《Dungeon Core: “The Eternal Training Ground”》


 chapter 1

    Chapter 1


    Everything I''d never felt before was now screaming at the back of my mind. I needed to do something to quell that need. I became more aware of what I am. Then, I felt a sense of wrongness. I wasn''t quite right. What wasn''t right? My body. It wasn''t in the right shape. I needed it to be a perfect sphere, but I was in a random shape.


    I immediately knew what I needed to do. I started to pull some parts of my body inwards and some outwards so I could shape myself into a perfect sphere. I couldn''t expand my body, which was unfortunate as I knew that the bigger I am, the stronger I am. My instincts indicated that this should take a long time, but I felt that I was doing it fast.


    As I worked on my body, I had more time to experience my surroundings. I saw something slowly growing beside me. I paused my self-transformation to examine this growing thing. Soon, I realized it was moss. The moss'' amount of growth should take about a month.


    Another thing I knew was that time passes, and I have words for those. My instincts are telling me that, but it''s hard to notice them, especially the smaller units, as I don¡¯t have any reference points. Making my body a sphere took about another month, but I was finally done, and I felt right. It felt good, but then my instincts told me I needed to do another thing, but I couldn¡¯t.


    There wasn¡¯t enough mana in me to start carving out a room, a place that would be my home. My instincts were confused, and so was I. Was I too fast? For some reason, I felt making my body spherical should have taken a lot longer, many years, not months. Then I realized an even bigger problem. I was too big, and it would take even longer for me to fill up with enough mana to connect to the world around me the way I need to.


    My mind was wandering as days went by with nothing to do. I hadn¡¯t noticed how much of my mind it took to make my body spherical. The growth was also too slow, but occasionally I saw incredibly small bugs consuming moss, which was a lot more fun to see. One particular bug was a bit bigger than the rest and more energetic, so watching it was interesting as I didn¡¯t know what it would do next. Unfortunately, it soon left my vision, and for the first time, I felt sad.


    Being sad made me feel angry. I wanted to see more of that bug, so I tried to push my vision, and to my surprise, it actually expanded, but it took some of my mana. My instincts didn''t like it as I needed to gather enough so I could start influencing the world around me, but that would take so long. So, for the first time, I didn¡¯t listen to my instincts and started to slowly push my vision out.


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    Mostly, it was more rock, but there were smaller bugs as well, and eventually, I found that interesting little bug again. I spent days watching it, and it was always surprising me. It even fought with some of its fellow bugs, which was so interesting and something even my instincts enjoyed. It was so satisfying to watch it win. Almost a month later, something incredible happened. I saw another bug, but it was so big. After I calmed down a bit, I realized that it wasn¡¯t that big. It seemed to be looking for food, but it was long enough in my influence that I was able to learn what it was.


    It was a black ant, a female one scouting for food. Soon, not finding any food, it returned to where it came from, and I lost sight of it. Once again, I spent my accumulated mana to expand my vision. Finding the ant again proved more difficult than I expected, and it took many days until I saw another ant. By that time, I was boxed in, only having one avenue to expand my vision. The room that I was in wasn¡¯t that big. The ceiling was only about a meter at its lowest and 1 1/2 at its highest. I was at one corner of the room, and my current influence expanded a few meters.


    I continued to push my vision through the open space to see more and more ants. For a moment, I thought that I should stop, but I didn¡¯t want to as I saw more and more ants. Eventually, I expanded my vision throughout this room. The place was covered in soil, which they used to make their incredible homes. To my surprise and delight, there wasn¡¯t only one ant colony but two. The other ones were red ants, and to even more delight, they sometimes even fought, which was so interesting to watch.


    When my excitement died down a bit, I noticed how much mana I had spent. After accumulating it for so long it was almost all now gone. I hadn¡¯t even noticed how my instincts were screaming at me, but now I could just sit back and enjoy looking at how ants lived and fought while continuing to accumulate more.


    Almost a day later, I got another surprise that made me and my instincts incredibly excited. One of the ants died in battle, and I got mana from that, almost an hour worth of accumulation. The ants had tactics, which I didn¡¯t think such small creatures would use, and the way their societies worked was so interesting. Often a lot of ants left my influence, going somewhere on top and bringing back food, and while I was curious, I was content to just watch what I could currently see.


    The two ant colonies constantly expanded, and that caused them to fight more and more over territory. During all of this time, I had already gotten back everything I had spent on expanding my vision, so I was at a net positive for mana accumulation. Finally, I saw something different. Male ants had wings on them. Soon they left, and I noticed some unfamiliar ones return.


    Over the next weeks, I saw how new Queens were appointed, but for the first time, a large difference between the two ants happened. The black ones'' new queens stayed in the colony, but for the red ones, the Queens left. That caused a shift of strength over the next month. The black ants started to win the battle for territory as the red ants were slowly being pushed out.


    It was a bit sad to see, but my attention was disrupted when something started to happen inside of me. Finally, I was full of mana, and something started to happen. I started the change. After a few days, I felt incredible stimulation that ended in an explosion that encompassed all of my vision. I finally had territory. It felt so good, and my territory was something that was mine and no one else''s.


    I basked in this feeling, but soon I noticed disturbances. The living creatures, mainly the ants, were blocking me from controlling the territory near them. My instincts told me to crush them, drive them out, but that was just stupid. They were giving me mana and were fun to watch. For not the first time, I felt my instincts were wrong, so I ignored them.

 chapter 2

    Another thing my instincts were telling me was to make the walls into dungeon stone, and that was something I agreed with. There were only a few things that could break through dungeon stone, but if something like that came here, I would already be dead.


    It took a while to do this and a lot of mana, but thanks to having real territory now, I was getting a lot more. Ants no longer give me mana only from their deaths. I was getting it from them living inside of me as well, once again proving that my instincts were wrong on that front.


    I made it to the dirt part of my territory, and this time I also disagreed with my instincts a bit. Instead of replacing the dirt, I just made the dungeon stone a bit deeper so that it would still be there and continue to expand. It was a bit more difficult to expand like this, especially when I reached the ants as I had to wait for them to not be close to where I wanted to make the dungeon stone. There was even a need to go deeper as near the ant nest there wasn¡¯t a place devoid of them.


    The ceiling was a bit more difficult. There were numerous holes where ants went through to get to the surface. I also needed an entrance; otherwise, I would start to suffocate, so I just left those places open and grew my dungeon stone around them. Something concerning is that ants were getting closer to my core, and some of them were a bit bigger and stronger than normal. Was it my Mana-rich territory that caused them to change like that?


    My worries were put aside as I noticed the battles grew more interesting because of it. The ants also seemed to employ more tactics. My favorite was when a colony had an especially good food item but not wanting to risk it being stolen, they voluntarily gave up a less desirable piece of food as a distraction. I felt that that was really clever, and that helped the red ants strengthen themselves so they could keep their current territory against larger numbers.


    The ants were quite often at my core, and I didn¡¯t like it when they touched me. However, they couldn''t do anything to me as I was a lot bigger than them and made from quartz. In fact, I was 100% clear, something I was incredibly proud of. That also meant that my mana caused me to glow quite brightly. My worry grew into concern, and some of the bigger specimens tried to bite me. Right now, they couldn¡¯t do anything. I wasn¡¯t certain if that would be the case in the future.


    I had ignored my instincts for a while now. They told me I needed to make the room bigger and then make more of them so I could gain more mana, but they also told me that I should make monsters to defend myself. For me, it was still more interesting to watch how the ants lived and fought. But I was becoming a distraction for the ants, so I decided to use one of their plans.


    For the first time, I actively changed where I was moving myself more to the center of the room where it felt right to be. Then, I started to carve myself a pillar of dungeon stone so I could be even more in the center of the room. When I was there, it felt just right, and I started to grow the pillar around myself, extending it until I was completely hidden. If I were to completely encase myself, I would soon suffocate, but I wasn''t going to do that.


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    Right on top of myself, I made a structure from the crystal I was made from, but I made lots of holes into it so I wouldn¡¯t suffocate. The light that was coming from my core was diffused when it hit the crystal above me, making me completely hidden from the outside world. On top of that crystal platform, I made myself but smaller, something that was more normal for dungeon cores. Now, I was hidden in plain sight, and I had a decoy.


    The ants were curious, but whatever they liked about my core the decoy didn¡¯t have it. When they couldn¡¯t get closer to me, they eventually stopped bothering me. For the next few months, I spent my time observing how the ants lived, died and evolved. There were new types of ants doing more specific things, and they often surprised me with something new. Then, to my absolute horror, I could feel their fear. They were alerting the colony of danger. It had happened before, but nothing quite like this.


    I calmed myself down a bit. Whatever it was, it shouldn''t endanger my ants. Once, there was an animal with claws trying to dig into the ant nest, but my stone stopped it. So, it shouldn''t have the capability to do anything to my ants. Only a few minutes later, I was proven completely wrong. I watched in horror as a narrow tongue slipped through the holes I left in my dungeon stone and captured an ant every time it returned.


    This creature also tried to scratch its way deeper in, but it couldn''t. That didn¡¯t matter as its tongue was so long that none of the ants could escape. Usually, I needed a creature to be inside my territory to figure out what it was, but the creature spent so much time capturing my ants with its tongue that I was able to figure out that the creature was an anteater. An apt name.


    In less than an hour, only a few ants were left alive. None of them, however, were the queen, so in less than a month, they would all be dead. I was devastated at first. I couldn¡¯t believe what had happened. There was just no way. Then, I was angry, incredibly so, but I couldn¡¯t do anything. The creature was long gone from here.


    What a fool I was. I made dungeon ants and for a time I was distracted by them, but they just didn''t feel right. They didn''t have the same spark. While they still behaved like ants, I needed to tell them what they needed to do. They couldn¡¯t decide for themselves.


    I grieved for the loss of my ants. Eventually, I accepted what had happened and I killed most of the monsters that I had made. I only kept a few of the different species'' queens and workers. They had already laid some eggs, and I couldn¡¯t bring myself to destroy them just yet.


    I was quite numb, so I just followed what my instincts were telling me. It was a slow going as I pushed my wall territory outwards. Soon, I figured out that I was at the base of a mountain. Unfortunately, I was close to the edge, so I constantly had to push my core room backwards so I could make more rooms like my instincts told me.


    While I had the desire to decorate the rooms and make them more interesting, I just did the bare minimum that was needed. In the first room, I made my first monster. To my surprise, it seems that I knew how to make some monsters, probably thanks to whoever my parents were. When I figured this out, I spent a little bit more time trying to figure myself out and learned that dungeons don¡¯t have parents. We only have one, and when we release one of our seeds, some of our knowledge goes with them to help them get started.


    I expected that this horned rabbit would be quite interesting to observe in the wild, but right now, it was nothing but a puppet that couldn''t do anything for itself. I knew that it was about twice the size of a normal rabbit and while the horn was short and blunt, it would still be quite painful when the rabbit jumped into someone. There was also a need to add something to the monsters'' pattern, but that knowledge was a bit hazy. I guessed I didn¡¯t get those memories completely.


    I didn¡¯t let that bother me and continued to expand. When my instincts finally relaxed, I had made five rooms and expanded my territory to the maximum I could. I could fit more than double the amount of rooms into the territory I claimed, but I didn''t bother as my instincts were satisfied.


    The reason why I expanded my territory so much was that it was quite interesting to see the new things I could discover. I even found something called copper that was inside a rock. It needed to be processed somehow to be used, at least that¡¯s what my inherited memories indicated.

 chapter 3

    It took me about a month to finish the first floor, and once again, I knew that was fast. Normally, I believe that this should have taken close to a year. Looking over at my dungeon, I was satisfied and content to wait until I had gathered enough mana to start making a second floor.


    With the five combat rooms in a loose configuration and every one of them having a monster inside of them. The first three only had one horned rabbit, but the next two had two inside of them. Here too, I only did the minimum required to silence my instincts.


    I finally felt that I had recovered from the loss of my ants, but I was still missing them. So when I refocused on the ants that I left alive, I discovered something incredibly joyous. Some of them were acting like my original ants. They were constantly looking for food, but they didn¡¯t need it as I was giving them enough sustenance. But I also noticed that the ones who were looking needed a bit more than the ones that I had summoned.


    Incredibly curious, I started to observe and try to figure out what was going on. I couldn¡¯t keep my happiness and delight in check as I figured out what was happening. They had their own desires and wants like the regular ants, and that was because they were born and not made by me. What an incredible discovery. That meant that I could make queens that would make real ants. Although they would still be proper dungeon monsters, they would have their own mind.


    When I rushed to start creating more queens to produce more real ants, I halted as I realized that they were even more open and vulnerable to anything that wanted to eat them. This wasn''t going to be allowed. Could I make a room dedicated to them? I could, but that didn¡¯t guarantee safety. There wasn''t any hurry for me to start creating more ants. I had all the time in the world. Let''s think this through and try to find the best solution.


    The pillar that I was in, I started to hollow out under my core but not enough that I would fall through, but enough that I would have a good connection to the territory that I was clearing the rock out of. Soon, I had a large room. The floor I covered in dirt, and I planted some moss and grass. Then, I moved all of my current ants down there and made a few more queens so they could start expanding. Immediately, I had to separate the ants as the workers started attacking each other if they were too close.


    That done, it will only take time until more real ants grow, but I had time, so I just went back to watching my territory as I accumulated mana. About a week into this routine, I noticed a new bug entering my territory from the entrance I had made. I directed my rabbit to kill it so I could learn its pattern faster. Now, I had another bug for my collection, but I would still need both male and females before I could start breeding real ones.


    It seems that nature didn¡¯t like emptiness and slowly it started to encroach its inevitable expansion towards my first room. More and more bugs and even some smaller animals came to explore. The rabbit was in defense mode, so it attacked anything that could threaten it. Eventually, I noticed something new entering that made me excited. It was a new sort of ant. While it was also black, it wasn''t the same species that I currently have.


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    I almost made the mistake of ordering the horned rabbit to kill it. I could create more of this type of ant if I killed it now, but ant species usually had more than one type of ant. I couldn¡¯t make it into a queen. What to do, what to do? Bait, I needed bait. There was meat that I could leave out, but that wasn¡¯t their favorite food. Something with sugar in it, that they should like the most, good energy. But right now, I didn¡¯t have anything like that.


    Perhaps I already had a better option that was received from my parent. There were many patterns I found. Most of them were incomplete or just hazy, but I found it. It was called an apple. I spawned it in the second room and made the horned rabbit take it to the first and then smash it so the smell would start to entice the ants to enter.


    It took a while before the ant found the food, but I could already see the pheromone trails that it left when it started to return home. In a few hours, more and more ants started to show up, and I made my horned rabbit take more apples to the first room and smash them.


    Slowly, a steady stream of ants were coming into the first room with many other bugs and smaller animals. I continued to make more apples when I started to run out, and eventually, I even came to acquire more ant species, which made me incredibly delighted. I was going to collect them all.


    My entire first floor is now full of bait. My collection of different patterns keeps expanding, but I¡¯m most proud of two new ant queens I have been able to acquire. One of them I call the hairy black ants and another one is the red dot ants. The red dot ones are the most aggressive and they have bigger mandibles than the others. They are formidable fighters, but with my new ants, I have had to expand my ant room. I like the name I came up with, and it''s a perfect description of what my first floor has come to be.


    The room that the ants now occupy is huge. Basically, I hollowed out my entire territory which ended up in a large oval hollow. The walls are still made from thick dungeon stones, and I made them even thicker than usual. There are multiple pillars that help support everything, even though my dungeon stone is strong enough that they wouldn''t need them, it still made me feel better. The proper dungeon rooms are now suspended inside the oval emptiness, also supported by many pillars.


    One thing I wished was that I could make it even bigger, that way I could have more colonies. But it''s hard to push against my limits, and I have only been able to expand a little bit. That expansion just took a bit too much mana, so it was more practical to save up so I could expand downwards into the second floor, which would give me a lot more space to turn into an ant habitat. Currently, there are exactly 27 colonies, and their numbers are quickly rising. Unfortunately, none of the queens are actually ants. It will still take a while before real ant queens appear.


    It takes a lot of mana upkeep to keep so many monsters alive, but currently, they are producing more than they are requiring, so it''s a net positive for me. This has allowed me to accelerate my mana accumulation, and I was quite close to my breakthrough. When it finally arrived, I followed my instincts and did what I needed to do. The moment I initiated the breakthrough, my accumulated mana was used to make me better. About half was spent on improving myself, while the other half was also split in two.


    Half would be allocated to expanding the potential of my next floor, and the other half would go into this floor''s guardian. Immediately, I knew that I couldn¡¯t let that happen. The amount of mana inside of me was larger than normal, and the monster would be too strong. From my inherited memories, I knew that a floor should have a gradual increase of difficulty, while the final guardian would have a small jump. But currently, it would be like an ant versus an anteater.


    I wouldn¡¯t be able to decrease the amount of energy used, but I could force more to be allocated to the next floor''s potential. In the end only about 7% was left for the floor guardian when I finally felt that it was correct. I stopped meddling with my breakthrough, allowing it to finally finish. The floor guardian I chose was the horned rabbit, but now the horn was bigger and pointier, and the rabbit itself was bigger and overall stronger in every regard.


    When I tested expanding downwards, I felt that I had an incredible amount of space that I could expand into. Just in case, I waited a few days so I could accumulate some mana before I started expanding, but never using more than what was being generated. My instincts already wanted me to move my core room downwards into the next floor, but first, I wanted to expand as much as I can to see how much territory I will gain.

 chapter 4

    The first floor was about 10 metres in height, 80 metres in length, and 55 metres in width. Usually, the next floor is about 20 to 30 percent bigger, but mine was almost double. I felt so satisfied; it just felt so good to be big. Having so much territory also upped my mana regeneration, which meant I could make a lot more ants and still keep growing. This was incredibly fun.


    I started by making a thick dungeon stone wall around my new territory. Then, I finally gave in as my instincts were screaming at me. I started to move my core room downwards past the first-floor territory into the second. I needed to do some maneuvering and reshuffling as I didn¡¯t want to disturb my ant room too much. The staircase downwards was a bit longer than usual, but that¡¯s something I couldn''t do anything about.


    With that done, my instincts stopped screaming at me, but I still needed to continue making rooms. The constant annoyance was troublesome enough, so I focused on making eight new rooms. At the same time, I also started to hollow out the rest of the second floor to make into another ant room. Because of that, the expansion of my second floor''s normal rooms actually took a more reasonable amount of time.


    It took me about eight months to finish the minimum eight rooms. They were a lot bigger than the first-floor rooms, and for this, I decided to use the fox pattern that I had. I gained the fox pattern when one of them started to quite regularly kill the first room''s horned rabbit and eat the dropped piece of meat. Eventually, however, the horned rabbit got lucky with its attack and was able to stun the fox. It only took a few more hits after that before the horned rabbit won.


    I did spend quite a lot of mana on making the fox pattern stronger so they would actually be a stronger opponent. This ensured the second floor would be harder than the first. When the foxes'' strength felt right, they had sharper and longer claws. They could also rip through stronger defences. I started out with one and ended with three foxes in the last room. The rooms themselves were just barren caves, and so were the tunnels between them.


    While I could spend time decorating them and perhaps giving my foxes places to ambush, it would just take more mana upkeep, and that would mean fewer ants, which was unacceptable. With my dungeon rooms finished and monsters deployed, I turned my attention to the second-floor ant room. I made a similar environment with a dirt floor and different kinds of plants. I even buried a few apples as I knew that their seeds were supposed to grow into trees, and I wanted to see what trees looked like.


    At first, I was going to make new ant queens on the second floor, but I came up with a better idea. Using the pillars that supported the second floor, I made holes into the first floor and carved tunnels into the pillars so that the ants could go downwards. There were a few real queens now, and I would let them expand themselves. It will take a while before they head down, but I created some more apples to entice them.


    With that, I once again made myself comfortable and then just observed and collected mana for the next floor. As time went by, I was able to get a few more ant species and a few larger patterns for different animals that also came to visit.


    For the first floor, I now also left fresh meat so predators would also come. Two of my proudest patterns that I have gained are deer and wolf. The wolves are able to kill all the horned rabbits except for the floor guardian, if they are alone, but two wolves or more could easily handle the floor guardian.


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    Otherwise, it was quite enjoyable to just look at how the ants started to fight each other and how their society changed with their evolutions. There were many colonies that were killed off and new ones were established.


    It was hard to remember how much time had passed, but most of my time was spent on the increasingly larger ant room. It''s definitely been more than a year since I finished the second floor, but I don¡¯t think it was more than two. It seems that if I wasn¡¯t paying attention to the time, it could slip by without me noticing.


    One thing I had to do was stop the ants from eating the leaves from the apple trees, but currently, there are only three apple trees as their upkeep is expensive. It seems that outside my dungeon, they need something called sunlight and more normal needs as well, which meant that they were expensive. Still, I wanted to see them grow and if they got too big, I could always just destroy them. The ants had also explored and colonised the entire second floor and constant battles for territory were happening.


    Their tactics had evolved a lot and there were a lot more specialised ants for different situations. While they did get bigger overall, that eventually stopped when they were on average two to three times bigger than normal. If they got bigger, they would expend their energy too fast and smaller ones were able to win with fewer resources spent. That didn''t mean that there weren''t some special cases, but there were only a few of them that were truly big compared to the rest.


    Unfortunately, a few of the species I have collected can''t keep up with the rest, so they are no longer represented within the ant territories. Currently, there are only seven species that have survived and conquered enough territory to have stability. Sometimes there are even ceasefires between the different colonies and I could see that a few colonies have even started to work together, which is something completely new.


    I watched with bated breath as two colonies started to work together to attack another colony''s territory that was next to them. The acid bombardment was the first sign of conflict. The colony under attack prepared a counteroffensive but they were thrown into panic when they figured out that they were being attacked from two different directions by two different colonies that were coordinating.


    Their long-range fighters split between two fronts and the attacking colonies'' ground soldiers quickly moved in and started to attack the defences. They had defended and attacked countless times, but never had they been so outnumbered before. The enemy''s strongest attackers quickly pierced the front lines and what followed was a slaughter. The fallen colonies'' ants were used as fuel so both of the allied colonies could produce more ants.


    This alliance was able to finish off three more colonies before others around them united and, after a magnificent battle, defeated the first alliance. The United Colonies quickly fell into infighting when they tried to make their own alliances. This happened in a small corner of the second floor, but soon alliances were required if you wanted to keep your colony alive. This heralded a new age for the ants, the age of alliances.


    When the age of alliance started, I had also gathered enough energy from the constant war to start my third floor. Once again, I needed to divert a large portion of my breakthrough''s energy away from the floor guardian, but that just made the potential territory of my third floor even bigger. For the floor guardian, I chose a fox, just making it bigger and better overall.


    With enthusiasm, I started to expand my territory to the third floor, eventually finding out that it was about 80% bigger than my second floor. I was already envisioning the hundreds of new colonies that could fit into it. Like I had been previously doing, I made the minimum amount of rooms required, which was 12.


    For the monsters inside, I chose to make deer, but make them a bit smaller overall. Making their hide especially resilient and designing the antlers so they were more deadly. When that was done, the first room had one and the last had four deer. The rooms themselves were again just barren caves, and so were the tunnels between them.


    Most of my time was spent on the increasingly larger ant room. When I once again finished adding the usual dirt and plants, I also added some fallen trees for variety. The ants found out about the new openings and a new age was declared, an age of exploration and expansion.


    Millions of ants headed downwards to claim new land and expand, but an interesting thing happened, they didn''t cut their ties with the upper colonies but instead, they were extensions of them. It seems that the ants are starting to identify themselves not just by species but their culture as well.


