their eyes to see the shape of the creature in the darkness.


    It moved its head forward and chomped another man in two then retracted, the soldiers tried to attack the monster, but their weapons just bounced off the hard armor on its head.


    They looked for exits but found that the turtle was blocking the entire exit and there was nowhere to hide from its mouth in this small space.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer observed his new trap with satisfaction, he recently found out that although he couldn''t block off his core with a wall, he could put a door or trap there to block the path and this hinged floor was a new trap he designed after a rat trap.


    Once they put enough weight on the floor it would swing down on a hinge and drop them into Snappy''s "playhouse", then the floor would reposition itself for the next group.


    "they want to send an army after me fine, I will just have them walk through a meat grinder 1 by 1 then. OH a meat grinder that''s a good idea, note to self--"

 Door 2.0.2 or some other witty title 80

    Drake was starting to becoming increasingly irritated with his men''s incompetence, he pointed towards a group and yelled "poke your head through the portal then come out and tell me what you saw.


    The group moved towards the portal and moved their head inside and came back to Drake, one of them said: "it''s just an empty hallway with a door sir".


    "just an empty hallway, then why did everyone who went in never come back out" spat Drake. He didn''t have time for this, all of his plans were useless when the entire mission suddenly changed, he brought elite troops well versed in hunting flying beasts along with their heavy equipment, this made moving through the forests that had suddenly appeared even slower.


    However, this would allow him to set up balistas and other anti-air weapons to take down Merlin''s mount, and once Merlin fell to the ground they could surround and crush him with sheer numbers, no matter how powerful Merlin is he was only one man and would run out of mana eventually.


    Instead, he had his orders changed the moment he captured the city and he had almost no equipment for effectively capturing a dungeon, he could not fathom why the King would send him into the enemy territory blind and unprepared, maybe there were spies in his army and the King wanted them to spread misinformation to the enemy. Bringing an army designed to capture a city and hold it and instead, stealing the dungeon was bound to catch the enemy off guard, they would think they had months to prepare an army and a strategy of attack, but his army would have long ago left with the most valuable thing. This would be quite a genius move if the dungeon wasn''t so damn dangerous thought drake.


    Tired of thinking about the Kings intentions he decided that the King intended for there to be mass casualties in this operation, so he ordered the army to simply march into the portal until they capture the dungeon.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Inside the portal men started flowing through "the door", after only a moment the floor trap activated the only place left to stand was a narrow ledge before the floor trap. The soldiers who first entered fell and were crushed in Snappy''s maw, the others that came second wanted to stop, however, the soldiers marching blindly behind them pushed them into the pit, then they too were pushed in from people behind them.


    At first Lucifer found it amusing especially when his plans worked perfectly, but after only several minutes he found out there was a problem, Snappy''s playhouse was becoming full, Snappy''s stomach had also long ago become full so it had been spitting back out the chunks of flesh and this only added to the problem, he then figured out the best place for the meat grinder he had thought of earlier.


    As the pit became more full Snappy had more trouble attacking the falling soldiers, it had to stretch its neck up to reach over the pile of corpses the new soldiers were standing on, soon enough it could not reach the falling soldiers anymore and it was forced to move back in the tunnel, this let the corpse pile fall down and the turtle moved forward again and sat down compacting the corpses, Snappy continued this for a while before it''s several tons frame had compacted enough armor and soldiers that it coldn''t get back into position anymore.


    Now the soldiers had a space where they could stand up and get ready to fight instead of instantly being crushed, however, this also did not last for long, soldiers continued to march through the portal then they fell onto their fellow soldiers heads, some of the smaller soldiers were crushed to death before they could move and the rest were forced towards the turtles maw.


    Snappy gave a horse roar deafening the men in the enclosed tunnel, Snappy had started to become tired after the continuous battle, so he didn''t react in time to stop a soldier from stabbing one of its small beady eyes, normally Snappy would only open his eyes for a short moment before going for a bite and a thick plate of armor protected his eyes while they closed, but a soldier got "lucky and managed to catch him with his eyes open.


    The turtle became enraged, it retracted it''s head inside its shell and stood up, then it charged forward, although Snappy was not quick he did weight several tones and when the soldiers had nowhere to go it became a contest of weight and strength, and Snappy was far larger, the soldiers stood no chance in a contest of power against the gigantic beast, the soldiers only offered a brief moment of resistance before their chests caved, this caused their ribs to shatter and stab into their hearts and lungs.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    The initial group of 50 soldiers in the tunnel compressed to the size of only 20, only then did Snappy move back, but he wasn''t finished expressing his rage, he charged again once the tunnel filled up and crushed another group of soldiers.


    This strategy increased the speed Snappy was able to kill, however, this method was far more taxing on the turtle, soon he became too tired to continue and walked backwards out of the tunnel, the soldiers saw this chance and charged forward to attack, but their weapons had no effect on the turtle''s shell, so Snappy tiredly walked though a tunnel that fit its exact size and as it passed it pressed a heavy trigger pressure plate, a wall fell down blocking the soldiers from attacking Snappy and he was able to leave to get some rest and heal.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer had watched the entire Snappy event with glee, he thought ''snappy takes the lead with nearly 10% of the enemy army'', even the most powerful mage he knew was only able to take down a third of the enemy army, so having a single boss monster kill a third of that is quite impressive, he made a mental note to give a reward snappy,


    ''hmm what would a giant turtle want, maybe I will create some turtle bitches for him I''m sure he will like that, I will ask Rick if he can make a material that is both strong and translucent enought to see through and make some glasses for Snappy, this will stop him from getting stabbed in the eye in the future, maybe I will put two cannons on his back and give him water elemental magic, this would allow him to clean up as he kills so he won''t be forced back from excessive killing, besides I doubt there is copywrite laws in this world'' Thought Lucifer.


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    Drake entered the portal with half the army still behind him and immediately noticed that there was no ground in front of him, he called for a stop but the people behind him were outside the portal and couldn''t hear him, he too was pushed over the edge like the others and fell down onto the pile of gore, someone of his strength would not die from falling from such a distance, however as someone who hated dirty things, landing onto a pile of crushed up corpses was horrific for him.


    He jumped up and started looking for somewhere without blood and guts everywhere to clean himself up, but he found the entire tunnel to be full of gore no matter were he looked, he saw a relatively clean area and he rushed over to it, but when he stepped on it the ground squished and sprayed blood, he realised that this was an island of compressed human flesh and armor and wondered how many people died here and how.


    Drake pushed past all the soldiers marching forward and reached the front of the line, he asked the front soldiers what had happened.


    The soldiers replied "there was a turtle sir, it was massive and our weapons couldn''t hurt it"


    "a turtle, how did it manage to kill so many people," Drake asked dumbfounded.


    "Sir there was a small man that managed to hide beneath the feet of everyone who saw the whole thing--


    Drake interrupted "where is he, bring him to me now"


    The soldier scratched his head and awkwardly replied "we killed him for cowardice, sir, we can''t have weak soldiers in the army sir, those people tend to flee and cause routs"


    Another soldier continued when Drake didn''t speak, "sir the coward said initially the turtle just kept people in the small falling chamber and bit them in half with its strong jaws, but after a while it became tired and a lucky former rogue managed to stab it in the eye, the man said "this only served to piss it off more" and the thing began charging the men inside its shell, apparently this is how most of the men died"


    After hearing the story Drake suddenly found something strange and asked "aren''t you the people who saw the turtle get defeated, why is the information second hand"


    Another soldier replied "the turtle didn''t die, we were told it simply walked into a tunnel and a wall closed behind it, we have no idea what happened to it"


    Drake was becoming irritated but he could figure out that the soldiers didn''t know what second-hand information was, so he asked as calmly as he could, "why are you saying "we were told" didn''t you see it for yourself"


    The same soldier replied, "no sir, the people who saw the turtle were at the front and they are dead now".


    Drake was wondering what kind of dungeon this was, he had never heard of such devious traps in dungeons before, although he had never been in one himself, he along with all the Dutchy soldiers gained their experience by fighting other Dutchys. After sighing, Drake asked "and why the fuck are they dead"


    The only words the soldier replied with was "ants Sir"

 Ants 81

    Drake didn''t have to decipher what the soldier meant this time, before he could ask the man to clarify a giant ant came into view, it had strange markings carved into its dark exoskeleton. The soldier who had just spoken said "elite ant ahead" to those around him.


    They formed a shield wall and marched forward with their weapons at the ready, a man inside the group was looking around and saw Drakes confusion, he told Drake "see the markings on the shell on that one, that means its a leader one, the smaller ones follow that one and ambush us through the holes in the cave floor and roof".


    Now Drake understood why the others were looking around as if they were looking for a ghost, the walls, floor, and roof were covered in holes a foot wide that lead to who knows where. If enemies were able to come out of those holes there would be no way to prevent being attacked from behind.


    And not a moment after he thought so, swarms of ants rushed through the holes and started attacking the soldiers, they came from the front first and slammed into the shields, the soldiers held them back and slipped their blades between the shields quickly killing the ants in front.


    However, for every ant they kill two more would take its place and once they started to get into a rhythm the ants came from a different angle, the soldiers on the sides who were focusing on the front, were suddenly pushed back, Several men who didn''t react in time had their shields stolen by serrated mandibles, the soldiers in the middle started moving forward to fix the shield wall, but they couldn''t get past their allies fast enough and those who lost their shields were dragged away from their allies.


    Ants started rushing into the gap in the shield wall and attacking indiscriminately while scuttling around peoples ankles. Chaos ensued and the soldiers who were trying to repair their formation were pushed around by other soldiers attacking the ants inside the wall.


    Drake tried to maneuver through the crowd and temporarily secure the hole in the shield wall, however, he found that the soldiers were pushed together from all sides so tightly that he couldn''t move. He could see the zero-sum game he was playing, so he bellowed above the noise, "reform a new wall" and patted two soldiers on the shoulder to refer to them.


    They looked to those next to them and nodded slightly, then the group created a new shield wall behind the front group. Some of the smarter soldiers near the front saw what was happening and quickly retreated to form into the new shield wall.


    The flank of the forward ground suddenly weakened from the loss of people and the already overrun group was completely overrun, the shield wall collapsed from the break like dominoes and those in the center were already preoccupied, those who didn''t have several ants clinging to them and tearing them apart tried to retreat.


    Drake coldly observed the situation and commanded: "don''t open the shield wall, if the ants get inside you will fall like they did".


    The men retreating expected the new shield wall to open for a moment to let them in, however, they were stunned when the shields didn''t move and they slammed into them instead, the soldiers holding the shield wall had their expressions harden as they saw the disbelieving eyes of those outside.


    The soldiers stuck outside turned around and created a small defense with the few men they had, but without the strength of dozens of men supporting the formation, they were easily crushed under the wave of ants almost instantly.


    Everyone prepared for the initial shock from the wave of ants, but the shock didn''t come, the ant stood several meters away without moving, then to the surprise of all the soldiers the ants turned around and started disappearing back into the holes.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile further back from the soldiers on the frontline.


    Mages and priests casually walked through the gore of the soldiers who died securing the area, groups of soldiers protected the front and rear of the magic corps allowing them to casually experience the war. Deaths were rare in the magic corps because they were worth hundreds of times more than the soldiers that protected them, so they were often the last to enter a dangerous area and the first to leave when shit hit the fan.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    The enemy armies targeted their group occasionally, however, since the norm was to protect the magic corps no matter what, most generals didn''t even bother trying to attack them without an ambush prepared. They only had to worry about other mages and absurd existences like Merlin.


    So as usual, they chatted casually while walking with an armed guard, suddenly a mage started scratching and brushing himself off frantically, they noticed something was wrong immediately and got ready for combat.


    Then all the empty dark holes suddenly started spewing a black liquid out, several mages stepped back and a dozen soldiers approached to see what the commotion was, however, once one of them got close to the spreading black liquid it moved, he jumped back but landed in another puddle of it behind him.


    Everyone watch on in horror as the liquid defied gravity and climbed up his body and entered every orifice, he fell to the ground flailing as his lungs were filled with the liquid.


    Someone called out "evaporate the liquid quickly" in a strangely deep voice, and the mages who were used to receiving orders thought for a second then started casting. A moment later they sent gouts of flame towards the liquid and almost instantly it melted back into the holes. Now that they knew fire worked on this strange liquid they doubled their efforts and walked up to the holes and sent flames down them.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer was watching the mage corps for some time now because they were people he defiantly had to kill, so far mages have been the only people who have given Lucifer trouble and he didn''t intend to let them live for long.


    After the well-timed order, Lucifer managed to trick the confused mages into using fire and once they started shooting gouts of flame down the holes, several mages burst into flames and died screaming.


    Lucifer has made random holes tunnel back around into the main walkway specifically for this, if mages decided to get smart ideas and send magic down the tunnels they will find their magic circling around back on them.


    Lucifer frowned slightly when an older mage called for everyone to stop once the first few died, then he called for them to freeze the holes closed instead which worked, with the holes plugged up the liquid that was actually the tiny poisonous ants couldn''t get through.


    He sent a mental command to the ant queen and she sent a command to her soldier ants, a moment later the ants that had been attacking the frontlines showed up inside the frozen tunnels.


    These ants spent most of their time digging through solid rock inside the dungeon, so this ice blocking their way was easily taken care of allowing the small ants through again.


    Lucifer watched two groups battle, the ants kept flowing through the holes made by the larger variety and the mages kept freezing the holes shut again, some soldiers had made their way in by now and were killing any large ants that occasionally came through.


    Although the ants were currently losing Lucifer was still smiling, suddenly one of the younger mages who was drenched in sweat called out, "something is weird with my mana, I can''t absorb anymore even with a potion"


    Other mages checked and said that something was wrong with them too, now the priests had something to do and they started checking those afflicted, one exclaimed: "you''ve been poisoned!", then started casting a treatment spell.


    However, after the spell came into contact with the person the priest frowned, he said "have you been trying to poison yourself to death, there is no way you wouldn''t have noticed this much poison in your system", then he casted again, but this time it looked like the spell took a lot more out of the priest.


    After a moment he widened his eyes in shock, he exclaimed "I can''t absorb mana either, I''ve been poisoned too"


    Lucifer laughed when they finally noticed, Rick had created a stone that was able to spread a blood mist throughout the dungeon, and Lucifer used its smell to cover up the poison he had been slowly giving the enemies. they had checked the blood-mist once to see if it was dangerous but they never checked again, this was their doom.


    They continued fighting the never-ending wave of ants and once their mana started to dry up they called for backup, but in this small hallway the soldiers couldn''t defend where the enemies were coming from, they came from the ceiling and floor so the mages were attacked wherever they stood. Soon enough the entire magic core was overrun and killed before the ants disappeared back into the tunnels, leaving behind a group of surviving soldiers that weren''t sure if they would have rather died from the ants than survive and face Drake later.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Drake commanded the foremost group of soldiers, the ants came in waves so they were able to move after defeating all the enemies in the nearby tunnels, however, Drake was not happy about the progress because the frequency of the elite ants appearing increased, this forced him to create new sheild walls to stop the whole frontline from falling several times, and every time he did this he lost nearly a hundred men from the frontline, worse yet he could see the expresions of his men and he knew what they meant, now he had to watch his front from the ants as well as his back from the soldiers, unless he wants a dagger to the back from a soldier that thinks retreating is a better idea.


    After just finishing a battle and losing yet another group of soldiers, a thin man squeezed through the crowd and gave a report to him, Drake bellowed "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED", when he heard about the complete decimation of the magic corps.

 Meeting 82

    Lucifer entered a room he had just created while he was walking followed by his people, once inside he sat down on one of the four seats facing a blank wall. Salenia followed suit and sat down on the end seat next to Rick, Ahri stood in front of the last empty seat as Lucifers cheek twitched intermittently.


    Lucifer noticed that Ahri was staring at his lap and occasionally glaring at the open seat next to him as if she wished that seat would just disappear, he thought to himself "note to self, create spiked pants if I ever intend to sit near Ahri again" because he was not dense and he could tell what she wanted to do, but this was not the time for it and he just plainly wasn''t interested.


    One of the first things he did when he obtained this body was to enhance it, and one of the more complex enhancements that took a few days to figure out was disabling the amygdala, so now he couldn''t feel lust and caused a few other side effects one of which was a lack of fear response, which was not something he would miss anyway. Although even Lucifer thought that this was a rather extreme modification just to prevent himself from being manipulated, but he knew from experience that horny people are easily led by the nose.


    While Lucifer was thinking Ahri finally begrudgingly took the empty seat, Lucifer looked across and saw her expression was as if someone had stolen her puppy and he couldn''t ignore the sniggers coming from the other side, he glared at Rick and began.


    With his dungeon voice, he said "this is the current situation" before creating a projection of the enemy frontline on the blank wall.


    The group looked on as Drake ordered his men occasionally while monitoring the situation and the army slowly edged forward, Salenia said "they are near the end of the ant nest which doesn''t look anything like how I remembered it, also do you think the water trap will stop them"


    Ahri asked "water trap?"


    Lucifer answered "I have restructured the dungeon layout a bit, the last group to attack completely bypassed the maze-like ant nest with a strange magic, so I restructured it to be more direct and longer in length rather than relying on the enemy wasting time getting lost--


    Rick interrupted "indeed that would be a wise move if the enemies were the same as last time, now these common soldiers can just barge through with numbers and more importantly a longer dungeon will not effect warriors the same way it effects mages because they are not limited by mana reserves the same way"


    Lucifer acknowledged "I know, I was wrong to change it with the assumption that the enemies would use the same tactics" Rick and Salenia looked surprised for a moment, they didn''t expect Lucifer to admit he was wrong, while a certain someone was staring at Lucifers body and her mind was in another place altogether didn''t hear anything.


    He continued "don''t be so surprised even I can make mistakes, in fact, I think most of my moves as a dungeon have been a mistake if you consider the outcome, anyway as I was saying I restructured the dungeon, now the end of the ant nest leads back to the first floor"


    Salenia said, "but what if they used a dungeon compass and didn''t go through the door, wouldn''t that mean most of your defenses be useless?"


    This time Rick answered in Lucifers place "that would not be a problem, Lucifer asked me about the maze problem earlier, so I created a few false cores and scattered them around the dungeon, now dungeon compasses and other such methods of finding the dungeon core will only make you go around in circles, hehe through all the most dangerous part of the dungeon too of course"


    Ahri finally came back to reality and remarked "so even if they can''t use a compass what is stopping them from accidentally finding the shortest route to your core"


    Lucifer already anticipated this question and with a thought, one of the walls in the room fell away, after a soft grinding sound and a thump the group saw several beaten up men chained to the ground, Lucifer explained as green "While you were slaughtering people I was capturing several scouts just for such an occasion", Then he continued with his dungeon voice, "they are already bound to my will, so in the event where people start going the wrong way, these scouts would report that there are rumors of the dungeon core being bhind the door. If they still failed to go in my direction then another scout would report "the door is heavily guarded by strong monsters, which of course would appear suddenly around the door"


    Ahri thought for a moment then rebutted "what if they still went the other way"


    "then we are screwed" replied Lucifer as green, Ahri panicked and quickly said "but you will be ok, the dungeon let its servant go last time it was in danger"


    Rick was off to the side having more fun than he''s had in a century which only annoyed Lucifer more, Selenia was observing the entire situation and the weird atmosphere in the room, several things didn''t add up and were nagging at back of her mind, she always got this feeling whenever someone around her was an imposter or pretending to be someone they weren''t. She leaned forward and finally took a closer look at the new member and after a moment she gasped in surprise.


    Meanwhile, Lucifer was trying to ignore Ahri''s strange attempts at placating him, he was becoming increasingly aware that she has zero social skills as she jumped from topic to topic seemingly unaware of the original conversation.


    Just before Lucifer was going to forcibly stop the awkward verbal assault by continuing the meeting with his dungeon voice Selenia suddenly interrupted, "He won''t be ok, he will be dead"


    Ahri froze for a moment than almost shouted back "no he won''t, you got to go the last time why wouldn''t green"This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Selenia sighed, "you are in heat you silly little girl so at least try to control yourself" causing Ahri to blush heavily, she resumed "the reason why green would die is because green and Lucifer are the same being"


    "what!?" exclaimed Ahri.


    Lucifer was almost as surprised as Ahri, he didn''t expect Selenia to figure it out so quickly or even at all for that matter, Lucifer asked: "How did you figure it out, so quickly no less".


    Selenia replied with a smirk "I''ve been hunted for most of my life so being able to pick out a fake is one of the unintended benefits of that"


    Ahri said "you say that like its a good thing--- wait a minute if green is..." she paused for a moment and her face paled slightly then immediately turned blood red, "my god I''m in love with a dungeon"


    Rick raised his eyebrow, he didn''t expect the shy little fox to confess her love like that. Lucifer waved his hand and a hole a meter deep appeared in the corner of the room further raising Rick''s eyebrow.


    Rick asked, "why did you make a hole?"


    Lucifer chuckled and replied "I''ve always heard people saying "they were so embarrassed they wished there was a hole they could jump into", so I made a hole to see if she would jump into it" while gesturing to the fox girl that now resembled a giant cotton ball, Ahri was using her tails to cover herself.


    Both Selenia and Rick looked strangely at Lucifer for a moment before laughing at the ridiculous situation which Lucifer decided to ignore.


    He watched the screen with his body and used his dungeon sense to see everything more clearly, Drake was pushing his army through the last group of traps and limbs were flying everywhere or being crushed, soldiers were falling into dark pits with spikes at the bottom or floors raised to meet the ceiling with the soldiers still in between the two. Everything was painted a thick coating of crimson as his traps fulfilled their deadly purpose.


    Now with everyone here, he asked something that had been bugging him for a while now, "why do these soldiers charge through my dungeon like they want to die"


    Rick stopped laughing and his tone became grim "Their lives are already paid for... the Dutchy leaders pay families for their fathers and sons, or anyone that can fight for that matter. They pretend it''s not common slavery by saying they are paying insurance for the soldier''s lives, but they only pay a small amount up front when the soldiers enlist and give the final payout when the soldier dies in battle. This means that most soldiers in the Dutchy armies are there to die for their families, mainly because most soldiers don''t live long enough to receive their "wages".


    Selenia added "even worse is what happens to the families who send their husbands or children to one of the endless wars in the Dutchies. Once the strong family members leave, scum crawls out of the woodwork and the families are either tricked into giving away the money they bought with their loved ones lives, or if that doesn''t work then its taken by force"


    Lucifer asked "then why do so many people enter the army if they know their family will end up with nothing for it anyway"


    Selenia answered "because the wars ravage the lands so badly that there is nothing left for them to do, it''s a vicious cycle"


    Rick added "that''s only the half of the sad story, the people who coerce the grieving families out of their "compensation" are actually working for the nobles, so the money they pay the soldiers just gets recycled and only the minimal amount of money to convince the people that it is worth enlisting ever gets used by the people."


    Lucifer frowned slightly but didn''t take it to heart, similar things happened on earth all the time and as far as he was concerned this was simply human nature, however, Selenia, on the other hand, looked as if she was about to explode from rage, Lucifer quietly said to her "calm down, there is nothing you can do about such people because they exist everywhere"


    "such people" growled Selenia "how are they "people" if they do this"


    Lucifer did not have enough time or energy to deal with this type of thing so he used his dungeon voice and boomed "QUIET. you will do nothing about such a thing unless I say so, we both know how poorly your last adventure went, just take a look around the dungeon"... then he used his body''s voice to quietly add "the Duchies won''t be around for much longer anyway" causing everyone to jump in surprise.


    Rick asked, "you are going to take over the Duchies?"


    Lucifer replied "yes, but not anytime soon, I''m too weak right now"


    "why," asked Ahri.


    although Lucifer could tell that Ahri was fishing for information her old master might like to hear he replied anyway, "because the power backing me is not strong enough, so while I am maturing as a dungeon I want protection, considering the fact I am being invaded right now I don¡¯t think Swadia is powerful enough for that purpose.


    Then there are the other angles, why would the Kingdom protect me if they receive nothing in return, so my intention is to have Swadia expand using my power as the price for letting me dungeon in peace.¡±


    Ahri was secretly ecstatic, she thought that the dungeon would fight Merlin''s every step and make it almost impossible to get anything out of the relationship, instead, she found out that the dungeon actually intended to cooperate, this would make all future dealings with the dungeon much easier. Perhaps if the deal went well enough the arcane university and the dungeon could form a true alliance, if that was possible then perhaps they could create a legend like the first dungeon and create a golden age, although she hoped that it didn¡¯t end the same way it did in the books she researched before coming here.


    Meanwhile Drake was finally pushing past the final group of traps, he was covered in blood and if he wasn¡¯t a strong adventurer it would be his own blood instead of others, he had stopped trying to keep clean long ago, not because he didn¡¯t mind anymore but because it was simply impossible to wade through blood and gore without staining something red, or worse¡­ brown.


    He could see a portal at the end in sight and called for a halt, he remembered what had happened last time and wasn¡¯t going to make the same mistake again this time. He sent a few soldiers in one at a time and only peaked in before coming back out to report.


    After several minutes he was sure he had enough information to send people in. a line of soldiers entered the portal and jumped down the hole, they were prepared for the fall this time and it wasn¡¯t very far so they easily landed and moved forward for the people behind them.


    After half an hour all the remaining soldiers had regrouped in the new location and Drake was busy reorganizing everyone when a scout come up to him and whispered something into his ear.


    ¡°FUCKING WHAT¡±, he jumped up onto a nearby tree and in the distance he could see ¡°the door¡±, at this point he wasn¡¯t sure if he should laugh or cry, so he just sat there in the tree for a few minutes while he thought about what he should do next.

 Untitled 83

    The image on the wall revealed Drake¡¯s depressed expression which gave a small amount of joy to Lucifer, while he was enjoying the show the other three were discussing how to deal with the rest of the army.


    Lucifer suddenly asked Rick ¡°how is the farm going¡±


    Rick paused for a moment then replied ¡°good I suppose, the mana well is providing enough energy to rapidly develop the ingredients to full maturity, although the speed is too difficult to manage myself, that is something an alchemist would never complain about, it''s our dream to have a cultivation patch that grows ingredients faster than we can deal with i--


    Lucifer interrupted ¡°what did you do with the mana crystals that have been growing in your field¡±


    Rick replied ¡°I have been placing them in a ¡°trash storage ring¡± why¡±


    Ahri and Selenia looked at Rick as if he was some sort of weirdo and said simultaneously ¡°you use a storage ring for trash, just how wasteful can you be¡±


    Rick laughed and replied, ¡°did you forget my occupation, I¡¯m a master alchemist, creating storage rings is as easy for me, unlike an enchanter I don¡¯t have to sit there for months inscribing runes on a tiny ring, I can simply combine a few plants together into a dimensional ring.¡±


    Ahri rebuked ¡°but to treat mana crystals as ¡°trash¡± is a little excessive, even the arcane university can¡¯t use them as they please, each one is valuable and requires careful thought on what to use it for¡±


    Rick chuckled ¡°normally I would scatter them around one of the many cultivation patches I have hidden around the continent, however, going to those places would be less efficient that stealing-- cough collecting the plants in the dungeon, and there is enough mana from the mana well for nourishing the plants so mana crystals aren''t needed, in fact the mana is so dense that some of the plants I don¡¯t get to in time crystallize into mana crystals themselves thus exacerbating the problem, the crystals are like weeds at this point and if I don¡¯t remove them regularly they take up all the plants room to grow¡±


    Ahri sighed ¡°what a luxurious problem¡±


    Meanwhile, on the first floor Drake was marching the army towards the second floor, he occasionally infused mana into his legs and jumped onto a high tree branch to get a better view of the situation, he clicked his tongue in irritation when he saw another group of soldiers secretly slipping out of sight.


    Drake knew that people would defect once they were given the chance considering what they had gone through and could do nothing to stop it, if he stopped the army to go catch the people retreating it would probably just lead to more people getting the same idea, he couldn¡¯t even have the group leaders do a headcount to see who was missing, it would be impossible to tell who had been killed by the random attacks from the ants and those who had fled, more importantly, he wasn¡¯t even sure the group leaders would tell him the truth if he ordered them to rat out their comrades, especially with how many of their friends died for no reason.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Lucifer noticed the group of people sneaking away towards the entrance and said: ¡°I don¡¯t want anyone who has attacked me to leave the dungeon alive, let''s go we have a job to do¡±.


    He stood up and prepared to grab his weapon then Rick interrupted ¡°there is no need to bother with those people¡±


    Lucifer asked ¡°and why would I do that¡±


    ¡°because they are already dead, just watch the entrance and you will understand¡± replied Rick


    Light shone at the end of the hallway blinding a group of soldiers that had secretly left the main army. One man said ¡°there is the exit we are almost out of this nightmare¡±


    ¡°what are we going to say to those guarding outside¡±


    ¡°just shut up and let me do the talking-- cough ¨C cough¡±


    ¡°are you alright Glen¡±


    ¡°yea I should be fine after I get out of this blood fog¡±


    ¡°I was starting to get used to the blood fog, its colour matches our shirts¡±


    Lucifer¡¯s group observed the retreating group of soldiers as they were exiting the dungeon, one they walked out he glared at Rick who just shrugged hisshoulders and said: ¡°keep watching¡±. Moments after they left the dungeon and were trying to explain the situation to the soldiers guarding the entrance several soldiers started coughing, a moment after the rest of the soldiers who had exited the dungeon started coughing and soon they were on the floor.


    The soldiers who were guarding the entrance watched this ¡°messenger group¡± start coughing and then they started to bleeding from every orifice, they stepped back because they didn¡¯t want anything to do with whatever was killing them.


    One of the dying soldiers reached for an antidote and downed it in a single gulp, however, it had no effect, his lungs filled with blood and the last thing he saw was his blood slowly creeping back into the dungeon.


    Lucifer looked towards Rick for an explanation even though he had the feeling it had something to do with the blood fog Rick had created. Rick took several moments to scrutinize the results until he was satisfied with the effect caused by the blood fog and started to explain, ¡°you never asked what the blood fog did when I created it so I never told you.


    Firstly It¡¯s not poisonous so priests won¡¯t detect anything wrong with it and thus not create any measures to defend against it, although I cannot say the same about skilled mages but I digress, Second while you are in the fog it has no effect at all so priests can¡¯t test the fog by its effects on a living being like they secretly like to do--


    ¡°priests don¡¯t experiment on people¡± interrupted Ahri causing both Selenia and Rick to shake their heads, he replied ¡°the easiest way to find out if something is dangerous to a human is to give it to a human and inject mana into it--


    ¡°even an idiot would know that injecting mana into something potentially dangerous would only make it more dangerous¡± she interrupted again.


    Lucifer told her to ¡°shut up¡± and let Rick finish and hoped that he wouldn¡¯t feel in an educational mood.


    Rick took a breath and waited for silence before continuing, ¡°since I was interrupted I will start from the beginning¡±, Lucifer slapped his forehead in exasperation, ¡°So if a priest, or any knowledgeable person with decent mana control wanted to test weather something was dangerous to them, first they would expose someone or some creature to the thing you wanted to test, then after you inject mana into a small portion of the substance you use your mana sense to feel the effects on the body, for example, if I injected a prisoner with Salenumit and after injecting a small amount of mana into the body it reacted negatively, like perhaps the skin melts off his face in large swaths, then you would know that its dangerous to inject Salenumit into someone--


    Selenia was looking at Rick as if he was some sort of monster and cautiously said ¡°this is just an example right, why does it sound so specific¡±


    Cough cough ¡°well sort o-- no I haven¡¯t experimented on people before...¡± seeing that no-one believed him Rick awkwardly continued ¡°anyway the method priests use is similar but on a much smaller scale, using mana sense they can look directly into your body while they are ¡°healing¡± you and observe the small changes any substance has on the body. This allo--


    This time Lucifer interrupted him ¡°WHAT does the BLOOD FOG do, you senile old man¡±


    ¡°Oh, it gets into the body through the lungs and it always wants to stay near itself, so when you leave the blood fog the fog in your blood rips its way outside the body to get back to the main fog¡± casually replied Rick.


    ¡°FUCKING FUCKITY FUCK FUCK¡± exclaimed Lucifer before continuing in a calmer tone ¡°you should have started with that, your character is making my bloody fingers hurt. So just give me your trash ring so we can move on to the next step already¡±

 Beginning of the end. 84

    The soldiers marched through the second floor unmolested, several soldiers managed to get themselves caught up in spider webs, however, the spiders didn¡¯t even have a chance to attack their prey before they were cut down by dozens of soldiers.


    Drake stopped the army roughly in the center the dungeon floor. He remembered what happened last time he sent everyone out in a search net and wasn¡¯t going to make the same mistake. After a moment of thought he sent his men out in groups of 50 to find the entrance to the third floor.


    A short time later¡­ Lucifer coldly observed the situation from above, the larger groups made things more difficult but it wasn¡¯t something that could stop him, he sent a message to Ahri¡¯s mind to begin the opperation.


    The group they were stalking were about to pass through a small valley between a grove of dense trees and a short cliff, with Lucifer''s guidance they were able to find the easiest group in the most advantages situation, so Ahri was able to confidently spread her poisons in-front of the group, far enough away to remain hidden even if the enemy had an expert tracker and she didn¡¯t have to worry about the group changing directions here.


    A soldier tripped on a felled branch to the light chuckles of his group, to his relief another person took the attention away from him by tripping over their own feet, this time more people laughed, they were beginning to lighten up after getting out of that nightmare nest full of traps and an unending supply of black death.


    Suddenly there was a flash and the soldier¡¯s ears were in excruciating pain causing him to yell out, he found that he couldn¡¯t hear anything and he couldn¡¯t balance properly. He stumbled while trying to find his footing on the loose mud and saw an open space behind him. He was sure that there should be 2 squads behind him but the closest one that was supposed to be there was missing.


    Again another flash and the ringing in his ears increased but this time there was no pain, however, the flash revealed the floor in more detail than he cared to see, blood and gore covered the area and he was suddenly reminded of the corpses he passed when entering the city.


    He finally put together that they were being attacked and drew his weapon with practiced ease, but the reassuring blade didn¡¯t swing in-front of him like it usually did, after looking down he found out what was wrong, his arm was missing, it was at this moment that he knew it was over for him, he had seen his fair share of men with severe wounds who didn¡¯t even know they were hit and without immediate healing they all died... and there were no healers left.Stolen story; please report.


    He absentmindedly grabbed his potion from his waist and drank it for the first time without noticing the horrible taste, he almost thought it was good luck that he kept the potion on his non-dominant hand¡¯s side because he wouldn¡¯t be able to reach it otherwise.


    A common potion that soldiers carry wouldn¡¯t be able to regrow his limb but it couldn¡¯t hurt anyway, after finishing his potion with nothing left to do he wanted to at least see his enemy before he died so he stumbled towards the cliff, with only one hand he attempted to climb it but only managed to get onto one of the lower rocks.


    From here he could see over the heads of his comrades and he saw the end of the valley blocked off by a single enemy. At first, he mistook the enemy for some sort of advanced golem because if its size, however after watching its quick movements he realized that it was probably a young giant, but this didn¡¯t seem right to his clouded mind either, he could distinctly remember hearing that giants don¡¯t like to wear armor.


    Whatever that thing was, it is easily holding back 50 soldiers by itself, his comrades would charge forward and the giant would swing its enormous axe with a blade running along the handle, the lucky ones were cut in half from the blade and died instantly, while the unlucky ones only received glancing blows from the axe and were crushed inside their armor, he could see several men on the ground desperately trying to claw off their collapsed armor before they suffocated not realizing their chests had already collapsed along with armor, he imagined this was one of the downsides of having mana, you can survive for longer while fatally wounded, just like the horror stories the soldiers used to tell the rookies, where a soldier survived a week after the battle without his legs before horribly dying to the elements or magical beasts.


    His hearing was starting to come back and the first thing he noticed was that there was the sound of battle behind him too, he turned around and saw that the flank was blocked off too, his vision was blurring so the only thing he could clearly see were large yellow eyes.


    His neck had started to hurt at some point and when he rubbed it with his only hand he could feel a warm wet sensation, once he pulled his hand back he saw blood for a moment and the light shimmer slightly in front of him before he blacked out.


    Several minutes later¡­ Lucifer finished off the last man with a vicious overhead swing and crushed the man in half with his axe, he thought ¡®note to self, sharpen the axe it dulls quickly¡­ oh, and figure out how to remove my sense of smell for Sigmars sake¡¯.


    Ahri re-appeared and asked ¡°are you OK, you took the brunt of the attack by yourself¡± then she glared at Rick who was hiding a plant behind his back poorly.


    Lucifer replied ¡°I¡¯m fine how about the rest of you¡±


    Selenia answered ¡°my barrier was up the entire time so me and Kuro are fine, not that we needed the barrier for such people¡±


    Ahri was staring at him again in her own little world so she was fine, he looked towards Rick and just sighed before ordering, ¡°since we are unharmed we should move on, there is a group that is just about to reach a chock-point and Lucky is nearby to help¡±, and he muttered to himself ¡°although I don¡¯t know how much of a ¡°help¡± she will be¡± as he prayed she would behave herself this time, he just plainly ignored the ¡°do not enter under construction¡± sign that mysteriously appeared near the entrance.


    After an hour Drake started to receive noticeably fewer reports as time went on and could only curse his bad luck and ¡°shitty soldiers¡±.

 85

    Lucifer''s legs wobbled slightly as he kneeled down in his restrictive armor, with long deep breaths he could faintly smell the scent of fresh earth and flora over the metallic stench of blood, once he was in a stable position he moved most of his consciousness outside the body and began inspecting it in greater detail with his dungeon senses.


    Muscle bundles were torn, blood pooled on the bottom of the lungs, several organs looked shriveled and discolored, he internally sighed and injected more pure mana into the body for it to use and witnessed the bodies condition deteriorate at a visible rate.


    Lucifer had just finished slaughtering the third group of soldiers and after each battle he needed to refill his mana, however, injecting pure mana into a living body or using it with a living body was a destructive process.


    Once all of his cells became saturated with the magical energy he could once again move properly, the torn muscles re-knitted themselves together and his organs started functioning, although every time he forced this type of healing without any time for the body to recuperate it became closer to breaking down completely, however, he could always get a new body and with the experience of this one he would be able to make the new one even better, also as an added bonus switching bodies might just get Ahri off him and back to reality.


    His consciousness began the merging process and his senses started to shift into the limited human spectrum, the dim light of the second floor filtered through his eyelids and the soft flow of water entered his ears from a small stream nearby.


    ¡°are you going to be alright, it took longer this time and after the last battle you were having trouble walking,¡± Ahri asked with concern.


    Lucifer casually replied ¡°I only intended to use this body temporarily so it is okay for it to die¡± before he closed his eyes to sense the next best target he could see Ahri¡¯s complex expression. There were still roughly a dozen groups of soldiers left and he was sure his body wouldn¡¯t hold out for that that many battles.


    He asked Rick ¡°can¡¯t you simply move the blood flog so the soldiers are affected?¡±


    Rick responded ¡°Nothing is simple about such complex magics, first of all, I didn¡¯t ¡°create¡± the fog in the literal meaning, I¡¯ve only summoned it with bait made of a few carefully measured plant essences mixed in some weird and wonderful ways.¡±


    ¡°so it¡¯s some sort of blood mist monster, well if you move the bait won¡¯t it follow¡± inquired Lucifer.


    Rick pondered for a moment before answering, ¡°The bait has already been absorbed, but if I created more it may move towards a given direction, although it is more likely to move another part of its body into this dimension and leave the fog in the dungeon to continue digesting the bait¡±.


    The fog continued all the way into the sixth floor, however, the entrance to the path that leads to his core is underwater and thus free of the blood fog, Lucifer was reasonably confident none of the enemies would survive exiting the fog so he no longer had to worry about his safety, this means he could use these people as a test for the lower floors that haven¡¯t been explored very well yet.


    But, Lucifer wanted to be certain of the outcome rather than being surprised when someone pulled something he didn¡¯t expect like that dark mage, he did a stock-take of his weapons, first of all, his body is almost done so he will only get another 50 to 100 enemies out of it, after counting the mana crystals in Rick¡¯s ring he estimated that he could take another 200 or 300 down depending on how he used them, his dungeons remaining strength was difficult for him to measure as was his groups strength.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Rick hadn¡¯t fought anything so Lucifer had no idea what he could do, Ahri could continue killing small groups until her mana run out and she couldn''t sustain her invisibility, so with the right conditions, he estimated that she could kill at least 200 with potions.


    He had absolutely no idea how to quantify Selenia, against these enemies that can¡¯t even scratch her theoretically she could kill them all given enough time, however, Lucifer was sure that Drake would figure out a way of stopping her from moving and render her useless, so he would estimate that she could kill 400 or so with hit and run tactics.


    Snappy was still alive and he had already healed its eye which could at least take 50 down in an open space and the right conditions, that only left Rick and he was nearly 3000 enemies short, originally Lucifer didn¡¯t intend to interfere with Ricks matters because he was quite a useful asset, but now was not the time so he glared at the man still picking ingredients through his helmets eye slits and harshly demanded, ¡°Stop Picking Plants for once and listen¡­ can you even fight¡±


    Rick placed the plants he had just picked and answered while he was re-planting seeds, ¡°I can fight, although not very well, if I wave a wand around I should be able to kill 2 or 3 hundred before running out of mana¡±.


    Everyone was taken back by how weak Rick was, Ahri asked ¡°aren''t you extremely old, how can you have so little power¡±


    Rick chuckled and replied ¡°I¡¯ve never been a gifted mage because I was cursed with an abysmal mana pool, even after hundreds of years growth it¡¯s still nothing to be proud of, that¡¯s why I spent my time perusing alchemy which I did have a gift for, in fact, my low mana actually forced me to find ¡°alternate¡± methods of doing things any normal alchemist could do. I believe this hardship is what turned me from a common alchemy genius to an alchemy grandmaster. Another excuse for my low fighting potential is I¡¯m actually a warrior, not a mage--¡±


    ¡°excuse, at least you know it yourself and what do you mean your a warrior¡± countered Lucifer.


    Rick continued ¡°ahem¡­ as I was saying, Since I was absent of any gifts in the field of magic, I instead focused on using my alchemy to support my warrior abilities, with an iron-skin, regeneration, swiftness, strengthening potion and a few other things I was a very formidable warrior, however, time has caught up to me I--¡±


    This time Ahri interrupted ¡°aren¡¯t you immortal, why would time have any effect on your abilities?¡±


    ¡°indeed I am immortal, but as I was going to say, that doesn''t make me impervious to time, I only have one body and using such many of potions to enhance my body slowly destroyed it, I should look twenty years old but overtaxing my body so many times had caused it to degrade to such a state, now I look fifty--¡±


    ¡°90¡± interjected Lucifer.


    ¡°50¡± Rick snapped back.


    ¡°90¡± Chuckled Lucifer


    ¡°55?¡± said Rick with a slightly questioning tone.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Anyway, I can¡¯t use potions to enhance my body anymore or else I could kill at least 1000 of these soldiers¡± continued Rick.


    Lucifer thought something was weird and asked ¡°if you can¡¯t fight properly anymore and given your valuable abilities, how have you managed to keep enemies at bay, don¡¯t tell me you have been hiding the entire time¡±


    Rick scratched the back of his head and casually explained, ¡°Usually my enemies find a valuable artifact and soon find that their heirs are unable to have any children, then time and their enemies take care of the rest¡±.


    The group simultaneously thought ¡®so you did hide¡¯


    Rick saw their expressions and guessed what they were thinking so he hurriedly added, ¡°AND if I was pushed into a corner I can always rely on poisons and a few artifacts I¡¯ve created¡±


    ¡°then where are these artifacts¡± questioned Lucifer.


    Rick looked off into the side and almost quietly replied ¡°I used them¡±


    ¡°well they¡¯re not very useful than are they¡± rebuked Lucifer.


    Rick awkwardly replied ¡°That is true¡­ I had to turn them back into essence to maintain my immortality¡±


    ¡°ah, you have to ke--¡±


    Rick interrupted Ahri¡¯s obvious question, ¡°there is no immortality potion, and there definitely is not an immortality potion that lasts forever, longevity is something you have to maintain and because of my bodies damage It has increased the amount of essence I require to sustain myself¡±


    Selenia exclaimed ¡°so that''s why you became a dungeons slave so easily¡±


    Rick solemnly nodded ¡°indeed, that is one of the main reasons, if I continued as I was outside there would be no possibility of obtaining enough essence for the next rejuvenation unless I went into the untamed lands, but that would be a death sentence regardless, even if I was still at full strength. ¡°


    Lucifer contemplated ¡°I guess that means that we will have to rely on the blood fog to kill the rest of them then¡±


    Rick heavily added ¡°the blood fog will dissipate after a few more hours and when it leaves it will only kill roughly half of the enemies, the smaller amounts of blood fog that has absorbed into the soldiers bodies will try to follow the main body and kill a significant portion of soldiers, but they won¡¯t be able to reach the main body when it crosses back into its own dimension so it will turn dormant and become harmless.¡±


    Lucifer growled, ¡°WHAT, god damn, if we fight hard we can kill 1000 together and I think I may be able to squeeze 1000 out of the dungeon monsters, but that still means I have to pull another 1000 out of nothing...¡±

 86

    Lucifer swung his axe using the last vestiges of mana left in his body, the axe crushed through the soldier in front of him before becoming stuck in another at the end of the swing arc, not expecting the heavy weapon to suddenly jerk to a stop Lucifer fell flat onto his face with a heavy thump.


    He looked to the side and saw a few soldiers opportunistically charging with the intention of skewering him, reflex kicked in and he slapped the ground in an attempt to roll away from the incoming spear points, however, his body had once again reached its limit and this time in the middle of battle, so his arm barely moved an inch and rolling away was even more of an impossibility.


    Their first thrusts pinged off of his armor unexpectedly, but Lucifer could not count on them to keep missing his armors weak points, or lever a plate away far enough to fit a blade though.


    He tried forcing his dungeon core mana into his body, but the number of enemies nearby made it nearly impossible to use any external dungeon abilities. While he was doing this a soldier started bashing his helm with something heavy and Lucifer''s helm was collapsing further with every strike.


    Just as Lucifer¡¯s nose bent past its limit and broke he heard faint screams over the ringing in his ears. A moment later he could feel a warm sticky liquid dripping through his visor onto his face, then he heard Ahri¡¯s concerned voice ask ¡°are you alright¡± from slightly far away.


    Lucifer grunted in response, although it sounded rather strange Ahri seemed to understand as he heard her say ¡°be right back¡±, before a few less muffled screams were heard nearby. Suddenly the feeling of his dungeon abilities being blocked disappeared and he quickly absorbed the core¡¯s pure mana into his body, at first it felt refreshing, but after a few moments it started to feel like all of his organs were bathing in acid causing him to cough violently.


    It felt like the helmet was suffocating so he ripped it off and regretted it instantly when half of his nose came off with it, Lucifer was sure that this body should not be able to feel pain, but the agony from his face and lungs told him otherwise. Perhaps the constant healing from using pure mana had accidentally returned his nerve signals to normal, or perhaps they were in overdrive considering how much everything hurt at the moment.


    While his nose was repairing itself he took note of the surroundings, all the soldiers were dead in one gruesome way or another, most were cut in two or mauled from Selenia and Kuro, a few were crushed, cut or a combination of the two from his attack, however, compared the earlier battles there were pitifully few who died by his hands. The lucky ones died cleanly from a slice of the neck or an explosive arrow and barely felt anything before they died, which was the work of Ahri.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Lucifer was surprised that Selenia the elf refused to use a bow like it was radioactive and Ahri would be using the explosive arrows herself, which increased her kill count quite quickly and helped to save mana.


    And the remaining corpses belonged to the most unlucky of the group, their bodies were bloated to ridiculous proportions where their flesh bulged out of the gaps armor and water gushed from their mouths, These poor souls were killed by Rick in such a mana even Lucifer ¡°almost¡± felt bad for them, Rick had summoned water and shoved it into every orifice of a soldier until his eyes popped out from their sockets, then he immediately removed the water and shoved the disgusting liquid into the next victim.


    After the first battle, Rick fought in Ahri asked him ¡°can¡¯t you kill them in a more humane way¡±


    Rick replied ¡°but this is more mana efficient than creating the water for every spell¡±


    Lucifer sent everyone to go kill the next group without him because his body didn¡¯t have another fight in it, then he observed the situation on the front-line.


    The army had found the entrance and was starting to regroup, this only gave his people enough time to take down one group before the army was one again, Lucifer had them follow the army and wait for a good opportunity to strike when they split up again.


    However, after the army entered the third floor they didn¡¯t split up like last time, now they hugged the dungeon wall and followed it giving no opportunity for Lucifer to pick off smaller groups.


    Lucifer thought ¡®Since they are going to play dirty I don¡¯t mind playing dirty myself¡¯ before messaging Lucky.


    The army preceded forward smoothly and the soldiers felt more reassured moving together as a group again, especially after they heard about the other groups going missing, they heard an occasional battle but they thought they were fighting the dungeons beasts or something.


    After more than an hour, the army came to a stop just before an underground lake, Drake ordered a small group to check if the water was safe, they walked up to the water and threw a few things into the water and hit the surface with their spears before bending down and taking a drink.


    After they drank their fill they came back to the group and meditated, once they searched their bodies for any anomalies with their mana sense they declared the water safe to drink.


    Drake ordered the army to take turns in groups drinking while the others stood guard. It was common for enemies to set ambushes at water sources or poison them before his army arrived, so he was well experienced in this field, and this experience paid off. Moments after the first group kneeled down to the water nearly one-hundred giant panthers pounced from the darkness, some from trees and others simply burst forth through bushes.


    Drake yelled and immediately a tight shield-wall was formed against the enemies, however, the Panthers were hundreds of kilos of solid muscle charging into softer humans, so the moment they made contact the shield wall crumbled and allowed the Panthers to tear apart the unprepared people behind the wall.


    Claws and fangs tore metal and flesh alike for several dozens of seconds before the army managed to counter-attack. Under the tight press of humans the Panthers couldn¡¯t maneuver like they normally would and became sitting ducks for the soldier''s spears, the Panthers specialized in sneak attacks and had a relatively poor defense, very few survived more than a few seconds before they died to their wounds. All except two which were standing some distance away.


    Drake noticed the lone Panthers that didn¡¯t take part in the attack and noticed they were standing in front of a hole, when he paid closer attention to what they were obviously protecting he could see a poorly constructed den, not willing to allow the Panthers to fade back into the darkness and attack his soldiers in the back he ordered a group to kill them.


    The two panthers were easily taken care of this time when the soldiers were prepared, after they killed the pair they looked into the den to make sure there weren''t any enemies left. The only thing they saw was a bunch of cute panther babies.

 87

    Lucifer waited for the group to walk over to Drake with the ¡°panther cubs¡± in their arms with a shit eating grin plastered on his face, however once Drake saw what his men were carrying back he imminently ordered the baby panthers to be shoved into a sack and left here to pick up later, unbeknownst to him Lucifer was silently shouting whatever insults he could think of into his ear, ¡°LOOK AT THOSE LITTLE PAWS @)$( LOOK AT THEM, AT LEAST PICK THEM UP OR PLAY WITH THEM YOU @*% %*@^&! !$*(&&^&*)*^&, THEN THEY WILL @$$@ YOUR @!^^ SO HARD THAT @%% (*@$ $(&@@($¡±, however, since Lucifer was not actively making his dungeon voice audible Drake was oblivious to the abuse.


    After the Panther attack, Drake was confident that the trap was triggered and the water was safe now, since he wanted this mission to be over as soon as possible and the longer he waited around the more soldiers deserted, he had to move on soon so he had larger groups get water to speed things up.


    Although the circumstances were not ideal Lucifer began his plan and sent a mental message.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    A group of soldiers near the edge of the army heard leaves rustling nearby and immediately prepared for battle, the commotion caught the attention of more groups of men which also prepared for action, leaves of a bush rustled once more and out stepped a small figure. At first most of the soldiers were confused, a little girl just wandered through the dungeon, then the confusion turned to horror when they noticed what she was holding, the little girl stood there with a tilted head staring at the soldiers holding a human arm with small bites in it, one of the soldiers pointed "that''s our uniform" causing others to recognise the small bit of cloth still clinging to the severed limb.


    someone yelled "its a demon" startling the little girl, she dropped the arm turned around and vanished back into the darkness before anyone could stop her. the soldiers looked around at each other as if someone was supposed to chase her, but after the mention of demons, no one wanted to be the one to give chase.


    A short while later the group who saw the little girl heard exclamations from different areas in the army. Drake started to receive reports that the demons on "the door" and a few others had started appearing nearby, so far the demons seem content to stay in the darkness however, a few brave souls dared to chase after the demons when they appeared and haven''t been heard from since, his man said that the moment the soldiers stepped into the darkness they vanished without a trace.


    Meanwhile at the lake soldiers were filling their canteens when they heard a particularly large commotion and turned around to see what is happening, it was at this moment when the water surface shimmered with movement unnoticed until suddenly, massive jaws with rows of razor-sharp teeth burst from the water and grabbed someone before slipping back into the water.


    Those who were grabbed didn''t even make a sound as all of their bones were crushed before they could even scream, the soldiers backed away from the water and picked up their equipment, one man asked: "what was it that got em!".


    another replied "I dono, all I could see was a big mouth filled with teeth on an armored lizard, I''ve never heard of that monster"


    The leader of this particular group said "lets move back and see what the commander wants before we do anything"


    Another soldier gave a sigh of relief and replied "we have just been getting water from the streams that go through the place, so there is no need for us to die for a little water"


    The leader responded "that works for small groups like us former adventurers who are used to scavenging whatever we need while we move, but that doesn''t work for an army because there are too many people to do that, if everyone tried to fill their canteens at one of those little canteens we would be there for days"


    --------------------------------------------------------


    Drake received another report that the water had some sort of aquatic armored lizards in it and he sighed deeply, he thought ''this is just like the battle of Graiglief when I had a spy amongst my generals, every move I make is countered as if the enemy heard my orders themselves''.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    He asked one of the group leaders "do we still have the nets from the adventurers guild"


    Someone replied "yes Sir we do still have them, they were being carried by the rearguard during the massacre in the ant''s nest so they are still fine, you don''t intend to fight the giant lizards are you because we can find other water"


    Drake almost facepalmed, he knew that this was a covert operation so he couldn''t take all his famous generals with him, but these people were just incompetant, but he still explained to them because he knew that having leaders carry out orders without knowing the reason why, tended to end rather poorly, "The men are not golems they are humans, as such they need rest and water to keep up their strength during an operation, so if we miss this opportunity to get water we may not get another and this is also a rest period, so we are killing two birds with one stone"


    After making sure that the temporary leaders understood he ordered "use the nets on the water surface to bind up their movements then kill them at range with spears"


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------


    Now almost half of the remaining army armed themselves with nets and slowly moved towards the water surface. as they were progressing a 5 meter red giant with hoves for feet and horns covering its body appeared near the group on standby causing a commotion, the soldiers yells caught the attention of some of the people using nets, but most of the soldiers holding nets were there during the first attack and wouldn''t fall for the same trick twice. Once the commotion happened the scaled beasts burst out of the water towards the group.


    Some soldiers were distracted or simply didn''t react in time and failed to throw their nets out, these people were grabbed and in one quick chomp were reduced to meat paste, those whos nets landed perfectly didn''t fare much better, the nets caught onto the beats and tangled them up, however, a ton of scaled muscle was still launching towards them, scales met armor and armor gave way into flesh then bones giving under the stress came not too long after.


    Soldiers scrambled to get their spears into the bound crocodiles and net the free ones on a rampage. A particularly well-built soldier thrust his spear from full sprint and you could hear a faint whistle from the blade, however, once the blade made contact with the scales it only penetrated a few centimetres before becoming stuck, this only served to piss off the giant nope and it swung its spiked tail and tore off the mans legs below the knees.


    Along the lakeshore, similar scenes played out where soldiers were having trouble even harming the monsters, while the giant reptiles used their powerful tails as armored clubs full of pure muscle to crush and cut anyone who got too close.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    meanwhile Lucifer was muttering to himself with his consiousness half outside his body as he observed from above, "You didn''t expect a 5th floor monster on the 3rd floor sucks to be you assholes Im a leet haxor, if you think I''m supposed to send 1 monster I will send 10, if you think there will be one boss there will be 3, if you think there is going to be weak monsters you will find godzilla mother fucka, if you think there will be no traps by god there will be traps for days, AND IF YOU THINK A TRAP IS GOING TO KILL YOU IT WILL DROP OUT A PINK FLOPPY DILDO WITH A NOTE TELLING YOU TO GO FUCK YOURSELF!@$%" during his rant he body coughed voilently bringing his consiousness back, he suddenly realized how crazy he was acting while in dungeon form and that was when he was still nearly half human, if he continued getting worse he would probably force the spirits to go crazy too and that would probably kill the intruders, but also himself in the process.


    The intruders would have to wait he had more important matters to attend to, Lucifer got up and started moving towards the cells where the scouts he captured were held, as he was passing a rock wall he suddenly remembered about the crystal Ahri had given him, he made a slight detour and used his dungeon powers to reveal the crystal that was buried in the wall, then he continued to the cells.


    Once he arrived he eyed the frightened prisoners, one man was tall and lanky without a single muscle apparent on his body, the other was a short stocky man who wore several times as much armor as any scout should, apparently he was a half-dwarf or something he wasn''t really paying attention to their stories when he asked them.


    he sighed at having so little to chose from and just picked the tall one because it would feel closer to his current body. with a wave of his hand, he sent the mans soul to go dough-nut diving and pushed his own consciousness into the falling shell.


    A few moments later his vision returned and the first thing he noticed was there were far fewer colors, it was like someone took a blunt instrument to the saturation meter in the man''s eyes. Apparently, Lucifer had chosen to take over the one colorblind scout in existence.


    He didn''t have the sort of mana required to make any major modifications to the body, he only beefed up its ability to hold mana so his consciousness wouldn''t cause the body to explode. Once that was done he started inspecting the library he retrieved from his old bodies palm, hopefully there would be something useful in here for him to use, although the moment he peeked inside with his mana sense he realized that there was truly a library inside here, and the chances were low that he would find something useful in here quickly enough.

 88

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

 89 ( think(tired))

    Drake saw her appearance shimmer for a moment but it didn¡¯t disappear, apparently, he had hurt her more than he thought. His speed was much faster than hers so after a few steps he was already above her and slashed downwards, she screamed out as several tails fell to the floor spraying blood all over him, normally he would be disgusted by having blood sprayed on him, but killing the assassin that could use invisibility was the first priority, so he ignored his disgust and struck again.


    His sword slashed towards her neck, however, just before his blade took her head it was deflected, he could only see a sword coming out of the ground and jumped back to avoid a follow-up strike from this weird attack.


    The round thing on the ground he thought was a rock rose upwards followed by shoulders and legs, then a panther several sizes larger than the previous ones appeared, he judged that the situation was unfavorable and sprinted away again.


    Selenia had gotten there just in time and was forced to come out from the shadows on Kuro¡¯s back and defend Ahri, instead of trying to kill the enemy commander. When she saw him start to run and the injuries on his limbs she was about to give chase, however, Kuro pulled her in a different direction from where she was looking.


    Just as she was wondering what Kuro was doing she saw her gingerly picking up the collapsed Ahri by her leather armor, with Ahri in her fangs Kuro melded with the shadows and disappeared.


    After nearly a minute they appeared again inside the forest and Kuro looked exhausted. Moving her shadow though so many sources of light the soldiers carried along with taking two people drained her completely, Kuro put down Ahri then moved over to the side and fell flat on the ground panting slightly.


    Lucifer suddenly felt a soul bond waver and was taken out of his train of thought, a pile of mud and rocks lost its shape and fell to the ground as his consciousness flew towards the commotion.


    Once he arrived he saw Ahri clutching her stomach as blood poured out of a gash going from one hip to the other, Kuro was sprawled out on the ground and Selenia was using an ability on Ahri, Lucifer couldn¡¯t tell what she was using but he could feel the spirits behaving frantically while full of energy.


    he see Ahri¡¯s wounds slowly closing, but she was losing too much blood, he asked ¡°how was she found¡±


    Selenia jumped and the loss in concentration caused her to stop for a moment and blood spurted from the wound, she restarted the treatment and rebuked ¡°don¡¯t ask about what happened do something or your slave will die¡±


    Lucifer responded ¡°I don¡¯t even have enough mana to defend myself let along heal others what happened¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Selenia rebuked ¡°she attacked the enemy commander because she thought something happened to you ok, now I¡¯ve seen you heal your body plenty of times already so heal this idiot¡±


    Lucifer replied ¡°I have been using my remaining mana reserves to fight with my body so I have almost nothing left¡±


    ¡°almost nothing is not nothing, so at least try ARRR¡± Selenia chastened before keeling over and screaming in pain.


    Lucifer said ¡°Don¡¯t TELL ME what to do¡±, then he focused on the dying girl, although he had no mana left he still had a lot of life energy and even more now after so many people died in his dungeon. He began injecting small amounts of life energy into the wounded areas and watched the wound slowly stitch together, but she was still bleeding out too fast.


    Her breathing was also becoming shallower and he could barely feel her heartbeat, with nothing left to lose he just dumped life energy into her dying body, at first nothing seemed to happen, but after a moment she started glowing green, her wounds closed completely and tails started to regrow, he stopped injecting life energy.


    After she stopped glowing Selenia remarked ¡°she has more tails than before? And her hair Is now silver...¡±


    Lucifer said ¡°I don¡¯t know what aftereffects using such a large amount of life energy on a human would have, but she should live. Did she at least kill the commander¡±


    Selenia answered ¡°I was almost able to but circumstances got in the way¡±


    Lucifer sighed and said ¡°Now our fighting power has been reduced even more and more importantly we lost the element of surprise, the commander will be much more guarded now that someone has tried to kill him. Considering how things are going you might be the last line of defense to my core, you will probably be fighting in a tight hallway until your exhausted to death, are you sure you don¡¯t want to back out now.¡±


    Selenia chuckled ¡°you''re still offering a way out for me, why the different treatment¡±, while gesturing to the unconscious fox woman.


    Lucifer replied ¡°I treat you both the same¡±


    Selenia pointed towards Ahri and Lucifer continued, ¡°She chose to fight and can die as a consequence, that is none of my business, so you can choose to fight or not too and will have to live with the consequences, although you will probably die if I¡¯m being honest¡±


    Selenia replied ¡°don¡¯t you seem a little too carefree in the face of death¡±


    Lucifer chuckled before casually responding, ¡°I¡¯ve died twice before and they are some of my best memories so I don¡¯t care for death¡±


    Selenia asked ¡°well you tell me about it afterwards¡±


    Lucifer replied ¡°so you intend on staying then¡±


    Selenia sighed with a sunken expression ¡°I¡¯m tired, I¡¯m tired all the time, of people, being betrayed, having to always look over my shoulder, having to guess whether the man ¡°trying to help me¡± is trying to get into bed with me, or lure me into a trap for my pursuers, I¡¯m just tired and want to settle down from running around all the time.


    If I left where would I go, before there was one Noble in the Dutchy hunting me and I was only barely keeping ahead of them, now that I have killed that bastard the whole Duchy is after me, and worse yet I attacked and killed the noble in their main city right under their noses, so every second I live is another second they are shamed and if I have learned anything its nobles never forget a grudge.


    So either fight and win a home and maybe die trying, or keep running...¡±


    Lucifer nodded his imaginary head and replied ¡°ok prepare yourself and come directly to the sixth floor¡±


    ¡°sixth, what happened to the fourth and where is Rick?¡± asked Selenia.


    Lucifer answered ¡°the fourth floor never had anything dangerous in it to begin with so they have already begun entering the fifth floor, as for Rick¡­ he is with Lucky and I almost feel sorry for the enemies with those two children together¡±

 90

    "IT''S HERE AGAIN" yelled a soldier in terror, every man''s body tensed up from apprehension of what was to come. Then, as usual, the red horned demon appeared from the darkness and casually walked towards the soldiers without minding the light like the other demons, several soldiers tried to stab it or stop it with their remaining nets but all attacks simply phased through the monster, but most soldiers tried desperately to move away from the demon as it ghosted through the middle of the army. After what felt like forever the demon finally decided and picked up a struggling soldier and walked back into the darkness just as casually as it came, as if it was going grocery shopping.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucky giggled atop Ricks'' shoulder as he concentrated on his portion of the spell and once the "demon" was in the dark he sighed in relief, he let his spell dissipate and the soldier fell from the "demon''s" grasp onto the ground with a heavy thump, then one of Luck''s strange pets jumped on the man and seconds later he was gone, the only evidence that a man had just died was a puddle of blood and a foul stench.


    ----------------------------------------------


    Earlier


    Rick was following the army and found Lucky messing with them on the way, he found her creating images of strange monsters he had never seen before just to scare the soldiers, he was surprised by how effective it was when he noticed how many soldiers started deserting from fear.


    Once Lucky spotted Rick her little devious eyes lit up as she quickly explained a better "jok--er plan".


    A few minutes later he found himself as an assistant in a little girls games, deadly games that he found slightly amusing and horrifying at the same time, he made a mental note to stay on this "harmless" looking devil''s good side in the future.


    Her little plan involved her creating a giant demon illusion to scare the soldiers and he would act as its hands, by using simple telekinesis he was able to make it seem like the demon was actually real even if the enemies couldn''t touch it, although it sounded simple Rick only has the mana control necessary to do this because he never focused on power before and instead put all of his efforts into using mana efficiently, mostly to use with his alchemy, this along with his long life has given him a level of control that even Merlin dosen''t posess.


    However, after the "demon" appeared for the umpteenth time he was completely exhausted and his mana pool was less than empty. Lucky pouted when she was told he couldn''t continue and he needed to rest, so she flew off to the fifth floor by herself.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Sometime later.


    The army had been trudging through the thick swamp of the fifth floor, the men seemed happy that there wasn''t anything attacking them on this floor or the one before, maybe some of them would live to see home.


    [Lucifer] "now"


    just as the army was reaching the halfway point in the fifth floor Lucifer set loose this floor''s guardians. Several soldiers called out when the water started rippling strangely, moments later the remaining crockadiles in the dungeon were bursting forth through the water surface and dragging men away.


    Soldiers tried using their nets but they were less effective when the beats tails were still in the water, they just swished their tails back and forth to propel them forward, the nets couldn''t do anything to stop them from getting away and shaking themselves free before coming back.


    The only saving grace was that there were only a few crocodiles still alive left to attack them because of the previous fight. After ten minutes all of the remaining crocodiles were dead or too wounded to swim back and attack, the losses weren''t that bad because they could only fit one or two soldiers in their mouths before they had to circle back around to ambush again, the ones that stayed behind after an attack ended up rolled over and quickly disemboweled. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Everyone gave a weary sigh of relief when the attacks stopped, but that relief didn''t last long, just after the battle finished swarms of small fish appeared, at first the soldiers ignored them, however, once they passed the corpses they were quickly devoured by the small fish, one moment the corpse of a one-ton reptile floated on the surface the next there was only a skull and some scales left behind.


    The school of fish was circling the army, the standoff lasted several minutes where the fish slowly circled closer and closer, Drake yelled: "dig your shields into the mud and make a barrier!"


    With something constructive to do against this fish hoard the soldiers eagerly planted their shields into the mud under the water, the fish felt the fluctuations in the water and took this as a cue to attack, they swarmed towards the men and slammed into the shield wall, cracks between the shields let in dozens of fish that immediately started taking chunks out of soldiers legs and calves.


    Soldiers started giving their shields to the people on the frontline to fill any gaps, however, the area they were trying to barrier off was too large and they didn''t have the right tools, several of the smarter people threw the nets over the gaps in the wall as a quick patching job why more shields were passed forward, meanwhile thousands of fish were happily swimming inside and taking a few bites before leaving.


    Slowly the gaps were filled and the men managed to use daggers to kill the fish inside the barrier, soldiers started stabbing the water outside the wall to kill the fish pushing on the shields.


    This continued for several hours as the army thinned out the swarm and at this rate, it would take several hours more, only the occasional fish was able to jump out of the water and land on the other side, but these fish were quickly taken care of the moment they stopped to bite someone.


    ----------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer who was observing the situation said to himself "this commander is quite ingenious sometime... although other times he''s retarded", in hindsight he should have had the crocodiles attack at the same time as the pihranas, however, the fish were hard to control, he could tell them to go somewhere but if there was a light source nearby they would go there first, this forced him to hold them up in a tank temporarily.


    He hoped that if he released the swarm while the army was in the middle of the floor they would have nowhere to run and thus cause maximum damage. however, with the shields in the way, the fish couldn''t do anything and the army couldn''t move either.


    The sheilds gave Lucifer an idea, he lightly chuckled while sending a mental command.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------


    Drake was getting a headache, the last floor was a simple walk in the park with the occasional demon attacking, and although that sounded bad the demon only took 60 or 70 men so he wasn''t worried about that, now he found himself stuck in a defensive battle against fish, at least having his men devoured by giant reptiles was not as humiliating as having his army stopped by fish.


    If he didn''t want to only fight fish then he didn''t have to wait for long.


    A large silhouette appeared in the distance and slowly moved closer, it looked like a spiked hill was growing larger to some of the soldiers, but as it got closer someone recognized it and yelled "ITS THAT FKN TURTLE AGAIN"


    Another man next to him asked, "did it always have a monocle?"


    ...


    Drake was the first to realize the sort of danger the slow-moving turtle could cause and he bellowed "USE WHATEVER RANGED WEAPONS TO STOP THAT TURTLE BEFORE IT BREAKS THE WALL"


    Suddenly the slow-moving turtle looked a lot more dangerous in the soldier''s eyes, they scrambled for anything they could throw or shoot at it, a few people carried bows and others crossbows, they moved to the front and shot at the enemy, but everything they shot just bounced off its hard shell or barely penetrated its thick hide enough to stick.


    With nothing working the men started throwing anything they could at it, some threw their spears even though it was their primary weapon, others threw potions, healing or otherwise, someone even started throwing the fish in hopes the turtle would eat that instead of them.


    Drake could tell that nothing was going to stop that thing from barging right through their barricade, he ordered "create several secondary walls so if one breaks we still have somewhere to stand"


    Immediately the soldiers began creating smaller sections of walled off area to the point that no one was carrying a shield anymore.


    Snappy the turtle finally made it to the first wall and moved through it as if it wasn''t there, once the wall fell the swarm rushed the opening and found several hundred soldiers who hadn''t made it behind a secondary wall yet, these soldiers had thousands of chunks taken out of their lower body until it couldn''t support them anymore and they fell, once they fell down they only struggled for a few seconds before their bones were wiped clean.


    Many of the new secondary walls still had gaps in them and the soldiers in those areas had to fend for themselves, Snappy only added to the chaos as it slowly mowed down walls and occasionally pushed over a mangrove that soldiers were hiding in the branches of.

 91

    The situation for the army only seemed to get worse, they were starting the get better at quickly condoning off new areas that were safe from the fish swarms, but every time they were forced to move by Snappy there would be casualties.


    Drake was grimly observing when he noticed the air started to clear up, the red hue that was in the dungeon started to lessen and he could see a little further than before.


    Moments later he could feel something start to pull him, at first it was faint, then more violent and soon he could feel his body trying to rip itself apart. Screams filled his ears but he didn''t have time to figure out the cause and only focused on keeping himself together.


    Under his command mana coursed around his body wherever the pain was the worst and any vital areas, sweat quickly soaked anything that was still dry from the swamp water and veins were bulging all over his body.


    Pop pop pop, Drake wasn''t sure what was making those strange noises, but after them, the noise of screaming lessened significantly which made concentrating easier.


    Just as quickly as it came the pull disappeared and he was able to relax, he opened his eyes and finally noticed why there was so much noise earlier.


    Nearly half of his remaining men floated where they previously stood, their veins bulging like his own, but his had remained intact, several soldiers seemed to have even worse reactions to the attack and exploded into peaces, nearby one soldier''s torso floated next to a wall while his legs hung several feet away on a wall, one of the legs hung over the dangerous side of the wall and was completely missing below the water''s surface.


    He couldn''t see any soldiers hiding in trees anymore, they seemed to have fallen when the pain struck and suffered the same fate as that leg. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Some groups were luckier than others, most of the soldiers building their new wall survived, others lost too many and the Turtle rammed a wall down before they could finish their barrier, Drake watched large groups which were previously able to work fast enough to start killing fish outside their barrier be ripped apart.


    Those groups fell and torches hit water, one the group went into the dark Drake assumed them dead, however, half a minute after a group went dark he saw a soldier light a torch in a tree, he was sure that no one had been in that tree earlier and noone could have made it there before the lights went out.


    An idea struck him and he immediately tested his theory, after lighting a torch and tossing into the distance a couple times he managed to get one caught in a tree, a portion of fish that were circling the shield walls broke off to chase the light source.


    Once Drake confirmed his theory he roared "THEY ARE ATTRACTED BY LIGHT, PUT OUT YOUR TORCHES AND IF YOU ARE SEPARATED MEET AT THE NEXT FLOOR.


    Soon after torches started to be extinguished and people raced through the gaps created by throwing lit torches away from themselves, Drake was satisfied that most of his men figured out how to move quickly once they knew the trick, but he could also see people who were too afraid to fully extinguish their torches, they smothered them so they burned very dimly, perhaps they were shaken by the demon attacks earlier, although he was slightly unsatisfied they would provide a good distraction for the remaining men who followed orders.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


    Sometime later...


    Drake would swear that he could hear a little girl giggling nearby, he was certain that the main group was nearly at the next floor where he could light torches again, so he ignored the possible demon and continued wading through the waist-high water.


    Suddenly everything became brighter and he could see everything in detail again, he glanced up and saw a blinding orb of light hovering over his head, his first reaction was to throw a dagger at it and doge to the side, however, the dagger simply passed through the orb and it closely followed his movement, he moved around several more times and the orb stayed overhead, the only reward for his little dance was his soldiers frantically moving away from him and more giggles in the distance.

 92

    Drake called for everyone to form another shield wall while he figured this out, he could hear the sound of people wading through water after everyone was supposed to be inside the barrier, those people simply pretended to not hear the order and slipped away into the dark.


    Soon the fish swarms surrounded the soldiers, attracted by the light floating over the commanders head. This time Drake had the soldiers put down a secondary shield in front of the main one, then they killed all the fish inside the new area and removed the dividing wall, they only made a few feet of progress but it progressed nonetheless.


    They continued like this for nearly an hour, soldiers began to tire and with nowhere to set or rest it only became worse, Drake ordered the men to rest in shifts to keep their stamina up which helped, but slowed progress from turtles to a snail''s pace.


    [Slosh thump slosh thump] Drake turned his head at the same time a soldier exclaimed "FUCK THE WALL FUCKER IS BACK", from the dim light they could make out the silhouette of Snappy in the distance.


    Drake ground his teeth and wished his mage core was still alive so he could roast this "wall fucker" inside its shell, the soldiers stopped working and Drake could see Dispair on the men''s faces, dispair always stems from hopeless situations and they couldn''t do anything against the approaching titan, nor the fish that would eventually devour them.


    Abruptly, the light above Drakes'' head vanished and the fish soon lost interest then left, the soldiers stood there stunned for a second before someone picked up their shield and ran, as if that was an agreed-upon signal everyone else followed suit leaving Drake behind.


    Once Drake came to he started following the soldiers, however, once he was separated slightly the light reappeared amongst the now horrifying giggling.


    He froze for a moment and shouted "SHEILD WALL NOW", Drake saw several silhouettes falter for a moment, but they ignored his order and kept going, no-one wanted to stick around Mr bright on this floor.


    With no other options, Drake overexerted himself again, mana coursed through his veins and he leaped into a nearby tree, when he looked down he could see several fish circling already and the swarm wouldn''t be too far behind, the trees were spaced sparsely here with only one or two trees every ten meters, this meant he had to use his full strength to jump to the next tree most of the time.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Drake took frequent breaks between bursts and could now faintly smell fresh water, he didn''t have far to go so he prepared himself for a longer exertion this time, he wanted to get to the next floor as soon as possible and meet up with the rest of the army.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    He could vaguely see the next tree and leaped towards it, suddenly a shadow moved, he tried to block but his blade was sheathed so he could jump easier.


    The shadow hit him squarely in the chest and sent him sprawling into the water below, his chest heaved from the impact and he swallowed a mouthful of water, once Drake realized he was in the water he jumped directly up to get his bearings, he burst from the water and couldn''t see anything, the light was gone.


    Again he was struck, this time in the face sending him flipping back into the water, the only reason his neck didn''t snap was that he was in the habit of always enhancing his body in case of assassination.


    Now that the light was gone he didn''t have to worry about being swarmed by thousands of fish, so this time he only raised his torso above water and drew his sword, he realized that the sting on his face was from the back of a single-edged blade and that meant the enemy wanted him alive, for what reason he didn''t know, but he could use this to his advantage.


    Drake yelled "if you have something to say then come speak, however, if you want to fight stop hiding in the dark like a coward and FACE ME LIKE A MAN"


    A beautiful voice casually replied "no, I will fight like a woman and win"


    Drake was only momentarily surprised his enemy was a woman before he tried to locate her from her voice, the moment she said "no" he had already thrown his pommel dagger, the splash of water and the searing pain from another attack told him he missed.


    After stumbling he regained his footing and was determined to hear the attacker so he could retaliate, however, after several moments nothing happened, as he was about to provoke his attacker again the water around his waist moved, he moved the moment he felt something off but he was caught, the water slowly snaked itself up his body constricting it like a snake.


    He tried to struggle or reach for any of his hidden weapons, however, the water still held him and when he used his last remaining vestiges of mana to break the bond, it simply reknit itself and continued.


    Every time he breathed out the water constricted a little tighter, until he was desperately trying breath in but his chest had no room to expand, the last thing he saw was a lithe armored warrior with a long sword and an old man.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer observed his little play and was quite satisfied with the results, he sent a message to bring the commander to him and refocused on the army, they were grouping on the small landmass between the fifth and sixth floor, in the center a small group of squad and company leaders were arguing, one person said they were the highest ranked and therefore should be in command now that Drake was missing, another man said they were the same rank and said they shoud have command, because of some "feat" he accomplished that Lucifer was sure his subordanates did and he took credit for, the conversation seemed to go in circles untill one man slit the throat of another and proclaimed himself "boss", Lucifer was more surprised that it worked rather than the fact he suddenly killed someone, after that the army started to smoothly opperate again.


    The new commander sent small groups to cut down the mangrove trees to make rafts, Lucifer thought that he would have the army retreat, but apparently, the higher-ups still thought Drake was alive and until they were sure he wasn''t they would continue pretending he was, so they began building rafts to escape the fifth floor unless Drake showed up again, then they would be perfect sixth floor rafts.


    Suddenly he felt a massive angry mana enter his dungeon, he found this curious because he had no idea mana could be angry.

 93

    Drake''s eyes fluttered open as his consciousness slowly returned. When he came to he found that his arms and legs were bound to a thick stone chair. If he still had his belt on he could have used the hidden blade in the buckle to free himself, but like his clothes, his gear was missing too.


    After surveying his surroundings he still couldn''t figure out who had captured him and for what purpose. The room consisted of three bare walls of stone and a passageway, a small gem fitted to the ceiling gave a soft blue glow to the illuminate the room. Drake couldn''t think of anyone who would use such a room to hold prisoners, perhaps a slightly mad earth mage. Maybe that old man he saw before he passed out was the deranged earth mage in question.


    Drake didn''t have time to ponder for long before he could hear footsteps coming from the corridor. After straining his ears he could make out at least three people were coming. He tried one last time to remove his bindings before they arrived, but even with the small amount of mana he had recovered since being captured, he was unable to break the ropes.


    The first person to enter his sight was the armored knight, from their slender frame he guessed this person was the woman who was attacking him. Following close behind her was the old man he saw just as he lost consciousness.


    He was about to ask them what they wanted from him, however, the third person pulled his attention from the woman''s exquisite armor. Drake recognized the lanky man, his name was Jacob and he joined a few years after him and was put under his command when he became a captain.


    Drake couldn''t understand why Jacob would betray him, he treated him well enough. Drake even gave him preferential treatment as someone he trained up himself. Jacob never got any of the tough jobs and as long as Drake remained in command of this particular army, Jacob would be one of the lucky soldiers that lived long enough to retire, he also told the man that if he ever met the requirements he would immediately put him in with the elite unit without having to achieve some meritious service.


    Jacob even used this familiarity with Drake to get himself out of a few bad spots too and managed to nearly tarnish his reputation.


    Drake spat "after how well I treated you, this is how you return the favor", he spat on the ground and looked at Jacob as if he was an insect, "I even covered for you when after you cheated in the casino, do you remember that you ungrateful mongrel, if it wasn''t for me you would have had your legs broken and if you were "lucky" they might have stuck you in one of their brothels for people with heavy tastes. But who knows, considering how much of a piece of shit you are you would probably enjoy it"


    Jacob watched his former superior bark as if he wasn''t tied to a chair right now and a small grin formed on his lips.


    Drake saw the others shit-eating grin and only got angrier.


    Jacob interrupted the mans one man spit throwing contest and said, "if you really were so good to me then, why was I sent with only one incompetent fool to scout this dangerous dungeon with, you know I could have died horribly or worse get captured, but I''m sure you "care" sooo much"


    Just as Drake was about to start swearing at the idiotic scout he heard an odd sound coming from the hallway. It sounded like thousands of strange tiny birds chirping and if listened closely footsteps. Soon small bursts of blue light seemed to flash in sync with the loudest chirps on the hallway walls.


    Drake''s draw almost dropped off his face when Merlin the strongest mage on this side of the continent stormed in covered in lightning, it was at this moment that he realized why Jacob had defected. If someone like Merlin took notice of him and made him a student he would defect too.


    Merlin disregarded the tied up man in the room and directly questioned Selenia, "Take me to Ahri" with a slight tremble in the fury that was his magic embued voice.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Jacob casually replied to the powerful mage "Ahri is fine so calm down old man"


    "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU KID, TO TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, SHOW SOME GOD DAMN RESPECT BEFORE I TEAR YOUR SOUL APART", he then wiped out a small grey gem from his sleeve with a deep crack running across most of the surface. Merlin then grimly added, "this is a life crystal that is bound to Ahri''s lifeline, it breaks when...".


    Merlin didn''t even finish the sentence, he just sort of trailed off while staring off into oblivion. Jacob''s blank uncaring expression shifted for a moment, he didn''t get the full explanation of what that crystal does, but he can guess given the fact it is bound to Ahri''s lifeline and Merlins expression as he was trying to explain what it does.


    Selenia interrupted the complex atmosphere, "Ahri really is fine, She is unconscious but I checked her myself and she should make a full recovery"


    Merlin seemed to change from a wiery old man into a ferocious tiger in an instant, "recovery, recovery from what" as he looked around the small room for the culprit.


    Jacob could see the mage''s relief through the angry disguise he showed others, he felt slightly sorry for the old man so he comforted, "When I was healing her I also checked her soul and it''s still fine, so after some rest, she will be perfectly healthy".


    Merlin''s shoulders visibly relaxed and then he questioned Jacob, "So who is the bastard who did it and where is Ahri now, I want to check on her myself".


    Jacob pointed to the tied up man that Merlin obviously hadn''t noticed yet and started to say "he was the one w--"


    Before he could finish his sentence or stop Merlin, the old mage teleported right next to the prisoner and just as Drake was about to yell, Merlin''s hand rested on his head and glowed a strange color that he couldn''t name. Drakes soul gave a brief moment of resistance before it was sucked up into a crystal on Merlin''s palm.


    Everyone was so shocked by Merlins actions they forgot to try and stop him from continuing whatever he was doing.


    With a few chanted words that sent shivers down everyone''s spines Merlins hand glowed once again, the crystal flickered and then there was a shadow inside the crystal writhing in agony.


    Rick grimaced then asked "did you just... bind his soul into a stone just so you can torture it for longer"


    Merlin flicked the stone into one of his storage rings and replied "I don''t know what you''re talking about"


    Jacob sighed then said "Well you ruined my fun, I was going to mess with the man''s head a little and get some information before I possesssed his body"


    Merlin finally realized something and demanded "your the dungeon aren''t you, where were you when Ahri was injured enough that the life crystal thought she was dead, why was she in danger in the first place, I sent her here to be safe because what could be safer than a sentient dungeon, but look what happened I said I would dest--"


    Lucifer used his dungeon voice to interrupt "DONT THREATEN ME" before the mage inevitably got to his hollow threat, then continued in a monotone "She got herself into the dangerous situation herself while I was figuring out ways to stop the invasion, which by the way would have killed Ahri too if I died so where were you"


    Merlin was about to shout back, but found that he had nothing he could say against that. He had forgotten that a soul binding will kill the servants if the master dies.


    Rick decided that it was time to meditate before things got out of hand, "he is right, Ahri acted recklessly and nearly got herself killed, Lucifer managed to heal her even when he had almost zero mana"


    Rick could tell Merlin was about to rebut him so he quickly added: "remember that she is in "heat" so her mind is not completely stable at the moment", cutting off any doubts that Ahri could have done something reckless.


    After a few awkward moments, Merlin asked "so what is the situation with the invasion force"


    Lucifer blandly replied, "they are between the fifth and sixth floors creating rafts, why did you intend to swoop in at the last moment and save the dungeon in distress". Lucifer was quickly becoming tired of Merlin and was starting to regret even making a deal with him.


    He continued "well don''t worry I don''t need your help because I have solved the problem on my own". Lucifer started transferring his consciousness into Drake''s corpse.


    Merlin spat back "with my students help I might add".


    Drakes body twitched then spoke "your student, she is not yours anymore, her soul is bound to me and with her condition, her heart also belongs to me, so I can do whatever I want with her"


    Lucifer walked passed the mute old man and stated as he was leaving "although I''m quite tired of you, so if you want her back you can take her along with the deal we have, oh also would you kindly do something useful and kill the dutchy soldiers invading your Kingdom on your way out, I don''t like survivors".

 94

    Lucifer strolled through the dungeon towards the army. Construction of the rafts would take several hours so he was in no rush.


    He was finally taking the time to appreciate his creations from a human perspective for the first time. Occasionally he came across something that was experienced differently from how he expected, for example, the terrain on the third floor was rather flat in most places and the trees were relatively far apart, the Panthers could move around easily here, but so could the adventures. Lucifer made a mental note to increase the density of trees and hills to make it harder to traverse.


    The fourth floor was as he expected, it was supposed to be a sort of rest floor that would occasionally eat someone who thought it was completely safe. So he didn''t find anything of note that needed to change.


    Although he couldn''t tell for sure because very few adventurers have entered the fourth floor and he needed victims to test it.


    The fifth floor was simply tiring to go through with his unenhanced body.


    While wading through the waist-deep water he contemplated the previous battle here. There wasn''t much to improve on and he knew better than to make a low floor too deadly, however, this previous body''s owner showed him a slight flaw in the floor.


    The trees were too close together which allowed powerful people to jump through the floor. Lucifer purposely spread the trees apart on this floor, but apparently not far enough. He only placed the trees on this floor to break up the line of sight so adventures wouldn''t be able to see the exit right away.


    Perhaps he could add poisonous thorns to the trees, but that idea was quickly dismissed because it wouldn''t affect the people causing the problem, instead, he could have some of the trees be disguised monsters. Lucifer sorted through his monster related Earthmails and found a few creatures which could disguise themselves.


    The Mimic was the most obvious one, a creature with no inherent form that takes the shape of whatever will lure its particular prey the best. Well, the adventurers aren''t lumberjacks so that eliminates them from the selection.


    Succubus... While interesting in its own right, he didn''t want his swamp to fuck the enemy to death.


    Flesher ghoul - flays the victim ali... no, that''s not the type of disguise he was looking for.


    Finally, after sorting through his list of monsters he found "Trent" and almost facepalmed for not finding it sooner. If you wanted something to disguise itself as a tree then why not a monster that IS a tree.


    Just as he was thinking about how to get a Trent to light up when it attacks he arrived. Once he was seen several soldiers moved further into the army, probably to report "his" return. He ignored that and strode directly towards the center of the army.


    Obviously, no-one tried to stop him, but once he arrived where he last saw the new leaders of the army, he was surrounded. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Mr throat slitter moved to the front and gloated from a dozen meters away, "I''m the commander now, sadly you died heroicly in battle against Merlin the great mage".


    ''well, this is not going to plan'' thought Lucifer. He casually asked, "oh really, when I died to Merlin, were you the only survivor amongst the soldiers of your rank". Several of the soldiers glared at Mr. Slitty after the cogs in their heads started moving. Lucifer could see the man was starting to panic slightly so he casually rubbed a new ring on his finger.


    While thanking Rick''s strange sense of value he flicked a small gem towards the panicked man. Mr throat slitter already had his sword drawn and when he saw movement from "Drake" he slashed the projectile.


    The moment his hard sward met the brittle crystal it cracked and exploded. The man''s torse vaporized, his limbs and several other chunks of him flew away or into other soldiers. Luckily the crystal Lucifer used was tiny or else he would have been caught up in the explosion too.


    Once the commotion calmed down Lucifer asked with an eerie smile "is anyone else the leader now"


    ...


    After a short silence, he continued in a cheerful tone, "good, then get those rafts you were making up onto the sixth floor"


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Several hours later the soldiers were floating on the sixth floor while Lucifer twidled his thumbs in boredom. Once everything was prepared he ordered, "PUSH OFF". Then the army set off.


    Nearly half an hour later Lucifer decided that was long enough. He sent Cuddles a mental message to attack. Several uneventful moments passed while his anticipation contrasted greatly against the boredom of the soldiers.


    Then one of the lead rafts suddenly rose to the ceiling which was only a meter away, the soldiers between the thick logs and the roof became several sizes smaller and much more dead instantly.


    A tentacle was visible below the raft for less than a second, but a soldier yelled "SEA MONSTER". Several more rafts were forced into the roof and Lucifer bellowed "PUT THE RAFTS TOGETHER TO FORM AN ISLAND".


    Soon dozens more rafts were destroyed, but there were still hundreds more and now they locked together to form a small island of rafts.


    Lucifer smiled to noone in particular completely oblivious to the chaos around him while he walked to the center. Once he was roughly in the center of the manmade island he sent another message to Cuddles. Moments later the attacks stopped and the soldiers that fell off during the attack started to climb back onto the rafts.


    Lucifer rubbed the ring again and a stack of crystals poured onto the floor. Just as someone was about to question their leader he placed his palm atop the closest crystal and it exploded.


    The chain reaction set off the rest of the crystals and disintegrated dozens of nearby rafts, the shockwave traveled through the water creating waves that ripped apart most of the rafts, only a few of the better-constructed ones managed to survive the onslaught.


    When the soldiers were struggling to swim in their armor the sea monster returned.


    Lucifer now without a body observed the ensuing chaos his little plan caused. Swimming wasn''t really a common past-time for people in the landlocked Grand Duchy, so the amount of soldiers that simply sank surprised Lucifer. Some of the better swimmers managed to keep afloat for a while before getting caught on the strangle kelp. Once they were tangled the plant immediately contracted pulling the soldiers to the bottom where they were easy prey for the sharks.


    Cuddles was having difficulty attacking the small targets with its oversized limbs now they weren''t on rafts, but it soon got the hang of skimming its tentacles across the surface of the water. Anything the tentacles hit would either be crushed form the impact or grabbed by a sucker on the tentacle, then the flexible limb would scrunch up into a ball squeezing anything inside to death.


    A small proportion of soldiers managed to swim back to the land between the two floors, the rest were left with watery graves.

 95 I think

    Lucifer sent Cuddles a message to have fun then had Selenia collect a few people with Rick''s help, he needed another body.


    He was beginning to find his emotional state as a dungeon more and more uncomfortable the longer he went without a body. Lucifer was not sure if his mental state would revert once he inhabited a body after an extended period of time and he wasn''t will to test it.


    After directing Selenia to a few specific individuals to capture he moved his consciousness back to his Lab. He never had to actually move his mind around the dungeon to see it clearly, but seeing things himself was an old habit.


    This attack showed Lucifer that he was lacking power in more ways than one, first, he didn''t have any political power. If he represented a powerful force then people would have to think twice before attacking him. Second, he had a lack of mana, considering this was his main source of actual power this was the most troubling, this attack would have gone much more smoothly if he had more mana to make equipment, or even simply creating more mana crystals would have made the whole event smoother. Third, his dungeon didn''t have the power to defend itself against some of the more powerful entities.


    The first problem he could solve by revealing himself to more powerful people and striking up deals, everyone seemed to already know about him anyway so it couldn''t hurt to make more friends.


    Mana was a bigger issue, he couldn''t just create it out of thin air like he could most things. Instead, Lucifer would have to think of ways to increase his mana regeneration quickly, this would be the top priority for the moment because it didn''t involve complex relationships and he could do everything himself.


    And lastly, the third problem tied into the previous two so if he could solve this one the ones before it are irrelevant. Previously Lucifer had held back on creating technologies because he thought the humans would quickly adapt and use them on him, however, considering the time constraints he would have to count on killing everyone who got that far so they couldn''t copy him, and hopefully by the time they managed to copy his technology he would have already become strong enough that it didn''t matter.


    Lucifer nodded to himself as he finalized a loose plan for the future and then asked Selenia how far the new hosts were. Selenia and Rick had gotten caught up in a fight and were still on the land between the two floors killing anyone who got ashore.


    He checked the area briefly with his dungeon sense and noticed the people he picked out were neatly tied up to the side. Selenia was surrounded by half drowned soldiers and was testing her new armor to its fullest, Rick stood inside a shadow and was completely ignored by the soldiers, Lucifer thought that was strange until he saw the little fairy sitting on Ricks'' shoulder, Lucky was relaxing on Rick while eating little fruits from a miniature bucket Lucifer had made.


    His people were taking their time getting him a new body so he looked around for something to do. On a nearby bench he didn''t need but only used out of habit, there stood a small figurine made of stone.


    The figurine was about 11 inches tall boxy humanoid shape with drills for arms. Several such figures were scattered around the workshop in different levels of completion, these were his failed attempts at creating automated golems.


    Lucifer had tried to pry information about this worlds magic from the old alchemist, but Rick had only practised a few spells outside of alchemy so he wasn''t very useful in that respect, however, during one of Ricks war stories he mentioned that one particularly annoying foe kept summoning constructs made of earth to fight for him.


    Lucifer immediately recognized the description to be something similar to Golems, he excitedly asked Rick how the mage summoned them and to his surprise, Rick actually knew the spell.


    Once he tried the spell it only fizzled and popped he questioned Rick.


    Rick, replied "magic changes over time, it''s been so long its no wonder the spell doesn''t work anymore"


    "spells stop working?" asked Lucifer.


    Rick pondered for a moment then explained " it''s complicated, saying it doesn''t work anymore is sort of correct but also incorrect, a better interpretation would be the spell doesn''t exist anymore"


    Rick paused for a moment to gather his thoughts then continued uninterruptedly because Lucifer knew this old man likes teaching, so he would find out what he wanted to know, although in most cases he found Rick''s "sudden lessons" annoying.


    "ahem... so mana is just one type of energy, and mages use that energy to essentially buy the spirit''s/elementals abilities. Humans can create their own spells but only a grandmaster mage can alter the laws of magic enough to bring a new spell into existence, So we magically challenged individuals have to rely on what already exists to cast spells so--"


    Lucifer interrupted the incoming speech "and what does that have to do with the spell no longer existing"


    Caught off guard in the middle of his lesson Rick stumbled his words, then he replied while making sure to send a sufficiently evil glare at Lucifer for interrupting him, "Nothing is eternal, even spirits. Although noone knows the age limit of a spirit we do know they kill each other for dominance--"


    "So the spirit of bonerous maximus dies then that spell won''t work anymore"


    Rick gruffly replied "I know of no such spell but yes you are right, so in essence, a spell that works one day may not work the next. In fact nearly seven hundred years ago the spirit king of darkness was killed, his plane of existence was irreversibly damaged and many spirits died, a new spirit took its place but the damage had already been done, then within months the church of Umbra was destroyed because most of their magics simply stopped existing, The church of Light then took this oppor--"Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Lucifer left once the old man started rambling about one of his stories again.


    After reminiscing about a silly conversation with one of his servants he was still left with nothing to do, only a few plant experiments were left on some of the tables. Then he looked to the corner and noticed the familiar presence of the Selenia doll.


    Lucifer had spent quite a significant amount of time on creating that doll to look human, or elf to be exact. Since it would be a shame to let this thing go to waste and considering Lucifers current body issue, he decided to use it.


    He had been using the body for practice making organs and tissues, so he would make fewer mistakes when modifying his dungeon creatures, because modifications were far more costly on living things.


    Everything on this body was complete, but he wasn''t quite certain about the brain. The brain was an extremely complex organ and he has had little success in mimicking it, but after messing around with a few bodies while inside them where he could feel the effects, he was almost confident to make a non-retarded brain to use.


    Lucifer took a few minutes to form a brain and stuck it inside the doll then connected it to the spine. He sent a few signals from the brain with small mana charges throughout the nervous system, he found nothing wrong.


    With no other tests he could think of he shocked the heart into starting and pushed his consciousness into the doll turned chimera. He found nothing wrong.


    Something was pulling at the back of his mind for what felt like a long time, but also just a few seconds ago. Annoyed with such a thing he followed the sensation back and was pulled outside the doll.


    Once he was outside again he noticed the doll slumped over drooling on the ground with a blank expression.


    ...


    Apparently, Lucifer had just "made himself a retard", in more ways than one.


    With another thing to add to his dark history and a newfound respect for the complexity of the brain, Lucifer stopped for a moment, after thinking about the problem for a little longer an idea struck him. If he couldn''t create a brain he could just take one.


    After browsing through his Earthmails he located the few "intelligent" beings things he could summon.


    1st demon- its description had something about tricking people so he assumed it had some level of intelligence, but demon was too vague for him to pin his hopes on.


    2nd Succubus again- Lucifer put aside the male-female brain thing for a moment and thought better of using the brain of a slut demon.


    3rd Incubus- Slightly better but still the same problem as the last one, he put quite some effort into removing lust form his last body so he didn''t want to literally become a horny devil in the next one.


    Trent- did a tree even have a brain?


    Dlorkivdo- Demon that turns to mist and enters the body usually through the an-- nope man slut it is.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer willed the small amount of mana he had into a summoning spell, then several seconds later a clawed hand tore open a hole in space. A slightly tanned tall man of sploosh stepped out of the portal. The only thing distinguishing this demon from a human was his clawed fingers and a small tail protruding from his lower spine.


    The incubus inquired to noone in particular "which lonely witch summoned me and why are you already playing hard to get", he then spotted the dull-eyed elf on the ground and said "oh my, was I so beautiful that you fainted, actually now that I get a good look at you I have to wonder how such a pretty little thing needs me. Oh I know everyone needs the gift of the universe now and then"


    After the momentary daze Lucifer remembered that he couldn''t use magic around other living things so he couldn''t kill this aggravating existence for his brain even if he wanted to.


    The incubus was moving closer towards the doll and trying to seduce "itself" apparently, while Lucifer''s disgust and intention to kill this irritating creature intensified he realized this thing was his summon, this means that he can still use magic with it nearby, he could feel his mana still flowing smoothly in the room so he was now sure and cursed himself for not realizing sooner.


    The incubus screamed for a moment then his head twisted several times and was then ripped from its body. Lucifer made a mental note not to summon weird monsters inside his lab in the future, then started removing the brain.


    However, after several seconds the demon''s body started to shimmer and disappear. This was not a successful day in the lab.


    Lucifer once again checked on Selenia''s progress and was starting to get irritated when he saw her still fighting groups of soldiers on the little island. Every now and then Selenia would be grappled to the ground, Lucky and Rick would then interfere for a minute then go back to watching Selenia slaughter the men casually.


    Suddenly Lucifer heard soft screaming coming from nearby, this was odd because he was hearing the noise come from his lab, not the battlefield.


    He returned his attention back to the lab and found Kuro laying on top of a screaming soldier, her tail swished back and forth leasurly and her expression proclaimed, "Look at what I got you, see how amazing a hunter I am, it''s even alive. Whos a good kitty, whos a good kitty".


    Although the last part was an interpretation on Lucifers part.


    This is just what Lucifer needed at the moment so he sent Kuro plenty of mental messages of emotions, proud, grateful, happiness, good kitty. He made a mental note to play with Kuro at some point and ordered the cat to kill it.


    Kuro happily leaned down and sunk her fangs into the screaming man''s spine, he spasmed for a second then stopped moving completely.


    She stood up and curled up in her usual corner in the lab and simply enjoyed her masters "presence"


    Lucifer ignored the nagging feeling in the back of his head that told him, "you could have just used the soldier''s corpse as a body", as he connected the brain to the doll.


    Lucifer wanted to use a body he created himself, so he continued testing even though most of his "tests" failed.


    After he told Kuro to remove the dolls head if it didn''t move after a while, he merged his consciousness with the doll for the seconds time.


    This time the dolls eyes fluttered for a moment and everything seemed to be working. Lucifer stood up on shaky legs and started walking.


    Then he started doing more complex movements once he got used to walking, running, jumping. Then he realized he wasn''t wearing anything.


    A moment later and the doll was clothed with a simple T-shirt, pants and a tight-fitting cloth around the chest to keep everything in place when he moved around. Jiggling was an unintended consequence of using the doll as a body that he wasn''t used to.


    As he was jumping around with the new body Selenia finally came back with the prisoners. The first thing she saw was a copy of herself jumping around the Lab.


    Her eye was stitching slightly as she coldly asked "Lucifer why is this doll still here, and why is it jumping around like an idiot"


    The doll replied "I''m testing this new body" as he unconsciously patted his chest.


    Selenia yelled "what kind of harassment is this, get out of my body now"


    The next moment she was screaming on the floor and Lucifer casually replied with her own voice, "don''t tell me what to do, besides this body is only a test and the nerves are all messed up so I can''t really feel much enough to enjoy it.


    Rick ...

 96 separation

    Merlin stood over Ahri''s sleeping form and gently stroked her head. When his hand brushed her fox ears they twitched slightly which Merlin always found cute, however, this time her reaction didn''t put a smile on his face.


    Ahri''s hair was now entirely white and he could only imagine what could cause that. After Merlin sighed her eyes began to flutter, she started to sit up but Merlin quickly pushed her back down and told her to rest.


    He asked "are you alright" once she had completely come to.


    Ahri wore an obviously fake smile and tried to reassure Merlin that she was okay.


    Her expression left him feeling as if a needle was piercing his heart. "after you recover get your things we are leaving" Merlin gently said.


    Ahri jolted and quickly retorted "but wasn''t I supposed to stay in the dungeon"


    Merlin calmly replied, "I originally sent you here because it would keep you safe from the nobles that have started to become more active, but there is no point avoiding the nobles greedy hands if your dead".


    Ahri rolled her eyes and snapped back, "I was never afraid of any nobles greedy hands, it''s not like they could offer me anything I want anyway"


    Merlin sighed and replied "that attitude is exactly why I''m worried. Do you think the mages we had just dealt with in the university wanted anything to do with the nobles, they were old men with plenty of life experience but they still got entangled so what about you"


    Ahri pouted, an expression she only shows Merlin and after a moment she said, "I received the beast gods blessing so I''m going to stay in the dungeon"


    Merlin grimaced and told Ahri "the dungeon is dead, there is no reason to stay here anymore"


    Ahri blankly stared at Merlin as she coldly replied "the dungeon is dead like the red light district is full of demons right", Merlin laughed dryly at being so easily caught in a lie. Ahri continued "Although I felt my connection to Lucifer sever for a moment if I concentrate it''s still faintly there, and I can feel it getting slightly stronger over time"A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Merlin said "If the dungeon is not dead now he will be soon" he gestured around "as you can see the attacks won''t stop because the secret is already known and we can''t stop it"


    Ahri simply replied "then why don''t you go over to the dutchy and kill the King who knows, we both know how useful it is to have a dungeon as an ally"


    Merlin sighed once again and stated "it''s not that simple, you''ve never been to war before or sieged a city so you don''t know how difficult it is to breach walls defended by mages, and if you think I should just wander on in the city by myself then think again, would there be any foreign Kings if a single person could just barge into an enchanted palace and kill whenever they pleased.


    BUT more importantly, the Duchy is filled with spies from other powers including the other Dutchies.


    I would be surprised if the Magedom on the other side of the mountain range didn''t learn of this sentient dungeon with a year. Swadia could only just defend itself from the Magedom with the King in good health, and that was only because the mountain range splitting the continent in half is nearly impenetrable by humans"


    Ahri replied "Then get the dungeon to heal the King so he can defend the borders"


    Merlin was starting to get irritated he spoke more harshly than he intended, "when Swadia fragmented not only did we lose almost half our land, most of the army died in the process. There is no way we could defend against the Magedom--"


    "I am staying, I have the beast gods blessing" interrupted Ahri as she stood up unsteadily.


    Merlin''s shoulders slumped and he replied "Look I know after what happened you are looking for meaning in your life but this isn''t the time or place"


    Ahri roared "what happened, WHAT HAPPENED. MY WHOLE CLAN WAS SLAUGHTERED and after years of painful training when I went to get my revenge THEY WERE ALREADY DEAD"


    Merlin flinched at the outburst even though he was expecting it when he brought it this touchy subject. he stared directly into her red eyes that threatened to spill over and gravely added, "The dungeon has already told us to go, so I''m going to move the University to the edge of the continent out of the way and wait until the storm blows over, The Magedom will take or destroy the dungeon and leave, The arcane university doesn''t involve itself in political affairs so the loss of a single newly built city is no loss for us".


    Tears streamed down Ahri''s face as she shouted "You sent me here to be away from nobles well you did a good job because I was far away from you", she turned around and stormed out of the room as fast as her shaky legs could take her.


    Merlin watcher her leave with a pained expression. He knew that it would be pointless to try and speak to her when she is like this so he decided to start preparations. Merlin only hoped that she would not get caught up in this new "meaning of life" she was so desperately clinging to, beast god or no beast god.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 97 Lucies past

    Lucifer stopped observing Merlin when Ahri left the room and returned his consciousness to the strong gaze of Selenia. He was still using the doll as a body, but it was already falling to pieces on the inside, the organ that holds mana if it could be called an organ isn''t tangible and Lucifer isn''t able to replicate it, this means that he is forced to use his core''s raw mana to power the false body and after an hour it was already disintegrating.


    He would have to invest significantly more time into creating bodies before he will be able to create one from scratch.


    Luckily Lucifer had the foresight to have Selenia gather several hosts for him to use, he walked up to one of the tied up men and dropped dead. Once he was outside the doll he went to work possessing the new host.


    Meanwhile, a certain fox girl shivered slightly and after a moment of concentration sighed in relief before continuing on her way.


    Soon Lucifer was in a new body with what he considered the "minimal" required enhancements. Just as he was leaving to inspect the dungeon on his way to the surface Selenia asked, "weren''t you going to tell me something"


    Lucifer paused for a moment then replied "come with me, if you really want to know then I can tell you while we walk"


    So Lucifer began telling his lives story.


    "so where do you want me to begin"


    Selenia answered "from the start I guess, I''ve listened to the life stories of elves yours can''t be much longer or more boring"


    "haah" Lucifer sighed before continuing "well I was born in--"


    "not literally the start" snapped Selenia


    Lucifer simply restarted "I was born in I don''t know where on I don''t know day, that is to say, I was an orphan in my first life--"


    "first life" Selenia interrupted.


    "I''ve had three including this one, I will get to that abnormality later so be patient" Replied Lucifer as he stepped over a body.


    Selenia asked "what happens after you die"


    Lucifer glared at her and said "you wanted to know so at least listen"


    Selenia apologetically replied "sorry Its a habit asking a lot of questions to stave off the boredom when someone is telling a story"


    "anyway, the orphanage was a particularly uneventful part of my first life so we will skip that for brevities sake. When I was around ten I was adopted by an older gentleman who had ties with the orphanage director.


    He made devices that kept time and taught me the craft before I was 15, although by that time clocks weren''t really on my mind by then. A couple moved into the house across the street along with a 14-year-old daughter. Long story short we quickly fell in love and promised to get married.


    Fast forward a few years I was already in a loving marriage and would soon take over my foster father''s workshop, those were probably the happiest years in my existence.


    During which a man was gaining significant popularity in a country that had recently lost a war, soon he was able to take over his country and start invading others.


    War started anew and young men were conscripted to their deaths, I was one such young man.


    During the war, I made new brothers and lost them like everyone else. I was even considered lucky by most because of my skill set I was able to stay relatively far from the frontline.


    I was a sort of battle engineer, or architect, whatever you would call it in this world--"


    "ther--"


    Lucifer interrupted her interruption "I''LL GET THERE. However, the war went on longer and caused more damage than anyone anticipated, at first I was tasked with solving problems, get this big thing over there, makewhat is supposed to move move again etc, but the shortage of skilled men forced me into more and more dangerous positions.


    By the end of the war, I was known as Abbrucharbeiter by my enemies or something that sounded like that, it roughly means demolitionist or so was told.


    heh, my old man used to be an architect until an earthquake leveled one of his building killing a bunch of people, it only fell because the builders used cheaper materials, not because of any fault of his design, but he was still never allowed to have one of his designs used again.


    Although he didn''t teach me much of the trade I still learned what a building requires to stay standing, which was immensely useful in knowing where and how much explosive to place in any particular building to level the thing and anyone still inside.


    This was a blessing and a curse, I was able to get out of dozens of sticky situations with some well-placed grenades, but the brass quickly figured out my particular ability and I was quick on my way to being known as the demolitionist.


    I managed to get out of the war relatively unscathed, at least physically.


    But none of that mattered because I was going to get back to my "lovely wife" after several years of death and destruction.


    When I walked the familiar road to home I didn''t even notice the boarded up windows on my father''s workshop, I only saw a little girl, she could be 5 or 6 at most playing in my wife''s front yard.


    At first, I thought she may have moved during the war and panicked a little, then I remembered that I had friends in the service with brothers in law enforcement back home, a quick favor and a drink then I would know where my wife moved to no problem.


    The funny thing is I can still remember this little memory as if it happened yesterday, even when the images of war that should be burned into the back of my eyelids are blurry. When she turned to face me as I walked up the path I noticed that she looked extremely familiar, too familiar"Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Lucifer paused and focused on traversing the third floors terrain for a time while Selenia remained tactfully silent.


    After a dozen minutes or so he continued, "After that, I went on adventures, which was code for drinking with old war buddies, not many of them survived the whole war, but enough of them did to keep a man permanently drunk.


    I can almost say I am disappointed now, apparently, society only considers you a war hero until the day after the war, so with little motivation to go back to that street to work on clocks for the rest of my life I along with a few forgotten war brothers created a gang, or what you would call a mercenary band I suppose.


    Most of us had very little use for the skills we picked up in war and even less use for the scars it painted us with, so what else could we do to get by.


    It went well for a quite a while, we sort of took over where the law left off. With most of the men dead or missing from the war crime was extremely prevalent, something we were glad to remove, some of us for the money others for some sense of justice that I wasn''t sure how survived the war, but for most of us it was the only thing that kept our heads right.


    In the middle of a fight where some green kid could pull a knife and completely change the situation, you didn''t have to think, you didn''t have to wonder whether that whistling was some child on the street or something else.


    But, as we got bigger and more money got involved we weren''t able to look out for those whos sense wasn''t completely there anymore. We needed more people to protect what was ours, so we let in punks who thought they owned the streets which were a bad idea because we were the kind of men who took streets.


    With overconfident idiots, we were quickly noticed by law enforcement, although they weren''t a problem for ours they were for the new guys.


    Some of us ended up in jail others split apart over internal disputes that the new shits brought in. Soon we were overrun by a new gang and without my brothers, I couldn''t keep it going.


    I would like to say I died twenty to one with a weapon in hand fighting to the last, but reality is not that fantastical, a couple guys were waiting for me in an alley and shot me the moment I turned the corner.


    However, I did manage to get a single shot off and the guy I hit will forever be remembered by a probable immortal as Dickless"


    Lucifer chuckled at his own joke and Selenia said "I can see why you don''t trust people easily, most people who go through harsh wars become more wary of those who haven''t proven themselves to them. and it also explains why you''re so skeptical of women"


    Lucifer stopped for a moment then laughingly replied "skeptical of women, ha, if "that" was the only thing then I would already be over it, my distrust of woman was set in stone in my second life"


    Selenia thought it was the right time to ask now "so what happens to you after you die?"


    Lucifer chuckled and said "I was just getting to that part. Anyway after I bled out I found myself in the dark void of nothingness for a time, how long I don''t know nor do I care, soon I saw other lights similar to myself, then we floated through a giant obsidian black circle with a hole in the middle, after flying through some weird tunnel system of energy I ended up in my second body.


    I possessed some nine-year-olds body, apparently, the kid had a really bad fever because his mother was "pro-disease" or anti-vaxxer and died. I took over his body and confusedly started a second life.


    Although my single hippie mother was an idiot in some respects, she was a kind and caring person who healed me greatly during my younger years.


    We were very poor when I reincarnated, but as a person with plenty of experience I was able to quickly "find" some money to get us by, I even managed to put together a militia to guard the neighborhood against local hoodlums, a few military tactics can go a long way to introducing a few punks teeth to the sidewalk.


    During such times I got relatively well known around the area and even befriended an old man with a look in his eyes I could recognize a mile away, his son had recently died in some pointless war for oil and having a young kid around helped.


    I really wished I learned psychotherapy during my past life because he committed suicide shortly after I met him, strangely enough, he left all his things to me in the will which included his son''s things, which included enough tools to start making basic clocks.


    So while resharpened my skills we used the money from the will to send me to a good school.


    by 12 I was already living comfortably with my mother, I made clocks from scratch after school to pay the bills and even caught the attention of a few famous watchmakers who were interested in my lost skills. Apparently, some of the techniques I used to make clocks were lost during the war and I managed to get a little fame out of it.


    The news or gossip as you would call it was "young boy revives lost art and saves his mother", even wartime propaganda wasn''t so full of shit as today''s media.


    Anyway, the damage was done and I was noticed by a particular family, you would consider them nobles I call them rich bastards.


    They noticed me from the clock making and then looked into my background, they found that my grades or abilities were extremely high and even found some of my architecture sketches, they thought I was some sort of genius in the making.


    After several years I found myself engaged to their daughter despite my initial distrust of the entire situation, it turns out that women can act like a perfect little angel for years without anyone noticing.


    Long story short they found out I wasn''t some genius because my intelligence didn''t keep increasing after I became older, I figured out that my soon to be wife was actually a monster in disguise, however, the family had been bragging about finding a genius for years and couldn''t lose "reputation" by rejecting the marriage.


    So she dropped her disguise like a mask that was never there to begin with and when I tried to leave they already had my mother. She wasn''t hostage or anything, she just liked living in their mansion and couldn''t give up being rich, she said I was being paranoid and had cold feet regardless of what I showed her.


    I went through the marriage like an idiot because I knew they would kill my mother otherwise and thus started the worst years of my existence. "


    Selenia asked, "a marriage was the worst years of your existence even after war..."


    Lucifer continued in a calm manner, but Selenia could tell it was a frightening kind of calm, "the woman seemed to resent having to marry some average joe even though she was the one who initiated the whole damn thing, so she spent an almost admirable amount of effort making my life miserable, I''ll was sent overseas 24/7 mainly to keep me away from the other influential families in case the found out I''m dumb, usually to make deals with manufactururs and such other trivialiteis they could have done from home, another reason was to keep me away from my mother, lest I convince her to leave those horid people.


    Honestly, I don''t know why I put up with it for so long for some woman who was at this point a lost cause.


    The last straw was finding out my "wife" enjoyed making her husband a cuck with anyone and everyone, she said it was to secure deals for the family, not that anyone would believe her.


    But, I had learned a very important lesson from her, revenge, good revenge, beautiful revenge is something that takes time to do properly.


    So I waited, several years in fact, then when I had all that I needed I disappeared. Proof of the families crimes found their way to the public, this is not really a problem for people with such power but several scandals also snuck their way out, the other influential families didn''t want anything to do with that sort of thing or even to be associated with them, so when the family tried to bail themselves out of trouble like they always did they found roadblocks at every corner.


    Although even this wasn''t enough to take them down as far as I know. Several years later they found the man that had apparently fucked half a tropical island, and here I was sitting in front of my wife again.


    Her face looked like it was possessed by demons but I swear it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I never knew so much rage could be contained in such a small being let alone expressed on such a small face.


    The last thing she heard wasAYAYAYAHHH MOTHERFUCKER! from a wild man laughing like a maniac.


    apparently, her elite guards didn''t account for their captive to have learned bomb-making skills in his past life. Fucking scrubs.

 98

    Ahri finally caught up with Lucifer and Selenia just as they were exiting the dungeon. They passed hundreds of corpses with jagged scars covering their bodies, it looked like Merlin cooked the soldiers guarding the entrance on his way into the dungeon.


    Once Lucifer stepped outside the dungeon he saw the damage caused by the invasion. Smoke billowed from unchecked fires, doors to homes were smashed to pieces and personal belongings were strewn across the streets. In the square outside the adventurers guild, there was a pile of valuable goods, anything in the city that shined more than poop was collected by the army and was in the middle of being prepared for transport.


    After looking around for anyone else Lucifer said "it seems the enemies made off with all the nobles valuables"


    Ahri curiously replied "but its right ther--..." as the pile of loot slowly sunk into the ground.


    "I didn''t know you could do that, I don''t think the people would be soon keen to move here if they knew that too," Selenia remarked.


    Lucifer chuckled "do what", then softly said "this place is a "fool''s paradise" what did you expect"


    Ahri was about to ask why he wanted such things he could easily create himself. He simply replied, "I will think of something".


    Using the time that the city was empty Lucifer went sightseeing. The area above the entrance was filling with mansions and it was obvious that most of the "budget" went into these areas, the roads and sidewalks were paved with a single smooth stone slab which was undoubtedly created using magic. Lamp posts and gardens lined the streets along with the occasional small huts which were probably some sort of guard posts.


    Meanwhile, the lower merchant section of the city only had stone slabs for roads and a few gardens, while the working district was similar minus the occasional garden and far wider roads, probably to accommodate the extra traffic that moving raw materials around required.


    There were exceptions, however, the road that leads directly to the dungeon is paved with a single stone slab all the way until the slums. Several large buildings scattered around the city towered over their surrounding buildings in complete disregard for city planning.


    Lucifer walked to the slums and ran his fingers along inside of the stone canal walls. The water was just above a faint line in the stonework, below the line felt smoother to the touch and Lucifer could tell this is where the water level normally was.


    Since the city was almost empty there was noone upstream using the water so the water level was higher than normal, although only an inch or so higher, but this concerned Lucifer greatly. If the water level was already this low when the city was only ten to fifteen percent full, then once the population increases the amount of water that reaches the slums could be significantly lowered, whats worse is that generally poorer areas have higher population densities, so if you triple the population in the upper portion of the city you would have to account for nearly ten times the number in the poorer areas.


    The current water supply might be able to cope with such a demand, however, that is only if the water isn''t polluted by the people higher up which was unlikely, Lucifer found it even less likely that his estimations of the population density that this city could reach would be correct.


    After making a mental note to divert more of the river Lucier continued inspecting the city.


    Most of the buildings were made of a stone that looked to be quarried from the mountain and molded with earth magic. He could recognize the stone used because he has spent so much time with it, but he couldn''t tell where the stone came from, there weren''t any large holes in the ground like he would expect from such large volumes of stone.


    Ahri noticed him looking around and answered his question, "most of the city''s limits used to be covered in boulders and other rock formations, the earth mages break and reshape those surface rocks for the dual purpose of flattening the land and gaining building materials".The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Lucifer spent several more hours sightseeing and even took a peek inside peoples homes to see how they lived, he noticed a few things he could improve through his dungeon.


    First and foremost was the city walls, they were too short and easy to get over considering the last battle. Lucifer would have to think of a way to inconspicuously give the city builders some of his enhanced dungeon stone, This would make the walls extremely tough and give Lucifer somewhere to get rid of the stone he digs up.


    The next thing he wanted to improve was the food, he checked peoples houses and found either poor quality food, it looked like most of the population were living almost exclusively on bread and rice, or at least something that resembled those foods.


    Lucifer didn''t know much about nutrition, but he knew a wider verity of foods were far better for one''s health. he had already created a massive hole that he was about to collapse before everything became so chaotic, his original intention was to fill it with water and collapse the cave, this would create an above ground lake that he could fill with fish for the city.


    however, he didn''t intend to allow the dungeons passive mana to grow the fish because although he couldn''t use the chaotic mana humans used his dungeons creatures could, and he had enough experience creating functioning ecosystems so that would have to do for the moment, if worst came to worst he could always make a few modifications later if the lake went too out of balance, hopefully, the people in the city didn''t overuse the resource and require him to interfere.


    This did sound like a lot of effort for someone else''s benefit, but the healthier the population the more life energy Lucifer could gain in the long-run.


    The last thing Lucifer wanted to change was the city''s aesthetic, everything was the same dark grey stone and the only exceptions were in the slums where people lived in whatever they could put together. At first, the single color palette didn''t bother him, but the longer he looked at it the worse it looked to him, who would see this city and want to live here. Almost every building looked the same, the earth mages probably did this to save mana on details but a million boxes does not a city make.


    Before heading back he made a final mental note to create some sort of creature that drops paint, probably some sort of monster that spits colored fluid at its attacker to blind it. Adventurers would cut out the poison/paint sacks out and soon the city finds some color.


    The only problem would be choosing a color scheme for his city, he could make certain colors rarer to control which colors are used where. Perhaps he should make blue common and gold rarer and hope he ends up with an ultramarine city.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    As the group was returning to the dungeon they saw a group entering the dungeon ahead of them. Lucifer said "that''s odd, if they are returning to the city after the battle why are they going straight into the dungeon"


    Ahri replied "they are probably spies who are here to find out the result of the battle"


    Lucifer thought for a moment then casually remarked, "they might see something in there that they shouldn''t, I haven''t finished cleaning up the dungeon yet so I guess they have to die".


    Suddenly Selenia exclaimed "wait!" before Lucifer sent some horror to wipe out the group, she refocused the mana in her eyes to see farther and said, "I recognize that group, they helped me when I was escaping so don''t kill them please"


    Lucifer raised an eyebrow at her prompting her to continue, "they, well the woman at the front of the group jumped in when I was surrounded by the Dutchys men an--"


    Lucifer interrupted "So... did you need the help to kill them"


    Selenia instantly replied "of course not, I could have killed them easily" which is how Lucifer expected her to answer considering her personality, but Salenia surprised him when she quietly added, "I was actually going the wrong way and wouldn''t have found the dungeon if she didn''t take me to the city"...


    Lucifer couldn''t lie, he found Selenia cute for a moment when she was embarrassed like that. He coughed to clear his throat and asked "so you want me to spare the lives of possible spies because they helped you when you didn''t need help"


    Selenia argued "she put herself in danger to help a complete stranger, I don''t think you should kill such a person because they might be something"


    Lucifer shrugged and noncommittedly said "I''ll see what I can do"


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Once inside the dungeon Lucifer used his dungeon sense to observe the party of four. They moved through the dungeon efficiently, avoiding any of the surviving monsters with practiced ease. This only made them more suspicious when they stopped at the door and surveyed the damage, they quietly spoke to each other and Selenia could immediately sense the change to Lucifer.


    Lucifer said "they are definitely spies, and well-informed ones at that, it only took them twenty minutes to figure out what I am"


    Selenia dejectedly asked "do you have to kill her"


    Lucifer replied "of course" with a grin. Selenia didn''t find his expression reassuring at all.

 99

    Lucifer was waiting for the group to head in deeper before he struck, however, the group started leaving the dungeon after they saw "the door". He could tell they were relatively strong by the amount of mana he could see in them, his current body would probably break down before he was able to kill them all if he tried, so sent a message to his remaining forces instead.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Several minutes later the group heard something moving in the underbrush ahead. When they were entering the dungeon to seek information they avoided combat to hide their presence as much as possible, but now they had what they needed and they weren''t very deep inside the dungeon so the enemy was weak.


    The woman leading the party drew her spear and thrust into the moving plant. A satisfying crunch was heard from the other side of the bush and she pulled back her spear in preparation for another attack. When nothing came she used the spear to move the plant and found a giant ant course with a neat hole in its head.


    Just as one of the men was about to compliment her clean kill a black panther appeared from the shadows, this caught the group completely off guard because there was nothing there to hide such a large predator.


    The group was skilled so the nearest man was able to raise his shield in time. Fangs and claws behind several hundred pounds of muscle collided with the shield pushing the man back. The two men nearest him tried to attack the enemy while supporting their ally, but it used the shield as a springboard and lept away. The Leap caused the shield bearer to finally lose balance and fall down.


    After the panther jumped it disappeared into the thick foliage leaving the men by themselves. One person kept a lookout in case the beast decided to come back while the other helped the fallen man, he remarked "got put on your ass b--". The same yellow eyes had just seen were underneath his sitting ally, before he could warn his friend the panther sank its fangs into the man''s neck, then it pulled the man down into the shadow it was emerging from.


    Once the man was dragged halfway into the shadow-world Kuro closed the opening cutting the man in two, instantly severing any chance the man would live.


    One man yelled "it''s hiding in the shadows, bitch if you''re not going to help fight then at least light a torch so it can''t come from beneath us. The woman begrudgingly retrieved a light crystal from her pocket and illuminated the area.


    Several seconds later a thump was heard behind them, when they turned to look they saw the body of their ally splattered on the floor, with limbs twisted in strange angles and bloody entrails explosively ejected from the corpse.


    The body had obviously been dropped from hight and as they looked up the woman saw a large spider holding a web. Before she could move it used its extended front limbs to wrap her in the premade web and pulled her into the canopy.


    Once she was above the low branches the leaves cut off the light from her crystal leaving the two men in the dark.


    The second man was pulled into the ground from a shadow while desperately trying to light a torch, and the last man was toyed to death by the large cat.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Lucifer gave his compliments to Kuro for such an excellent job, he was beginning to think she was too strong for the third floor.


    Then he entered a small room with a single cell. Inside the spy was sitting there with a rather blank expression and didn''t even react when he entered. At first, he thought she may have killed herself when she was captured like some sort of spy movie, however, he could tell that she was still breathing.


    Her appearance was plain, red hair brown eyes a meh face and small breasts, her only redeeming quality was her warrior''s physique.


    Lucifer found this woman strange, first, she helped Selenia, a complete stranger. Second, she didn''t help her allies during the attack, which was not to Lucifer''s tastes although he could think of a few men who liked the Amazonian type.


    While he was thinking she looked up and asked: "are you the dungeons servant?"


    The question caught Lucifer off guard for a moment, but he plainly answered "no, I''m the dungeon", which was a shock to her leaving her mouth hanging slightly open.


    Lucifer asked "so who do you work for"


    She laughed dryly and replied "can''t say"


    "can''t or won''t" he questioned.


    She looked him straight into the eyes and said "both"


    This answer intrigued him, she said that she "can''t" tell him, which either suggest that she thought her employers could get to her here, or there is some sort of magical shenanigans going on. So he simply asked, "are you magically forced to stay quiet on the subject" trying to keep it as vague as possible.


    She stayed silent with the same blank stare.


    Lucifer took that as a yes so he opened the door and grabbed her head which caused her to tense up, but she didn''t try to resist which made things easier.


    He started the binding process and once he got a good look at her soul he noticed there was already bindings in place. They looked like small black symbols forming snakes slithering and wiggling over her soul, occasionally a symbol would disintegrate which took the rest of the line along with it, however, another snake would catch some of the dead writings and use half of its body to repair it, then it would slowly regrow its own symbols again.


    Lucifer hadn''t seen any magic like this before, but he could see that it was sloppy. He could see that the little snakes were repairing themselves using the mana from the woman''s body, so if Lucifer simply cut off the supply of mana the symbols would naturally degrade. it would be incredibly painful to cut the soul off from the body, but Lucifer was relatively sure she would live.


    But relatively sure wasn''t completely sure so Lucifer spent the next couple hours questioning her, most of the questions couldn''t be answered, but the ones she was able to answer painted a very grave picture for Lucifers future.


    The Magedom which was the most powerful entity on the continent was aware something was going on here, they didn''t know of him yet, but they knew that something extremely valuable was here, the sudden invasion of the Duchies army told them that through their spies.


    When he asked her what she thought they would do to him if they found out about him, she replied "most likely they would capture your core and imprison it into creating special materials forever, and if they couldn''t capture you they would destroy the entire dungeon just to make sure the other countries couldn''t have you".


    By the end of the interrogation, Lucifers shoulders were drooping and his expression matched hers. He nonchalantly grabbed her again while telling her: "a woman you saved earlier wanted you to live so this is your only chance".


    Lucifer didn''t really care whether she lived or died by this point and simply forced his soul bindings over the top of hers, she didn''t resist so his easily slid into place, but when they made contact with the strange symbols they reacted to each-other.


    She screamed out in agony, Lucifer concentrated on the resistance from the strange magic for a moment before it gave way and disintegrated. Lucifer coldly spoke to the twitching woman on the floor, "you are Selena''s problem now"


    The woman was left alone in the room wondering why the name sounded familiar.


    --------------------------------------------------------------


    Ahri was waiting for the interrogation to finish and saw Lucifer coming out of the room, she was about to go up to him and found out what he learned when she noticed his expression and froze.


    Just before he left without her she worked up the courage to ask him whats wrong. He simply replied "I''m tired" before leaving.

 100!

    A dozen days went by and Ahri watched Lucifer trudge around the dungeon for the umpteenth time. She wasn''t sure what he was doing because the dungeon was already repaired the second day after the battle, he just needed to rebalance the floors because most of the predators died fighting the invaders.


    After seeing him silently leave the dungeon carrying a sack she decided to follow him. A short stealth spell later and she was on his tail.


    It didn''t take long before they she found out were Lucifer had been going, the adventurers guild. Lucifer pushed open the door and Ahri squeezed through the doorway before it closed on her.