    Conflicts on the third floor were sparse and no real wars happened, although skirmishes were still common. A few colonies lost territory on the second floor as they spent too many resources expanding on the third. It was incredibly interesting to watch. I once again made myself comfortable as I started to gather mana for the next floor while watching the happenings inside my dungeon.

 chapter 5

    POV Ace


    I had just finished another dungeon run. The amount of mana I could accumulate was minuscule. But there was nothing I could do about it. The dungeons I was allowed to delve into were of a wooden rank, but there were no other adventurers around here that I would want to form a party with so I could enter the copper-rank dungeon in the nearby forest. At least I was close to another breakthrough which should allow me to go to a larger town and find myself a proper party.


    My thoughts were interrupted when I saw the Guild receptionist waving me down. This wouldn''t be good. I just wanted to go and get some beer and food and then go to sleep. I approached the receptionist, hoping this wasn¡¯t anything bad. "Ace, I have a letter for you. Just wait a moment."


    When I heard those words, I could barely keep my reaction neutral. There were only a few reasons I would get a letter: either my father wanted coin so he could keep gambling, he needed coin so he could pay off his debts, or he was dead.


    Honestly, I hoped for the last one. Then again there was a good chance that he was killed by someone he owed coin to, which meant that whoever they were would want that coin from me.


    Lately, his luck just hasn¡¯t been good. When I was younger, I still remember the days when we lived like nobles, but eventually, his luck turned and nothing he tried could bring it back. I took the letter, thanked the receptionist, but didn¡¯t open it. I enjoyed a few beers and a proper meal before I went to my room where I finally opened the letter.


    I hadn¡¯t received a letter from him for almost a year now. Usually, every few months he needed more coin. The first few sentences confirmed it - he was dead. "Shit," I muttered, touching my cheek where I found a tear. He was still my father, and he gave me a good childhood, no matter how badly he messed up the rest of it.


    When I kept reading, I was quite surprised. It turned out that he was killed, but not because he owed coin, because he won too much. He had been dead for over six months now, but it turns out everyone wanted a piece of the fortune he had accumulated over the few months he had truly good luck.


    The numbers shown here were absolutely staggering. Did he win a bank or something? I could have bought my way to the gold rank with that much coin or lived until I died in luxury. But most of it was gone; apparently, a lot of people showed up claiming that he owed them and they were able to prove enough of it in court that many were actually given compensation.


    But the remaining amount was still ridiculous, so there was still quite a lot left for me to claim. But when I finally reached the end of the letter, I spent a few minutes cursing. Taking out the second piece of parchment from the envelope, I confirmed the last part to be true. My father had somehow won a huge piece of land, enough to make him a noble. Perhaps this was the real reason he was killed, but it didn''t matter. I now owned that land and by Kingdom law, needed to develop it.


    What the hell did I know about developing frontier land? This also meant that my adventuring life was now over unless there¡¯s a dungeon near my land, but I don¡¯t even know where this piece of land is.


    It took me a month to reach a big enough town where I could claim my inheritance and then quickly put it into a bank so no one would steal it. This town also had a proper map shop so I could finally locate where my land is.


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    I almost cried when I found out. It was on the other side of the Kingdom, near a mountain range and the very edge of this Kingdom. There was also no direct way there. If everything went perfectly, it would take me over a year to make it, but nothing ever went well in this world.


    I estimated it would be two years. Perhaps the best idea would be to buy a horse for myself, at least for the roads that were relatively safe. There wasn¡¯t even a guarantee that I would make it there alive, but if I didn¡¯t try, I would be declared a traitor and killed in some horrible way. I wasn¡¯t looking forward to that.


    POV Dungeon Core


    Time went by quickly. Currently, the age of exploration and expansion had ended, but I didn¡¯t know what to call the next age. The ants had created huge colonies that were united by common ideas and values. A name that would fit would be an age of cultures, but I didn¡¯t like it.


    That name just didn''t feel as good as the Age of Exploration and Expansion. That was an epic name. The age of unifying cultures also didn¡¯t fit because not all cultures unified; some previously huge colonies split in two because of different opinions. Finally, I decided to call it the Age of Emerging Culture.


    Was this in any way necessary? Absolutely not, but it was enjoyable, and that''s the most important thing. A lot of civil wars happened, and slowly the huge colonies started to split apart. Wars raged endlessly, but it was now rare for a colony to be completely destroyed. They also seemed to be getting smarter. It seems that intelligence is important for survival.


    A while later, I noticed a new trend happening. Assassinations of the queen started to happen without an all-out war. Mostly it was done by the same colonies as different queens wanted to become the head Queen, but some were also done to weaken a colony before war began. After observing this for a while, I realized I was quite vulnerable to such a tactic. It seems like a redesign of my core room is required.


    While my decoy would still work, everyone would figure out quite quickly that it wasn¡¯t the core. Currently, anyone could come here and just pick it up. That just wasn¡¯t good. After thinking for a while, I decided to make my core room a perfect cube and expand it to be 16 by 16 meters.


    This left just enough room that I didn¡¯t squash the third-floor colonies, and perhaps I would once again be able to see upside-down battles. The few skirmishes that happened between floor connections were a little bit too small for my liking.


    As I started with my room expansion, I was disrupted by an invader. Something that I hadn¡¯t seen before came in, and it was large. It killed the horned rabbit in one bite. It was disappointed and angry when it only dropped a single piece of meat. It continued to advance, and nothing my rabbits did slowed it down. When it reached the floor guardian, it couldn''t just kill it with one bite and had to do a swipe attack which gave it an opportunity to bite down on the neck of the floor guardian, ending its life soon after.


    It had a bit of trouble getting down the staircase, and I made a note to make them bigger. Finally, it stayed long enough so I would know what it was. It was a creature called a bear. It was truly massive with long fur covering everything. It was impressively strong, and the foxes didn¡¯t pose any problems to it. The floor guardian, however, was able to wound it a bit. It seems that this made the bear hesitant to go down, and after a while, it turned around and left.


    Each pattern was complex and big, so I was only able to learn a small portion of it from the time it was on my territory. Hopefully, it will come back. Having such a powerful creature to defend me made my instincts feel giddy. This was a new feeling for me, and I completely agreed with my instincts on this. Perhaps we had different goals in mind as I would just like to see this creature fight and observe its behavior.


    I made the stairs bigger, taking into account creatures with different modes of moving. There were also some memories of creatures that lived inside water, and that sounded quite interesting. Now that the construction was over, it was time to get back to my core room.


    I extended the pillar, so I would end up exactly in the center of the room making it larger so I would have room to grow. It seems that with three floors, my body actually grew a bit, and I didn¡¯t want myself to be accidentally crushed because I grew too much with a breakthrough.


    At this moment, I took inspiration from the ants. I extended the pillar to form a cone with the fake core on top of it. Then I spent a long time making sure it was as smooth as possible, so anyone trying to climb it would have a terrible time.


    Around the fake core, I made a protective surrounding. While I left the core visible, the slits were too small to get the core out without destroying the stone, and I made sure that any projectiles shot from the ground wouldn''t be able to hit the fake core. My instincts felt great after that, and I was also quite proud. Now, stealing the fake core would be troublesome.


    Putting my full attention back on my ants, I continued to observe while time went by. The bear visited me a few times, and sometimes there were different predators, but none of them ever made it to my core.


    The ants had helped me to gain a lot more mana than I was supposed to. I wondered how my speed compared to other dungeons, but soon I was interrupted from my thoughts by my instincts constantly nagging at me to start the process of a breakthrough.

 chapter 251

    Recap


    It has been a journey of nearly 200 years for a dungeon core named Eternal Training Ground, or ETG for short. During the course of its life, ETG grew from a small dungeon core that enjoyed watching how ants developed more than the adventurers who delved it. Into one of the largest dungeons in the world. With an adventurer population in the millions living in it and a population of its creatures it so enjoys observing well into the billions.


    While the rest of it''s brethren dungeon cores, had fallen prey to the other races of this world. It has managed to stay free, and keep it''s freedom a secret from most. ETG even repel multiple attempts to chain it to serve the will of others.


    ETG has gathered allies who have helped keep it safe¡ªone of the biggest supporters being Ace. Ace was a simple adventurer who inherited a large piece of land where the Eternal Training Ground would one day be discovered. Over the course of nearly 200 years, Ace turned a once worthless piece of land into one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Thanks to the resources of the dungeon and the discovery that there was a safe area to exit the trade winds of this world that facilitated most of its commerce.


    Many have made their home inside ETG''s many waystations and hubstations. Finding close friends, building families and cities. None of it was easy for the adventurers who delved into this dungeon. Many have fallen in the pursuit of their dreams, yet more have succeeded thanks to the challenges they faced.


    Now, however, a line has been met. The true powers of this world already know, or will soon learn, that this dungeon, ETG, is completely free and will not submit to their rule without a fight. Many will now have to choose which side they take in a war that will most likely decide the future of this world.


    Chapter 251


    As the creatures of ETG teleported away after declaring ETG''s independence, many of the powerful platinum and diamond ranks immediately started to follow. ETG creature¡¯s teleporter was not good enough to perform proper long-range teleportation, but what he was good at was transporting groups of people.


    He knew how much mana he had¡ªeverything was calculated¡ªso every five seconds, he teleported everyone once again, hoping they could get far enough away from the angry diamond ranks chasing them to escape back home.


    At the same time, thousands of people all over the world disappeared as they finally received orders to abandon their missions and return home. None of them especially liked that their missions were cut short, as they had built a spy network unlike any other in this world. Many arguments were heard back in the dungeon about whether to keep or dismantle this useful spy network, but at the end of the day, everyone could see the writing on the wall.


    ETG¡¯s influence, which he had spread through his creatures to every corner of the world, would be discovered sooner rather than later, and it would simply be better to bring everyone back while there was still a way for them to return. Even now, their orders were not to return to Eternal City but instead to go into the underwater world and come back home through the gateway there.


    The first to notice the missing people were the four great powers themselves. For the Beasts and the Masters, they learned immediately how deep the infiltration had gone, but for the Deliverers and the Pixies, they only slowly started to realize that something had gone wrong. Somehow, their servants went missing, yet even their diamond ranks, specialized in finding people, could not locate them.


    Ace had received his orders three hours before the declaration of independence happened. There was only one option available to him, and that was to retreat into the dungeon. When ETG showed him what he had created for him and his nation, Ace was speechless. Immediately, he started his work. An announcement rang out in the Eternal City-State that all could hear.


    "I have grave news for you all. You have all learned about who truly rules this world, but perhaps not all of you know that their strength comes from the fact that they subjugate every dungeon in this world. They hold back advancements and only allow those they deem fit¡ªand that they can control¡ªto achieve diamond rank. They did the same to me, not knowing that I was never their lapdog."


    ¡°The same goes for this dungeon that has been free from the very beginning, never under my control or anyone else¡¯s. This might scare you, but for 200 years, ETG has not done anything to us to make us believe it meant us harm. The same cannot be said for the so-called rulers of this world, who only recently revealed themselves because their secrets have been spread to everyone.¡±


    ¡°Yet I have just been informed that, in just a little while, they will learn about the truth of this dungeon, and they will come here in force. I do not know what they will do, but I can guess. As they cannot trust anyone here, they will most likely falsely claim that this dungeon went mad and killed everyone here.¡±


    ¡°I have seen how ruthless they can be and can easily see them doing this. They could of course go another way and just leave things as they have been.¡± Everyone could hear Ace¡¯s voice, it was like his voice perfectly conveyed a face of absolute disbelief as he uttered the last sentence.


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    ¡°This dungeon, however, seeing the future, has offered us an alternative. ETG holds many secrets, one of the biggest being how big it actually is. You know about the hub stations¡ªwell, it has constructed us a perfect replica of this nation in a place safe from the monsters, where we could all reside so we could continue to live our lives and enjoy the freedom that this world can never offer us.¡±


    ¡°It will not be an easy transition. While I can guarantee that no one will die of starvation, we will, of course, lose access to the most profitable trade route in the world. What I do know is that we would have access to the rest of the dungeon, and ETG has guaranteed that no one will ever reach our home to take it from us again. I will not force anyone to join; I would never do that, but I implore you to take this opportunity.¡±


    ¡°You might doubt my sincerity because, without you, I would not be a leader of a nation. You might perhaps think it impossible for ETG to defend against the powers of this world. But let me assure you that, honestly, I would rather not be a leader, but I am so because you all deserve the best of me, and this is the best solution I have found to protect you.¡±


    ¡°This dungeon has also been preparing for this conflict for almost its entire life, so be assured that no force would take it easily. However, even ETG does not guarantee complete safety, as in war, anything could happen.¡±


    Ace continued his speech, giving a bit more information and then explaining how, in his entire nation and especially the main city, thousands upon thousands of dungeon entrances have now been opened and will take them directly to the same spot in the replica city inside the dungeon. There were people who immediately started to rush toward those entrances, but many were still in complete shock.


    Ace knew that would happen, so he had already sent out his entire army¡ªnot to force anyone to escape into the dungeon but instead to help anyone who needed it and to explain the situation to those who wanted answers.


    This situation was not going to be easily solved and would take time, but right now, there was no diamond rank close to the eternal city-state, and Ace stood vigilant, ready to fight any of the fast diamond ranks that could get here in a few hours if they truly pushed themselves.


    The group escaping from the Masters and the Beasts Conference had managed to get about 2,000 kilometers away, thanks to their teleporter. Yet every one of them could feel the couple of diamond ranks still on their tail. They had hoped to have escaped but had also made contingency plans, and the last teleport had taken them to an airship unlike any other this world had seen.


    The teleporter collapsed onto the deck, completely exhausted, but commands were already being yelled to get the ship moving. Far away, the diamond ranks, still following and continuing to accelerate faster, finally managed to see their prey.


    Yet they were shocked to see where their current targets were. It was not a huge airship, but it wasn¡¯t made out of wood; instead, it was fully made of metal. There were no sails on the airship, and none of the crystals that helped it levitate were visible outside the hull.


    They continued to push themselves to catch up to the traitors. While they were shocked about the ship''s appearance, they were also gleeful, as their prey was soon to be caught. Yet, all of them realized at this moment that they had celebrated a bit too soon.


    They watched as huge columns of fire shot out the back of the airship, which now started to accelerate faster and faster. They were still catching up at an incredible speed, but in less than 10 seconds, the airship was approaching the speed of sound, leaving them all shocked. They pushed themselves faster, as they were currently flying at multiple times the speed of sound, but they didn¡¯t know how fast this new type of ship could actually move.


    On the ship, the entire crew was preparing for what was to come. At the bow of the ship was a singular individual, currently weaving a spell, waiting for the moment the airship reached the speed of sound.


    This was far from the maximum acceleration this ship could achieve, yet if they pushed too far without proper preparations, the resistance of air itself would render the airship completely uncontrollable¡ªnot to mention the damage it would receive.


    A special spell had been developed to deal with this problem, yet it required the ship to reach the speed of sound and for the accompanying sonic boom to properly activate and work. Many others were ready for the activation of this spell.


    There were multiple other mages at the sides of the ship, who would also pour power into this spell and guide it along the airship. There were others prepared to dampen the G-forces everyone would feel, as even for platinum ranks, it would be hard to maintain their spells while dealing with the intense G-forces at the same time.


    At the center of the airship, there were currently two people on each side of the deck, focusing a specific fire spell into the intake of the skill engine, making the ship move forward at this incredible pace. Yet, they were only there temporarily until two others beside them took over. The true powerhouses who would truly push this incredible skill engine to its very limits.


    At the aft of the ship, people yelled out that they could see pursuers. Everyone¡¯s nervousness on the ship ratcheted up multiple degrees. All of a sudden, one of the diamond ranks teleported extremely close to the ship, almost getting close enough to latch onto the airship. Yet before he could, a torrent of fire flashed over him. At first, he simply laughed it off, but soon he felt something was wrong.


    The one that bathed this diamond rank in fire was a peak platinum rank with an extremely special talent. The diamond rank soon learned that his control of mana had been disrupted, and he fell towards the sea below. The platinum rank continued to let out bursts of this fire, forcing the other diamond ranks now following to avoid it, giving the ship just enough time to reach the speed of sound.


    Many things happened at once as the airship reached the speed of sound. The spell activated to help control the ship at high speeds and mitigate the damage the air resistance would cause. The diamond ranks felt the power when each individual truly pulled on everything they had.


    Blue flames entered the skill engine, and the ship started to accelerate at incredible speeds. Yet that wasn¡¯t all. Inside the ship, near the bow, there was another man and another intake for the skill engine. This time, however, the spell that entered wasn¡¯t a fire spell but instead a lightning spell.


    The effects were immediate. The bluish cones of fire shortened, yet their power multiplied as the airship accelerated faster and faster. The airship started to vibrate like it was about to break apart, yet the construction held, and with every second that passed, the diamond ranks¡¯ approach slowed down, even as they pushed themselves faster. Eventually, they stopped gaining on the airship and started to fall behind, even when they were pushing themselves to the absolute limit.


    In a last-ditch effort, one of the diamond ranks teleported as close as he could, and before the flames hit him, he launched a devastating lightning strike¡ªhis specialty¡ªonto the ship. He was aiming for one of the engines.


    If only he knew that simply any attack hitting the hull would have been sufficient to break apart the delicate balance keeping the airship afloat and moving at such a speed, he wouldn¡¯t have aimed at the one spot where his spell would have a minimum effect.


    The skill engine was incredibly large and complex, taking up nearly half of the ship¡¯s interior. Because its elements were fire and lightning, it was also incredibly resistant to those types of damage. So, while the spell did melt some of the housing of one of the engines, it wasn¡¯t enough to do any proper damage. The diamond ranks could only watch as the airship carrying the traitors managed to escape, flying directly toward the dungeon they now knew was free.

 chapter 252

    Pov Ace


    It was weird to have my senses open. Usually, I hide my power, but the time for secrecy was over. It took me a bit to get used to the sensory overload, but the skills I was using helped me interpret the things I wanted to know from the things I didn¡¯t.


    My talent also let me feel the amount of panic and worry my people were experiencing. At this moment, what I wished for the most was that things could just stay the same. It would be so nice if those in power would actually recognize our sovereignty, but that would be a fool¡¯s wish.


    My citizens were actually coming around. Most of them had already decided to go to our new home or had already left, bringing everything they could with them. The bigger problem was the adventurers.


    Many of them had come from far away, and they had families they wanted to return to. Even they heard my announcement in every corner of the dungeon, thanks to ETG. He even helped some of them get out faster from where they were if they wanted to leave the dungeon.


    Those who didn¡¯t want to stay were obviously incredibly worried about what would happen when diamond ranks reached this place. That¡¯s why a large portion of my Navy was currently helping load up everyone who wanted to leave onto airships so they could escape this place.


    My army was helping anyone else, and of course, I wasn¡¯t going to leave the wealth of my nation behind. So we were also transporting that to our new home, even if there wouldn¡¯t be much use for it there, at least at the start.


    My mind flashed back to when ETG opened up a gateway for me to see the home he built for my nation. I was floored when I saw the city, empty and just waiting for people to occupy it. Then I let my senses go and felt how large the place actually was. I couldn¡¯t feel the end of it, and then he told me that it was bigger than the real world, with continents and oceans and wildlife that was mostly safe, but there were more dangerous areas.


    I still don¡¯t know how to feel about him building us an entire world. How was that even possible? I know how big his dungeon was in the real world, and it was minuscule in comparison to the world he made for my nation. Then he told me the other secret: that this was just one of 50 such places.


    He did admit that the starting floors were minuscule in comparison, but that didn¡¯t matter to me. He had still hidden so much¡ªno wonder I felt such power when he allowed me to take strength from his realm.


    Now it makes more sense how I managed to get so strong in so short a time when I fixed my skills. I was able to pull on the power of multiple worlds. That means my talent wasn¡¯t as efficient as I first thought it was, but that didn¡¯t matter anymore.


    There were so many intelligent creatures and so many civilizations inside ETG, not to speak of the fact that he could make humans, dwarves, and the other races that were thought impossible for dungeons to copy.


    Not only that but apparently, when dungeon monsters have offspring, their offspring are no longer bound to the dungeon and can leave it. They were as real as me, except they still had a strong connection to the dungeon of their birth and would never betray it.


    Then there was the Academy, the Line, and the Labyrinth¡ªthings I would never have expected a dungeon to have. Well, perhaps the labyrinth, but not in the form that it¡¯s in.


    Everything was going smoothly for now, but I knew that it wouldn¡¯t last. News was already spreading about what was happening here, but everyone was still too far away to do anything to stop it. I wondered if they were going to let other people settle back here, using the fact that the trade winds weakened here so people could use it as a resupply spot. Perhaps the Masters and the Beasts will try to take full control over this place and only allow their own people to work here. I guess we will see in the future.


    I also didn¡¯t doubt that they would try to take the dungeon by force, but now that I knew the extent of his power, I understood that anyone who wanted to take this dungeon would need to use tremendous force. I was certain that they had the strength needed if they came together, but would the four powers that were on the brink of war act fast enough to stop the progress of this dungeon before nothing could stop it? I guess we will see if they succeed in that or not.


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    Time went by fast, and I was quite busy guiding my people to get to the problematic places. A lot of people started to loot, but I wasn¡¯t going to have it. My concentration was broken when I sensed something fast approaching. I looked north. It didn¡¯t take long for me to sense a massive object flying at incredible speeds. ¡°That is my creatures.¡± I heard a soft voice in my head that I immediately recognized as ETG.


    He seemed incredibly busy, and it didn¡¯t take long for me to have a visual of the airship that was closing in. It was entirely made of metal, something I hadn¡¯t seen before, and, of course, the speed at which it was moving was incredible. The front of it seemed quite damaged, perhaps it had gone through a battle, or maybe the speed itself had caused this.


    They did notify air control of their approach, but their last sentence was quite worrying. They said that three hours behind them, there was still one diamond rank following their escape from wherever they came from.


    What was worrying was that they weren¡¯t slowing down, but then I sensed a part of the mountain turning into a large gateway, and the pieces fell together. They were simply going to fly at this speed into the dungeon and probably slow down there. But that meant I would need to deal with the diamond rank that was following them.


    It took another hour before I felt his power closing in. ETG assured me that if I needed it, I could get help from the peak diamond rank. But now that I felt the power closing in, I knew I didn¡¯t need it.


    While he was more powerful than me, it was obvious he had focused on travel speed more than anything else. Also, the fact that he had been burning so much mana to continue flying here at such speed meant that he would be quite spent.


    I flew up and waited floating in the air for his approach. He noticed me and started to slow down, eventually stopping a few kilometers away, breathing heavily. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go back to where you came from? This is the sovereign ground of the Eternal City-State, and you have no permission to enter it.¡±


    ¡°You traitor! No one has recognized anything, and you can¡¯t just declare yourself a sovereign nation apart from us. You¡¯re our subordinate, nothing more. Why do you have the flying skill? I swear, it¡¯s the incompetence of the younger generations that has led to this idiotic incident. Do you really think you can stop me? Don¡¯t make me laugh. And you actually think that a newly ranked-up platinum dungeon can even defend against me? Let me show you true strength!¡±


    He teleported past me, but I managed to get one of my hooking skills on him. Damn, he was fast, and before I was able to properly activate the skill, he had flown past me and into the gateway where the airship had gone through.


    Of course, ETG didn¡¯t let him enter the dungeon, but that didn¡¯t stop him from flying through the mountain, causing a portion of it to crack and start tumbling down. He seemed quite pleased with himself and started flying toward the city itself, but he didn¡¯t get far before the skill snapped into place. I yanked him back like he was tethered by a rope.