    A few people sent nods his way and one man went up to Lucifer and greeted "Hey Shen hows it going, have you decided to join our party yet, you don''t know when your time is going to be up in the dungeon when you''re by yourself" all the while sporting a wide grin.


    Lucifer ignored the wordy man and continued to the counter, the receptionist greeted him with a businesslike smile and he simply handed the bag to her over the counter.


    Everyone sat up straight in their seats to see what Lucifer brought this time. The receptionist asked Lucifer "do you mind", Lucifer replied in monotone "I don''t care" before the receptionist started taking things out of the bag.


    She pulled out all the items from the bag and set them along the countertop, several whistles were heard from the other adventurers as conversation broke out. The receptionist frowned and told Lucifer "I''m not too familiar with alchemy so I''ll have to go call Marie", Lucifer nodded and she went into one of the rooms behind the counter and soon came out with another lady, she was a short and overweight woman wearing a stained robe and the smell that came with her appearance said she was an alchemist.


    Lucifer hadn''t seen this woman many times because most of the plants he brought previously were very common, so the normal receptionists were able to identify them. This woman was apparently the guilds appointed alchemist.


    The alchemist went to the counter and immediately went to work identifying the plants. Most of the time she just looked closely at a plant before moving to the next one, but she stopped and examined some plants for longer before nodding to herself and moving on, one plant even required her to go back into her room and retrieve a book, she flipped through the book until she found the same plant as the one on the table and excitedly shouted "ha found it".


    By this point, the counter was surrounded by the adventurers who wanted to get a better look, they have never seen Marie so excited before, after every plant she identified her grin became a little deeper, until by the end she looked as if someone had taken a knife to her face to make her smile longer, someone even wanted to ask "where she got those scars".


    Ahri became visible out of everyone''s sight and poked an adventurers shoulder asking "who is that man". The adventurer turned around and froze when he saw Ahri. He saw her tilt her head slightly when he was just staring at her blankly, then he noticed her robes, they belonged to the Arcane University. This immediately cleared his mind up as he quickly replied her question he could barely remember.


    "ah he''s Shen, an adventurer" was the reply that he barely managed to get out.


    Ahri frowned and was about to ask for more information, but the man saw her expression and hastily continued, "umm he came to this guild just a couple days ago, must have slipped in with all the cities people returning home after the attack. I wasn''t there when it happened but people say he walked into the guild dragging the third-floor guardian''s corpse by himself, you know the big cat one that can even take out experience groups.


    Umm, every couple of days he comes here and sells some loot, doesn''t even take a quest or anything just dives right into the dungeon alone, you know one of those crazy types."


    Meanwhile, the receptionist had a quill and book out and was asking Lucifer questions. Where did he find these plants, what he fought, weaknesses and strengths of the things he fought. Lucifer casually droned off some information while all the adventures listened closely behind him.


    Most adventurers would keep any tricks in a dungeon to himself to make more money, however, the adventurer Shen didn''t seem to mind sharing, now every time Shen showed up all the adventurers would gather around the counter to pick up any useful information to help them live.


    Lucifer purposely told the guild information for them to spread, although most of the information was correct and would help save lives, He made sure to include information on the most dangerous places people hadn''t discovered yet, he was also especially careful to mention all the great loot there was there. The large bag of coins he received before he left the guild did a lot of convincing too.


    Now Lucifer didn''t have to wait for the adventurers to figure out where the best loot and the most danger was, he could simply tell them.


    Ahri didn''t notice Lucifer slip out after receiving payment and was instead surrounded by adventures once they saw her appearance. Considering her attire noone would dare to do anything to her, but that didn''t mean they wouldn''t try chatting her up. Although Ahri could talk to people now she still found being surrounded to be quite overwhelming, she wished that she remembered to apply the disguise so she didn''t catch the eye of so many people.


    Someone asked "why has the arcane university sent you here"


    Ahri gently replied, "to study the dungeon" while trying to worm her way out of the group.


    Another man wanted to get her attention by saying something intelligent, "you know the dungeon has done alot of strange things, do you know that the giant lake in the city wasn''t there until recently"


    "of course she knew, even a dumbass would notice several miles of water suddenly appearing inside a city, beside it wasn''t the dungeon that did it, it was obviously the army that invaded that blew open that hole"


    Several people started discussing the strange happenings of the dungeon while Ahri was stuck in the middle.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "did you hear that the third-floor guardian got replaced"


    "you idiot it''s still a Panther"


    "yea but its so much easier to kill now so it must have been replaced with a younger one"


    "there is also new alchemical ingredients spread throughout the dungeon"


    "and the miners have been saying the purity of the ores has increased by a couple percent"


    "has anyone noticed that "that freaky ass door" is missing"


    "yea I was about to show some newbies the door to give them a good fright and looked like an idiot, why didn''t anyone tell me the door moved"


    "how didn''t you know about it, the whole guild was talking about it for days"


    "I was on a quest to protect a lumberers group while they got wood from the valley"


    "Isn''t the valley flooded"


    "yea a couple miles of wetlands are now underwater, probably because the dungeon started leaking more water"


    "I know, those bloody city planners are using our earth mage because they are short on manpower to fix the aqueducts, apparently the water flow has been increasing all week and soon it was going to start overflowing"


    "that''s too bad man, Its already hard enough to get a mage into your party, especially an earth mage"


    "I didn''t think it would be possible to get an earth mage to go dungeon diving when there is a city being built"


    "well quite a few earth mages will be put out of business soon"


    "how can an earth mage run out of business"


    "recently there have been blocks of dungeon stone just sitting in the dungeon, the dwarf smith is even going crazy getting people collecting them for him"


    "whats that got to do with the earth mages"


    "well once the dungeon starts giving more of those stone blocks then the earth mages won''t be needed, besides we both know how much those mages charge for even lifting their dicks"


    "I''ve seen one of those blocks, If I known that it was worth anything I would have took it"


    "well you better have a cart then because those blocks are enchanted dungeon stone, our party was tasked with collecting them for the dwarf and they weighed a ton, worse yet we were ambushed nearly every time we took a stone"


    By now most of the group were focusing on the conversation and only a few men were still intent on chatting up Ahri, so she was able to slip away from the group and once she was outside she quickly casted invisibility to escape anyone who was following.


    Once she was far away from the adventurers guild she breathed a sigh of relief, she only just recently regained the ability to talk to people so public speaking was a little too difficult for her.


    However, Ahri had finally figured out what Lucifer was doing, she was worried that he was depressed because of the way he looked when he moved around the dungeon. Now she knew that he wasn''t simply wallowing in the dungeon and was actually doing something productive, but unbeknownst to her Lucifer was sitting in a bar too far from her drinking heavily.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Sometime later.


    Ahri came across Selena and Rick discussing something, Lucky was sleeping on Kuros head as the Panther layed there lazily.


    Selena said "I''m sure he is depressed, he hasn''t said anything in days"


    Rick replied "what do you expect, he just finished defeating one enemy and he learns that another stronger foe is coming. Even the strongest of minds will waver under a constant assault"


    Ahri joined in "I just saw him go to the adventurers guild, he''s still working on the dungeon so he''s not depressed"


    "the adventurers guild?" Rick and Selena asked in unison.


    Ahri briefly explained what she saw and heard when she followed Lucifer.


    "I see," said Rick.


    Selena looked at Ahri strangely and said, "just because he''s still working doesn''t mean he isn''t depressed, how naive can you be"


    Rick added "she is a rather sheltered girl so that''s to be expected"


    Ahri pouted and Rick was still thinking about a solution when he suddenly exclaimed: "that''s it". He looked towards Ahri and with a shit eating grin said, "Lucifer may be a dungeon but he is still a man, so Ahri why don''t you go bed him haha", Ahri immediately went red and Rick laughingly continued "actually why don''t the both of you go, I''m sure that will make him a little bit happy"


    Rick quickly took a step back and raised his hands while maintaining the grin when Selena reached for her weapon, although after a moment she thought better of it and settled for just glaring at the man.


    Meanwhile, Ahri was thinking "this might be my only chance, he doesn''t even look at me so if he really is depressed he might just do something out of character"


    Ahri quickly left with a red face while saying "I couldn''t do something like that", Rick and Selena obviously didn''t believe her when she was moving towards the deeper parts of the dungeon so quickly.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Later.


    Lucifer was sitting cross-legged holding a small crystal in his hands. He felt something odd and when he came out of his state he found Ahri in his lab, he coldly stated "I don''t remember allowing you inside the part of the dungeon"


    Ahri jumped in fright and coyly answered: "I was just checking up on you".


    "then why do you have a red face" Lucifer rebuked.


    Ahri laughed dryly as she quickly escaped.


    Sometime later Lucifer stopped his work and frowned, Ahri was standing near him in a daze. Once he noticed her she jumped before disappearing.


    Lucifer has had enough and growled "why the fuck are you here again"


    ...


    ...


    With no answer forthcoming, he started flicking through his different types of sight. After a moment he thought "I see" and jokingly said, "so now it''s the honey trap. although the honey is too shy to trap anything"


    Lucifer could see her invisible form freeze when he hit the nail on the head.


    Seeing as she wasn''t replying still he continued, "so you want to use my poor mood and drinking to get into my bed. Well I''m not entirely against the idea at the moment"


    "really" came the soft reply that was barely audible.


    Lucifer replied "well I''m in a shitty mood and wouldn''t mind having some fun. Although I want you to answer two questions first"


    Ahri became visible again and looked a mix between dying of shame slightly hopeful and a mix of other emotions.


    Lucifer chuckled when he saw her before he said, "the first question. are you alright with the fact that your emotions are being manipulated to act like this, we both know without the weird bond you wouldn''t even think of something like this"


    Ahri''s expression softened for a moment before hardening in resolve, "This is the beast gods blessing, we are meant to be together"


    Lucifer warned, "don''t be so quick to act on your beliefs because they can only become stronger"


    While Ahri pondered on what he meant Lucifer Continued questioning, "the second question, why are you moving away from me if you want it to happen".


    Ahri looked down and finally noticed she was backing away from Lucifer unconsciously. She strongly replied "just ignore that, it''s just a quirk of my people" while she secretly hoped Lucifer would believe her excuse.


    Lucifer chuckled and told her "you know, if you''re with me you will be sleeping with alot of different men"


    Her legs stopped moving and she growled "WE HAVE THE BEAST G--", then she suddenly understood what he meant. He was a dungeon that didn''t really have a flesh body, so he frequently switched bodies.


    While she was dumbstruck Lucifer grabbed her and slightly triumphantly said "I''ve caught myself a little fox to play with hehe"


    Ahri gave a yelp as she was picked up and a bed was created out of thin air in the lab.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Sometime later.


    They were lying on the bed together, Lucifer suddenly remembered something and said, "didn''t I say something about giving you a spanking.


    The next time Selena saw Ahri she noticed that she was walking funny, Selena raised a brow and asked "just how rough was he exactly"

 101

    Rick walked into the lab and found Lucifer tinkering with something again, just before he was going to ask him what the current experiment was, Lucifer finished his chant with "FUCKING THERE" while pointing to the empty corner of the room. Moments later a rock that was previously in front of Lucifer appeared in the corner.


    Lucifer jumped up and shouted in triumph startling Rick, he''s never seen Lucifer so excited before, "what has you so excited, all I saw was a teleportation magic" asked Rick.


    Lucifer enthusiastically replied "I''ve successfully modified the teleportation spell to have the coordinates at the end of the spell rather than the beginning"


    Rick raised his brow and in a questioning tone asked "that is indeed a perverse modification to the spell and I''m sure most mages guilds would give anything to have someone who can do such things, however, first I would like to ask why you would do that in the first place, it seems like a waste of time to me, and Secondly why are you so happy about it"


    Lucifer chuckled to himself and simply replied "it''s all about timing" without elaborating further, then he asked "have you made what I asked for"


    Rick sighed to himself before replying "yes, you''re getting more mysterious by the day, initially I had an understanding of what you were trying to accomplish with your "tests", but now Its become so convoluted that I don''t think anyone can understand them"


    Lucifer grinned at him because he knew that Rick was just trying to goad Lucifer into explaining his last experiments... and it worked.


    He started "fine, I know curious you are about new things. This particular experiment will allow me to better aim my teleportation spells--"


    "how can designating the teleport position at the end of the spell help with "aim"" interrupted Rick.


    Lucifer replied "I can see why you are self-taught" sarcastically before continuing with the explanation, "teleporting to a specific location is easy, you just sense the location and start chanting, then as your weaving the spell you accommodate the chant for whatever the winds of magic are doing at the time--"


    "simple right, that''s why so many mages can use teleportation magic" Rick added sarcastically as a jab for Lucifer''s previous remark.


    "anyway, this is all fine and good for when you want to teleport to a stationary object, but utterly useless for getting to a moving one, by the time you finish the damn spell you will have lost track of the object and fuck up the teleport."


    Both of them cringed slightly when the mention of a "fucked up teleport". When Lucifer was initially testing the teleport spell he found in the library the results were horrific to say the least. Apparently being a dungeon with superior mana manipulation abilities does not an archmage make.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    The first few animals Lucifer teleported went "missing" as he called it, that''s if missing meant he couldn''t find any sizable portion left of the beast he teleported.


    Ahri was noticeably distressed when she found her room painted red after one such experiment. apparently designating an "area" to teleport to worked quite well if you wanted the thing you were teleporting to be in all of an "area" as well, you had to be more specific if you wanted whatever you''re teleporting to arrive in one piece.


    It was only now that Rick realized where there were so many "fuck ups" earlier, Lucifer wasn''t just trying to master a spell he was trying to comprehend it completely so he could modify it.


    Evidently, covering your servants room in the entrails of a magical beast is what was considered the scientific method of this world.


    Sighing for the second time since coming into the lab Rick asked "so why do you want to teleport to moving objects, after teleporting you are completely stationary, so you couldn''t teleport onto something moving anyway, nor could you use it as a projectile unless you were teleporting something heavy enough to squish the person, but there are easier ways to kill someone."


    Lucifer remarked "you are so unimaginative, but amusingly on the right track, what I want to use it for is to shoot a beacon that I can lock onto with a teleportation spell"


    Rick was beginning to get tired of this conversation and simply said, "I''ve made what you asked for, although I have no idea what you need it for, but I''m too tired of trying to pry information out from you to try", with a quick wave several objects appeared from his ring and then he left the room.


    Lucifer watched the objects Rick left behind rise to the high ceiling and get stuck there as if gravity was inverted and he grinned.


    After watching Ricks dejected figure leaving Lucifer thought, ''I can''t tell you what this is for because people are reading this conversation, we don''t want any spoilers do we''.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Earlier.


    Just after Lucifer learned that the Magedom was likely coming after him in the future he began planning, he secluded himself in his lab and began work on things he thought too dangerous to use.


    Lucifer alternated his time between a few key tasks, first using mana to destroy the rock around the mana well to expand it thus granting him a massive boost in passive mana in the dungeon. So far Lucifer hadn''t found a living creature that could survive being so close to such dense mana, so he had to expand the well himself by removing the rock just like when he first started the dungeon.


    Secondly, he spent his time waiting for his mana to recover from the first task to study the library crystal. Every time Lucifer looked into this crystal to search for information he cursed Merlin another ten times, he had mixed up the books into some unintelligible system which made it ten times more difficult to find what you''re looking for.


    Initially, Lucifer thought that the crystal didn''t really have a sorting system, but after thinking about sticking the books that he had already gone through into a pile they moved on their own, this begun his third task, reorganizing the crystal into some sort of usable database so he could search for things easily.


    Lucifer''s extra brain power from being a dungeon afforded him helped immensely in this task, but the sheer volume of volumes in the library still made this painfully slow.


    The fourth task Lucifer filled his time with was tests and inventions, because bitches love cannons.

 102

    Ahri eyes fluttered open to dim light, she yawned while stretching on her way out of her fluffy bed.


    Ahri''s room was specially made for her by the dungeon master with her specific needs in mind, the lights created a day-night cycle with progressive brightness in the morning then dimness late at night.


    She unsteadily made her way into the "bathroom" where she found a hot bath waiting for her, this woke her up slightly until she noticed a little fairy leisurely swimming across the bath. Lucky had made a habit of visiting Ahri in the morning and having a bath with her. Ahri didn''t mind and actually liked the company, it was like having a little sister come over to play with her, she even brought several fragrant flowers from the dungeon for the bath leaving them both smelling nice.


    Ahri absentmindedly striped off her nightwear and slipped into the steamy waters.


    Lucky pulled out a small board from who knows were and positioned herself on top of it, moments later Ahri became relaxed and started swishing her tails underwater and Lucky happily bobbed up and down on the board.


    Half an hour later Ahri picked up a slightly overcooked fairy from the side of the bath and drained the water.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile on the third floor.


    Kuro lazily form was seen resting between the dungeon wall and the underground lake, she heard a familiar sound causing her ears to twitch, she stood up and faced a hole in the wall. Several moments later hot water with a floral scent surged out the hole, the water hit Kuro pushing her back slightly and she extended her claws to prevent herself from being washed away.


    This continued for a dozen seconds before the water stopped. Afterward, Kuro left the area leaving only a rock with numerous claw marks behind and an added spring in her step.


    After a short trip, she heard soft splashing sounds from a nearby river and casually emerged from the shrubbery. Once she emerged she caught the sight of Selenia during her bathing routine.


    Selenia put her arms down and let go of the throwing dagger holding up her hair, once Kuro got close she remarked. "how do you expect to sneak up on anybody when you smell like a flower garden".


    If Kuro could speak she would ask "why don''t you do that in your bath"


    Selenia feeling defensive from the predatory cat''s glare said, "I bathe here because the water from a mana crystal is not the same it feels dead", although she felt kind of stupid after talking to an animal that couldn''t talk back. She didn''t realize how good she was getting at judging what Kuro was thinking. With how much time they spend together along with the soulbond they both share they had a natural affinity for understanding each other even without words.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Which was why Selenia jumped to the side a moment before Kuro pounced on her, thus began another day of training for Selenia, and play for oversized kitty. (although it took some time for Selenia to teach Kuro the importance of clothes before play)


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Ahri began drying herself and Lucky off with a basic wind and fire combination spell she invented, she had to hold onto Lucky to make sure she didn''t get blown away and left her looking rather comical, Luckys hair made her look like she just survived a tornado, but considering her size in comparison to the wind spell that might be accurate.


    Once Lucky was dry she gave her a tiny brush Lucifer made for her and Lucky began fixing her hair, while Ahri began the long process of drying off all the fur on her tails. After drying herself off she got dressed and pushed her tails through the hole in her robe, finishing by tying off the flaps that made it easier for her tails to get through her robe, then she turned around to picked up a now more lively fairy that has since cooled down.


    Ahri walked Lucky to the door and told her to have fun before she flew off to find adventures to "play" with.


    Ahri stretched her fingers and began work in her alchemy lab. Rick hadn''t taken her in as an official student, but he did look at her work and suggested a few things to improve and a few other ways to get a significant improvement.


    In only several weeks Ahri''s alchemy skills had improved by leaps and bounds under Ricks casual instruction, she began to wonder what she could accomplish if she was his official student.


    A poisonous gas cloud and a few small explosions later Ahri left the lab with several potions in her arms, completely forgetting she had a storage ring in her excitement.


    Ahri paused, closed her eyes and focused inside of herself, less than a minute later she skipped off in her chosen direction and quickly found Rick plucking something from the ground.


    Rick examined the potions she made and nodded in approval before giving some simple advice then left to continue his hoarding.


    Ahri practically skipped her way to Lucifers lab after that.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer saw her enter and immediately said: "back again".


    "yep" came Ahri''s happy reply.


    Lucifer said "are you never satisfied"


    "nope" came Ahri''s happy reply.


    Lucifer sighed to himself and simply started ignoring the clingy fox girl, he had more important things to do.


    An hour later Lucifer yawned and stretched when he noticed Ahri was still standing behind him, he asked "you''re not leaving until we do it are you"


    "nope" was Ahri''s automatic response.


    Lucifer turned to look at her and said: "I don''t know much a lot about beastmen physiology but this isn''t normal, right?"


    Ahri blushed slightly as she replied, "beastmen woman are similar to a normal human woman until they mate, then they continue to mate until they have at least one child", now the blush was starting to reach her neck, "they remain in "heat" unless they are pregnant or have a child"


    Lucifer sighed and told her "take care of it yourself I''m busy"


    Ahri was stunned before she quietly asked "am I too ugly or don''t you want children with me"


    Lucifer ignored her and casually replied "I can summon an Incubus for you if it''s that bad" while shoving her out the door.


    The door closed and a lock materialized to stop it from opening again, Ahri stomped her feet angrily before storming off to find Rick to complain.

 103

    Cold Iron revealed its rough texture to Lucifer as he placed his palms on his newest creation, his lips quietly mouthed words of power as beads of sweat ran down his forehead and fell to the lab floor.


    He concentrated on weaving his magic, carefully to avoid clashing with the everchanging winds of magic and making small changes to the arcane whisper whenever such a clash was inevitable.


    He paused briefly when he arrived at the most difficult portion of the spell, with closed lids he searched for a suitable being with his mind''s eye,


    moments later he spotted his target, between dimensions, the material plane and another he found a spirit with potential for use, if such beings could be seen with the naked eye one would only observe a faint glowing ball, however, Lucifer could see so much more with his specially selected magics, Lucifer focused past the surface like pulling down a thin silken vail and saw the faint outline of a blood-soaked warrior with a hidden madness barely contained behind his eyes.


    This told Lucifer all that he needed to know and there could be no better spirit for this particular task.


    While maintaining his current spell Lucifer sent tendrils of dark magics towards the spirit. The strain from maintaining a complex incomplete magic while casting another made Lucifer briefly consider stopping and retrying with better preparation.


    Most mages created vast arrays of enchantments to either help them retain a spell form while they focused on weaving other magics into it, or if they are particularly crazy they have the enchantments cast the spell autonomously.


    Lucifer''s wandering mind made him acutely aware of why those mages used such complex arrays, the moment that the sprite was captured it struggled ferociously, even so much as damaging itself against Lucifer''s dark tendrils, while his attention was diverted an unusually powerful gust of ambient mana impacted the unstable spell, unwinding and twisting its arcane logics in unexpected ways.


    Lucifer was able to force pure mana through his body into the spell, the influx of pure power bolstered the unstable spell preventing it from collapsing, but the corrupted sections of the spell melded and changed from a tangled mess of magic into a dangerous swell of energy.


    The unbound magic frantically surged back to its caster, the previously cold iron superheated to a red glow cooking Lucifers hand, the remaining untamed magic that Lucifer couldn''t direct into the steel shot up his arm leaving jagged scars across his arm and shoulder.


    Lucifer refocused on the spirit that was struggling free from his bonds, only dividing his concentration for a split second to deactivate the pain centre of his brain.


    After a short struggle, Lucifer had the unruly spirit in his magical grasp and began pulling it fully into the material plane, it continued giving a futile struggle to his machinations, however, once it saw the purpose of its capture all of its struggled ceased, Lucifer would even swear that the thing was pushing towards his spells completion.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    There was no resistance when he forced something resembling a contract onto the spirit, once the new bond was complete the spirit charged towards the object Lucifers palm still connected to, he didn''t stop it because thats what he intended anyway.


    The spirit flew directly into the iron giant whom Lucifers palm lay, a humanoid made of steel somewar resembling a human, but instead of hands and arms, strange instruments the spirit didn''t know the use of took their place.


    Once everything was in place Lucifer gave a sigh of relief as the spell finally fully formed and bound with the mock human''s body completing the spell.


    The first thing Lucifer noticed was the sickening smell of burning flesh, he looked down and frowned at the sight, his entire hand though magic and heat had melted and melded with the iron and he heard a sickening suction when he pulled his arm free, Lucifer made a mental note to not turn his pain center back on until he switched bodies.


    Only now did he see and come to appreciate the scars from the backlash, they still glowed with a soft blue light appearing like static lightning carved onto his arm, when he inspected the scars more closely he noticed that they gave off a small particle matter, after a brief thought he realized it was his flesh still burning away from the raw mana. Another reason to get a new body.


    Grinding metal brought his attention back to the metal giant, the spirit had started getting familiar with its new body. Lucifer laughed unironically cheering "IT''S ALIVE!"


    However, his celebration was cut short when a spirit curious about its new body tried to figure out what his arms were supposed to be. It pointed its large hollow arm to the side and focused its will on the arm, unluckily Lucifer was standing right were its arm pointed, the hollow cylinder attached to the arm flashed and rendered Lucifer''s chest into a bloody meat paste.


    While Lucifer moved his consciousness towards a new "host" he thought to himself, ''even contracted spirits can harm you if they don''t mean to and more importantly Note to self, don''t leave testing weapons loaded''


    Several hours later the iron giant now unimaginatively called golem was battling creatures of the dungeon in an arena Lucifer created specifically for this test.


    Panthers circled Golem waiting for an opportunity to strike, one saw the giants back and couldn''t withstand its instincts, the golem stepped to the side in a manner Lucifer recognized as some sort of martial arts footwork, then used the cylinder on its arm to pulverize the lunging cats head.


    The body didn''t even have time to slump to the ground before the other Panthers Lunged. Golem twisted out of the way of half of them and used its arms mass to devastating effect, several panters flew across the arena slamming into the spiked walls.


    However, Golem wasn''t able to dodge all the attacks, claws raked uselessly against Golems armor and fangs broke in a futile attempt to sever Golems nonexistent spine.


    Golem''s shoulders shook as if it was laughing before it began tearing the halftone beats made of pure muscle to pieces as if they were made of wet paper.


    The last wounded panther lay on the ground with broken claws and fangs panting, Golem pointed its arm at it and let loose a deafening boom as the projectile impacted the floor through the cats head.


    After the battle Golem stomped the corpses into a meat paste sending blood everywhere in some sort of victory dance of death.


    ''second note to self today, get a less bloodthirsty spirit next time'', reflected Lucifer.

 104

    Lucifer closed his eyes and took a deep breath, this short moment being the first time he stopped busying himself for days.


    Around Lucifers sitting form stood a vast array of carved stones, each three meters tall and one meter wide with barely an inch between them filling the room.


    Every glyph on the stones weaved together to create a complex magic that Lucifer himself had to use his full attention to complete, this undertaking took Lucifer nearly a week to complete and the results are far from what Lucifer considers satisfactory.


    Lucifer''s original intention was to build an array that would essentially 3d print Golems, however, he stumbled at the first problem, "creation magic" was far more complex than he realized which made it practically impossible to enchant on such poor materials.


    No matter what glyphs or how he wove them together he couldn''t get an enchantment to successfully cast a creation spell, something that has become so familiar to him that he now does it without even thinking.


    He spread his consciousness out in order to find Rick in hopes that a better material will prove more successful, however, Lucifer had forgotten that he sent Rick away in order to gather plants from his gardens, some of which he had been nurturing and combining for thousands of years.


    So Lucifer is stuck with Rock or simple metals, he initially tried to use mithril for its mana conductivity, however, he found it significantly harder to will his enchantments onto, while this is not usually a problem for making a single piece of armor or a weapon, it is a problem when you have to create an entire array with hundreds of stones with close to a thousand runes each.


    After thinking over the problem Lucifer thought of a few solutions.


    1st. create the bodies for the spell array to use. This would work well and creation was not difficult for Lucifer, but this would mean the array wasn''t fully automated and would require a significant input from Lucifer, he had too much work to be personally creating all of his creatures.


    2nd. get something else to create his golem bodies. This would be difficult because he didn''t have anyone in the dungeon proficient in metal shaping.


    He briefly summoned some daemons as his only possible summonable creatures with some semblance of intelligence, but, he quickly found any demon worth summoning for such a task can''t be summoned from a simple spell. Instead to bring them to the physical plane of existence you require advanced arrays and rituals that are as of yet out of Lucifers reach and timeframe.


    3rd. Give up on this. This was the most unreasonable choice to Lucifer because he had quite a few plans that required Golems, and in mass.


    So as a compromise he created a few golems with a small array on one of their arms, once the golem reached a rock wall it would activate the spell and the nearby ambient mana would be absorbed into the array, then the spell would activate cutting a section out of the wall. Some golems were set to cut a chest piece out of the rockface, others were set to make legs or joints. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Then another problem arose, The golems weren''t smart enough to assemble the parts. So like the problem solver Lucifer was, he again summoned the demons, they weren''t exactly smart by any stretch of the imagination but an assembly line wasn''t out of the question.


    Gutram the Destroyer wasn''t very keen on the idea of becoming a simple worker, but by this point, Lucifer was Livid from the constant setbacks and compromises, so if Gutram the destroyer didn''t become Gutram the worker, he would become Gutram the defiled. The example Lucifer set of the first uncooperative demon made the assembly line much more efficient. Lucifer even went so far as to establish a contract with his little workers so he could resummon them if they thought the demonic plane was safe.


    The array was the next thing to prove troublesome, Lucifer truly wished he learned to programme in his past life because enchanting was a rather similar skillset, First weave the golem spell into a rock, then find there isn''t enough room on said rock, so you connect two rocks and so on, then you find out that there is interference not only from the other rocks but the atmosphere itself.


    Then explode because the spell was accidentally set in a loop for constant creation, but you forgot that it''s not actually creating anything at that point, so the mana just builds up until the stones can''t withstand it.


    Find your array room destroyed when you return with a new body, resummon your demons, now grumpy demons, give them a less explosive room to work in.


    Start the whole enchanting process again, this time enchant the whole room to absorb and counter any interference from the outside, then make rocks again connected with mana pulled directly from another room using mithril wiring, now interference is less of a problem.


    Pound some fox


    Begin enchanting the whole spell again, realize you need the spell to hold while another part gathers a spirit, create a memory for the spell to stay in and find out that the array can''t keep the spell stable.


    Create another two shells surrounding the array room to ward off any interference, then use mithril wires to connect each individual stone that requires joining before sealing each stone inside a metal casing.


    Sigh with relief as you find the spell is stable then curse the old gods when you realize how complex the spirit part is going to be.


    Pound some fox


    Figure out how to manually create an "if" statement because there is no glyph for that.


    Find out you require much more space.


    Create new rooms with dampening shells and casings.


    --------------------------------------------------------


    Cast spell on placed empty golem body


    hold spell while other parts perform their function


    ------


    Search for Spirit


    Cast capture magic on spirit


    IF spirit struggles fiercely THEN pull spirit into body and have first section complete spell


    ELSE Let go of spirit to find a more suitable battle golem spirit.


    Loop


    ------


    This was essentially the array he set out to make and after a few tests runs he was forced to make modifications, but the idea was still the same.


    Lucifer looked at his strange creation with mixed feelings, first, he was happy that this frustrating task was over, second, he was frustrated that the end result was so poor and he couldn''t do any better at the time.


    The golems were made of stone instead of steel which significantly reduced their power, they were also solid stone from their manufacture method so they were also slow in comparison to Golem.


    Lucifers program works incredibly slowly so input is signifcantly faster than output, this means that Lucifer has to either improve the efficency of the array or create more of them to keep up with production.


    Pound some fox

 105

    Ahri felt a rush of heat and dropped to the floor to avoid the inevitable dizziness that was coming.


    Recently she has been experiencing these effects from the ¡°beast god¡¯s blessing¡±, normally she should be pregnant by now if two people shared the connection her and Lucifer did, however, after all the recent ¡°activity¡± she was still suffering.


    At first, she thought that maybe Lucifer was ¡°shooting blanks¡± so to speak, but after several body changes the chances of that were nil.


    The idea that she might be unable to bear children did cross her mind, but there were no incidents in history where two people connected by the beast god couldn¡¯t have children.


    Now she was sure something was fishy. With all the enhancements that Lucifer grants his body, she knew removing the ability to have children wasn¡¯t out of the question.


    This realization sent a wave of panic down her spine, wasn¡¯t she good enough to have his children, would she have to deal with these side effects for the rest of her life?


    Although she wanted to storm into his lab and demand an explanation, she knew that such actions would only serve to anger the dungeon, not only would it make her aims in sneaking into the lab obvious, Lucifer may consider it some sort of manipulation in trying to trick him into having a child, and that thought sent another shiver down her spine when she thought of the consequences of manipulating this particular dungeon.


    While she was thinking about possible ways to solve this situation as her blood boiled inside her veins she heard fighting, this wasn¡¯t something abnormal in the dungeon, but she immediately went over to investigate the welcome distraction to her plight.


    She circulated mana thought her body and swiftly dashed through the underbrush, the obnoxious heat dissipating as she vigorously moved her body.


    --------------------------------


    Soon she found the source of the noise, a group of adventurers were battling another party. The group closest to her hiding spot was on the defensive while the other party viciously attacked them.


    The defenders formed a wedge with the most heavily armored man in front and two swordsman on the wings, the tank expertly used his shield and mace to block two opposing attackers, occasionally dashing to the side to block a spell sent at one of his allies.


    While the swordsman each held of an attacker each, their swords danced through the air deflecting and parrying blows from their opponents.


    Ahri could see that the defenders were significantly more skilled so she found it strange that they were obviously stalling for time. Then she saw a glint in the canopy with the corner of her eye, a moment later and the glint vanished and was rewarded with a cry of pain.


    One of the attackers turned his head slightly when he heard the yelp, on the floor he saw the collapsed form of their parties mage with an arrow buried in his throat.


    The attackers momentary distraction cost him as the moment the mage went down the defenders went on the offensive, the tank took a large stomp forward with his heavy frame and swept his tower shield from left to right, one of the two men in front of him was the man who had turned his head and he didn¡¯t even notice the attack, the other tried to defend with his blade but the tanks sudden power caught him off guard. Both men were sent flying into the ground several meters away.


    Meanwhile, the swordsman dashed the enemy guard and gutted the attacker with a previously hidden dagger, then while the man reeled from the sudden wound he decapitated the man in one swift practiced motion.


    Ahri turned her gaze to see how the other swordsman fared and the first thing she saw was his attacker halves, then she noticed that he was already standing over the body of one of the men who was knocked over by the tank while the other had an arrow lodged in his skull, she hadn¡¯t even noticed him move outside the formation.


    The tank did a quick take of the surroundings before waving his hand in the air and loudly saying, ¡°good work Serra, if we pushed forward while the mage was still alive someone would have probably caught a fireball with his face¡± while gesturing towards the swordsman who only managed to kill one man.


    After several moments the Tank didn¡¯t hear a reply and quickly moved back into formation, then scanned the area for the enemies. The swordsmen quickly followed their leader in readying for combat, one of them asked ¡°what''s the matter?¡± quietly.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The other Swordsman replied ¡°if Serra didn¡¯t come out there are still enemies out there¡±


    After several long moments without an attack the tank relaxed his guard slightly and called out, ¡°come on out mr observer we know you''re there¡±


    Ahri hesitated for a moment before she remembered that there is nothing wrong with her being here, she was known as the Arcane Universities dungeon researcher by the local population (and a few other names that she didn¡¯t know about).


    She straightened her university robes and walked into the open, when the party saw her tails they were stunned and when she saw theirs she was stunned too.


    ----------------------------------------------------------


    Meanwhile, Lucifer was finishing a seperate array for a golem variation. After he made the golems that created parts he noticed they didn¡¯t have any trouble digging deeper than the ants, so with the new array, he could mass create golems specifically designed to cut out blocks of stone for the deeper areas for the dungeon.


    Lucifer suddenly noticed a little fairy floating in front of him with a smirk that made him more than a little wary.


    Taking his attention away from the array he asked Lucky, ¡°so what brings you here¡±


    Lucky fluted around in a spiral while cheerily replying ¡°I want to show you something¡±.


    ¡°I¡¯m busy, just tell me where it is and I¡¯ll use my dungeon sense to see it¡±


    Lucky frowned and pouted, ¡°if you don¡¯t come I won''t show you.¡±


    After signing Lucifer thought that it was about time for a break anyway so he got up and followed after the hyperactive fairy.


    Soon he found himself hidden in the canopy of a large tree, the previously excited fairy looked extremely disappointed when he disinterestedly watched Ahri sitting around a fire with a group of adventurers.


    The expressions that Lucky expected Lucifer to make were nonexistent, instead, he was glaring at her and she was fidgeting around nervously.


    She lowered her height and looked up at Lucifer with large eyes then asked cutely, ¡°is something wrong Luci-- cough Lucifer¡±


    Before she could move Lucifer snatched her out of the air, he held her in the direction of the party and coldly asked, ¡°well, my surprisingly mature fairy, what do you see there¡±


    Lucky began describing the group when Lucifer''s grip slowly started tightening, in a panicked voice she quickly said, ¡°they are flirting, Ahri has been suffering because she is in ¡°heat¡± and hasn¡¯t had a child yet, she thought that wrestling with you would help the problem, but it only made it worse as time went on.


    Lucifer''s expression darkened and he squeezed a little tighter speeding up her already frantic speech, ¡°when we were talking our morning bath I suggested that she sleep with other people to get pregnant because she has her whole life with you to get your children-- cough cough, and she was lost in thought for quite a long time-- cough please loosen your grip please¡±


    Lucifer turned Lucky to face him and relaxed his grip, Lucky breathed a sigh of relief until she saw Lucifers grin which sent chills down her spine.


    Lucifer said ¡°It seems your a lot more mature than I thought and here I was treating you like a child¡± Lucky only replied with a weak ¡°teehee¡± before Lucifer continued, ¡°I won¡¯t be treating you like a child in the future, so don¡¯t expect to get away with any pranks you pull on me, no things missing from the lab, no returning my consciousness to my body to find a kitten butt on my face.


    Lucky giggled at that but was cut short by Lucifer¡¯s glare, ¡°oh and that reminds me you little perv, I sensed you in the lab when Ahri came by and that little illusion of you leaving didn¡¯t fool me.


    At this point Lucky''s normally ever present childish grin was replaced with realisation that she had been caught, her entire face was red and she couldn¡¯t wait to fly away once Lucifer let go of her.


    Satisfied that he had got his point across he let go of the little fairy and she disappeared into the foliage almost instantly.


    With the little distraction gone he finally took a good look at the group below, There was a large man in heavy armor with a horn on his head, an archer hiding the trees that Lucifer noticed with his dungeon senses, and two swordsman, one being a human while the other one was a beastmen with multiple tails.


    Lucifer was surprised that Ahri managed to find someone of the same race as her, and more unlikely the same subspecies, a multi-tailed fox beastmen. He had 6 tails like Ahri originally had which designates him as a noble of that particular species, and he kept glancing at Ahri¡¯s 9 tails with a look of amazement and a hint of lust whenever he thought she wasn¡¯t looking.


    Ahri originally only had 5 tails, but with the expert training of Merlin, she was able to grow another along with her power, since then Lucifer had injected pure life energy into her to save her life. This turned her hair and fur white and she grew 2 more tails, then every time Ahri visited him he would inject small amounts of life energy into her which resulted in 9 tails. Something which surpasses royalty and would make her a queen of her people.


    ---------------------------------------


    Lucifer ended up using his dungeon senses to listen in on the conversation of the group, which mostly revolved around how the fox tribe had been doing and the foxman trying to convince Ahri to come back to the tribe.


    But he soon became bored of that and it was about time he got back to work. He climbed down the tree and while thinking about the next steps he heard a twig stap behind him causing him to jump.


    He spun around cursing his negligence and prepared for a fight, instead when he turned around he found Selenia standing there with an irritating grin spread across her face.


    She had made it a game of sorts to try and get as close as possible to adventurers without being noticed and Lucifer with his dungeon sense was like the grand prize, this was the first time she managed to surprise him.


    Lucifer¡¯s expression that looked as if he had been caught doing something bad caught Selenia¡¯s interest, she peeked around the tree to see what he was looking at and saw an interesting situation.


    They both heard the largest man call out ¡°I know you''re there you can come out now¡±, causing Selenia and Lucifer to look at eachother with an odd expression, does calling hidden people out ever work¡±


    However, since Selenia thought it would be interesting she stepped out and greeted the man while introducing Lucifer as green. Reluctantly Lucifer stepped out of the darkness and was immediately greeted with a half happy half shocked ¡°Lucifer¡± from Ahri.


    Lucifer had the urge to facepalm at the instant identity reveal but resisted the urge, he looked up and could tell the foxman went from cautious to extremely hostile after he saw at the way Ahri looked at himself.


    Meanwhile, Selenia who had already replaced her helm was grinning underneath the metal exterior.

 106

    A surge of irritation hit Lucifer as he saw Ahri''s "caught" expression, as if she was doing something wrong. This was only further worsened by the obvious hostility from the Foxman.


    The tank greeted the two new arrivals and introduced his group, he was Olen, the less skilled swordsman as Jeremy and the Foxman as Diaz or something which Lucifer wasn''t paying attention to.


    Olen missed Lucifer''s glance towards their hiding companion and simply left out her existence, whether this was because she didn''t intend to meet anyone or they didn''t trust Lucifer he couldn''t tell, he bet on the latter and his opinion of this group dropped a few more points.


    Diaz spoke softly to Ahri "who is this man to you" as politely as he possibly could, but anyone with any social experience would recognize the obvious venom in his tone, Ahri, however, was lacking such experience and naively replied, "he''s my... --umm".


    Olen turned away from the confused girl and jokingly asked "so Lucifer is it"emphasizing to make it obvious they knew the name he gave earlier was false, but he didn''t care either way. Plenty of adventurers change their names, or at least use different ones in the field.


    By this point, Ahri was already blushing as she tried to figure out her complicated relationship status with Lucifer. Diaz''s cheek was twitching and his hands kept unconsciously clenching and unclenching, he turned to Lucifer and suddenly exploded "HOW DARE A FILTHY HUMAN DEFILE A NINE TAILED FOX, I I CAN SMELL IT ON YOU"


    The human of the group looked towards Diaz with surprise which was quickly replaced with scorn, noone could tell what expression Selenia had behind her helm, but Lucifer only chuckled in response and started to turn, intending to leave this idiot behind.


    Diaz growled "that''s right you better leave, someone like you isn''t worthy of her", along with several other things, but the moment those words left his lips Lucifer couldn''t hear him, or anything else.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Previously


    Lucifer stood in an extravagant ballroom full of well-dressed people gazing scornfully at a young man confronted by people his own age, they continued hurling insults towards the man in the middle, but he knew they wanted him to react so he endured the humiliation because he had something important to protect.


    Similar scenes flashed past Lucifers mind, they all felt surreal, as if they happened to someone else, someone else desperately fought against society to keep his fiance, someone else continued enduring those schemes, someone else found his rare moments of peace in the embrace of that monster... someone else was betrayed.


    ------------------------------------------------------------


    Selenia and Ahri both shivered, they could feel their connection to Lucifer tremble, they didn''t know what was happening, but they could feel their blood boiling, breaths became deeper and chaotic.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Selenia riped her sword from its sheath splitting it in the process and Ahri found barely controlled magic at her fingertips ready to explode into action.


    The group was startled by the woman''s sudden reaction and raised their weapons in response.


    Diaz was about to ask Ahri what was wrong when he heard an explosion behind him, he twisted on his heel and was met with bloodshot eyes inches from his own.


    Lucifer gave a guttural growl with his pure mana enhanced voice and it instantly tore his vocal cords to pieces, sounding something inhuman that sent the group into fight or flight mode.


    Diaz didn''t even have time to use his sword before a screaming bundle of rage smashed his skull apart with its own. The group witnessed what was previously known as the man Lucifer, with a caved in skull and mana burns disintegrated large portions of his body, open his mouth larger than it should physiologically go, then his previously blue mana burns flashed to a sickly green along with Diaz''s body.


    Moments later a copy of what Diaz''s intact body looked like emerged from his broken corpse, the others looked on horrified as something instinctual inside them screamed danger like they had never felt before. The copy was then slowly absorbed into Lucifer''s body.


    Meanwhile, Selena and Ahri were in a daze, unable to escape from the torrent of uncontrolled rage that filled them, Lucifer''s strange show woke them and there was only one thought that fit in their minds, "They are the enemy"


    Ahri was the first to react, she launched herself towards the most heavily armored man Olen, Diaz may have hesitated before hitting Ahri, but he didn''t have such qualms. Olen turned on his heel and used his full mana infused strength to slam his shield into the shrieking madwoman.


    Cracks resounded in the camp and he wasn''t sure whether they were from the woman or the shield, the last shred of courage left him after he felt the impact from the shield reverberate up his arm. No sane person would willingly throw themselves at a solid object like that and not even block. A small dagger lodged in his side proof of his enemies recklessness.


    Olen turned to run, calling out retreat to his allied, but only finding empty air where they should have been, his heart tightened a little more as he sprinted into the darkness.


    A dozen steps into his retreat he heard the buzz of a blade cutting through the air and turned around to deflect a long sword. Olen had almost forgotten this elaborately armored woman was with Lucifer.


    Selenia madly swung her blade towards her armored foe, but every time she swung her attack would be easily deflected, this only served to anger her further if that was possible and caused her to attack in a frenzy.


    Olen desperately fended off her attacks as the small chips in his shield were growing larger, he knew that whatever her sword was made from, it would soon make scrap of his tower shield, so in a last-ditch effort, he put his weight into a deflection in an attempt to throw her wide.


    Blade contacted shield and sparks flew, her crazy attack was forced to pull her along, Olen twisted and used his full strength to smash his mace against her front hand.


    He roared in triumph when he felt the thud of impact and just as he was about to dash in to finish his disarmed enemy, he found the sword still firmly grasped in his enemies hands.


    While he was once again deadlocked by his enemies vicious attacks, he questioned how it was possible to hold onto a weapon after such an attack, he noticed that only a few fingers on her gauntlet were collapsed and leaking a mix of blood and flesh. Olen cursed the enemies smith as he fought.


    What he didn''t notice was the pale green light he originally fled from was no longer there.


    The last thing he heard was a whet stomp before he was grabbed by two intolerably strong limbs and torn kicking and screaming in two.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

 107

    Lucifer''s horribly deformed body stood on top of Olen''s corpse breathing heavily, lightning crisscrossed scars covered his form, slowly disintegrating his body, but each time a limb turned to ash it revealed the sickly green glow beneath and several more mutated limbs swiftly took their place.


    Much of the rage that consumed Lucifer''s mind had dissipated and a vague awareness sprouted from his previously clouded mind, enemies escaped saw too much, was the most coherent thought. The sound of broken trees and ravaged foliage erupted and a new hunt began.


    ---------------------------------------------------


    Selenia slowly regained her senses and the first thing she noticed was the soft glow of spirits floating around her, each time they passed through her she felt a little more clearheaded. She began thanking the spirits for their help when she suddenly remembered the earlier battle.


    She dashed forwards hoping it wasn''t too late while she sheathed her blade, only to realize more than half the sheath was destroyed.


    Selenia arrived upon the collapsed form of Ahri and dropped the sword to the side, completely forgetting about the broken sheath.


    Ahri was bleeding from her head where she impacted the shield or the ground Selenia didn''t know, one of her daggers was lodged in her side and Selenia couldn''t tell how that happened with her fuzzy memory of earlier events either.


    Forgetting about useless details she urged the spirits around her to help her friend.


    --------------------------------------------------------


    Jeremy sprinted through the underbrush unconcerned with the small nicks and scratches his reckless movement awarded him. Shadows danced across his vision as small pockets of light gave him barely enough light to avoid running into a rock or tree.


    Earlier he quite enjoyed the broad layout of this dungeon because it afforded him and his party more space, but now he was cursing the long road to safety and counting the seconds between trees falling behind him.


    Whatever was hunting him was fast, he could tell that much by the frequency of thumping footsteps and its growing volume, every so often the dungeon would explode with sound an enormous tree was rendered into splinters behind him. The first few times only served to frighten him even more, however, this also told him that his pursuer was large, too large to fit through the same gaps he did, so he changed his course to go through small gaps whenever possible.


    His overdrawn senses caught the sound of rustling above him in the trees, he glanced across and caught sight of Serra, the group''s archer jumping between branches. She must be in a hurry if he managed to hear her so clearly when he was making such a ruckus.


    ---------------------------------------------------------


    Serra had been going through the canopy, her fear causing a rare occasion where her animal instincts take over, now her large rounded ears swiveled back and forth trying to pin down her predator''s location, not that it was hard because even Jeremy could clearly hear it coming for them.


    However, what he didn''t notice was Serra had spit off into another direction away from the exit, her evasion experience telling her to avoid taking the obvious route, but the thing chasing her would only be misled for a dozen seconds or so before it "caught her sent" again.


    So now she was forced to regroup with her noisy companion and hope he proved an adequate distraction.


    The idea that she could get on the ground and simply outrun her enemy with her superior agility was something her frantic mind seemingly missed, or her animal instinct refused to allow the thought of touching the ground while a predator was about. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    She noticed Jeremy look up at her location as she was jumping to a new branch and didn''t have time to call out.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Jeremy returned his gaze in front of himself after spotting his ally, he jumped through a brush like any other and something in the back of his mind said, "this shouldn''t be wet".


    Branches snapped around him as he slowed his forward momentum and he grunted as he came to an abrupt stop.


    He tried to move and finally realized he had run directly into a giant spider web, his eyes darted to the canopy and couldn''t find his ally, Jeremy didn''t have time to curse his disloyal when the web started vibrating, the strings binding him plucked to a chilling rhythm.


    He looked upward as far as his bound head allowed him and saw furred spindly limbs expertly dancing across the sticky web in front of large round eyes. He thought that he hated spiders before, but seeing the grotesque anatomy of one in frightening closeness didn''t help his arachnophobia.


    As his horror crept forward he was able to see his terrified expression mirrored in its large eyes, he desperately moved his limbs and found that his left arm could move.


    He reached around his waist pocket and took out a small violet potion, after gritting his teeth he broke the glass cap off the potion and dropped the potion.


    Once the volatile liquid mixed with the air and jolted on the ground it burst into flames. Fire covered the area and the spider retreated into the darkness while the webs lost their adhesiveness. He was free from his binds after a short struggle and he started running towards the exit.


    -----------------------------------------------------


    Serra cursed Jeremy for his uselessness, not only did he get stuck in an obvious trap, but he didn''t even attract the monster chasing her, she could still hear its footsteps, except now it was close enough for her to make out the wet slop of every step and the dozens of impacts between each step.


    The monsters strange gait caught her curiosity enough to warrant a glance behind her, although she wished she didn''t. Whatever it previously was it wasn''t anymore, instead of four limbs there were dozens, most just flailed around uselessly, but other fleshy protrusions moved it forward ina vile form of locomotion.


    At that moment any sense of calmness that would have allowed her to think clearly was once again viciously removed.


    She continued dashing from branch to branch in a hopeless attempt at escape as dispair slowly tightened its grip on her heart.


    A slightly misjudged jump caused her to use more force than necessary to readjust her next one and a slippery branch led to another poor jump, she grabbed at a branch to regain her balance, but it snapped from the unexpected weight and momentum.


    Branches snapped as she tumbled towards the ground, her desperate grasps always falling short of a branch or handhold.


    Serra hit the ground with a heavy thump as the air was driven from her lungs and she coughed up no existant air.


    Suddenly the monsters form came flying at her from the corner of her vision, she rolled to the side and leaped across the gap into the darkness. However, her reprieve was short-lived, Lucifer burst through the tree she moved behind sending shrapnel through her body and the surroundings.


    Lucifer trudged towards the still form of the little archer and could feel vital energy coursing through its small body, he wasn''t fooled by her act and slammed one of his appendages onto her head shattering it instantly.


    -----------------------------------------------------


    Jeremy jumped slightly when a broken roar exploded into his ears, he could tell that it was quite far away and guessed its target. He gave a silent thanks to the bitch that left him to die by an eight-legged nightmare, then continued running.


    He was already on the first floor and passed by several miner groups here for the high purity ore crystals growing on this floor. Several groups asked him what happened when they saw his state, after the broken roar some groups even started fleeing with him when they saw his state and gear. If an adventurer with such gear was running like that then what could a simple miner do to whatever he was running from?


    Soon Jeremy was running with a large group of people, he couldn''t tell how many or even gather the thought of mind to care, but the idea there was more flesh between him and the monster afforded him a slight amount of comfort, the smarter well-equipped adventure groups doubly so.


    When the group arrived at the relatively tighter tunnel he viciously pushed several miners away to get in front, once the light at the end of the tunnel met his eyes he started laughing maniacally, but he was exhausted and out of breath so to the others it sounded like a drowning dog.


    Once he was outside with the safety of the barriers that the mages set up outside the dungeon entrance he crumbled into a crying mess of limbs.


    The guards at the entrance looked at him and shrugged to each other, scenes of men running outside the dungeon as shells of their former selves were rather common so the guards had nothing to say about that, but the massive group that came after him was another matter.


    Very quickly the city guard had set up a perimeter around the entrance and they began screening everything and everyone coming out for information.

 108

    Lately there hadn¡¯t been much activity in the dungeon after the last incident, most considered the raving lunatic of an adventure to just be another kid who snapped in a dungeon, nothing particularly rare, but the effects in the dungeon that coincided with the mad mans words kept a lot of adventurers away for a time.


    Now Lucifer¡¯s was paying close attention to a small group wandering on his first floor, his mana was low at the moment and he used these times as a break and usually filled it with watching adventurers.


    The group consisted of only a four people, all rather tough looking men, not particulary buff per say, but more along thelines of wirey strength a labour gets after years of hard work.


    Lucifer couldn¡¯t identify any particuar specialisations from the men¡¯s attire or weaponry, so he guessed that these people were low level adventurers who frequented the low floors for hunting deer and boars.


    It didn¡¯t take long for Lucifer to spot the newbie of the group, judging by how his head swiviled around the driery dungeon like a panicked deer, Luicifer could confidently say this was this particuar mans first mission inside the dungeon, or second at most.


    It didn¡¯t take long before the first fight if you could call it that. They tracked a young boar to its den from it¡¯s obvious tracks, completely oblivious to the quarter dozen boar tracks who''s owners were old and smart enough to avoid leaving in plain sight.


    Incompetent tracking aside they managed to quickly subdue the young boar completely unharmed, their expierence with this particualr enemy and their spears meant their prey never posed a threat.


    However, Lucifer and the group noticed the newbie freeze up once combat started, it wasn¡¯t a complete freeze, but the thousand yard stare coupled with the fumbling movements on the obviously worn in spear gave him away.


    The man looked imbaraed after the fact, mostly because he wasn¡¯t in any real dangert to begin with, but the other men were good sports aobut it conforting and joking with the man. The oldest man consoled ¡°Don¡¯t worry aobut it kid, there are actually very few people born for combat, Lay over there pissed himself the first Panther he fought, froze up like a newbie too¡±


    The man Lay protested ¡°hey that was Panther drool not piss, didn¡¯t you see how close it got¡±


    Another countered ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of a Panther spitting at someone before piss-boy¡±


    Lucifer reminisced back to his army days, you could never tell what you would do in a shit hitting the fan situation untill it happens, the big confident guys often freeze up in their first life or death fight and its usually the quiet guy you didn¡¯t notice before that becomes the competent fighter. Apparently those with expectaitons of what they were getting into, the so called experts, were the first to die as their worldview shattered amongst the blood and guts of their buddies.


    Lucifer watched the young man fight a few more times and rolled his eyes when the man started to boast about his combat ability. Lucifer would stay as far away from guys like this as possible, especially when he knew they would be fighting together.


    Having seen enough Lucifer decided to remove this overconfident newbie, he silently though ¡®all it would require is two boars in the wrong place at the right time¡¯


    The party slipped through the underbrush cutting down obstructive branches, they followed another pair of animal tracks in the damp soil leaving deeper footprints of their own owing to the boars strapped to their backs, blood dripped from these corpses numerous wounds spreading the scent of blood too far for pray to be caught near and almost far enough for predators to make it dangerous, luckily they were still on the first floor so there was nothing that could threaten this group, or so they thought.


    ¡°can¡¯t we go somewhere more open, it will be hard to fight here¡± remarked one of the larger men as he pushed aside another branch blocking his large frame.


    ¡°not all of us are as fat as you Gerald, we can fight in here just fine¡± replied another to the amusement of the group as he gestured to the surrounding trees.


    Gerald snapily rebuked ¡°not all of us are tiny like you¡± and held up his pinkie fingure in jest.


    This continued for some time until the leader told them to shut up because the tracker could tell the prey was near.


    The tracker was on one knee carefully observing the surroundings with a frown on his face. Something about this animals movements seemed unnatural to him, like it was leading the group to this confined place.


    The more he looked at the area the more certain he was, the thought that someone may have laid an ambush with fake pig tracks crossed his mind.


    Just as he was going to warn the group he heard the bushes next to him rustle and tusks followed by an angry pig burst from its hiding place.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    The group was always prepared for a scared animal to charge them if they accidentally cornered it, the dense vegetation made this event an inevitability, so once the boar bust from the foliage the group were already sending attacks towards it, but the trackers head was already low and dangerously close to the boars hiding place.


    Spears met fur slowing it slightly and the pigs thick skull met with the trackers head right on the temple. His leather cap did little to reduce the impact and he was sent flying away unconscious. Serveral members of the group called out to him as they vicously attacked the boar, but they received no response.


    The new guy saw the attack and wanted to help, however, the thunderous crack of skulls froze him in his tracks, the man he was just talking to the experienced man who he counted on to keep him safe during his first dungeon experience, died, just like that.


    He could hear the sound of the pigs screams as it died under the assault of spears, it was deafening, he could the mans crushed skill in Grotesk high detail, as if he was close enough to lick it.


    He didn¡¯t even notice his shaking hands, or the now all to similar sound of bushes exploding behind him.


    The group tried to get to the dazed man in time, but just like before they were a step too late. The boar shoved its head between his legs and threw its head back using its front legs.


    The newbie yelped as he was lifted into the air unexpectedly and hit the ground thankful that he didn¡¯t break anything.


    After a short battle the second boar died just like the first and the two remaining men looked at the newbie just sitting there. He had large gashes running up his legs and thighs. He asked, aren¡¯t you going to collect the boars as he gestured to the downed animals.


    One of the men started towards the newbie, but his shoulder was caught, he turned around only to see his party member shakes his head with a grim expression, he sighed then simply started tying the boar''s feet together with cordage and soon the two able-bodied men walked away carrying today catch.


    Meanwhile Lucifer was chuckling to himself, he didn¡¯t expect to get the tracker too. A Lucky bonus.


    He heard rustling behind him and turned his gaze away from his mana screen, he was surprised, not by the fox girl awake on the bed behind him, but Selenia was standing behind him.


    Selenia asked, ¡°why do you use that magic when you can see it with your dungeon senses¡± as she took a quick glance at Ahri before glaring at Lucifer.


    Lucifer casually replied ¡°the more time I spend inside a physical body the better as far as I¡¯m concerned¡±


    Ahri rubbed her eyes and with a twitching left fox ear she asked ¡°why did they leave that man there to die¡±


    Lucifer replied ¡°because he was in shock, well, dying so to speak so there was no reason to try to save him. They were too far from the entrance to get him out of the dungeon with those wounds and I doubt any of them knew healing magic¡±


    ¡°shock?¡± asked Selenia.


    ¡°its like a mental affliction that affects people with large amounts of physical or mental damage, its the bodies way of trying to save itself by blocking off anything unnecessary. For example he won¡¯t feel pain, which is good for when your being mauled by a bear, but not so good for anything else.


    Another thing it seems to blocks is any outside thoughts, this is good because you''re not thinking of the wife and children of the man you just killed in the middle of battle, but again not so good because everything becomes so clear when you''re in shock--¡±


    ¡°that''s a bad thing?¡± interrupted Ahri.


    ¡°as I was saying, everything becomes so ¡°clear¡± so to speak that anything and everything seems perfectly reasonable while your in shock. That man was thinking about the loot from the boars and blocking out anything else, so if they tried to help him get to a doctor he would probably fight them while trying to follow his ¡°perfectly reasonable¡± line of thought. We used to call this tunnel vision¡±


    Selenia remarked ¡°I remember several people doing such strange things during my adventuring days, although we just assumed it was some sort of craziness before death. But you can heal them and they will go back to normal after some time, the priests like to say that its a demon taking hold onto a weakened soul¡±


    ¡°Hmm,¡± Lucifer remarked, ¡°the priests would say a lot of normal accurances are the work of demons wouldn¡¯t they, it helps with the whole believabilty thing¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think going crazy is exactly a normal occurrence¡± replied Ahri.


    Lucifer chuckled and refuted ¡°crazy is precisely normal, because normal people aren''t supposed to get into life and death fights, they don¡¯t cope so well. For example that new kid who was in the dungeon, every fight he would get into his body would become stiff from the adrenaline dump taking all the blood away from his extremities, again good for bear maulings, not so good when he is trying to do precise practiced movements, this threw all his training out the window. Second he got tunnel vision, the sight kind, so all he could see was the thing directly in front of his eyes and nothing else, and finally what got him killed was his hearing was hypersensitive, to the wrong things. He was so inexperienced in combat his mind focused on the sound of the boar in front of him instead of his surroundings, if he was more experienced then he would have had plenty of time to get out of the way, unlike the tracker who was much closer to the boars hiding place¡±


    Selenia added ¡°Ahri you¡¯ve trained as an assassin and a mage, so you''re unfamiliar with what the adventurers go through, it usually takes a few years of adventuring for someone to be considered a veteran, and that''s if they live through their newbie days.


    The adventurer guild tries to stick a few veterans with newbie teams to keep them alive, and one of their main jobs is to keep an eye on the flank and call a retreat if the situation becomes dangerous.¡±


    For the next several hours the group talked about their various experiences, until Selenia changed the topic and asked, ¡°anyway, I originally came down here to ask what you were going to do about the person who escaped the dungeon and why don¡¯t you get Ahri pregnant, not necessarily in that order¡±


    Ahri¡¯s ears perked up and Lucifer sighed before answering ¡°you sure know how to blind someone in a conversation¡­ Well the answer to the second question is something I decided for several reasons while I was still human, and --¡±


    Ahri quickly said ¡°you mean reasons that don¡¯t apply to the current, dungeon you¡±


    Lucifer wryly smiled and replied ¡°I still don¡¯t want children¡±


    Ahri added even quicker ¡°but they can just be my children, you don¡¯t have to have anything to do with them¡±


    Lucifer remarked ¡°but they will be in my dungeon won''t they, and I¡¯m sure you will quite upset if they fall into a spike trap of some sort--


    Selenia rebuked ¡°awfully specific!¡± as she glared at him.


    He continued ¡°so since you wouldn¡¯t want them to die (cough by spike trap) then I would end up having to make sure they don¡¯t die, aka taking care of them¡±


    ¡°then I¡¯ll live outside the dungeon with the child¡± said Ahri. ¡°and come into the dungeon to find you¡± she added quietly.


    Selenia saw that Lucifer was unmoved so she added ¡°we both know Ahri is going crazy and not in the temporary manner like we were talking about earlier, a person in her condition would have been impregnated in days if not hours of receiving the beast gods blessing, its not natural for her to be without child¡­ so unless you want her to go insane or worse die, I would suggest getting busy¡±


    Lucifer watched Selenia''s expression carefully and appreciated the slight blush upon the mention of ¡°getting busy¡±, he wanted to know why she was acting this way and what she got out of it. Her next words filled in this information for him.


    ¡°besides if she dies Merlin might turn into an enemy and side with the Magedom in the hopes of keeping his University safe¡±


    Lucifer laughed ¡°A dungeon being forced into siring a child for political reasons by its slave, how interesting¡± then added ¡°you know even if I do decide to impregnate her she will just be pregnant with the seed of whatever my current ¡°host¡± is right, my real body is actually a rock and thus cant have a child¡±


    Ahri absentmindedly said ¡°golem baby¡± with a strange expression.


    Selenia looked like she ate some sort of bug as he face scrunched up into something Lucifer couldn¡¯t quite describe, he teased ¡°Selenia, I wonder why your so interested in my sexual affairs, are you perhaps ¡°interested¡± haha¡± causing her expression to turn into a more readable expression he could recognize, embarrassment mixed with anger and probably a few other things.


    ¡°I¡¯ll consider it¡± said Lucifer after a short silence. Then he continued ¡°as for the other thing, I have decided to reveal myself to the world¡±

 109 Beginning

    Lucifer grinned at the stunned faces of Ahri and Selenia.


    Ahri quickly asked, ¡°But why, isn¡¯t it safer to stay in the shadows?¡±


    Lucifer replied ¡°Indeed it is safer to stay anonymous, especially when there are so many greedy bastards in this world, but that is no longer the case. There is a high chance that the Magedom already knows of my existence, so if I ignore the threat and they come for me while I still have my head in the sand, then I won¡¯t even stand a chance to fight back.


    However, if I reveal myself now, not only will I be able to gain the opportunity to make allies, I won¡¯t be caught with my pants down¡±


    Selenia questioned ¡°Are you sure that the Magedom knows, because if they don¡¯t aren¡¯t you simply giving yourself away¡±


    ¡°Perhaps, but I believe that the risk is too high to gamble on the slim chance that the Magedom are oblivious to the activities of rival kingdoms, and I highly doubt the discovery of a new dungeon escaped their spies notice¡±


    Ahri sat up and asked ¡°If the benefits of gaining allies sooner outway the disadvantages of being discovered, then who are you going to make an alliance with to make that worth it. The mages University is practically hostile now and even if you get the Swadian king on your side it won¡¯t compare against the Magedom¡±


    Lucifer sported the same grin from a moment ago and replied ¡°Hehe, that¡¯s my smart little fox, you hit the nail on the head so to speak, if the allies I can make aren''t strong enough to make a difference then what¡¯s the point of revealing myself like this¡± Lucifer¡¯s grin deepened as he said ¡°we are going to make friends with the Duchies¡±


    Selenia furrowed her brows and challenged ¡°Swadia and the Duchies have been at war since their foundation, I doubt they will ¡°make friends¡±¡±


    Lucifer simply replied, ¡°Ahri, here is what I want you to do...¡±


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Sometime later.


    Ahri walked through the dungeon entrance capturing the heated gazes of the guards. Normally she would have made herself invisible to avoid people¡¯s eyes, but today her mind was on more important things.


    After a short walk, she entered the newly build mage tower and passed the fidgeting receptionist, who wasn¡¯t sure if she should ask Ahri if she needed anything, but she saw Ahri¡¯s high ranking mage robes and smartly decided to keep her mouth shut.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Ahri quickly arrived at the top floor and waved her hand in front of a heavily fortified door, her ring shined a myriad of colours before hundreds of arcane symbols burst to life around her, the wall floor and ceiling shimmered with their strange protective enchants for a few moments longer before they deactivated. Once she deemed it safe she opened the surprisingly light iron door and entered a small circular room.


    Once inside she dumped a pile of magic crystals from her storage ring into a box inlaid in the wall of the room as if they were mere stones, then started a long chant.


    Several minutes later she found herself in another identical room to the one she was just in, a normal person would assume the spell had failed, but Ahri had done this enough times to know better.


    She confidently exited the door and waved the same hand again as the protective enchantments deactivated in this hallway, then cast a quick invisibility spell with practiced ease.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The King sighed deeply surrounded by piles of documents, then the door opened and a servant carrying another armful of documents entered the room and the King groaned,


    <BANG>


    The table thumped as his head met the table and he was forced to admit that 1. That hurt a little bit, and 2. This table was rather well made to survive his divine head while being crushed by a mountain of documents.


    He never intended to become a paper pushing King like this, he wanted to rule the same way he became a ruler, with an iron fist coupled with an unshakable character, a warrior king, but reality is cruel and the paper mountain constantly exerted its depressing existence on his tired mind.


    Suddenly he felt the presence of an unwelcome guest and he nearly cried out in joy despite the possible threat, he couldn¡¯t see his opponent, but that didn¡¯t matter. He was wounded by an assassin before which stopped him from uniting the Dutchies under Swadia once more, so he has spent more time than he cares to admit finding ways to combat invisible threats.


    The King¡¯s body stiffened as a woman revealed herself slightly closer than he thought before she said, ¡°Arthus, I¡¯ve known you since I was a child and now your point swords at me¡± as she gestured towards the King¡¯s elaborate duel swords.


    Arthus¡¯ gaze sharpened at having a stranger suddenly calling his name so familiarly. The list of people who fit the woman¡¯s description ran through his head quickly, those who knew his first name were few so that narrowed it down to only a few, someone that he knew as a child narrowed it down further. He was a bastard child of the King who was sent of to Woop Woop, he didn¡¯t know anyone capable of sneaking into the King¡¯s chambers unnoticed and he doubts he would forget such a beautiful woman.


    Ahri stared at the King and suddenly realized that Arthus had never seen her true form, Merlin had always had disguise magic casted on her whenever she appeared in public.


    She cleared her throat before saying, ¡°I¡¯m Ahri, Merlin¡¯s adopted daughter¡±


    Arthur was surprised, however, he didn¡¯t believe the woman in front of him, ¡°Ahri is a little mute human girl, who looks like a floor mop was used to beat her face as a child¡±


    Ahri¡¯s face flushed red and she rebuked, ¡°my disguised form wasn¡¯t that ugly¡± then she harshly added, ¡°if you don¡¯t believe me, then how about I tell you about that time Merlin was teaching you how to dodge with bear p---¡±


    <Cough COUGH>


    Arthus interrupted the her ¡°OKAY okay I understand, your Ahri, I thought you were mute¡±


    The blood that had just left her face rushed back giving her a youthful red tinge as she squirmed sheepishly, ¡°I met someone special who helped me get used to talking¡±.


    ¡°I see¡± simply replied Arthur who was slightly confused by her sudden change in demeanor. ¡°So why are you here¡±


    Ahri snapped out of her delusions and sternly replied, ¡°there is someone I want you to meet, someone that will completely change the future of Swadia¡±


    Arthur¡¯s expression turned grave as he replied, ¡°so Merlin has finally decided to let me in on whatever was happening the dungeon city¡±


    Ahri didn¡¯t reply, she just said, ¡°follow me¡± after casting an invisibility spell on both of them

 110

    Arthus followed Ahri back through the secret passage and into the warp chamber, he asked her what this was about, but she refused to speak about it until they arrived, once inside he marveled at how nonchalantly she dumped expensive mana crystals into the formation, even he as the countries King would have to think twice before using the teleportation array.


    As she was chanting the activation spell, he briefly thought that it wasn¡¯t such a good idea to allow himself to be teleported by someone not completely loyal to him, however, he had asked several questions to verify her identity and if Merlin was against him he was screwed anyway, so he decided to push any doubts aside and simply move forward.


    Light flashed for what seemed like less than an instant and he felt slightly disorientated for a moment, teleportation never agreed with him and after feeling like this for the umpteenth time in his life, he didn¡¯t particularity agree with teleportation either.


    They both stepped out of the protected hallway and Ahri explained, ¡°you are going to have to be disguised for obvious reasons¡± before she cast a spell on Arthus, his face quickly changed and his clothing became something an adventurer would wear.


    As they passed a new confused receptionist Arthus said ¡°we should take a look around the city before we get to business¡±


    ¡°we have more imp--¡±


    Arthus interrupted ¡°I insist, I¡¯ve wanted to inspect the budding new city for a while now, but my advisers are like a wife who always has a task for her husband to do, no matter how many he completes¡±


    Ahri sighed ¡°fine, but I''ll only show you around for a short time¡±


    For the next hour Ahri showed the King around one of his own cities incognito.


    ¡°this is the adventurer guild, as you can see its right next to the dungeon entrance for convenience, also all the nearby buildings cater to either supplies for adventurers like potions, ropes, torches and other such things, or they are used in processing goods from the dungeon¡±.


    Ahri pointed towards a shop with meat visibly hanging and explained ¡°for example, that¡¯s a butcher for processing the animal meat that comes from the dungeon creatures. They also work together with the leather-workers and blacksmiths occasionally when something with suitable materials is brought in that an adventurer cant strip on site¡±


    They briefly passed the noble district and Ahri continued ¡°This is obviously the noble district, there is nothing really of note here except reckless spending and silly competitions¡±


    Arthus commented ¡°there are quite a few painted houses which is interesting, blue and purple are absurdly expensive colors to paint your manor¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Ahri replied ¡°see pointless competitions between idiots, besides recently it was discovered that there is a creature in the dungeon that spits poison at its enemies, but this poison is quite colorful which is what the nobles are painting their houses with¡±


    ¡°most people would be rather careful about calling nobles idiots¡±


    Ahri retorted ¡°they are idiots, you don¡¯t know how much trouble they caused when they were creating their man-made lakes and rivers for their gardens. The water was polluted for weeks while the work went on and when they were filling them the water flow was interrupted several times, but they didn¡¯t care because the only people to suffer were from the poor districts below.


    Then there is the problem with land allocation, instead of taking the ground up above where its steeper, they complained that the roads were too steep to walk up, ignoring the fact that none of them have ever walked more than 100 meters without a carriage to pick them up, so they settled just above the dungeon entrance.


    Now the people who actually brave the dungeon have to walk all the way past the shopping and tradesman district to get to work, initially the city designer had that land designated as cheap hotels for adventurers, but now there is no space for them, oh and the nobles even have the nerve to complain about the adventurer guild being to close to their homes¡±


    Arthur had a cramped smile as he said ¡°most of the nobles here are from the younger generation, their family patriarchs sent them here to gain experience so they really don¡¯t know any better¡±


    By this time the duo had reached the next section and Ahri continued, ¡°This is the shopping district, anything you want you can get here, and if it''s not here you can pay someone to order it for you. The basic layout is smaller and more expensive shops higher up and heavier and larger items in the lower shops, this is so for example blacksmiths can use the connections from the tradesman district to get their heavy wares into a storefront easier¡±


    ¡°why wouldn¡¯t the blacksmiths just sell their wares from their shops¡±


    Ahri said ¡°it''s scary what you don¡¯t know when your pushing papers all day¡±


    <sigh> ¡°don¡¯t remind me¡±


    Ahri then explained ¡°a blacksmiths workshop is always hot from the forges and its not a good place for business, mainly because you can''t hear anything over the sound of hammers, another reason is because most of the gear they create here is high-end equipment so its too expensive to rely on the blacksmith or his apprentices to protect¡±


    ¡°then who is protecting it and why are they making so many expensive pieces, I doubt the local adventurers are buying such things so who are they selling them to¡±


    Ahri contemplated for a moment before replying ¡°I¡¯m not an expert on the city, but I think the one in charge of public order is a man named Wolfram if I remember correctly, he has spent considerable time and resources squashing any potential crime racket from emerging, something about trying to create a truly crime free city from the start before undesirables sink their roots in.


    as for the high quality armor, you don¡¯t have to worry, the city lord has forbidden any trade to the duchies, so far it seems like the nobles are buying everything up to prepare their personal armies in case the Duchies attacks,


    more importantly the reason such high grade equipment is possible is because the dungeon has plenty of ore crystals growing, and most of them are high purity which is rare¡±


    Arthur looked at Ahri closely and said, ¡°you seem to be mentioning the dungeon quite often¡±


    Ahri simply smiled mysteriously and continued further down the road. ¡°the main road we are on is made of hardened earth using magic, the city planner designed the road himself much to the earth magicians annoyance, its much wider and thicker than normal so it will last a long time and won¡¯t become overcrowded when the city fills up¡±


    Once they arrived at the tradesman district Ahri explained ¡°this is the tradesman district, this is where most of the cities products are made, there are carpenters working on mana enhanced wood over there, blacksmiths creating armor and weapons from ore that came from the dungeon, further along there are apothecaries making potions from the ingredients that came from the dungeon, from washing clothes to gem-cutting can all be found here, most of which have some relation to the dungeon. And with that the tour is over¡±


    Arthus asked ¡°aren¡¯t we going to see the battlements¡±


    Ahri sighed ¡°do you think they will allow some random stranger to walk along the walls and inspect the cities defenses¡±


    ¡­


    Ahri continued ¡°well if your really interested then the wall is being reinforced with dungeon stone, there is no better material for a wall, it naturally resists magic and physical attacks too¡±


    ¡°and I can guess where it came from¡±


    ¡°the dungeon,¡± said Ahri with a smile.


    ¡°where are we going next¡±


    Ahri replied ¡°the dungeon¡± with an even deeper smile.

 111

    Arthus quietly walked behind Ahri, every step he took deepened the feeling of apprehension pressing down on his heart. They have been walking through the dungeon while Ahri casually explained the features of the dungeon, just like when they were touring the safe city. Nothing about this felt right.


    The passed through the first floor rather uneventfully, the only things of note were several rare plants Ahri pointed out and their uses, a few crystal ore deposits that have an unusually high purity and some animals with nice pelts or meat.


    The second floor was similar to the first, there were trees, plants, and animals just like the first floor, but the flora was far denser, the already dim light on the first floor became even more gloomy and Arthur was able to spot a few traps and giant spiders.


    Once Arthus was on the third floor his instincts war screaming at him that something was wrong, he could sense hostile creatures in the dark, mostly large cats, but they weren¡¯t attacking the duo at all, he made sure to make several ¡°openings¡± that such predators would find irresistible, a turned back here and panicked stumble there, however, they made no move to attack.


    This eerie peace made Arthus nervous more so than if they all attacked him, that he could take care of, instead, he felt like he was being stalked by a predator and the large cat he sensed jumping through shadows did nothing to ease that paranoia.


    He thought ¡®perhaps I should attack first before something truly troublesome comes up¡±. Even if he still hasn¡¯t recovered from his injuries he was confident in being able to win this fight, before his injuries he was power wise, equal to Merlin, although he isn¡¯t as powerful now, he still isn''t someone the Duchies were confident in beating let alone a few cats.


    The fourth floor was more peaceful for Arthur, at first. The cat jumping through the shadows seemed to take a liking to making him uncomfortable, moving from one ambush position to another through the shadows, however, one over-sized predator was far better fifty thought Arthur.


    Soon that slight feeling of relief dispersed like a gentle mist being blown away by a hurricane when he spotted something strange, a small frog with bright colors, it didn¡¯t seem dangerous, but his divine body had a natural aversion to poisonous things and this frog almost made him jump like a frightened housemaid.


    Arthus¡¯ misery only intensified when he found himself wading through thigh-high swamp water on the fifth floor. The water itself wasn¡¯t a problem, but the waterline and the occasional pair of eyes floating just above the surface was the problem, by this point, he already wanted to go back to the paperwork mountain, well maybe not, but at least come back with a cup.


    Then the sixth floor appeared and it almost made him wish he didn¡¯t enhance his senses. Something massive swam underneath the boat they conveniently found and his immediate reaction was to say, ¡°we¡¯re gonna need a bigger boat¡±, causing Ahri to chuckle.


    Arthus was more than a little irritated and asked Ahri what this was about several times, whether it was about the dungeon creatures strange behavior or their destination Ahri kept annoyingly tight-lipped.


    Several hours and a swim after entering the dungeon Arthus arrived at the destination.


    The room was a cylinder several meters wide, enhanced dungeon stone lined the walls and the only furniture in the room was a stone round table with three chairs each an equal distance apart.


    Arthus entered the room after Ahri, it was pitch black and he could sense another person in the room other than Ahri.


    He had a minor ability to sense someone''s mana levels which was a rather unique ability with few uses, however, considering the ridiculous power his normally insensitive power was picking up, he was sure of the other party¡¯s identity.


    Just as he was about to call out to his teacher, Ahri lit up the small room with a light spell and his words were caught in his throat.


    Arthus didn¡¯t expect that there was an existence that had such absurd mana levels other than Merlin, so when the sight of a fully armored female his mind blanked out for a moment.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Once Ahri sat down and he calmed down his mind he began sizing up the other party. First, they had a private room in a dungeon, which was unique all of its own, Arthus thought ¡®no wonder Merlin was interested in something over here and didn¡¯t want anyone interfering, such powerful beings can be very dangerous if handled poorly¡¯.


    Second, Arthus could tell the woman¡¯s armor was custom fit for her and even enchanted with runes he couldn¡¯t recognize, so It was likely she was either a dwarf or was friends with them, either option made him wary.


    Third, the mana in this room is so dense and pure Arthus was sure no normal creature could survive here for long, but considering the other party¡¯s absurd power this rooms existence made sense, there isn¡¯t any way for a person to have such a high amount of mana without something of this level, more importantly, Arthus wondered ¡®how powerful could this woman get if she continued using this room. Perhaps I coul--¡¯


    Arthus¡¯ thoughts were interrupted when the bare wall opposite his seat abruptly turned into a door and opened, a man at least eight feet tall of towering muscle walked into the room. Once inside the man waved his hand and the door returned into a rock.


    Between the new woman and Ahri a chair materialized out of thin air, although chair wasn¡¯t a description Arthus would use, he would call it a throne if his mind was currently functioning properly.


    The throne was made of pure mana crystal, Arthus couldn¡¯t even guess how much mana it could unleash, and the man in front of him made it appear just to use as a seat.


    ¡°Drink¡± said the man in an inhumanly deep voice that snapped Arthus out of his stupor, before he knew it there was hot tea in-front of everyone, Arthus didn¡¯t feel anything from the drink so he obliged unknown man.


    Movement on the corner of his eye caught his attention, the woman removed her helmet to drink her beverage, Arthus paused for a brief moment after seeing her face, however, this pause was brief. He was still a king so beautiful woman wasn¡¯t something that would keep his attention like making things materialize out of thin air would.


    Several minutes went by without anyone saying anything, instead, they just quietly sipped their tea.


    Meanwhile, Arthus was almost sweating in his chair, it didn¡¯t take him long to figure out who, or rather, what, the creature in front of him was. Merlin had emphasized the importance of whatever was happening in the new dungeon city and to keep silent about it, but simple emphasis wasn¡¯t adequate for such a thing. There was a sentient dungeon sitting across from him and he only came to know that it existed in his Kingdom as he was facing it directly.


    Arthus¡¯ emotions quickly switched between elated and depressed, he was one of the few people in the kingdom to have read the remaining records about the first and only sentient dungeon.


    (history lesson flashback lol)


    The first dungeon was made during one of mankind''s earliest recorded eras, just after a major event where most of the worlds advanced civilizations mysteriously vanished, mana enhanced monsters took over most of the land most of which haven''t been taken back till this day,


    During the initial days of the new era marked by the disappearance of most of the human population, hordes of beasts swept the remaining nations leaving nothing but death and destruction behind, several mage Kings came together and using their countries combined magical knowledge made a core.


    This core was the perfect conduit for magic and they put their most advanced magics inside, however, the consciousness that the core formed didn¡¯t want anything to do with its creators which it viewed as inferior.


    Thus the mage Kings were forced to destroy the consciousness and use one of their own souls to control the core, however, this would mean the controller''s body would die leaving them stuck inside the core.


    The mage Kings voted and the chosen one used his soul to control the core. The first thing he did was to connect to a dragon vein in the earth with the mage Kings help, then using the nearly unlimited power he utilized each mage kings most powerful spells against the beast hordes.


    The beast hordes were quickly destroyed and the mage Kings joined together to create the first Magedom.


    Several hundred years went by and the core was tired of being used as a mine and resented the mage Kings, and the populous for forgetting about his sacrifice, so used his considerable magic to bury himself deep into the ground away from those who he despised.


    However, the mage Kings wouldn¡¯t let their key to wealth and immortality simply just leave, so they dug underground to find the core.


    Battle ensued and neither side came out on top, so the core conceded that it will create wealth for those who deserve it and created the first dungeon. Anyone with the skill and the will to fight with their life on the line could collect this wealth, and this deal was fine for a time, until the mage Kings grew old and when they expected to be given youth again by the core, they were rejected because they didn¡¯t deserve it according to the core.


    Fighting began again, however this time the core had been gaining strength from all those who died in his dungeon, very quickly the difference in power became clear and the mage Kings were forced to retreat with 2 less in number.


    Infuriated and afraid of death the mage Kings began to create a new core, one that would never rebel against ¡°humanity¡±, however, with fewer mage kings and so much magical knowledge lost they were unable to create something powerful enough to combat the original core.


    Once it became obvious that they would never succeed they sabotaged the dragon vein connected to the core, they then set the ¡°new conditions¡±, either the core granted them youth and wealth again like the old times, or they would set off the dragon vein in a cascading explosion that would destroy them both.


    Naturally the core was infuriated, it sacrificed itself to become what it is, then it saved humanity and got nothing in return except brief glory that was quickly swept away by the sands of time, it gave unimaginable prosperity to the human race and when it wanted to quietly leave, the ungrateful humans tried to stop it, after all of this the core still conceded and gave wealth to humanity, but for an equal trade this time, and still this wasn¡¯t enough, the mage Kings wanted it to be a slave for eternity.


    The core pretended to accept their demands until the moment when they let their guards down, instead of gifting a small amount of life energy to renew their youth, the core flooded its stores of life energy into the frail human bodies.


    The great cities above rocked from the blasts and soon great swarms of demons poured out of the dungeon.


    Once the cores rage was quelled it decided to never interact with mortals again, it pushed itself down the dragon veins into the center of the planet and legend is that all current dungeons are a seed of that original core.


    Arthus shivered as he remembered the details of the records, a sentient dungeon could either mean an age of unprecedented prosperity, or the need for the creation and naming of a new age, he didn¡¯t know which.

 112

    Lucifer was the first to break the silence, ¡°soon the Magedom will invade¡±


    Arthus¡¯ gaze sharpened as he replied ¡°for you I presume, do you know when¡±


    Slightly surprised and happy that his opponent wasn¡¯t an idiot he replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know when, however, it has been months since the duchy attacked this city with knowledge of my existence, so it won¡¯t be much longer before the Magedom sends its armies¡±


    Arthus frowned as he guessed ¡°probably before winter, the only pass in the north of Swadia that cuts through to the Magedom becomes almost impassable during winter, a small elite group could manage, but sending an army through would be impossible once the snow starts falling¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve heard you became a King based on your battle experience¡± added Lucifer.


    Arthus nodded ¡°war is my specialty which is good because I rule such a target rich country¡±, the underlying threat didn¡¯t escape Lucifer.


    Lucifer proposed ¡°an alliance would be beneficial for both of us¡±


    Arthus countered ¡°so you¡¯re trying to drag me into your fight, why would I get involved in a fight I can¡¯t win when the enemy would simply leave after taking you¡±


    Lucifer grinned slightly as he rebutted, ¡°riches for a start, I had Ahri show you around the dungeon to get that point across, but it seems you¡¯re not that greedy, perhaps you are interested in whether your country will remain yours¡±


    ¡°is that a threat¡± growled Arthus.


    Lucifer chuckled ¡°no, a threat is something you do to someone who you want to act a certain way, I¡¯m simply telling you the course of events that will occur, first they will come with armies capable of reaching from the north side of your kingdom to the south where I am.


    I don¡¯t think I need to remind you what happens to land that armies tread upon, Second, do you think that the Magedom will miss this opportunity to take your kingdom on the way--¡±


    Arthus interrupted ¡°Swadia is not something you can take ¡°on your way¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Lucifer was amused and continued ¡°well perhaps they don¡¯t use this opportunity to take the kingdom, how long will it take before they defeat the warrior kingdom with my capture and turn their gaze to you¡±


    ¡­


    Lucifer paused for effect then added ¡°I¡¯ve also heard that it was an assassin from the Magedom that crippled you¡±


    Arthus grimaced at the word ¡°crippled¡±, he wasn¡¯t completely sure the Magedom sent the assassin, but it seemed likely.


    While Arthus contemplated Lucifer casually said ¡°its quite genius, cripple the King with a divine body to prevent him from reunifying his lands, then set the splintered duchies after each-other to further reduce the national power. If this guess is true then the Magedom likely has a few tricks to deal with the warrior kingdom too¡±


    By now Arthus¡¯ face was grim and his hatred for his older brother burned a few times hotter, if he just handed the throne to Arthus then the kingdom would be whole and the Magedom wouldn¡¯t be a threat, then he could defend his sentient dungeon and bring about a second golden age.


    After sighing deeply Arthus said ¡°even if we form an alliance it means nothing if we aren¡¯t powerful enough to stop their armies¡±


    Lucifer was pleased the negotiation was moving along as planned, he happily replied ¡°then we just need to take the duchies back¡±


    ¡°how¡± asked Arthus.


    ¡°I¡¯m a dungeon, so naturally I have underground paths that would prove useful to your armies¡± replied Lucifer.


    Arthus abruptly stood up and almost shouted ¡°where do these tunnels go and when did you make them¡±, causing the woman and Ahri to both draw blades from the abrupt movement.


    Lucifer chuckled and waved the two women down before replying ¡°well I¡¯ve been making tunnels since I first learned to dig if you must know, and as for the tunnels exits, well most you don¡¯t need to know about, but the one you should be most interested in would be the one that goes directly into the eleven Forrest¡±


    Selenia¡¯s head whipped towards Lucifer at the mention of her homeland, but she remained quiet and decided to ask about it later.


    HAHAHA ¡°Arthus began laughing madly, he never imagined he would be able to take back the duchies this soon.


    Lucifer watched the kings antics for a while before dumping cold water on his ideas, ¡°access to those tunnels isn¡¯t free!¡±, immediately sobering up Arthus.


    Arthus calmed down and directly asked ¡°what do you want in exchange¡±


    Lucifer smiled genuinely this time as he replied ¡°First, if I am attacked your armies will assist in full force as if you yourself are being attacked. Second, this city above me is mine, you can keep your pawn Albus D¡¯ellinoris if I remember correctly, as the noble in charge, however, I will set my own laws for the city itself as I deem fit. Third, you will send all your kingdoms prisoners here who are sentenced to death, I will deal with them¡±


    The longer Lucifer talked the more alarming Arthus found his smile. Arthus ignored the shiver sent down his spine and started negotiating, ¡°The first one is not difficult, allies should defend each-other, the third is also easy enough although slightly costly to move them, but asking a King for a separate state inside his territory¡±


    Lucifer interrupted, ¡°would you allow your allies to have their own personal armies inside your castle¡±


    ¡°that¡¯s not the same thing¡±


    Lucifer rebutted, ¡°then I will make a dungeon underneath your castle and you will have no complaints¡±


    ¡­


    Arthus¡¯ expression looked as if someone kicked his dog, but he conceded ¡°fine, you can have the city, but you cannot create any pathways or dungeons near my capital cities¡±


    Lucifer chuckled ¡°I agree¡±


    Arthus then sat forward and asked ¡°so when can we use the tunnels to attack¡±


    ¡°patience Arthus, I happen to know that the duchies are fighting each-other for the right to take your brothers weakened duchy, so get your armies ready and discreetly get them to this city, I have a tunnel that passes a weeks march or so north of your city they can use to get here¡±


    Although this sounded like a trap Arthus¡¯ instincts told him that it was okay and most importantly of all, he didn¡¯t really have a choice.

 113

    Once Lucifer and Arthus settled some of the finer details he sent the king away escorted by Lucky, Selenia looked towards Lucifer and harshly questioned ¡°why do you have a secret path to elf lands¡±


    Lucifer laughed for a moment before answering sarcastically ¡°oh, I didn¡¯t know I had to tell you all of my plans before I could do them¡±


    ¡°did you plan on attacking my people¡± Selenia questioned once more and it was obvious Ahri didn¡¯t like the tone.


    Lucifer joked ¡°and if I was, what could you do about it¡±.


    ¡­


    Ahri scolded ¡°why do you care about what happens to people who betrayed you¡±


    Selenia quickly refuted ¡°they didn¡¯t betray me, only the druids did¡±


    Lucifer shook his head and cut between the two, ¡°you both can relax, I never intended to attack the elves, the tunnel system is an escape option in case the country I was in was too powerful to defend against. If they proved to be too much of a threat they would find my core has been moved across the border of Deepmist Forrest¡±


    ¡°see¡± Ahri chided, ¡°I¡¯m getting tired of your attitude towards Lucifer¡±


    Lucifer has more important things to do so he left them to argue.


    Soon an army would be moving through Lucifers tunnel network and currently that was impossible, the air would quickly become poisonous from having so many people in such a small place. Lucifer thought for quite some time before coming up with several solutions and getting to work.


    First, most dungeon expansions was halted and priority was given to expanding the tunnels leading to the elven Forrest, currently, the tunnels were only two or so meters wide, enough for ants to move backward and forwards to dig or move material, but not enough room for moving an army though efficiently.


    Second, Lucifer modified a moss-like plant that he had previously modified to clear the dungeons air, after some tinkering and an ungodly amount of mana he was able to increase its oxygen output and co2 input. Although lining the tunnel walls with this moss would not be enough for an army every little bit counts, and the only downside was the moss uses a small amount of ambient mana from the tunnel.


    Third, Lucifer created a small enclosure only a foot cubed just below the surface and forced it above ground, then he connected the small enclosure to the tunnels below, once that was done he placed a very basic wind enchantment in the tube so air would flow into the tunnel below.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    With a basic prototype completed Lucifer created several more across the length of the tunnel, until he was satisfied that the Swadian army wouldn¡¯t suffocate before they got to the exit. After that was complete he linked all the enchantments together so he could turn them all off at will, this would allow him to still have some passive mana regeneration from the tunnel when its not in such heavy use.


    With breathing settled Lucifer sighed as he realized that there were several more things to take care of, he had the ants open up large caverns across the length of the tunnel as rest stops, then he added facilities so the tunnel wouldn¡¯t end up as a sewage pipe, although they were temporary. Lastly he added dim mana stones for light across the tunnel roof, just enough to see were your going because he suspected they would be gone once the army passed through.


    Work on the tunnels took nearly a week and now Lucifer could focus on dungeon related projects. Hopefully a massive shipment of death row prisoners would arrive soon and Lucifer needed a place to deal with them.


    Their first use was to die in the dungeon, Lucifer had been hoarding life energy and even created a crystal to store it similar to the giant mana crystal he used to store access mana, but life energy¡¯s uses kept pilling up and if he experimented on it like he wanted to he would run out rather quickly, so he required a steady supply of lives which the adventurers addiction to not dying was preventing him from having.


    Experiments were their second use, Lucifer needed ¡°test subjects¡± for his research into the soul, and hopefully the cure for his degrading mental condition.


    The third use Lucifer was considering was creating a human force loyal to him, with soul bindings of course, his research has led him to creating several modern weapon imitations, but the golems weren¡¯t able to put them to proper use. So a human force seemed like a good idea for the people he liked, and for the people he didn¡¯t like, he would just send them to the ant farm for recycling.


    Sighing once more he thought about how troublesome it was to keep humans alive, he needed someone to take over the daily management of such tasks, thinking of his recycling plan suddenly made him remember someone who he completely forgot about.


    Lucifer quickly entered the ants farm and located a small wooden hut, just outside the hut Lucifer found who he was looking for. A woman was standing near the underground river passing her hut swinging a sword, she had fire red hair and thick pronounced muscles and simple leather armor which made her look like some sort of Amazonian.


    ¡°Lucifer¡± she coldly greeted when she noticed the giant of a man approaching.


    ¡°¡­ whatever your name is you¡¯ve got a choice to make, I have a job for you so you can either do that and live like my other followers, or you can leave and never see this place again¡±


    Startled she asked ¡°I thought you were going to keep me until I died¡±


    Lucifer shrugged ¡°misunderstanding, I only intended to keep you until I revealed myself, it was merely a measure to keep my secret¡±


    She started ¡°the best way to keep a secret--¡±


    Lucifer interrupted her ¡°if only 1 person knows it and keeps it until the grave I know¡±


    ¡°then why go through all the trouble of keeping me alive¡± she questioned


    Lucifer shrugged for the second time and casually replied ¡°because Selenia asked me to, and it wasn¡¯t really any trouble¡± he pointed towards the small hut, ¡°you seem to take care of yourself just fine¡±


    ¡°she has a soul bond just like me so you own her, why would you do anything she asks for¡±


    Lucifer sighed at the rapidly extending conversation, ¡°because she¡¯s my follower and has served me well thus far, and as for the soul bond, that''s simply insurance, a means of keeping honest people honest¡±


    ¡°then if I was your follower could I ask for something too¡±


    Lucifer casually replied ¡°what do you have to offer other than doing the job I came here to give you¡±


    She hesitated for a moment before replying ¡°my loyalty¡±


    ¡°considering the soul bond I already have that¡± countered Lucifer.


    ¡°you have my soul not my loyalty¡± ¡­ ¡°my body¡±


    Lucifer chuckled ¡°don¡¯t flatter yourself, just tell me what you want without all the song and dance¡±


    ¡°power¡± she simply said.


    Lucifer thought for a moment about what she could mean or why she would want power, but decided he didn¡¯t care, he said ¡°well you''re my new jail warden and if you do a good job I¡¯ll give you power¡±


    ¡°how?¡± she asked.


    Lucifer said ¡°I don¡¯t know yet, if its a strong body you want I can give you that, just look at my own, if its strong magical abilities then I¡¯ll have to research that when I¡¯m less busy, if its just power itself then I can just hand you a personal monster army, oh I forgot to ask your name¡±


    ¡°Ellora¡±

 114

    Arthus walked through the familiar hallway with an unconcealable smile on his lips. he had been waiting for this day for a long time and he couldn''t help being excited.


    He entered the throne room and sat down before taking a glance around the room, The floor directly in front of him was filled with nobles kneeling in subservience, some more sincere than others. Arthus sneered when he caught sight of a particular group of nobles closely bunched together.


    "rise" ordered Arthus.


    The sound of shuffling filled the room as they stood up and Arthus'' enhanced hearing didn''t miss the grumbling from one side of the room.


    Just as Arthus was about to start the meeting someone asked "your majesty, why have we been sending all of our prisoners to the new city, this silliness is interrupting our business"


    Arthus glared at the man who spoke before his turn and coldly questioned "silliness, are you saying my orders are silly"


    The man bowed slightly while giving an insincere apology before adding, "no sir I wouldn''t dare, however, why aren''t we just killing those prisoners in their cells or holding public executions where they did their crimes, instead we are filling wagons meant for trade and sending them to a new city"


    Another man spoke up in the Kings defense, "His Majesty has his reasons for everything he does, you don''t have the right to question him"


    Arthus'' mood was dropping by the second and he wasn''t going to let his political enemies dictate the flow of his meeting. He slammed his fist on the throne''s armrest sending a deafening sound echoing around the throne room, several people covered their ears and complained as Arthus stood up.


    Arthus placed his hands behind his back and started, "Now the reason I called this meeting was to inform you of a Kingdom changing occurrence" everyone perked their ears up, especially those who were in the noble faction because they had no idea something big was happening catching them off guard.


    Arthus continued "but first, there are a few things I would like to rectify, Duke Eraknil", The man in question jumped at his name being suddenly called and several of his close followers had their breaths freeze for a moment.


    Eraknil replied "yes your majesty" as he moved in front of the throne and bowed with more courtesy than he intended. His nerves were more shaken than he thought, normally the King simply ignored his existence because he couldn''t do anything about him.


    Arthus waved his hand and moments later the ornate double doors at the side of the throne room burst open, everyone except the king looked on in surprise as knights dragged a bloodied man towards the throne.


    Eraknil felt something crawling ups his spine from the strange turn of events, the man being dragged was unrecognizable, his face was so swollen even his own mother wouldn''t recognize him, but Eraknil felt the man was familiar.


    As the man was dragged past his group he noticed the beaten mans hands and all the blood drained from his face.


    Arthus was watching Eraknil closely and his grin only grew deeper as his enemy realized the enormity of the situation.


    Once the knights roughly shoved their prisoner into a kneeling position in front of the thone Arthus asked, "and this is?"


    One of the larger knights saluted and replied "your majesty, this is a traitor who has something to confess to you"


    Eraknil was shivering by this point which covered up his slightly moving lips.


    Arthus ordered "speak"


    The man started to talk, however, only gurgles sounded out because he was beaten so badly, the knight next to him sighed started casting a healing magic causing the man to jump in fright.


    Moments later the swelling went down and several nobles in Eraknil''s group recognized the man and stiffened.


    He felt his face and the tiniest measure of relief showed in his eyes before he started telling his story.


    "Your majesty, I was originally a noble who was loyal to your majesty" dozens of people from the Kings faction glared at the man at his confession, "b-but. Times were tough for my family, our lands were raided by the duchies men disguising themselves as bandits several times, we were only a small territory that an upstart baron could manage and even though I was given this territory to protect due to my skills, it wasn''t enough.


    Sometime during the winter, I became sick. The bandits found out and attacked the poorly defended villages Crugas and Summmer hill in my territory, killing everyone and burning everything.


    With noone alive on my small territory to pay taxes I couldn''t afford to get medicine--"


    Arthus interrupted "Yes we can all guess the rest, what are your crimes"


    The man paused as the reality that the King was uninterested in hearing of his plight and the lost opportunity of painting himself in a good light hit him. After breath of resignation he continued "We attacked the Duchies farms and villages in full Swadian military gear" More than half the room audibly gasped at the confession and some quickly realized the implications of such an act, this wasn''t just simple revenge against so-called "bandits" because they wore their Kingdoms gear when conducting the raids, if it was they would pretend to be bandits just like the Duchies have been doing.


    Arthus got straight to the point and directly asked "you say WE, who else was working with you"


    The man started rattling off names of soldiers or knights that worked with him to attack the villages, Arthus couldn''t help but frown when he realized all these people couldn''t be directly connected to Eraknil, so instead, he raised his hand and ordered "Silence... I don''t care about the low-level brutes behind this" he slightly leaned forward in his seat without anyone noticing and expanded mana out of his feet onto the ground like a web for grip. "don''t you agree Eraknil"


    Arthus was grinning at Eraknil knowing that he had to either answer and cancel the spell he was secretly casting, or activate the spell and kill the man for no justifiable reason"


    Eraknil gritted his teeth and dissipated the spell he was concealing before answering politely, "yes your majesty, if someone is inciting squalor amongst the populace we should find out who is behind it and demand justice from them"


    Eraknil cursed the King in his heart, he had no idea that Arthus knew about his Dark magic abilities, something which he kept strictly secret and was only known to two people including himself, just a little longer and he could have made it look like the man suddenly died from his injuries, although it would look suspicious the King wouldn''t be able to pin the blame on him without proof.


    Now Eraknil would have to use a spell which he could cast instantly and the basic fireballs spell the only spell he could do so with.


    The moment Eraknil stopped speaking the King asked the man while speeding his words up which sounded strange to the others present, "so who ordered the attacks" If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The man was caught by surprise and after a moment of hesitation he said "Duke Era--"


    The words were drowned out by an explosion which sent panic throughout the throne room, several nobles used to battle got ready for a fight, knights and dark clothed man burst into the room from hidden doors. The more experienced people noticed that there were two explosions so close together that most thought it was only one.


    Knights surrounded the nobles and looked for any threats as the smoke cleared, several men in black stood next to the throne with slightly confused expressions under their masks. They weren''t here to protect the King he was too strong to need protecting from them, however, finding the King missing was another matter entirely.


    All this happened in the span of several seconds and after the smoke cleared the beaten man was a mangled corpse on the ground, Arthus stood with Eraknil held up by the throat.


    Eraknil''s followers started loudly remarking, "why is the King attacking a Duke, obviously the Duke saw the scoundrel attempting to assassinate the King and stopped him, isn''t this like repaying kindness with a knife in the back"


    "how could the King do something like this, wouldn''t the Kingdom''s subjects become disillusioned with the Kingdom and rebel"


    "The great duke Eraknil has been a loyal subject of the crown for decades and this is how he is repaid, especially just after he saved the king"


    Each and every one of them quickly and efficiently created a narrative and backed each other up in reinforcing it, turning black into white before anyone could tell anything of the situation.


    Arthus suddenly burst out into laughter, "You don''t think this fool is the only proof I have of Eraknil''s treason.


    I have been keeping tabs on his friends and family ever since the rebellion, fool me once, haha. First he has been smuggling weapons and armor to the duchies, I have had those "secret" caravans being watched for a long time now, although I couldn''t directly pin it to this ''Duke'' here personally, I''m sure that my agents would have found all the necessary evidence now that they are searching your manors now" Eraknils group looked between each other at word "manors" and it being plural worried them greatly.


    Arthus continued "Some of my advisers created a "tree" which details all the deaths of nobles in Swadia, it is quite suspicious that almost half the deaths in recent years have been your opposition is it not", he looked at the struggling Eraknil while smiling.


    Another man from Eraknils faction spoke up, "that''s because Duke Eraknil''s friends have territories far away from the duchies, all those nobles died from wars"


    Arthus countered "it is indeed interesting that all of "your faction" have your territories far away from the fighting, which is convenient isn''t it, which is why I requested for each and every one of you to send magic crystals to the university and troops to the frontline, however, the magic crystals only have started to be delivered now, which is months late, and as for the troops, I''ve yet to receive a report of reinforcements to any of the border territories, which is another crime...


    what no rebuttal this time, well let me continue", Arthus then went on to list dozens of crimes he attributed to Eraknil''s faction, some with proof but most without and the only ones with concrete proof were minor crimes for someone of the Dukes standing.


    Although there was no concrete proof pinning the duke to these crimes, everything together along with the small things Arthus did have proof of painted Duke Eraknil guilty. The king''s faction, those who stayed neutral and even some people who were leaning towards Eraknil were certain that Eraknil was guilty, and the fact the King had the man gripped by the throat after he attacked a defenseless man, who was probably about to announce his own guilt helped along the credibility.


    Observing the atmosphere and unconcealed disgust directed towards their faction leader one of Eraknils followers questioned, "so what if the Duke did a few minor things, all nobles have some blood on their hands, that''s the price of being above the masses, so why are you publicly announcing crimes that any duke would be left alone for, are you perhaps getting rid of anyone you don''t like the look of because none of the Nobles will listen to you then"


    Arthus was no longer laughing, if he really did start punishing Dukes for things a baron wouldn''t be punished for then he would have to worry about rebellion at worst, and just plain insubordination from every noble in the Kingdom, as they all dragged their heels in every command in protest at having their "noble privileges" revoked.


    Arthus ground his teeth as he seethed with anger. Since becoming King he had cultivated a strong hate for politics, it annoyed him to no end that even as a king there were things he couldn''t do.


    However, today was different, he glared at the man and practically growled, "when the assassin that crippled me entered my study, he entered through a passageway only known by Eraknil", Arthus''s looked towards the terrified man in his grip and his grin deepened as he blatantly lied to Eraknils face, and whenever he struggled to speak Arthus would squeeze the worm''s throat harder.


    The man that had just argued against Arthus stumbled for a moment then his mind rapidly spun, after a moment he countered, "there are dozens of secret passages in the castle, the assassin could have been told by someone else you didn''t know who knew about the passage", his tales and excuses were becoming more far-fetched and his confident demeanor was gone, replaced by a sweating man who looked ready to flee. he continued "or the assassin found the secret tunnel by accident"


    Arthus laughed "the secret tunnel constructed by Merlin was just "found" by accident"


    The man was stuck for several long awkward seconds before he unconvincingly replied, "anything is possible"


    Everyone in the room could tell this was a farce by now even the guards, however, the man kept arguing "you never answered my question, why are you announcing petty crimes"


    Arthus savagely answered, "because I am going to "clean house"


    Dozens of older nobles jumped slightly as a cold chill swept through their bodies, they knew what this "clean house" meant, as they were alive during the last "cleaning".


    The man seemed to understand the reaction from the older nobles and panicked "you can''t punish us without proof of any crimes"


    Crack, Eraknils head was suddenly facing the wrong way surprising everyone, including Arthus even though he was the one to twist Eraknils head off.


    Arthus regained himself and replied "You say that I "can''t" punish you, but you seem to forget that I am King, proof what need to I have for proof, I know your guilty the same as that bag of shit, so I will kill you, not because of any evidence of some sort of crime, but because you are scum that skirt the line of the law, pushing it to the absolute limits in the places you know you can get away with, killing you is a service to the Kingdom.


    But most importantly of all, The kingdom has just come into a great windfall which will push Swadia to greatness, and I don''t want to share any of that greatness with your kind, you don''t deserve it, all your deserve is this"


    Eraknils followers thought the King had gone crazy and started looking for a way out, however, they found the Knights blocking their paths, they ordered them to move and even threatened them with their titles, however they seem to have forgotten that the Knights in the castle only take orders from the King, and if the king wanted them dead then the Knights would help make that happen, even if the King was crazy.


    It only took several minutes for Arthus to slaughter those who he deemed guilty, although he kept himself to only killing those who directly threw their lot in with Eraknil because if he killed everyone associated with the man, then half the court would be empty the next day, so those will lesser dealings with the man or who didn''t do anything major were spared.


    Although he was slightly disgruntled about not being able to slaughter everyone who was disloyal he still stopped, Arthus could see the frightened expressions of the nobles as he could guess their thoughts, with nearly 20% of the court now lying dead on the floor. With the cleanse finished he had to do cleanup which means reassuring the remaining nobles.


    Arthus took a moment to clean his hands and sat in his throne before speaking, "AHEM, first things first, Abraham, I will assign you to electing the new leaders of the households who just lost their patriarchs" this immediately solved the issue of headless families who would infight amongst themselves for the patriarch position and destroy their noble households, and most importantly Abraham was one of his most trusted advisors so Arthus was sure that the new family leaders would be more "loyal", and in the event the family tries to group together to rebel, Arthus doesn''t mind having a noble rank or two freed up for his subordinates.


    Arthus could see several nobles peeking at the door and decided it was time have everyone come together under his banner, so he grandly gestured as he gave the earth-shattering news.


    "Everyone, as I said earlier in this meeting I''ve got something to announce which will change this Kingdoms future... In the new city, a sentient dungeon has been found"


    Discussion erupted amongst the nobles, the smell of blood and guts almost completely forgotten once they heard the news.


    Arthus waited for a moment then continued "silence... it seems you all understand what this could mean for Swadia, well I have even better news..." everyone listened intensely, as if afraid they might miss a word, "I have struck a deal with the sentient dungeon called Lucifer"


    This time the smell of blood really was forgotten as discussion exploded, some nobles directly cheered, others regretted not being in the Kings faction from the start, however, most of the feelings were of the positive variety as everyone knew of what this could mean for them and their kingdom.


    Although it wasn''t said most of the nobles were glad that Eraknils group were dead, such traitorous people didn''t deserve to see the day when Swadia rose into a mighty empire, and it meant more benefits to them.


    Arthus waited for discussions to quiet down before he closed the meeting, "everyone remembers this day, let it be remembered as the beginning of the now renamed city of Morningstar, and the beginning of Swadias RISE"

 115

    Lucifer casualy strolled along the corrador with barred cells lining the walls, he was enjoying the unusual quiet as the only sound he could hear were Ellora¡¯s and his own footsteps. This silence was unusual because each cell had an occupant and there were hundreds of them, from floore to ceiling four stories tall cells lined the walls and not a sound came from any of them.


    Lucifer was rather curious about what Ellora did to make them so obedient in only a week, perhaps he should take a look when the next batch of prisoners arrived.


    After personally inspecting the prison in person, even though it was pointless to actually be there in person for him, he was satisfied. Lucifer stopped at a particular cell that caught his interest.


    Inside a skinny young man, no older than 17 or so was sitting on what passed as a bed in this cell, it was made of stone along with everything else in these casually made cells, but that isn¡¯t what caught his interest. The young man was easily recognized by Lucifer as a broken man crushed by circumstance.


    It may have been his posture, hands holding his knees in the fetal position, or the gently rocking back and forth. Lucifer would personally say it was the look in his eyes, whatever the reason the young man sentenced to death in possibly the worst place possible caught his interest.


    Lucifer turned to Ellora and asked, ¡°so what did this kid do to earn the death penalty¡±


    Ellora frowned as she pulled a crystal out of her pocket and drove her consciousness into it, seconds later she replied, ¡°Sir, this man was found guilty of¡­ desecrating the crown¡±


    Lucifer raised a brow and Ellora quickly followed up, ¡°Sir, nobility use the charge ¡°desecrating the crown¡± as a means of getting rid of commoners they don¡¯t like¡±


    Lucifer remarked ¡°so the boy stepped on someones shoe and ends up here¡± he looked towards the young man and said ¡°you have really shitty luck¡±, before continuing through the corridor ignoring the mans hostile glare.


    Once they were out of earshot Lucifer pointedly asked ¡°so what are you going to do with him¡±


    ¡°do you ask because you care, or is it some sort of test¡± she replied.


    He softly smiled and told her, ¡°my dungeon side says to kill him in a rather gruesome way, while my human side says I should chop off his head¡±


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Both options sound the same to me, are you sure there are two sides¡± Ellora rebutted.


    Lucifer laughed ¡°indeed, I¡¯ve been having trouble differentiating both sides of myself lately too, but one option is a quick death while the other¡­ not so much¡±


    ¡­


    Silence continued, only interrupted by their soft footsteps against the stone tunnel, the cross-section where they would part was coming up so Ellora informed Lucifer, ¡°I was going to send him to the arena¡±


    Lucifer paused for a moment before replying, ¡°he won¡¯t survive¡±


    ¡°probably not¡± Ellora agreed, ¡°but it¡¯s still a chance which is better than nothing¡±


    ¡°not everyone is like you who would fight to their last breath little miss warrior, some of us would like to simply and peacefully die in our sleep¡± added Lucifer as he turned at the junction and left her to her job.


    One week earlier.


    First prisoner delivery.


    Above ground a large group of specialized carriages emptied of their quarry dispersed from the square, Wolfram had his soldiers efficiently take the human cargo and corralled them into a special building behind him, then as thanks for the swift delivery he had some soldiers in need of discipline help the carriage owners load cargo into the now empty carriages for the return trip.


    Wolfram looked back at the enhanced dungeon stone building and sighed, ¡°feeding humans to a dungeon wasn¡¯t in the job description when I signed up, was it?¡±


    Below ground


    Lucifer commanded his floor guardians and dozens of Panthers into pushing the prisoners further down the hallway, it wasn¡¯t hard after the first few people became cat food, the rest quickly fell into line.


    Soon the prisoners arrived at the prison Lucifer had finished building only several days earlier, a large corridor several stories tall with cells lining the walls, there is enough room to house nearly 1000 prisoners, not that anywhere near that number would be alive at any point to fill those cells, but he preferred to have too much space than too little.


    Lucifer used his inhumanly deep dungeon voice to command the prisoners ¡°ENTER A CELL AND CLOSE THE DOOR¡±,again easy¡­ especially after someone panicked and wound up a future cat poop.


    Once everyone was in a cell Lucifer called over Ellora for her first task, she arrived shortly afterwards with a slightly red face, Lucifer professionally ignored it and explained, ¡°This prison is your new job, First I want you to sort the prisoners, I want to know who we have and why they are here, this crystal can record that information.


    Second, I want you to select suitable people for a combat unit.


    Third, you are in charge of discipline and the general running of this prison, you decide who lives and who dies based on your own sense of morality, I would just end up killing everyone in my current state so I leave this job to you¡±


    Lucifer started walking towards the end of the corridor and Ellora quickly followed, at the end of the corridor there was a heavy ornate set of double doors, Lucifer opened them and revealed a large circular room, inside there were weapons lining the walls and a small balcony above, it was an arena.


    Lucifer continued ¡°this is the arena, anyone you designate as worthy will fight others until they prove themselves, the winners get to become part of my personal army and live, the losers die. You can have the worthy people fight the ones set for death, promise them freedom if they win a certain number of matches or something.


    Last but not least, everything in this prison except deciding if someone is ¡°worthy¡± will be decided by you, the only rule is one person per cell, if you run out of room because too many people are alive, I will randomly select people to enter the arena, understood¡±


    Ellora stood there frozen for several moments before she came to and enthusiastically replied ¡°YES SIR¡±


    It has been a week since then and Lucifer was quite satisfied with her results, he could already see small groups working together in the prison, Ellora had her own prisoner subordinates that she obviously got by promising a permanent cell, thus public order was solved, he got to watch dozens of death matches and he''s already got a few prisoners that show promise, and most importantly saw Ellora training some of her subordinates in fighting techniques, it seems she understands her role well.

 116

    Rick quickly passed through the city gates with a large bag of plants strapped to his back and a limp, he was skilled enough in alchemy to cure any disfigurement that would cause a limp, but this was a little trick he picked up over the years. The guards don¡¯t spend much time searching the crippled old alchemist, there are some people who even some friendly passersby that let him in front of them.


    Soon he arrived at this alchemy shop and entered to the ring of the shopfront bell, behind the counter a young man jumped in surprise and quickly beamed at Rick, ¡°your back master, I¡¯ve got a few questioned written down¡±.


    As the man was dragging down a book from a shelf Rick¡¯s question caused him to freeze and smile wryly, ¡°do you get the things I ordered¡±


    After a brief moment he answered professionally as if he was someone completely different, ¡°No master, there were complications--¡±


    ¡°complications¡± questioned Rick


    ¡°yes,¡± the man continued, ¡°some of the plants you ordered haven''t been seen on this continent for hundreds of years and raised several flags. Others were easier to obtain, so much so that a few of the items on the list were considered general goods and I even received strange looks when I ordered them from a specialty store. All your items will arrive by next week.¡±


    Ricks smirked and murmured, ¡°it was a good idea to take your clan as followers¡± as he exited the shop.


    The man saw Rick slipping away and hastily called out, ¡°wait, you still haven¡¯t answered my alchemy questions¡± while waving his handwritten notes.


    Rick picked up the pace and unashamedly replied, ¡°I¡¯ll get around to your questions when I get my delivery¡±, causing the man stuck behind the counter to sigh, ¡®It is very difficult to get anything out of that old monster¡¯ he absentmindedly thought.


    Moments later the bell rung again and with a friendly smile he greeted, ¡°Hello Mr. Lucifer, what brings you to the surface world today¡±


    Lucifer smiled back and replied, ¡°oh I just have some business with your clan Adrian¡±


    Adrian¡¯s smile cramped as he awkwardly replied ¡°I haven¡¯t told the clan about you so it will take some convincing¡±


    Lucifer smiled in response and launched a pure mana infused fist at the man.


    Adrian was caught off guard but still managed to get his arms up to block, however, he wasn¡¯t a warrior to begin with and his arms shattered along with his ribs.


    As blood filled Adrian''s lungs he tried to speak, but nothing came out. Lucifer could see his questioning gaze and guessed what he was being asked, he simply replied, ¡°you weren¡¯t supposed to know about me, but you do and I don¡¯t know how much Rick told you¡±


    Adrian stopped moving and his surprised expression gradually relaxed into the familiar face of a dead man. Lucifer frowned the walked up to Adrian''s body and stomped on his kneecap.


    The dead man screamed startling Lucifer, Adrian''s and Lucifer''s eyes met and Lucifer could see the fear in the man''s eyes, he said, ¡°good to know¡± before stomping on Adrian''s head several times until nothing remained then left the building.


    Lucifer moved through the city back streets and entered a small unassuming building.


    Rick entered the dungeon and felt a chill on the back of his neck, however, he immediately saw a rare ingredient, ¡°ohh this is rare, these things are usually picked when there are so near the entrance, lucky¡±


    several hours later he saw a man walking through the dungeon by himself and his soul binding was tingling, ¡°Lucifer, its been a while¡±


    Lucifer looked unsurprised at Ricks sudden appearance and replied, ¡°do you have the seeds¡±


    Rick happily answered, ¡°of course, although some of my ¡°gardens¡± have either been raided or destroyed by time which is disappointing, however, I do have some of my best work with me, some of these plants have been selectively bred and crossbred by me for longer than Swadia has existed for¡±


    ¡°are they useful,¡± asked Lucifer.


    Rick looked offended for a moment before he explained, ¡°useful, Kingdoms would go to war against each other for these plants, Although most of them have their own problems the effects are miraculous¡±


    ¡°problems¡± Lucifer questioned.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    This time Rick almost stumbled on a nearby root as he was following Lucifer, ¡°nothing is perfect¡± Rick defended his creations, ¡°some of them have special growing conditions that are a little strict, but the effect is well worth the effort¡±


    Lucifer ducked under a low branch and asked, ¡°so I take it that these plants can¡¯t grow in the wild by themselves, so what are these special growing conditions¡±


    Rick contemplated for a moment before replying, ¡°well depends on the plant, most of my secret gardens have arrays set up to change the environment for these special plants, however, as a dungeon, you could easily create environments that would allow these p[lants to flourish.


    One example is a selectively bred mana flower which I¡¯m sure your not interested in the name of, this flower requi9red a ridiculous amount of ambient mana to grow, for normal mages this is a problem and really expensive to grow, but the dungeon is the perfect growing ground for this plant and could just about be planted anywhere, and most importantly the essence from these plants have been selectively bred for maximum essence¡±


    By this point Rick was following Lucifer though secret corridor. Rick continued explaining the pros and cons of his plants until they arrived in a small room, Golem stood there motionless inside the room until it noticed Lucifer, it gave a small bow then went back to being motionless.


    Rick stopped talking and asked, ¡°what are we doing here?¡±


    ¡°you''re the one following me¡± replied Lucifer ¡°I¡¯m here taking care of business¡±


    This was the second time Lucifer received a questioning gaze today, this time he activated Ricks soul bond intending to give him unbearable pain, however, Lucifer noticed that something was blocking most of the signal.


    Rick doubled over in pain, but Lucifer knew it didn¡¯t hurt him that much and he made his decision, he infused pure mana into his body causing multiple blood vessels to burst, then he dashed towards Rick.


    Rick clenched his jaw and went was about to dodge to the side, however, his speed as an old mage was far slower than an enhanced body Lucifer was using.


    Large mana infused arms wrapped around Rick and prevented him from moving, he struggled and Lucifer was surprised that he was losing his grip, Rick¡¯s body was becoming larger.


    After several moments, just as Rick was about to grow out of Lucifers grip golem turned to them and his arm cannon exploded. Boom, instantly a shockwave destroyed everyone''s hearing in the small room as the projectile effortlessly passed through both of their chests.


    Rick grunted at the foot-sized hole being opened up in his chest and bit down harder causing some liquid to come out of his lips, Lucifer thought ¡®false teeth¡¯ before his consciousness was suddenly impacted by something.


    Lucifer tried to move his consciousness outside of his body but instead found himself stuck in a small gem inside Ricks'' hand.


    Rick finally stopped growing at 3 meters tall, golem charged Rick now that its single-use cannon was empty.


    Rick smirked before giving a spinning backhand to the automation instantly beheading it, but golems don¡¯t require heads so Rick was surprised when golems sword arm slashed at him.


    The sword cleanly loped off Ricks oversized arm and went for another attack, however, this time Rick was ready, he threw a barrel like it weighed nothing from his storage ring, it hit golem and exploded into a rain of an unknown liquid.


    Golem went to slash again, but founds its joints were stuck and the surface of its body was rapidly being eroded away by the unknown substance, it only took 30 seconds before Golem was reduced to a puddle of chunky metal soup on the ground.


    Meanwhile, Lucifer was cursing Rick as he found the gem extremely difficult to escape from, Rick chuckled at Lucifer pointless struggle and said, ¡°there is no point in struggling because I made that material myself, with all the plant essence I got from your dungeon I might add haha¡­ so care to tell me why you attacked me¡±


    Rick was already moving towards the exit when Lucifer replied, ¡°this gem isn¡¯t reason enough?¡±


    ¡°you couldn¡¯t have known about this gem¡± countered Rick.


    Lucifer coldly replied, ¡°I guess I just have trust issues than¡±


    ¡°issues is such an understatement¡± rebuked Rick.


    Rick cursed as he found the way blocked, ¡°fuck, why is it blocked, you can¡¯t modify the dungeon why living things are nearby¡±


    This time it was Lucifers turn to laugh, ¡°of course I can, how do you think I expand a dungeon floor if it is impossible when something is around, the actual rule is I can¡¯t modify the dungeon around living creatures that aren¡¯t under my control¡±


    ¡°does it look like I¡¯m under your control¡± Rick angrily barked back. Rick punched the wall and only a small section of rock fell away, he sighed and put escaping on hold for the moment, he pulled several vials out of his storage rings and began drinking them.


    The hole in his chest closed at a visible rate and his arm grew a small stump but stopped growing further.


    ¡°so are there any other rules I don¡¯t know about¡± grunted Rick as he began punching the wall sending rock flying.


    Lucifer casually said ¡°plenty, there is a reason I kept you away from the more sensitive areas of the dungeon, I bet you don¡¯t even know I have two labs, one for idiots to see and the one I actually use¡±


    ¡°trust issues don¡¯t even begin to describe you¡± Rick corrected himself.


    ¡°you expect me to trust a man who so readily took on a soul bond, a man who spends all his time collecting items from my dungeon, then when I actually need you to fight for the dungeon you half-ass it--¡±


    ¡°half-ass¡± Rick grunted as he punched the wall again. Blood now covered his fist and he was forced to stop to take another healing potion.


    ¡°local saying¡± Lucifer answered before continuing as if none of this happened, ¡°I¡¯ve seen your kind before too many times, your someone who is only interested in benefits, which means funny enough that I can trust you, but that''s only as long as the benefits I give outway what others can give¡±


    Rick stood back up and began smashing the wall again, ¡°well there is no way you will be able to defend yourself against the Magedom, so I guess you were right¡±


    Lucifer laughed, ¡°indeed, it was a hard lesson to learn, but benefit based alliances only last if one of its members is too powerful for another to steal said benefits¡±


    Rick laughed ¡°HA, most people don¡¯t learn that their entire life, they always end up dying with confusion written all over their faces, like they couldn¡¯t imagine someone could buy their bought alliance¡±


    Lucifer chuckled to himself as Rick hadn¡¯t noticed that his consciousness was out of the crystal.


    For several hours they both talked while Lucifer directed his voice to come out next to the crystal, they seemed to come to an understanding, that this was inevitable, neither of them was wrong but they would end up fighting anyway. They were both just following what was best for themselves.


    Rick sat down exhausted as he cursed Lucifer, ¡°I should be out of this tunnel by now goddammit¡±


    Lucifer laughingly said ¡°yes you would have, if I wasn¡¯t placing more walls in-front of you as you dug¡±


    A chill went down Ricks'' spine when he finally noticed Lucifer wasn¡¯t inside the gem anymore, ¡°how?¡± he asked.


    Lucifer replied ¡°I¡¯ve recently gotten a jail full of human prisoners, it really helps with studying the soul and consciousness when you have a supply of people to experiment on¡±


    Rick couldn¡¯t believe it and said ¡°but even if you understand how this crystal works you still shouldn¡¯t be able to get out¡±


    Lucifer laughingly explained, ¡°don¡¯t you remember that my real body is just a core, I¡¯ve always got a connection to that thing regardless of what I do which I thought was a curse, but I was able to slowly follow the connection to it out of the crystal¡±


    Rick slumped down against the wall and absentmindedly said, ¡°so I guess you win then, even if you lose against the Magedom, you can just kill yourself and start again... how lucky¡±


    Lucifer took on an unusually serious tone as he replied, ¡°well not necessarily, every moment I stay as a dungeon my mind is slightly altered, and every time I reincarnated my mind was as it was when I died, so this is a gamble, will I be able to live long enough to study the soul and undo the damage that has been done, or hopefully erase my memories and start again without such a twisted mind and sad memories, or will I be killed and reincarnate into some sort of monster that feels joy at dying people¡±


    Rick was bewildered and asked, ¡°then why stay as a dungeon¡±


    ¡°because its fun¡± Lucifer happily replied.


    Rick didn¡¯t have time to reply when the roof suddenly gave way and crushed him into meat paste.


    Lucifer flew his consciousness over to his lab where there was a waiting body and possessed it. Once that was done he removed the room and all the other traps he had prepared for Rick earlier.

 117

    A scroll was handed to Lucifer by Ellora that came with a small shipment of prisoners, he undid the seal and while thinking about the reasons this wasn¡¯t sent over Ahri¡¯s communication device, however, after reading the first and only line he knew, they were military orders from Arthus himself, something that he didn¡¯t want intercepted by any possible Magedom spies, it simply read ¡°AT MEETING LOCATION WITH FRIENDS IN 4 DAYS¡±.


    Although Lucifer thought Arthus was being too cautious he could see the necessity of it. Lucifer began his plans immediately, the tunnel lengths that were being widened were cleaned up of any debris as he moved all the ants and golems out of the way. He ran the tunnel air systems a few times as a test, the tubes connecting the tunnels to the entrance humming to life as small magic arrays activated, fresh air filled the tunnels at a satisfying rate and Lucifer moved on.


    He ordered Ellora to not kill any access prisoners for the time being and had them work on preserving and preparing food. Lucifer then had Ahri go above ground and buy all the food she could, this would drive the prices up temporarily but Lucifer had more important matters to deal with.


    Once he had large stockpiles of food ready he sent them to the resting areas of the tunnel. The army would have their own food, but he was familiar with rations and knew soldiers fight better when they are well fed.


    Next he sent all the dungeon creatures he planned to use in the coming war towards the tunnel exit, then he entered one of his labs secret chambers, the chamber was huge, almost half the size of the first floor, in the centre an enormous crystal glowed a deep blue with runes crisscrossed over the surface of the orb.


    Lucifer stepped over countless bodies until he just started walking over them instead, some were armored others weren¡¯t, some had limbs missing and most wore a similar uniform. Once he got to the crystal he placed his palm on the crystal and concentrated for a moment.


    The crystal shone brilliantly burning Lucifer retinas before he could close his eyes, moments later the crystal sent out a green shock-wave throughout the chamber, several seconds later the sound of clinking armor filled the chamber as most of the bodies shambled into a standing position. Lucifer grinned to himself as he sent them along the tunnel, this would complicate matters.


    After settling a few more matters and sending some supplies down the tunnel Lucifer went to Selenia¡¯s room, he found her carving an animal he didn¡¯t recognize, she looked up and said, ¡°don¡¯t you knock¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ¡°it''s my house¡± replied Lucifer.


    ¡°what if I was changing¡± Selenia sarcastically remarked


    ¡°then I would have watched the show with my dungeon sense¡± laughed Lucifer, Selenia immediately blushed and failed to hide it greatly amusing Lucifer, before she could ask why he was here he directly grabbed her by the waist and lifted her into his shoulder before walking out.


    ¡°what are you doing¡± Selenia flustered


    ¡°taking you to test out my new bed¡± Lucifer laughed lewdly, Selenia immediately started struggling and kneed him in the face breaking his nose.