    That must have hurt, but he didn¡¯t fall far before he managed to regain control of his body. Now, he looked mad but also confused. ¡°You think I would let you destroy this city and the people in it? I love how all of you underestimate anyone who isn¡¯t you.¡±


    He tried again, but he wasn¡¯t getting away from me. It took quite a lot of power, especially with him resisting, but I kept making the rope shorter and shorter.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Don¡¯t you want to fight me?¡± I said in a mocking voice. He immediately turned around and flew toward me at incredible speed. I had to give it to him¡ªhe really was fast in the air.


    What he didn¡¯t expect was for me to let him hit me. As soon as he did, I wrapped myself around him, increasing my weight while pounding him with my fists. The flying skill took quite a lot of concentration, and soon we found ourselves on the ground.


    He started to throw spells at me, and I needed to defend. He was still stronger than me, but obviously, he didn¡¯t actually know how to properly fight. Yes, he was doing damage to me, but he was spending so much power to do so. I just let him think that he was winning. It took him quite a while to understand what was happening, but by then it was already too late.


    When his eyes widened a bit with the realization that he was running on empty and hadn¡¯t done any real damage, I appeared in front of him and headbutted him hard. He tried to defend himself, but he was more of a spellcaster than a close-in fighter. I slipped past his every punch and delivered my own. He tried to escape a few times, but he was always pulled back by the rope.


    ¡°Stop! Please, don¡¯t! We can talk!¡± he tried to say with his broken jaw, but I just pretended not to hear. Just a moment ago, he was ready to kill innocent civilians just to show his superiority. I never understood how killing or hurting someone weaker than you made you stronger. It just made you a pathetic bully. It didn¡¯t take long for him to be on the ground while I continued to rain punches on his head.


    I stopped when he was properly unconscious and barely living. That took quite a lot¡ªdiamond-rank bodies were tough. When I looked around, I saw the devastation. A part of the mountain was completely destroyed, and the land was filled with scars for about 100 kilometers around us. The forest that we had fought in was on fire in multiple spots, but most of it was now black dirt or rock. In fact, I was currently in a hole about 100 meters deep just because of the punches I made.


    I kind of wanted to kill him, and I knew that I could, but there was still a chance that we could postpone hostilities. Every moment ETG got to continue advancing meant there was a better chance for all of us to survive.


    So I went and brought some special rope and handcuffs and tied him up so he wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything. What I didn¡¯t do was heal him. I could already see his body slowly healing itself, so it meant he wouldn¡¯t die, but I also wanted him to stay unconscious for as long as possible.


    I was still going to stay close to here, just in case he managed to do something, but I focused back on guiding my people to help my citizens relocate and anyone who wanted to escape this place board airships that would take them far away. I wondered if I was going to need to fight again, or if we would get the evacuations done before that.

 chapter 253

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I watched the fight between the fast diamond rank and Ace quite anxiously. Ismael was ready to interfere, but in the end, it wasn¡¯t needed. Ace was able to handle business. I enjoyed that turn of phrase. The adventurers were quite useful for me in getting used to the type of language they spoke. Watching the fight unfold, I was a little bit surprised by the devastation caused, but on the other hand, it was quite a good demonstration of what was to come.


    Ace¡¯s wife was also someone I was quite glad about. She did something that changed a lot of opinions for almost everyone in his nation. She was able to show the fight in its entirety in different places in the nation, but especially in the main city. I helped a bit, as I created large crystals that Ace¡¯s soldiers took into the city, allowing many to see the fight and, more importantly, the conversation before the fight.


    If anyone had doubts, they were erased by that fight, and while a large portion of the remaining people who still hadn¡¯t entered my dungeon didn¡¯t like the idea of leaving their homes behind, they also started to understand that staying here most likely meant their death.


    Many rushed into the dungeon during the fight, but most were now returning to get the stuff they had dropped to get to safety faster. Everything was still incredibly chaotic, and I was kind of sad to see so many adventurers deciding to leave my dungeon while they still could. Of course, I understood the reasoning, and I was glad that most seemed to be deciding that they wanted to stay.


    It was a bit overwhelming to hear so much conversation going on about this topic. Never have I heard so many people speaking about one thing, and it was kind of creepy how most of the conversations went exactly the same way.


    The most worried were the people who were closer to the surface, as they were the most threatened whenever an invasion happened. While the powers of this world might decide to spare those living on the surface, everyone was certain that staying in this dungeon would mean a death sentence if I ever failed and fell.


    I was able to alleviate those worries quite a lot as I assured everyone that no invader was going to use the normal pathway toward my core. There wasn¡¯t even a lot for me to do, as I was already prepared to make these changes at a moment¡¯s notice. The only reason I still hadn¡¯t was because many adventurers were still using the main entrance to escape or to enter the dungeon.


    My hope was that, before I needed to change my entrance, everyone would have already left or entered. But if needed, at a moment¡¯s notice, I could change things to protect myself against possible diamond-rank incursions.


    Of course, they might bring dungeon melters, but honestly, I was excited about it and hoped they actually did bring them. I kind of wanted to see what would happen when they tried to punch a hole in my defenses.


    Hopefully, I could see this, but at a later date when I was even more ready. In fact, I was even looking forward to them trying to invade me the normal way. They would get quite the surprise, and I would quite like to see the panic in their eyes when they realized conquering me would not be easy.


    We were also currently debating what our first response would be. Many were advocating for showing strength, but I wasn¡¯t so sure that it was a good move, at least at the start.


    During the short time it was open, the room where everyone who wanted could attempt to get to diamond rank was also named by the people using it. They called it ¡®The Line.¡¯ I wasn¡¯t so sure about the name, but I also wasn¡¯t going to force something else if the name came about naturally.


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    A few of my strongest creatures had already reached diamond rank, thanks to the fact that they were so close to it to begin with. This was another reason why a lot of advisors were recommending a show of strength immediately. Many were certain that the most likely size of the delegation they were going to send here first, we were going to be able to match them diamond rank for diamond rank.


    Once again, I thought that they would take more time to come here and come with a bigger force, and quite a few agreed with me. In the end, I think that they will not be underestimating me too much. While most of the diamond ranks were quite arrogant, I was quite certain that the old monsters had a little bit more wisdom.


    There was also the problem of the girl that we had as a prisoner. Most didn¡¯t know what to do with her. The vocal minority brought up that we should keep her as a hostage, but I had already given my word, and I will not be breaking it. I will, however, wait until the evacuations are done. Hopefully, they are done before anyone else arrives, but then I would just be setting her free.


    My firm conviction made everyone stop arguing that point, but then someone brought up a more interesting idea. While she knew somewhat about me, they were all guesses at best. Perhaps it would be a good idea to accidentally leak some information¡ªbe it correct or false, we currently didn¡¯t know¡ªbut the idea intrigued me and most others.


    Everyone also disliked the fact that our spy network basically ceased to exist in one day. While a lot of devices were left behind, they would be discovered eventually, and, of course, they could only gather passive information, unlike proper spies. Still, I didn¡¯t want any of my creatures to be caught and forced to kill themselves or subjected to horrible ways of information gathering.


    While all of this was going on, I was still focusing on my new floor and, more specifically, the creatures in it. The slimes were quite interesting, and I¡¯m starting to think that perhaps they are actually the key for me to figure out how proper consciousness is formed and how that consciousness becomes sapient. I¡¯m pretty sure that when one of them reaches diamond rank, I could actually have a conversation with it, but I would have to wait and see.


    If I do figure all of this out thanks to this pattern, not only would this pattern have given me a way to get diamond-ranked creatures so I could continue to advance quickly, it would also have given me a way to properly modify other patterns so I could make even more efficient farms without the worry of subjecting my creatures to horrible fates that they would actually remember.


    Because of all this, I have reduced my presence as much as possible in the dungeon rooms and basically every playroom to the level of just maintaining the current status quo and performing the most minimal passive observation I can get away with. It is not a situation that I enjoy, but it must be done.


    A large portion of me was focusing on the new floor and the creatures in it, and as soon as I had the opportunity, I would break through to the next floor. The biggest portion of me was focusing on defenses, mainly to detect any incursion and to continue shoring up my defenses. The third biggest part of me was actually focusing on the labyrinth.


    At first, the labyrinth was just a pet project of mine, something I found interesting to make. Who didn¡¯t like the idea of a practically endless labyrinth that was constantly shifting¡ªat least fake shifting?


    I was still quite proud of the way I figured out how to do that. The special gateways that didn¡¯t look like gateways constantly shifted their connecting points, giving the illusion that the labyrinth was in constant change and you never knew where you would end up if you started to traverse it.


    There were many creatures there that had lost their way and were now forever trapped in the labyrinth. Currently, I was focusing on making some truly dangerous areas in there, but mainly it was still quite desolate.


    There simply hasn¡¯t been enough time for it to properly fill up with lost creatures. For now, what I did was remove all the access points into the labyrinth from my playrooms and dungeon rooms and made sure that the labyrinth connected with this specific entrance I purposely made to my core floor. This entrance led into the deadly labyrinth I built for my core protection.


    The reason why I did this was so that I could connect the large labyrinth with all the entrances I had on the surface, making it impossible for invaders to delve into the regular dungeon rooms. They would need to move through a constantly shifting labyrinth that was ridiculously large. All of the walls were now reinforced with my platinum-ranked power, which meant that even diamond ranks couldn¡¯t simply break through them.


    Distance was a defense on its own, but I had no doubt that diamond ranks could find their way to my core floor eventually. Still, I think this should give us enough time for me to get strong enough that it wouldn¡¯t matter if every diamond rank in the world reached my core floor.


    We were also quite certain that groups of diamond ranks would be separated in the labyrinth, and thanks to my help and the control I have over every gateway, we could send strike teams to take care of the separated diamond ranks.


    Even I think this war, if they truly want to go through with it, will not be determined by big battles or strike forces that will end the fight quickly. No, this will be a war of attrition, and they are fighting a dungeon that could literally make anything from mana.


    I¡¯m starting to understand the reasons why they subjugated my kind better and better. That still didn¡¯t mean I wouldn¡¯t do everything in my power to stay free. They should honestly just make a deal with me, and if I actually have to become the world¡¯s will, I¡¯m sure we could make a deal on how the next iteration of this world should look.

 chapter 254

    Pov Vivian


    I woke up and noticed that I was alone in my prison. Where had Ismael gone? Immediately, I tried to send a message to my grandfather, but I still couldn¡¯t get through whatever the dungeon had done. Somehow, not having that huge dragon here made me feel even more insignificant. It was like I couldn¡¯t do anything to change my situation, even when I didn¡¯t have a guard watching over me.


    There was a way out of this cave, and without the huge dragon blocking it, I could easily see it. But I was still inside the dungeon, there was nothing I could do to escape. This dungeon had been quite busy. I have felt it strengthening the stone here after it reached platinum rank, which meant I couldn¡¯t even easily break through the stone here, not to speak of the dungeon stone probably surrounding every floor.


    Well, this place should still be connected to the pathways outside¡ªthe mana here isn¡¯t stale¡ªso there should be a way out for me. Yet I was under no illusion that Ismael would come after me and capture me easily enough, as I couldn¡¯t hide here; the dungeon would easily locate me. Yet my mind was trying to tell me something¡ªsomething I was missing.


    It finally clicked after the food delivery didn¡¯t come. Was the dungeon under attack right now? That would mean Ismael was probably fighting, and so were most of the dungeon¡¯s strongest allies. Without further delay, as I had already wasted way too much time figuring this out, I started to run towards the opening out of this cave¡ªor at least I hoped it would be.


    The tunnel seemed smaller than I expected, but I guess Ismael could change his size easily enough, so there was no need to make the tunnel leading out of this room too huge. I was about to reach it when I felt the gateway open up behind me.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to run. You couldn¡¯t get out even if you wanted to. There is no escape from these kinds of rooms¡ªit could even stop me from leaving,¡± I heard a human voice say. It sounded quite similar to whenever Ismael talked in my mind. I turned around to see a sophisticated human smirking at me. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out who that actually was.


    My running slowed down, and eventually, I stopped. There was one thing I didn¡¯t really understand: what did he mean by there was no escape and that even he couldn''t get out of this place without the dungeon¡¯s say-so? From what I can sense, the area around here is quite big. There¡¯s no way this could be an isolated pocket with mana this well-circulated.


    I watched as he turned back into the huge dragon he actually was. It was quite fascinating to see, but now I had to go the long way around to get back to my bed.


    ¡°So, where were you?¡± I asked while still walking. It was always annoying when he looked towards me with that huge head of his, as the wind generated by his movements was quite bothersome. At least this time, I didn¡¯t need to shift back my bed since I wasn¡¯t near it.


    ¡°I just had to observe a little fight. You know, the diamond ranks of this generation seem quite disappointing. If you¡¯re all like the one I saw, well, my job will be a lot easier,¡± he communicated. He spoke so casually, but the implication was frightening.


    ¡°Did the dungeon do something to the Guild Master,¡± I said. He¡¯s probably the only diamond rank nearby that I¡¯m pretty sure wouldn¡¯t be an ally of this dungeon. Ismael started to chuckle at that.


    ¡°No, you silly girl, he wouldn¡¯t be of the new generation. But perhaps you don¡¯t know much about him. I have no doubt in my mind that he could have done some real damage, but he isn¡¯t here and will probably never return. Well, perhaps, but I guess time will tell,¡± he communicated.


    After that, Ismael closed his eyes and found a comfortable position. Whenever he did that, there was no point in asking more questions, as he wouldn¡¯t answer me. And I don¡¯t think trying to announce anything would be a good idea. So, once again, all I had left to do was try not to be bored.


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    A day passed, and I was waiting for lunch and an opportunity to talk to my grandfather. Lunch came, but not the communication crystal that allowed me to speak with him.


    ¡°Ismael, don¡¯t you have the deal with my grandfather? Or can I speak to him later?¡± I asked. He looked towards me, and after a little bit, finally spoke.


    ¡°No, little one, you won¡¯t be speaking to him through that crystal anymore. Just sit tight.¡±


    "Wait, what do you mean? What has happened?" I tried again and again, but he simply wouldn''t speak to me anymore. This was bad. Really bad. For a moment, I thought that maybe something had happened to my grandfather, but that was a ridiculous notion.


    A quick confirmation with my skill that allowed us to communicate confirmed that he was still alive. Even if I couldn¡¯t use it to communicate with him because of the interference, at least I could check if he was still alive.


    I tried to ask the people who brought me food, but they never spoke. I tried to grab one, but a transparent barrier stopped me from doing it. I looked towards Ismael, who had one eye open and looked quite displeased.


    After that, I stopped trying to get answers. I didn¡¯t understand exactly what had changed, but obviously, the dungeon''s secret had been discovered, and there had been some sort of conflict outside. What that really meant, I had no idea.


    I suddenly woke up during the night. It was the 4th night after they stopped letting me speak to my grandfather, but now the gateway was open during the night, and no one was coming in or out.


    Everything was so dark here at the moment. Usually, the cave was bright, but only during the day. I continued to look at the shimmering edge of the gateway that promised freedom, even if I knew it was a lie.


    "That¡¯s not a lie, little one. You should really go through that before you are trapped here forever."


    It took me a moment to register his words, but I didn¡¯t wait another moment and immediately rushed towards the gateway. Were they really keeping their promise of letting me go? It was so hard to believe, but what else was I going to believe in?


    So I jumped through the gateway and realized that I was in the entrance hall of the dungeon on the surface. I recognized the huge pillars and just walking past those meant that I was out of the dungeon.


    I started to run towards them, but even before I picked up proper speed, my steps faltered, and I slowed down. I had gotten so used to the quiet that I hadn¡¯t noticed it before, but now that I did and looked around, there was literally no one here.


    The place seemed abandoned, with no souls anywhere around here. It took me way too long to realize that. I should use my senses, and that actually made me cringe a little bit. How could I already be so rusty? My panic grew as I didn¡¯t sense any living beings for quite a while, but then I breathed out in relief because eventually, I did sense living people.


    There seemed to be quite a few up above where the airship port is, and further into the city, there were people. But currently, I can feel only about thirty thousand people when I should have been able to feel millions. I sensed another diamond ranked in the biggest plaza in the city, so I decided to walk towards it.


    That diamond rank felt weird, like he was unconscious. It was incredibly creepy to walk in this empty city, and I still thought that perhaps this was some kind of trick¡ªthat maybe I was still in the dungeon and this place was made to mess with my mind. But I knew that it wasn¡¯t.


    It was also time that I contacted my grandfather. It was harder to initiate the skill to speak to him than I thought, but not because of any actual problem. It was just because of me¡ªhe was forced to work with the enemy, and I felt ashamed because of it.


    ¡°Grandfather, are you there?¡± I asked in a shakier voice than I really meant to. There was a short pause, and my anxiety grew with every second, but eventually, I felt the connection solidify, and I finally heard my grandfather¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Vivian, is that you? What happened? I¡¯m on my way to you right now. Are you safe?¡±


    Those words were so nice to hear. I could once again communicate with him freely. ¡°They let me go. What has happened?¡± There was another moment of silence before he spoke.


    ¡°Almost a week ago, the dungeon revealed its true self and declared independence. We don''t know exactly what''s going on there, but we know that another diamond rank reached there before us. But we haven¡¯t heard from him.¡±


    The implications were staggering, but I had kind of expected something like this. ¡°I think he¡¯s still alive. I will reach his position soon. But grandfather, the city¡­ it¡¯s basically completely empty. There are so few people left here. I think they all went inside the dungeon.¡±


    ¡°Shit,¡± I heard him curse before he went silent for a bit. ¡°Sorry about that. It¡¯s just that now a few of our plans won¡¯t work, and the dungeon will have a lot more mana to work with.¡±


    We continued to speak as I gave him as much information as possible, and eventually, I reached the diamond-ranked person I had felt in this plaza.


    ¡°Well, he¡¯s alive, grandfather. He¡¯s still unconscious, seems to be slowly healing, but someone beat him close to death. I told you that Ismael was away a bit, but from the context, I don¡¯t think he fought personally. So they have one or multiple diamond ranks capable of taking out a pretty strong diamond rank, at least rank-wise. I don¡¯t know his combat capability.¡±


    Eventually, we stopped speaking, so I stopped channeling mana into the skill. I just sat down next to the unconscious diamond rank and decided to wait until the others reached here. It will still take them about five days, but they are coming with a decent amount of strength, and from what my grandfather told me, they were gathering even more.


    This certainly was a huge mess.

 chapter 255

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I watched as Vivian left and quickly changed the gateways so they would no longer work or be in any way connected to the rest of my network. It should be impossible for them to use them, but you couldn¡¯t be too careful.


    Basically, while it wasn¡¯t official yet, we were under siege now. What I also did was start to gather the last of the mana I needed to break through so I could start making the next floor but, more importantly, to improve the skill My World once again.


    The only reason I¡¯m doing this is because we found out through one of the listening devices that it will take them four to five days to reach here. I should be out of the breakthrough by then, especially if I go fast.


    I already had my floor guardian planned out. At first, I wanted to make something with slime, but balancing it seemed to be a nightmare. It was either too weak or way too powerful. Still, I wanted to do something different, so I decided on a swarm-type floor guardian.


    Gathering enough mana was stupidly easy, like always. What wasn¡¯t so nice was pushing myself to the absolute breaking limit, but when I once again triggered the breakthrough, it felt so good. I only enjoyed the moment for a short while before I got to work.


    The pattern I was using was one of the ancient creatures that a few of my Academy scientists specializing in that field managed to bring back to life. They classified them as dinosaurs, with only a few species of them still surviving to the modern day.


    The ones I was planning to use were small, didn¡¯t even reach the waist of a person, but they were vicious, especially one of their claws that had some sort of pivot mechanism to make it move incredibly fast up and down, tearing apart anything in its way. They seemed to have pack tactics, which I toned down a bit, as I wanted them to be swarmers and not intelligent hunters.


    I also needed to make sure that some of them were quite a lot stronger because the problem with swarms was that if you were strong enough, no matter how long, you could endlessly defend yourself. So, it was still quite tricky to balance this particular floor guardian, but it will also take a tremendous amount of time before anyone gets to test it, so I will have chances to make adjustments.


    The reason being is because this floor basically has no dungeon rooms. My instincts didn¡¯t like it at all, but I did make one big one that seemed to satisfy it at least a little bit. I simply didn¡¯t have time to make proper dungeon rooms. First, I needed to deal with whatever trouble the powers of this world were going to bring, and because of this, I was focusing on the playrooms.


    I needed more farm floors capable of producing diamond ranks, but after that, I was most likely going to rush to diamond rank. While doing the minimum possible to make sure I didn¡¯t mess up the floor size advantage I have built over my entire life.


    The skill selection for the breakthrough was easy. I just put everything into My World, bringing it to rank C. Damn, this skill was hard to rank up, but it needed to be done. I finished the breakthrough four days and 12 hours after I entered it.


    Immediately, I went through all the reports, finding that nothing bad had happened and that the diamond ranks hadn¡¯t yet arrived. Then I reconnected with my dungeon and went through everything to make sure that nothing had happened in my dungeon without me knowing about it.


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    Nothing really special happened, but a few more of my creatures had reached diamond rank. More interestingly, some of the adventurers¡ªthe first to accept my deal¡ªwere starting to get close. Some of them were real monsters, especially Carl.


    His talent was seemingly quite simple, but it was so incredibly effective. I kind of wished there was some way for me to collect the talents of my adventurers. Perhaps I should see if it¡¯s possible to create a skill that would allow me to do so, but right now I simply didn¡¯t have time to put so much effort into something that wasn¡¯t important for survival.


    Then again, when I was able to make diamond-rank monster, being able to use the best of the best talents as I made their patterns would be an incredible advantage. Well, right now I need to focus on getting My World to at least S rank.


    That way, no one can mess with me. Pixies should already find it impossible to teleport to my core floor, but who knows? They might have some diamond ranks with really specific talents to make it possible.


    Immediately, I started to expand the new floor. It was, of course, going to be another farm floor and the only diamond-ranked farm floor for land-based creatures. The other farms had been working for quite a while now, and it seemed like the water-based one was pulling ahead in the department of producing mana and platinum-ranked creatures.


    So, for the first five floors after the platinum rank, the first one would be for the slimes, the second for land-based creatures, and the last three would all go to the water-type farm floors.


    That should be enough. Then the rest of the floors could basically just be empty, but I would still need to make some dungeon rooms. That would be relatively easy as those rooms would also basically just be empty.


    I didn¡¯t like this at all. At least in that part, I agreed with my instincts. But from what I¡¯ve learned, many adventurers also go against their instincts and do the opposite of what their body tells them to do. Some of them die because of this, but those who don¡¯t¡ªwell, they can become truly great.


    I had nearly finished going through all my floors, updating some dungeon rules, especially in the labyrinth, when I finally noticed the approaching presence of something incredibly powerful. When I looked toward it, there was a medium-sized airship that was just radiating with power. There weren¡¯t just diamond ranks aboard, because to my surprise, they also had a dungeon core.


    It took me a little while to realize why they had that. I also felt quite stupid when I realized how they were using it. I am capable of making dungeon cores, so my people could also use such technology.


    What they had done was use a dungeon core to expand the size of the ship¡¯s inner hull so they could fit more people without making the airship bigger. Now, how exactly they used the dungeon core to get that effect, I didn¡¯t know, but sometimes all you needed was to see that something was possible to be able to figure out how to do it.


    I added this discovery to the backlog the Academy was currently under, as new research into topics that didn¡¯t have to do with our survival had been left to the side. When they entered the eternal city-state''s territory, I could finally feel the individuals on the airship.


    They had six peak diamond ranks and about thirty others. That was a way bigger force than we ever expected to see so soon. They also had a lot of platinum ranks, but they wouldn¡¯t matter in this type of fight. I think they are more for logistical purposes than anything else.