    ¡°ow Fuck it was a joke stop struggling¡± Lucifer roared as he slapped her ass a little harder than he intended causing her to shout in surprise. During her momentary lapse in struggling, Lucifer took something out of his storage ring and activated a spell.


    The rope that he just took out wriggled itself according to Lucifer''s will and rapidly tied Selenia up before she knew what was happening. Then he threw hogtied elf to the ground and began fixing his nose.


    Lucifer didn¡¯t cut off the pain receptors of his brain so waves of pain assaulted his nose as he fixed it, Selenia hit the ground with a thud and complained, ¡°if your joking why did you tie me up¡± Lucifer could hear the slight panic In her voice as she continued, ¡°I have a thing about being tied up--¡±


    ¡°oh you should have let me know, I¡¯ll tie you up anytime¡± Lucifer joked


    Selenia yelled ¡°fuck off, being tied up isn¡¯t a kink of mine, its a recurring nightmare I used to have while I was on the run¡±


    Lucifer countered, ¡°it may not be a ¡°kink¡± of yours, but the fact that you know about it is suspect enough, and the fact that you didn¡¯t complain when I spanked you¡±


    Selenia was stunned for a few moments before she finally almost calmly asked, ¡°so why did you do this, jokes aside¡±


    Lucifer thought about how to reply as he heard her muttering about birds of a feather and something about Lucky, he could lie about this, but she would figure it out so he decided to rip the bandage off quickly.


    ¡°we are going to the elf forest¡± replied Lucifer, Selenia paused for half a beat before struggling even more fiercely than before.


    Selenia started cursing Lucifer as he picked up the elf bundle and began walking towards the tunnel entrance.


    After struggling for a few minutes Selenia complained, ¡°what is this rope made of asshole, I can¡¯t break it no matter how much mana I put in my body¡±


    Lucifer casually replied, ¡°its something I had Rick make up for me specifically for you¡±


    Selenia rebutted, ¡°I said I¡¯m not into that¡­¡± she looked away as far as her bindings would allow and quietly asked, ¡°can you untie me now, this rope is rubbing really weird places¡±


    Lucifer jolted and replied, ¡°sorry, old habits... I guess¡± earning himself a glare. Before he untied her he asked, ¡°are you going to struggle once I set you free¡±


    ¡°no¡± she answered.


    ¡°then I will keep you tied up,¡± said Lucifer,


    ¡°WHAT!!¡±


    A knowing smile crept across Lucifer''s lips as he said, ¡°I will set you free when your lie sounds more convincing¡±


    Several hours later Lucifer untied the grumpy elf, she stretched her cramped muscles while glaring at Lucifer, ¡°you could have just used the soul bond to make me go, I don¡¯t know why you went to so much trouble to convince me to go¡±


    Lucifer was silently casting a spell and activated it before replying, ¡°you can¡¯t make someone face their problems, it never works out¡±


    The both of them flashed after the spell completed and Selenia looked around, there were thousands of beasts resting in a large cavern, after several moments of realization she screamed, ¡°if you could have teleported us then WHY WAS I TIED UP FOR SO LONG¡±


    Lucifer shrugged and replied, ¡°I kinda forgot I could do that¡±

 118

    Selenia peeked out the tunnel exit and felt her chest tighten along with a slight sense of dread, a hand came from behind and gently pushed her through the threshold. Selenia¡¯s breath was caught in her throat as she saw the familiar ancient trees of her home.


    Lucifer appeared from the tunnel behind her and loudly said, ¡°you can come out now¡± catching her by surprise, she looked around and finally noticed the dozens of fully armed elves appearing within the trees.


    Each of them was slender and tall just like their weapons, some carried glaves and very few held swords, knives or a combination of the two, most carried a bow with a green crystal tip already notched ready to fire.


    Their gazes were locked onto Selenia, she had changed into her armor, but left her helmet off, Lucifer could vaguely hear rustling in the canopy, probably someone leaving to inform theelven hierarchy.


    While they sent subtle glances to each-other Lucifer had Kuro come out of the entrance and patted her, ignoring the fairy sitting on Kuro¡¯s head.


    This seemed to get the point across as the elves gaze intensified. Lucifer announced, ¡°Greetings elves of the Deepmist Forrest I am Lucifer Morningstar, the dungeon core of the recently discovered dungeon, these are my creations, Kuro, and Lucky¡±, he gestured to each of his floor bosses then continued, ¡°and this is Selenia as you are probably already aware--¡±


    One of the elves stepped forward and commanded, ¡°Selenia the high elf, you''re going to have to come with me, the elders of the grove summon you¡±


    Lucifer smiled faintly after he observed Selenia''s glare towards the man, he replied in her stead, ¡°Selenia is mine so she will go nowhere with you¡±, causing the surrounding elves to tighten their grips on their weapons, some even drew their bow is preparation for a fight, Lucifer laughed, ¡°you can fight me if you wish, in fact, I encourage it, however, if you do try me I¡¯ll send thousands of beasts rampaging throughout your Forrest every week until someone stops me¡±


    The same man who interrupted him rebuked, ¡°your just a human mayfly, do you think coming out of the ground with a few pets would fool us, Selenia is coming with us and you have no right to interfere with eleven business, so get out of my Forrest before we stop being so polite¡±


    ¡°this is you being polite, well I would love to see how you are when impolite¡± countered Lucifer.


    The man made a sound that Lucifer could barely pick up with his enhanced hearing and all the elves exploded into action. Arrows were drawn, small daggers were thrown and those with pole-arms dashed forward.


    Lucifer allowed the flying daggers to hit his armor and was surprised that a few actually went right through his metal armor as if it wasn¡¯t even there, however, this time he had already dampened his pain receptors so he just ignored it and let the life energy stored In his body take care of the injuries.


    Half a dozen arrows cut through the air aiming at different points on his body, Lucifer inwardly praised their method of cutting off any escape paths just before the polearms came to bear. Since his armor was likely useless against their crystal tipped arrows he pulled his over-sized waraxe out of his storage ring, then moved to the side and used the blade to deflect the remaining arrows that would hit him.


    The arrows slammed into the blade and he was inwardly shocked by the recoil from the impacts, their bows must have an absurd draw strength to output that much force.


    He saw the front-line elves thrusting their spears towards him, he grinned as he activated the magic crystal in the back of the axe rocketing it into a vicious arc, however, the elves were more experienced than he thought, the length of his axe which was able to reach them along with its sudden acceleration wasn¡¯t able to catch them off guard, they dashed back ducked down or jumped over the swing receiving no injuries.


    Just as both groups were about to clash again a powerful voice shook the ground, ¡°STOP THIS INSTANT¡±, the elves who were about to let loose another volley quickly untensioned their bows and the elves fighting with Lucifer dashed backward before waiting.


    Lucifer glanced back towards Selenia and found her standing behind his back with her weapon drawn, that explains why he didn¡¯t receive an arrow in the back. He could see her ugly expression which told him that she recognized the voice.


    Moments later an Elven woman who looked 30 years old by human standards appeared from the treetops, ¡°master¡± escaped from Selenia''s lips and Lucifer could tell she was not fond of this ¡®master¡¯ from her tone.


    The woman walked towards the duo as she asked one of the elves, ¡°where is Elias¡±, the elves looked around for their leader but couldn¡¯t find him, suddenly something fell from a tree and made a sick wet thump when it hit the ground, several elves jumped and their eyes widened when they recognized the thing on the ground, it was the mangled corpse of their leader.


    Everyone looked up only to see a strange shadow in the canopy shrink before vanishing, the woman arrived before the due and her faint smile was now a grimace, ¡°I am elder Bear of the grove, most call me mother bear, I would say its nice to meet you sentient dungeon, but¡±, she gestured to the mangled corpse, ¡°we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot¡±


    ¡°indeed,¡± said Lucifer


    ¡°you have nothing else to say¡± she asked.


    Lucifer chuckled, ¡°he had people attack me and my house cat took exception to that¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think a dungeon monster qualifies as a ¡®house cat¡± she countered


    Lucifer just casually smiled, ¡°I don¡¯t care about your moral outrage, I didn¡¯t do anything wrong¡±


    ¡°You came into our lands and killed a member of our community, is that considered nothing wrong to a dungeon¡±


    Lucifer replied, ¡°ok let me rephrase that, I don¡¯t care even if I did do something wrong, so what is it your trying to get from me¡±


    elder bear said, ¡°Selenia was born in the deepmist forest and is a part of our community, she broke our laws and we reserve the right to punish her for that, so I want you to return her to us¡±


    Selenia exploded, ¡°BROKE WHAT LAWS!!!¡±


    Bear expressionlessly replied, ¡°you left the forest without permission¡±


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


    Selenia was about to say something, but Lucifer cut her off, ¡°I don¡¯t care about your laws, just take me to whoever your leader is¡±


    Elder Bear looked troubled for a moment before deciding to escort them deeper into the forest, ¡°we don¡¯t have a leader, the elves are governed by the grove of elders¡±


    Lucifer thought, ¡®this one sure is annoying¡±


    Half an hour later the trio was walking through what counted as the elven city, the trees had houses built into them, some made of wood or stone, but most seemed to be made of the trees themselves, the branches curved and shaped themselves in unnatural shapes creating houses.


    Lucifer looked towards the bridges connecting each building in the air and Selenia explained, ¡°the extremely thin walkways are designed like that so four-legged beasts cant cross them¡±


    Lucifer asked, ¡°won¡¯t people fall from those, they aren¡¯t much wider than a few ropes¡±


    Bear answered this time, ¡°only children ever fall from the walkways, so they must learn proper balance before becoming adults¡±


    Lucifer saw several elves crossing said bridges and they seemed to walk across those bridges as easily as he was walking on flat ground, he then asked, ¡°what if the wind blows¡±


    ¡°any elf is skilled enough to deal with a little wind¡± bear countered.


    Silence continued for several minutes before Selenia caught Lucifer staring at tunnel entrances near the base of each tree, she explained, ¡°elves live in the trees, but sleep underground¡±


    Bear added, ¡°that is only true after the war with the humans, we used to sleep in the treetops too, however, with the loss of most of our experts we are forced to make reinforced underground shelters to sleep in¡±


    Lucifer questioned, ¡°you aren¡¯t at war, so why are you still using bunkers¡±


    Bear glanced pointedly at Selenia, ¡°deepmist forest is essentially a peninsula of the sea of trees that the great beasts have control of, we can keep most of the weaker monsters out of our territory, but sometimes a stronger monster that is wounded or has lost its territory would come to our Forrest, they leave quickly because of the low mana density of the Forrest in comparison to the sea of trees, but that''s not before eating a few elves, and the ¡®bunkers¡¯ as you call them gives our experts time to get back from the border to repel the invader¡±


    Lucifer mused, ¡°so the monster have to dig out each elf it wants to eat, lowering the casualties before your few experts can get back, however, don¡¯t you elves live a long time, why don¡¯t you have more experts to defend your citizens¡±


    Bears continence darkened as she answered, ¡°indeed we elves should have more experts, but the human war was a disaster, they managed to do more damage to us by accident than they could ever hope to do by themselves¡­ the war filled the deepmist forest with blood and fire, human blood is not a problem some plants love it, and the fire is easy enough to deal with, but it attracted a monster from the sea of trees.


    We fought valiantly against it and managed to kill it with serious casualties to some of our best warriors, however, what we didn¡¯t know at the time was that ¡°that¡± monster was only a child, when its parents came looking for it they went on a rampage¡±


    Lucifer added, ¡°this is probably why you''re so interested in Selenia¡¯s bloodline¡±


    Bear didn¡¯t respond but Lucifer took that as a yes, he looked behind him and thought, ¡®if looks could kill that would be one dead elder¡¯ he continued, ¡°if your people are so weakened then why haven''t they fallen to the humans¡±


    ¡°Pft, even in our weakened state there is no way humans could defeat us¡±


    Soon they arrived at a gigantic tree, it was easily three hundred meters tall and Lucifer could feel light fluctuations of life energy coming from it, once they entered Lucifer found himself along with Selenia standing in the center of a circular room, around the room sat 12 elders, although they only looked roughly 30 at most, Lucifer was sure that they were several hundred years old at least.


    Lucifer introduced himself and began negotiations, ¡°A Swadian army is going to attack the duchies, I want access to this Forrest so the army can ambush the duchies effectively¡±


    ¡°armies ravage the lands they tread upon, what can you give that would offset such damage to our Forrest¡±


    Lucifer could see most of the elders eyeing Selenia causing him to sigh, ¡°a dungeon can do many things¡±


    ¡°we have a dungeon in our forrest¡±


    ¡°not a sentient one¡± countered Lucifer


    ¡°perhaps giving back our high elf would be a good start¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know old elves were so greedy¡± laughed Lucifer, but they didn¡¯t seem to react or even care about the insult.


    ¡°Lucifer looked around at the silent elders and began, ¡°fine if you don¡¯t want to state a price to keep the advantage then allow me, I will create several dungeon rooms which your people can use in the event of a monster attack¡±


    ¡°dungeon stone is indeed strong, however, we have our own enhancement methods so that is still not enough to trade for a high elf¡±


    Lucifer replied, ¡°it seems we are under a misunderstanding, Selenia is mine, I¡¯m not buying something I already own, all I¡¯m buying is free travel for an army, unless of course, you want to keep insisting Selenia is yours, then I will have to consider it as kidnapping my servant and that would not end well for this forrest¡±


    Elder bear snapped back, ¡°Selenia was born and raised here, she belongs to the elven people¡±


    The expression of the elders finally changed as one of them yelled, ¡°SILENCE young bear¡­ it appears we Do have a misunderstanding, Selenia are you with the dungeon out of free will¡±


    Selenia jumped at being suddenly called upon and replied, ¡°yes, I¡¯ve agreed to be in the dungeon¡±, leaving out several important details, Lucifer¡¯s eyes narrowed towards the elder that just spoke, he looked like the oldest of the elves he''s seen so far, perhaps 40 or so in human years, he was probably over 1000 years old.


    More importantly, this old man figured out that he couldn¡¯t use Selenia as a bargaining chip to increase the price, so instead he acts like a good guy and asks if it''s her choice to be with the dungeon, then pretends as if it was a misunderstanding that the elders wanted to include her in the price.


    Lucifer smiled faintly after seeing Bears ugly expression then asked, ¡°so elder, what is the price of moving an army through the Forrest¡±, although he half expected the man to keep silent.


    However, the elder actually spoke, ¡°well, other than the damage an army does when they move through a land, there is also the political price, if we let an army use our home to ambush the duchies won¡¯t they be angry¡±, any goodwill Lucifer had for this old man when he started talking vanished as he cursed him internally. The old man only spoke to further increase the price.


    Lucifer countered, ¡°I don¡¯t think the elves fear a few Duchies do they¡±, he hoped the extreme arrogance Bear showed would be in these elders too, then they might disregard a few ¡®humans¡¯.


    ¡°a few humans can do a great deal of damage¡± countered the elder, he didn¡¯t take the bait, apparently these elders were not easy to rile up


    Lucifer sighed on the inside as he thought about how bad such a reclusive race would be as allies, ¡°either name your price or I¡¯m leaving¡±


    ¡­


    Lucifer turned around and began to walk away when one of the elders spoke up, ¡°create a cultivation room¡±


    Lucifer paused then turned around and asked, ¡°all this for a plant farm¡±


    ¡°it''s not a farm, its a room where the concentration of mana is far more dense and pure¡±


    Lucifer replied, ¡°the mages tower in my city has such a room, can¡¯t you have the humans make you a cultivation room¡±


    ¡°we can make those poor imitations too, however, we want the original kind that our ancestors used¡±


    ¡°what is the difference between the two¡± asked Lucifer.


    ¡°the mana from those imitations is dragged from the atmosphere and condensed into the tower, it is way too impure for us elves, while the original digs down into the earth and pulls it from the ground, this mana is far more dense and pure¡±


    Lucifer said, ¡°I can¡¯t dig in this hardened stone at any reasonable rate, I¡¯ve only ever dug down a kilometer at the deepest and there wasn¡¯t any special mana there¡±


    The elders looked at each other in confusion for a moment before the oldest man said, ¡°we can give you the method for digging through this stone effectively¡­ for a price¡±


    Lucifer countered, ¡°it''s you who want me to dig this mana well, so you should give me anything that helps with that¡±


    The old elder replied, ¡°yes, but that technique is more useful to a dungeon-like yourself than to us¡±¡­ ¡­ after a minute of silence the elder spoke again, ¡°how about you include the dungeon stone underground houses for emergencies¡±


    Lucifer answered, ¡°fine, on one condition, you ignore what is going to happen next¡±


    ¡°what is going to happen next?¡±


    Boom, the elders jumped from the sudden explosion of sound, they turned their head and saw Selenia trying to cut elder bear in half, however, elder bear had transformed her arm into a giant bear paw which was holding her blade.


    The other elders looked to the oldest elder and saw him nod his head and shut his eyes, the other elders followed suit causing Bear to shout out angrily in response.


    Selenia pulled her blade free of bears grip and activated her armors barrier, then she dashed forward in a storm of blades, bear transformed her other arm and desperately defended against the onslaught, the blade only cut an inch deep in her arms thick hide, but there was soon dozens and dozens of such cuts.


    Blood caked the floor, however, bear didn¡¯t seem like she was going down very soon, between flurries of attacks she would cast healing magic closing some of the wounds.


    Several minutes went by and Bear screamed, ¡°why me, We all voted on that decision¡±


    The other elders glared at bear for trying to drag them into this.


    Selenia countered, ¡°yes they may have voted for me to be taken away from my parents, however, they would never force it, they would know better than forcing a potential powerhouse to do anything that could form a deep grudge¡±, several elders nodded in response, power must be respected in any lasting civilization.


    Bear argued, ¡°but what does that have to do with me, we all voted the same way¡±


    Selenia exploded, ¡°yes they VOTED the same way, but who had all the other elves scorn and distance themselves from my parents removing their choice entirely¡±


    Bear defended herself, ¡°That wasn¡¯t me, it was probably one of the numerous suitors that spread rumors to get you away from home¡±


    Selenia countered, ¡°my parents are good people, no-one would believe any rumors from those idiots¡±


    ¡°well even if it was an elder that doesn¡¯t mean it was me¡± bear replied.


    Selenia finally had enough of cutting her up and decided to get serious, she pumped mana throughout her body and increased her blade dance speed several times, bear started screaming as her arms started being cut faster than they could heal,


    less than 30 seconds later her arms layed limply at her sides as she was completely out of mana, Selenia raised her sword and said, ¡°yes, it could have been any of the elders that spread false rumors about my parents, but having someone publicly ostracized is the way woman fight, and your the only female elder¡±, Selenia cut down and Bears head flew.


    Lucifer commented, ¡°this some pretty flimsy reasoning¡±


    Selenia replied, ¡°call it woman''s intuition¡±


    ¡°how scary¡± Lucifer joked.

 119

    In a large stone room Ellora swung her heavy sword around with ease, her pronounced muscles flexed with every movement of her barbaric sword dance as she sent her opponents flying with sheer power.


    Several minutes later a sheen of persperation covered her body as she breathed roughly, dozens of people stood at attention infront of her sporting various wounds, her previous opponents. Ellora spoke to each person indaviduialy, pointing out their flaws and where they could imrpove, each person listened intently and thanked her for her guidence.


    With nothing left to say she let them go and they scurried towards the healing potions a little to fast for her likeing. Ignoring the noise behind her Ellora walked back to her room, inside there wasn¡¯t anything unnessisary that you would expect of a womans room, unlike Selenia and Ahri¡¯s room there was no mirror or table, there was only a bed a bathroom and a rack of weapons lining one of the are walls.


    Ellora went to the weapon rack and picked up a heavier weapon, it was more of a weight than a weapon, but she proceeded to the centre of the room and began her sword dance again, without enemies the moves should have come out smoother and more elegant, however, the weight of the blade threw all finese out the window the moment it was picked up.


    Her muscles strained and veins threatened to pop out of her already exhausted muscles, she was drenched in sweat and strangely enough she had a faint smile on her lips. The burning coming from her limbs that were screaming in pain gave her a vague sense of accomplishment.


    She placed the sword back on the rack and sat down with her back flat against the wall, closed her eyes and began to meditate.


    Several minutes went by and it felt like her brain was on fire and trying to leak out her eyes, she smashed the ground in frustration and tried again.


    However, the result was the same, she was only able to successfully meditate for several minutes before her body couldn¡¯t take it, she ground her teeth so hard that it felt like her teeth would crack. She tried one more time.


    This time only a minute went by before she screamed out in nine parts pain and ten parts frustration, Ellora gradually calmed down and dragged her tired body to the bath, this was the only time in the day she devoted to herself and she spent nearly an hour relaxing in the warm water.


    As she sat there alone she thought to herself, ¡®if I can¡¯t meditate for a decent length of time then I will never get stronger¡¯


    She wondered when Lucifer would ¡°make her stronger¡± and how he would do it, she was also worried that he was getting too powerful too quickly, ¡®soon he will attack the duchies with Swadia¡¯s help, what will he need me for then¡¯.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    After looking down at her sculpted body she sighed, unlike Ahri she couldn¡¯t seduce Lucifer into getting what she wanted, instead, Ellora would have to prove her worth to Lucifer, or else she was afraid of being tossed aside before she accomplished her goals.


    After her bath she briefly tried meditation before giving up for the day and getting into bed, Lucky had told her that Lucifer was currently on a ¡°date¡± with Selenia in the elven forest making ¡°bunkers¡±, Ellora knew that Selenia was far closer to Lucifer than she was and stayed awake thinking about how to change that for several hours, until finally she decided that she would help Lucifer fight against the Duchies, she wasn¡¯t a general, but she had seen enough wars to know the basics which might prove useful to a dungeon.


    Meanwhile, Arthus marched at the front of his army in the dark, he couldn¡¯t afford to let the duchies know he had mobilized his army so he had only his most trusted generals.


    Marching in the dark was slow and it took time for the mage corps to set up the arrays that would hide the army during the day, but this level of secrecy along with a dungeons tunnel network would be key in defeating his brother.


    Arthus had to quickly take his brothers territory before the duchies can put aside their current squabble and work together, if he is able to take the territory and have his mages set up their arrays then he can consider it his victory, either the duchies work together to take back the territory at a massive price from dug in mages, or they forget about it and focus on defense.


    Arthus would prefer them to go on the defensive because the deepmist forest would prevent half the duchies from sending reinforcements to the other half, then he could focus his attention on a few duchies at a time, but this is also the reason why the duchies wouldn¡¯t go on the defensive.


    After several hours they arrived at the designated location, he ordered the mages into action, soon two great mounds of earth rose from the ground and between them a tunnel was revealed, Arthus walked into the tunnel then smelled the fresh air and smiled, a few of the mages started examining the tunnel and some of the plants that lined it¡¯s walls, Arthus waited until he received their report before marching his army into the depths.


    Arthus heard several of his generals talking with their mages about the tunnel, most were giving reports about the strange undiscovered plantlife that seemingly creates breathable air, others were discussing the possibilities of such a tunnel network for trade. It didn¡¯t take long before they heard a faint howling sound causing Arthus to raise his hand and halt the march.


    Once again the mages went forward to investigate, this time with an armed escort, Almost half an hour passed by and Arthus was becoming impatient, he knew Lucifer wouldn¡¯t pull any tricks, especially when they weren''t very deep into the tunnel, if Lucifer did collapse the tunnel then his mages could just dig the army out.


    He strode over to the mages and found them heatedly discussing something, he ordered, ¡°report¡±, and several mages jumped from fright.


    One of the mages stood forward and gave a salute, ¡°your majesty, these air tubes go to the surface and have two magics supporting them, one is a simple air magic--¡±


    ¡°An elegant masterpiece of air magic beautifully enchanted into stone¡±, another mage rebutted.


    Another man looked at the interrupter and rebuked, ¡°don¡¯t interrupt the kings report and the portal magic is more impressive, it only uses the ambient mana to function¡±


    Arthus felt a great urge to punch one of these old fools and would do it if he wasn¡¯t commanding an army right now, instead he coldly commanded, ¡°answer me, is it safe to move my men through here¡±


    Once they got on their way again Arthus was forced to send the mages further back in the column to stop himself from getting a headache, they wouldn¡¯t stop arguing over magic this or magic that.


    Several hours later they came upon an underground clearing, Arthus was sure that the dungeon was still several days march away minimum, but the tunnel opened up abruptly, However, it didn¡¯t take long for his doubts to be answered, there was preserved food in the center of the clearing along with a place to refill canteens and even toilet facilities.


    Arthus had waged quite a few wars and thought this was quite extravagant for a forced march, but he still thanked Lucifer even if he wasn¡¯t there, forced marching with mana enhancements was tough even for veterans and the food and water would mean he could drop quite a few supplies to ease his armies burden.

 120

    Lucifer sighed as he completed the bunker he was working on. He stopped counting and 500 and the end seemed nowhere in sight, whoever said that there aren''t many elves deserves a punch to the throat he thought.


    At first he used the new technique taught by the elves to dig a small pipe between the homes, then cut out a bunker section and reinforce the walls into dungeon stone, But this was taking forever so he just started connecting the elven bunkers to the pipe which would put them under his domain, then he could just reinforce the already existing walls. This proved to be far faster, but still, mind-numbingly boring.


    Selenia managed to curb some of the boredom with conversation, he asked her why she doesn¡¯t go back to reunite with friends and family, however, she flatly refused and stayed glued to his side even if they sat there in silence.


    It would take nearly a week for the army to arrive in Deepmist Forrest and Selenia only spent the first day away from Lucifer, She said that she was going to meet her parents and she came back half a day later without saying a word about it.


    Lucifer was curious but chose not to pry, instead he focused on efficiency, he could split his focus onto several simple tasks at the same time, one part focused on connecting all the elven bunkers via a pipe network, another focused on expanding his domain which filled the bunkers, then the last free part of his mind devoted itself to hardening the walls.


    This continued on for two days. Sometimes he would move locations to get closer to what he was working on, other times he spent hours in the same spot in a meditative stance. Selenia was never far away from him for more than a few minutes, he asked her if she wanted him to teleport her back but she declined.


    She wanted to see more of her homeland, however, she found herself unfamiliar with both the places and the people. Elves she had known as a child were completely different from how she remembered them, her parents were a far cry from what she remembered them to be. Perhaps they had changed after they gave up their daughter, or perhaps they were only like she remembered them in her imagination.


    Lucifer felt something and stopped working, a strange shiver went down his spine and he knew an Earthmail was coming through, most of the time he missed the event but he always had a small part of his mind focused on that feeling.


    His dungeon sense could feel the energy entering his dungeon through the mana well and efficiently moving along his corridors. It even moved through walls when it was faster to do so.


    After several moments the strange energy hit his core and information flooded his consciousness, however, this time was different, the amount of information flooded his consciousness drowning it.


    Suddenly Lucifers seated body started foaming at the mouth and dropped to the floor, Selenia who was meditating by his side jumped up and checked on him. There was no pulse, the body was dead.


    Since this wasn¡¯t his real body she didn¡¯t panic, instead she jumped into one of the elven bunkers that she knew was in Lucifers domain, then loudly asked, ¡°Lucifer what happened¡±¡­ There was no response.


    Either Lucifer wasn''t paying attention or some bad had happened. She called out a few more times with no response, she exited the bunker and double checked his body and still found no life signs, she was sure that Lucifer couldn''t control a dead body but she still checked again.


    Moments later a few elves crowded over after seeing Selenia''s flushed appearance, they were mostly male and she could recognize some of them as the bugs that kept buzzing around her whenever she was away from Lucifer.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    ¡°FUCK OFF¡± Selenia growled with a little more aggression than she intended, that''s when she realized that her heart was beating like a drum. She ignored it and slipped on her enchanted leg armor and boots from a storage ring for extra speed then dashed off towards the tunnel.


    Meanwhile Lucifer was somewhere black, at first he thought he was dead again, but it didn¡¯t feel the same, he could still vaguely feel his dungeon.


    After floating around in the darkness and finding no answered he focused on the dungeon and slowly felt his consciousness pushing through some sort of barrier.


    Bang, he slipped through and everything became bright, he looked around and found himself in the core room. He could feel the core, but the connection to it felt very weak.


    Lucifer contemplated his options for a moment before deciding on reentering the core, he didn¡¯t like what being a dungeon does to his mind, but all his powers came from the dungeon and he was reasonably sure that his soul was inside the core.


    He flew directly into the core and felt immense resistance, he pushed harder and after several minutes he felt a snap, and all the resistance dissipated.


    Once inside his sense of the dungeon suddenly became clearer, it was like he was feeling his dungeon through thick mud before he returned to the core and now it was crystal clear.


    He could see Ellora along with a few of her direct subordinates escorting Arthus¡¯ army through the tunnel, strange he didn¡¯t tell her to do that. Further up the tunnel Lucifer could feel Selenia¡¯s presence rapidly moving towards the dungeon.


    Her hair was whipping behind her as she powered through the tunnel on mana enhanced legs. Lucifer though her expression at the moment was rather cute once he entered one of his spare bodies.


    Selenia was moving as fast as her mana regeneration would allow her when suddenly she heard Lucifer''s voice, ¡°I¡¯m fine no need to kill yourself running to my aid hehe¡±, she slowed down and leaned against a wall while wiping sweat from her head, ¡°...¡±.


    ¡°stay there, I¡¯ll open a portal for you to come back,¡± said Lucifer.


    ¡°we aren''t going to finish the shelters¡± replied Selenia


    ¡°later¡±, a portal appeared in-front of Selenia and she stepped through into the core room.


    She was momentarily surprised when she found herself in the core room because noone is allowed here normally. Lucifer saw her looking around and answered her unspoken question, ¡°I need you to look at something, can you see anything different with my core, anything all¡±


    Selenia walked around the glowing blue stone and replied, ¡°its bigger than I remember it, the light isn¡¯t as dull and the runes floating around it, hmm some are dull, about a quarter of them don¡¯t shine as brightly and have a slight green tinge, also the core is humming slightly¡± her ears twitched a few more times as she listened to the core.


    ¡­


    Lucifer asked, ¡°do you think Arthus can be trusted¡±


    ¡°trusted for what,¡± she asked.


    ¡°because of this I will have to deal with the Magedom as soon as possible, so I will heal Arthus¡¯ injuries¡±


    Selenia thought for a while before giving her opinion, ¡°while Arthus may be a threat once he is healed, I don¡¯t think he will turn on us as long as it''s for the good of Swadia¡±


    ¡°how much of a threat will he be¡±


    she answered, ¡°some of the adventurers I worked with used to be in the leader of the city watches army¡±


    ¡°Wolfram¡± Lucifer confirmed.


    ¡°yes, and he is the kings most trusted general, they fought side by side during the kings rise to the throne and I worked with several who fought directly under their command. They said that Although Arthus isn¡¯t a great commander he was a powerful warrior, my friend once said that you could always find the king wherever the fighting was thickest, and if you didn¡¯t find him there you would find him amongst the enemy elites cutting a path to the enemy commander. And lastly, most soldiers who have seen him fight would put him on par if not more powerful than Merlin of the arcane university¡±


    ¡°then what makes you think he wouldn¡¯t turn against us,¡± asked Lucifer.


    ¡°as many stories, there are of his might in battle there are stories of his kindness to his men and people. All the widows of his men are well taken care of as opposed to the duchies, he makes sure that his armies are well stocked with supplies and not just supplies used for war, and most importantly he doesn''t sacrifice his men unnecessarily against things like mages.¡±


    Lucifer said, ¡°I take it most commanders send waves of bad infantry to wear down the mages mana supplies¡±


    Selenia nodded, ¡°yes it''s a common strategy, but not to wear down their mana, commanders would fill their mages with potions until they are nearly dead from sickness so mana isn¡¯t an issue. The idea is to have mana interference build up in the area until magic is nearly impossible to cast then attacking with your main force¡±


    ¡°and this works¡± laughed Lucifer


    ¡°yes, but not without a price, other than the lives lost trying to get spells out of the mages there is serious environmental damage. Between the Magedom and Korek Kingdoms lies a large desert which wasn¡¯t there before, it formed after all the battles slowly changed the ambient mana into a chaotic mess. Its been nearly 10 years since the last battle and there is still a sandstorm that won''t dissipate there.¡±


    Lucifer thought for a moment before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll teleport you a little in front of Arthus, go bring him back here¡±


    ¡°what are you going to be doing?¡± asked Selenia.


    ¡°I have more important matters to attend to¡± replied Lucifer before he teleported Selenia away and began researching his core, now he was glad that he spent so much time researching his core.

 121

    Lucifer searched through his core, he passed the active enchantments that keep spells in a permanently active state, one to sense his area of influence another to manipulate life energy and a dozen others. Then he passed through the mana storage layer and into the innermost section of the core. After studying his new body he discovered that this section was used to house his soul and was his first experience seeing a soul directly.


    Compared to the first time he saw his soul it was much darker now, at first he thought that maybe he was a little too evil and the thought of having a concrete way of defining evil interested him, however, he had checked his soul not long ago and it wasn¡¯t like this, the change was too sudden it had to be something to do with the Earthmail


    Upon closer inspection he found that his soul wasn¡¯t actually becoming black, but instead was infused with tiny streams of a dark substance. Whatever it was Lucifer didn¡¯t want it there, but forcibly removing it would probably send him insane from the either the pain or some minor slip up.


    Instead he observed the tiny strings for hours and used every power he could think of to manipulate them. Finally, after hours of experimentation he figured out that the strands move towards uninfected areas of his soul, it was hard to notice with there being so little bright areas of his soul which constantly changed locations.


    Several hours later he had a gem that housed a dozen beast souls thinly connected to his core, he weaved the gems material through his core carefully, trying to make as little damage as possible. Lucifer purposely avoided anything important like his dungeon sense and eventually had the needlepoint stick into the section that housed his soul.


    Lucifer screamed out unintentionally when it priced his soul, he almost moved the crystal connection into something important. After sighing he refocused and watched the strands. After a few minutes, a strand of the black substance entered the bridge between the two soul containers. It moved backward and it moved backward and forward in the tube, but eventually retracted back into his soul.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Apparently, the sensory ability of the black substance is too short to find the other souls. Growing irritated Lucifer tore a piece of soul from one of the beast souls and pushed it down the connection towards his core.


    Once the piece of soul was close to half-way the black substance reacted instantly, like a magnet to iron the tube rapidly filled with the black substance turning the chunk of beast soul to turn black, then a few strands went through the tube outside his core and sensed new souls, they tore themselves free of the rest of the black substance and infected the beast soul gem.


    Lucifer laughed and tore off another chunk to bridge the gap and soon his soul only had a few faint wisps of the black substance.


    Lucifer spent the next few days removing all the darkness from his soul and put the pile of soul stones he used to cleanse himself into a corner for later study. Now he had a war to fight.


    Inside the tunnel.


    The endless darkness was occasionally broken up by the rare light stone bedded in the roof. Most of the soldiers couldn¡¯t see more than a few feet, but all they had to do was walk forward so they didn¡¯t have any problems.


    The tunnel walls were covered in a green moss that was smeared and destroyed from countless soldiers brushing up against it as they marched by, however, the air was still fresh in the tunnel owing to the occasional vent that gently howled as it sucked fresh air into the tunnel.


    Several men complained ¡°when is the next rest area¡±


    ¡°its just a few days march, be glad there is rest areas¡± an older soldier scolded.


    This group was at the very back of the army marching through the tunnel and they were the most relaxed, suddenly a man groaned, ¡°my stomach. I¡¯m gonna go take a shit¡±, Several soldiers just rolled their eyes and one remarked, ¡°perhaps you shouldn¡¯t drink so much¡±


    The man held his stomach as he snapped back, ¡°your just jealous that you didn¡¯t think to bring any of your own¡±


    his stomach gurgled loudly as he squatted down and removed his pants.


    Meanwhile, ahead of him, the soldiers heard various noises over the sound of marching, ¡°is he okay¡±


    ¡°judging by the sound he will be the first person to shit himself to death before battle¡±


    The man sat there for several minutes and cursed his luck. He would have to march at double-time to catch up or he would probably miss most of his break.


    After he finished and he used the plants and moss on the walls to clean up he pulled up his pants and began after his group, bang. Something hit him on the back of the head and he slumped to the ground unconscious.


    Several minutes later the man stood up and cursed the bodies previous owner, ¡°fuck who doesn¡¯t even know how to wipe their own ass properly¡±


    Lucifer created a room with a bath in the cave wall and jumped in, then spent the next few hours modifying his new body. Then when he finished he started casting the teleportation spell to get to the front of the army.

 122

    Lucifer casually waited in the tunnel Arthus to arrive, his dungeon sense told him that Arthus wasn¡¯t far behind so we didn¡¯t have to wait long. Soon he could hear the thumps of soldiers marching through the tunnel, like clockwork the tunnel was filled with a thunderous sound as thousands of armored feet made contact with the ground at the same time.


    Not long later the army came into view and he into view of the army. Mages and knights rushed forward to confront the intruder. Then suddenly a loud bellow was heard ¡°HALT¡± and all the men stopped.


    Moments later a messenger came forward and quietly spoke to Lucifer, ¡°his majesty wishes to speak with you¡± before darting away.


    Lucifer strolled past some very confused soldiers and met directly with Arthus, Arthus looked between a woman in the group and Lucifer which to Lucifer¡¯s surprise was Ellora. Before he could ask what she was doing there Arthus spoke, ¡°are you Lucifer¡±


    ¡°yes, I¡¯ve just changed bodies¡± he replied.


    ¡°how much longer is this tunnel¡±


    ¡°a few minutes march at most¡±


    They both nodded to each-other and began marching ahead of the army.


    A few minutes later soldiers marched up a gentle gradient until they found themselves in a large field. The ground was filled with short grasses and flowers, the edges of the clearing were marked by a wall of thick Forrest.


    Several soldiers remarked, ¡°I haven''t seen trees this big before¡±


    Arthus asked Lucifer, ¡°this is the elven forest¡±


    ¡°yes¡± he replied, ¡°where did you expect the tunnel to lead to¡±


    ¡°well not directly inside the Forrest, and I can see some elves in the surrounding trees¡±


    Lucifer turned his head to look in the same direction, ¡°yes I had them make a clearing using their nature magics for your army¡±


    ¡°where is my brothers Duchy in relation to here, do you have a map¡±


    Lucifer grumbled, ¡°the elves are quite stingy about giving maps of their land, but you don¡¯t need a map follow me¡±


    Arthus and Lucifer both disappeared into the Forrest after Lucifer told Arthus to leave the escort behind. Shortly afterward Lucifer found that the Forrest was becoming less dense and he could see further, he jumped up into the tallest tree he could see and Arthus followed suit.


    There Arthus could see billowing smoke coming from the distance, the two of them used their vantage point to find taller trees, then they went lower where the branches were thicker and moved from branch to branch occasional going up to see their target.


    Arthus was far quicker than Lucifer and he found himself jumping up behind the still King who was standing on the tallest tree, he was about to ask why he stopped, however, he could now see the Duchy in the distance, the source of the smoke.


    Below a great citadel stood with multiple rings of great walls protecting it, Lucifer had never seen such a construction before. It made Earths castles look like sand castles by comparison, each wall taller and thicker than anything he was familiar with.


    However, even with this absurd level of defense that he was sure was only possible with earth magic, the walls were still breached, smoke rose from the city outside probably from looting, and two of the five rings were breached.


    The outermost citadel wall still had burning wrecks of siege towers pushed up against its hard stone. Lucifer was surprised the Duchies could make such a tall wooden structure move effectively, he guessed that living next to a great forest along with the constant wars would have rapidly progressed siege technology.


    Lucifer focused more mana into his eyes and got a slightly clearer image, there were several areas that had mounds of earth forming slopes over the walls, but they were few in comparison to the ladders and towers pushed against the wall.


    The second breached wall had massive holes from what Lucifer didn¡¯t know, which seemed strange because if they could simply blow up the walls then why would they waste manpower using the siege equipment, getting a siege tower into place would cost countless lives and using ladders to take walls was no better.


    Arthus was a veteran of this worlds battles so he asked him about it, Arthus replied, ¡°The Elior Duchy focuses on magic and they wouldn¡¯t have any problems blowing holes in those walls¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t the duchy lack mages¡±


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    ¡°until recently that was true, but a few years ago the Elior duchy suddenly started worshiping a god of light, changed their name and suddenly started training mass quantities of mages¡±


    Lucifer replied, ¡°did the duchy find some sort of treasure that allows them to overcome their deficiencies in magical knowledge and ambient mana¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I¡¯ve received reports that the duchies surrounding Elior tried sending armies to investigate, however, they found out than a large portion of their armies were worshiping the same god and rebelled¡±


    ¡°that''s not something you find out, what were their commanders doing¡±


    Arthus laughed, ¡°they have such high mortality rates in the duchies armies that none of the commanders are familiar with their next batch of fodder¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°so how do you plan to attack¡± asked Arthus


    ¡°we prepare and wait until the opportune moment¡±


    Several days passed by while the Swadian army prepared for battle, the rested and ate well while sharpening their blades. The mages made more consumables and potions for themselves and the soldiers.


    Lucifer dug underground to make ambush tunnels underneath the resting armies. He found the duchies were rotating which of them would attack the next wall, probably as a fair way to decide who has to assault the walls and make sure none of the other duchies would have a massive force advantage at the end when it was time to split up the loot.


    He watched each assault to observe this worlds siege tactics and each duchy had its own preferred method, the first wall fell from a combination of mages and siege weaponry, the second from mages, the third from trenches that zigzagged to and under the walls.


    The forth was breached by simply sending the entire army to climb the walls. Each man carried a few dozen steel tipped spikes which they stabbed into the rock-face as they climbed, this was an incredibly bloody method.


    Rocks and boiling liquids were thrown down the wall killing countless climbers, small slits in the walls had spear-men stabbing any climber not paying attention, then when a climber managed to make it to the top he was met with swords and spears, however, this method still was surprisingly effective, the defenders were spread out across the entire wall so they couldn''t push back anything meaningful, and the wall was quickly covered with easy handholds which even a child could climb, the rate of climbers reaching the top increased and soon the defenders had to retreat to the last citadel wall.


    Lucifer asked Arthus why their soldiers would so willingly throw their lives away, Arthus replied that the duchies sometimes use potions to enrage their soldiers and make them dissociate themselves from reality, they don¡¯t fight as well in such a state, but they listen to orders really well.


    Hours passed by and there was no fighting, if Lucifer was at the commanders meeting he would hear several people arguing over which duchy should get the first pick of the loot. Eventually, they decided that they would each attack a section of wall and the first to breach the defenses would get the first pick, and whoever brought back the kings head would get second, third would go to whoever killed the most defenders and the others could fight amongst themselves.


    The battle for the final wall started at noon, the few defenders that were left desperately tried to fend off the invaders, however, it seemed inevitable that they would be overrun and killed. Groups of mages wearing white robes stood in large circles chanting, several captured soldiers were tied up in the center of the ring. Once the spell completed their bodies projected a bright light before they themselves turned into light ascending to the heavens.


    Soldiers and mages alike sang praise as the beautiful display, then the mages opened up the circle and faced their palms towards the wall and a large ball of light in the circle flew towards the wall.


    The ball of light hit the wall and a dozen meters of rock flashed out of existence along with a flash of blinding light. All the mages covered their eyes with their hands and hoods, but several soldiers weren''t¡¯ so smart. After the flash of light, they were covering their eyes and screaming in pain.


    Meanwhile, another side of the citadel was being viciously assaulted with handspikes and was already a bloodbath. The defenders were running out of things to throw down the walls, chandeliers and antique furniture was soon found crashing into the insane climbers from above.


    Soon the first climbers made it to the top and were quickly shredded by the defenders which promptly used the men''s bodies as new throwing objects. Even still the climbers still forced themselves up the walls, their minds too far gone as they frothed at the mouth with bloodshot eyes locked onto their targets.


    On another side of the citadel, the defenders desperately moved heavy equipment onto the walls which hadn¡¯t been used since the citadels construction. Their enemy pushed siege equipment slowly towards the walls and they needed more firepower to bring them down.


    Towers of wood several dozens of meters high lurched across the magically flattened ground towards the walls under heavy fire. Fire mages sent bolts of fire in an attempt to ignite the mobile assault towers, but water mages held the fire back with water barriers while they hid inside well-protected sections of the tower.


    Archers drowned the towers in hails of arrows hoping to kill the water mages through their narrow sight slits, however, the archers found more success aiming at those pushing the constructs, but for every man that fell, there was another that immediately filled his place showings its futility.


    The towers were halfway to the walls when the heavy equipment the defenders desperately set up was put into action. Stored magic power surged through ancient arrays creating powerful magics, a last resort for the defenders which quickly made apparent why they weren¡¯t used earlier.


    Boom, mana surged through arrays that had been worn over time or the mages using them didn¡¯t understand the activation sequence and the walls shook violently as several magical constructs exploded.


    Entire sections of wall vanished, some sections of wall were now flowing molten lava and others turned to dust. The holes didn¡¯t reach the ground, but the defenders would have to focus on those sections of the wall because they were now extremely vulnerable to the oncoming ladders.


    This was a last resort and the price the defenders paid was heavy, however, only a few constructs exploded, most didn¡¯t do anything and the few that did work were devastating.


    Mana surged sapping the ambient mana dry. Large balls, beams, and waves erupted from the constructs that worked.


    The waved exploded out in an arc turning everything in a 30-degree arc in-front of it into ash. The water mages in their towers didn¡¯t even have time to cast a defensive spell as they and their towers fluttered away, easily carried away by the wind in their new ashen form.


    Several beams raked across the enemy lines when their construct operators figured out their best use. The constructs were pushed side to side by warriors being instructed by mages, the concentrated beam of magic moving across the battlefield taking the lives of anyone unlucky enough to be caught by its rays.


    However, these effects were minor in comparison to the destruction caused by the magic ball type constructs, they sent a single concentrated ball of elemental energy towards their target. The attacking soldiers looked at the slow-moving ball in mute horror as it lobed its way towards their ranks.


    The ground shook violently and was vividly felt by the attacking armies on the other side of the citadel, hundreds of men fell from the walls as the mana enhanced rocks making up the walls shifted and cracked.


    Areas where these magics landed were replaced with molten craters a dozen meters deep and hundreds wide. The battle here was essentially over, most of the siege towers were destroyed, any that survived because the construct targeting them failed were quickly cut down by the concentrated beams.


    This army or what was left of it couldn¡¯t fight in this state, their commander promptly gathered the survivors and retreated lest they be completely wiped out during the fight for loot. Perhaps the other duchies might kill each-other and he could swoop in and take some treasures for himself.


    Meanwhile, underground a commander wearing brown gear and hosting a pick over his shoulder cursed, ¡°WHAT IN EBOROS WAS THAT!!!¡±, as the ground shook all around him. Moments later he received reports from his subordinates that dozens of their tunnels have collapsed causing him more grief, ¡°FUCK¡±


    above ground the defenders watched the enemy army in confusion, normally this enemy would dig zig-zagging trenches towards the walls before beginning the attack, the shape of the trench would prevent a defending mage from sending any magic up the length of the trench, severely limiting most mages effectiveness.


    On the walls, a heavily scarred man roared towards the earth mages with their heads to the dirt, ¡°WHAT ARE THEY DOING¡±


    One of the older earth mages replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but they aren¡¯t digging towards the walls¡±


    The man ground his teeth then sent most of the earth mages towards the wall having holes punched through it, hopefully, they could fill the gaps up fast enough to make a difference.

 123

    Lucifer dug tunnels through the ground and poked holes to the surface wherever living beings didn¡¯t interfere with his magic. He pumped mana out of these holes like a geyser and rode the waves with his consciousness getting a bird''s eye view.


    He was paying particular attention to the army that was digging underground, this forced Lucifer to send his ants to dig which was slower than himself because they required room to dig.


    Almost half of the army was now underground and would have to be ¡°removed¡± if Lucifer wanted to finish his tunnel network.


    Giant ants attacked the stones with their over-sized mandibles crushing them into small pebbles and powder, the smaller ants picked up the debris and maneuvered between the larger ants legs to another place. Any ants that became too tired to work or damaged their mandibles would quickly be liquidated by its fellow diggers, when an ant fell it would vanish amongst a sea of black for a moment before vanishing into the stomachs of its brethren. Then the ants would get back to their work.


    Meanwhile, even more soldiers filed into their own tunnels under orders of their superiours leaving only 20% for defending the exit.


    Somewhere in a side tunnel made to confuse the enemy earth mages of their objective dust started falling from the ceiling, then small stones and soon boulders caved in the mall tunnel. After a few minutes, these stones shook and broke revealing something large and black between the cracks.


    Lucifer''s giant ants finally broke into the enemies tunnel network, he immediately had the ants retreat as far away from the opening as possible, then flooded the tunnel network with miasma effectively claiming it as his domain.


    He shot through the tunnels with his consciousness eager to get a closer look at his enemies and quickly found them. Most were obviously malnourished and were doing simple gruntwork, they used their thin mana enhanced frames to lug huge buckets of earth and stone towards the exit.


    Further into the tunnel Lucifer found earth mages busying themselves with extending their work and a few people reading maps and issuing orders. He looked over a man''s shoulders and looked at the map, a poorly drawn thing. Apparently they were attempting to make ambush tunnels of their own, for use against their allies Lucifer bet.


    Bored with that he flew towards the exit. Or at least followed the bucket line to wherever it went. It didn¡¯t take long for his domain to extend to the exit and he found the entrance by correctly following the workers.


    Lucifer looked around the tunnel system with his senses looking for something. A few moments later along with the spread of his miasma he found what he was looking for, an empty tunnel. He didn¡¯t know why that made this particular tunnel and he didn¡¯t care, he just needed somewhere his powers would work unimpeded by others.


    Soon he was alone and cutting large swaths of rock away into nothingness. Then suddenly as a large swath of rock was done away with the area in front of him was empty, he had linked up with his other tunnel and his army was already in sight.


    Lucifer let loose a slight chuckle as he commanded the undead and ants forward. The undead shambled on the tunnel floor while the ants took the less common route, the roof, and walls. Mixed in the group was the occasional bat that flew past.


    Commander Ezra shuffled his pick to a more comfortable position and fingered along the scars on his face. A habit that often showed itself when he was thinking.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Several men each carrying their own picks like the commander circled around while they waited for their leader''s word, they were ahead or two taller than an average man and had thick muscles used to long hours going through the ground, each had a thick beard. Probably more to keep the dust out of their mouths than a statement of any sort. And most notably most had more than a few grey hairs, an impressive feat for a duchy soldier.


    Ezra mumbled to himself as he ran the calculations through his head as he had done countless times before. Then grinned looked up and said, ¡°good work, at this pace the other duchies will have a mighty hard game of molerat tag¡±


    The surrounding men cheered and pushed their broad chest forward, ¡°now get back to--¡±


    Ezra¡¯s command was cut short when a thin man wearing leather burst into the room, ¡°sir we are being attacked by undead¡±


    Grips on picks tightened, ¡°did we hit a crypt¡± Ezra questioned the panicked man.


    ¡°no sir, I came from the main shaft¡± replied the man. A stillness gripped the room. The main shaft was the men''s way of referring to the entrance of the tunnel, which meant they had been boxed in underground by a flank, Ezra ignored his men''s pailing faces and bellowed at the man, ¡°well what kind of undead are they how many are there, REPORT¡±


    The man started, ¡°there are skeletons--¡± the room erupted into laughter drowning out the messenger. A particularly burly man joked, ¡°skeletons, you had us going for a bit there¡±


    ¡°yea we thought we were being ambushed by the enemy, but they are just skeletons¡±


    ¡°commander I volunteer to get off the rock and clear out these ¡®skeletons¡¯¡±


    Ezra decisively commanded, ¡°fine but I want frequent reports¡±


    The volunteer laughed as he started down a tunnel, ¡°WAIT!¡± called the messenger, ¡°these aren¡¯t normal skeletons¡± the volunteer stopped, ¡°they have duchy armor on and they tore Sargent Gosswald apart in seconds¡±


    Ezra and the rest of the room drew in a cold breath of air, they knew how strong this particular Sargent was and no normal skeleton would pose a threat to him. Ezra¡¯s brows drew together, he yelled, ¡°GO AND BLOCK THEM OFF, CAVE IN THE ROOF IF YOU HAVE TO MOVE NOW!!¡±, the messenger turned around and sprinted along a tunnel assisted by magic.


    Ezra bunches his fist together and coldly added, ¡°I want each of you to tell the earth mages to prepare escape tunnels¡±


    ¡°what, the enemy earth mages will detect us if we dig so close to the surface¡±


    Ezra oddly smiled, ¡°we are ¡°cowards¡± remember, so of course, we will have an escape route¡±


    an older man lightly slapped the back of the questioners head, ¡°don¡¯t question our commander, each of us owes our grey to him and his plans¡±


    Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them Lucifer was floating above them and saw everything they did. He quite liked this commander who isn¡¯t blind to anything but the ¡°big picture¡±, however, he was Lucifers enemy and would die just like the rest.


    Lucifer had already moved his chess pieces into place to counter the commanders attempted escape.


    Along the tunnel system, men carrying heavy buckets noticed an increase in messengers running through the tunnels, and the more astute noticed the grave expressions each messenger wore. Suddenly they heard strange noises.


    ¡°is that a bird¡±


    ¡°we are underground dumbass, why would a bird be here¡±


    Before they could react several bats flew through the winding tunnel past them and out of sight, most of them simply shrugged it off.


    ¡°I think they were carrying some sort of crystal,¡± remarked someone.


    ¡°I think you¡¯ve been underground too much, seein animals carrying stone too¡±


    Further along the tunnel.


    An earth mage popped open a mana flask and downed the foul drink only slightly grimacing at the taste. He closed his eyes for a moment to center himself then took a deep breath and started imagining all the components he would need for his next spell. This took only a moment because it was practically the only spell he knew and was also the spell he has used countless times before.


    He mumbled strange incantations while keeping the imagery fresh in his mind, careful to not let any outside disturbances interrupt the spell. Strange sounds started behind him which weren''t the digging or hitting of stone, the faint image of a bird flashed past his mind, but he quickly dismissed the thought as an unwelcome distraction.


    He was a sapper mage, his only job was to be a magical digging machine. Thinking about strange noises was not this machine''s job and could be left the earth movers.


    His hands lit up as the spell was nearing completion, the rock wall ahead of him glowed as cracks started crisscrossing across its surface. Then unexpectedly the man was impacted in the back of the head knocking him over.


    It felt like someone had thrown a small animal at the back of his head by the heat and feeling of fur. He pushed off the ground and turned. Large black beady eyes caught him by surprise, but that wasn¡¯t what had his attention.


    Just below the thing was a decent sized mana crystal. Something that a mage would find immensely useful which is why it had his rapt attention. The problem was that crystal was wrapped in a strangely large claw for something a bat would have.


    Clink, a soft cracking noise akin to crushing glass sounded. The room with rock walls expanded and burned hotter than earthen fire for an instant. Then just as suddenly, the room contracted until what misty remains of the rooms previous occupants was left, vanished under tonnes of stone.


    In other tunnels, similar scenes played out. Some fared slightly better than others, in one particular tunnel a group of soldiers spotted the intruders early and tried to stop them, however, their swipes and slashes only met empty air as the bats agility maneuvered around them meeting their target.


    ¡°they have wind magic under their win--¡± was the last thing said in that tunnel.

 124

    Ezras set on a stone stool looking over a hastily drawn tunnel map that only he and his officers would understand. His foot tapped erratically as he traced routes crossing them out as messages came in. his free hand found its way across his facial scars repeatedly, a habit he picked up when deep in thought.


    Another man entered the room and was granted only a glance from Ezra, leather armor covered in dirt. An ally, was all he thought before glancing back at his maps and preparing to cross out another potential escape route.


    ¡°Sir we have been pushed back to the third junction--¡±


    ¡°already¡± growled Ezra. ¡°haven''t the mages managed to close off the entrance yet¡±


    the man quickly replied, ¡°sir most of the earth mages are dead from the previous attack so we are collapsing the tunnels by hand¡±


    ¡°then what is the problem¡± interrupted Ezra once again.


    Before the messenger could answer a sturdy-looking man that was in the previous meeting put a hand on Ezra''s shoulder, ¡°Ezra you need to let him finish the report before you ask questions¡±


    Ezra paused for a moment then took a moment to breathe. He focused on the messenger and simply said, ¡°report¡±


    The messenger saluted and started, ¡°Sir we have been pushed back to the third junction by the undead, pushing them back seems impossible because spears and swords have very little effect for most soldiers. These skeletons somehow have hardened bones. We have had little success with using our pics to crush their skulls but picks aren¡¯t designed as weapons so the price is heavy in their use. We have managed to slow their advance by collapsing tunnels, however, they also have ants which can dig out the tunnels as fast as we can collapse them.¡±


    ¡­


    during the silence, another messenger entered the room and without waiting for any ques started his report, ¡°The earth mages say that the enemy ants are tunneling around our blockades, we are being flanked.


    ¡°SHIT!¡± roared Ezra as he slammed his fist on the table, ¡°how are the escape tunnels coming along¡±


    ¡°the mages say the escape tunnels will be intercepted before completion¡±


    ¡­


    silence engulfed the room. A heavyweight pressed on the chests of each of the men. Ezra ground his teeth together and forced out an order, ¡°abandon all the escape tunnels and focus all our power on one opening¡±


    One of the messengers snapped back into reality and grabbed the other stunned messenger, ¡°let''s go¡± he said then dashed into the tunnel networks as fast as he could.


    The man standing next to Ezra comforted, ¡°we have to save as many as we can and this is the only way¡±


    Ezra slumped down onto the table while holding his head, ¡°I¡¯ve failed, how many will be able to get out of a single hastily built tunnel. What''s worse is that the men won¡¯t even know. They will keep holding back the undead like good soldiers while waiting their turn to retreat¡­¡±


    Meanwhile, Lucifer was floating above the due while his mind focused on directing his forces. His first wave of skeletons was almost depleted and soon he would have to use zombies, the skeletons were weaker, but he liked their elemental and piercing immunities that leaving them in a mana-rich dungeon granted them.


    His ants were working their way around the enemy defenses. Wherever there was a blockade of men and steel there was a tunnel being made to go around and behind it. Another group was moving towards the escape tunnels being built with a vicious speed.


    Once their commander issued an order to focus on a single tunnel he thought of countermeasures. Ants aren''t as tall so they don¡¯t have to remove as much material to move through, and they can climb on walls easily which means they can dig their tunnels almost vertically. With these advantages he simply had the ants dig to the surface before the army. They were still a considerable distance from the enemy citadel so he wasn¡¯t worried about attacks from the defending duchy.


    At the third junction.


    Soldiers carrying picks attacked the walls and roof and anything that supported the tunnel. This was extremely dangerous, but they had no other way of slowing the undead advance.


    Then like clockwork the earth blocking the tunnel shook and black pincers pushed through the rock grasping and crushing dirt and rock alike. Groups of soldiers dashed forward with their short spears and viciously attacked the diggers. Meanwhile, the men carrying picks continued attacking the tunnels structural stability.


    An older man carefully watched the cracks in the walls and roof. While the battle grew more intense. More earth was removed by black claws and mandibles and more monsters pushed their way through the gaps.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Then as the earthen barricade was almost gone the old soldier roared, ¡°NOW!!!¡±. All the soldiers turned around and ran. The ants knew what was happening as they had seen it happen several times now, they too skittered after the soldiers grabbing and pinning down as many as they could.


    Several of the more elaborately patterned ants didn¡¯t bother grabbing the fleeing soldiers. They find it more efficient to just trip them over for their brethren to pin down after them


    The surrounding walls creaked and groaned as dist fell on top of the fleeing soldiers, then chunks of stone came loose falling on undead human and ant alike. Dozens of soldiers didn¡¯t make it to a stable part of the tunnel in time and were crushed, however, this was still a small victory for the humans.


    A new wall of earth now blocked the undead advance and the soldiers would have time to recuperate. The old soldier grumbled under his breath about the ants being too smart.


    Just as they were feeling a slight sense of relief there was yelling in the tunnel behind them, ¡°they¡¯ve dug around us!¡±. Sounds of battle commenced as ants flooded in from the tunnel roof. Soldiers struggled to bring their weapons to bear in the confined space.


    The soldiers outnumbered the ants coming through and even in a cramped state they managed to kill anything coming through the hole, but dust started to fall from different sections of the roof. New holes opened up and the defenders were struggling to keep back the flood and the piles of corpses falling onto them didn¡¯t make their movements any better.


    A soldier was gritting his teeth and stabbing his spear into a smaller hole that only allowed one ant through at a time. He got lucky occasionally and managed to pin an ant in the hole opening, it would usually take 30 seconds or so for the ants behind it to wedge it free which was a welcome break.


    Another corpse fell on top of him as he struggled to get out of the way, but he was practically shoulder to shoulder with the other men and didn¡¯t have the freedom to avoid the corpse. The body soon worked its way to the ground between the moving soldier''s bodies and he was forced to retake his footing. Now both of his feet were standing on the uneven surface of ant bodies and he could vaguely tell he was closer to the ceiling.


    This did make hitting his enemies easier, but it also made hitting him easier. He hoped that the escape tunnels would be completed soon so they could get out of this ants nest. Or at least fall back soon.


    Another ant forced is ugly head through the hole and he thrust his pointed spear straight through it with practiced ease. It felt odd.


    BOOM!!. Unbeknownst to him, there was a mana gem implanted in the ant''s skull and when he pierced the ants head it exploded. The immediate few meters flashed to a thousand degrees incinerating anything alive in the area, a shockwave went through the confined space sending blood gushing out of the soldier''s ears. Tones of stone fell and created a new wall.


    The old soldier winced in pain as all sound was replaced with a deep ringing, he rubbed the side of his head in pain and winced once more when he saw his blood covered hands. His group was on the front line so he was afforded enough room to turn around and without the years of experience under the earth, he could tell there was a catastrophic cave in.


    They were trapped between two walls of earth with enemies digging towards them. Several soldiers bellowed orders expecting to have them followed but quickly figured out they weren''t being heard.


    They forced themselves towards the new stone wall and began picking up buckets and pointing to different men. The old soldier just shook his head and slumped against the wall.


    The people giving orders soon figured out the problem with their plan of digging themselves out. Where were they going to put the earth and stone they removed? Before they were dumping it in some of the side tunnels that were made to confuse the enemy earth mages, however, they didn¡¯t have access to them anymore.


    They didn¡¯t have the opportunity to figure that out as once again dust started falling from the ceiling, holes soon opened up revealing dark maws and black eyes staring back at the soldiers, however, they soon disappeared back into the holes they dug confusing the soldiers.


    Then suddenly something shiny fell from one of the holes and made a high pitched splitting sound on a soldiers helm, he moved his helm back into a more comfortable position and cursed, ¡°fuck was that¡±


    ¡°POISON!¡± someone yelled and people started to notice a tinge of green gas spreading from where the thing fell. Everyone scrambled for their pouches and drank a foul anti-poison concoction from small pouches they always kept close.


    Another shiny thing fell, but this time a nimble man managed to swipe it out of the air before it hit something hard, ¡°poison vials?¡± he absent-mindedly questioned. He lifted it into the air like a trophy and everyone seemed to understand.


    Another vial fell, then another and another. With a pair of ready hands no less than two feet apart none of the vials managed to break. This deadly game of catch continued for half a minute or so until one of the carved ants poked its head into the cave.


    Noone had their weapons out too preoccupied with the poison rain so the ant backed away into its tunnel unharmed.


    Moments later it came back with a vial in its mandibles. Dozens of soldiers looked at the thing in a strange sort of mute horror. Then as if out of spite, it bit down. Crack. The vial in its grasp split open dousing a few soldiers underneath.


    They screamed as they tried to rub the poison off which was eating away at their flesh, but they only managed to spread the poison around and their flailing poison coated hands managed to smear other soldiers during their death throws.


    The antidote in the soldier''s blood worked hard at neutralizing the foreign substance with a brutal efficiency, as if it was alive and aware of its purpose. Either by some arcane manipulation, some strange property of the antidote itself or a combination of both.


    However, an antidote could only neutralize so much and while it may be sufficient for a poison sting or brief contact with something poisonous, it could not save the dozens of soldiers nearest to the broken vial.


    Blood filled their lungs and poured from every orifice, every sphincter in the body relaxed releasing more than a foul odor. Then the men affected were reduced to a twitching mess on the floor. Anything they were holding fell from loose hands, including some of the vials they were holding themselves.


    A cascade effect followed, a group would fall to poison and crack the poison vials they held during their death throes, a few quick-witted people put their vials down in an attempt to stop the domino effect, but the damage had already been done. There wasn¡¯t even a breath of breathable air in the tunnel anymore.


    Ezra slumped in his uncomfortable stone chair as he was strangely regretting not having a soldier carry around a comfortable chair just for him, a lot of other commanders did it, but he wanted to set an example for his soldier so a stone chair it is.


    Another messenger came through the threshold of the room and he almost sighed out loud. More bad news he presumed, ¡°how is the escape tunnel coming along¡±, he asked before the messenger could speak. At this point that escape tunnel was all he cared about.