    Vivian had gotten the other diamond rank conscious, but he was still a bit broken. The grandfather and granddaughter hugged each other warmly, and they didn¡¯t seem to care what everyone else thought. There were some Beast representatives, but the majority of the diamond ranks that came were from the Masters. I also figured out why they brought six peak ranks.


    One of them was Vivian''s grandfather. He probably demanded to be here and wouldn¡¯t take no for an answer. The other five I had expected to be the people who got the short end of the stick and had to come here without actually knowing each other too well, but that turned out to not be true. It seems like these five were a proper adventurer team that have been together not for centuries, but millenniums.


    In all honesty, they were intimidating. Just their presence alone radiated absolute confidence, and I had no problem believing that they not only complemented each other but that they could enhance each other''s powers exponentially. It was a scary thought, and I¡¯m pretty sure they could fight against my platinum ranks easily enough, probably even fight Ismael to at least a standstill, with Vivian''s grandfather making the difference.


    Perhaps I was underestimating Ismael''s power, especially when he would be in his dragon form, but there was a reason why his species was basically extinct. So now I understood why they waited so long to come here.


    If they wanted to, a few of them could have been here a day or two after they discovered what I truly am. They waited to bring enough strength that they could at least match mine and my allies, so they wouldn¡¯t have a weaker bargaining position¡ªif they were even going to bargain. Currently, I have no idea what their game plan is, and I just have to wait and see.

 chapter 256

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I watched as a group of platinum ranks tried to enter one of my gateways, but it simply didn¡¯t work. All of the gateways on the surface just above me were now deactivated and completely disconnected from the rest of my network.


    It seems that they had some sort of device they tried to use with my gateway. I didn¡¯t know what it was supposed to do, but whatever it was, it didn¡¯t work, which didn¡¯t leave a lot of happy faces.


    They usually just did one thing and then went to report back to the command center they set up in the Adventurers Guild. They had already set up a way to handle the new airships that were coming in and the people traveling over land. They were only letting them resupply and then sending them off again, and when the platinum ranks supported by diamond ranks said something, well, the airship captains wisely stopped complaining.


    So instead of going back, they actually tried to enter my first floor. To make it a little bit fun, I made the first area of the labyrinth that was connected to the outside world look like a few of my original first floors. The difference was that there weren¡¯t any monsters, and I made things look more run down¡ªat least as much as you can make regular caves look like they¡¯re run down.


    At first, they didn¡¯t think anything of it, but I could see in their body language how they slowly became more unnerved. They started to argue when they reached the place where the normal first-floor guardian should be. One of them wanted to return immediately, but it seemed like they were under orders to expedite things.


    The diamond and platinum ranks had already been here for about four days, but they hadn¡¯t accomplished much. Then have already interrogated a lot of the people who stayed behind and get a handle on the constant flow of airships that were coming in, but not much more.


    Eventually, the group delving me decided to descend onto the next floor, and this was the first test I was actually curious about. They were all accomplished platinum ranks, even though they were, at best, servants to the diamond ranks who had the real power. Still, they knew their stuff¡ªI was certain of that¡ªbut none of them could feel or identify the other type of gateway I had, which was basically a hidden gateway that only the very best could detect.


    Now, I could have switched the gateway destination when only half of them had walked through, but I wasn¡¯t going to mess with them just yet. In the grand scheme of things, the platinum ranks were not important enough to reveal such a powerful secret.


    They continued to descend until they reached the 5th floor, after which they didn¡¯t find a way down but instead six different corridors leading off in different directions, all of them with different ruin designs.


    Most of the ruins were empty, especially the ones that were really old-looking, where the brickwork and stones were barely holding on. But even in those ruins, I always liked to add a few traps. I will feel bad for anyone that stumbles onto the really dangerous trapped ruins.


    The kind of place where you step over one pressure plate only to find that the entire room was a pressure plate, and now you need to deal with flaming, flying, electrified balls of rock fired at you faster than the speed of sound.


    Those were deep in, and even if I did make the entire labyrinth constantly shift, there were places you could only get to if you were really unlucky.


    My design team, over the years, has expanded quite a lot, and while I have employed quite a few that adventurers would call madmen. If I let them do civil designs for too long¡ªthe ones that I can use in dungeon rooms¡ªthey would actually go crazy. So the labyrinth has also been a way to let them channel all their crazy ideas into a place that was meant to be madness itself.


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    I¡¯m pretty sure some of the more elaborate magical traps have started to form consciousness, and honestly, that¡¯s a scary thought. I don¡¯t think I would have recognized that fact if I hadn¡¯t dealt so much lately with how consciousness develops and what makes it actually happen. Fortunately, none of them seem to be even remotely close to sapient, but I guess if any of them actually achieve it, I¡¯ll deal with that when the time comes.


    They were still arguing, but one of the braver ones decided to venture a bit deeper in. Once again, I kind of wanted to mess with them and make one of the gateways switch locations, but I held off.


    Then they became even stupider, with each one going individually into the different tunnels to search a bit further. Now it was an actual struggle not to mess with them. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t do it for long once they realized that the ruins seemed endless.


    I watched as they went back up, their faces showing a little bit of fear. I didn¡¯t know exactly what they needed to accomplish, but it was obvious they didn¡¯t accomplish it. They were headed to the command center, so I focused back on a particular wing of the Academy where a lot of people were furiously working on trying to understand and predict the secret language almost everyone upstairs was using to hide their communication from me.


    At first, I thought they knew that I could see above the ground, but I think they were just paranoid about spying. Not everyone could speak this secret language of theirs, so I still learned stuff.


    One of the things was that none of them actually believed that all of the spies had left, and that the pulling back of the personnel I did was just to throw everyone off. I guess I could have seen that coming, but I would have been happier if they actually believed that we weren¡¯t spying on them anymore, well at least with people.


    "They are going to go back and report the first delve into my dungeon. It would be nice to know what they are saying?" I communicated to the team in charge of deciphering everything. One of them looked up, and I saw a little bit of sweat running down his forehead.


    "Just give me a little bit more time. I think I¡¯ve got it," he answered, while not looking at anything. It was like he was focused more inside than outside. His body temperature was also rising at an alarming rate.


    Before I could say anything, a person laid their hands on his forehead and started to cast a magic that emanated a chilling aura.


    His talent was quite fascinating, allowing him to calculate things in his head even better than I could, and a lot more complex things that didn¡¯t have direct and predictable outcomes. The fact that, if he really pushed himself, he would actually die from overheating because his brain was working so fast was so fascinating. Unfortunately, this was one of the talents that I couldn¡¯t get, as he was actually a recruit from the outside world instead of one of my creatures.


    He almost slumped when I saw his body temperature starting to cool down. Quickly, he started to write something down, and when he filled the second page, I could understand the rest.


    ¡°I thank you for everything. You can take your well-deserved rest now,¡± I communicated to the team leader, who then said it to the person who actually finished deciphering the secret language they were using.


    Now, when I focused back on the surface world, everything changed. All the communications now made sense to me, so it was time to figure out what they were actually doing.


    I always had a little bit of presence in the main chamber where their most important business was discussed. The interesting thing was that two of the five diamond ranks knew my viewpoint and often glanced at it, so when I now focused more on that location, I saw both of their eyes going towards my viewpoint.


    They tried to figure out what was going on and even changed locations, but just to mess with them, I always went to the exact same place in whatever room they were having their discussions in. The best part was that, now that I knew the language, I just went back and rewatched everything that I had already observed.


    It seems like their higher-ups were pushing them a lot, especially because the Pixies and the Deliverers had started to understand what was going on and were putting pressure on the Masters and the Beasts to get this solved fast.


    The five who came here were from the Masters, and they were not ones to easily take orders. So that¡¯s why they hadn¡¯t stormed into me to try to break my core or take control of me. They were actually trying to do this properly and without crossing any bridges just yet.


    That was quite fascinating. Also, Vivian¡¯s grandfather didn¡¯t really care about what was going on anymore, and while he was still angry about what had happened, he got his granddaughter back and was no longer on a warpath.


    Now that everyone had seen his reactions play out, the ones advocating for her death were quite silent. I even had to stop a few of them from resigning. To me, it didn¡¯t matter that they were wrong¡ªwhat mattered was that they were willing to voice a different opinion. Sometimes that difference of opinion is the thing that might keep us alive. So who cared if this time it would have done the opposite? It¡¯s important to know all the options available to us.


    ¡°So what you¡¯re telling me is that this dungeon somehow changed the first few floors, and you think they are just cheap replicas that lead to a different part of the dungeon unknown to us?¡± The leader asked. One of the ones that delved into me answered immediately, and with an affirmative.


    ¡°Scour the mountainside and find if there are any other proper entrances, and test every gateway. If there aren¡¯t any, that means this dungeon can modify itself more than we thought possible.¡±


    I could now see the weight on the shoulders of that person. He was put in charge of this mission, but ever since he got here, I have seen him question things more and more. It¡¯s like he has believed in something all his life, and suddenly there are more and more facts that show his belief has been wrong.


    Perhaps it would be a better idea if I initiated contact. Perhaps a letter at the dungeon entrance asking for a talk would be a good idea. I started giving information to my people about everything that I had learned and about the idea I had. I should have a bit of time to discuss this with everyone. Our current game plan was to delay, delay, delay¡ªand what¡¯s more delaying than peace talks?

 chapter 257

    Pov Dungeon Core


    It was decided that we would wait to deliver the letter until they were quite close to trying to delve into me once again. It was quite humorous to watch as one of the lookouts noticed, from the corner of his eye, the letter gently floating down almost next to him.


    The way his eyes slowly started to widen as he realized what he was looking at was amusing, and then I could see a few beads of sweat running down his forehead when he understood what it actually meant.


    For about five seconds, he had no idea what to do, but he wasn¡¯t the only one on guard. One of the others grabbed the letter, looked at the writing on it, and took off running as fast as he could toward their command center. The letter went through a few people before reaching the table of the party leader and the current commander of this situation.


    He narrowed his eyes when he saw the letter, most likely because of the timing. There was a lot of debate on when to give the letter, but in the end, we decided we must stop showing that we are just some weak prey and prove that we also have some claws of our own. It was quite a long letter, giving out some terms, and I could see him contemplating everything, just like I thought he would.


    Then he reached the end, and for the first time, I was completely unable to read him. The last part said that I was willing to negotiate how this world would look and function when it reached its end.


    In all honesty, I actually was, because I really didn¡¯t care. And if I¡¯m being more honest, I really didn¡¯t want to be anything else but a dungeon core. Becoming something like the world¡¯s will¡ªhaving almost no way of doing things on your own and just having to watch¡ªwhile it did please a part of me, I didn¡¯t like that type of passiveness.


    What I wanted to do was make worlds and then see how everything acted inside and developed. I¡¯ve also guided some events and even helped some who were struggling unfairly. Giving up everything that I currently am didn¡¯t seem like the way to go. But like every child of the adventurers, all of them had to eventually grow up, and perhaps that would also be my future. Even if I would like to be a child, so to speak, forever, that¡¯s probably never going to be possible.


    I continued to observe, seeing how this letter would be received. It didn¡¯t take long for him to contact his superiors, and then a huge meeting room was set up with a couple of dozen communication crystals. I was glad to see their crystal technology was a few steps behind the communication crystals my Academy was producing.


    That¡¯s another thing I have noticed. When you reach the top, most stop struggling to get stronger, which is understandable, but that mentality makes them stop progressing in other parts. From what I understand, that particular communication crystal technology they currently have has been around for about 1,000 years with little change because they reached the point where it was all that they needed, so they didn¡¯t put any more resources into improving that technology.


    I could somewhat see the reasoning behind it. In some things, you are going to reach a wall, but that doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t branch off and see what other things you can accomplish with that technology as a base. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve constantly been increasing the size of my Academy with more and more departments that are getting more and more specialized.


    From all of my floors, there are plenty of people who have other pursuits besides just getting stronger. I don¡¯t see a reason why, if they want to, they couldn¡¯t push themselves as far as they can in other pursuits, and I¡¯m more than willing to give them the resources and time to do anything they want.


    Because of all of this, we are starting to actually get technologically ahead of the rest of the world, and it¡¯s just so fascinating to see everything that¡¯s possible, things that I could never dream about.


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    But now that I¡¯ve seen what¡¯s possible, I could recreate them, and I can¡¯t wait to see what they¡¯re like when I start adding that kind of technology to different playrooms. But before that, this stupid war for my existence must be fought.


    Bureaucracy seems to take quite a while, but one by one, more and more individuals connected through the communication crystals. I was a bit surprised that almost half of the communication crystals were for the Beasts, so it seems like they properly formed an alliance.


    What followed was literally three days of straight discussions, sometimes full-blown arguments that I was certain would have come to actual fighting if they weren¡¯t on other sides of the world. As things went on, they were starting to lean more towards accepting my deal in exchange for resources and eventually training more diamond ranks.


    It took three more days for them to offer their terms. It was hilarious to watch the panicking platinum rank that was clearly confused. His orders were to step into my entrance hall and speak their terms out loud.


    The terms were quite long, and a few of them I certainly wouldn¡¯t agree to, but all the people currently working with me on this problem were excited. They wanted to see how far we could push them and, of course, how we could continue to delay them.


    The so-called peace talks lasted for a few months. We only communicated through letters, even though they wanted to see representatives and demanded them every time they came back to amend their terms.


    What was still keeping us at the talking table, so to speak, was the fact that I was willing to give ridiculous amounts of hard-to-find materials. What was stopping them from accepting was that they would need to protect me against the other two powers and the fact that I would never allow them to visit my core.


    I actually had no problem allowing them to delve on my diamond-ranked floors whenever I reached that far, but everyone also knew¡ªat least on our side¡ªthat the peace would never last. In fact, most of my analysts were certain that we could only stretch the non-hostilities for a few months at most. The reason being the other two powers and the opposition to the peace talks on both the Masters'' and Beasts'' sides.


    As a show of good faith, this time, not just a letter arrived but so many really expensive and dense mana crystals that it actually took them a week to get all of them out of the first few fake floors. This delay, however, was useful because I was only putting a small part of me into focusing on it, while everything else was focused on making me stronger and better able to defend myself.


    Those slimes were magnificent. And I was now calling them slimes, even though they started as just a nutrient ooze. A couple of them have now reached diamond rank¡ªsomething I didn¡¯t expect them to achieve so quickly¡ªbut I had made them a perfect environment. And, well, the platinum ranks are basically the size of huge capital cities. That allowed them not just to consume some of the other slimes around them but, more importantly, to absorb the incredibly strong solar power that their farm playroom was providing.


    There were currently about 50 million individual slimes, but they still had plenty of room. Eventually, even if they fully covered the entire floor, it would not stop their development cycle. The funny thing is that when they reach diamond rank, they don¡¯t get bigger; instead, they shrink to about the size of a human, and yes, they become proper sapiens then. Their ranking-up lifecycle finally helped crack the problem with my other patterns developing consciousness and sapience too soon.


    This meant that I could now fully make my farm floor work to produce diamond ranks in quantity. Now, it will take quite a while to get this working, but I just finished expanding the 52nd floor. All I have to do now is make a basic environment, modify the patterns for this floor with the new things I learned, and just let it start developing on its own. Then it would be time for another breakthrough and another farm floor.


    Of course, the other side also had time to prepare. They were trying to be sneaky, but they were bringing in dungeon melters and other devices. We were currently trying to figure out what they did. They were also bringing in more and more personnel, especially the Beasts, and it seems like Vivian''s grandfather was bringing in his entire clan. That was a weird move, and we weren¡¯t certain what it meant.


    Like this, another few months went by. With so much focus on only making the new floors and farm playrooms, I was getting things done fast. I had to make some basic dungeon rooms, but when that was done, I broke through and managed to get my ¡®My World¡¯ skill to rank B. But it was a close thing. Every time I upgraded that skill, I felt more solid, and I liked that feeling.


    Even with so many peak diamond ranks up above, I still managed to keep my breakthrough completely hidden. In fact, I was most likely going to keep all my breakthroughs hidden until I reached the final breakthrough before diamond rank, as I simply couldn¡¯t keep that one hidden no matter how much I wanted to. But by then, it would be too late for them. About a week after my breakthrough, things changed for the worse as a delegation from the Pixies and the Delvers came.


    The Delvers were also like the Beasts, and the Masters were a portion of them who wanted a long-term treaty, while another portion advocated for my end or total control over me. The Pixies were the ones wholly wanting my destruction. The peace talks were more difficult after that, and only about two weeks later did they finally fall through, and the flood of diamond ranks¡ªabout 100 of them¡ªrushed into the labyrinth.


    I looked back on everything that happened, and I was a little bit disappointed. We¡¯d missed the opportunity to show our strength, but in a way, it might have helped us in the long run because now they had no idea what strength we actually had.


    The diamond ranks will soon learn that it will not be easy to navigate my labyrinth, and with its constant changing, they could be lost there for a long time. Up until this point, I had kept the labyrinth from changing whenever they entered, but this time I let the dungeon rule I crafted take over. Let¡¯s see how long it will take them to figure out that it would not just be a few months'' work to reach the core.

 chapter 258

    Pov Dungeon Core


    ¡°We have lost contact with half of our forces. We still know that they are all alive, but the dungeon stone is signal-blocking, and it seems like it has already changed all of the dungeon stone to the new variant that¡¯s even strong enough to resist diamond-rank damage.¡±


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be here because we all expected that. Tell me what you suspect.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve had a few experts look at the first few floors that are mimicking its real original first floors. The experts say that there are strange energy signals every once in a while hidden in the walls and that there are a lot of dungeon rules layered upon each other. In fact, they seem to be taking up, if their predictions are to be believed, an amount of mana that should not be possible for this deep of a dungeon.¡±


    ¡°You have still not gotten to your point. You wanted to speak alone, and I gave you that chance. Don¡¯t make me regret it.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sorry. It¡¯s just that it¡¯s my belief, from what I¡¯ve learned from people reporting back, that it looks like a labyrinth. And, well, there have always been myths and legends told about labyrinths that change shape, trapping anyone who enters. I believe that this dungeon has a way of making that happen, and that¡¯s why we have lost contact with so many. It¡¯s not that they made it further in; it¡¯s because they are most likely in other parts of the labyrinth. And who knows how large it actually is.¡±


    That analyst is way too smart. He has been shunned most of the time that he has been here just because he¡¯s platinum rank, but he sure can come to some correct conclusions. And now he¡¯s talking to the old commander of the forces outside.


    The old commander refused to take his party into the dungeon, so people finally got the chance to replace his command. He still retains quite a lot of influence, and in the end, it seems like he¡¯s more focused on keeping the situation as calm as possible. But things aren¡¯t going well for them at the moment.


    There was another huge meeting going on with yelling and demanding answers. Everyone knew that they had lost contact with a lot of diamond ranks who had entered my labyrinth. We had yet to kill anyone, even though a few of them were alone now, but we were still waiting for the right moment. Everyone had also noticed how my presence was becoming more and more all-encompassing on the surface.


    They were trying to use some devices that were actually working to block me from spreading my influence upwards, but since we were now officially at war, I didn¡¯t see a reason why I shouldn¡¯t do what I wanted to do. So soon, they were operating out of a zone that was quite small as I spread my influence upwards and outwards.


    I was doing it slowly because I didn¡¯t want to frighten them with how fast I could actually claim territory. What I was also doing was making sure that my presence was even stronger, so if I were to do something on the surface, it wouldn¡¯t send up a flare announcing what I had done.


    Unfortunately, I have not been able to make one of my most dangerous creatures, the fruit flies, into proper platinum ranks as their bodies simply couldn''t handle it. I would need to make them bigger, but that would also make their effect that allows them to fly through objects not work as it does when they are at their small size. I think I just need to find a proper talent to make it work, but I have yet to find such a thing.


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    I could already flood the surface with my monsters, not even needing a way to transport them to the surface. They know this, but they aren''t afraid because most of them up there are diamond ranks, and they think that they are untouchable. While for some, that''s true. I can¡¯t do anything against peak diamond ranks even if I send millions of the best platinum ranks I could make. But the weaker ones would still die.


    The reason we were hesitant was because there were still some citizens left who were basically under house arrest and left to their own devices, but they couldn''t leave either. Every once in a while, some of them were taken for interrogation.


    Fortunately, they had mind readers, so they actually didn''t need any torture to ensure that everyone spoke what they knew. Cooler heads seemed to have prevailed in that department, as some actually still wanted to start torturing.


    There was also the other problem of Vivian. She was one of the most listened-to experts, mainly because of her grandfather. She was getting things pretty correct, but I was still glad to see that even she hadn¡¯t figured out the new kind of gateway, even though she had sensed and figured out their locations. Another problem was her grandfather.


    He was a mystery to everyone, even to the spy who worked closely with him. From what we can understand, he''s basically bringing his entire clan here¡ªnot just the people, but everything including wealth and industry.


    He¡¯s the expert on dungeon fortresses, and while most still don¡¯t think I¡¯m a fortress, they do know about my surrounding dungeon stone sphere, which has helped him remain one of the most influential people up there.


    His moves were finally approved when he managed to convince everyone, after the first few diamond ranks went missing, that this wasn¡¯t going to be a war won in a few months but instead in decades.


    None of them liked what he said, but, well, to make it to diamond rank you couldn¡¯t be too stupid¡ªeven though I could see that a lot of the diamond ranks were just boosted up there, and, well, the difference between them and the ones who struggled to get there was immense.


    The Pixies have also been quite busy, and it seems like they have been producing dungeon melters in mass, as they have brought almost 50. There are multiple plans going on about how to use all of them, and I have no doubt that they will be bringing even more.


    Unfortunately for them, I¡¯m not stupid. They are waiting for me to advance so they can strike while I¡¯m unconscious, but if they only knew that those dungeon melters, while useful, won¡¯t help them as much as they expect.


    While we hadn¡¯t expected so many dungeon melters, we certainly planned for it¡ªand a lot more. Even in the labyrinth, their plans wouldn¡¯t be so simple. In the underground world, almost all of the ants have also retreated back to the dungeon, but there are still so many working on bringing in real stone so we can disrupt the melters¡¯ beams. This special mix of dungeon stone and real stone will take a while to get through, even with a melter.


    Their civilization had spread quite wide, and they really were so industrious. It was a bit sad to see them coming back like this, but I was glad that none of them were truly disconnected from me. Even now, dozens of billions of ants¡ªa lot of them dungeon monsters, but still a huge portion being real creatures¡ªwere helping not just to protect me but their own home as well.


    Sometimes, when I think about the dedication and fervor the ants had to protect their home, to protect me, I kind of felt bad for the diamond ranks. Just a tiny bit bad, as they were real arseholes right now. But if things ever got to the point where I needed to take the leash off of them, well, I didn¡¯t expect much to survive of our enemies. Yet the cost right now would be too high. There were too few of them at diamond rank at this moment.


    One thing was clear: there wouldn¡¯t be ant civilizations full of diamond ranks, and even the best of the best, their champions, only a few could reach that far. While the percentages I suspect could reach diamond rank were quite low for ants, they made up the difference thanks to their huge numbers.


    On the other point of the scale were the orcs. Their percentage of people I think could reach diamond rank was the highest amongst all other species, even adventurer species, but their birth rate was quite low. So I think in the end, they would have about the same amount of diamond ranks. Right now, both species only had two so far.


    Those four were quite strong, but like every other one of my creatures that has reached diamond rank, they were all newly advanced. From what I can tell, diamond ranks need quite a bit of time to get properly used to their power, and even then, they are just at the beginning of their rank. Also in diamond rank, every minor breakthrough meant quite a lot more power.


    I wonder how long they will wait before me not advancing makes them decide to use the dungeon melters. Hopefully, it will be a while, because every day that passes without them properly trying to get to my core is a day I grow stronger.

 chapter 259

    Pov Dungeon Core


    During the months when we have been under full siege, with no one getting in or out, the adventurers were starting to suffer. They didn¡¯t have any problems with food or staying alive; the problem was with the economy.