    ¡°sir its about to be completed, I¡¯m here to escort you out¡±


    Ezra''s eyes narrowed on the man, ¡°how wide¡±


    ¡°Sir?¡±


    ¡°how wide is the tunnel¡± Ezra demanded.


    ¡­


    ¡°a bit more than a meter¡± the man finally answered.


    Ezra sighed, ¡°go by yourself, if anyone asks its an order¡±


    ¡°bu--¡±


    ¡°an order¡± Ezra restated. ¡°tell my king that I died fighting for my men''s lives and that I¡¯m sorry¡±. Ezra stood up shoved a medallion into the messenger''s hand and saluted with a certainty that it would get where it needed to be that wasn''t quite justified.


    The messenger turned and left and Ezra could swear he read eagerness in the messenger''s step, he couldn¡¯t blame him. He didn¡¯t want this place to be his tomb either.


    He collected himself donned the armor he left in a corner and stepped out of the room. Five men greeted him with a salute. They were the older soldiers that were with him earlier, only there were a few less now.


    ¡°didn¡¯t think you would get to go down fighting by yourself did ya¡± one of them offhandedly remarked with a grin.


    ¡°yep kinda hoped I would¡± replied Ezra.


    The man laughed, ¡°finally stopped the act ay¡±


    another suggested, ¡°together we could get out of this tight situation, so why not¡±


    Ezra joked, ¡°you five are free to go if you want¡±


    ¡°doesn¡¯t work like that boss,¡± said another man.


    ¡°why die here when you''re worth so much more than the men you''re protecting¡±


    Ezra grinned and said, ¡°I¡¯m worth more than a single soldier that would take my turn exiting the tunnel yes, but how about two¡±


    ¡°your not that big stop boasting¡± someone laughed.


    ¡°ask your mother¡± Ezra joked back, ¡°but I think I can hold off the enemies for a few more soldiers to squeeze through. So am I worth more than two, how about ten, a hundred¡±


    A man smacked his chest and boasted, ¡°my life could give at least two hundred soldiers enough time to escape¡±


    ¡°and I three hundred¡±


    ¡°and I would give enough time for his mom to squeeze through the escape tunnel¡±


    The men joked and laughed for a time until it died down and a grim determination was all that was left. They hoisted their picks over their shoulders and marched down the tunnel towards the enemy catching the gazes of any soldiers they passed.

 125

    Ezra took his men to the frontline, squeezing past soldiers when necessary. The sounds of battle neared and they stopped for a moment. They each grabbed the rock wall and closed their eyes, a strange yellow glow enveloped the men and their skin started to change.


    It wasn¡¯t noticeable at first, but after half a minute or so their skin looked like stone, even their eyes had taken on the color and texture of stone. Lucifer who was following them out of curiosity was rather surprised.


    He was further surprised when the group of stoneskin men shoved themselves into the thickest part of the battle. Some of them swung thing picks to devastating effect, anything that got in their way whether it was skeleton ant or rock was pulverized on contact.


    With just the 6 of them alone they were able to hold the line easily. Soldiers behind them cheered as they were resting.


    One of the men''s pick suddenly broke in two, the wooden handle exploded into splinters from excessive force. The man next to him laughed, ¡°it''s not a mace dumbass¡±


    ¡°shut up¡± he replied and started punching and kicking his enemies with little loss to effectiveness. Moments later the man who had just jeered him swung his pick down onto a skeleton skull and his pick cracked along the shaft.


    ¡°ha, who¡¯s using it like a mace now¡±


    ¡°that undead was harder than usual¡± he complained as he hit another skeleton completely shattering the handle. ¡°fuck¡±, he cursed before throwing the pieces into the crowd of enemies.


    It didn¡¯t take long before all 6 of them had destroyed their picks. They simply weren''t used to their stone forms so they used too much force with what can be considered a fragile weapon in their hands.


    Now they were reduced to hand to hand combat their slip-ups happened more often, one of them forcefully kicked a skeleton, but the resistance he expected to be there wasn¡¯t so he lost balance and stumbled forward.


    His comrades noticed immediately and burst forward with vicious punches elbows and kicks to move the line forward. Ezra jumped back from next to the tunnel wall and patted the shoulder of the man that was fighting next to him, he grunted and took a half step to the left to cover both their positions.


    Ezra saw the enemy''s start swarming even harder and one of his men was on the ground. His torso was lying in front of the line as his men tried to push the enemies back while his legs were sprawled behind the line.


    He could tell that even while lying down the man was still punching enemies while trying to use his legs to get purchase to pull him back, however, his stone body made him heavy and he couldn¡¯t slide himself back or stop attacking for long enough to put his hands down and get up.


    Ezra rushed forward and grabbed the mans legs and pulled, they both moved back a couple inches before stopping and Ezra could feel the man fighting harder against something. Ezra pulled harder, but the man slid forward so his thighs were almost past the fighting line, ¡°shit!¡±.


    They suddenly stopped moving forward and Ezra could see that the man''s knee had melded with the stone below creating an anchor.


    Ezra jumped up and directly stood over the man and started desperately thrashing into the sea of monsters. The man''s body suddenly tugged forward creating cracks on the ground where his knee was connected then slackened, screaming quickly followed and Ezra and his men forgot about defense and just focused on becoming gods of slaughter.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Each swing of a limb would crush something, sometimes they weren''t sure what they crushed but that didn¡¯t matter they needed to move forward, however, the monsters were doing the same. The ants were even climbing over the heads fo the other monsters in a frenzy to get at their enemies.


    Ezra got an occasional glimpse between the moving body parts and saw that the man was missing an arm and was even more desperately trying to defend himself. He swung around his head crazily and even in this awkward position he managed to pulverize ant skulls and limbs.


    The soldiers that were watching charged forward and used their spears long reach between the frontline men, they weren¡¯t worried about hitting their own because their spears wouldn¡¯t do anything to their rock bodies anyway except blunt their spears.


    One of the rock soldiers slammed his elbow down onto an ants skull and issued a crisp crack, BOOM!, the ant''s skull vaporized along with half the rock man''s torso and knocked over the rest of them.


    Large boulders fell from the ceiling and crushed dozens of soldiers and monsters, however, the rocks that were going to fall on the stone men seemed to be made of soft clay as when they made contact with them the boulders simply disintegrated into dirt.


    Ezra pulled himself to his feet using a wall that was suddenly next to him steady himself. Another 3 stone men stood up with him with only a few minor cracks from the explosion. As his senses came back to him he once again dashed forward intent on saving his men, however, when he could see clearly he noticed several ants were latched onto the downed mans remaining arm.


    The ants were used to crushing stone with their pincers, but the steel armor on the man was another story. They pulled at the limb and more cracks formed around the man''s knee. Ezra dashed forward with his men half a step behind him.


    Suddenly the ground underneath the man''s knee gave way leaving a disk of rock attached to his knee, the man was pulled forward so suddenly some of the ants fell over and let go. Ezra jumped forward and simply used his body to plow through the swarm and grabbed at the man.


    However, he was too slow. Before he could get a good grip the man was pulled into the swarm. Ezra was surrounded and smashed everything around him until something gripped his shoulder and pulled him out of the swarm. Two powerful hands from two stone warriors managed to pull him out before he was dragged to the ground, whether this was by sheer luck or his greater combat abilities which kept himself from being grabbed he didn¡¯t know.


    The tunnel was filled with screams as the ants struggled to find weak points in the one-armed man''s armor. He struggled fiercely kicking and punching, but the ants latched onto his limbs making it impossible to hit anything properly. Soon the ants found straps holding his plate on and easily cut them off and his armor was quickly stripped from him. His screams intensified as the ants took chunks from his hard stone body. In his terror-stricken state he forgot to return to human form, a stone man didn¡¯t really have organs to give out so it wasn¡¯t a quick death.


    Soldiers heard the screams and were rushing forward to fill the gap and only 2 stone men were holding the line with a few remaining soldiers while steadily moving back. The other stone man grabbed Ezra by the shoulders and was opening his mouth wide and closing it rapidly.


    Ezra realized his hearing was shot and made a few gestures to the stone man, ¡°fallback¡± was essentially the meaning, the stone man nodded and replaced a few soldiers on the front-line as it continued steadily moving backward.


    Ezra grabbed a health potion from a reinforced pouch on his belt and downed the liquid, as he did so he also turned back to a normal human. Health potions don¡¯t heal stone very well.


    The line was moving steadily back towards and soon they will have no more room to go when they meet the tail and of the army. Ezra had to think of something. There were a few of the dummy tunnels but that''s it, he was out of room out of means of effectively fighting back and out of ideas.


    He ground his teeth and turned back into his stone form. If there weren¡¯t any plans there was only the brute force method.


    Meanwhile above ground on the citadel walls facing the digger army, a soldier asked, ¡°what''s that¡±, and pointed it out to a nearby mage. The mage infused mana into his eyes enhancing his vision. Several hundred meters from the walls there were black things coming from the ground, he looked closer and found out they were giant ants, ¡°that can¡¯t be right¡± he murmured.


    A commanding officer heard the commotion and asked the mage what was happening, he was rather nervous about the diggers doing nothing yet but also relieved.


    ¡°there are giant ants on the surface sir¡± replied the mage.


    ¡°none of the duchies can tame giant ants so what''s happening¡±


    the mage responded, ¡°your guess is as good as mine sir, but it looks like they are waiting¡± he squinted his eyes and felt his eyes strain as he focused harder, ¡°it seems some of them are carrying something¡±


    ¡°what,¡± asked the commanding officer.


    The mage frowned, ¡°I don¡¯t know sir, its too far away to tell, the only reason I can tell its there at all is the light is glinting off of it¡±


    Several minutes later in the middle of where the ants were waiting the ground shook and the topsoil crumbled and fell into a newly formed hole. Cheers were heard from the hole and someone stuck their head above ground.


    He didn¡¯t have time to react before an ant pincer wrapped around his head and squeezed it until it exploded into a gory mess, the corpse was dropped down onto someone saying, ¡°hey go u--¡±


    A slightly larger ant with quite intricate patterns on his exoskeleton moved over the hole with a vial in its pincers which were slightly melted. Crack, the vial broke and the liquid rained down the hole and screams of pain quickly followed.


    The ants then moved to the hole and dropped the vials down the hole then retreated. The screams died down and a green gas started wafting out of the hole.

 126

    A green mist started to cloud Ezra¡¯s vision and he was hearing wet hacking coughing coming from behind him for some time and screams, however, he didn¡¯t have the time to turn around at the moment to take a gander.


    He moved his body with brutal efficiency crushing and breaking anything that came close to his fighting line, occasionally he would feel the glance of a blow on his armor but ignored such minor matters, soon he noticed that he was getting hit more often and his peripheral vision told him the common soldiers were dying next to him.


    He and the other stonemen were taking the brunt of the attack so the relatively safe soldiers should be fine.


    Just as he was wondering what was happening behind him the ants and skeletons attacking them halted the attack, the ants going from a desperate fight to get to them to a complete standstill left the stonemen with a strange feeling.


    Ezra had a terrible feeling clamp down on his stomach as he stole a glance behind him and he froze for a moment. All the soldiers were dead, foaming at the mouth.


    He herd skittering sounds once more and quickly turned back only to find the ants fleeing in the opposite direction with the slower undead shambling behind them.


    Now there were only 2 others left besides himself, both stonemen and equally confused as him, not why the soldiers died, the rolled back bloodshot eyes and foam still pouring out the corpses mouths made that obvious. But why the enemy retreated.


    With the supporting soldiers, they could be quickly overrun and the ants didn¡¯t push themselves up against his stonemenes meat-grinder like offense for nothing.


    His question was answered when a deep voice reverberated throughout the cave, ¡°Greetings Ezra, I¡¯ve been watching you--¡±


    ¡°WHO ARE YOU¡± one of the stonemen shouted out in response while his head swiveled between both tunnel directions.


    ¡°I was about to introduce myself, perhaps you would rather I sent the ants after you again¡± replied the disembodied voice.


    Ezra signaled for the man to shut it and loudly spoke in no direction in particular, ¡°I¡¯m open to negotiations please speak¡±. He didn¡¯t know who or what this unknown person wanted, but he didn¡¯t miss the opportunity to direct the conversation towards a positive outcome.


    ¡°pfft, negotiations, do you think your in any position to negotiate with me¡± laughed the voice.


    Ezra smiled wryly, ¡°as you can see¡± he gestured to himself, ¡°I¡¯m quite hard to kill¡±


    ¡°indeed, you specialize in killing weaklings, with your endless stamina powerful defense and absurd weight to use as a weapon there isn¡¯t much these ants can do in the short term, you even have an immunity to the poison, however, you are not hard to kill.


    There were quite a few more of you when I started and the only reason you still stand is because I allow it¡±


    Ezra sarcastically countered, ¡°so all that fighting we did was just an illusion and Jeffery wasn¡¯t slowly ripped apart by ants¡±


    ¡­


    Moments later an ant tunneled in from the roof a dozen meters away from the trio and jumped to the ground. Ezra could see something shiny in its pincers and a chill skittered down his back as he realized it was a mana crystal.


    Chink, the ant bit down and violently exploded and the three Rockman braced themselves as the shockwave shook them. The disembodied voice said, ¡°would you like more proof¡±


    Ezra now knew that he was being allowed to live and also knew where the earlier explosion that nearly killed all his men came from. If a dozen of these ants or even just two or three attacked them they wouldn¡¯t stand a chance, they didn¡¯t have any range weapons to kill the ants before they got close and even if they did they would be useless with the ants tunneling ability. You cant shoot something at range that appears under your feet.


    One of the stonemen said, ¡°what kind of crazy bastard uses a mana crystal as a suicide bomb, do you realize how expensive that is¡±


    Ezra mentally shook his head at his money-grubbing subordinate before asking directly, ¡°what do you want¡±


    The disembodied voice replied, ¡°nothing really, I just took a liking to you and decided to give you a chance at life on a whim¡±


    ¡°and how do we go about getting this chance at life¡± Ezra replied.


    ¡°simple, I will bind your souls to my service--¡±


    ¡°pass¡± Ezra retorted.


    However, immediately after Ezra spoke both his subordinates grabbed him and said, ¡°we all accept¡±


    Ezra glared at them and before he could speak his mind one of them said, ¡°if you choose to die here I¡¯m going to tell your wife¡±


    the other added on, ¡°yea do you want to meet her in the afterlife, you will NEVER hear the end of it, literately¡±


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    Ezra felt the urge to punch his battle brothers in the face, ¡°so its either becoming a slave to a being we don¡¯t know and probably suffering a terrible end or eternal damnation¡±


    They both smiled and happily replied, ¡°yep!¡±


    Ezra deeply sighed before accepting, ¡°fine we accept¡±. Moments later they felt a strange magic entering their bodies intrusively, they could feel the fragileness of the magic. It was barely a strand of magic and if they resisted at all it would dissipate, but they allowed it to go unobstructed.


    The disembodied voice said, ¡°now that you are my subordinates I will properly introduce myself, my name is Lucifer Morningstar, A sentient dungeon¡± the gasped slightly, ¡°my rules are simple, 1 Don¡¯t try to manipulate me in any way, I don¡¯t mind being asked any question or taking any criticism but only when it is said directly, most importantly this is the punishment for breaking that rule¡±


    Three stonemen fell to the ground twitching in pain, the pain being so unbearable that they couldn¡¯t even scream, but it only lasted for a second before disappearing completely.


    ¡°rule 2, do not knowingly and through action bring harm to me or my subordinates unless I say otherwise.


    Rule 3 as long as don¡¯t break these two rules you can do whatever you want, even ignoring my orders if you so choose¡±


    Ezra stood up on his shaking legs and asked, ¡°so if you are being attacked and I don¡¯t help that''s within the rules¡±


    Lucifer affirmed, ¡°yes, I don¡¯t consider inaction as action so doing nothing is not wrong, this changes if you become my soldier of course but you are only a subordinate¡±


    ¡°what do we get if we become your solder,¡± the money-grubbing Stoneman asked.


    Lucifer replied, ¡°you gain what I can offer depending on your usefulness to me, you are strong so giving you a longer life would benefit me, if its riches you want you can have that, again depending on how useful you are, however, I demand absolute obedience from my soldiers so they lose the ability to turn down my orders, and the punishment is as you¡¯ve felt, but far stronger and far far longer¡±


    Shivers went down their spines and the money-grubbing man who was about to agree turned silent, he was already a soldier so taking orders wasn¡¯t a problem but the punishment for insubordination gave him pause, after some time he quietly said ¡°I¡¯ll think about it¡±, gaining him strange looks from the other two men.


    Lucifer let them think about the rules for a moment longer before he added, ¡°my first order is to go back to your homes and report to your king, I want you to tell him of my existence and that Swadia is taking the duchies back¡±


    Ezra was startled, ¡°do you work for Swadia¡± he questioned.


    ¡°no¡± Lucifer replied, ¡°its more of an alliance for the moment¡±


    ¡°my king won¡¯t surrender to Swadia even if he knows of your existence,¡± Ezra said.


    Lucifer chuckled, ¡°thats fine, your king can do as he pleases, however, once I reach your Duchy I will expect a surrender or he will never get another chance to¡±


    ¡­


    one of the men asked, ¡°so what do we do after we report to our king¡±


    ¡°whatever you want¡± replied Lucifer, ¡°we will probably meet again considering your leaders rank¡±


    Meanwhile, in one of the ambushing tunnels, Arthus paced backward and forwards in front of Lucifer''s still body, a scout ran up to him and gave a report on the battlefield above and Arthus started grinding his teeth.


    This report was at lest 30 minutes old because of the time it takes the scouts to get past all the soldiers squished into the ambush tunnels. Arthus wanted to use magic relays but his only advantage in battle was the element of surprise and sending magic messages around the battlefield wasn¡¯t a good way to keep that.


    Unable to take it anymore Arthus grabbed Lucifers shoulder and shook it, ¡°wake up dungeon we have important matters to discuss¡±


    A disembodied voice soon answered back, ¡°what important matters¡±


    ¡°Lucifer?¡± questioned Arthus.


    ¡°yes,¡± said the disembodied voice at the same time as Lucifers body, then his body opened its eyes and he stood up and asked, ¡°what important matters¡±


    ¡°finally¡± Arthus growled, ¡°The Citadel is going to fall any second now and my Alexander is probably using the escape tunnels right now¡±


    ¡°escape tunnels?, why didn¡¯t you tell me about such a thing earlier¡±


    Arthus explained, ¡°I didn¡¯t think the citadel would fall this quickly, I thought that my brother would be loseing for quite a while until he used the magic cannons stored in the citadels armory, most of the duchy armies would die in the initial scuffle the duchies would back off, then we would spend weeks fighting a gorilla war while we waited for the man Swadian armies to arrive¡±


    ¡°is it that important that we kill your brother, once we take the citi--¡±


    ¡°YES IT''S IMPORTANT!¡± Arthus yelled, ¡°that fool split Swadia in half and as long as he lives the Duchies have an excuse to continue rebelling¡±


    Lucifer shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t think the people care anymore whether there is a justifiable reason for the countries split--¡±


    ¡°perhaps, but many duchy nobles would have a justifiable reason to pledge allegiance to Swadia again once I''m the only living son of the old King¡±


    Lucifer chuckled, ¡°you seem to want to take over the duchies without fighting, defeating your enemy while leaving their resources whole is a good thing, however, we don¡¯t have time for a complete restructuring of the duchies from within, that would take years of more civil wars between the duchies and its nobles as they grab at power.


    the only true authority is the authority of force, we have to march through those lands and anything that doesn¡¯t bend the knee dies, any rebellion dies, any resistance dies¡±


    Arthus objected, ¡°the duchies are still my people, I won¡¯t go on a thoughtless slaughter through my own lands¡±


    Lucifer argued, ¡°is it better to leave them to thoughtlessly slaughter each other as they have been since the countries fracture¡±


    ¡­


    One of the kings mage advisers said to Lucifer, ¡°dungeons are indeed evil, you speak of killing any resistance, that will only lead to--¡±


    Lucifer interrupted sarcastically, ¡°yes sooo evil, I¡¯ve been cursed with math and logic, just tell me where those tunnels are so your ¡°just¡± king can commit fratricide for the greater good¡±


    Deep underground a man ran along a metal encased tunnel with several beautiful women and two guards that were protecting them, each guard was a knight in exquisitely crafted full plate armor, each piece of armor gave off a slight magical hum only perceptive to mages.


    The man in front was Alexander the kings brother, occasionally he would come upon a door and push his bleeding thumb against a small dial, the door took a moment of clicking and clacking before it glided up into the tunnel ceiling and the group continued deeper into the cave with the door quickly shutting and locking behind them.


    Not too long later another door came into sight under the dim lights of depleted mana crystals inlaid in the roof, he was starting to wonder if he would bleed to death before he got to the end of the tunnel or die of exhaustion owing to his overweight body.


    He could feel a tightness in his chest that he hadn¡¯t felt before, but he ignored it and kept moving. One of the ladies following behind him was almost in awe having never seen the man move so much, although she couldn¡¯t blame him, she had seen the destructive power those god worshiping nutcases had and didn¡¯t want to test these doors reliability in keeping them back.


    Alexander panted as he waited for the door to open and cursed it when it did because that means he would have to continue running. Again he cursed his own stupidity for not leaving earlier, he placed too much hope on the ancient magic cannons and when most of them failed he knew he had to flee.


    Right now his loyal soldiers were holding, but it couldn''t last for long. Some of the failing cannons blew large chunks off the walls and most of the earth mages that could fix it were focusing on defending against religious factions attack, but they were running out of mana and slowly the wall was crumbling more by the second.


    Soon the wall would fall and the duchies would swarm into the citadel as after the magic cannon attack the duchies were now working together. The only good things were that one duchy army was decimated by the cannons who would have used their siege equipment specialty to cause headaches for the defenders, and the digger duchy had yet to show itself, however, Alexander had a bad feeling about that, after every door he expected to see men with picks waiting for him on the other side.


    They went through several more doors and he was covered in sweat, he pressed his thumb on the activater almost missing then practically collapsed while he waited for the door.


    One of the knights began to say, ¡°your majesty we can take a short rest, I¡¯m sure those doo--!¡±


    Alexander turned his head to see why his guard stopped talking when he saw the knight draw his enchanted blade and rush past him before he could even react.


    He spun around as loud crashes sounded and echoed throughout the tunnel, ¡°Arthus¡± Alexander gasped.


    ¡°brother¡±


    Alexander jumped up backpedaling as he asked, ¡°why are you here¡± in a frightened voice.


    Arthus dropped his blood covered sword and strode towards his brother with bloodshot eyes. Alexander looked for his guards and found them cut in half as if their enchanted armor was made of wet paper, he turned around and started running ignoring the worsening pain in his chest.


    Bang, his chubby body hit a suddenly appearing Arthus and bounced of his plate armor onto the ground. ¡°let me live, I beg you, I¡¯ll live out my life as a political prisoner¡±


    Arthus glanced at the half dozen beautiful woman with him and almost spat on him, ¡°political prisoners live good lives, you don¡¯t deserve to live out your days in comfort with your wives¡±.


    Alexander yelped as Arthus sat on him and grabbed his neck, he wanted to scream for someone to help, but his voice wouldn¡¯t come out. He bashed his flabby fists onto Arthus¡¯ face but he simply shrugged those hits off, Alexander even hurt his own fists doing it.


    With that not working he tried shoving his thumbs through Arthus¡¯ bloodshot eyes, however, even with his eyes open Alexander couldn¡¯t damage the eyes of Arthus¡¯ divine body. Alexanders face became pale, veins showed themselves from the exertion and his eyes almost popped out until he finally died.


    Arthus looked up and sighed, ¡°do any of you have any children¡±

 127

    Arthus dashed back through the tunnel network and found Lucifer setting cross-legged against the cave wall with his eyes closed again. He sighed and went to shake Lucifer awake again, however, Lucifer''s eyes suddenly opened and he said, "Tell your men to get ready, it''s about to start"


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Above ground inside the citadel walls.


    Most of the defenders were focused on the new opening created by the religious maniacs, while all the duchies were now working together to breach through the new opening creating a fierce battle.


    The defenders had nowhere left to run and fought with a savagery that came to soldiers without an escape route. The attacking duchies responded in kind with their own vicious attacks. Men were sacrificed to activate powerful magics sending explosions onto the defenders as if they didn''t want the defenders standing on non-rumbling ground until their deaths.


    On the walls, the defenders rained cold steel bolts from above. Only enchanted armor and prohibitively expensive metals could stop a strong siege crossbow, and this showed as each bolt either reaped a life or crippled one on its way to the ground.


    However, the men holding the breach were slowly being pushed back. each man they killed was replaced with another and even though they were elite soldiers with the best equipment they couldn''t fight forever. Soon they became tired and the few healers that they had run out mana, or worse, they started to get "overhealed", Their primitive healing magics over drafted the knight''s bodies until the only thing left to burn was life energy and the knight''s body itself.


    The smarter knights stopped accepting the healing and simply tried to deal with the injuries until a Sargent overseeing his section could rotate him out. Those less intelligent or too afraid of death panicked and kept calling for healing.


    The lucky ones simply dropped dead, their lifeforce already practically non-existent from constant wars. The unlucky ones fell to the blood-soaked mud screaming as their muscles and organs magically disintegrated. Most of these men were quickly put out of their misery by their enemies or even their allies if afforded the time. Some of these men found themselves dragged outside the walls to be sacrificed in some insane religious ritual.


    On the city walls, the defending mages focused on countering the oncoming magic, each time a ball of light lobbed towards to walls or breach a different mage would finish his spell and erect a barrier in front o the projectile. They figured out that the light magic the enemies were using to destroy the walls exploded on contact with anything, so they took turns using low-level magic barriers to make them prematurely explode before they got to the walls.


    The mages weren''t having much trouble right now, they even had spare mana to support the knights below for once, however, the knights below were just forced back past the breach, now the other duchies flooded the Knights line and expanded the line like a balloon, and just like a balloon that was overinflated the knights line ruptured.


    Thousands upon thousands of men rushed into the citadel, most ignored the islands of defending knights as they were being swept away by the attacking tidal wave of infantry.


    Orders were bellowed out from magically enhanced throats and the walls began to be swarmed, the wall stairwells became packed full of enemies trying to get on top of the walls. the defending crossbowmen who were out of bolts took out their simple arming swords in an attempt to protect the mages, however, they were outreached by the enemies spears and quickly fell.


    Meanwhile, men using iron spikes climbed the walls coming up behind the mages, before the mages could react they sunk their climbing equipment into their skulls. The mages counter attacked sending gouts of flame down the stairwells roasting everyone inside alive.


    Those who could not attack he stairwells sent their spells at the climbers with limited success. Most of the spells missed as the climbers jumped back over the wall and stabbed their climbing equipment into the walls on the way down. Several men didn''t have the strength to stop themselves or they were unlucky and tried to penetrate a particularly hard brick falling to their deaths. While others didn''t get out of the way in time and were torn apart by magic.


    The battle for the wall continued for only a dozen minutes before they were overrun and soldiers cheered at capturing the walls.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Lucifer along with Arthus was in a tower on the 3rd most inner wall watching over the battle. Lucifer was sitting on a comfortable chair that Arthus wondered where he got it from, while Arthus half stood half crouched peering out the window.


    "they only have the take the keep now and that was only built recently, so it isn''t designed for siege warfare," Arthus said.


    "a castle that isn''t designed for siege??" Lucifer questioned.


    Arthus shook his head, "blame my brother for that, the keep was originally only a small building with a garrison next to it, the original intent behind this place was big thick walls to stop beast hoards. if the walls were breached then the cause was lost and the nobles could escape through the secret tunnels, however, my brother didn''t like having such a small castle for himself so he rebuilt it"


    ...


    Lucifer asked, "how long do you think it will take before they take the keep"


    "an hour at best"


    "then we attack now," Lucifer said.


    Arthus turned his gaze towards Lucifer, "more  of them will die taking the keep so we wait"


    Lucifer stared back, "and in an hour they will have a keep for shelter"


    "do you think we can win this battle, we are severely outnumbered and the mages college isn''t here, we ca--"


    Lucifer interrupted, "we WILL win, with our combined forces it won''t be a problem"


    Arthus frowned, "you haven''t told me what forces you do have, so how can I just send in my army this early on your word, we should wait for them to fight amongst themselves once they start distributing the loot"


    "haah" Lucifer sighed, "everyone is nice and ordered over there, once things get chaotic I won''t be able to use my trump card effectively"The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ...


    ...


    "still not going to tell me"


    "no, but I tire of your information gathering, I''m sending in my forces, do whatever you want with that information" Lucifer yawned.


    "What!" Arthus almost yelled, "we are supposed to be allies--"


    "I see it more as temporary cooperation, we are fighting a common enemy, I help you reclaim your countries lost land you help me fight against my common enemy which is also your enemy if you have forgotten"


    Lucifer with a faint smile on his lips waved his hand and commandingly said "FIRE", Arthus looked surprised for a moment at the mention of fire, a lot of things were on fire it was a war zone. CRACK!!, CK.CK.K.ACK. Thunder cracked several times in quick succession and Arthus quickly turned his head towards the inner walls.


    The skies were clear of any clouds, "was that thunder" Arthus mumbled before suspiciously looking towards Lucifer, "was that your trump card".


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about, FIRE" CRACK''K''CK''CRACK.


    Arthus quickly turned his head back afraid to miss what happened this time, but he still couldn''t see what happened, he saw the previously still army that was preparing to siege the Keep suddenly abuzz with activity, however, he couldn''t tell what the commotion was from here.


    "FIRE" CRACK''K''CK''CRACK, this time he was looking in the right direction and he saw several ripples in the air from on top of the walls, it was extremely vague, so much so that even his divine eyes could barely make out the shockwaves.


    Arthus enhanced his sight to the maximum he could before his eye muscles tore, he saw people in grey robes the same color of the stone walls carrying some sort of staff. they were laying down still and he would have missed their Silhouettes if he didn''t just see the air fluctuations go off in concert with the thunder.


    "wha--"


    Lucifer interrupted, "I would suggest you get your men on the walls as soon as possible", as he motioned towards the duchy armies that were beginning to move"


    "FUCK" Arthus cursed before he activated a crystal ring on his finger and issued the "GO" command.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Underground.


    A message went to all the generals and moments later the same message found all the Sargents in command of 100 soldiers, they gave the order.


    Soldiers smashed the couple inches of topsoil roof above them and tore the newly grown roots apart, sunlight burst through into the cave mouth and hundreds of soldiers charged out as quietly as they could. they found themselves just outside the first citadel wall and the Sargents heartbeats quickened, ''what a frightening ambush tactic'' some of them thought.


    Soon they were grabbing anything they could find to scale the wall. the duchies armies helped greatly in this matter as there was still plenty of siege ladders against the walls.


    Once the first people vaulted over the edge of the wall they quickly stabbed daggers into the few distracted guards on the walls. Meanwhile still on the ground, the Sargents were confused, there wasn''t sound of any fighting above, but they could see their men continuously going over the wall.


    They climbed up after their men and put daggers in their mouths so they didn''t have to waste time drawing them when the jumped over the wall, their armor would have to take the first blow before they could sink their blades into the enemy.


    However, once they get on top of the wall the deafening sounds of a large army below weren''t from sieging the keep, they were fighting each other.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Inside the fighting duchies battle.


    Scouts and messengers ran back and forth looking for their superiors but couldn''t find them where they should be. The battle was complete chaos. Several Sargents who''s men weren''t in battle temporarily gave their command to their underlings and went to find their superiors.


    They quickly found each other when they couldn''t find their generals and moved towards a group of frantic light mages nearby.


    "you''re not getting any commands either," remarked another Sargent, but the man he was talking to didn''t hear him. He was staring wide-eyed at the center of the babbling light mages. The man moved to see what the other man was seeing and he too was stunned.


    On the ground their general was dead, they could only recognize him by the excessive war medals the general wore because the generals head had exploded. Both Sargent''s eyes met at the same time and they sprinted to the next general''s location.


    However, they found him in the same condition as the previous general, except this time the general''s chest had exploded instead.


    Again and again, they found the same thing until they found the commanders corpse. They were suddenly the highest command of the army, or at least that is what they guessed. One of them pushed the useless healers aside who were just "looking busy" to not make themselves look bad and grabbed the commanders ring.


    One of the healers saw what he was doing and told him to wait, but was ignored. The man raised the ring to his mouth pushed mana into it and roared, "THIS IS--" CRACK''K.


    The man''s head exploded showering the healers in blood and brain matter. One of them ducked down and pleaded, "stop please stop" looking towards a tower in fear.


    The remaining Sargent looked in the same direction, "YOU BASTARDS--" CRACK, his chest exploded into a blood-mist.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The forward Swadian units on top of the walls watched the ensuing chaos below, they noticed ants climb the walls from all directions, but they stayed on the other side of the wall to remain unseen. when they looked behind them over the wall they saw undead marching from underground, some were skeletons while most were zombies carrying picks or spears.


    The undead moved next to either side of the breach careful not to be seen from those inside the walls.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The battle continued for some time, when a few squad leaders with no one to command them took it upon themselves to make their own strategy, they took their 10 soldiers along with crossbows and headed for the wall stairwells.


    They stepped into the stairwell and it took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the light, "SW--" the first man to enter called out but his life was cut short when a blade removed his head.


    The second and third person wasn''t so lucky either and were cut down, however, one of the men protecting the stairwell was pulled down by his weapon that got stuck in a duchy man''s body. "SWADIA IS HERE!!" one of the men bellowed.


    This attracted the attention of several more groups who then forced their way into the stairwell and dragged the now dead Swadian troops out. With mana enhanced muscles they hosted the Swadianmen''ss bodies above their heads on spears yelling, "SWADIA IS HERE", while troops started swarming into the stairwells.


    The surviving Sargents who were in the thick of battle or near it heard the chants and soon rings were activated and the Message channel flooded with reports of Swadian troops.


    Specialized mages from all the duchies picked up on the unencoded messages and the other duchies men found out too. Soon the fighting slowed down to a crawl while most of the duchies worked together to verify the information.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The Swadian soldiers knew the jig was up and their Sargents commanded the crossbowmen to attack. Bolts flew from ontop the walls and hit the unprotected Duchy soldiers below inflicting massive casualties.


    However, their time was limited, they could only fire so many times before the staircases were overrun. They tried to find something to block them off, but they only found a few chairs some lazy nightwatchmen used. Just as the sounds of battle in the stairwells was getting close to the top and the soldiers were preparing to go back down the ladders, the ants swarmed over the wall.


    The Swadian soldiers cheered as the ants dropped on top of the Duchy soldiers tearing them apart and giving them breathing room. They were able to let loose half a dozen more volleys before they received orders to retreat. The Sargents were confused but still complied.


    Meanwhile, the undead flooded through the breach.


    "UNDEAD" someone shouted.


    Thousands of soldiers turned around and saw undead shambling towards them. "THOSE ARE THE DIGGERS"


    "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO THEM"


    Soldiers were shouting while the smarter and more observant ones kept their heads down, CRACK"k''CK, the thunder sounded again and a dozen yelling soldiers exploded. one man crouched down below line of sight and yelled in the ensuing silence, "ANYONE THAT IS SEEN GIVING ORDERS EXPLODES SO DUCK"


    People quickly caught on to why they weren''t'' receiving any orders, their commanders were dead. so why were they even fighting here? They didn''t have long to think about that question when the undead reached the frontlines and the fighting reignited.

 128

    Inside the Citadel walls.


    Duchy soldiers formed ranks in preparation for the oncoming undead, however, with only a few Sargent''s left to command it was left to the squad captains to give orders, they managed to get the soldiers into ranks like they were trained, but they didn¡¯t have the foresight to move their armies forward and block the breach.


    The undead shambled through the breach unobstructed and started trying to run once they saw the living. They couldn¡¯t go fast, those that did fell over and were crushed by the hoard behind them. Instead they moved at an awkward pace between running and jogging.


    In one area just before impact the soldiers leveled their spears towards the undead and braced their shields for impact. Muffled groans sounded as the undead willingly impaled themselves on the spears.


    Some of these undead still had intact armor on and pushed past the spears, the few remaining skeletons ignored the spears entirely and just walked through the spike wall, but once the undead got to the shields the soldiers switched their spear grips closer to the spear point and stabbed away at the fearless undead.


    Those that were risen recently still had flesh and the spears made short work of their barely functioning brains. The skeletons fared better because a spear could only end them if it destroyed the skull which usually took a few thrusts, but they were unarmed and found little success reaching past the shields for their prey.


    Meanwhile another duchy held their battle line against the undead.


    They were the climbers and didn¡¯t carry shields or spears, they were forced to attack with their daggers and climbing tools, while a few more experienced climbers had short swords they looted during other wars.


    An undead would come into range and one or two soldiers would dash forward and use their superior agility to get close and stab it to death.


    However, this only worked well at the start of the battle, as the undead continued increasing the space they had to maneuver decreased. before a man could fake out an attack from an undead and circle round to its undefended side to attack, now they either ran into an ally or another undead.


    Once a soldier misstepped and got grabbed it was over for him, undead didn¡¯t let go of something unless they were destroyed and those precious seconds were enough for a pick wielding undead to get a solid hit.


    Meanwhile the religious faction was having the easiest time. Each of their front-line soldiers had blessing of light which coated their weapons in light magic, while this was normally a useless enchantment during the day it doubled their weapons effectiveness against undead.


    Every swung of their swords cut cleanly through the normal undead and simply disintegrated the skeletons skulls on impact. The only problem was that every so often their hidden mages would suddenly die along with the sound of thunder. Soon there wouldn¡¯t be enough people cast the enchantments and they would have to fight like the other duchies.


    Overall the undead weren¡¯t doing much, some of the soldiers were already picking up the fallen¡¯s equipment, they scavenged whatever would be useful in fighting the duchies men. The climbers ditched their climbing spikes and picked up swords, spears and shields.


    BOOM, an explosion suddenly went off near the religious front-line catching everyone attention, ¡°the fuk happened¡± someone said before, BOOM! OOM! BOOM!. Several more explosions shook the citadel ground.


    The religious front-line was broken, in its place were half a dozen smoking craters lined with red and surrounded by body parts, mutilated corpses and they dying.


    But this didn¡¯t stop the undead, they continued forward as if nothing happened and only stopped to end some pitiful soul that managed to barely survive. The shook soldiers regrouped and prepared to fight, however, most of them would have to wait to get a light enchantment.


    They didn¡¯t have to wait long before someone yelled, ¡°GET BACK ITS CARRYING A--¡± BOOM!, another explosion tore through their front-line.


    The other Duchies didn¡¯t know what was happening over there they could only continue to fight. The diggers were already taking the most casualties when a soldier noticed something behind him, he saw a black flood coming over the wall behind his army. ¡°GIANT ANTS ON OUR FLANK!!¡±


    The noise was too loud for the whole army to hear, but that didn¡¯t matter because the backline heard and turned around to look. What they saw was a wave of giant ants swarming towards them and strangely they only went after their army and not the other Duchies.


    The back-line were the ones who had the most time to scavenge good gear, but there was only so many swords and spears in this part of the battlefield. So when the wave of ants smashed into the armies flank the damage was devastating.


    Mana enhanced attacks with short blades worked well against humans, but not against swarms of armored ants. The ants jumped onto the lightly armored climbers and pinned them down as they tore them apart.


    Almost an hour past by and the remaining undead and ants were dead. The climbers were almost completely wiped out and the religious faction didn¡¯t fare much better, they only had a third of their army remaining.


    The Duchies finally had time to rest. Several groups wanted to chase the Swadian army down but didn¡¯t move without orders.


    Cautiously the ranked men converged together while crouching low, there was only 3 Sargents remaining which was pitiful for commanding an army of such size. They would only be able to give the most basic commands, and that too hinged on the cooperation of the survivors.


    Another 30 minutes passed as they quietly argued amongst themselves about the best course of action, they could take the keep and hole up there until backup arrived.


    However, the problem was that the keep wasn¡¯t designed for an army their size to stay in for long periods, so they either had to choose to leave some people out, possibly starve, or use small raids into the city for supplies.


    Atop a tower.


    Lucifer sat comfortably in his chair as he observed, ¡°it seems they chose to take the keep¡±


    ¡°it will be down in an hour at most, then they will fortify their position and it will be impossible to get them out. I should have ordered my men to attack the breach after the undead instead of retreating to the second wall¡±


    Lucifer ignored Arthus¡¯ glare and said, ¡°give me some of your blood¡±


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    ¡°what¡± he questioned.


    ¡°I need to get past those doors which requires your blood¡± Lucifer explained.


    ¡°are you going to use mana gems again, just how many of those do you have¡±


    ¡°Several hundred a week, 200 300, I stopped counting¡± Lucifer lied, saying roughly half the real amount.


    ¡°s-several hundred a week¡­¡±


    suddenly Arthus heard footsteps from the stairwell and stood up, ¡°relax, their mine¡± said Lucifer.


    Arthus grabbed a wooden beam and agilely swung from the roof into the top floor. Lucifer just stood up, lifted his chair above his head and stomped through the roof.


    Arthus looked at Lucifer strangely, but Lucifer just shrugged his shoulders and said, ¡°I switch bodies so often I can never get such fine control over my body¡±


    Arthus¡¯ eyebrows rose at the unexpected information, but he turned his head toward the opening door, a large woman with almost more muscle than him stepped through the threshold with a smile on her face and greeted Lucifer, ¡°Lucifer, did I do a good job¡±


    ¡°better than I could have expected¡± Lucifer replied causing the muscled woman to smile brightly sending shivers down Arthus¡¯ spine.


    A few breaths later her followers made it up the stairs and the first man said between gasps of air, ¡°Ell- Ellor-- sir you forgot yo-- your weapon¡±. He handed her a long black stick with what Arthus could tell was a telescope on top.


    ¡®were these the weapons Lucifer was using¡¯ Arthus thought as his gaze sharpened, he then noticed the rest of the group were each wearing different duchy uniforms under their gray cloaks. His first instinct was to simply order the woman to hand over the weapon so he could inspect it, however, he held back knowing that it wasn¡¯t his place to order Lucifer''s men, especially when he was right in-front of him.


    Lucifer glared at Ellora, he thought that she was smart enough to not bring their secret weapons infront of anyone, he even installed a destruction switch on the rifles, if you are going to be captured or break the weapon, you can simply crack the crystal button on the side of the stock and it would explode after a delay.


    Ellora suddenly paled when she realized what she had done, she was a warrior first and the only reason she was used as a spy was because it wouldn¡¯t look odd if she claimed to be an adventurer going to a dungeon city.


    Lucifer thought for a moment before saying, ¡°considering your results I can ignore your mistake, so what do you want for a reward¡±


    Ellora breathed a sigh of relief before she looked back up and saw Lucifer''s meaningful look, her mind ran at a million miles a second and she cleared her throat and thanked Lucifer profusely to gain some extra time, ¡®what does he want me to say¡¯ she thought, she saw Arthus standing to the side staring intently at their weapons and she had a spark of inspiration.


    She bowed slightly and humbly asked, ¡°Lucifer, I would like for you to repair my body so I can be strong¡±, the corner of Lucifer''s lips lifted, ¡®the word ¡°repair¡± was a wise one considering she knows I would remake her body¡¯ thought Lucifer as he looked to the side and saw Arthus¡¯ shocked expression.


    ¡°granted, go back to the dungeon and wait for my return¡± Lucifer replied. Ellora smiled even brighter than before and practically skipped out the door, her men look between the door and Lucifer and he understood their hesitation.


    ¡°normally I would leave rewarding you to her, however, considering your achievements I can make an exception, what do you desire¡± said Lucifer.


    One of the men stepped forward kneeled down and asked, ¡°Lord Lucifer, I cannot begin to thank you for what you have done for me, I can only offer myself as one of your many knights if you will have me¡±


    Several others quickly kneeled down and said something similar only leaving a few standing. Lucifer replied, ¡°although I didn¡¯t plan to call my first willing servants knights I think its quite fitting. Return back to my dungeon, after my victory I will make you Dungeon knights, you are no longer under Ellora¡¯s command but mine and mine alone, if you do well you will be rewarded well, if not¡­ remember this, once you become my dungeon knight I will demand absolute obedience, so think about this choice on your way back¡±


    The kneeling men stood up and started to leave, the few remaining men hesitated, the others asked to be servants for a reward what could they ask for and not sound greedy.


    Several awkward moments past by until one man stepped forward and quietly asked, ¡°I want to be free¡±


    Lucifer looked at the men and saw their eyes subtly shifting around, it seems they wanted this too but were going to wait for Lucifer to grant or deny this man first. Lucifer almost sighed, apparently his people didn¡¯t trust him enough to say what was on their minds yet.


    ¡°is that what you wish for too,¡± he asked and saw the men jump a tiny bit


    ¡°y-yes¡± another man finally replied.


    Lucifer waited until they all confirmed it before asking, ¡°and what will you do once your ¡®free¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°I want to move back to my village¡±


    ¡­


    He continued staring at them one at a time until they answered.


    ¡°I want to become an adventurer again¡±


    ¡°A ¨C merchant¡±


    ¡°fisherman¡± the last min simply replied.


    ¡°Hmm¡± Lucifer pondered, Arthus could almost feel the tension in the men''s bodies from several meters away. Lucifer made up his mind and said, ¡°simply being set free doesn¡¯t fit those accomplishments, becoming proficient in those weapons in such a short time and putting your lives on the line for me deserves more.


    So the fisherman, I will grant you access to the dungeons waters, as long as you don¡¯t attack anything or pick any plants nothing will attack you in the dungeon.


    The merchant, I don¡¯t have anyone to sell my dungeon items right now, you can run the shop I open in the future or I can sell my items at a discount to you in the future.


    The adventurer, I won¡¯t open my dungeon to you to raid as you please, however, I will mark you so that some of the more ¡°unfair¡± things wont kill you in my dungeon, this will mean the only way you will die there is stupidity or lack of skill. I will also alter your body slightly so its more powerful in whatever attribute you chose.


    Hmmm, the villager, what would benefit your life¡±


    The man that said he wanted to become a villager struggled to come up with something useful, money is almost useless in a remote village, dungeon access also wasn¡¯t useful either, nor is running a shop or selling dungeon goods.


    He opened his mouth after several minutes of thinking, ¡°Lord Lucifer, I can only ask for a strong body like the adventurer, with that I can work the fields easier and protect the village if its attacked¡±


    ¡°so be it¡± said Lucifer, ¡°go back to the dungeon and await my return¡±


    They filed out the tower and Lucifer stretched out then sat back down on his chair, ¡°seems they already have the keep¡±


    Arthus didn¡¯t care about that and started a conversation, ¡°you seem to reward your followers well¡±


    Lucifer gave him a glance then continued observing the duchies enter the citadel keep. Arthus kept talking about ruling and how he understood Lucifer''s intent in heavily rewarding the first few loyal men, it was something he had done at the start of his career too.


    Lucifer just ignored him and waited for him to get to the point and it didn¡¯t take long before ¡°healing¡± came up, specifically Arthus asked, ¡°the muscle woman said you could repair her body¡­ does that mean...¡± and trailed off.


    Lucifer sighed and simply replied, ¡°if you become more powerful It would put me in an disadvantaged position, you can understand that¡±


    ¡°BUT.. but we are allies¡± Arthus argued.


    Lucifer leaned forward in interest, ¡°you seem rather desperate to heal an old injury, your a king you don¡¯t have to personally fight anymore¡±


    Arthus began, ¡°the Duchi--¡±


    ¡°The Duchies aren¡¯t going to be a problem much longer, just look forward and you can see, their army is only half a size bigger than ours¡±


    Arthus argued, ¡°¡¯we¡¯ haven''t won yet, and that¡¯s still a big number advantage, every second soldier would have to beat two enemies for us to decisively win.


    ¡°fine, if you want me to heal you then I will. After I bind your soul¡±


    ¡­


    Arthus glared at Lucifer, but remained silent. Lucifer chuckled and added, ¡°your more desperate than I thought if you are actually thinking about it¡±


    ¡°isn¡¯t there any other way, something you want¡± Arthus asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m a dungeon, anything I want I can create myself, everything else I can buy myself¡± Lucifer replied.


    ¡°and if you suddenly found it hard to buy those things¡±


    ¡°then I would go without them because as I said I¡¯m a dungeon¡± Lucifer countered with a glare.


    ¡­ ¡­ ¡­


    Lucifer stood up and said, ¡°enough talk about this, give me your blood so we can ambush the enemies from behind¡±


    Arthus jumped out the tower, ¡°I¡¯ll go myself¡±


    In the secret underground tunnel system.


    Arthus ran through each section and pressed a bloody thumb on a rune opening up the doors one by one. Behind him a flood of giant ants followed him closely with mana gems in their pincers. There was enough of them that it even made Arthus nervous.


    Creak thum thump, the final door opened and Arthus stood there as the ants swarmed past him into the keep.


    Several men were looking inside boxes in the room when the door that they couldn¡¯t open suddenly flung open and spilled giant ants out, the men drew their weapons, but were quickly overwhelmed by the ants not carrying anything.


    The room quickly flooded with ants and they tore apart the door and pushed into the other rooms. Those inside started hearing the commotion and groups of soldiers moved forward to investigate.


    The commotion only got louder and the idea that it was some residual resistance from the keep vanished. The few remaining people of rank ordered people to swarm that section of the keep until they could figure out what was happening and re-adjust their plans.


    BOOM- BOOM, explosions sounded out and multiple walls crumbled. Ants with the gems flooded through the holes and crawled across the roof of the keep.


    Soldiers with bows managed to shoot down a few, but that was mostly because the ants were so packed together rather than any skill.


    ¡°THEY ARE HOLDING MANA GEMS WATCH WHERE YOUR SHOOTING!¡±


    A noticeable sense of panic filled the air as the exits suddenly became quashed full of soldiers trying to leave the keep. Several people yelled for order as the crowd surged and crushed forward, anyone who fell down were unable to get up and their armor didn¡¯t do much to stop them from being stomped to death.


    Suddenly the ants on the high roof started dropping. Crack, BOOOOOM, a larger chain reaction went off as several hundred mana crystals let loose their violent energies in an instant.


    Underground.


    Arthus felt the tunnel floor violently shake, ¡°Fucking fuck, wait for me to get out first would you¡± he directed towards the walls which he hoped wouldn¡¯t cave in. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be moneyed to death you crazy bastard¡±


    Meanwhile in the tower Lucifer casually replied even though no one could hear him, ¡°then move faster you dope, do you think the mana gems were a gift for the enemy¡±


    The entire keep started to rumble and collapsed taking a large part of the army with it,


    Over the next three days the scattered survivors tried to escape the city while Arthus¡¯ disciplined army and Lucifer''s ants went to slaughter. Right after the keep collapse they remaining survivors made a last ditch effort to break through the breach, but they only made it to the third wall before Swadian crossbowman routed them.


    At that point it wasn¡¯t a fight anymore, anytime the Duchy soldiers got near wall stairwells to fight, the Swadian soldiers would go down the other side of the wall using the very same siege equipment the duchy soldiers used to get into the walls. The Duchy soldiers never made it past the third wall.


    Eventually the Duchy soldiers split up into small groups and scattered, however, the giant ants easily ran down such small groups.

 129

    Inside the Duchy throne-room.


    Lucifer leaned back in the solid gold throne and kicked his legs up onto a small end table. This end table was made of some type of crystal that Lucifer couldn¡¯t identify and was found in an obvious place of importance in the kings chambers, however, it was the perfect size for a foot rest here so it was now unceremoniously used as a footrest.


    The idea of siting in a throne sparked Lucifer''s interest, but that interest quickly died down when he realized how uncomfortable it was, perhaps in different cultures the king could be seen lounging around, but apparently in this one the king had to sit as strait as if someone had stuck a stick up his backside.


    With how many stairs the throne was raised the king probably had to yell every time he spoke and the thought gave Lucifer a headache.


    Just as he was about stand Arthus walked through the shattered remains of the previously grand double doors, he glanced towards a curiously large axe that was more of a war-hammer on his way towards the throne and almost tripped when he recognized what Lucifer''s feet rested on.


    ¡°comfortable¡± Arthus projected sending echoes throughout the empty room.


    ¡®ah¡¯ Lucifer thought, ¡®that''s how the King would be heard¡¯ before mimicking Arthus and replying, ¡°If your throne is as unconformable as this one then I understand why you act as if there is something stuck up your ass¡±


    ¡­


    Arthus said, ¡°so what plans do you intend to make without me this time¡±


    ¡°none at the moment, I¡¯ve won you the battle, but it¡¯s your armies job to win the war, although if your interested in my opinion, I think you should cleanse the entire duchy where those religious nut jobs came from¡±


    ¡°and by cleanse. You mean What exactly¡± questioned Arthus.


    ¡°move from one side of the duchy to the other and kill everything in-between¡± Lucifer answered disinterestedly.


    ¡­


    Arthus shook his head, ¡°and you call them the nut jobs¡±


    ¡°in my experience ¡®religion¡¯ is a memetic virus, it spreads from one host to another causing insanity in any that touch it, so before it becomes a problem I think you should just eliminate it¡±


    Arthus argued, ¡°you do realize by ¡®it¡¯ you are referring to at least hundreds of thousands of people if not close to a million, do you have no humanity¡±


    ¡°no I¡¯m a dungeon¡± Lucifer laughed.


    ¡­


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


    Lucifer stood up and started leaving the room, ¡°well that¡¯s your decision to make, I¡¯m going back to my dungeon¡±


    Shortly after the battle and subsequent capture of the duchy.


    Swadian forces marched towards the duchy borders en mass to reinforce the captured city, the duchies sent spies and scouts to understand the situation, what they found was very bad news for them. The duchy connecting all the duchies to Swadia had been taken and cut off travel from half of the duchies from the other half.


    They soon found out that all the messengers who went into deep-mist Forrest to establish communications with the other duchies had died. There was no way all of them could been found let alone killed in such a thick Forrest, unless the elves were involved.


    Messengers carrying threats were quickly sent to the elves, the first with scrolls that said any impediment of royalty would result in the removal of laws protecting the Forrest, although these laws were largely ignored anyway, there was a difference between people skirting the law and there being none.


    However, once again their messengers didn¡¯t return. New messengers were sent, this time with threats of war.


    The duchies spies had already given them information about extensive troop movements from Swadia, it was only a matter of time before taking the connecting duchy back would be impossible, and without establishing free movement through the Forrest they could be easily and slowly strangled to death.


    Then, seemingly out of nowhere the duchy famous for the sapper warfare declared allegiance to Swadia. They announced this during a strategy meeting with their neighboring duchy, using a surprise attack from underground to show their sincerity.


    Moments after the attack began an explosion rocked the city, Priests and paladins in the middle of battle felt their souls violently shake, they looked towards the center of the city and to their horror saw the crater that remained of their holy cathedral.


    Immediately afterwards their holy magics lost most of their strength without a conduit to relay them to their so called god.


    All over the earth opened up and swallowed buildings and men alike, some exploded open while others let loose a flood of angry miners thirsty for blood.


    The previously ¡®enchanted¡¯ city of golden light now stood dark and still, the only light that remained was an ominous orange glow from spreading fires which spewed black smoke across the city.


    The attack only lasted an hour and the damage was considerably light for the garrison, most of their army was still standing and ready to fight to the death with righteous fury, however, grain stores were burned down, wells were poisoned, and fires were spreading around the residential districts with few practiced in water magics to stop them. But worst of all, their connection to their deity was severed with the destruction of their cathedral.


    Now they would have to cast their light spells without its blessings and that would mean that most priests would revert to mere deacons in power.


    With this new enemy they were surrounded, with a Swadian controlled duchy to the west and a new enemy to the east their futures looked bleak, but their leaders didn¡¯t have long to dwell on that fact because several days after the ambush an undead army appeared on the horizon.


    They were once again caught by surprise, how did this undead army get here without a single warning. What they didn¡¯t know was that there wasn¡¯t anyone left to warn them.


    A few days earlier.


    Arthus could feel something constricting his stomach and it only got worse the closer came to his destination. He paused briefly before opening the final door to reveal Lucifer sitting in the most lavish chair he had ever seen with an infuriating grin plastered on his lips.


    ¡°what brings the ¡®good¡¯ king to my little room, excuse the mess¡± chuckled Lucifer as he sat in a bare room with only him and a chair inside.


    ¡­


    Arthus didn¡¯t speak for a while before saying, ¡°you do it¡±


    ¡°what made you change your mind o ¡®kind¡¯ king¡±


    Arthus snapped back, ¡°you were right, they are dangerous and I refuse to allow my kingdom to shatter again when I¡¯m so close to making it whole again¡±


    ¡°it sounds its not the first time those religious nuts have showed up¡± Lucifer inquired.


    Arthus replied, ¡°it has, unlike records of the first dungeon which are sparse, written records of wars after the sudden emergence of a ¡®new god¡¯ are more than plentiful in the royal library¡±


    ¡°interesting¡± said Lucifer, ¡°new gods just ¡®pop up every now and then¡±


    ¡°new ¡®gods¡¯ no, most of the records indicate that whatever they were they weren¡¯t ¡®gods¡¯, some describe some sort of demon others a devil, even more still are described as a powerful elemental gone rogue, there was even one with a simple spirit¡±


    Lucifer said, ¡°a simple spirit that managed to convince people it was a god¡±


    Arthus nodded, ¡°yes, but like most of these false gods it was found out to be an impostor and lost its influence¡±


    ¡°so you want me to wipe out an entire duchy on the slim chance the populace don¡¯t figure it out, why don¡¯t you just help their understanding along¡± Lucifer asked with slight curiosity.


    ¡°it can take years for the common people to give up their ¡®god¡¯ especially when they have obviously received benefits from it, allowing them to live will give the impostor a chance to influence my other territory''s, and we don¡¯t have the time or the resources to waste on such a thing with the Magedom looming over our heads¡±


    ¡°that sounds like an excuse to me, or at least not something you would say¡± Lucifer replied after some thought, ¡°whats your real reason¡±


    ¡­


    Lucifer chuckled and stood up to prepare, ¡°fine don¡¯t tell me¡¯ then left the mute Arthus behind.

 130

    An uncountable hoard of undead surrounded the city in groups. The cities army fortified the walls focusing most of their attention on the weaker gates. If the undead were going to break through something it would be the gates.


    Meanwhile the priests worked on figuring out what to do. The smarter ones immediately found their superiors for orders and tested out their magic now that the cathedral was lost, they soon found out that most of their abilities were significantly stunted, once they could cast complex magics with only a few chants and little knowledge of the spell itself, but now they found it impossible to cast those spells without their god helping guide and weave their spells.


    Fires continued to spread throughout the throughout the residence districts while the army stood at the walls prepared for battle. The only fires they were interested in putting out were on grain stores and army utilities.


    Shortly afterward when it settled down it became obviously apparent that the undead weren¡¯t attacking, they were just surrounding the city, doing who knows what.


    A man wearing only white with a large hat on his head, holding a staff made of some type of translucent golden crystal stepped onto the walls surrounded by other people wearing simpler white robes.


    This man was the ¡®pope¡¯ for this particular religion, a well loved man that supposedly practiced dark magics, but then saw the light in a vision of god and changed his ways.


    His face barely showing the first signs of wrinkles scrunched up upon sight of the undead. Whether this was from remembering his past deeds or just the offense to life these undead posed even his close followers didn¡¯t know.


    The pope turned around, looked to the burning city then to his people, he gave off a heavenly residence and projected his voice, ¡°Listen well my children, The darkness of old has come back--¡±


    Immediately explosions of discussion broke out in the infantry ranks interrupting him.


    An archbishop standing closest to the pope noticed the popes face twitching for a moment, but wisely chose to pretend he never saw it. The pope raised his hands and increased his brightness and volume, ¡°WORRY not my children, for I have been preparing you for this, our darkest hour. Our house of god may be temporarily destroyed and your connection to god severed, BUT, remember god doesn¡¯t challenge us in ways we cannot overcome with FAITH. GOD IS STILL WITH US WEATHER WE CAN FEEL HIM INTIMATELY OR NOT. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR FOR DEATH IS ALSO TEMPORARY FOR THOSE WHO GIVE THEIR UNDYING FAITH TO GOD!! IF THEY REFUSE TO COME TO US THAN WE WILL BRING GODS WRAITH TO THEM, OPEN THE GATES AND SHOW YOUR LOVE AND DEVOTION FOR THE ONLY TRUE GOD!!¡±


    he was met with a roar of approval from the masses below as they struggled to open the gates and show their devotion. The pope turned around to his subordinates, ¡°I¡¯m off to do gods work¡± he said as usual before starting down the steps.


    An archbishop quickly called out to him before the pope was out of view, ¡°Your holiness were can we find you if the nee--¡±


    an elbow sharply jabbed him in the side interrupting him, he looked to his side and saw the meaningful stare of another archbishop and promptly shut up. Another whispered to him, I¡¯m sure all the saintess¡¯ are worried about their family''s in the slums so he¡¯s just going to comfort them¡±, earning that man a pointed glare.


    Someone asked, ¡°how many of them did we save¡±


    ¡°sadly not many, there were more important things the water mages had to do¡±


    ¡°that''s unacceptable, who was in charge of bringing their families into the noble wards¡±


    ¡°s-sir many of those people had the slums stench ingrained so deeply into their bones that they could never pass off as a noble even if their lives depended on it¡±


    ¡°then what is his holiness supposed to say to appease his saintess¡¯ now¡±


    One of the men looked around and saw nobody nearby, he leaned in and with a smile that wasn¡¯t a smile and said, ¡°it was gods plan¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    On the open field.


    Soldiers and knights alike half marched half ran towards the undead, their priest commanders tried to get the army into order, however, the popes earlier speech had the men riled up and practically frothing at the mouth. With little luck getting the soldiers into a proper formation they instead focused on buffing the front-line.


    This is where the problems started, without the gods aid most of their spells either didn¡¯t work or were painfully underpowered. The soldiers themselves had a basic grasp of light magic, but that grasp was so flimsy that it wasn¡¯t worth mentioning without any buffs.


    Suddenly the previously still undead acted, the front line dropped face first into the ground revealing a firing line of crossbows behind. The charging soldiers didn¡¯t have time to react before bolts tore through their ranks.


    Then those undead that had fired kneel-ed down allowing another revealed line to fire. The first volley was demoralizing for a moment before they realized the enemy had to reload, the second volley crushed any second wind, turning a rush to be first into the throng of enemies into a desperate dash to close the distance before more bolts came flying.


    Luckily there wasn¡¯t another line ready to fire, but the first line were loaded and released a third volley into the oncoming army.


    People tripping over soldiers cut down by bolts slowed the charge considerably, and the still prone front-line slowed down the charge even more, however, it wasn¡¯t enough as more than half the second line didn¡¯t get to let loose another shot before being overrun.


    A mild cheer rose after they managed to crush the undead from the might of sheer numbers, shouting from behind caught the leaders attention and they saw that several such undead groups were coming from the other side of the city, orders were immediately set out to get to the city walls. Even if they couldn¡¯t fight from them they could still have a safe wall to their backs to stop themselves from being surrounded. Several of the leading priests were worried the men would still ignore orders, but the high casualty rate for killing such a small force had calmed the men down.


    Just as the soldiers prepared for a swift march back to the gates holes opened up around the army. Most were only a meter or so wide, but there were hundreds of them. Ants holding crystals and flasks flooded out onto the flat plane along with a few other creatures which flew into the air.


    Priests cursed with their path of retreat now cut off and gave orders for a desperate push to the city before they were completely overrun.


    The priests were the first to die, their attention was on the approaching swarm rather than the inconsequential birds that killed them. With wingspan of only a foot across the crystal carrying birds were easily able to infiltrate the enemy ranks, they just simply flew down next to the white robed priests and crushed their tiny mana crystals with enhanced talons.


    The explosions from the smaller mana crystals wasn¡¯t as devastating. They only killed things within a couple feet, but that was enough when they were practically sitting on their targets head.


    Before anyone could figure out what happened another wave of birds flew overhead, higher this time. Then dropped capsules that soon spewed out billowing smoke in all directions. Soldiers hastily grabbed for their antidotes and downed them. Meanwhile, the few surviving priests voices were drowned out by the first explosions as they tried to tell everyone that the gas wasn¡¯t poisonous.


    No-one could see anything more than a few feet in front of them. Explosions caused the earth to violently tremor making it harder to stand straight and impossible to hear. Panic ensued and any semblance of order vanished as people scattered into whatever direction they thought the city was in.


    Even still they were still a considerably large force so they were quickly pushing the ants back faster than they could come out of their holes. Vials of poison were broken in an attempt to slow down the army further, but in an open field most of the poison dispersed or wasn¡¯t in contact with the soldiers long enough to overpower their antidotes.


    Gradually the smoke cleared and the soldiers who had run in the wrong direction corrected course. Although most of these men were picked off by the faster ants. The explosions slowly decreased in frequency until they were practically not existent. And the poison was all but used and or useless.


    The army was going to make it to the gates before the other undead groups could surround them.


    Earlier in an underground tunnel.


    Lucifer focused on his domain and after several seconds summoned a large bird. How this brown giant hawk counted as a demon that he could summon Lucifer didn¡¯t know, but he couldn¡¯t care either. He was more focused on the effort required to summon the beast.


    He could feel the lag between when he tried to activate a magic and when it would come into effect. He rightly assumed it had something to do with the distance involved between the spell and his core.


    After casting a strange magic on the bird he sighed and his body slumped onto the cold floor dead. He would have needed a new one soon anyway because it was slowly degrading and he couldn¡¯t figure out how to stop it, but that didn¡¯t stop him from finding it annoying that he would have to find and reconfigure a new body.


    With that in mind he stretched his new wings and got a feel for flying like a bird. It was instinctual for his new feathery body and only took him ten minutes to get into the air. By 30 minutes he was quite proficient although he wouldn¡¯t be a very successful hunter yet, but all he needed was the birds eye view.


    Presently above the battlefield.


    Lucifer saw the retreating army and it was fairly obvious that most of them would make it inside the gates before the undead caught up. He didn¡¯t have many cards left to play because he thought the initial barrage would be more effective, especially the poison in particular.


    With only a few birds left in reserve in case the man with the big hat showed up Lucifer forced to think quickly, this many soldiers cannot be allowed to leave the battlefield alive.


    Suddenly an idea struck him and he quickly sent a telepathic message to his birds, they got the message in changed direction towards the gate along with Lucifer much higher above.


    ¡°OPEN THE GATES!!¡± yelled someone manning the walls. Lucifer made a few adjustments to the birds orders and had them fly directly into the gate mechanism building.


    The wooden building shook violently and the boards acting as windows were blasted out.


    ¡°WHAT IN GODS NAME HAPPENED IN THERE¡± yelled the same man from earlier, he then sent someone to check. Even from hundreds of meters up Lucifer could see the palatable nervousness exhibited by the man as the army got closer and the gates weren¡¯t opening.


    ¡°the gate mechanism is broken sir¡± reported the soldier that entered the gate mechanism building.


    ¡°THEN OPEN IT MANUALLY¡± he roared.


    Every able body was sent to the gate to push it open from the inside, however, the gate was made long ago and then refitted with heavy armor which even the recently installed mechanisms had trouble moving, so the few men left to defend the walls were painfully slow in opening the gates.

 131

    The gates slowly opened and the army started to funnel into the city. Waves of undead crashed against the retreating army. Lucifer ordered the undead to be more aggressive and try to push the men back or into a panic. If too many soldiers tried to force their way through the opening outward facing gates then the push of bodies would lock the gate shut.


    However, it seemed that those close enough to the gate felt secure in the knowledge that it would take quite some time before the undead could get to them. There was a push coming from the mid-ground between the men in combat with the undead and those waiting to enter the gate. But enough soldiers kept a cool head that it didn¡¯t matter.


    Lucifer sent the last of his bird bombs onto the gate people opening the gates. He figured the reinforced gate wouldn¡¯t be damaged by such small explosives so he could only target the men operating it, but this too had little effect. Any gap was quickly filled.


    Ten long minutes later the survivors were inside the city. Again the outward facing gates proved a problem. It would require men on the other side to push it close leaving them to play with the undead hoard. Lucifer used this chance to send undead into the gates, but the undead could only steam into an encirclement of spears and blades.


    After losing a few hundred undead this way Lucifer called back his undead and had them drag any bodies they could on the way. He had lost thousands of undead, however, the enemy duchy had lost almost a third of its army and would quickly refill the ranks.


    Several days passed and the undead encirclement continued. The defenders moral was near zero, not only did their attack fail miserably, but they saw no decidable drop in the undead numbers afterward. Food shortages were becoming a big enough problem that riots were a nightly coinsurance. Their already thin spread force was further spread from having to quell the riots.


    Martial law was enforced soon after. No-one was to be seen outside after sunset. Nobles and soldiers excluded of course. However, this did little to stop the riots, it only reduced the frequency, but this had more to do with their prisons being full of the agitators and worst rioters than the law itself.


    Then just as the defenders were getting a handle on the situation a plague spread throughout the city. Priests were immediately dispatched to find the cause and cure the infected. However, few priests had the ability to cast cure magic without the cathedral. So they started quarantining the infected. Which in turn caused more riots.


    It didn¡¯t take them long to find the cause of the plague. Their wells were poisoned during the underground attack. Which made the wells the first priority to check when the sickness appeared, but instead of finding a simple poison in the well that they could cure alchemically like last time, they found undead birds without feathers and covered in pus leaking lumps.


    Corpses piled up and the cities leaders ordered for all bodies to be cremated, lest they become undead too.


    While the leaders were preoccupied with that thousands of residents were escaping the city. They used the tunnels the previous attackers used to escape the city, often led by ¡®guides¡¯ that popped up from who knows where.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Two weeks since the attacks started the city was practically empty. Almost half of the residential district had burnt down and only a few residents remained. This helped with the food shortage now that there were fewer mouths to feed. Far fewer mouths, so much so that it became apparent to higher-ups that soldiers were fleeing the city with the civilians. Deaths from the plague were massively over-reported amongst the soldiers and men marked as dead simply left with civilian groups.


    The pope paced back and forth under the worried gazes of his ¡®saintesses¡¯, his hands clenching and forcefully relaxed sporadically. A knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts long enough for him to receive more bad news. ¡°the civilians are back--¡± said the messenger.


    ¡°wonderful¡± beamed the pope, but before he could thank god the messenger spoke again.


    ¡°your holiness the civilians are back as undead¡± he finished.


    ¡­


    Lucifer was once again flying above the city in the body of a hawk, or an eagle he couldn¡¯t tell. The city was about to fall after two weeks of careful planning. He initially wanted to starve out the city for a month or so, however, the defender''s reckless charge allowed him to move his plans along.


    He could have sent the undead through the underground tunnels on the first day, but with the ensuing chaos and still dangerous army, he doubted he would be able to kill everything like that. Instead, he attacked the cities infrastructure, their food, and water, then he further spread chaos with disease.


    The cities inhabitants were more than willing to leave the city at this point through ¡®his secret tunnels¡¯. And he was more than willing to offer his people as ¡®guides¡¯ for that purpose. As an added bonus almost a third of the duchies remaining forces used said guides too, further weakening the city.


    Now he just watched from above as the city flood with undead, most of the defenders were simply crushed under the tide of undead. There were some pockets of resistance around the city, however, Lucifer had been busy these last two weeks. A network of hidden tunnels akin to a labyrinth now set firmly under his control just below the defender''s feet.


    most pockets of resistance had giant ants dig through the thin flooring beneath them and were quickly overwhelmed. The only remaining ones would either fall to the hoard of undead eventually or Lucifer would intervene personally.


    Lucifer took note of the last survivor''s locations and made a mental check to, 1 come back later to make sure there were no survivors, and 2 scout better next time so he wouldn¡¯t miss these groups and not have a ready-made tunnel underneath them.


    With that taken care of Lucifer turned his attention to the castle, or what was considered a castle in this city. It looked more like a walled church than a castle and it was faring better than the rest of the city.


    Heavily armored knights protected the church from the undead hoard with shining golden swords, paladins Lucifer assumed. There were a hundred of them at most, but they were killing more undead than the army did. The undead seemed to become sluggish the moment they got close to the paladins and were promptly cut down. Worst of all the paladins didn¡¯t seem to be tiring at all.


    ¡®no matter¡¯ thought Lucifer, ¡®I¡¯ve planned for far fiercer resistance than this¡¯. He pulled his undead back several hundred meters away from the church. Then left his avian body and went underground. After a few moments, he arrived in a large chamber.


    There was nothing inside but empty space around the size of the church. Lucifer made a portal and ants carrying mana crystals poured through, this is why he waited at least two weeks. So he could use two weeks worth of explosives.


    He lined the roof with the explosives, then jumped back into his bird and flew above to watch the show.


    Then just like last time he blew up the enemy stronghold. The earth shook and the shock-wave threw Lucifer out of the sky. By the time Lucifer was able to get eyes back on the church, there was no church to see.


    A few paladins managed to pull themselves out of the rubble, but they were heavily injured and were quickly overwhelmed by undead and ants.


    The moment Lucifer got back to the dungeon he ¡®obtained¡¯ a new body and modified it to his liking.


    He had thought about sending the undead to clear up the rest of the duchy, but he doubted the undead could understand the idea of borders much less follow complex orders, like kill everyone in this duchy but don¡¯t go into the neighboring duchy and kill everything.


    So he ordered the newly sub-servant duchy to kill every living thing in the duchy for him. This would both save him the trouble and show them what happened to those who opposed him.


    Now he had other things to do, awarding loyal followers was top of the list.

 132

    Lucifer could swear that he was starting to feel a little tired but brushed it off. Below him, Ellora and his subordinates kneeled. Waiting for the rewards he promised them.


    Ellora practically radiated excitement and Lucifer was almost tempted to make her wait for fun, however, he had better things to do so he started, ¡°I will begin with Ellora, for she was the first of you with me. You asked me for a stronger body. Lay down and I will begin¡±


    Ellora quickly laid flat noticeably less excited, ¡®perhaps she thinks it will hurt¡¯ Lucifer thought before beginning. He stepped down and placed his palm on her chest, ¡®hmm this could be improved¡¯


    Pure mana and life energy flowed into her body and her consciousness was immediately cut. She was right, it is painful, however, not if your unconscious.


    The surrounding men gasped as Ellora¡¯s body slowly deflated, her once large amazonian frame condensed. Her muscles went from oversized to toned in a matter of minutes as her body shrunk. What they didn¡¯t know was that she wasn¡¯t getting weaker, instead, her body was becoming more efficient.


    She didn¡¯t lose much height although she was still taller than Selenia who could peek over most men¡¯s heads. Some things got bigger while most things got smaller, all Lucifer didn¡¯t go too far, just slightly larger than Selenia''s, as a jab at her and for amusement purposes.


    He largely left her face alone, she was rather beautiful once her head wasn¡¯t on a chunky veined neck and he took away all the scars. Although he did tweak a few things here and there, he was sure she wouldn¡¯t mind. Not that it mattered because she was his anyway.


    Lucifer let out a breath he didn¡¯t know he was holding and stood up appreciating his own work, he could hear someone gulp behind him and he realized he may have gotten too absorbed in his work.


    ¡°ahem,¡± he cleared his throat before starting, ¡°those who wanted to become my dungeon knights, I will have you wait for your improvements at the end, as for the man who wanted to return to his village, I¡¯ve thought about that for some time and have decided. First I will improve your body, although the changed won¡¯t be as extreme as hers, secondly I hear that villages get attacked by low-level monsters occasionally, so I will make a golem to protect said village, and lastly, as a means to spread my benevolence, I will personally go to that village and make the lands more fertile¡±


    Done with his speech he began work on an excited future farmer. This time it didn¡¯t take long to complete, he improved the body''s overall performance to above human, almost guaranteeing a long and healthy life. A few improvements to his face to make getting a good wife easier. And that was all.


    ¡°next¡± he simply said and got to work on the fisherman. The body modification for this man was even simpler, a weakened mark of the dungeon so he could fish here in peace, a healthy body that was only slightly stronger than he originally was, and some improvements to his face, because why not.


    The merchant was given a more full dungeon mark so he could travel around the dungeon freely as long as he didn¡¯t touch anything, a healthy and attractive body for merchant purposes. And a higher than average dose of life energy in hope that Lucifer would be dealing with him for a long time. Lastly a shop in the dungeon at the entrance.


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    Lucifer turned towards the future adventurer and the man quickly said, ¡°sir the attribute I want is speed¡± Lucifer raised a brow and the man continued, ¡°strong people die from bows, but fast people live the longest¡±


    ¡°true¡± Lucifer agreed, ¡°then fast you shall be¡±. This modification took longer than expected, mainly because Lucifer always modified his bodies to be strong so he had little experience in this type of modification.


    He made the man''s bones stronger but lighter, got rid of most body fat making the man look like a certain famous martial artist. Made his muscles more efficient and smaller as he did with Ellora. Extensively improved the man''s range of movement in all joints.


    Then as an experiment, he tried binding wind element into the man''s body, something he had only tried on monsters so far. The man should have a lighter step and be able to cast very basic wind magic instinctually, although he only made the modification minor, he wasn¡¯t sure what would happen to a human if he tried to change the balance of the body to any major degree.


    Lucifer finished with some slight modifications to the face then breathed a sigh of relief, it took far more effort to make so many diverse modifications than he thought.


    He stood up stretched out and looked towards people obviously eager to become dungeon knights. Lucifer asked them, ¡°I am going to ask you one more time, are you absolutely sure you want to become a dungeon knight, once you do there will be no turning back until you either you have offered a truly great meritorious service to me, or I¡¯ve decided that you have served long enough. Long enough being undecided by me currently.


    You will likely die in my service and will lose all freedom in it, your actions and very thoughts will be mine. So I ask for the last time, is this what you want¡±


    The response Lucifer received was less eager now but was still a yes from all those involved. So he began.


    This time the enhancements were easier, more complicated but easier because he had done them a dozen times before on his own body.


    Massively enhanced muscles, even without using mana they would be strong enough to kill most enemies through brute force.


    Hardened skin, although a blade would still be able to penetrate it will make bladed weapons far less effective.


    Enhanced mana pathways, made both stronger and wider so they can use practically their whole mana reserve in a single attack.


    Larger mana pool, useful for everything, however, the large changes to the bodies magical state would mean that they would have to effectively train again from scratch.


    Enhanced bone structure, added bone to sections where it normally isn¡¯t to improve survivability, ribs lose some of their flexibility when they form a solid bone mass.


    Tougher and stronger tendons to take the absurd forces their bodies can now exert.


    Metal infused bones.


    Dampened pain receptors. Along with a few modifications to the brain. Some of which he will keep to himself.


    A full dungeon mark so they can effectively do what they want in the dungeon.


    The tightest soul bond Lucifer can create.


    Lucifer wanted to start experimenting with different types of mana enhancements but held off for the moment, he has the prisoners Ellora designates as ¡®dead¡¯ for that. Instead, he just finished with a couple of useful minor enhancements and gave them a set of enchanted armor. The armor was made of one of the better steels Rick made for him.


    After he finished and had them line up he was almost tempted to rename them to ¡®iron warriors¡¯, but instead said, ¡°you are now my dungeon knights, I have no immediate concerns at the moment so go patrol the dungeon¡±


    A dungeon knight raised his arm up straight, ¡°Sir, what are we patrolling for-- I mean what rules are we enforcing¡±


    Lucifer chuckled to himself, ¡°first off if you''re going to salute then chose a different way, and as for the reason your patrolling, I hadn¡¯t really thought about it other than to be seen.¡±, ¡°hmm¡± he hummed out loud, ¡°first off no fires, I¡¯m tired of my dungeon almost burning down, there were three major fires since I revealed myself and I''ve had to resort to using my poison ventilation system as a fire represent system¡±


    ¡°and if we see someone with a fire¡± one of them asked.


    Lucifer replied, ¡°kill them, although you can leave torches alone and campfires I will leave up to your discretion. Second rule, no war parties. I¡¯m tired of groups of forty or so bulldozing through my dungeon and leaving nothing behind for the ¡®smaller and more killable parties. Lucky likes to mess with them as a challenge but I just find it boring¡±


    ¡°sir the punishment is...¡±


    Lucifer answered casually, ¡°death again, if your not confident you can take them alone you can use your helmets to talk to your brothers. Most people who join war parties are weak individually so three or four of you should be able to kill them all¡±


    ¡°do we warn them, sir¡±


    ¡°no, I¡¯ll have one of you put a sign up in the dungeon entrance. Also another rule, you can¡¯t use boombsticks unless I give permission, although this may change at a later point¡±


    Ever since Lucifer ¡®reveal¡¯ people have been ¡®testing¡¯ him and his patience. Some just wanted to get in contact with him, others wanted to find out exactly where the line was, probably so they could toe it for the most benefits. But it was time for Lucifer to start making changes to the city and he would be sure to send these little testers a message.

 133

    With the enhancements done Lucifer decided to relax for the day. He strolled through the dungeon, saw a group calling out to the dungeon in hopes of getting in contact with it, who he ignored. He passed by another group who gave him odd looks, probably because of his massive frame and the fact he was alone.


    He came upon a secret door and promptly entered. Inside was the arcane Universities secret cultivation room. There were a few old men wearing mage robes awkwardly avoiding eye contact with him as they picked plants, but he ignored their presence and instead entered another room.


    Lucifer entered Ahri¡¯s room unannounced and found her making potions, he hadn¡¯t seen her do that in quite some time, ¡®perhaps¡¯ he thought, ¡®the effects have lessened and shes calmer now¡¯. Her movements were fluid and practiced, every action served a specific purpose with efficiency in mind, although Lucifer could swear that she was doing little flourishes now and then.


    Smoke was steadily rising from her concoction but was strangely staying away from her and dissipating into a hole in the roof. Upon closer inspection, Lucifer noticed a magical barrier flickering into existence whenever her gloved hands moved.


    He switched to mana sight and saw a barrier between her and the alchemy equipment, it seemed to stop any fumes, but allowed her to move through it just fine.


    Ahri added ground up powder to the mix sending sparks everywhere and outlining the existence of the barrier. Then turned around to see her visitor. ¡°Ah, Lucifer, weren¡¯t you supposed to be fighting the duchies¡±


    Lucifer said, ¡°I finished my part, the rest is up to Arthus¡±


    ¡°so what brings you to my lab,¡± she asked nervously.


    ¡°well I was going to have some fun, maybe impregnate you, but it seems like your child problem is solved already,¡± said Lucifer as he gestured to a corner of the room where a little girl and a fairy were playing.


    Ahri panicked, ¡°it''s not solved, not solved at al--¡±


    ¡°so who is the girl¡± Lucifer interrupted.


    ¡°I¡¯m Lucy¡± was called out from the corner of the room, then ¡°I¡¯m Lucky¡± was called out shortly after, but Lucifer ignored it.


    Ahri was apparently mute again so Lucifer turned around to leave, ¡°w-wait, she Lucy--¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± said Lucifer.


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    ...¡± she is a beastman girl that was sent to our prison¡±


    ¡°so she was on death row and sent to a dungeon no less, what did she do¡± Lucifer asked.


    ¡°I SAID SOMEONE STINKS¡± called out Lucy.


    Lucifer raised a brow and Ahri explained, ¡°she¡¯s a dog type beastman and has a sensitive nose, so when a foul noble went past and she threw up he took offense to the statement¡±


    Lucifer said, ¡°she doesn¡¯t look like a beastmen to me¡±.


    Ahri suddenly looked down said through gritted teeth, ¡°they cut off her ears and tail, they said they were the reason the girl acted so uncultured and needed to be removed to cure her¡±


    Lucifer walked over to the suddenly sad looking girl and rubbed her head, he could feel small nubs where her animal ears used to be and could feel the girl cringing away from his touch. Unconcerned with her actions he grabbed her head, his over-sized palm completely covering her head. Then started pumping life energy into the wounded areas.


    Although not enough to make her evolve like Ahri, (although Lucifer wasn¡¯t sure if whatever dog species she was could evolve like the fox people), it still gradually regrew her ears and tail.


    After squirming in his grasp for several minutes and suddenly being let go Lucy grabbed her head in reflex. When her hands touched her new ears and they switched in response she was stunned. Moments later she turned around to a rhythmic thumping behind her and saw her tail wagging happily behind her.


    Her first response when she got out of her daze was to jump on Lucifer, although with their height difference she only made it to his waist after jumping off of a bed.


    Lucifer peeled off the clingy girl, grabbed the emotional Ahri and teleported them to his bedroom.


    Ahri almost immediately looked embarrassed, although noticeably less than the first time she saw the spinning bed and mirrors on the walls, but that quickly turned to surprise when she noticed the bed was already occupied.


    Lucifer said, ¡°and what are you doing here¡±


    The woman on the bed suddenly jumped up into a combat stance and felt around for a weapon of some sort, but her sword was sitting in the corner of the room. ¡°Ellora,¡± Ahri asked with notable confusion at the now thin and curvy woman.


    Ellora relaxed her guard and fixed her hair, ¡°that''s my name¡± she said.


    Lucifer explained to the confused foxgirl, ¡°she became mine so I remade her body to be stronger¡±


    Ahri snapped back, ¡°so that''s why you haven''t been seeing me much lately¡± Then pointedly added, ¡°stronger, right, and those boobs are for combat purposes I take it¡±


    Lucifer laughed, ¡°first off my mine I mean she¡¯s my servant and I haven¡¯t slept with her, secondly if I''m going to remake a woman I¡¯m not going to make her ugly, thirdly I thought you didn¡¯t care how many women I had, wasn¡¯t that a beastmen custom or something¡±


    Ellora chimed in, ¡°so you didn¡¯t make my body this way so you could have your way with me¡±


    ¡°happy coincidence,¡± said Lucifer.


    Ahri replied, ¡°it is a custom of my people for powerful men to have many wives, but it''s not the same as going behind my back¡±


    Lucifer rolled his eyes, ¡°whatever, I¡¯m going to do whatever I please, and that means going with whichever woman is the least trouble. So how about it Ellora¡±


    Ellora immediately replied, ¡°sure¡±


    Lucifer got onto the bed with Ellora and said, ¡°your welcome to join, if not there is the door¡±


    Several hours later.


    An exhausted foxgirl laid on one side of the bed practically comatose, while Ellora who fared better with her enhanced body laid on Lucifer chest. ¡°how did you even find this place¡± asked Lucifer.


    Ellora answered, ¡°Selenia showed me¡±


    ¡° I didn¡¯t know she knew of this place¡± Lucifer chuckled


    ¡°yes she was rather interested in this little room hehe¡± Ellora laughed.


    ¡°so how did she take it,¡± asked Lucifer before they shared a knowing look.


    ¡°she stared at my boobs for almost half a minute¡± Ellora laughed


    Lucifer grinned, ¡°damn I missed it¡±


    out of the blue Ellora asked, ¡°so when are you going to bring her into this little room¡±


    Lucifer just shrugged, ¡°this is the kind of place you invite yourself¡±


    ¡°like I did,¡± Ellora said.


    ¡°yes, just like you did¡± Lucifer confirmed.


    ¡°so should I tell her,¡± asked Ellora.


    ¡°no¡± came from the other side of the bed.


    Lucifer chuckled, ¡°leave her to her own devices¡±


    ¡°what if she never invites herself,¡± Ellora said.


    Lucifer replied, ¡°I don¡¯t mind either way, I do have two beautiful women to myself you know¡±


    Ahri and Ellora blushed ever so slightly as Lucifer quietly added, ¡®besides, I could just summon a succubus whenever I want¡¯, which both girls weren¡¯t supposed to hear, but Ahri''s ears twitched.

 134

    Inside morning-star cities adventurer guild.


    The building was simple in design, just a rectangular wooden box two stories tall, the front and smallest section was for the their customers and adventurers, the back was for monster dismantling and storage while the upper floor was long term storage, the guild staff living and a reasonably sized room for the guild master.


    Everything was made from a dark wood, almost black, that was surprisingly sturdy which most people assumed was somehow enchanted or at least refined by the mages guild.


    Currently the entire reception room was full of adventurers, they were throwing questions by the dozen towards the flustered receptionist, but she stayed silent as she waited for the guild-master to arrive.


    Earlier inside the dungeon.


    A group of adventurers silently got into positions, a mage was hidden under some sort of camoflaged box, an archer sat high in the canopy with his bow at the ready and arrows sticking in the trunk next to him for fast access.


    Below a warrior hidden by a brush gave a signal to another man standing in the center of a small clearing. The man carefully stepped towards a pile of wood and threw his torch onto it from what he thought a safe distance.


    The torch didn¡¯t even make it to the woodpile before the fumes caught alight and sent a fireball out engulfing the man. Although it didn¡¯t kill him it did remove his eyebrows and most of the hair on top of his head.


    The warrior in the bush strained hard to not laugh out loud at the ridiculous appearance of the singed man, but he was forced to let out a chuckle when he heard the archers laughing from here, he always wondered how good the archers eyesight really was, and considering he could clearly see the laughable features of the back-lit singed man they must be quite amazing.


    The singed man cursed his leader under his breath, of course it had to be him that tested the new accelerate from that crazy alchemist. Although he was partially to blame because, ¡°light it with a hundred foot pole if you can¡± wasn¡¯t a good enough warning for him to not almost blow himself up.


    Now he waited, and he didn¡¯t have to wait long. A giant of a man clad entirely in black plate came into view. The warriors hands slightly shook around his war-picks handle. This wasn¡¯t as good an idea as he thought now that he saw his target up close.


    The giants axe was taller than he was and its head looked like it weighed more than he could ever hope to block. The giant shoved the axe off of his shoulder and held it with both hands then simply said, ¡°no fires¡±.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    The warrior would swear that he could feel the ground tremble with every step the giant took towards him. Then the giant raised his axe and broke into a run, the warrios will to fight instantly broke as he retreated behind a tree.


    ¡°NOW!¡± someone called.


    ¡°okay¡± a deep voice casually replied.


    ¡°WHA--¡± Thump, the warrior heard his leaders words cut short along with a loud noise followed by a small shock-wave through the ground. ¡®what happened¡¯ he thought, ¡®the mage doesn¡¯t know a spell like that does he?¡¯. Then several things sounded and he guessed that 1. those were arrows uselessly bouncing off the giants armor and he would have to say ¡°I told you so¡± to the archer. And 2. the giant was still alive after whatever spell the mage used.


    He took a breath and focused, the familiar feeling of a life and death battle filled him and he spun around the tree with a growl. What he saw almost took the wind out of him, the still burning woodpile illuminated a bloody bush were his leader was hiding, the giants axe was dripping blood. It was holding up the mage by the throat with one hand, and the only damage he could see was a layer of soot on the already black armor around the helmet and chest area.


    The mage desperately tried to chant a spell, but his throat was closed and he was slowly dying, he switched to hand sings instead. It wasn¡¯t as efficient but could still work. However, the giant dropped his axe and grabbed both the mans hands in one of his own then clenched. A muffled scream escaped the mages lips and as if annoyed by the sound the giant squeezed both his hands harder.


    The giant wasn¡¯t facing him, this was his only chance, the warrior mustered his courage and as silently as he could he ran at the giant. Although it wasn¡¯t silent enough because the giant was turning towards him, he was wearing leather boots with soft fur strapped to the outside, how could such a monster hear him while moving around in full plate armor.


    Everything was in slow motion for the warrior, he put everything into his last leap towards the giant before he could fully turn around, his war-pick went up. His battle-cry sounded out. Then his weapon swung down.


    The giant saw the incoming weapon that was obviously designed to pierce armor and just did what came naturally, he reached out with his hand, and grabbed the pickaxes shaft. This time both of them were surprised. The warrior from the giants monstrous strength that easily grabbed his weapon, and the giant from how weak the warrior was.


    A crack sounded as both the pickaxes shaft splintered and the mages spine disintegrated. The giant dropped the dead mage and grabbed at the warrior, who quickly abandoned his weapon to avoid the grab. He didn¡¯t want to end up like the mage. Instead he turned around and ran.


    Although he didn¡¯t make it three steps before the giant tackled him and crushed the comparatively fragile warrior underneath him. Bones cracked and this time a full scream sounded out, only to be cut short but a crushing punch to the back of the head that rendered the warriors head into meat paste.


    The giant stood up turned around to see what the warrior missed, another black clad giant, he was standing underneath a tree looking up, he saw what his companion was looking at with his enhanced sight, an archer cowing in the tree.


    He called out, ¡°aren''t you going to kill him¡±


    the companion replied, ¡°yes, but how do we get to him because climbing doesn¡¯t go well in this armor¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think the armor is the problem¡± he quipped back, ¡°you have an axe, hes in a tree, make it work¡±


    ¡°oh¡± the companion realized.


    A dozen powerful axe strikes later the tree which you couldn¡¯t get your arms around began to fall, along with a terrified scream, they followed the sound of something dragging and were surpised to find the archer alive, he was limping and dragged a mangled leg.


    The archer turned around and saw the two monsters and promptly jumped towards the nearest branch, but his leg was wounded. All he managed to do was further damage his leg and anger the giant with more screaming.


    ¡°you like trees¡± the companion said.


    ¡°he does¡± the giant answered then lifted his axe, ¡°perhaps because you like trees so much you can answer a question for me, if there isn¡¯t a bitch around to hear it and a tree falls, does it make a sound¡±


    ¡°AAAAAAAAAAAAA--¡±


    ¡°I guess that means a yes¡± the companion pondered while looking at the corpse.

 135

    In the guild reception room.


    The receptionist was still attempting to placate the crowd as they hurled questions at her one after another. Discontent was quickly rising, some thought the guild was in cahoots with the dungeon, which they only recently found out was sentient. This was something they would like to have been informed about.


    Others weren¡¯t happy with the information the guild provided for a while now, too many of their companions died to dangers they weren''t even aware of. Although this was hardly the fault of the guild, it had more to do with the complexity of the dungeon that made it almost impossible for the guild to tell them what to watch out for.


    You could only tell people so many times that strange glowing things tended to be as dangerous as they were rewarding, it didn¡¯t help that the danger came in many forms and was entirely unpredictable. So if you told them that a boar might come out of hiding and gore you then its just as likely that a tree would fall on your head.


    One the adventurers found out the cause they gave the little fairy the title, Morrigan, chooser of the slain. Perhaps such a title would make the unprepared think twice before going towards the light like moths to a flame.


    Now however no-one was complaining about the devious little imp and instead were questioning the guild about the new arrivals. Giant men in full black plate armor that carried great axes bigger than most men.


    Few of them talked when asked questions and all that anyone was able to learn was that these men were called ¡°dungeon knights¡±. But more importantly, these dungeon knights were extremely powerful and didn¡¯t think twice about killing anyone who broke the rules in the dungeon. What all these rules were nobody knew, but fires any larger than a torch seemed off limits. More than a few groups have witnessed their ferocity by now to risk a campfire or fire spell.


    another rule the adventurers knew, because the dungeon knights put up a sign on the entrance, was no large battle groups to enter the dungeon. What was considered large was unknown, miner groups seemed fine when they didn''t bring more guards than there were miners, but adventurers seemed to be more limited by their numbers. Thankfully this rule didn¡¯t warrant instant death like the fires, instead the dungeon knights simply said, ¡°are you aiming for the dungeon core with such a big group¡±, and the message was clear. Disburse or you will be considered an enemy.


    And lastly, a rule that was only a rumor at this point, powerful people shouldn¡¯t loiter on the lower floors. This was not a rule exactly, the dungeon knights wouldn¡¯t confirm its existence nor do they actively enforce it, but they do seem to watch such people far more closely, even going so far as to follow them around the dungeon for short periods of time.


    No this rule seemed to be enforced by the fairy adventurers called the Morrigan, powerful people seemed to be targeted by her schemes far more often, said schemes are also several times more dangerous and the rewards are questionable even if one succeeds. However, such a thing is nearly impossible to prove and anyone who has managed to talk to the little fairly only received the reply, ¡°teehee¡± before she fluttered away.


    The dungeon knights armor was also heavily enchanted by the dungeon itself, which quickly incited greed from many powerful people. They sent groups to capture these knights under the guise of justice. This was unsuccessful and further orders to kill said knights and bring back the armor have also proved unsuccessful.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    The moment a dungeon knight is attacked all the other knights come to its aid, ambushes prove impossible as no-one has successfully been able to sneak up on one, nor escape its notice. Poison was said to ¡°smell nice¡± and lead to the poisoner''s death. Magic was more effective than other means. A group of mages managed to restrain one with ice and earth, but the group was overrun before they could kill the dungeon knight. They could not even retrieve the mages bodies which held valuable items because they were just missing.


    What they didn¡¯t know was that the dungeon was collecting those bodies, then hired investigators to match the body to the group it belonged to. It was keeping score.


    These rules, the dungeons strangeness and its possible ties to the adventurer guild was all being called into question in the guild, by everyone at the same time and the receptionist had stopped bothering with placating the crowd. Instead she waited.


    She did not have to wait long before a door behind her flew open and crashed into the wall. A scared woman stepped through the threshold and it suddenly became silent. The woman looked left and right putting her heavily scarred face on full display.


    She stalked next to the receptionist, her manner of movement only able to be described in such a way, put one hand on her leather covered hip, and her other on the head of her belt sheathed hatchet. An indent went from her hip to opposite shoulder on her leather chestpeice, proof that she often carried a strung longbow. Or enough to cause a permanent crease in her leather armor which was said alot about her draw-strength.


    The complete silence when she entered the room was owing to her reputation. She was called Nymira, the first week she showed up to take over the guild she managed to earn the ire of one of the higher ranked adventurers. He was supposed to retire and take over the relativly new guild, however, she came out of nowhere and took the position form him.


    So naturally, he questioned her abilities which she promptly brushed off, he bugged her several more times until one day he woke up with an arrow stuck in the bed just below his crotch. This both terrified and infuriated him. He stormed the guild and found her explaining something to a newbie in front of the quest wall.


    He went to grab her shoulder and spin her around, however, before his hand even got close she spun around and grabbed his wrist. She was quite strong if his popping wrist was anything to go by. Now even more infuriated he enhanced his body to stop his wrist from being crushed and threw a punch.


    Nymira let go and darted around the man''s large frame, once the man spun back to make some distance she had already introduced the back of her hatched to his head. He fell down dazed and thought better of attacking her again for the moment. Instead, he would get her back the same way she did to him.


    Although those plans would come to naught as he couldn¡¯t find her home even after ¡°trying¡± and failing to follow her.


    Over the next few days, he found another arrow between his legs. Once again on his bed even when he thought he had made the security full proof, another time he was sitting at the bar drinking and when he stood up to leave he found his trousers pinned to the bar, he looked down and found an arrow. And the last time he was in the dungeon fighting a panther with his party when an arrow flew between his legs and nailed a tree. This time the arrow was far ¡°closer¡± and he promtly left the city. Rumors quickly spread, mostly by his former party members and the end result is this. A silent room.


    Nymira asked the receptionist ¡°what happened¡±


    ¡°U-umm, lets see, there was another dungeon knight indecent and these people want answers¡±


    ¡°to what¡± Nymira said.


    ¡°some think we are working for the dungeon¡­ others think we haven''t been forthcoming with our dungeon information¡­ umm, --¡±


    ¡°enough¡± Nymira interrupted, ¡°we are not in contact with the dungeon, many have tried and I don¡¯t know of anyone who was successful. And not being forthcoming with information, where do you think we get the information we give you, it''s from the FEW of you who are willing to tell us, so if you think you don¡¯t have enough information you only have yourselves to blame.¡±


    The adventures looked to each other for a moment before the ground suddenly started violently shaking and the sound of collapsing buildings sounded. The adventurers ran out of the building and Nymira vaulted the counter and followed.


    What she saw stunned her for several seconds. Several of the nobles mansions that were built just above the dungeon were missing, and in their place were two large buildings. One was round and the other was rectangular, both were made of dark dungeon stone and seemed as if the buildings were made of one solid piece of stone.


    The architecture was also unfamiliar to them, they both had large pillars surrounding the buildings which supported the roof and made a shaded area outside the buildings.

 136

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 137

    Although he didn¡¯t think much of it when it happened, the mental screech of emotions from Ellise was far different to all his subsequent boss¡¯s messages. Although they could send basic messages, She could send practically anything she wanted by now, Lucifer thought that Ellise just had more practice because she was around longer, however, Kuro¡¯s messages haven''t improved in quality since her creation.


    So the problem of a telepathic creature was solved, he would just copy her which was far cheaper than and easier than making something from scratch. Although she was still a powerful boss, so the idea of her being cheap was doubtful, even if it was essentially copy-pasting. Still, Lucifer had somewhere to start.


    He left the lab and soon entered Ellis¡¯s chamber, she greeted him with a happy screech and a flood of images. They didn¡¯t help much but he assumed they meant she was happy because they were images of things that ants liked. There was a picture of his core mixed in a few times too.


    Lucifer smiled and casually said, ¡°do you want to help me more¡±


    He received another half screech before Ellise caught herself and answered with language instead, ¡°I would be happy to master¡±. Her mouth wasn''t suited for magic, but she didn¡¯t seem to have a problem sending the words directly to him. He initially thought she did this through the link, but it was far clearer when he was in a humanoid body and closer. Both of which wouldn¡¯t change if it was through the link.


    He quickly started, after scanning her body with his dungeon sense he began creating a copy of her. The lack of a soul was quickly fixed with a sacrificial ant which happily took over the new body.


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    Thus a new ant queen was born, and it took entirely too much mana. But he wasn¡¯t done, the new queen''s telepathic abilities weren''t good enough, so after some experimenting, he found the organ responsible for the ability. He pumped life energy and mana into the organ and its size rapidly increased.


    Only after running low on mana did he stop. The result was a massive round body that was 90% brain, its head was several meters round and occasionally pulsated making the air in the room twist and curl. Lucifer thought that was interesting and threw a rock into the twisted air, the rock offered no resistance and twisted along with the air as it passed through. Then it disintegrated when it left the affected area.


    ¡®I have to give myself telekinetic abilities at some point¡¯ Lucifer thought. It seemed as if it wasn¡¯t twisting the air but reality itself, or at least space which was an interesting ability. This gave him other ideas. He can use his body freely in the presence of others, unlike his dungeon powers which are restricted by life. So if he gave his body a natural affinity for magic then his body could use it without impairment. Perhaps he should ask Ahri how she casts magic at some point.


    Lucifer began testing with the creature, it could enter the minds of various animals and one unlucky human who became a brain-dead vegetable. It needed practice to be more subtle. He created several more of the mysterious organ and implanted it into various animals. Which was easier when you could literally pump life into a creature as you cut it open. Or just create the creature around the organ and connected everything up.


    It took some time, but he ended up with several cheap creatures he could copy. Breeding experiments were underway to see if they retained the modifications through generations, but he was hopeful because the ants with acid glands were now being born instead of created by him.


    So far there was a crow, its head was slightly larger than normal, but you wouldn¡¯t notice unless you closely examined it. The squirrel-like creature had the same fault, along with the cat, wolf, fly, and owl. Although that''s just what Lucifer called them because of their similarities to Earths counterparts. For example, his owl was larger and had far larger talons, but it still had most of the features of a normal owl. Almost silent flight, keen night vision, good locational hearing etc.


    Now he just had to make copies for the new creature to practice connecting to. A week later he named the new boss ¡°hive mind¡± because it was easy to remember, which had now become proficient in connecting to its little spies. Although it couldn¡¯t take in information from all the creatures in its control, it could quickly switch between them. So he sent all his little spies out into the city, and made sure to have them watch a few specific people.

 138

    A week later in a ball held by the cities nobles.


    ¡°you are quite the brave one aren¡¯t you¡± said someone unfamiliar. The young noble stood from his chair in the quietest corner of the room.


    His butler leaned in and quietly informed him, ¡°Sir D¡¯ellinoris was being quite friendly to this person, he even took the trouble to introduce him to other powerful people¡±.


    The noble replied to the stranger by instinct, ¡°Hello friend, I don¡¯t believe we have met, I¡¯m Robert Sefron¡±


    ¡­


    The stranger did not reply as a noble would have, instead, he just smiled. With growing confusion Robert thought, ¡®perhaps we have already met and I¡¯ve forgotten his name¡¯. he glanced at his butler for help, but it seems he doesn¡¯t know either.


    The silence continued. Robert began somewhat awkwardly. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that I can¡¯t recall your name friend, would you kindly remind me¡±


    ¡°I am Abaddon and have far too many titles to speak of, so excuse me if I skip that part of introductions¡± the man finally answered with the same smile.


    Robert thought, ¡®so a noble from far away, but he is friendly with the ever-grouchy city lord, so he must be powerful. Someone from the Magedom, no he isn¡¯t wearing mage robes. Perhaps from the duchies, but they are being conquered and the only one powerf-- he must be from Denrigh, they are the only ones who have allied with us¡¯ (digger Duchy)


    The wheels in Roberts mind quickly spun. This new city was now the closest city to the former border, and considering the war, the sudden appearance of a Denrigh noble would have to be some sort of delegation, probably to discuss the terms of their surrender. So Abbadon would have to either be an extremely high-level diplomat, or perhaps the king of Denrigh himself.


    Robert smiled back and replied, ¡°I sure those titles are great and none of them do sir Abaddon justice, perhaps we can have a drink and I can hear some of your grand achievements¡±


    ¡°Perhaps¡± the man smiled back, ¡°although some of those titles are not flattering by any means, but your right, they certainly don¡¯t do me justice¡±


    The wheels in Roberts mind stopped for a second as he attempted to think of something to say in response. Instead, he changed the subject, perhaps he might figure out why he was approached which would be useful. ¡°you said something about me being brave, may I ask what you meant by that¡±


    Abaddon said, ¡°a little bird told me that you had a spat after an argument¡±


    Robert winced slightly, he had argued with the former general Wolfram a few days ago, and that time the man seemed to be on a vendetta against him. None of the previous arguments were that heated and Robert lost his temper and punched Wolfram.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Or at least tried to punch him, Wolfram was a famous general and a noble with no interest in training didn¡¯t have a chance. The end result was as expected, Robert sat in a cell for several days with two black eyes.


    Robert winced once again and said, ¡°taking on a former general, brave yes, but also stupid¡± while trying to pass it off as a joke. It worked because Abaddon laughed which made Robert feel a little better about the incident.


    Although the fact he laughed about old new probably meant he hadn¡¯t heard it before, so what did brave mean?


    Robert thought of something and exclaimed, ¡°ah, do you mean the conflict at the conference¡±


    Abaddon replied, ¡°closer, I was thinking of a more fiery thing, although arguing with a powerful man you don¡¯t know could be considered to be brave too I guess¡±


    ¡°are you talking about the fire salts Wolfram accused me of smuggling,¡± said Robert.


    ¡°much closer¡± Abbadon smiled.


    ¡°but those salts are completely legal, I didn¡¯t declare them because items aren¡¯t taxed upon entry anymore, so there is no need to show the guards every last barrel¡±


    Abbadon agreed, ¡°indeed, they aren¡¯t taxed anymore and the guards give you leeway with checking your wares because of your status, but they are still prohibited items¡±


    Robert was beginning to become annoyed, this obviously wasn¡¯t a friendly conversation. He replied, ¡°fire salts are prohibited to commoners because of its ability to be used as explosives, but I am not ¨C¡°


    Abbadon interrupted, ¡°and the ¡®songbird¡¯ and various other interesting mushrooms are not prohibited from nobles?¡± Robert felt like his heart tried to jump out of his throat. Wolfram didn¡¯t know about that and his feeling only got worse with every word. ¡°how about the slave girls, or the secret mana gems, how about the high-level spell scrolls. A little bird even said that some artwork formerly in one of the destroyed mansions was in your wagons--¡±


    ¡°who are you and why are you lying about my business¡± Robert fiercely said while keeping his voice quiet. He didn¡¯t want others to overhear, but also did not want the man in front of him thinking that he could be pushed around, or threatened.


    He glanced at his butler, made a subtle hand gesture and that was all he needed to do, the butler immediately excused himself and left the venue. Abaddon guessed to clean up the evidence and he was right.


    Abaddon smiled once again and said, ¡°I¡¯ll answer both your questions at once, some call me the father of lies, although we both know the truthfulness of my claims¡±


    Robert was now even more confused than he was originally, who would call someone the father of lies and who would call themselves as such. His first instinct was to just leave the ball. It was about to end anyway and no one would take a second glance if he was to leave now.


    However, he thought better of it, his butter was already taking care of everything that needed to be taken care of. His attention was better spent here, watching this opponent and seeing what move he was going to make. In the best case scenario he stalls Abaddon for long enough that there is no evidence to find.


    Hopefully, he didn¡¯t notice his butler leave. Most nobles wouldn¡¯t notice someone so small and would never guess the amount of power Robert gave his simple butler.


    Suddenly there was a commotion at the doors, everyone at the ball was looking that way and now so was Robert. Giant black plate wearing men entered the doors. Dungeon knights. Everyone in the venue was shocked, but no one as much as Robert. One of the dungeon knights had his butler as a captive.


    ¡°Sir I am going to have to ask you and your people to leave, you were not invited¡± a servant bravely shouted. He was ignored and they were coming towards Robert. He thought to run, but knew better of his chances of outrunning those killing machines. Instead, he stood still and hoped it had nothing to do with him. If it came down to it he would pretend he didn¡¯t know his butler. And if it was proved otherwise then the butler was just a temporary servant. Or he betrayed him.


    But this had to do with him. The dungeon knights walked straight up to him and grabbed him. He looked around for the ball¡¯s guards and wondered why he didn¡¯t see them earlier. However, they had fled earlier. Twenty guards going to the bathroom at the same time was suspicious, but it was better than dying.


    Robert was dragged out of the ball and on the way he saw Wolfram with his soldiers. ¡°do something, are you the guard captain or is the dungeon the guard captain¡±


    Wolfram just shrugged, ¡°I am, but the dungeon is the King of this territory and those are his royal guard¡±


    Wolfram followed the dungeon knights just as a witness and he quickly noticed another man did the same. He said, ¡°depending on what the dungeon plans to do to this person you might disappear if you follow along¡±


    ¡°Abaddon you bastard, this is your doing isn¡¯t it¡± Robert cursed while being dragged along.


    Abaddon replied, ¡°it is. But what''s more important is that I thought that this would be more interesting¡±


    ¡°interesting,¡± asked Wolfram with a raised brow.


    ¡°like guards swarming the area to stop the kidnapping. Another noble, something¡± Abaddon mused.


    ¡°YOU F--¡±


    Robert was gagged before he could yell again and Wolfram asked, ¡°and you are?¡±. He was curious who pissed of Robert so much and if and how he had something to do with this.


    Abaddon looked towards Wolfram with a smile and said, ¡°I¡¯m Lucifer Morningstar¡±


    ...

 139

    Lucifer looked down at Robert struggling and casually said, ¡°keep acting like a fool and you will drag more than yourself down with you¡±.


    Robert cursed at the dungeon knights as they shoved him into a caged chair and shut the door. He looked up and growled at Lucifer, ¡°you have no right to--¡±


    ¡°I have every right¡± Lucifer interrupted, ¡°shut him up¡±. Ahri who was standing to Lucifer''s side absentmindedly with a hand on her stomach jolted, then cast a quick spell silencing Robert. ¡°that''s better¡± Lucifer commented before looking around the room.


    This building was designed with a modern court in mind and was very similar, with a few alterations. Firstly the judge''s bench was higher and resembled a throne. The accused seat was also replaced with a cage with a chair inside and had a curtain that could be lowered to conceal the person inside. Lastly, the public gallery was far larger and had two levels.


    Currently, the gallery was full, the nobles had segregated themselves and seated only in the upper level. While businessman and curious onlookers filled the lower level. How this new court is handled could have far-reaching consequences, for both the common folk and the nobility.


    Lucifer waited for everyone to settle down, one noble commented rather loudly, ¡°the dungeon has caged the man before he is even found guilty¡±


    Lucifer responded in kind, ¡°continue to disrupt then I will find you in contempt of this court and you will be sitting in that ¡®cage¡¯ next¡±


    Whispers erupted, but they were quiet enough so Lucifer didn¡¯t bother speaking, instead, he simply waited for silence.


    Soon enough it was quiet enough for his liking so he began, ¡°we have gathered here today to witness this trial, I will be presiding over this case as the judge jury and executioner.¡± Lucifer pointed to the Jury box and said, ¡°normally this box would be filled with randomly chosen people from this city, and they would decide whether the accused is guilty or not and I would hand down the judgment afterward, however, this mans crimes are against me and this city, so I alone will decide his fate¡±


    Someone from the top level shouted, ¡°The trial hasn¡¯t even started and you have already found him guilty, what kind of trial is this¡±


    Lucifer chuckled, ¡°it seems you people aren''t as stupid as I thought, my also acting as the jury implies he is already guilty, however, I have the final say on all matters, the jury is just there to decide on things I simply don¡¯t care about. For example, if someone steals something and are put to trial, or in a case of spousal abuse of which I care little, the jury, will decide whether the person is guilty or not¡±


    Someone on the lower level shouted, ¡°will only the nobles be in the jury¡± causing the nobles above to scowl, which only got worse when Lucifer answered, ¡°no, I said the jury would be chosen randomly from the cities population of which nobles are rare¡±


    once again discussion erupted throughout the building, a noble tried to argue that commoners don¡¯t have the right to judge nobles, but Lucifer gave him a final warning about interrupting before he waited for quiet again.


    Several more questions came from the commoner''s section, some he answered others he ignored. Someone asked about the anonymity of the jury members, although in a roundabout way, which Lucifer answered that jury members would be masked and their identities kept secret.


    The commoners seemed somewhat excited by the prospect. Perhaps the nobles would be put on trial and have someone they have crossed secretly in the jury deciding their fate. The nobles were far less enthusiastic.


    After thinking it over Lucifer said, ¡°since you all seem so interested in the jury I will make an exemption and use a jury in this trial, even though the crimes are against me¡± he looked towards Ahri and she quickly left through the back door to arrange things, while he waited he answered a few more questions.


    Twenty minutes later eleven black robed and masked people entered the court and sat in the jury box. A noble quickly yelled, ¡°how do we tell if they aren¡¯t just your people in disguise¡±


    Lucifer rolled his eyes, ¡°I already have ultimate power in this city, why would I go to the trouble to add a jury just to fill it with people that are just going to say what I¡¯m going to say¡±


    Just as he said that one of the jurors took off his mask and yelled at the noble, ¡°GO FUCK YOURSELF¡±


    and Lucifer added, ¡°the jurors don¡¯t have to hide their face if they don¡¯t want to¡±


    Several nobles recognized the man and immediately shouted back, ¡°That man is Eric from the coiled dragon adventurer group, he has been antagonistic to us nobles, how is this a fair trial¡±


    Lucifer chuckled, ¡°don¡¯t make so many enemies''s then, besides he is just one vote¡±


    Robert scowled towards Eric but couldn¡¯t curse at him, or even threaten him with his mouth sealed.


    Lucifer announced, ¡°Let us begin¡± then began to list off crimes. ¡°you are accused of quite a few crimes.


    Smuggling illegal substances, such as fire salts and fairy touch.


    Lighting the dungeon on fire


    Planning and sending men to attack the dungeon knights.


    Murder


    Rape


    Theft


    Bribing officials


    Slavery, or sex trafficking


    and a few other minor things. Well you are a very busy man Robert¡±


    Lucifer had Ahri remove the silence spell and Robert immediately cursed, ¡°all fucking lies, this is slander, and you Eric, you better watch your back¡±


    ¡°threatening a jury member, in my presence no less¡± Lucifer laughed, ¡°your first charge is smuggling so bring out the first witness¡±


    Wolfram stood up from one of the observer seats and sat in the witness stand. Lucifer asked, ¡°and you are¡±


    ¡°Wolfram Wehinger, former general under the King, now the captain of the guard in this city¡±


    Lucifer said, ¡°so your character is sound, so let''s hear your testimony¡±


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    Robert yelled, ¡°BULLSHIT, he has had a grudge against me since day one so anything he says is questionable, and more importantly, he was demoted from the Kings general to a simple caption of the guard, thus his character is questionable at best¡±


    Wolfram looked down at the man and said, ¡°I wasn¡¯t demoted, this is my retirement, we can¡¯t all be as useless as you and do nothing all day¡± earning chuckles from the crowd.


    Wolfram continued, ¡°on the first of the month of fall I confiscated dozens of prohibited goods from Sir Roberts caravans¡± he then listed off all the contraband.


    Robert yelled in protest but was quickly silenced again and Lucifer asked, ¡°you confiscated all these goods, I didn¡¯t think that someone of your standing would be personalty searching the caravans entering the city. Please watch your words more carefully in the future, lying in this court carries heavy penalties¡±


    ¡°I am telling only the truth Sir Morningstar¡± Wolfram started, ¡°normally I do not search the carts myself, however, I noticed some of my men being overly brisk when searching Sir Roberts caravans, so I did the search myself¡±


    Lucifer said, ¡°ahh, so this had to do with the bribery charge, do you have any proof of said bribery¡±


    ¡°I do not,¡± Wolfram said, ¡°although those men have been punished and replaced¡±


    Lucifer nodded, ¡°good, those are your men so I leave their discipline to you. As for the charge of bribery, since there is no proof the charge is dropped¡±


    Wolfram¡¯s head snapped up to Lucifer with a look of protest, but Lucifer ignored it and said, ¡°unsilence the accused, I want to hear what he has to say about the smuggling charge¡±


    Once he was able to speak again Robert argued, ¡°just because the contraband was found in my wagons doesn¡¯t mean I put them there¡±


    Lucifer agreed, ¡°indeed, so Wolfram I ask that you step down for the next witness¡±


    Roberts almost triumphant expression from having had the bribery charge dropped quickly changed when his butler walked in. Robert yelled, ¡°he is the culprit, my butler was in charge of all my shipments-¡±. He was silenced again. Lucifer said, ¡°it''s not your turn to speak¡±


    The butler sat on the witness stand and began without prompt, ¡°I was Sir Robert¡¯s butler since he was born, and my testimony is that Sir Robert commanded me to smuggle all those goods¡±


    Robert mimed in outrage, while Lucifer glanced down and coldly asked, ¡°is that all, we talked about a lot more before. Your sentence is going to be reduced for your cooperation and if this is all you have¡­¡±


    The butler paled and quickly listed off, ¡°Sir Robert has just recently used a families debt to take their daughter. He has ordered his competitors to be killed on several occasions and stolen their secrets. That¡¯s how he has made his wealth because his father all but disowned him. He has filled his brothels with people who owe him and can¡¯t pay. I¡¯ve had to several times give money to powerful people to have the guard look the other way under Roberts order¡±


    ¡°that''s quite the illustrious career for a mere Butler¡± Lucifer commented, ¡°and in light of your co-operation I will overlook your crimes, you are free to go¡±


    The moment Robert was allowed to speak he roared, ¡°HANS YOU TRAITOROUS BASTARD I¡¯LL KILL YOU FOR YOUR UNGRATEFUL ACTIONS A--¡±, he was silenced again.


    Lucifer lightly said, ¡°argue against the charges¡±


    Robert calmed down slightly and he hissed, ¡°its only that traitors word against mine, you have no proof¡±


    Lucifer said, ¡°bring in the next witness¡±


    Over the next half hour several witnesses were called forth, all of them had something to do with the smuggling, some looked the other way, others were the officers who told their men to quicken their search on Roberts carts and purposely did a poor job of it.


    Each of them had accepted money from the Butler to do so. Robert seemed almost happy that all evidence was pointing to the butler, however, when the previous guard caption took the witness stand Robert became frightened.


    The previous captain was a smart man, he wouldn¡¯t do dealings with a simple butler, because that wouldn¡¯t implicate the noble behind him and force him to help out if he ever got caught. And he did get caught, by Wolfram no less and whether he would even get to keep his own head was questionable, but he had Roberts secrets and he wasn¡¯t someone you could kill in secret. So Robert pulled some strings back at the capital and forced Wolfram to stand down. The captain lived and Roberts secrets were safe, however, Wolfram had been after him ever since.


    The ex-captains testimony was just as bad as Robert feared, it was a solid link between him and the smuggling and the captain''s life was proof enough of its truthfulness. Lucifer grinned at Robert and said, ¡°so how are you going to explain this one¡±


    Robert gritted his teeth in fury and replied, ¡°so what I brought a few fire salts in the city, I¡¯m allowed to use them¡±


    ¡°and the drugs¡± Lucifer questioned.


    ¡°completely harmless,¡± Robert said, ¡°they are just things the upper-class use to spice up life once in a while, nothing worth mentioning¡±


    Lucifer laughed, ¡°we will see¡± then announced, ¡°we will be having an hour-long break, so feel free to get up and stretch your legs and get something to eat¡± he then turned to Ahri and said, go get Robert something to eat¡±


    ¡°excuse me?¡± Ahri said.


    ¡°just something lite to eat, a last meal per say¡± Lucifer answered. He then grabbed a dungeon knight and gave him a few instructions.


    An hour later.


    While Lucifer waited for everyone to get seated he turned to a dungeon knight and said, ¡°did you get them?¡±


    ¡°yes,¡± the knight simply replied.


    ¡°good, get the first one¡± Lucifer smiled.


    Once everyone was seated he announced, ¡°Bring the next witnesses.¡±, and moments later a scantily dressed woman and a scruffy older man stood in front of Lucifer. They were fidgeting constantly and had sores on their arms.


    Lucifer asked them, ¡°do you both know who I am¡± to which they both nodded, ¡°you are both addicted to fairy touch¡± the man nodded and the woman looked at the floor with clenched fists. ¡°I take that as a yes, you are both here to prove a point for me, now under my power, nothing you do here will be punished, even if you were to say murder someone¡±


    They both looked at him then each other with obvious confusion. Lucifer continued, ¡°so, I¡¯m going to throw this packet of fairy touch on the ground and you two can decide how to split it between yourselves¡±


    Lucifer nodded towards Ahri and she used magic to project their voices and image into the air. The crowd witnessed the two drug addicts approach the bag with caution, but after they were confident that they wouldn¡¯t be punished for taking it they went to grab it.


    The man acted first but the woman was closer and thus quicker, she reasoned to him that his hands were too shaky to properly divide the drug, however, the man was insistent that he was fine. She ignored him turned her back and knelt down, pulled something from her pocket and opened the bag.


    However, the bag was caught on something and wouldn¡¯t open. By this point, the man had circled her and was intensely watching her. She pulled too hard and the bag exploded sending powder everywhere. The man similarly exploded but into rage instead, he bellowed at her carelessness.


    Although she was just as panicked as he was, she used the straight edge of whatever she was holding collected all the powder with practiced ease before he stopped shouting.


    She looked between him and the pile a few times before cutting the pile roughly in two. He said that his share was smaller, she argued that she did the work so she should get the larger share. He replied that all she did was fuck it up and it quickly grew heated as the two argued who needed the hit more.


    After half a minute or so she was tired of arguing and lowered her head, but he was faster this time and grabbed her hair. He yanked up and practically threw her back. Then said it was only right that he gets the bigger share because she was going to steal it.


    Before he could snort up his prize she scrambled up and got onto him. Whatever strait thing she used to prepare the drugs wasn¡¯t sharp, but that didn¡¯t stop her from stabbing him several times in the ribs. He turned around howling in pain and grabbed the object with one hand.


    However, he accidentally brushed past the two piles with his leg and sent powder everywhere sending her screeching. She bit his face drawing blood and he screamed in response, then using his free hand he grabbed her face and used his thumb to push her eye. It worked, she let go leaving a vicious bite mark on his cheek and he then used his greater strength to smash her head into the ground, he shouted for her to stop as he continued crushing her skull on the ground and his thumb was now berried in her eye socket.


    Once her struggles stopped he rushed back to collect the powder, but his hands weren¡¯t very effective. So he went back to the woman and grabbed her bloodied object and collected the now bloody powder. He lowered his face and snorted all that he could and spent a minute extra trying to get all but the stone up his nose.


    Meanwhile, the crowd sat there horrified, Lucifer smirked and broke the deafening silence, ¡°so just a harmless drug, I have been receiving reports of people addicted to this harmless drug in the slums and similar scenes to this one¡­ ¡­ ... clean this shit up¡±


    Lucifer allowed everyone a few minutes to collect themselves before inviting the next witness. Another scantily dressed woman entered causing several people to flinch, however, no one followed her so they breathed out a sigh of relief.


    This woman looked far better than the last one so she probably wasn¡¯t an addict. Lucifer waited for her to sit down then asked, ¡°tell the court who you are¡±


    ¡°Maya Sir¡± she replied a little stiffly.


    ¡°well Maya, I would like you to tell the court how you came to work in a brothel,¡± said Lucifer.


    Her story wasn¡¯t uncommon, her families farm had one too many offseasons, they couldn¡¯t pay their taxes and buy next seasons equipment, so got mixed up with a loan shark. At first, everything was fine, but Maya swore that once the loan-shark saw her he started increasing the interest. The farm was doing well by that point so they just wanted to pay what was left and be done with those people.


    However, their farm started to be attacked by strange pests, something that had never happened before. They couldn¡¯t go to the loan-shark again to get more money nor would they want to considering the suspicious circumstances. So they went to the noble in charge of the loan.


    At this point Maya glared and pointed at Robert then said, ¡°he was the noble in charge of our loan, he said that he would look into the sudden interest increases and the suspicious pest infestation, but he didn¡¯t do anything and when I was forced to work the house by my family he was the first in line¡±


    Lucifer said, ¡°that''s enough, the court thanks you for your time, see Ahri on your way out. Next witness¡±


    Several more witnesses went by and their stories were very similar. Unplayable debts under suspicious circumstances, all under Roberts supervision and he somehow manages to be the first to ¡°taste¡± these girls.


    Lucifer commented, ¡°that is quite the ¡®high class¡¯ hobby you have there Robert. Now this is taking far to long so let''s wrap this up--¡±


    ¡°YOU F--¡± Robert interrupted before being silenced.


    Lucifer continued, ¡°you had people set fire to my dungeon, I don¡¯t intend to give any proof because I¡¯m not bothered by this point, do you have any counter arguments before we close¡±


    Robert gained the ability to talk again and smugly said, ¡°you have no proof, its all circumstantial, I helped out a friend from getting beheaded by an asshole, so what, there was a few drugs in my carriages, that doesn¡¯t mean I put them there, I slept with a few women at the brothel, so what, everyone does that, that is what whores are for¡±


    Lucifer waved and had Robert silenced preemptively, before he asked, ¡°so jury, if you find him guilty then stand up, if not stay seated, I will count to three. One¡± everyone was already standing and Eric was gleefully smiling at the scowling Robert.


    Lucifer announced, ¡°then I find Robert whatever his name was guilty¡± he could see Robert furiously attacking the cage in silence, ¡°oh, you have something to complain about Robert, well too bad, the evidence could be considered circumstantial, however, I never asked if you actually did these things, only if you were guilty. Also even if you weren¡¯t found guilty I would still punish you for threatening a juror and witness.


    As for the punishment, I think the punishment should fit the crime, you have raped, murdered, enslaved and burned. So you will be raped to near death by beasts of my creation, then healed, sent to work to near death a few times, then when I¡¯m satisfied that you have suffered enough I will burn you to death¡±


    Lucifer expected more discussion to break out, but instead, it was a dead silence, he shrugged stood up and left. Several Dungeon knights opened the cage and escorted the guilty away and helped the jurors leave anonymously.

 140

    ¡®there is too much to do and not enough time. problems keep popping up out of nowhere. haaah I better keep my mind on the sky or it might just fall down out of spite¡¯ Lucifer absentmindedly thought.


    For that last month or so Lucifer had been busy with one thing or another. Most of the extra workload came from ruling the new court, but, it was interesting for the moment so Lucifer didn¡¯t mind as much.


    Immediately after Roberts sentencing people pled for the grievances to be heard. Lucifer didn¡¯t mind and had one of his prisoners take down the detail for him to read later. Some cases were interesting, ingenious plots and murders, vicious rumors, even a story of someone who had their genitals removed by a disgruntled wife.


    The Jury was also working quite well which really made the common people happy, especially after a few nobles went through the court. Lucifer did turn down a few cases because of a complete lack of evidence, but most nobles weren''t punished for crimes against the commoners so they didn¡¯t exactly hide their actions. These cases spent more time on witnesses than anything else and Lucifer was even forced to stop more coming in. unless he wanted 240 accounts of the same thing.


    However, it soon got out of hand, the sheer amount of frivolous accusations made it practically impossible to read through, and he was only getting the cliff notes. Lucifer had to start enforcing the rules he initially set out. If you accuse someone and they are not found guilty, you will take their place as the punished.


    There would be far fewer fun cases for Lucifer to work on, but he would be able to strangle back some of his time to ¡°research¡±


    But, again this was still abused, although to a lesser extent by some of the sly nobles. Lives were cheap and paying for a commoner to accuse someone of something wasn¡¯t hard, even paying for a few witnesses was still considered economical depending on the target.


    What these people didn¡¯t know was that Lucifer practiced soul magic on all the punished. He would look through their memories to make sure he was right, although he may be more motivated by the magic practice than the truth.


    Once Lucifer found out the court was being manipulated he had the ¡°victim¡± arrested for false accusation, read their memories and found the culprit. Then through his memories he found all the ¡°witnesses¡± that were paid. Lucifer made a new rule to take record of witnesses and arrested them on false accusation too.


    Lucifer had Ahri transmit the imagery of what happened to those people in another theatre meeting, and he took note of the complete indifference of Ahri while showing it. ¡®she has become rather twisted¡¯ Lucifer thought.


    He knew that she had killed before she met him, her assassin skills and willingness to use them made that obvious, however, she would still be repulsed by anything near as gruesome as what she showed that day.


    Inside Lucifer''s lab


    Lucifer sighed and cleared his thoughts, he summoned a set of demons with practiced ease. they were only a foot or so tall. Their body was mostly an over-sized eyeball that had tiny legs, arms and wings. Lucifer named it Bill Kerman and sent its twin into his construction.


    A hatch closed behind the creature and a portal opened below the construction. It fell through the hole and came out of a portal that had opened on the lab roof, right above the previous portal.