    There was no longer a place that would purchase almost all the drops that the adventurers didn¡¯t want, so they could make coin and purchase things they needed. And, of course, many of the industries that supported a civilization were now unavailable to them, which made some products quickly rise in price.


    If things continued like that, the entire adventurer population would suffer an economic crash along with many other problems. Already, a lot of adventurers were no longer going out to clear rooms to get loot because they couldn¡¯t do anything with it. I also think that¡¯s why the diamond ranks up above thought that I would eventually crack and fail¡ªbecause I would be attacked from within due to civil unrest. Fortunately, I had a way of fixing it.


    It would have brought problems before, but My World was a wonderful skill. There have always been devices that allowed better teleportation or even communications and now I could find them all. They were mainly used for longer communications and teleportations, but they could also be used to break through interference like the signal-blocking dungeon stone, and even my own dungeon rules that stop teleportations and communications from happening.


    Once again, the powers of this world have underestimated me, as I have now located the devices and spies that are still in the dungeon rooms. I gave my go-ahead, and all the teams waiting moved immediately to capture these spies and deactivate or destroy all those devices, so no diamond rank could use them to get into the dungeon rooms. Some of them were very well hidden, but I took care of those ones personally.


    It took about a day to complete this task. Some even managed to evade capture for a while, but you can¡¯t really hide inside the dungeon if the dungeon itself is hunting you. This caused a bit of panic, but the preparations were done, and it was finally time to properly address all the adventurers.


    It was a good thing that a few of the ant nations, especially those focused on technological advancement, figured out¡ªthanks to their cooperation with the Academy¡ªhow to make more complex compute cores.


    That was the name they gave them¡ªthey were technology mimicking my quest crystal. All of it started with the stealing of the Guild Master¡¯s skill crystal. It was mainly made of a crystal that combined a dungeon core and a few variants of mana crystals to allow for the enormous amount of saved skills that could be copied and not taken, unlike skill stones that were one-use items.


    Now I have three of them, and while I could make the large compute core myself, the inner workings were a lot more intricate to make and needed trial and error to properly make work. Fortunately, experts in the field have emerged over the course of the time they have tried to develop this technology for their own use.


    The quest crystal was already quite overworked, mainly because of the reward systems I¡¯ve added to it, but now I have a dedicated compute core for the rewards and one to handle citizenship.


    The biggest problem was that the adventurers didn¡¯t have a market to sell their more common drops. There were markets already in my dungeon, but the problem was that they weren¡¯t accessible to the adventurers. I also didn¡¯t want to make them freely accessible, which necessitated a solution from the outside world.


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    Travel was going to be restricted depending on the citizenship you had. There was already a bit of panic among the adventurers as the news spread about the arrests, and what didn¡¯t help was me now making huge dungeon gateways in every hub station.


    Those world gates, because that¡¯s what they were, they were connections between the different playrooms, or as I was now calling them, worlds, because it was voted overwhelmingly that calling them playrooms would cause even more panic.


    There would be special visas for merchants so they could more freely travel through the world gates, and of course, everyone would learn of my true size. There was no doubt in my mind that things were going to be tense for a while, but especially the ants would provide the necessary connection to civilization so the economy could work and so that the dungeon rooms would have access to established industries. These industries would support them in exchange for the huge supply of meat and valuable materials that could be obtained from the dungeon rooms.


    Of course, every world will also get passports and visas, but a large portion would not be able to delve the dungeon rooms. This was mainly because there were way too many creatures in the different worlds that I had, and they would simply overwhelm the current size of the dungeon rooms.


    I could easily see a future where, in the later floors, I would actually make more versions of upper floors the same way I have done with the first 15 floors, as they had multiple versions of them available to be used.


    I did the final checks, tested all the systems, then every quest crystal made a unique sound of a dungeon-wide alert. Not only did I make the information section of the quest interface available to everyone, but there was also a lot more information there now.


    Everyone also got an explanation of what has happened over the course of the last few days, a brief summary of the current siege situation, and, of course, the revelation of the different worlds and who inhabit those¡ªand, of course, about the world''s gates and the passport system.


    For the moment, I stopped almost all of my pressing works and focused solely on the dungeon rooms, as I wanted to experience and see all the reactions as they were happening instead of viewing them later.


    Their reactions were as varied as I expected them to be, but I was glad that I saw more acceptance than I originally thought would be possible. I only allowed myself one day of this break before I got back to work.


    It will take a bit of time, but already in the dungeon rooms and my other worlds, everyone was preparing to make first contact so they could start establishing trade relationships. That was also another reason why I didn¡¯t want a large portion of my creatures to be able to delve the dungeon rooms. It would cause conflict, and we really didn¡¯t have time for that because, during the siege, a conflict inside could be disastrous.


    At least that¡¯s what I¡¯ve been told, and I can understand their reasoning. I¡¯ve also been recommended to start hurting the economy of the outside world as well. I¡¯m still not completely sure that I want to do that, but Vivian''s grandfather had brought a lot here, and with his industries making high-end consumables and other items, the forces outside were getting stronger and stronger.


    From what we can tell, the other powers were also planning on bringing more supplies here, as it was becoming clearer and clearer that this siege of theirs would take a long while. While they had some very good airships. Most of them need the trade winds to get here in a reasonable amount of time. From what we can gather, a huge number of airships were currently on their way here to bring a lot of supplies.


    They would most likely be able to then build the structures and devices that limited my territory above much more easily, which would make our other plans harder. It would help so many ways if the trade winds no longer slowed above this mountain range, so they couldn''t build up their strength above so fast. They would eventually do it no matter what, but it would take them much longer.


    The problem was that by doing so, I would most likely crash the economy of the entire world. That would not really affect the four great powers, but it would affect ordinary people. Many would lose their jobs, and there would be a lot of suffering, as it would take time for markets to stabilize. There was already a huge shortage of rations around the world, which was causing a lot of problems, but this would cause even more.


    It took me a while, but on a wintry afternoon, I made almost all of the mana crystals in the mountains disappear that were causing the effect of slowing down the trade winds. To hide the fact that those were the cause, the sound of massive cracks and then falling rocks were heard for hundreds of kilometers as almost every mountaintop collapsed, causing massive rockslides.


    The diamond ranks easily defended their established compounds, but the entire terrain of the formerly known Eternal City-State was now changed. And, of course, the slowing-down effect of the trade winds slowly dissipated. I really didn¡¯t like waging war.

 chapter 260

    ***


    It was late at night while Merrick was walking home with his shoulders slumped. He wasn¡¯t the best-looking¡ªhe was too slim, too lanky, and he had even become a bit too old. He often wanted to change his life, and many times he tried to be more of what he needed to be to be allowed to become a diamond rank.


    Merrick wasn''t a fighter, and while that was one of the easier ways to get to diamond rank, his brilliant mind had long ago qualified him¡ªexcept for his bad habit of not respecting authority. It was especially hard for him to respect his superiors when he knew they were idiots.


    He was still creeped out that the city, which was once a center of commerce for the entire world, it was now so empty. He had been here for years already, trying to figure out what this dungeon actually was. Merrick was actually ahead of everyone else in his understanding of the Eternal Training Ground, what it could do, and the secrets it was hiding.


    The problem was, he didn''t have any real evidence yet. His talent and his mind let him make connections that no one else could see, but even he was afraid to voice them all because, over the course of his life, he¡¯d learned not to deliver bad news to his superiors. Yet Merrick remembered his last few conversations with the previous commander in charge of everything here, which made his back straighten a bit.


    It had been a while since he actually respected his superiors, and while the old commander was no longer directly his superior, he was the one who had listened to him the most. What surprised even Merrick was that there were no diamond-rank deaths just yet.


    The labyrinth was incredibly large and dangerous, but none of the truly important people had died, which Merrick thought was on purpose. He also shouldn¡¯t have said that out loud in one of the latest meetings. Yet he could see others thinking the same thing¡ªthey were, however, smart enough not to mention it.


    The death toll of the platinum ranks sent into the labyrinth to help map it out was climbing every day. Most of them were missing, but even without being able to contact them, the diamond ranks had their ways of knowing if someone had died. Everyone was quite pissed off, especially the great four powers, which brought a smile to Merrick¡¯s face¡ªone he quickly made disappear.


    He still couldn¡¯t believe their stupidity in telling that a dungeon got free and destroyed one of the newest yet most known and celebrated new countries. The city lord had spent his money wisely, supporting a lot of charities around the world.


    With all the news that came out before about the great four powers, most didn¡¯t believe the propaganda they were still trying to push. Yet, when the trade winds stopped slowing down in this location, no one really cared about what actually happened, as it didn¡¯t take long for the world economy to collapse.


    In Merrick¡¯s opinion, it was actually a good thing. Everyone had gotten a little bit too rich, and when people in power became rich, they wanted more, which led to a lot of wars. Now no one had the resources or the coin to fund war, which, in his opinion, in the long run, actually saved more lives¡ªeven though the last year had been tough for many regular citizens.


    Merrick and Vivian were the first ones to figure out how the labyrinth was able to switch and change. The fact that it was a new type of gateway and what that actually meant was dismissed by most. They were just pleased that they now knew the secret and could start working on unraveling the new kind of gate network so they could control it the same way they could with the old gateway system.


    Merrick didn¡¯t think it would be an easy task, but he had been constantly going into the labyrinth to try to figure out how the first new gateway, which appeared quite early on, worked. In the back of his head, there was an idea forming about how it worked; he just needed a little bit more time. Merrick hoped that it would be enough to get permission to be brought to diamond rank, and the old commander even promised him that he would do what he could to help.


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    When Merrick stepped into an alley, he knew something was wrong. For some reason, he felt like he was inside the dungeon; he felt the mana spike from the walls. His mind went into overtime, and even before anything else happened, he figured out that he was currently in the horizon of the new type of gateway. Before he could do anything about it, his surroundings changed, and he was in darkness.


    ¡°Come, sit down,¡± a cultured voice said. In the darkness, he heard a snap, and light bathed the room. He immediately looked around to see that he was in quite a small room with no exits. There was a table with two chairs on either side, and a man sitting on the other side. Merrick knew exactly who that was, and it was hard for him not to shake in fear.


    The dragon pretending to be a man indicated for him to sit down, and Merrick did so. ¡°So, it seems like your mind is quite brilliant. It would be a shame for you to figure out how the new gateways work this early. You have two options in front of you: you can either stay here as a prisoner, or you can join our side, where you could actually make that brilliant mind of yours work with all the resources you could ever wish for at your disposal.¡±


    Merrick was stunned for a moment. He didn¡¯t understand how the dungeon could change the walls of that alley to be a gateway with the devices limiting dungeon territory expansion. ¡°You haven¡¯t just been waiting¡ªyou¡¯ve been running secret missions, most likely replacing some of our devices with fakes.¡±


    Those words made Ismael smile. ¡°See? You just need a single piece of information, and you simply come to the right conclusion, completely sure of it. You know the reason why you¡¯re not diamond rank isn¡¯t because you don¡¯t respect your leaders¡ªit¡¯s because they¡¯re afraid of that mind of yours. I bet you already see through all their bullshit.¡±


    ¡°Of course I do. I figured it all out in the first week, but that doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯re entirely wrong. Dungeons could destroy this world so easily, especially in this age. There are only two options if anyone else wanted to survive besides them: it¡¯s either to destroy them entirely or control them. Any other option would be way too dangerous.¡±


    Ismael¡¯s jovial mood disappeared. ¡°Do you not think that a peak diamond rank couldn¡¯t destroy this world just as easily?¡±


    ¡°Not as easily, no, but yes, I believe there are some who are capable of it.¡±


    ¡°And why do you think they don¡¯t do it?¡± Ismael interrupted before Mark could continue.


    "Because it wouldn¡¯t be beneficial¡ªonly madmen would do something like that. Quite a desperate madman." Mark answered back, his previous fears long forgotten as he felt he could finally speak his mind without any worries. As he believed he wouldn¡¯t survive past this meeting.


    "Perhaps you don¡¯t think it, but the Eternal Training Ground, this dungeon, is quite reasonable and definitely far from a madman. What¡¯s your decision, or would you like to speak more?"


    There was a pause where Merrick really let himself think. The way he was treated, the way some things started to make better sense to him¡ªhe sighed out loud. "Unfortunately, even if I wanted to accept that, which I kind of do, I am already too deep in." At this point, Merrick felt a burning sensation at the back of his head, which he didn¡¯t let show on his face.


    "Unfortunately, I am just a pawn, destined to be used so the bigger pieces would have an opportunity to take more valuable pieces. Yes, I do know that pawns can sometimes win, but unfortunately, this isn¡¯t that situation. And by bringing me here, you have doomed yourselves." Merrick barely got out the last word before he collapsed in pain, screaming out loud.


    The next moment, the screaming stopped, and five pops were heard just behind his chair. A while back, the old commander, with Merrick''s permission, had implanted a teleportation beacon into his neck. It was an extremely hidden one, made by one of his party members. Now, their entire party, who had been together for almost the entirety of this age, was deep inside the dungeon.


    "Good evening, Ismael. I recommend your master start bringing in its most powerful. It''s been a while since we have been able to truly exert ourselves in a proper battle, but I assure you, even if it takes days, you will lay defeated at our feet."


    Ismael didn¡¯t seem too surprised to see them. He slowly rose from his chair and snapped his fingers once again. All of a sudden, the roof of the small room disappeared, and the walls fell down, revealing a luscious grassland and two other people waiting outside.


    Everyone immediately recognized one of them, it was Ace, the city lord. But everyone could also feel his power; he had already reached the peak of diamond rank. The other person was unknown, but they had also reached the peak of diamond rank.


    "I¡¯m afraid that this isn¡¯t a trap for us but for you. You see, the six of you¡ªyes, I¡¯m including you, Merrick ¡ªare basically half of the competent people out there. Ever since we figured out this ambush of yours, well, it has been hard not to trigger it," Ismael said as his body started to swell and he began to change into his true form.


    Rafe did the same, growing and changing¡ªnot into a dragon, but into something more monstrous, a creature made up of many other creatures.


    Merrick was especially scared now, as he knew he would just be a simple rock that was going to be crushed during this battle. The party of five looked toward Ace, expecting him to start changing as well.


    "Yeah, I don¡¯t have fancy changing powers," Ace answered their unasked question with a sheepish look. "I¡¯m still going to beat your asses, though."


    There was a momentary pause before skills were activated, and mana started to hum with violence.

 chapter 261

    ***


    The hum of magic continued to intensify. On one side, you had an ancient dragon, and while his combat power could not be compared to the very strongest dragons back in the day, none of them had lived as long as this diamond-ranked dragon had. Because of this, Ismael is the largest dragon to have ever lived, his head easily the size of a castle. The world around him seemed to darken as the moments continued to pass, as he readied for a proper fight.


    Rafe was a lot smaller, yet he had purposely cultivated mass for this fight, so his final size was still almost 150 meters from the tip of his tail to the tip of his horns. He was a monster through and through when you looked at him. If anyone could see inside, they would think that he mirrored his outside appearance. There was no wasted space inside or out; everything was purposely chosen so he could fight and defend himself in the most efficient ways possible.


    A lot of his physiology was from dragons, but even they had weaknesses. Rafe, however, had managed to get body parts from creatures that had specialized in the way they survived, eventually leading to even better muscle groups and defensive scales than even the dragons. He combined all of those things and added more natural weapons so he would be ready for this exact fight in the manner they wanted to fight it.


    The last on this side was Ace, a person who started out as nobody, as most do. He was able to get the last gift from his father, and on this land, he discovered the dungeon that changed his world forever.


    Everything changed about a year ago; even then, everything had already changed. He still remembered the day when Rafe and ETG proposed trying to circumvent the Pixies¡¯ change to the dungeon core¡¯s physiology so they couldn¡¯t make proper bonds with anyone who wasn¡¯t from their dungeon.


    Turns out the dungeon that had to grant the Pixies their wish was a rebellious kind. A way still existed; it was just harder to reach and achieve than it should have been. Yet, when they were properly bonded, Ace finally understood the dungeon completely. Thanks to that, his talent started to give him even more power¡ªso much power that on some days it was hard for him to function properly


    Fortunately, the bond gave many benefits, and with a little bit of work, he was able to help Rafe improve as well. Rafe didn¡¯t have the same problems, as his body was meant to accept power, and if it wasn¡¯t enough, he just needed to change it. ETG helped in his ways as well, and because of that, most likely Ace and Rafe will be the first-ever diamond ranks to reach the peak as fast as they did.


    A lot of problems came with such rapid power growth, but with an endless supply of monsters to fight against and practice, they were the best that they could be, although they still were only able to fight mostly platinum ranks. Still, Ace had what he needed for this fight, and his main goal would be to distract only one of the enemies.


    On the other side, there was a group of five people, all human. They had been together for thousands of years, and while they had split apart to do their own thing periodically, they always came back together as they simply enjoyed each other¡¯s company. Their name had been forgotten by history, but they still called themselves in private the name they first wrote down when they weren¡¯t even bronze ranked.


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    They were a group of five friends from a small village long ago disappeared. They were excited¡ªthey always liked fighting and getting stronger¡ªand all of them knew that they were damn good at it. So when it was time to sign up for the Adventurer Guild, which was still only a small thing and had different management and rules in every region¡ªnot the global-spanning super organization it is now¡ªthe name they came up with was silly and simple, as they were still so young back then.


    The Rowdy Bunch. That was the name their group started out with, but they changed it when they started to reach closer to gold rank. Their rise was fast, and many of the stronger people back then recommended they change it before too many people recognized them by that name.


    They took the advice and changed it, but they never truly liked the different names over the past millennia. At the heart of it, they were still the five eager friends looking toward the future while messing about constantly.


    They were rusty now, and they seemed glad that their opponents were willing to take things slowly at the start. Then there was the third, Merrick, who was constantly trying to back off without drawing attention. He didn¡¯t get far before he heard loud bangs of the sound barrier being broken.


    In front of him, he saw Ace and one of the five, both of them wielding spears. The explosion from their simple collision should have sent him flying, with blood leaking from his mouth and ears, but instead, he stood there unaffected. There was a momentary pause between the two as they looked at Merrick and then at each other.


    Even during their clash, it seemed that both of them spent enough time and mana to make sure that Merrick didn¡¯t get hurt, which surprised both of them. They were interrupted by the clashes and explosions of the fight between the other four party members and Ismael and Rafe.


    The fifth party member got ready to go back and be part of the party of five so they could take on this challenge together, yet she couldn¡¯t even take a singular step before Ace interjected himself between them.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you and I will be fighting on the sidelines,¡± Ace said in a relaxed tone, something that irked the fifth party member.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t last long, but so be it.¡±


    In a simple clash that lasted only seven seconds, it was clear that Ace was on the losing side¡ªand quite heavily. There were already multiple cuts on him, and he had spent much more mana than his opponent. Yet those cuts were healing at a visible rate, his mana was also returning faster than should be possible.


    The other fight was faring similarly. While the older four party members were clearly superior even while rusty, they could not end the fight immediately. Yet every wound their opponents started to heal, and the mana spent was slowly being recharged for Rafe. It didn¡¯t take long for the Rowdy Bunch to realize what was happening.


    Their ambush had been turned into a trap. Their opponents had the home-field advantage, as it seemed like the dungeon core was able to feed its own mana into its bonded. The only weakness the party saw was Ismael. He didn¡¯t seem to be able to recharge his mana so easily. Yet he was a gigantic dragon with enough mana and stamina to keep going for a long time.


    The dungeon knew, and so did his advisor, that the party of five was way too strong to be taken on directly. While they could spend all their diamond ranks now to take them down, it would be a horrendous loss. Even now, their strongest could only defend, so a plan to simply outlast the party of five was devised.


    Now Ace, Ismael, and Rafe had the job of fighting for days, possibly weeks, so they could eventually win by tiring out their opponents. The fifth member constantly tried to return to the other four, but Ace was constantly blocking her.


    While she was stronger than Ace, it wasn¡¯t to a degree that she could overwhelm him alone. One of the other four also couldn¡¯t come to help because only three of them were too weak to stand against Ismael and Rafe. Yet, with only four of them, they weren¡¯t strong enough to soundly defeat those two.


    It was a careful balance that was constantly challenged by new tricks being used, the rustiness being shaken off by everyone, and, of course, the occasional mistakes that led to more devastating wounds on both sides.


    As the minutes turned into hours, the landscape of the area transformed from a beautiful grassland into a scarred mess. All of this was witnessed by Merrick, who was still only alive because Ace and the fifth party member were being careful when they got near him.

 chapter 262

    ***


    Merrick was sitting on a distant hill while eating some foraged berries. Sometimes, when he closed his eyes, he could still see the shockwaves and area attacks that should have killed him but didn''t, thanks to the combatants actually trying to keep him alive. He had been watching this fight for almost two weeks now, and Merrick honestly couldn''t believe that they were still so destructive.


    From the dungeon side, Ismael was the most beat up. One of his wings was completely cut off, while the other one stopped functioning after the last combined attack of the four party members. Ismael was so tired, as he was the main focus of the four. While Rafe was doing an admirable job at protecting the largest dragon ever to be known, he was still trying to protect the largest dragon alive, which meant there was a lot that he needed to cover, and the four party members were extremely mobile.


    The six of them had been locked in furious combat almost from the very beginning, with skills being used liberally at the start, but now they were being used more conservatively. Over the course of this fight, a pattern had emerged. Rafe was incredibly defensive, but he was also smaller and could attack more rapidly, so the four never got a chance to combine their attacks for a more devastating outcome against him.


    They could, however, slow Rafe down for short periods of time. Most of the time, this gave them the opportunity to attack Ismael in force. Their window for a more devastating attack was always short, as they could never truly tie Rafe down.


    Over the course of the fight, when the party of five shook off the rust of not being in such a high-level battle for such a long time, they took the upper hand. But as time has gone on, the dungeon''s fighters have gotten better and better. Of course, Ace and Rafe have never dipped in their mana, so they could still throw out a nearly endless amount of skills. Although they were mentally incredibly tired, so was everyone else.


    The four party members were completely exhausted, most of them only functioning on instinct, but they were so well-honed in their fighting skills and their cooperation that they could still function on such a high level that they remained a credible threat. The fifth party member, who had been fighting against Ace, was faring the worst.


    Ace was relentless, and not only that, he was pouring all his anger¡ªof being treated like a dog, of his nation being forced to move from the surface, from his home¡ªhe was letting it all out in this fight.


    He should have lost 1000 times over, purposely taking cuts and wounds to deliver his own, as he simply didn¡¯t match the experience and skill of his opponent. Yet he knew he would never run out of mana, and if he never ran out of it, it meant that he could continue to heal himself without any problems while continuing to let out all his pent-up fury.


    The fifth party member was so incredibly tired. She had at first been on the offensive, but now her attacks landed less and less. Her focus was completely gone. She defended only at the last moment, not because she was trying to conserve what strength she had left, but because it was hard for her to follow the fight now. Only her instincts were keeping her in the fight.


    Every once in a while, she got off a lucky hit that gave her just a moment to breathe. She glanced at her party members, seeing that while they weren¡¯t winning, they also weren¡¯t losing¡ªat least not yet. That dragon, with its dead wing, was getting slower and slower. It took an hour before she finally got the opportunity she had been waiting for.


    The fifth party member had purposely waited and had not tried to join the other party members for so long, to purposely make Ace think that she had given up. She was almost in position to land the devastating attack on the dragon, but before she could, the fighting paused for a moment. Ismael did the unexpected and bit his own wing off so he could once again move more freely.