    The several meter round object fell through the portal only to fall through the portal again as it picked up speed. The ambient mana in the room almost immediately depleted causing the demon to cry out from discomfort.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Lucifer pumped the dungeons mana towards his lab. The adventurers inside noticed the drop and many of them left the dungeon. Soon the dungeons ambient mana was running low enough that it made Lucifer worry so he started pumping his personal mana into the portals.


    The object kept falling in the infinite loop gaining speed and now heat. It was time, Lucifer set up another portal on top of his mountain, it was far enough from people to not affect his magic.


    The sphere bust through the portal and rocketed up, the citizens witnessed a glowing orange object fly into the sky at an absurd speed. It got smaller and smaller until they couldn¡¯t see it anymore, then it suddenly ejected a bright blue substance leaving behind a blue scar in the sky reaching the heavens.


    Lucifer jumped up cheered and spent the next few minutes laughing like a crazy man. He looked down to the twin demon and smiled. It did its interpretation of a nod and projected an image of what its brother was seeing.


    Black with white dots scattered about. Lucifer grinned once again and explained what he wanted the demon to tell its brother.


    Sometime later.


    Lucifer was relaxing after a successful experiment while once again low on mana. He thoughts drifted to the trials once again and he wondered how he could make it easier. Reading the memories of the accuser would simplify things, but he couldn¡¯t use his dungeon magic while other living things were nearby. Lucifer could use magic with his body normally, but his control was abysmal with his controlled bodies.


    Perhaps he could ask a mage for help considering they cast magic and had bodies, he made up his mind and started towards Ahri¡¯s room. He hadn¡¯t been there since it was unintentionally painted red, (which he fixed, with insects which creeped her out more but still).


    Once inside he found something interesting, most of the decorations including the bed covers were blue, Ahri said it complemented her red hair well, but her hair was white now. However, this wasn¡¯t what he found interesting. Ahri wasn¡¯t alone.


    Lucky, Selenia, Ellora and even Kuro were here. Lucky was sleeping on Kuro who was relaxing on half the bed, while Selenia and Ellora sat on the other side facing Ahri who was sitting in her apothecary seat.


    They hadn¡¯t noticed him yet. Ahri said, ¡°I was his first¡± just loud enough for his enhanced hearing to pick up/ He smiled mischievously and stood behind the door. Lucifer could be the perfect spy inside his dungeon, but it was far more interesting in a living form.


    ¡°he''s not a woman so what does it matter,¡± Ellora said.


    ¡°just because you¡¯ve slept with him do--¡± Selenia said at the same time but stopped herself.


    Both women looked at Selenia and Ahri asked, ¡°why are you even here, it''s not like you have ¡®laid¡¯ your claim to him¡±


    ¡°of course not,¡± Selenia said, ¡°I¡¯m here for Kuro¡± then patted Kuro¡¯s flank absentmindedly.


    Kuro lifted her head too look at Selenia sending Lucky tumbling off of her head, then went back to napping. Lucky tumbled down and mumbled, ¡°silly adventurers teehee¡± in her half-asleep state, then she looked up to the towering head of Kuro and decided to just sleep on the bed she fell on.


    The three of them chose not to think about what Lucky was dreaming of and Selenia said, ¡°besides Lucky is here too¡±


    Ahri countered, ¡°Lucky is a child so she doesn¡¯t¡­ how about this you can have a say when you stop being an elven prude and lay claim to him¡±


    Ellora interjected, ¡°can you stop saying lay claim, I grew up with beastmen too, but Lucifer is human¡±


    ¡°dungeon¡± corrected Selenia


    ¡°whatever¡± Said Ahri, ¡°it doesn¡¯t matter I¡¯m bearing his child so I¡¯m the wife and Ellora will be the concubine¡±


    ¡°it''s not his child its whatever body he was usings child¡± Selenia argued.


    ¡°don¡¯t call my baby IT¡± Ahri growled.


    Ellora said, ¡°calm down you two, Ahri you have nothing to worry about, Elves don¡¯t have children until they are a few centuries old¡±


    ¡°hah¡± Ahri laughed, ¡°Lucifer won¡¯t wait a hundred years for you, he will already be mine by then¡±


    Selenia protested, ¡°elves don¡¯t take that long, we usually wait 100 years so we ample life experience to bring up the child, and also control the population. I can bear children now if I chose to¡±


    ¡°if,¡± said Ahri.


    Lucifer suddenly walked into the room startling the group. Kuro stood up rocking the bed and accidentally stepped on Lucky¡¯s wing. Lucky yelped in pain and Kuro looked slightly guilty, she bent down and licked the panicking fairy.


    The action was supposed to show affection, however, Kuro''s tongue was even rougher than a normal cat and tore Lucky¡¯s fragile clothes to pieces. And if Lucky herself wasn¡¯t powerful she probably would have lost a wing or half her skin.


    Lucifer laughed, ¡°well who would have guessed that you have such a fine figure considering your size¡±


    ¡°she is just a child,¡± Selenia said as she grabbed the fairy.


    ¡°Perhaps if she was human, but fairies are born fully grown so she''s an adult and one that looks just like you I might add,¡± Lucifer said.


    All the girls looked at Lucky suspiciously who¡¯s expression said that she had just been caught. Lucky flew into the air and rapidly escaped Selenia''s grasp.


    Selenia yelled, ¡°stop flying around and showing him my body¡± while the other girls tried to catch the fairy too, but for entirely different reasons.


    Lucifer interrupted the fun, ¡°I came here to learn how magic is used by normal people, not to discuss marriage¡±


    Ahri stopped chasing the fairy around the room and said, ¡°I¡¯ll teach you if you marry me¡±


    Ahri screamed in pain and fell to her knees silencing the room and Lucifer said, ¡°now you will teach me because I said so, and just so you know I¡¯m never getting married, I¡¯m a dungeon¡±


    Somewhere underground.


    The ground rumbled and the rock-face crumbled under the persuasion of magic, light suddenly poured into the tunnel blinding the mages within. ¡°we are through¡± people laughed.


    Soon men and beasts flooded through the opening to see the sorely missed sun once again.

 141

    Inside the lab.


    Various weapons scattered about the room, some glowed while others were broken. Strange potted plants lined the walls, an ongoing or even forgotten experiment. The room was lit up by a small flame in Lucifer''s hands. The mana crystals in the roof having exploded to uncontrolled magic earlier.


    He was practicing magic using only his body, with limited success. After learning the basics to human controlling methods he let loose a flame and blew up both himself and half the lab.


    Now Lucifer was focusing on a single ball of flame in his hands, with every breath in it would grow brighter, and on every exhale it would shrink. He had shrunk a meter wide fireball to the size of a tennis ball, but whenever he tried to shrink it further, the magic would become unstable. If he continued it would become uncontrollable and explode in his face, he would then have to get used how magic interacts with the new body.


    Lucifer unraveled the magic and sighed. Using his dungeon powers he could make the fireball pea sized easily, however, his dungeon magic used pure magic which was both unusable when people are nearby and uncontrollable by his human hosts.


    Just before he was going to start again he felt a massive mana enter his dungeon. He stood up, then realized it was someone he knew. Lucifer didn¡¯t really want to meet this person so he just projected his dungeon voice.


    ¡°what brings you here¡±


    Merlin jumped slightly, he didn¡¯t expect to be greeted the moment he walked in. other people in the entrance were looking around nervously. Some chose to just leave. Merlin walked further into the dungeon until he was alone before he replied, ¡°am I not allowed to enter the dungeon like everyone else¡±


    Lucifer replied, ¡°cut the pleasantries¡±


    ¡­


    Merlin said, ¡°The Magedom army is in Swadia¡±


    ¡°how¡± Lucifer explained, ¡°I have people scouting the border and would know the moment an army came through the pass¡±


    Merlin said, ¡°they have dug under the mountain range¡±


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    ¡°is that even possible, the rock is absurdly tough, so much so that it takes me significant effort to expand my dungeon¡± Lucifer questioned.


    Merlin answered, ¡°the dragon vein moving around throughout the ages has hardened the rocks along the mountain range making it practically impossible to dig through. However, practically impossible is not impossible and a sentient dungeon is worth any price to them--¡±


    Lucifer interrupted ¡°they couldn''t have known about my existence for long how could they set up a tunnel so quickly. And its not just a tunnel either, because an army in a small and long tunnel would die without proper infrastructure supporting them, they would need fresh air food--¡±


    ¡°I know¡± said Merlin, ¡°AS I was saying, I believe they have somehow allied themselves with the Dwarves, they are the only ones who could have set this up so quickly¡±


    Lucifer said, ¡°the Dwarves hate humans, especially mages, why would they work with the Magedom¡±


    Merlin answered, ¡°you truly are worth any price to the Magedom, they probably lost an arm and a leg in the deal just to get to you a little quicker¡±


    Lucifer asked, ¡°how do the Dwarves feel about dungeons¡±


    Merlin pondered for a moment before replying, ¡°it''s hard to say, you being sentient complicates the question further, but they would likely ambush the Magedom in the tunnels on the way back once they found out what they had¡±


    ¡°one doesn¡¯t like seeing their enemies growing stronger¡± Lucifer mused.


    Merlin affirmed, ¡°no one does, the Dwarves probably think the Magedom is declaring war and would weaken humans as a whole, not steal a gold mine of infinite wealth and power¡±


    ¡­


    Lucifer said, ¡°so why are you telling me this, it can¡¯t only be hedging your bets can it¡±


    Merlin replied, ¡°I¡¯m unfamiliar with the term, but no, I¡¯m not playing both sides for the sake of it, think of it as a trade¡±


    Lucifer said, ¡°information is hard to trade, especially when you have already given it¡±


    ¡°think of it as trading in good faith, like when you allowed the continued use of the plant cultivation room by my university,¡± Merlin said.


    Lucifer asked, ¡°so what do you want¡±


    Merlin took a breath then declared, ¡°I want Ahri to stay at the university until th--¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t mind,¡± said Lucifer surprising the old mage.


    ¡°your awfully easy to convince,¡± Merlin said skeptically.


    Lucifer chuckled, ¡°we are trading in good faith apparently, and I want something from you too. I will leave Ahri in the universities care if you contribute to the battle in her stead¡±


    Merlin said, ¡°you don¡¯t like me ¡®hedging my bets¡¯, or are you that unconfident¡±


    Lucifer laughed, ¡°said by the one pulling his little girl out of the battle¡±


    ¡­


    Lucifer continued, ¡°I don¡¯t care what political reason you give to justify it, but I want you to at least do as much as last time¡­ besides, its not a bad trade, an assassin mage that wouldn¡¯t be effective against real mages, or the most powerful mage on the continent¡±


    ¡°its a good trade for you¡± Merlin countered.


    Lucifer said, ¡°if they do ¡®get me¡¯, how long do you think it will take before they unite the continent. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t matter to a normal person, but you will live long enough to see you and your university become a stain on the Magedom¡¯s prestige¡±


    Merlin argued, ¡°wouldn¡¯t you self destruct before being caught, I seem to remember a negotiation going far less favorably than it could have because of that¡±


    Lucifer smiled to himself and said, ¡°perhaps my survival instinct will be too strong, perhaps I will live just to spite you, who knows. would you care to gamble with whatever grand plan you have¡±


    Merlin flinched slightly, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you''re talking about, but I am a quite good judge of character, and MY instincts are telling me you aren¡¯t the type to get taken alive¡±


    Lucifer replied, ¡°nothing is certain, its possible that they could bribe me in a deal of some sort, although unlikely¡­ talking any more with just be an exchange of sophistry, so lets end it here. Think hard about crossing me¡± then sent a message to Ahri.


    Soon he said goodbye to Ahri and sent the furious fox-girl to Merlin after knocking her out.


    Merlin received the unconscious girl with an odd expression then left the dungeon. Whatever happened was not under Lucifer¡¯s control and wasn''t worth further thinking about.


    Lucifer, sighed once more and growled, ¡°it has began¡±, he stood up with a grin and began to prepare.

 142

    ¡°don¡¯t bother they won¡¯t help,¡± said Lucifer.


    Arthus argued, ¡°I have been preparing for this, they will be useful¡±


    ¡°now matter how well equipped your army is, they can¡¯t do anything if they aren¡¯t here. Just send them to the pass¡±


    ¡° the pass, why¡± Arthus questioned.


    ¡°tell the Dwarves what they were after and the Magedom will be forced to go back that way, if they survive of course¡± Lucifer answered.


    ¡­


    Lucifer continued, ¡°Swadia¡¯s victory condition is me not being taken to the Magedom, they can¡¯t get here in time for the battle, but they can cut off the Magedom¡¯s return. If your lucky the Magedom will suffer enough losses here to severely weaken them, and perhaps an alliance with korek will be able to defeat the Magedom in the years to cone¡±


    ¡°what do you want¡± asked Arthus.


    ¡°you¡± Lucifer smiled.


    ¡­


    Arthus began, ¡°I¡¯m inju--¡±


    Lucifer interrupted, ¡°I¡¯ll heal you. and you will fight alongside Merlin¡±


    Less than a week later.


    Lucifer stood on the walls looking over the invading army. Hippogryph mounted knights flew in formation above. Magic beasts surrounded by their tamers stood at the front, platoons of elite knights stood behind them in the middle. Mages were mostly in groups at the back with a few scattered throughout the army.


    A group of mages made their way to the front of the army then the lead mage cast a short spell. His words easily carried all the way to Lucifer on the walls, ¡°I am Gelliot Izmatis, one of the 12 Magedom council members, I wish to speak to your leader¡±


    Lucifer smiled to himself and enhanced his voice with mana to respond, ¡°I¡¯m the leader and am willing to talk about the terms of your surrender¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Gelliot glared at the indistinct figure on the walls and said, ¡°Well me and my army were more interested in talking about YOUR terms of surrender¡±


    Lucifer deadpanned back, ¡°oh¡­ well, I guess you have me in a bit of a bind, okay I will be willing to go as low as accepting your unconditional surrender¡±


    Gelliot roared, ¡°IF I take your walls by force then there will be no negotiation¡±


    Lucifer laughed to himself and simply replied, ¡°if¡±


    Gelliot was furious, he began shouting, however, Lucifer raised his hand and Gelliot¡¯s head exploded with a bang, shortly after another softer bang echoed from the mountain.


    While the army was still in disarray, trying to figure out what happened to one of their leaders several more bangs echoed out. Screams sounded from above as dead hieroglyphs fell from the sky along with their riders. Thump thump thump thump, several unlucky knights were crushed by the falling courses.


    An eerie silence filled the air, the hippogryph riders screaming stopped once the hit the ground and there were only a few hippogryphs left. They broke what was left of their formation and lowered their altitude.


    Suddenly a horn sounded and it began.


    The magic beasts dashed towards the walls ahead of everyone else.


    On the walls, Wolfram gave the order and rained mana gem arrows on the beasts. Most exploded into a mist of blood, a few smarter beats zig-zagged and luckily dodged the worst damage. They jumped at the wall intending to dig their claws into the stone, however, the wall was made of dungeon stone and didn¡¯t give way to their claws.


    Above them, soldiers poured down a green substance on the climbing beasts, the moment it made contact with flesh and fur it bubbled furiously and stuck like glue. The beasts roared and whimpered in pain as they were reduced to corroded skeletons.


    Meanwhile, the knights quickly marched forward, undeterred by the defender''s vicious means. Arrows rained down from above, however, the mages in the back had made a thin transparent shield above. The moment an arrow passed through the shield they spun around in the air. Very few arrows landed on their point and exploded, some were even caught by the knights and hurled back at the walls with mana enhanced strength.


    Once the knights were close, slits in the walls opened. The knights assumed these were just arrow holes that would allow them direct fire, they put up their shields and braced for impact. Orders were frantically sent to the mages in hopes that they could make another barrier ahead of them sooner.


    The slits roared into life sending a stream of death towards the knights. Their barely enchanted armor did nothing to protect them. Blood sprayed out and dyed the land red as the weapons in the slits raked across the army back and forth.


    Shortly afterward a similar barrier appeared between the wall and the knights, but it seemed to have no effect.


    The Knights were forced to charge over their comrade''s bodies while taking heavy casualties.


    Various magics slammed into the walls as the mages targeted the slits, however, the slits were small by design and large scale cooperative magic was hard to aim. Occasionally they scored a hit and cause a chain reaction, all the ammo exploded at once and sent a gout of super-heated flame out the slit, the wall cracked and shifted under these explosions but still held.


    The magic battery was even less effective, the walls which they expected to be rubble by the time the Knights got there was still standing strong, dungeon stone had natural anti-magic properties and would require time to be destroyed.


    Countless knights were dead, but countless more took their place and soon they started reaching the walls in small battered groups. Their success was greeted with the same green liquid.


    Knights screamed, some tried to take off their wet clothes, but it was under armor which took too long to take off. Only skeletons remained in those suits of armor.


    However, the supply of liquid wasn¡¯t infinite and the defenders soon ran out. They broke off the crystals from their arrows and tossed them below. The barrier spun the crystals destabilizing their flight, but there was only crystal to hit the ground and they exploded anyway.


    More and more slits exploded as time went on, some by simple malfunction. Lucifer hadn¡¯t finished these prototypes, and others by brave knights who threw their own mana crystals into the slits. Most weren¡¯t quick enough to get out of the way before being swallowed by the chain reaction.


    The walls were beginning to crumble and fighting had begun on-top of them.


    Cracks still sounded from the mountain, however, the mages had figured out that if their redirection barriers were closer to the cracks the attack wasn¡¯t as effective. Leaders still found gaping holes in their bodies, but not as frequently as when the battle started, instead those near them tended to die instead.

 143

    The walls were crumbling, there were several breaches running along its length, although they were small now, soon they would be gaping holes for the enemy to flood through. Lucifer had sent several groups of ants and panthers toward the mages they proved ineffective.


    Very few mages died in the initial ambush because the best knights were hidden amongst the mages, and once the mages learned of the attack waves of fire scorched the land bare, not a blade of grass remained let alone a giant ant.


    Below the walls anywhere that wasn¡¯t a direct target for magical bombardment knights attacked, two people would launch a third into the air and over the wall, then one thrower would be replaced and launched over the wall.


    On the wall the defenders focused on trying to kill the landing knights or shove them off the wall, whenever there was a free moment they would attack those below with mana crystals or rocks if they had run out.


    Lucifer jogged across the wall looking for Wolfram, he was attacked several times, but his enchanted armor deflected such weak attacks. At first, he used his giant axe to cut the attackers in two, or crush them inside their armor. That took too long, so he just punched anything in his way or shoved it off the wall.


    He found Wolfram in the thickest and bloodiest part of the battle. The enemies had some sort of magical construct acting as a siege tower, knights poured onto the walls only for Wolfram to dispatch each of them with a single flourish with his rapier.


    Lucifer used his massive frame to crash through the enemy knights and brought his axe down on the construct. The entire structure shook violently, the platform connecting to the wall turned to splinters sending several knights flailing to the ground below.


    Moments later a barrier formed replacing the broken platform and knights resumed their attack. Wolfram roared over the battle, ¡°there are mages in the center of it, it will keep constructing itself until they run out of mana¡±


    Lucifer yelled back, ¡°do you have any rope¡±


    Wolfram looked confused for a moment, he grabbed a nearby subordinate and sent him to get some rope, meanwhile they both killed anything that dared cross over.


    Lucifer received the rope and jumped to the back, Wolfram wanted to know what he was doing, but he didn¡¯t have the time to find out, he focused on the enemies ahead of him.


    Lucifer tied a dozen mana crystals around the head of his axe and ran to the side. He infused pure mana into his body and hurled the axe at the base of the construct where it was most armored.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The knights waiting to get into the construct vaporized, their armor turned to shrapnel killing their allies further back. When the deafening explosion finished the construct had a large hole in the side of it revealing the gory scene within. Lucifer couldn¡¯t tell if those were the mages or not because everyone inside had been mutilated that badly.


    The construct creaked and groaned after losing its magical support, then collapsed taking a few more lives with it.


    Lucifer walked up to Wolfram who was already looking for the next problem and said, ¡°retreat your men¡± Wolfram looked at him strangely as he continued, ¡°I want them in the dungeon where I can play with them freely, have your men harass them from the rear¡±, Lucifer thought that the defenders would rout soon anyway, so having them regroup to annoy the rear would be more beneficial.


    Wolfram looked over the battle for a while longer before nodding and sending the command along the chain. Once Wolfram¡¯s booming voice sounded the defenders quickly disengaged themselves and disappeared into the city.


    Lucifer found the retreat surprisingly efficient, no-one bumped into each other and the defenders dispersed themselves amongst the alleys and roads so they didn¡¯t become jammed, some men were even jumping over house fences and across roofs. Wolfram had obviously trained them to move through the city as a group.


    Lucifer took once last look over the wall, killed a few more knights with his bare hands then left himself.


    The magical bombardment stopped. Using any more mana on an undefended wall would be pointless. Slowly the Magedom took the walls, they tried to open the gates, however, they found that the gates had been sabotaged and were stuck closed.


    Instead, the mages created a staircase of earth over the wall. This took time, but was still easier than blasting the walls apart.


    The Magedom army took a short rest then moved directly to the dungeon. They sent people to scout the buildings for ambushes, but most of the buildings were empty, only a few civilians remained. The army leaders took this as a bad sign, they thought that they would be less, expected, considering they moved through the mountain range.


    However, they got to the dungeon without a problem, the scouts they sent in gave a worrying report. The first floor was barren, there wasn¡¯t even a tree let alone a rock, even the hills were missing. It was just a flat cave. This wasn¡¯t anything like their intelligence suggested.


    Hours passed by as the army entered the dungeon, scouts were sent out and couldn''t find anything of note, the floor was so barren that you could almost see the second floor doorway from the entrance.


    The army couldn¡¯t do anything about this they could only move forward. The army began to march and once they got halfway through the floor, hundreds of holes opened on the dungeon walls.


    Knights surrounded the mages as they prepared for battle.


    Large metal boxes rolled out the holes on armored tracks. While the army was confused about the boxes function they opened fire.


    The boxes were golems modeled after tanks from Lucifer''s world, except they had four machine guns each and their cannons were smaller. Lucifer didn¡¯t expect to need a big cannon for humans.


    The surrounding knights were torn to pieces frighteningly quickly, the mages countered with solid barriers of ice, however, the cannons made short work of such walls. The knight''s deaths granted the mages enough time to erect an earth wall, however, it was too thin and was quickly taken apart too.


    Commands were bellowed and the army bade a beeline for the second floor, while mages occasionally sent magic at the tanks, but the magic was ineffective and the second-floor doorway was too narrow. The leaders couldn¡¯t even guess how many people would be able to get to the other side.


    Hundred broke off and ran out of the dungeon, however, they met with the defenders who stubbornly defended the dungeon entrance.


    Occasionally a tank would explode, either from faulty munitions, or a lucky magic attack, but there was still too many for the army to deal with.


    By the time the army reached the second-floor entrance almost a third of their army was lying on the floor full of holes. The mages began a desperate war to erect the most earth between them and their enemies.


    Lucifer thought, ¡®I should have put guns in the roof too, and Bigger cannons for the tanks ergg--¡¯


    He suddenly received an Earth-mail, the largest one he had received yet and he could feel his consciousness splitting. Then everything went black.

 144

    A connection broke.


    In the southern reaches of Swadia amongst tree covered hills sat the recently moved Arcane University. Ahri felt something break and was jolted awake startling the nearby mages. She had just been moved to her room and sat on her familiar bed.


    She looked around still only half awake, alchemy table and equipment lined one wall, knives and training equipment lined the other.


    One of the three mages in the room spoke up, ¡°you¡¯ve finally come to young miss--¡±


    Ahri interrupted, ¡°why am I here¡±


    ¡°because this is where you belong¡± the old mage said comfortingly.


    Ahri countered, ¡°I belong to Lu--¡±, then she realized, she couldn¡¯t feel the connection to Lucifer anymore, she desperately her mind internally trying to find the connection, but she couldn¡¯t even find a remnant of it.


    The mage tried to stop Ahri from standing up so suddenly, but was easily pushed aside, he grumbled, ¡°where are you going in such a hurry young lady¡±


    ¡°the dungeon is under attack where do you think I¡¯m going¡± she spat back.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but Merlin ordered me to stop you from leaving the University¡± he said apologetically then waved a hand causing a gust of wind to slam the door shut.


    Ahri glared at him and grabbed the handle, however, the door wouldn¡¯t budge, before he could speak she had tried to cast a spell, but her mana wouldn¡¯t listen to her. She felt where the interference was coming from and saw an unfamiliar ring on her finger.


    The mage said, ¡°that is Merlin''s creation, it''s cursed to not come off and disrupts the wears mana control¡±


    Without hesitation or even flinching she put her finger in her mouth and bit down. Blood filled her mouth as it took several bites to sever the member, she winced slightly, but not half as much as the three watching.


    The old mage was stunned and couldn¡¯t react in time, he bellowed at one of the younger mages, ¡°go get a healer¡­ and some restraints¡±


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    While he was distracted Ahri silently approached him. One of the mages called out, but it was too late, one of Ahri¡¯s tails had hardened and pierced the old mage¡¯s chest. He died with a dumbfounded expression on his face.


    A moment of silence went by, the mages began casting something and Ahri had to make a decision. One side of the room had her alchemy gear and the other had her assassin equipment, she could only make it to one.


    Ahri started casting and dashed towards the tools. Two daggers were just leaving her hands when the first spell shot towards her, a ring on her finger flared to life and a wave of force crackled against her hastily constructed barrier.


    One of the mages was able to dodge the flying dagger aimed at him, but the other wasn¡¯t so lucky. He clutched at his throat as blood flowed past his trembling fingers.


    The other mage could only afford a glance for his ally before his attention was snatched by another flying object. He cast another shaky barrier, this time on an angle to deflect the next dagger.


    While her opponent was distracted Ahri finished casting her own spell and vanished. He reacted quickly and sent out a hastily constructed wave of force, it wasn¡¯t powerful enough to do any damage, but it made his opponent visible for a moment.


    She was running across the roof with mana keeping her glued to the ceiling. Her last dagger flew and he had to decide between defense and offense, he wouldn¡¯t have time for both.


    The decision was swift, those daggers spoke volumes of his chances against her in close combat. So he shifted his body taking the dagger to the shoulder and continued casting.


    Ahri came down in a flurry of mana enhanced tails which heavily slammed against a barrier, this one was firm and didn¡¯t budge in the slightest.


    He once again began casting and Ahri recognized the spell. It was a sleep spell and something she couldn¡¯t resist or counter from such a veteran mage. Apparently, he still wanted her alive and the fact he thought he could, was both infuriating and frustrating to Ahri.


    She growled in protest at the barrier and the mages smug expression and dashed to the alchemy table. Once there she shoved mixtures together and thankfully it didn¡¯t just explode in her face. The spell was nearing completion and she didn¡¯t have time to waste.


    With a savage grin, she turned to face the mage and threw her hastily made concoction towards the barrier, it could stop her dagger and tails, but it wouldn¡¯t stop whatever she had just made from going in.


    He was about to finish the spell and his expression wavered when he saw what she had done. He vaguely saw the skin on her hand melting from the brief contact with the concoction and he didn¡¯t want to find out what it would do to him.


    The barrier came down, it would only stop him from running anyway. And he went straight for the door, however, he was a mage and Ahri focused on training her body. She got to the door before he did, but not before slamming him against the wall with her tails.


    Noxious fumes began filling the room as she stepped out the door and closed it. She took a moment to take a breath and searched the knife pouch she picked up, she fished out a broken lockpick and cursed.


    It took her twice as long to lock the door with the broken pick, even with the extremely simple locks in the university, but once she locked the door she broke off the rest of the pick inside the lock and left.


    Ahri swiftly walked the complicated halls until she came up the teleportation array. The mage guarding it looked at her wounded hand and her strangely. She ignored him and walked past.


    Half a minute later the mage picked up and shoved against the wall by something. Ahri became visible and growled, ¡°why is the teleportation array deactivated¡±


    The mage could feel his bones creaking under her bizarrely strong grip and the look in her eyes made him speak quickly, ¡°they shut it down so you couldn¡¯t escape, they knew that you were adept at sneaking around and couldn¡¯t hope to hold you if you played nice¡±


    ¡°Useless¡± she grumbled as she covered his mouth and twisted his head the wrong way. She threw the corpse into the useless teleportation room and snuck onto one of the highest points of the university.


    The beastmaster on duty didn¡¯t notice anything until the sound of heavy wing beats woke him from his half sleep, he looked outside to see one of his griffins disappearing into the horizon.

 145

    In the ¡°negotiating room¡± deep in the dungeon, Selenia, Ellora Arthus and Merlin sat at the table watching Merlin¡¯s magical projection. ¡°something is wrong¡± said Selenia, ¡°the cannon golems are supposed to reverse back into the tunnels in the walls and go to the second floor if they survived¡±


    She closed her eyes tried to send a message to Lucifer through their link and even tried calling out to him, but she couldn¡¯t find the link and didn¡¯t receive a response. Ellora tried too before saying, ¡°your right, something is wrong¡±


    Arthus stood up and stretched, ¡°it seems that its finally time for me to test out my healed body¡± he said while grinning.


    Merlin also stood up and begun leaving with the warrior king, Ellora followed behind them and told Selenia, ¡°you go check on Lucifer, I¡¯ve got my men to command up here¡±


    Meanwhile on the second floor.


    Several tank golems fired at the invading army, however, there weren''t many in comparison the first floor and the mages had figured out how to defend themselves. They used earth magic to collect all the dirt they could and created earthen walls. This stopped most of the machine gun fire, but the solid cannon shots would still go right through.


    Groups of mages took turns rising above the wall and pelting the tanks with fire and force magic. The force magic rocked the tanks and occasional set off a chain reaction in the fragile mana crystals they used for firing, while the fire would heat up the tanks until they exploded.


    Very quickly the remaining tanks on the second floor exploded and there wasn¡¯t any backup. The mages breathed a sigh of relief. But that only lasted for a moment.


    The earthen walls had limited their vision and Arthus used them to get right on top of the army before they noticed. His first attacks were quick, decisive and silent. Using absurd physical abilities he flickered across several groups of mages leaving them with lethal cuts.


    Before the bodies had even dropped he had already disappeared over the walls and started circling around. Alarms were raised and the army moved into action, however, Arthus was already behind the army and he used the enemies distraction to his advantage, taking even more lives before disappearing again.


    He was able to do this several times taking hundreds of lives before a barrier rose above the army. Arthus sent several test strikes at the barrier before running once again. Even with his strength the blows just glanced off doing no damage. Then a moment after he had left the area where he attacked the barrier exploded with elemental fury. Fire, force earth and several other magics flew in all directions with enough force to make even Arthus worry.


    Arthus cursed mages to the 10th hell and attacked several more sections of the barrier earning him some ear pain, although he only attacked lightly to waste the enemies mana, then he retreated to rest, he couldn¡¯t break the barrier and even if he tried and succeeded it would leave him exhausted. Instead, he just left them to their bubble


    Arthus met up with Merlin and said, ¡°I think its your turn¡±


    ¡°hmph¡± Merlin scoffed, ¡°I will attack when the time is opportune¡±


    ¡°can¡¯t you destroy the barrier¡± Arthus asked.


    ¡°yes, however, I would be rendered as useless as you if you did the same¡±


    Arthus said, ¡°then I guess we will wait for them to come out¡±


    Previously when Lucifer became unconscious.


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


    He suddenly ¡°woke up¡± and found himself in a black void, ¡®I¡¯m dead again he thought¡¯. But it didn¡¯t feel the same as the doughnut journey. He didn¡¯t feel like a soul. Lucifer was surprised when he could move around freely which proved that he wasn¡¯t dead.


    Then he heard a voice and turned around, ¡°greetings young dungeon¡±


    Behind him was an ethereal old man. He wore gaudy mage robes and carried an intricate staff. Lucifer asked, ¡°and you are¡±


    ¡°you can speak¡± the old man exclaimed. ¡°I didn¡¯t give them that ability¡±


    Lucifer repeated, ¡°you are¡±


    The mage came to and replied, ¡°I AM¡­ I am I¡¯m¡­ I don¡¯t remember my name, just call me prime dungeon¡±


    ¡°well prime dungeon, why I am I here and where is here exactly¡±


    The mage questioned, ¡°not important, why can you speak, you should just be an animal soul, how did a human soul get inside my children¡¯s dungeon core¡±


    Lucifer sighed and asked, ¡°how do I get out of this place¡±


    The mage laughed, ¡°get out, your not getting out, I¡¯m going to snuff out your soul and take over your dungeon¡±


    ¡°well get on with it then¡± Lucifer replied.


    The mage was raised his brows and questioned, ¡°don¡¯t you want to know a--¡±


    ¡°no¡± Lucifer cut him off.


    ¡°DO NOT INTERRUPT ME!¡± the mage screeched, ¡°I am the original dungeon, after being betrayed I shot myself into the center of the world, but not before creating my own self replicating dungeons for later use, then I slowly sent parts of myself to a suitable--¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care, stop monologing and just get to the soul-snuffing already¡± Lucifer interrupted.


    ¡­


    ¡°FINE, if you wish to die sooner, I can oblige you¡± said the mage before he rushed straight into Lucifer.


    In the present Selenia was rushing through the dungeon, she wasn¡¯t allowed in the core room, but standing outside of the room would send a warning signal to Lucifer and hopefully figure out what he was doing.


    Suddenly the entire dungeon rumbled and shook, ¡®that is a bad sign¡¯ thought Selenia as she righted herself and kept running. She kept running and the dungeon tremored twice more before she came to a dead end.


    This was supposed to be the pathway to the core but the hallway had caved in, she grabbed rocks and easily threw them aside before remembering there was a second entrance. Lucifer''s bedroom had a pathway from the core so Lucifer could get there easier when Ahri showed up for some fun.


    Selenia made her way there. She came upon Lucifer''s bedroom door and hesitated for an instant before pushing it open and going through. The bed was a mess and she didn¡¯t want to think about it, but blushed slightly anyway.


    Just as Selenia was about to open the core path door, the back wall lit up with glowing text. She glanced at the text before she left the room and froze. ¡°welcome Selenia you finally worked up the courage to come to my bedroom, I will be sent a message and will be with you shortly, don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll be gentle XD¡±


    ¡°worked up the courage your head¡± Selenia cursed before sprinting down the core path.


    Soon a black shadow came into view, but it wasn¡¯t a shadow it was Kuro. Selenia said, ¡°I need to get though Lucifer might be in trouble¡±. Kuro stood up and glared at her, ready to pounce. Selenia was taken back, she and Kuro got along very well and this was the first time Kuro had shown aggression towards her.


    Lucifer must have ordered Kuro to guard the core room which was just up ahead and Kuro takes her orders seriously. Selenia took several minutes trying to convince Kuro to let her pass which failed, however, when the dungeon tremored once again her point got through the big cat.


    Selenia passed by Kuro and felt a chill run down her spine, she could feel warm breath on her neck. Kuro obviously didn¡¯t trust her as much as she thought. The idea of putting up her armors barrier went through her mind, but that would be admitting guilt and Kuro was the dungeon monster she couldn¡¯t win against. It didn¡¯t matter how impenetrable her shield was if she was dragged into a shadow dimension and left there.


    She stepped into the core room and the first thing she saw was the emerald skeletons which first captured her, they now had emerald scythes, armor and pulsed with magical energies. The skeletons looked at her briefly and their eyes glowed before they went back into their lifeless states.


    Selenia could feel the warm breath move further away from her which gave her some relief. Kuro thought that if the skeletons didn¡¯t attack Selenia then Lucifer didn¡¯t mind her being here and backed off.


    Selenia felt a slight warmth at the skeletons complete disinterest in her, the dungeon with trust issues trusted her enough to be in the heart of the dungeon. That is when she noticed the now far larger dungeon core, it had a second crystal connected by a thin crystal bridge and black tendrils were coming from it and wrapping around the dungeon core.


    On the second floor.


    The dungeon shook and Ellora almost tripped as she found Arthus and Merlin. They turned to see the newcomer before gazing back at the barrier. Ellora said, ¡°while Lucifer isn¡¯t here we should be using his preparations¡±


    ¡°how¡± Arthus questioned.


    ¡°and what preparations¡± Merlin added.


    Ellora started, ¡°fist, the cannon golems, they should be moving to the second floor to follow the enemies, but without Lucifer the doors won¡¯t open, so they are stuck. I want Merlin to use his magic to open up all the wall doors¡±


    Merlin said, ¡°why do I need to do it, opening doors is a task more suited to the physically inclined¡±


    Ellora explained, ¡°the doors like exactly like the cave walls so only you could find them and open enough of them to matter¡±


    ¡°what will I be doing¡± said Arthus.


    ¡°I need you to get into the roof of the second floor and break open the poison reservoir--¡±


    ¡°you will have to explain this ¡°poison reservoir¡± better before I go breaking it¡± Arthus interrupted.


    Ellora explained, ¡°fires happened in the dungeon enough that Lucifer made a ¡°fire suppression system¡± as he calls it. It is thousands of small tunnels above each floor with a massive water basin above it, so when there is a fire Lucifer can essentially make it rain. But when he heard of the incoming attack he filled the basin with poison instead, so once you break it open you will be the only one fast enough to get out in time¡±


    ¡°sounds reasonable, what will you be doing¡± Arthus asked.


    Ellora answered, ¡°Lucifer has a large version of the cannons hidden in some of the hallways, they can¡¯t be activated without Lucifer, so I¡¯m going to have to find the Ant queen and convince her to have her ants manually activate the weapons¡±


    ¡°sounds like a plan¡± Arthus said before turning.


    ¡°wait,¡± said Merlin, ¡°take these¡±, he gave each of them a crystal ring, ¡°direct mana into the ring and think of what you want to say to the group¡±

 146

    Inside the barrier.


    Most were sitting down in a meditative pose with an empty bottle next to them, others moved to and fro inside the barrier, doing whatever they thought they needed to do. Healers had the wounded grouped up in one area as they did what they could, which was not much.


    The impacts of machine gun fire didn¡¯t simply cut through their victims like a sword, the healers were used to stitching together such wounds. The projectiles ripped apart their target and caused more damage than the healers thought possible considering their size.


    Each healing spell was costly, mana urged flesh to re-knit together and the better healers were able to make small amounts of flesh out of mana, however, they couldn¡¯t do anything for the countless men missing limbs.


    If you had legs they stopped the bleeding and sent you back, if you didn¡¯t they left you where you lay.


    In the center of the barrier, a group of better-equipped men surrounded a group of mages in a protective formation. ¡°we need to stop the assassinations, we should lure them in and strike with area magic¡± said one of the older mages.


    Another countered, ¡°eyewitnesses say there was only one man attacking them, and it was the same in other locations--¡±


    An old mage that had kept quiet up until now interrupted, ¡°It is their King¡±


    ¡°but their king is injured, there is no way he could still be so powerful¡±


    The old mage explained, ¡°I talked to some of those who witnessed the attacker, he fits the Kings description, or at least his armor does. So unless Swadia was able to hide such a powerful warrior from us then its the King, and he has either been healed or wasn¡¯t as injured as we were lead to believe¡±


    ¡°then what do we do¡± someone asked.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    The original speaker said, ¡°then we should stick to the same plan, lure him in and finish him¡±


    The old mage laughed, ¡°mages are more powerful than warriors, so do you think a warrior on par with the continents strongest mage is that easy to deal with. I think we should retreat and come back with a stronger force¡±


    ¡­


    ¡° this was supposed to be easy, someone remind me to use those nighthawk mercenaries as target practice after this¡±


    Suddenly explosions erupted on the first floor behind them in rapid succession, ¡°what is happening now¡± one of them exclaimed.


    Before they could send someone to scout the barrier flashed sending arcs of magical energy across its surface, along with deep thumps. One of the mages levitated himself to get a better look and gasped, ¡°those boxes are back¡±


    ¡°what!! but we destroyed all of them on this level¡±


    Meanwhile, in the tunnel system above the second floor, Arthus navigated the complex tunnel system. He ran past countless junctions and occasionally changed directions. After shoving mana into a ring onto his hand he said, ¡°how will I know where the reservoir is¡±


    A moment later he heard Ellora¡¯s voice, ¡°It is at the highest point in the tunnels¡±


    Arthus replied, ¡°the slope is so gentle that it is near impossible to tell, it is going to take too long to find the ¡®highest¡¯ point in this maze¡±


    Several seconds went by and Ellora said, ¡°you''re going to have to figure it out¡±


    ¡°fuck¡± Arthus cursed, he stopped and looked around carefully. The ground felt flat to him where he was, but that didn¡¯t change much since he started so that wasn¡¯t a good indication. He searched around his storage ring for something to help and found an Arcane orb, it was a powerful artifact from an unknown age and it was the only thing in his inventory that would roll.


    Arthus placed the artifact on the ground and watched it. It didn¡¯t move, he nudged it in all the directions and found that it rolls easier and keeps its momentum longer to his left. It could have been caused by erosion in the stone but it was the best idea he had.


    Arthus did this several times and got a general direction he needed to go. Explosions softly echoed through the tunnels, he had to hurry up. Arthus cursed once again and pulled out a sword, stabbed it into the cave roof, and sprinted in the direction he figured out.


    He was using an ancient artifact as a ball and his precious sword as a digging tool, he ignored the strange feeling and continued.


    It didn¡¯t take much longer before his sword hit a soft spot. Green liquid poured out the gash in the roof. Arthus had found the reservoir. Being careful not to let the liquid touch him he put all his strength into smashing the roof, his gauntlet smashed against the roof sending cracks webbing across it, his gauntlet deformed slightly, but he ignored it and started running.


    Moments later he heard a crack thump and then a roaring sound behind him. With his job done all he had to do now was get out of here. Arthus ran in one direction to find an outlet for the liquid. The further he went holes became more abundant, however, the holes were only a finger thick at most.


    Soon he came to a dead end, he cursed for the third time as the roaring became louder. Using his dented gauntlet again he smashed the floor, it didn¡¯t give, the roaring got louder, ¡°fucking fucked fuck¡± he cursed as he smashed the ground with his absurd strength.


    The ground here was thicker, but cracks turned to fissures and by the time he could see a wall of green liquid coming the ground finally gave way. He fell to the second floor and took a glance around, then dashed to the third floor.

 147

    In the core.


    Lucifer was battling the invading consciousness, but he was losing badly. This type of combat was entirely new to him and obviously not to the other party.


    Lucifer suffered several heavy energy attacks before he could figure out how to manipulate his own. Whenever he fumbled a defensive barrier up the opponent''s energy would turn to spikes and ram through the weakest part of the sphere. When he attacks the prime dungeon only has to make a single fortified shield to block.


    The prime dungeons attacks slowed down and his defenses became fancier. His shields were thin with structural support which seemed to sap Lucifer''s hammer like blows through momentum rather than power, leaving balls of Lucifer¡¯s energy floating uselessly in the void.


    Other times he would create angled barriers that would alter Lucifer''s projectiles just enough to miss him. Lucifer increased his output twofold and cursed his enemy with such fury it surprised himself. The prime dungeon responded with a smirk and even more flamboyant maneuvers.


    Lucifer roared, ¡°we are being attacked, if you don¡¯t stop we will lose and be captured¡±, oblivious to the changes to his psyche this battle was having.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The prime dungeon lamely replied, ¡°that''s the plan¡±


    ¡°what,¡± Lucifer asked with a particularly powerful attack that was quite draining.


    ¡°I was forced into the center of the world by such greedy people, its only fitting that I let them have me. Once they ¡°have¡± me I will slowly tear their minds bodies and souls apart. It will also leave me in a nice ruling position in the dominant power¡±


    Lucifer sneered, ¡°we¡¯re quite arrogant to think that you will be able to do whatever we want once we¡¯re captured¡±


    The prime dungeon laughed, ¡°I have been watching you for quite some time, so I know that the standard of magic has dropped to disgusting levels. I am certain that their childish magic will be of no consequence to me¡±


    Right now the battle had all but halted, Lucifer occasionally sent an energy blast, he even managed a spike attack, but he was quite drained and he thought it had been long enough.


    In the core room.


    Selenia walked past the skeletons while sending quick glances at them, they still made her nervous. She reached the core and saw the mechanism above. There was some type of rockfall trap above the connection between the core and the mana gem, except the rock was a large guillotine blade. Selenia didn¡¯t know how to activate it.


    Instead, she drew her sword and almost flinched when the click of claws extending onto the stone floor sounded. ¡®nature help anyone who gets near Kuro¡¯s future babies¡¯, thought Selenia as she brought down her sword.


    The connection broke easily, severing most of the black threads attached to the core. A moment passed and she had not been torn in two or left to die in some shadow realm, Selenia sighed in relief and looked behind.


    Kuro was hunched in a pouncing position with claws extended and shadows leaking from her body, Selenia said, ¡°see I just wanted to break the dangerous thing, Lucifer should be fine now¡±, although she was not sure and Lucifer hadn¡¯t said anything yet, so she was starting to become nervous again.

 148

    Inside the core.


    Suddenly the prime dungeon screamed, his body split apart and flung off into five separate beings.


    Lucifer sighed in relief, ¡°finally¡±. With the added breathing room he took a moment, ¡®I was saying we the entire time¡¯ he thought.


    If it dragged on for any longer or he didn¡¯t bait the enemy into showing off then he would be dead, or merged with the enemy which was far worse for someone functionally immortal like him. He had no way to tell how ¡®interested¡¯ that magic nut would be in a reincarnater.


    Lucifer calmed down and looked around to the 5 copies in the distance, they looked wrong and broken. Hopefully, this would make them easier to defeat because 1 had spotted him and was coming over.


    He could vaguely hear sounds from it, but they weren''t words or a spell. It was just mad ramblings as far as he could tell.


    It shot off a large blast of energy, however, it had no structure and could even be considered worse than Lucifers initial attempts. It wasn¡¯t dense, a mix between a cloud and a physical ball, it moved too slow and was shot from too far away.


    Lucifer took several seconds to leisurely create a softly angled energy shield and pushed it as far away from him as possible. The energy blast hit the shield, smashed it easily and only deflected a couple of degrees, but several degrees of deflection over a long distance adds up causing the attack to sail harmlessly past Lucifer.


    It attacked again and strained with all that it had. Another energy ball flew out and its existence faded a little. This attack was fired closer so Lucifer had less time and fired an angled shield forward. The shield lost its shape slightly when it left Lucifer''s control, but the momentum more than made up for it.


    The energy ball easily shattered the shield like last time and again it sailed past Lucifer harmlessly.


    It got angry and its ramblings became even more nonsensical, they were just sounds at this point. It tried to fire another shot, but it simply faded out of existence instead.


    In the core room.


    Selenia saw one of the remaining black strands in the core fade away and felt a tinge of excitement. Several minutes later all the black tendrils were gone leaving a beautifully glowing core floating in the room.


    ¡°Thank you for acting so quickly¡± came a deep voice from nowhere and everywhere causing Selenia to feel immense relief along with Kuro, who got up from her pouncing posture and licked Selenia''s hand.


    Lucifer asked, ¡°how is the defense going¡±


    Selenia answered, ¡°you would know better than I do after a look, I left the moment something went wrong¡±


    Lucifer moved his attention to his dungeon sense and felt the situation. There was a large and irritating barrier in his dungeon, but it was wavering under his tank golems assault.


    Lucifer thought it was raining on the second floor for a moment before he realized the fire system had activated. Curiously he checked how it activated because only he could turn it on, however, he only became confused when he noticed the large crack going along the central tunnel. what a strange way of opening the reservoir.


    He checked the reservoir and it was only a third empty so the fun had yet to begin.


    Inside the barrier.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    ¡°the barrier isn¡¯t going to hold against those absurd weapons, and the longer we keep it up the larger the drain on our army¡±


    One of the oldest mages said, ¡°Once the barrier goes down we are going to be attacked again, and we haven¡¯t solved that problem yet¡±


    Suddenly drops of green liquid passed through the barrier and screaming started.


    The mages reacted quickly, commands were issued and the barrier took on a yellowish tinge and the liquid no longer passed through.


    ¡°get me a sample of that poison,¡± said one of the mages. Soon he came up with a spell specifically to counter this poison and had his group of support mages cast it on the whole army.


    ¡°the longer we stay here the more problems pop up¡±


    ¡°I have a plan,¡± one of the leaders said, ¡°first we need to solve the problem of the box weapons, there are too many of them so we should send the army back to the first floor and block up the entrances for the box weapons--¡±


    ¡°what about the warrior¡± someone interrupted.


    The man continued, ¡°we will take the best mages we have and use invisibility to get to the lower floors. This dungeon has to get narrower at some point and that is where we will be able to defeat the Swadian king, if he is smart enough to find us that is¡±


    A few minutes later Lucifer saw large movements in the barrier, then just as suddenly as it was created the barrier dissipated. The army scrambled towards the first floor, unblocking the entrance on the way, all the while under heavy tank golem fire.


    Earthen ramparts were hastily erected with what little earth they could scrounge from dungeon stone. Lucifer had removed most of the earth, but he hadn¡¯t known how useful it would be to his enemies, so he didn¡¯t get rid of it all.


    As time went on the casulties piled up, but the ramparts became stronger and thicker preventing further deaths. The golem tanks chased their targets over the ramparts where their cannons had made ramps from the rubble, however, they were slow and couldn¡¯t aim down, so most of them were blown up before they could come down the other side.


    Lucifer ordered the tanks into the hatches to the first floor, however, very few made it through in time before the holes were filled. Merlin''s attacks had made the almost invisible hatches on the first floor into gaping holes, which were easily filled or used as ambush points.


    The reservoir was almost half empty and was proving ineffective. When the barrier went down and the army was drenched, nothing happened, however, that was mostly the heavier liquid, so Lucifer opened up the gates to the first floor so it would ¡°rain¡± there too.


    Half a minute later, when the army was savoring their first win since entering the dungeon, the rain started again. Most ignored it because of its harmlessness after the buff spell cast on them. Instead, they focused on ambushing those weapon boxes.


    The moment one drove out a hole a group would blow it up before it had a chance to turn its cannons. Then the screaming started, at first from several directions, ¡°MY EYES¡± ¡°BURNS¡± ¡°HELP¡±, then from everywhere.


    No one could tell what was being said anymore, the collective screams of thousands drowned out any coherence, but they knew it was caused by the rain. Ambush teams ran into the tunnels to get shelter. Only for their limbs to fly back out.


    The tank golems didn¡¯t have to spend time turning their cannons if you ran straight at them, and the fleeing men made for easy targets.


    Lucifer told the golems to hold the position in the tunnels for the moment.


    Meanwhile, some of the smarter mages set up barriers around themselves. Because all the powerful mages had left they couldn¡¯t set a large barrier quickly enough, so the screaming continued as people melted. Anyone who could still move fought for space inside a competent mages barrier.


    On the second floor.


    Lucifer found Arthus and Merlin walking to the third floor and said, ¡°you¡¯ve noticed the invisible people too¡±


    They both looked around and Arthus replied, ¡°yes we noticed them--¡±


    Merlin corrected, ¡°I noticed them¡±


    ¡°anyway¡± Arthus continued, ¡°what happened to you¡±


    Lucifer thought for a moment before summing up what happened, ¡°since my birth I have been receiving information packets from the earth, it turns out they were parts of the original dungeons consciousness and he tried to possess my core¡±


    Merlin was surprised and asked, ¡°and you managed to defeat the original dungeon, he was even more powerful than me, even relatively, if you include the lost magic he has he would be nearly invincible¡±


    Lucifer chuckled, ¡°perhaps, but here, I¡¯m god¡±¡­ ¡°anyway move towards the wall on your left, I¡¯ll take care of those mages¡±


    ¡­


    The group of mages consisted of the 24 most powerful mages, most with a unique specialization, some were good at combat, others specialized in bombardment or support. They had cast an invisibility spell on the group and a few other buffs to avoid notice.


    Occasionally one of them would discreetly cast a spell to check if they were being followed, they felt a few life signs at the start, but they said that whatever it was was gone now and they weren¡¯t being followed.


    Soon they made it to the entrance of the third floor. ¡°that''s not on the map¡±, said one of them¡±


    ¡°none of anything is on the map, forget the map¡±


    ¡°shh¡­ muffle doesn¡¯t quiet your voice, Zor, check for traps¡±


    A man stepped in front of the group and went through a dozen spells, he said, there aren¡¯t any traps of physical or magical, although there is a massive amount of mana coming from that direction¡±


    ¡°its a dungeon of course it has high mana levels, besides unleavened mana can¡¯t be dangerous and only helps us so let''s continue¡±


    They stepped into the third floor and into a cylindrical tunnel with strange ridges spiraling along the tunnel interior. One of the mages said, ¡°I¡¯ve just checked ahead, there is a small doorway on the left wall we can exit through¡±


    ¡°how far does this spiral tunnel go after that door,¡± someone asked.


    ¡°a few feet after the door is blocked¡± answered the same man.


    ¡°blocked by what¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t tell what it is from my spells, it is cone-shaped and fills the entire tunnel, other than that I don¡¯t know¡± the man answered.


    A deep voice answered, ¡°its a shell¡±


    ¡°shell? Of what?¡±


    The deep voice chuckled, ¡°your men call them box weapons, well those weapons are called cannons, and you are currently standing in one, so I bid you farewell and have a good day sir¡±


    Suddenly someone shouted, ¡°ITS THE DUNGEON, WAIT!--¡±


    The deep voice roared, ¡°I SAID GOOD DAY SIR!¡±


    Mana crystals exploded in chain reaction which shot the ¡®shell¡¯ through the tunnel where the mages stood at several times the speed of sound. The mages were reduced to something even Lucifer couldn¡¯t find and the dungeon shook violently as shell hit the dungeon wall, which shattered for dozens of meters.


    Lucifer checked for any survivors even though he knew it was unnecessary, then went back to find the speechless Arthus and Merlin. ¡°is that a good enough warning to not mess with me¡± said Lucifer.

 149

    ¡­


    Lucifer then asked Arthus and Merlin, ¡°there is still a sizable force on the first floor, would you kindly go and kill them¡±


    ¡°don¡¯t you have another one of those weapons to take care of them,¡± said Arthus.


    Lucifer answered, ¡°yes, but that would require them to go deeper instead of leaving the dungeon, and by the looks of it they are already starting to break¡±


    ¡°what are you going to do¡± Merlin asked.


    ¡°teach the Magedom a lesson¡± Lucifer replied.


    ¡°how¡±


    ¡°secret¡± Lucifer grinned.


    First floor.


    The ground was littered with incapacitated men. Very few died from the acid, but the victims were blinded and couldn¡¯t even defend themselves, let alone act in an army.


    It was only a matter of time before the golem tanks attacked again. While there wasn¡¯t many of them left there are even fewer able combatants to stop them. Occasionally a single mage or a group of mages would disappear amongst the symphony of suffering going on around them.


    The last vestiges of a command structure tried to create some order, but they couldn¡¯t stop an invisible man in their current state. Other people covered their faces and fled when they thought no one was looking, others just left while ignoring their superiors. A few even pretended to be blind and ¡®felt¡¯ their way towards the exit.


    Healing was effectively useless, normal healing spells only hastened the natural healing process and maybe enhanced it under a skilled caster. Only advanced healing would be able to return their sight, and the few that remained were either spent or missing.


    As the numbers further dwindled the golem tanks burst through the tunnels sending out a hail of death. The acid rain had stopped, but the mages were still grouped together out of position. Of the 300 or so remaining combatants 100 were cut down in the first volley.


    The remaining men charged the golem tanks or made earth walls for defense, however, when they closed in on the golems using earth walls as cover, giant armored men appeared from behind the tank golems. They held simple machine guns similar to the tanks and fired off trained bursts into the enemies.


    A strange sort of trench warfare began, mages earth desperately created labyrinths of earthen walls to stop the gunfire, the earth they collected during their first escape was immensely useful, but the tank golems drove right through the thinner walls and over thicker ones after damaging the walls.


    Solitary tank golems were quickly picked off as the enemies became familiar to their shortcomings, however, the dungeon knights supported a significant force that was slowly pushing forward, wall by wall, sector by sector.


    They moved as if guided from a mind above, with brutal efficiency they cleared all life from the walls, dead ends were ignored, hiding mages were found, ambushes ambushed. Every now and then one of them would take a direct spell hit, fire bathed their hulking forms, they were encased in ice, thrown through solid walls, but it only served to slow them down.


    Fire just darkened their already black armor, Ice just inconvenienced them as an ally would have to bash apart the ice, and throwing them with pure force magic didn¡¯t seem to damage them much, one even started laughing and jeered at the attacking mage to do it again.


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    But ammo isn¡¯t infinite and the dungeon knights guns ran dry, half of the golem tanks were idling in the back, out of munitions, so they retreated and gave the mages some breathing room, while a couple of dungeon knights who ¡°enjoyed the challenge¡± stayed back to attack smaller groups with their bare hands or other enemies.


    Meanwhile overhead.


    Merlin was floating just below the ceiling while he levitated an uncomfortable Arthus next to him.


    Merlin said ¡°those weapons are extremely effective, although it is obvious the dungeon isn¡¯t capable of bringing out their full use¡±


    ¡°oh and how would you do so,¡± Arthus asked.


    Merlin answered ¡°those cartridges on the bottom of the rods hold the limited activation''s of the weapon, so having your army run out before the battle is finished is ineffective¡±


    Lucifer''s deep voice rumbled next to them, ¡°what are you doing floating around here for¡±


    Arthus remarked, ¡°I thought you were ¡®dealing with the Magedom¡¯, why are you here¡±


    Lucifer answered, ¡°I am the dungeon, it is hard to not be here when there are still so many enemies in my dungeon¡±


    ¡°fine¡± Merlin said, ¡°It is our turn I get it¡±


    Lucifer smiled to himself, unbeknownst to them Lucifer had several tank golems fitted with ammo caches still inside the walls. Instead of sending them out he watched on with interest.


    Merlin floated ahead of Arthus and began casting, mana pored out of the mage, and to Lucifer''s surprise still stayed under Merlin''s control as unwoven mana. A strange glow lit up the mage''s chest, Lucifer could tell there was some sort of orb inside beside Merlin''s heart.


    The freed mana split into a hundred small orbs, Lucifer switched to mana sight and saw further magics being weaved onto and in the orbs. Then the orbs flew towards the mages, each orb targeting a separate target.


    Several mages below noticed the roof lighting up as if it was the night sky, and threw defensive wards in front of themselves, however, Merlin''s magic passed through the barriers as if they weren¡¯t there, the orbs entered the mage''s bodies leaving them completely unharmed, a second later they all dropped dead without a wound or understanding how they died.


    ¡°the rest are yours kid,¡± Merlin said before dropping Arthus to the ground.


    Lucifer darkly said, ¡°I can see why you run a magic university. Even I can¡¯t cast several hundred spells at once¡±


    Merlin glared at the voices perceived direction and mockingly said, ¡°I do not need moral advice from a dungeon¡±


    ¡°and I don¡¯t care to give it¡± Lucifer replied before redirecting the river through the fire suppression system with a portal.


    Rain once again visited the first floor as Arthus killed any surviving combatants, but this time it was actually water. ¡°what are you doing¡± Merlin asked.


    ¡°washing the bodies¡±


    Merlin said, ¡°washing¡±


    After several seconds Merlin came to a realization, there was a black wave heading towards the incapacitated soldiers and mages. It was a wave of hungry ants.


    Sometime later.


    Lucifer was in his lab and staring at a set of small twin demons. they were barely a foot tall and were basically an eyeball with legs. One of them was casting a spell projecting an image of what its twin was seeing.


    Lucifer chuckled with a grin. He focused his mind on a small magical blimp in the sky, then casted a teleportation spell on the twin.


    The second demon disappeared and the first demons projected image changed to a night sky. Then it shifted and a high orbit image of the planet was projected on the little demons magic screen.


    In space.


    The little demon found itself transported to a clear sphere above the planet, the sphere had several projections with cones protruding out, inside the sphere, there was a large mana gem, larger than the little demon had ever seen before.


    It felt something from its twin below, a message, ¡°look down¡±. It didn¡¯t know which way was down here because it was floating, but the messages kept coming until it looked the right way.


    Time slowly passed by as the demon became bored, this was the strangest summoning it ever had in its ancient existence. Even stranger still a giant rod was teleported underneath it. The rod had cones coming off it with mana gems embedded around them.


    Then the cones shot out a stream of mana and the rod slowly moved away from it towards the planet.


    The demon lost sight of the rod and was once again bored, a large red circle appeared on the planet for a moment, but it didn¡¯t care.


    Lucifer''s lab.


    ¡°HAH, I only missed by a few dozen kilometers, I guess I will just have to try again when it comes around again, or on any of the dozen or so times it lines up today¡±


    While Lucifer was celebrating his orbital bombardment the floating Magedom city was in turmoil.


    The ruling council of mages had gathered, in part to help calm the masses, but mainly to figure out what practically decimated a mountain only a few days from their floating city.


    They argued for hours while scouts reports came in, each report was graver than the last. When they received a report about half a dragon lying dead at the impact point they almost had a heart attack. Even they wouldn¡¯t dare attack a dragon and the idea that something existed that could kill such a being in one hit terrified them, especially because they weren''t the ones in control of that something.


    Suddenly a scout burst into the room and the council turned to him in morbid anticipation. The scout was panting and out of breath, ¡°ther- there is- another one¡±


    ¡°WHAT!¡± a council member yelled, ¡°WHERE, MOBILISE OUR ARMY TO GET IT¡±


    The scout jumped back slightly at being yelled at by such a powerful individual, but he still pointed up.


    Above the Magedom floating city.


    Several tones of enchanted metal cut through the air at several times the speed of sound. All control surfaces on it had been torn by the massive forces of planetary reentry.


    Then it made impact with the side of the floating city, the impact forces were so great that it overpowered the molecular bonds holding the metal to itself, each molecule violently spread out to dissipate its energy turning the solid metal rod into a bomb.


    Within the first half second the floating city shattered and a quarter of the city disappeared. The rest of the city didn¡¯t fare much better as the heat and shock-wave reduced everything to rubble. Anything that survived fell several hundred meters to the ground when the city couldn¡¯t maintain its flotation magic anymore.


    Lucifer watched the twin demons vision and grinned.


    Sometime in the future.


    Lucifer stood on top of his mountain and said, ¡°

 Epilogue

    Epilogue


    After the battle, the dungeon became quieter. Adventurers still came to try their luck, but without the looming threat of destruction or capture, Lucifer found it rather dull, so he threw himself his work. He researched whatever interested him in his free time and worked on his city every other moment.


    After Ahri gave birth to Lucifers divinely blessed child Arthus found out that the child had his blood running through his veins, and instead of being furious that his blood was used in such a way, he made the child the crown prince. the boy had the royal bloodline and Arthus was more than happy to take Lucifer into the family.


    Lucifer was given a grand royal title, he couldn''t care less about, but it did allow him to make major changes to Swadia without protest. Lucifer had his growing ant army create great canals all over the Kingdom, each leading to his city using dungeon portals to climb up the mountain.


    With the dungeons growth and Lucifers growing influence he was able to terraform the city and its surroundings, and with a few more rivers diverted for the city''s water consumption, he grew the city even further. Eventually, the Morningstar city became the capital of Swadia for various reasons.


    The old capital was too far away from the recaptured Duchies, Lucifers free trade and laws coupled highly effective animal spies grew the cities prosperity exponentially. Corruption was viciously rooted out and the common people were just as protected as the nobles, so they were able to confidently start their own businesses and move in the world and the city. Stolen novel; please report.


    Changing the capital unofficially handed Swadia over to Lucifer and his son, so Arthus was able to avoid most political manoeuvering and court intrigue which he detested, instead he traveled around Swadia. Most of his time was spent hunting down particularly harmful and dangerous beasts that the adventurer guild wouldn''t bother with.


    Ellora traveled to the Magedom to make sure her enemies that enslaved her were dead,  she needed to know for certain.


    After finding none alive she visited Lucifer once more before returning to her homeland Korek as an ambassador. they respected strength which she had now and she was also "the dungeons kings wife", although the title wasn''t accurate at all.


    Ahri was the closest thing to a wife to Lucifer and She stayed with Lucifer in the dungeon. She was expelled from the arcane university after killing its mages, but she didn''t seem to care. Although Lucifer knew otherwise and threatened Merlin with orbital bombardment if he didn''t take her back.


    Merlin''s response amounted to "fuck you" in politer language. Lucifer occasionally looks at the university through the little twin demon, but he respects someone who sticks to their principles even when it hurts them too much to obliterate him for that, and it would only make Ahri more upset.


    Selenia went back to adventuring and teaching, but the dungeon was always her home and after she matured more she eventually visited Lucifers room.


    Wolfram retired from the city guard when he felt his presence was unnecessary, the animal spies did a better job than he ever could and he was a battle general anyway.


    Lucifer offered him a leading position in his dungeon knights and even offered to give him a longer lifespan, but Wolfram rejected and lived out the rest of his days in the village he came from along with a few of his older subordinates and wife. Although not before Lucifer convinced him to hunt down the Blackhawk mercenaries that sold the information about him to the Magedom.