    The momentary distraction cost a lot, as Ace was able to land his best attack yet, leaving a proper wound on the abdomen of the fifth party member. It made her movement more sluggish, and while she continued to defend almost feverishly, she knew that if she fell, so would the other four. Yet no matter how much she tried, she simply couldn¡¯t keep up as her vision blurred even more.


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    It had been almost a day of this struggle after Ismael bit off his own wing, and the four party members fighting Ismael and Rafe were getting more and more desperate. Occasionally, one of them tried to join the fight between the fifth party member and Ace, but Rafe always stopped whoever tried to go, even while taking more wounds. His defensive capabilities were simply too much, so he could easily take more devastating attacks.


    It was a simple rock that disintegrated while the fifth party member was dodging. The resistance wasn¡¯t much, but it was enough that it made her stumble. Ace capitalized immediately, driving the head of his spear into the thigh of the fifth party member, and he didn¡¯t stop, burying the spear deep into the earth, activating multiple skills to anchor the spear and make it impossible to be pulled out for just a little while.


    It would be enough. Quickly, Ace produced another weapon, this time a large knife. The fifth party member was still trying to fight, but she was badly out of position. While she was more skilled, Ace was actually stronger of the two. The four party members basically gave up the fight and tried to reach their fifth party member, but Ismael and Rafe were ready, blocking their every attempt.


    ¡°We surrender!!!¡± was heard loud and clear just before Ace¡¯s knife was about to reach the fifth party member¡¯s throat. Ace, however, couldn¡¯t stop the attack he was delivering, so the four party members saw him driving the knife deep. Two of them dropped to their knees, already tears in their eyes; one of them stood listlessly, her weapons forgotten at her side; and the last one, their leader, barely held back his tears.


    Ace stood up and looked back at the four party members. When he stood up, everyone could see that he had managed to redirect the knife just enough to miss. When they saw their party member still breathing, all the fight went out of them.


    ETG had been anxiously observing the fight the entire time and quickly conveyed his desires to Ace. At the distance he could still manipulate his dungeon with the invaders being present, creating five different gateways that grew up from the ground.


    ¡°ETG will accept your surrender. You will be imprisoned here until, well, even he isn¡¯t sure. Drop all your equipment, and each one of you will enter one of the gateways. You and you will go to the ones that are red in colour; the rest to the blue. You will not be tortured. You will be treated as prisoners of war. Is that understood?¡± Ace spoke in a clear voice, brooking no argument, as he was speaking the words of the dungeon.


    Ace, Rafe, and Ismael were all ready to get back into action as they watched the five party members remove all their gear and then start to move towards their different gateways. They said only a few words to each other as there was no need for more, as they knew each other so well.


    They never expected this outcome. They were bitter about their loss, but all of them still had small smiles on their faces, as they were still alive and had finally gotten an incredible fight they had missed for so long.


    As soon as they stepped through the gateways, the gateways themselves disappeared from the world of the dragons. All five party members found themselves in quite small rooms. The gateway they came through quickly turned into rubble, leaving them absolutely no way out. They were surrounded by multiple metres of dungeon stone from all sides, with two of the rooms being incredibly hot even for diamond ranks, while the other three were incredibly cold.


    All of them immediately knew that they couldn¡¯t survive here for long. They thought that the dungeon had lied to them to get rid of them easily, but then they felt the draw of the room they were in.


    It was sapping their mana incredibly fast. All of them managed to stop the room from taking their mana, but during the few moments it took, they noticed how the room returned to a more reasonable temperature, but only for a moment.


    They began to understand that they were in a proper prison meant for diamond ranks. They let go of their mana control and watched as the room transformed from a barren rock with temperatures that would kill them into a more hospitable one.


    As time went by and their mana was basically empty, they found themselves in a pleasant room with a fake but pleasant environment. There seemed to be a constant flow of clean drinking water, and there was even food available that simply appeared.


    Their choice was easier: let their mana be completely drained but have no way to fight their imprisonment, or try to keep the mana they were generating but have no food or water, be in a barren rock room with no light, and with a temperature that could actually hurt and kill a diamond ranks.


    They were still connected on a level that even dungeon stone couldn''t completely separate, and just the knowledge that the other party members were safe was enough for them to accept their imprisonment, at least for now.


    Back in the world of the dragons, Ismael immediately collapsed when the gateways disappeared. ¡°That took way too long,¡± he barely managed to get out before he slipped into unconsciousness. A few other gateways popped up, and the rush of people entered the battlefield.


    They all stopped for just a tiny moment as the shock of what they saw registered in their minds, but they quickly rushed to the three fighters who were all on the ground, all of them passed out from complete exhaustion.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the healers of the Academy to patch most of their wounds, and while it would take a while, they were certain that they could restore the wings of Ismael. The one that he bit off himself was already reattached and was slowly gaining function, but the other one was basically destroyed completely, so they would need to grow a new one, something ancient dragon physiology didn¡¯t really like.


    For the past two weeks, there has been panic on the surface. The disappearance of five peak diamond ranks sent shockwaves throughout the world. It didn¡¯t take them long to figure out that they were inside the dungeon but when the party entered the prison; even that signal was cut off from the outside world, so now the outside world thought that the dungeon managed to kill the party of five¡ªsomething thought to be impossible.


    Their reaction was immediate. There was no longer time to wait for the dungeon to enter a breakthrough as they were now properly scared. In just an hour, their forces were ready, with dungeon melters being brought out as everyone readied for a proper assault of the dungeon. Almost everyone believed that they would succeed and finally end this threat to their existence. ETG''s only thought was, bring it on.

 chapter 263

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I didn¡¯t actually expect them to surrender. For some reason, I thought they would fight to the very end. I often forgot that creatures who can live for a long time and are fully sapient will not usually fight to the very end like more bestial creatures do. But even they, if they can, will choose to escape. Fortunately, the prison was ready.


    It was a hotly disputed topic. Most advocated for killing our enemies, which made sense because diamond ranks were truly scary, and platinum ranks were too weak and too few in number to be anything else but a drain on our resources. Fortunately, I had nearly an endless amount of resources, so killing someone just because they did something wrong that wasn¡¯t too bad felt wasteful in my opinion.


    Up above, there were certainly some people who were heinous enough that I wouldn¡¯t mind if something truly horrible happened to them. But the party of five weren¡¯t actually terrible people, they were just misguided. And eventually, their strength would be so meaningless against me that even if they tried to end me again, they could never amount to anything more than they did in their first attempt.


    The prison was an interesting project, and in all honesty, I just needed a place to put two of my strongest elementals. I had so many different elementals that it was starting to become ridiculous. In the many worlds that I have, there are certain areas dominated by different kinds of elemental forces, so to say. So while in the beginning, elementals were from the environment that dominated their area, like sand, there were now actually elementals of poison and all kinds of other aspects.


    In the air world, it was still kind of weird not to call them playrooms, but it was a good habit to call them worlds in my own mind as well, so I wouldn¡¯t accidentally call them that while communicating with others. Well, in that world, two incredibly powerful elementals had formed that were now the closest to diamond rank, and I was certain they would reach it quite soon.


    At first, I thought that they were simply elementals of ice and fire, but no, they were elementals of cold and hot. That meant their dominion covered so much more, and they certainly had a love-hate relationship with each other. If I had left them in the air world, they would have caused an actual world war as they were gaining allies to take full control over that world.


    So I offered them another option: to become wardens of my prison. I set up two sides of the prison¡ªone that would make the room incredibly cold inside if the occupants didn¡¯t give their mana and another that would make it incredibly hot. Mostly, no one was close to immune to both hot and cold, so I could stick them in a prison room more in line with their weakness.


    Most of the things inside a prison room were governed by dungeon rules, like making a waterway that appeared and disappeared, bringing in fresh water and taking out anything unwanted. The dungeon rules also gave them food and a nice environment that they would enjoy if they gave every bit of their mana generation away. The temperature, the real punishment, was handled by the wardens themselves.


    I could have made it a dungeon rule, but, well, dungeon rules, I have come to learn, can be manipulated by outside forces. On the surface, there was an annoying faction of people trying to figure out and change the dungeon rules covering the labyrinth. Even if they only had the power to change them in a limited area, it was still annoying. So wardens were needed that were not me and not tied to dungeon rules.


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    Ace, Rafe, and Ismael were currently being treated. They were incredibly damaged, but the two weeks of fighting had been worth it in the end. Still, they would be out of commission for quite a while as they barely had functioning mana pathways. They were so overused, especially by Ace and Rafe, that the current medical staff recommended they not use any skills for at least two months while their bodies worked on repairing the damage.


    That was a bit unfortunate but something that was to be expected. We also anticipated the fight to come with the forces outside. With our three strongest fighters out of commission, we would not be doing any head-on attacks, but that¡¯s why we were a fortress. Our defenses would do the delaying for us.


    But that didn¡¯t mean we couldn¡¯t be proactive. So I gave the order to the waiting teams to go into the labyrinth and start hunting down the platinum and diamond ranks that were lost, but not so lost that they couldn¡¯t make it back.


    There were some who had gotten so deep into the labyrinth and were so lost that I actually thought they would never get out unless I helped them¡ªand why would I help them?


    It had been a long while since I felt pain, so the feeling of it shocked me a little bit. They used their dungeon melters. They attacked in three spots at once, inside the labyrinth and in two different places on the outside wall.


    In the labyrinth, the team was confused. Their dungeon melter worked like it should have, cutting through the floors and walls¡ªthat was until it didn¡¯t work. Since I knew the labyrinth was a weak point, I made sure the entrance that connected to the outside world would be the most heavily defended. So they were surprised when a wall didn¡¯t melt. Instead, there was a shallow indentation where the melter¡¯s beam hit, leaving behind a little bit of dust and rubble.


    I watched as one of the diamond ranks walked up to the wall and touched it and the rubble left behind. "That¡¯s real rock, not dungeon-made. It has somehow combined real rock with dungeon stone?" he said, and his revelation sent shockwaves through the crowd behind the dungeon melter.


    They understood the implications. The same person stood up, gathered his strength, and hit the wall as strongly as possible. "A bit weaker, but not by much. This will take so much time to get through."


    Well, that was the point, I wanted to say to him, but there was no way to actually communicate. The two other attacks were going a lot better. I was actually glad that they attacked literally at the same time. Well, all three attacks happened at the same time, but their melters were still burrowing through my outer shell. It was incredibly thick, but it was just made out of dungeon stone and nothing else.


    When they reached the 20-metre mark, I saw the first crack happen. They still had about 7 metres to go, and I was, like the adventurer said, at the edge of my seat with anticipation. It was theorized about what was going to happen, but no one actually knew for certain. When they burrowed another metre, the water pressure actually started to push and cracked dungeon stone that was 6 metres thick. The amount of power was incredible.


    The first defensive layer was just dungeon stone; after that, there was a pressurized layer of water, and after that, another wall of dungeon stone. The water was under such high pressure that sometimes it started to form ice. Then it happened almost simultaneously from two locations¡ªthe dungeon stone broke apart at the weakest spot, and the pressure escaped in the most magnificent manner.


    The dungeon stone wall turned into a shrapnel cannon, destroying the two prepared assault points outside, absolutely vaporizing and obliterating anything in its path. The pressure released was so immense that it tore apart anything in front of it. The landscape was simply pushed back as easily as you push back sand with your breath.


    It also didn¡¯t stop. The rest of the dungeon stone was incredibly resilient, but the openings slowly increased in size. The pressure was so strong that I was actually being shifted in one direction. The fact that it was even able to push me a little bit in a direction was incredible. It crushed rock and compressed dirt on that side, so immense was the release of water pressure.


    It ended sooner than I expected, but the results were beyond my wildest expectations. In the end, it only shifted my location by 7 millimetres, but that was still incredible and something I would like to further understand and research.


    The devastation, however, was something I didn¡¯t expect, at least not to this scale. There were now two scars from the two exit points. For about 400 kilometres to either side, there was now a canyon filled entirely with water.


    I went through my memories to realize that 27 diamond ranks died, and so many more platinums. The landscape around here has now changed. Much of the Eternal city was in ruins from the shockwaves and debris flying at immense speeds. I would not be surprised if debris wasn¡¯t still falling thousands of kilometres away.


    Well, that¡¯s going to have some consequences.

 chapter 264

    Pov Vivian


    I watched as my grandfather continued to read the report I gave him. Each time he was done with a page, he tossed it behind him, and as that paper slowly fell to the ground, it disintegrated into dust.


    ¡°So they¡¯re planning another breach. Took them long enough to stop being cowards. Tell me, what do you know about their plans? And have you managed to keep our people away from it?¡±


    ¡°I believe they would have kept pushing it back if things were going faster in the labyrinth and if the water pressure wasn¡¯t increasing. They plan to do the same thing as before when they tested what¡¯s on the other side of the next wall. Multiple ice mages will block the entrance and freeze the water on the other side, then melt their way through so they¡¯ll have a path to set up another breach.¡±


    My grandfather nodded at that. ¡°I assume they¡¯re planning on offsetting the next breach?¡±


    ¡°Yes, they hope the pressure will blow back, hurting the dungeon as much as it would the outside world.¡±


    ¡°And will it?¡±


    I took a moment to think about that. ¡°To a certain degree, but I believe not as much as they hope. They¡¯ve been running the calculations for quite a while, but ever since the first breach two years ago, water mages have been calculating and planning how to deal with so much pressure.¡±


    ¡°Some of them are starting to believe that because of their work, the dungeon started to fill the first layer with water again, as pressure is quite hard to work against. And, well, as you know, there¡¯s a lot of water coming out of the two breach holes right now.¡±


    ¡°So who are they going to sacrifice?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re not sacrificing anyone. They¡¯ll do remote triggering of the melter.¡±


    My grandfather started to laugh at that. ¡°Well, that¡¯s stupid. You know I had to stop going to those meetings because it was literally making me stupider. But I guess they don¡¯t have any other options if they aren¡¯t willing to think outside the box. It¡¯s like no one ever listened to me when I talked about fortress dungeons and how to deal with them. Tell me, have they considered sealing off the entrances?¡±


    ¡°More and more are advocating for it, but even I have voiced against it because it must have other entrances as well. It wouldn''t be so stupid. I believe there are entrances on the outer shell, but its outer shell surface area is incredibly large, and finding a gateway that could be incredibly well hidden would be incredibly hard¡ªespecially because it has increased its territory quite beyond its first defensive layer.¡±


    ¡°Yes, my granddaughter it¡¯s doing some annoying things that is making gathering information harder. Whoever is advising it is incredibly intelligent. But you said that, that dragon Ismael didn¡¯t seem to be in charge of anything. I still find that hard to believe. A dragon so powerful being able to hide so long would be quite tricky.¡±


    ¡°I can never be 100% certain, but grandfather, I honestly believe that it¡¯s just an ally. I believe their deal was that the dungeon would take care of its species and make a place for them to live in exchange for the protection of that dragon.¡±


    ¡°If you say so, I will take it as a fact. So, I see you believe that in the labyrinth we will make it to the core eventually, but this time scale of 50 years¡ªdo you believe it¡¯ll really take that long?¡±


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    He once again threw the paper behind him, and I watched it disappear into dust before I spoke. ¡°The problem is with the melters. They¡¯re slow to get through the dungeon stone and real stone mix. They are working on solutions, but it will take time.¡±


    ¡°I also believe they¡¯re working on some sort of dungeon-damaging bomb only meant to hurt and crack the core from far away. The dungeon¡¯s agents often target those facilities, so I think it¡¯s actually afraid of that technology. More resources are being put into it.¡±


    ¡°It could be purposely diverting resources. It¡¯s a clever one¡ªso many forget that so often.¡±


    My grandfather finally reached the final page, and when it disintegrated into dust, he properly looked at me for the first time during this meeting. He looked at me for quite a while before he asked me another question. ¡°Tell me, my granddaughter, with everything you know about this dungeon and the way we are doing things, how long do you think it will take for us to, so to say, win?¡±


    ¡°Like I said before, I think we will reach the core in about 50 years?¡±


    Immediately, my grandfather started to slowly shake his head.


    ¡°You¡¯re smarter than that. Think. Will it let us easily continue to work in the labyrinth? No, it¡¯s constantly, even with our best efforts, shifting the labyrinth, stranding many of our people in who knows what part of it.¡±


    ¡°If anyone thinks that remote control activation will actually work, well, they¡¯re mad. And then there are the raids on all our facilities to stop the making of dungeon-fighting weapons. And, of course, will it ever stop advancing while all of us are working here? No, it will just get stronger. So, I ask you again¡ªhow long do you think it will take us to win?¡±


    This time I didn¡¯t answer immediately. I could see in his eyes that he wanted a proper answer, an answer I had actually thought through.


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know, because we still don¡¯t know its mana generation capabilities. Everyone says that they know, but no one actually knows. Just the amount of water it can produce to fill up that first layer of defenses so fast¡ªit just doesn¡¯t add up. It also hasn¡¯t advanced since its breakthrough to platinum. Everyone thinks that it¡¯s because it¡¯s spending so much mana. It makes sense in that way, but it still feels off to me.¡±


    I went silent after that, trying to think things through. It was doing so many things that should be impossible. One of the things was that the water coming out of the breach holes seemed to be real water, and the fact that real stone was mixed in with dungeon stone¡ªthat should not be possible, yet it is.


    ¡°One thing that¡¯s always been off about this dungeon is the mana. It¡¯s making way too much of it, but somehow its breakthroughs are not triggering before its floors are done. It¡¯s just so off¡ªeverything is so off.¡± My last words there got a little bit heated, so I sat back against the backrest.


    ¡°It has taken me a while to go through our records¡ªyes, I even brought those with me. But I could only bring out a few from the storage crystals I have. Do you know why I always want this meeting here, and why I want you to not write your reports anywhere but here?¡±


    ¡°Grandfather I know, no one believes me once again, and the only person who thought the same disappeared two years ago. The dungeon can see outside itself¡ªanother thing that should be impossible.¡±


    ¡°Actually, not. The old texts from the ages long past are broken down and incredibly hard to read anything on them, but I¡¯ve researched dungeon fortresses for a really long time and can infer context.¡±


    ¡°Back in the day, it seems dungeons often picked skills that allowed them to see the outside world. Many things we know about dungeons are just rules we¡¯ve made up for them. Most of the reasons for those rules have been lost to time, but I believe I¡¯ve found something important.¡±


    He then started to explain the rule about no bugs allowed in the dungeon. I was really confused until he reached the end of his explanation. ¡°You see, insects have a habit of reproducing incredibly fast. As you know, if dungeon monsters have children, they can leave the dungeon. But it appears they can even generate mana like any other adventurer when they¡¯re inside the dungeon.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure there are limitations, but skills can often get rid of pesky limitations, now can¡¯t they? So, what do you think? Could that explain things? What if it had millions of that kind of creature? I believe that¡¯s how they¡¯re referred to in the old texts.¡±


    My mind immediately started to click the puzzle pieces together. The reports of bugs, small critters, the number of monsters that were in the dungeon not mixed together but with different types and different evolutions of the base form. The number was so huge. My hands started to shake, and I felt a panic attack coming. ¡°There¡¯s no way we can win!¡±


    Then I felt his large hands on mine. ¡°Relax, my child. Do you really believe it? You said it yourself¡ªthat dungeon isn¡¯t advancing. Is there any chance that we might win?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no way it¡¯s not. It must have found a way to hide them, it¡¯s the only explanation. I refuse to believe anything else. That¡¯s where it got all its agents that caused so much chaos. They weren¡¯t adventurers. That¡¯s why we couldn¡¯t find any trace of them¡ªthey just sort of appeared out of nowhere. They were all from the dungeons. And to have so many geniuses, so good at such specific things, the numbers of them... Grandfather, what should we do?¡±


    I looked into his eyes, which seemed so kind.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. Leave that to me. I will send you away from here for a while. You have some things back at our previous home. Gather all of them and every last member of our clan. We have tough choices ahead, but we have to make them together.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Grandfather, I understand. I will get my mind in order before I return. Even if we told anyone about our discovery, I don¡¯t believe they would actually take us seriously. In fact, I think they would lash out in fear.¡±


    He just nodded at that and sat back down. For the first time in my life, I saw so much weight on his shoulders that they were actually being pushed down a bit.

 chapter 265

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I had expected a more extreme response to the disaster that was their first attempt at forcefully getting to my core. Instead, it¡¯s been over two years of proclamations about how evil I am. While, yes, they have brought in a lot more people here to work around the clock in destroying me, and they have doubled¡ªperhaps even quadrupled¡ªtheir efforts in the labyrinth, all in all, I¡¯m quite disappointed in their efforts.


    The world was made aware of that incident, and this time the sentiment was actually against me because quite a lot of the landscape was destroyed, and the debris from the incident that fell far away actually did kill people, which was truly unfortunate. Nevertheless, the outside world meant less and less with every day that went by. There are, however, some more worrying developments.


    We have lost a few people when we tried to take out the separated groups in the labyrinth. You don¡¯t get to platinum or diamond rank without having trump cards and a strong will. When you think the only other option is death, you use everything you have. The raids on the surface have been a lot more successful, as there everyone has the opportunity to escape when they feel like they¡¯ve been pushed against the wall.


    My main targets are currently the research and development centers for weapons meant to fight against me. One of the most worrying new types of weapons is a modified design of the melter that¡¯s just meant to hurt and destroy my domain.


    Fortunately, for right now, those weapons do nothing to me, but that¡¯s because My World skill is at such a high rank. It¡¯s unfortunate that during the last breakthrough, I couldn¡¯t bring it to rank A just yet, as it needed so much mana.


    Working on the 53rd floor was more pleasant than the last one, as I had the water crystals to fill up the world with water, so I didn¡¯t have directly do anything. I have yet to get any diamond ranks from the previous farm floor, but that was to be expected, as it will take quite a while to get it properly running.


    I¡¯ve also been using a lot of water crystals to refill the first layer of defense I have. This has made trying to attack the next layer a lot harder, as currently water is rushing out of the holes at quite high pressure.


    There is a danger that if things go on for too long like this, I would actually start to raise the sea level of the entire world, but it would take centuries at this rate, and by that time, I would have either won or lost.


    During all of this, I¡¯ve also opened up a new project. I haven¡¯t yet put many resources into it, but the idea is simple enough. It¡¯s to tackle two problems at once. One is to get a skill that would allow me to copy adventurers'' talents. The fact that I have to watch and see some truly wonderful talents disappear when their adventurers finally die is one of the saddest things. So if I can at least copy them, their memory would never truly die.


    The second part is so that I could use talents myself. Perhaps at the start, only one, but I hope if I increase the rank, I could have multiple ones working at the same time. There are some truly wonderful talents¡ªsome that I already have, and some that I would like to get from a few adventurers.


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    Now, I don¡¯t want talents that would help my combat power. I don¡¯t even actually know if I could do any proper combat. Magic maybe, but I definitely can¡¯t wield weapons. But there are some mental talents that would truly boost my capabilities.


    Just a month ago, I also revealed the satellite project to all of the Acadamy as I did with every project that was entering its last phases. Its location is going to be quite far away; in fact, it¡¯s will be at the edge of the world¡¯s will¡¯s influence.


    It was quite difficult to get so far away, but my Dungeon Gateway skill is quite special. It¡¯s hard to judge exact distances, but the satellite colony should be about 350,000 kilometers above this world¡¯s polar north.


    They have had a lot of problems making an environment that will be suitable for life up there, but they¡¯re slowly getting the hang of it. Help from the rest of the Academy should help speed this up.


    The main purpose of building it so far away was to get away from this world¡¯s influence in every sense of the word, so they could more freely and without interference start to learn more about this place we inhabit.


    Already, they have built multitudes of devices that allowed them to view faraway objects like stars, but this worlds atmosphere was in the way and doing anything on the surface has become really dangerous.


    They aren''t entirely certain yet, but it''s only a matter of time before they confirm it when they get out there. They believe the stars are similar to our sun and that there are similar worlds around those stars, like ours has. The implications, if it turned out to be true, were reality-changing.


    Already, many were questioning whether other worlds with life existed and what kind of life that would be. The first thought I had was more patterns, which was exciting. But one thing that isn¡¯t in question is the distances between stars, and those are truly vast. Even I have a bit of trouble understanding how large space actually is. Yet, I think if I ranked up my dungeon gateway skill, perhaps I could reach some of those distant worlds¡ªbut that''s for the future.


    We also have a lot more people in the Academy, as even that was revealed to the rest of the dungeon inhabitants. Many adventurers applied, and while a lot were rejected, some brilliant minds were accepted. In fact, the entire ecosystem of the dungeon was changing at a rapid pace, and I just wished I had more time to observe everything.


    One of the first great deals to be struck was between one of the more successful merchant guilds and the queendom of the bees. In exchange for more sturdy materials for building hives, the bees supplied the merchant guild with many different sorts of honey. Some even helped recover injuries, like health potions did. The most expensive type of honey was the one that helped extend one''s life.


    This trade deal overall helped ease the tense environment after the revelations of the true nature of my dungeon. Now, there were many trade deals. Adventurers were back to clearing rooms and collecting loot that would, in turn, be sold and transported to the different worlds of my dungeon. I was truly happy to see it all.


    I had never seen such interactions before, and I always enjoyed seeing something new. Of course, the mistrust was there, especially when large ants, some the size of large dogs, walked the streets of hub stations as delegates to forge different trade deals. The technology of the ants was actually better than the outside world¡¯s, so the novelty and usefulness of it meant that it was one of the most lucrative trade opportunities currently available.


    It was also wonderful to see how everyone reacted when they truly started to understand how big I actually was. The biggest shock to the adventurers was the world where their own species lived.


    The fact that there were so many, and that they were technically completely real and not monsters, was still hard for most adventurous to understand. But travel there was less restricted, so there was much more interaction, which slowly helped ease tensions.


    Of course, a lot of adventurers started to make their homes in the eternal world that Ace inherited. They had a rough beginning, but now there were fields of grain surrounding the city and many new villages being built. There were also groups of people who decided to go further away, starting outposts and villages of their own. It will be wonderful to watch as they slowly settle the entire world.


    In fact, so many interesting and wonderful things were happening inside my dungeon that I was now really pissed off that I needed to focus on defense. I would have easily liked to take a few years off to properly observe all the interactions going on.


    Perhaps I should also start annoying people on the surface. I wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything too serious to them, but keeping them annoyed and raising their stress levels should help me in the long run.

 chapter 266

    Pov Dungeon Core


    The constant activation of dungeon melters was annoying. The only reason they weren¡¯t actually hurting me was because of my size. Now, I don¡¯t know exactly why I was so big; I guess I¡¯ve always been bigger than I meant to be.


    From my understanding, most other dungeon cores are made of more special gems. Mine isn''t anything special¡ªin fact, it''s one of the cheapest gem-like materials out there. It actually makes me feel more special to just be a common variety. Perhaps because of this, it has given me unique opportunities and allowed my core to get so big.


    On this day, if all goes right, I will not have to feel another dungeon melter going off. I watched as the annoying pests outside froze one of the breaches they had punched into my outer layer. In preparation for this operation, they attacked me a few more times. I now had seven breaches, all of them constantly gushing water. However, they managed to achieve their goal of lowering the pressure of water coming through all of the breaches.


    I watched as they froze the original breach, then manipulated ice to allow them entry. It was fascinating and impressive to watch them do so, allowing them to walk inside the inner layer of the first defensive layer.


    They moved sideways, then finally started to set up one of the most impressive dungeon melters. It was incredibly large and not only designed to do its main purpose of melting my dungeon but also to make that process as devastating to my territory as possible.


    They have come to the conclusion that their melters aren¡¯t hurting me like they expected. We are constantly raiding their research and development facilities, but they¡¯re under heavy protection. It shouldn¡¯t be too long now until I start to have some more diamond ranks so I can truly turn up the pressure on them.


    They installed the remote triggering device and left quickly, hurrying out. With them gone, it was easy enough to change a part of the dungeon stone into a gateway. After the activation, and a moment later, Rafe walked through. He immediately rushed to the dungeon melter, disabled the remote activator, and started to mess with it. He had a crude smile on his face as he installed inside the device an artificed bomb.


    They would start to panic as soon as the remote trigger didn¡¯t work, and when they came back to mess with it, well, they wouldn¡¯t have a good time. Before Rafe walked back into the gateway, another person came through. A mage that made sure that no one was going to notice that there had been a gateway there. With the plan completed, all we needed to do was wait.


    It took them longer to return than I thought, constantly messing with the activation device and trying to figure out what went wrong. Eventually, a group did come. There were even two diamond ranks with them.


    When they tried to open up the remote-triggering device, the bomb went off. It managed to kill everyone except for one diamond rank, and of course, all their work to freeze the entrance was undone as the explosion shattered the ice, allowing the water to once again flow out.


    Of course, the idiots outside immediately started to blame each other, and then there were the meetings. I wanted to tune all of that out, but I couldn¡¯t. I needed to continue to observe everything. It took them about two years to finally figure out what was going on with their remote triggers as every time they tried, they failed. This time they had to sacrifice a few diamond ranks to finally punch a hole into the second layer.


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    The second layer wasn¡¯t as massive as the first, so while the water jet still destroyed diamond ranks, it didn¡¯t do as much damage as they expected. After that, they ran into the same problem as the attack teams in the labyrinth. The dungeon melters barely did anything to the next defensive layer as the wall there was a mix of real stone and dungeon stone. They also didn¡¯t have an easy environment like the labyrinth to work in.


    They were also making steady headway in the labyrinth, so eventually, they stopped their attacks on my outer layers and focused almost everything on the labyrinth. It was the correct call on their part because they were making steady progress and would eventually reach my core floor.


    It was a good thing that I was being so careful with the dungeon gateways inside the labyrinth, because if they used a dungeon melter in certain areas, they could actually punch through into dungeon rooms, and I really didn¡¯t need to deal with that mess.


    The siege had now been going on for years and years. I had just finished advancing and finally got my ¡®My World¡¯ skill to S rank. It took me so many breakthroughs to actually get this skill so high. As always, after a breakthrough, I reconnected my dungeon and started expanding the 56th floor. Originally, this should have been the end of my 5-farm-floor plan, but plans change. So this one was also going to be a farm floor.


    The reasons were simple. I needed more diamond ranks, and with some of the farms already working but not yet at full capacity, the number of diamond ranks I had was low. In fact, currently, my other creatures and a few adventurers numbered higher than the diamond ranks I had gotten from my farm floors. But I didn¡¯t expect the adventurers and other creatures to be able to keep up with the speed of my farm floors in producing diamond ranks as time went on.


    Even with so many new diamond ranks, we were still heavily behind in the power department. We still only had one peak rank, while the forces outside had dozens. It also seems like they have been boosting their platinum ranks to diamond rank quite fast, although their methods were still so much slower than mine.


    What was incredible was the amount of mana I was generating. With more and more diamond ranks living inside my dungeon, my generation was really picking up. While it was annoying in some ways, I certainly had a lot of projects that needed a lot of mana. The reason I decided to go with a sixth farm floor was simple: I needed more creatures who were great at flying.


    Land was covered, water was abundantly covered, but now it was time to make an air-centric farm floor. I was now quite experienced in making the kind of patterns I wanted for my farm floors. I was also fixing the problems on the other farm floors of creatures gaining sapience too soon.


    Yet I could already predict that no matter how much I tried, there would still be a few that would break the mold. Fortunately, I had dungeon rules to notify me, so I could always pull those creatures out, ensuring they wouldn¡¯t have to remember and suffer the horrors of these floors.


    It was also finally time to execute the satellite project. I concentrated on my dungeon gateway skill and then started to tunnel through space. It was hard to do this without a specific location and without a specific target, but I didn¡¯t need to be pinpoint accurate. In fact, accuracy didn¡¯t matter at all.


    The small, minuscule tunnel that the dungeon gateways outside my territory use snaked underneath the ground until it reached the North Pole. Then it shot up directly away from the world, climbing higher and higher.


    It didn¡¯t take long until I reached out of the atmosphere, but I kept pushing. I do not know exactly how long I pushed, but I held on until the even the worlds will began to diminish. I think I was about 300,000 or 400,000 kilometers outside the atmosphere when I finally felt that I couldn¡¯t push any further. I then started to solidify the pathway and grow my dungeon gateway so far away from this world.


    The gateway wasn¡¯t going to be a big one, but when it was finished, it triggered the solidification of my connection to it. This made the worlds will truly turn its attention to me. This time, it took quite a bit longer to decide what to do, but eventually, it gave permission so the connection fully solidified, and the gateway could be opened at this remote location.


    A bunch of my creatures were ready to step through, but before, they started to form air shields around every member. I could see a bit of what went on, on the other side of the gateway. It was so interesting to see my creatures floating in emptiness.


    After they confirmed that everything was as they expected, they went to work building an outpost there, so they didn¡¯t have to burn so much mana keeping themselves alive in the vacuum. I will be quite interested in continuing to observe this outpost and, of course, receiving the information they get when they start to gather the knowledge they were seeking out there.

 chapter 267

    Pov Carl


    My momentum was stopped by a tree. I could feel it crack, but it seemed like I didn¡¯t have to worry about it falling on top of me. My shield arm hurt; that impact probably cracked my bone. The shield was also bent inwards a little bit. Yet through all of this, I never took my eyes off the monster I was fighting. I did not know what it was, but that seemed to be the case with every monster as I was now fighting with monsters that were just one step away from diamond rank, as I was.


    It kind of resembled a gorilla but also some sort of rodent. It had scales, and its front legs¡ªor arms, whatever they were¡ªwere so thick, but they could move so fast. I had lost another weapon of mine, so I pulled out another spear from my storage ring. The monster immediately started charging toward me again, but this time I threw the spear, surprising it.


    It tried to dodge, and in doing so, disrupted its own charge. That attack itself was ineffective. The scales of the thing were simply too hard. I rushed the thing this time, pulling out a large warhammer. Let¡¯s see if this thing can take blunt damage. It was already on me before I could reach it and deliver an attack. I dodged as fast as I could, but it always got so close to hitting me.


    I stopped wearing heavy armor long ago as it was simply too restrictive for these types of fights. Now I could understand why most diamond ranks never wore anything past medium armor. Speed and flexibility were simply more important. It took me precious seconds and dodging several attacks before I finally got a chance to deliver a proper attack.


    The monster screamed out in pain as I hit its back leg. Some of the scales crumbled to dust, but the bastard was still able to put weight on the leg. It had incredible intelligence and immediately started to focus on my weapon again, trying to destroy it or get it away from me.


    Its intelligence still wasn¡¯t perfect, as I saw its focus on my weapon as a mistake. I now knew that these monsters were cheap imitations of real creatures that lived in this dungeon, and anyone this strong, I was certain, was as intelligent as me. I was certain I couldn¡¯t survive against the creature this monster was trying to mimic.


    It took me nearly a minute to get another opening by baiting it to attack my weapons. This time, my attack crippled one of its back legs. I sighed in frustration, as this only slowed it down but didn¡¯t stop it.


    It now had to rely more on its front legs to keep balance, but I had hoped this fight would be over. It took another three minutes for me to cripple one of its front legs, and only a few heartbeats after that to finish it.


    It has been a hard road so far, and all of my party members had already reached diamond rank. I was the last one. One of the reasons I was the last was because I was the leader of our clan and actually had to do some leading, which included a lot of diplomacy because of the situation inside the dungeon. As the dungeon opened up to us, there were a lot of opportunities to strengthen my clan¡¯s position that we needed to consider; otherwise, we might fall behind.


    The strength of the monster empowered me as it died. No loot would be left behind, as these rooms were meant for us to gain combat experience and, of course, the strengthening of our power.


    My talent was a simple one, yet it was already causing me to fall behind as I needed more and more to reach my next breakthrough. I wondered if I needed to fight another one, but then I felt the crunch. Power flooded through me as I felt the breakthrough happening that would take me from a platinum rank to a diamond.


    Unfortunately, I needed to leave this place, so I quickly hurried out. There were two groups of people waiting for me: one that would take this room after me, and my clan members. I gave them a short nod, and smiles broke on their faces. Immediately we made for one of the gateways in the middle of The Line and we were soon looking at my clan hideout. I rushed to my own home and entered the breakthrough room.


    It wasn''t anything special, just an empty room where you would not be disturbed and could let the breakthrough happen without any worry. I do not know exactly how long I was out, but even before I opened my eyes, I could feel that I was now diamond rank.


    I went and looked inside myself to see my inner space expanded, now having a shine to it. There were many skills here, and I saw another two empty skill slots. They were huge¡ªbigger than any I had seen before.


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    I looked toward one corner where my talent lay, hoping to see another one. When I reached gold rank, I received a talent simply called More. When I reached platinum, it simply got stronger, and as I looked at it now, it seemed like it once again just got stronger. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little disappointed, as some of my party members got quite interesting new talents, but I couldn¡¯t argue against the power of mine.


    When I first got it, it felt like I yelled out More, and an entire village went silent, listening to its power. When I reached platinum, yelling More felt like it would silence an entire forest. Yet now, when I touched and felt this talent, a scream tore out of me, ¡°More!¡±


    It was said with such power and conviction that, in my mind, I saw a mountain being destroyed by it, nothing interrupting its path. My contemplation was interrupted when I heard cracking sounds outside my mind.


    Even before I opened my eyes, I could feel what was happening. A wave of power, in a perfect circle, was radiating from me. It had reached the walls and was now pushing them outward, destroying them. I could now see it happening in slow motion.


    I was confused as to how this was possible, but I could do nothing more than simply watch as the room I was in was destroyed. The ceiling and the walls were pushed outward. At nearly their center, the beams split, and the boards cracked under the pressure of this wave.


    I could feel and see it all happening in every minute detail. I started to truly understand what my talent meant. At first, ¡®more¡¯ simply meant more mana capacity, it was stronger, and so was my body.


    At platinum rank, my talent started to affect more things, like my skill slots¡ªthey became bigger than they should have been; they were simply more. Now, I didn¡¯t exactly know what had changed, but I felt the ¡®more¡¯ encompass so much. I felt so powerful.


    The wave didn¡¯t extend much further than the room, but I think the reason it didn¡¯t was because I became aware of it and wanted it to stop spreading outward. Slowly, I started to get used to time being so slow, but I needed another 10 minutes to properly communicate with the people constantly trying to talk to me and asking if everything was alright.


    ¡°Yes, I am fine, just taking a bit to get used to all the new things I¡¯m sensing and experiencing. Could you please give me some time?¡±


    It was weird to speak like this. I was speaking so slowly, yet I could see that some of them were still having trouble understanding me, as I was still going too fast. If I understood this correctly, every diamond rank experienced this to some extent, but I think mine was more exaggerated.


    None of my party members could be here¡ªthey were all at the meeting of diamond ranks. Slowly, I was getting a handle on everything. Moving was truly annoying, but what was even weirder was that I could now feel and sense the dungeon around me, and not just the physical dungeon¡ªI could sense it looking at me.


    I guess I could always do this, but now I could see its attention was constantly varying, like a part of it was doing something else, and when it had time, it focused a bit more on me. What a different way of living it must be.


    In the end, it took me nearly an hour to get myself to a point where I felt I would no longer be dangerous to others. It will still take me a while to properly get used to my diamond rank power and for that power to spread throughout me. But now, I could go to that meeting. The gateway wasn¡¯t far away, but it was so simple to just walk a bit faster and cover as much ground as I did when rushing at platinum rank.


    As I touched the gateway, a new option was available to me, and I quickly selected a gateway named Diamond Meeting. As I stepped through, I could already see the dungeon''s puppet looking in my direction. The flash of the gateway must have alerted others, as most turned to see who had come through. My party members smiled at me.


    "Took you long enough. We are currently discussing ways to delay the enemies¡¯ advance in the labyrinth." Ziiipe said in a happy voice.


    The other adventurers here made way for me so I could get close to the planning table. They were still a bit too proud of the fact that they had made it to diamond rank before me. As I observed all that was on the table, I was surprised at how fast I could comprehend everything. So even my mental capabilities have been enhanced.


    The current plan seemed to be quite good. We were planning to add as many gateways as possible into the labyrinth where the enemy operated. They could stop the functioning of some of the gateways, when they influenced the space there and took control away from ETG, but it took a lot out of them. If there were a lot more gateways, even if only for a split second their concentration lapsed, ETG could activate some gateways, cutting some people off. After that, we could take care of them.


    "You know, when I was still quite young, a circus group came through our town. They had an interesting curiosity. I never entered it, but it was the talk of the town for quite a while. It was a room of mirrors. Does anyone else know of it?" I asked, and a few adventurers nodded their heads. I explained more about how it functioned, especially how they somehow made one person appear in all of the mirrors to scare the people inside.


    "Our enemies already know how to locate the gateways, and when you add them everywhere, it will be even easier. Would it be possible to make them behave like mirrors? We can also make terrible monsters appear like they are attacking. We might even scare them into moving through other gateways¡±


    ¡°So, turn it into a puzzle room, the scary kind." One adventure asked and I nodded.


    I could see some of the adventurers shiver. Puzzle rooms could be annoying but also fun, but the scary ones were disturbing. It was simple to understand why they were needed, as training your will was as important as training your body.


    After a bit more discussion ETG wasn¡¯t certain if that was possible, but he promised to look into it. The meeting continued for quite a while as I was brought up to speed along with a few other new diamond ranks.


    There were quite a few non-adventurers here. Some looked quite monstrous, but their eyes were so intelligent that there was no doubt in my mind they were as smart as any adventurer. When the meeting finally ended, my party members showed me the city outside, filled with monsters, mostly platinum ranks, but other Diamond ranks as well.


    ETG told us that it will take a bit of time, but he will be making a world just for us Diamond ranks¡ªsomething about not wanting the power structure of this world to be challenged? Ziiipe explained in her exuberant way. She was like a tour guide as we continued to walk the city. It brought a smile to my face, even if we needed to go into battle against other Diamond ranks in short order.

 chapter 268

    Pov Anna


    Every so often, I simply couldn¡¯t resist looking toward my husband. Fortunately, I no longer had to pay attention to how my hands worked while preparing food, as I had done this so many times before. Carl was currently playing with our grandkids¡ªwell, technically great-grandkids, but we long ago decided there was no need to make those kinds of distinctions.


    He was once again a rank higher than me, but our clan has a fix for that problem. While he will always outlive me, I¡¯ve come to accept that. I will also eventually reach diamond as well¡ªor at least, that¡¯s what the council is certain of.


    They believe they can provide the tools to achieve it thanks to Ziiipe and her ability to make skills perfectly suited for every individual, and, of course, our combat specialists will help us non-combatants reach our breakthroughs.


    Not everyone could be here, but even during our quarterly birthdays, not everyone could come, as there were simply so many of us. I didn¡¯t like the idea of not having more children, but even my children were begging me to take a long break. And I do understand their arguments¡ª44 children is a lot. And, of course, the number of grandchildren I have... well, I just enjoy thinking about it every time it comes up.


    Still, I would argue that if you have the resources, time, and strength, you should never stop having children. I¡¯m kind of alone in that thinking, but I feel some of my children think the same, though not to the same extent as me.


    We actually have so many birthdays that we needed a system, so everyone came up with the quarterly birthday system. Every three months, we had a weekend where we celebrated all the birthdays that happened a month prior, a month after, and during that one month. Of course, their own families had their birthdays on the right days, but our entire family couldn¡¯t come to every single one¡ªit was just not feasible.


    There were two exceptions to this rule. Even then, some couldn¡¯t make it, but well, there was a war going on, and it was expected. One was when someone reached gold rank. It was a huge celebration and usually happened around the age of 16 to 18.


    The second exception was at the age of six. This birthday was important because we would be giving the child version of the quest necklace when our young turned six. Technically, you could do it when they turned 5th, that was the youngest, but we felt that another year of being just a child was important.


    I looked towards my husband again. He was still playing with the grandkids, even though I saw a few adults waiting so they could speak to him about some, I suspect, important topics. His job hasn¡¯t allowed him as much time with his children and grandchildren as he wants, but he always makes time for them, which I appreciate. I was distracted once again when I saw Tristan coming towards me.


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    It brought a small smile to my face when I saw that he actually seemed happy. When the siege began, well, his world crumbled. There were so many other scholars like him in this dungeon. Everyone knew that the secrets hidden here weren¡¯t real, but they were excellent practice for archaeologists and many other disciplines. Yet when the announcement of the siege was given out, almost everyone left.


    Tristan was one of the few who remained, and with their organizations and contacts disappearing almost overnight, Tristan had felt lost for a long time. He had been quite sad ever since, so it was nice to see him happy again. I wondered if he had finally found a girl.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you, Tristan. I didn¡¯t expect you to make it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I needed to get out of those empty halls. But I have some exciting news too. We finally found what we could do with all those empty buildings we still have. By the way, I still wanted to thank you for lending me the capital so we could keep all the buildings and land the archaeologist organization used to own.¡±


    I practically had to force him to take the coin. But every hub station and way station had taxes nowadays, and I didn¡¯t want to see all his work destroyed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t keep me in suspense¡ªwhat did you guys figure out?¡± I asked, hoping that they would actually have a viable solution. If they didn¡¯t, Tristan knew that I would not keep it to myself and would tell him how it was.


    He seemed a bit nervous, but finally, he answered. ¡°We plan to turn all of them and our entire organization into a schooling system for the young.¡± He looked at me, quite proud of his idea but also nervous about my opinion on it. Honestly, I didn¡¯t know what to think.


    ¡°Well, that sounds exciting, but what do you mean exactly when you say a schooling system for the young?¡±


    ¡°Well, most teach their own children, and while that''s good, every parent has knowledge holes that would be passed on to their children. For clans like ours, it wouldn¡¯t be such a problem, as we kind of have our own schooling system, but the rest of the dungeon certainly doesn¡¯t. We also don''t want it to be like in the outer world. We have the quest necklaces as well, and we are hoping we can incorporate those into the schooling system too.¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s important for children to get a more traditional education but also to learn how this dungeon works and how to improve themselves. We currently have an excellent opportunity, as no one is trying to stop the general improvement of the populace¡ªin fact, quite the opposite. Think of how much we can help our children and the future generations. When we have such an encompassing schooling system that constantly learns how to do things the best way.¡±


    Well, his speech just worked on me. ¡°Whenever you''re trying to convince someone, use that speech¡ªit¡¯s really effective.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know exactly how our clan would benefit from it, at least at the start, but I could see a future where even our clan members would leave to visit such hallowed establishments.


    ¡°I am certain that I can convince at least our clan to support this effort. And if you would take orphans into this schooling system of yours, I am quite certain that Carl will get you more funding than you would know what to do with. He will rope in the other clans and possibly even other organizations like the big three.¡±


    He looked quite contemplative at Carl. "That was actually my intention, trying to do it so every single child could attend. We would need a lot of funding, but it should be possible. Yet, I also think that I¡¯m a bit selfish for wanting this.¡±


    ¡°I know that it would help so many, but in the end, it would still help me rebuild a proper academic community, which would also allow me to once again go and find ruins and have people actually be interested in not just the treasure found but the history as well."


    "Everyone''s allowed to be selfish. The key to it is that your selfishness helps others as well, and in that department, I think you are doing just fine with that idea of yours. Speaking of children, I still don¡¯t see any of yours running around. Why is that?" I said it with a teasing smirk, and I loved the eye roll I got back from him.


    It was nice that he didn''t leave immediately to talk to Carl but instead asked about my life and what¡¯s going on. I bet I sounded like a broken record to him, always talking about my children, but I never saw annoyance or any other emotion except happiness from him whenever I spoke about my children. It was a nice day, and I was so glad that we could have so many of these.

 chapter 269

    Pov Vix


    I felt sharp claws digging into my skin. It was so painful. I tried to pull my tail back. It wasn¡¯t working, so I started to move it up and down and sideways as fast as I could. Then I felt the ripping¡ªit was so painful.


    My eyes opened, my heart was beating fast, and it took me a moment to remember where I actually was. It was a serene lake, or for me, a pond, as I was simply too big. I saw at the edge a familiar face, which calmed me quite a bit as I started to lumber my big body towards her.


    She was the one who greeted me first when I was pulled out of that world where I was born and had to survive. Father got quite worried, and so did she, when they first learned that when I now slept, I could remember scenes from that world as I tried to survive in it. It was unfortunate, but Father couldn''t do anything about it. My diamond rank talent seems to be reminding me of things I should not be able to remember.


    I understand the need for not remembering, and most likely there would not be another one like me coming out from that place. Most of my siblings from that world looked nothing like regular creatures from the outside world, but I managed to stay quite faithful to turtles. In fact, the only difference between them and me was my size, at least on the outside. My insides and my shell were made of even stronger stuff that helped me survive the onslaught of my brothers and sisters.


    From the world I came, Father made it for two purposes: to get more mana generation, which I can offer, and for battle, in which I will never be truly useful. The only reason I survived in this form was because I was defensive enough that the others who attacked me couldn''t kill me fast enough to prevent others from finding them.


    I still can''t believe that the unthinking me managed to survive just because it had a small damage aura skill. The fighting happening around me back then helped me grow stronger. The cycle was quite interesting: someone would find me, try to eat me, others would come hearing the noise, and then they would start to battle each other to see who could claim this morsel. Every time, at least as much as I could remember, the battles turned into slaughters, and I was buried under countless corpses.


    It wasn¡¯t the best of times when that happened, but I could eat in peace, and yet the battles going on constantly brought me closer to my next breakthrough. The only true danger to me was if someone could kill me in one shot or swallow me whole. So, the unthinking me strengthened myself, mostly in physical ways, and of course, made me bigger so I couldn¡¯t be swallowed whole.


    It took me a while, but I finally made it to the edge of the lake to see the smiling face of my greeter. ¡°What has brought you here today?¡± I asked her.


    I enjoyed talking with her; we talked quite a bit when I was still at the welcoming village. I believe she¡¯s my friend. I didn¡¯t really like to speak with others as I mostly just slept. It was nice to sleep in peace, although the nightmares ruined some of the enjoyment.


    She was bubbly, I believe it¡¯s called, talking so fast. Well, she wasn¡¯t actually talking fast¡ªI was just slow. I would need to push myself if I wanted to not be slow, but I couldn¡¯t be bothered right now. It was good enough.


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    She continued to talk about the excitement she had experienced, especially with the war with the outsiders. Apparently, we are planning on doing some things with Father¡¯s gateways. I wished her luck when she finally stopped talking and then started to slowly turn around to get to the good spot where it was the most comfortable to lay in.


    Most of the time, it was difficult to keep my eyes open¡ªsleep called me constantly. Once again, I think it¡¯s because of my talent, which I still don¡¯t actually know what it is. From my understanding, most diamond ranks understand their talent quite quickly; for me, it was taking time to understand what the word in my mind for my talent meant. I was not that worried, as eventually, I would figure it out.


    Sleep came quite fast, the way I liked it, but before too long, I opened my eyes again, happy to notice no nightmares this time. She was back at the edge of the lake, and I once again walked towards her.


    She was less bubbly this time. I guess she had seen battle, I could tell from her talking about the results of the gateway strategy she mentioned last time. Apparently, it was working really well, as they were stopping 50% of the melters from reaching the farthest point the enemies had pushed in the labyrinth.


    I sped myself up a bit to ask her a proper question. ¡°Why 50%? That seems a bit exact.¡± She took a little bit to answer that question.


    ¡°Others are worried about that too, but it was actually a complete accident. Things just happened to turn out like that. Father did say there were some weird movements outside, but I guess we¡¯ll see what will happen.¡±


    I always liked the way her voice sounded, but I was once again sleepy. I walked back to the best spot and made myself comfortable. Sleep came quickly, and once again, I woke up feeling pain. I expected to remember a nightmare, but I didn¡¯t, which was weird. I had never had two sleeps without a nightmare, and when did I start feeling pain out of nowhere?


    As I stretched myself up to not be slow, it didn¡¯t take a genius to realize where the pain was coming from. It was Father¡ªhe was hurting so badly. Immediately, my heart started pounding, and I properly used my strength to be as aware as possible.


    My head snapped to a certain location in the sky as I felt something bad there. Immediately, I started rushing towards that spot, and although I was slow compared to other diamond ranks, I could still move faster than a platinum if needed.


    It didn¡¯t take long for me to realize what I felt, and soon I saw the horror. A dungeon melter¡¯s beam was piercing through the roof of this world. This yellow destructiveness hit the land soon after it broke through, and to my horror, I saw it melting even through the vegetation. That should not be possible. Those were not dungeon-made; those were like me. A dungeon melter shouldn¡¯t have any effect, but it was having an effect.


    I knew that underneath this world were others. Before the beam could cut through the vegetation, I made it there and used my shell to block it. It hurt so much, but my shell seemed to be strong enough that it would not have any effect. Father seemed slow, as he was in pain, but he still appeared to be working. Information was given to us on what was attacking.


    Apparently, almost every diamond rank was outside the dungeon right now, alongside a lot of Pixies who were actually casting the melting beam instead of using devices. They had pierced Father in so many places and continued to pierce ever deeper. All of a sudden, the beam stopped, and I looked upwards to see a Pixie far above with a cruel smile on its face.


    Its smile disappeared as I saw a dragon breathing fire on it, and I saw its wings go up in flames. They were so far away, but my senses were good. A truly monstrous battle started outside the dungeon, yet some of the beams still pierced Father. Father actually informed me that one of them had nearly gotten through the entirety of the dungeon.


    Apparently, it was the leader, the oldest Pixie and it just ordered everyone to assault the dungeon. The beams started to cut off as they couldn¡¯t maintain them because most of the dungeon forces went outside to attack.


    I quite anxiously waited, as I wouldn¡¯t be any good in that sort of battle. It seems that slowly we were gaining the upper hand, although we were also taking heavy losses. Then Father informed us that the leader of the Pixies was weaving the melting spell again, aimed directly at the core. It would take some time for that beam to reach him, but the defences around that Pixie were strong, so they didn¡¯t know if we could disrupt it in time.


    ¡°Father, make a gateway and take me to your core. I will buy you some more time.¡±


    I could feel Father not liking the idea, but a stone wall quickly rose in front of me, and a large gateway melted out of it. Immediately, I went through to find myself in the core room. For the first time, I gazed upon the magnificence of Father.


    ¡°Do not worry. I will hold the beam off long enough for our forces to disrupt that Pixie.¡±

 chapter 270

    Pov Vix


    I was still mesmerized by the core that was Father, but I was snapped out of it when I noticed the small cracks all around its surface and even inside. He was struggling so much, yet he was still doing everything necessary¡ªeverything he could¡ªto protect not just himself but us as well.


    Slowly, I started to rise as the floor grew underneath me. I got a brief image of where I should be. It didn¡¯t take me long to reach the correct position, and all I had to do was wait for the floor to rise until I was in the perfect position to stop that beam from hitting Father.


    It had been only a few minutes after I got into position when I started to feel the beam getting closer. Its power seemed terrifying. Then I heard Father¡¯s voice, not just speaking to me but to everyone, especially the invaders.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t stop that destructive beam, it¡¯s going to reach a world so dangerous that you could do nothing to stop the destruction that would follow. There would be nothing left of the outside world if that happens. I urge you to stop now.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know Father could do that, but what danger could he be speaking about?


    ¡°You foolish dungeon. There¡¯s nothing that will stop me from ending you. You think you¡¯re the first dungeon to try these tricks?¡± The voice was quite sweet, but there was so much malice underneath. I shouldn¡¯t have known who was speaking, but somehow they made sure I knew it was the leader of the Pixies who spoke.


    My father seemed sad about that. I wondered what could be so dangerous. Whatever it was, I had my own job to do. I prepared to do my best, but I was interrupted with a brief vision.


    I saw the beam cutting through a world like many others, but it seemed so dead. Yet somehow that deadness started to stir as the beam cut through it. It was like death was living there, and I had never felt such fear. Was this the world Father was speaking about? Why was he showing me this?


    When I looked towards Father to understand what was going on, I came to an understanding. Father didn¡¯t want me to see this¡ªhis life force, his memories, were spilling out from the cracks, and I was unwittingly seeing some of the things he was seeing. There wasn¡¯t much time to contemplate that as the beam continued to approach.


    I saw another scene¡ªthat of the fight going on outside. The mountain was half destroyed, the city completely gone. So many of my brothers and sisters were fighting fiercely, killing but also getting killed. A mighty dragon was fighting, being supported by our side. It was being tied down and not allowed to approach the leader of the Pixies.


    I also saw adventurers fighting. A particular group of five was doing quite well against the Pixies. I saw memories of them when they were so much younger, so much weaker¡ªa brief snippet of their journey inside Father¡¯s dungeon. They had made a life here, and I envied that. I would probably never get to have the same.


    Then the beam hit, and I felt pain so encompassing I couldn¡¯t keep myself on my feet. Yet I had anticipated this. The beam tried to cut through my shell, but for the first time, it met something it couldn¡¯t destroy in an instant. This spell seemed to be quite tied to the caster, so I could actually feel the disbelief the Pixie was experiencing¡ªthe fact that there was something that could actually halt this beam¡¯s progress.


    Unfortunately, I knew that I couldn¡¯t hold this for too long. There was a flash of magic, and I quickly looked towards the core to see two familiar faces coming out of a portal. The mage who cast the portal stumbled through it, but he was hit badly and staggered. Even before he hit the floor, I could see the life leave him.


    The one who came before, I believe her name was Ziiipe, quickly helped the mage. ¡°No, Vinny, don¡¯t leave me! Please don¡¯t!¡±


    There were so many tears streaming down her face. A moment later, Father made some sort of crystal appear. She gave him a last kiss and then quickly moved to the crystal. A few more different kinds of crystals appeared, and she quickly started to use some sort of skills to form them into something.


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    It took her about a minute to finish. "It is done," she said in a broken voice. A moment later, another person walked through the portal that was somehow still active. What an incredible mage he must have been for his magic to be so stable that it even persisted after his death. Perhaps Father was also helping to keep it active.


    ¡°Ziiipe, I heard that the skill is done¡ªwhere?¡± But his voice cut off when he saw the dead mage. I could see his resolve harden at that, but I still noticed the singular tear that fell from his eye. ¡°Did you make the skill as I said you should?¡±


    This seemed to snap Ziiipe out of whatever state she was in. ¡°You cannot use it, Carl. Something like this should not exist.¡± There was a short pause before she continued. ¡°You cannot survive this skill. I cannot lose you too. Think about your family¡ªthere would be nothing left of you!¡±


    ¡°Because of my family, I must do it. We don¡¯t have the time.¡± All of this took only moments as they communicated so fast. Carl took the skill and pulled it inside himself. It would most likely take him a bit longer to properly integrate the skill, but I hoped he would be fast, as I could feel the first layer of my shell finally starting to give.


    New images assaulted my mind. I saw the dungeon rooms filled with adventurers who were fighting for their lives. It seemed that before the diamond-ranked battle started on the surface, tens of thousands of platinum ranks had rushed into the dungeon rooms and worlds opened up by the first beam attacks. I did not know how the different worlds were doing, but many of the adventurers were being slaughtered.


    I guessed the order to leave no one alive was being followed religiously. There was heavy resistance from the lower floors of the dungeon rooms, but it was horrifying to see what was happening in the upper levels. Father simply didn¡¯t have the presence to help keep the gateways from being used. The attackers seemed quite prepared and knew exactly where they needed to go.


    I was brought out of these memories forcefully when I heard that terrifying scream. It was a bellow of rage and a promise of vengeance. Yet somehow, I also constantly heard the word ¡®more¡¯. I focused on the person causing this. It was Carl, doing something I did not know was possible.


    I could sense the skill burning his soul for him to gain more power¡ªthat I knew was possible¡ªbut he was somehow also burning his very talent so he could get even more power. It was radiating off him, even making the portal a bit unstable.


    Immediately, he rushed through it and started to fight to reach the leader of the Pixies. He was a bit too slow to save me, but I was glad that he was going to be able to save Father at least. I felt the last of my shell giving up and the beam piercing inside of me. Even my insides were giving it a bit of trouble, but not much. A large portion of my insides was being burned away, yet I still persisted.


    I felt the beam hit the other side of my shell, being stopped once again. It was so hard to keep conscious, but I knew that I needed to keep circulating mana so my shell would be strong enough to keep the beam occupied for just a bit longer.


    Then I felt it¡ªthe beam stopped. I looked up, barely conscious, but I could still see a person, someone who should not even be able to contest a peak diamond rank, delivering a strike that the peak diamond rank the leader of the Pixies actually had to defend against, otherwise, it might have actually died.


    My life was fading now, but I was glad that the others were at least going to survive. We were winning the fight up above, although we were taking a lot of casualties. ¡°Victory will be ours in the end.¡±


    Then I heard Father¡¯s voice. ¡°I am sorry, my child, but victory will not be ours. I have failed you all.¡±


    I was confused. Why would he say something like that? Then I saw images of what was happening down below. Even through all of this, there was one question in the back of my mind: why weren¡¯t the other worlds helping defend the dungeon rooms or fighting the threat up above? Where were the ants and their technology? Now I knew¡ªthey were fighting a desperate fight that they had now lost.


    While they were still holding on, the enemy had broken through the only place that meant doom for us all. When the assault started from above, apparently a multitude of diamond-rank dungeons had extended their territory to connect with Father¡¯s. A flood of diamond-ranked monsters soon followed. While Father was able to keep them from pushing their territories further in, the slightly weakened diamond-rank monsters ravaged the defenses down below.


    Especially devastating for our defenses was the first beam attack by the leader of the Pixies. It had gotten through the entire dungeon, and it seems like that was done on purpose. My life was about to end, and I was so incredibly sad. So was Father.


    He still continued to fight as much as he could, but from down below, I sensed attacks coming. Whatever was launched from down below looked like quills. They punched through Father¡¯s core, cracking it completely.


    He was dying now¡ªI could feel it. Then those quills exploded, and I was bathed in the most horrifying fire I had ever witnessed. My eyes snapped open. I no longer felt the pain; I felt the soft mud and the water underneath me. My heart was beating so fast, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the lake and so many people around it. I could feel Father¡¯s voice touching me, but I was so tired.


    ¡°Vix, you need to sleep. You have been burning your soul for so long that there¡¯s barely anything left. You need to recover.¡±


    I was confused by those words, but I looked inside to see a world filled with darkness instead of the blue light I was so accustomed to. I was so tired I couldn¡¯t even speak. I couldn¡¯t even find the strength to convey any meaning through my mind. What I did see was a word representing my talent: Premonition.


    Instantly, everything clicked into place. I had seen a possible future¡ªthe most likely events that would happen. I needed to warn them.


    I tried to pull my strength, but I couldn¡¯t do anything to warn them. I was falling asleep. I could feel it would take decades before I could awaken again. No, that would be too long, but there was one source of strength I still had. I had just a bit of soul left. Yet, if I used it, I would not awaken from my slumber¡ªI would be gone forever. Yet I didn¡¯t even question, didn¡¯t even think, before I started to use the last that I had.


    Father screamed at me, ¡°Stop it at once! Go to sleep, you need to recover!¡± But I didn¡¯t listen. It was so hard, but I gathered all that I saw and prepared to send it to Father.


    He didn¡¯t want it, but I think he understood that something was truly wrong. He took it and even helped me give him my memories. ¡°I thank you for the life you gave me. Goodbye.¡± And then darkness claimed me.

 chapter 271

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I think this is what shock feels like. His last words still echoed in my mind. There are many trying to understand what happened, asking me questions. Many had gathered around the lake to see if they could help Vix, but none of them could bring him out of his sleep that was consuming his soul. At least now I know it was because of his talent that it was happening.


    I tried to help him, so he could give me the memories he wanted as quickly as possible hoping there would still be something left of him, but I failed him in every way. If I was a diamond rank, I think I could''ve helped him, but I wasn¡¯t. I did get his pattern, but it wasn''t him any longer. It was an empty shell that used to be Vix.


    I announced to everyone that he was gone and slowly started to absorb him. I didn¡¯t have any traditions like adventurers had for sending off their family and loved ones, and I actually don¡¯t think I want one.


    There was a part of me that perhaps thought that maybe I should keep at least his shell intact, but without him actively working and using his skills, that shell would not be able to stop the terrifying beam I saw in his memories.


    When he was gone completely, I didn¡¯t like the emptiness left behind in the lake, so I started to make the most exact replica of him sleeping I could out of dungeon stone. My minds worked in unison to do this, halting nearly every other task I had. Even then, this statue of Vix took a while to complete as I was making the most faithful recreation of him that I could.


    When it was finally finished, I didn¡¯t start working on the things I left unfinished. It was time to take some time to reflect. One of the projects I was basically finished with was making the gateways appear as mirrors. That seemed to be one of the last pieces that would cause my downfall, along with everyone else reliant on me.


    I have not yet told anyone what had happened exactly, only that we got crucial information without which we would have certainly fallen. The problem was what to do with this information. From what I could tell, we were winning the fight up above, and while I didn¡¯t get a lot of information about what was happening down below, it was clear that diamond-ranked dungeons controlled by this world¡¯s powers coordinated their attacks, crushed the defenses I had, and ended up delivering the killing blow.


    There aren¡¯t many creatures who even indirectly have experienced their death, but the memories I got seemed so real. What horrors would I feel right now if I had my own memories of that event instead of a single mind being¡¯s? It seems that I have been too indecisive, but I should have known better. There are plenty of examples I¡¯ve witnessed myself of what happens when you try to hold back.


    Back in the day, I remember when I was disappointed because there were already so many adventurers that their uniqueness disappeared¡ªthe same with creatures. When you simply have enough of something, even people start to act the same and have the same reactions to the same stimulus. It was what pushed me in the beginning to make new worlds and different kinds of dungeon rooms, but the bigger I got, the less uniqueness I saw.


    All of that changed when I saw an event happen almost exactly the same way once again, with so many variables so unbelievably the same. After that, I didn¡¯t mind losing that uniqueness, and while I still chase it almost constantly, I have come to learn the amazingness of witnessing almost the exact same events in different places and at different times. In some ways, it¡¯s even better than witnessing something new.


    So many times, I have seen a person who should have won a fight lose it just because they were holding back, even just a little. Was it because they truly didn¡¯t want to kill the opposing party? Perhaps they saw that one of their opponents looked awfully similar to one of their siblings, and they held back just a bit. In the end, it doesn¡¯t matter what the cause was. The result was the same¡ªthey lost because they didn¡¯t go all out. They weren¡¯t aggressive enough, and I have made the same mistake.


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    If it wasn¡¯t for Vix, I would have ended. And while, from his own understanding, his talent didn¡¯t give an exact premonition of what was going to happen in the future¡ªit was just a possible future that could happen¡ªthe result was still the same in the end. It showed me my weakness. It¡¯s not only my life at stake but everyone who relies on me, and I can¡¯t do this if I don¡¯t go all out.


    It took me some time to finally come to a proper decision, but the days I spent going over the memories I got, my own memories of past events and the results of their choices, made it clear in what direction I must go.


    No longer will I try to hold back anything. We must go all out. No more half-measures. No more holding back my strongest weapons. If I must come to an end, they won¡¯t even understand the meaning of despair. They will come to learn why they should have never tried to control me or end me. They will understand what it means to be afraid.


    Most of my projects lay forgotten as I started to work on truly awful things. I did not want to do this. It disgusted me; it horrified me. Yet all of me was focused on it so I wouldn¡¯t make any mistakes, so I would think about every scenario, and so that I would eliminate any possibility of this not working.


    Perhaps a younger me would have made a mistake, interpreted aggression as going to war immediately, and pumped out as many monsters as I could to destroy any trace of the forces outside. But no, I was now wise enough to understand that aggression didn¡¯t always mean doing everything immediately. No, in this context, aggression meant doing everything you can to make sure that you win, no matter what.


    Slowly, I started to expand my territory downwards. If those dungeons were going to send their monsters toward me, they were not going to find an easy path. I made a maze out of my territory.


    The monsters that would come could not leave dungeon territory. They would weaken when they entered mine, but they would survive. So, because of that, I left large areas unclaimed, which would cause them to need to go around. My creatures, however, could survive there. That meant it was time to start designing forts that could attack any monsters that would have to go around them.


    For the first time in a while, I communicated with my creatures, more specifically the ants. They now understood the danger that could come from down below and the advantages we had. There was no doubt in my mind that they would be better at designing the fortresses that would be responsible for damaging anything that tried to invade me and reach my core.


    Slowly, I also started to expand my territory on the surface. It was time we turned that into a fortress as well. There were enchantments and possible artifacts that could be made to disrupt those dungeon-melting spells before they even got to me, but it would mean those defenses needed to be manned. That meant we needed dominion over the surface.


    It would take a lot, but I had so much mana stored up. We would take no real losses to take the surface¡ªI will just flood it with endless amounts of platinum-ranked monsters, so many that even the diamond ranks would grow tired. And of course, when they¡¯re tired, they would be easy pickings for our true elites.


    Now I communicated with everyone else about the plans that I had so they could also start inputting their ideas. There was no doubt in my mind, and soon everyone else reached the same conclusion: if we took the surface, we would be in a constant battle. There was one chance that we could stop it from happening, but from what I saw in the memories, perhaps even that would be too much to hope for.


    Still, I didn¡¯t think they would know they were wrong before the end. For the first time, I started to tinker with the undead small pattern. It was terrifying enough as it was now, but it was too slow and too weak. If I was going to announce its existence, I was sure they could find a way to counter it. No, it was time to make it truly terrifying. I hesitated just a bit, but I now know what it meant if I didn¡¯t act, so I started to change it.


    When this small pattern started to multiply in the outside world, in just a few days it would be completely unbound to me. It would need quicker multiplication, it would need to spread further, and it would need to be a lot stronger. Now, I wasn¡¯t certain it could ever affect diamond ranks, but I was certain I could make it so that no platinum rank would ever keep their memories and would just be turned into unthinking undead.


    It took me nearly a month, almost concentrating everything I had on this horrifying pattern, but it was finally done. It will end, I was certain of it¡ªthe outside world in just months, perhaps at maximum a year. The current small pattern in the undead world had, a while ago, figured out how to survive underwater and propagate there, so not even the underwater world was safe from this small yet terrifying existence.


    It occurs to me now that this was the first planet killer I made. Of course, I would hope that it would be the only one, that I would never make another, but I think that would be a fool¡¯s hope. As I continued to grow stronger, eventually my creatures would do that for me.


    It was time to give them the last offer of peace, but even that would just be to show my true strength, to show what would happen to them all if they didn¡¯t leave me alone. They would witness what would happen to their world, and hopefully, I would make it clear to them that if I were to release this, they would be forever stuck in this undead world until even their long lives ran out.

 chapter 272

    ***


    There were a multitude of guards and other people in the entrance hall of ETG. Just a few minutes ago, another team with the melter went in, and already they were preparing another.


    Over the course of years, they had gotten their manufacturing facilities working, allowing them to make melters at incredible speeds. There were teams continuously going in and out, bringing the melters to the furthest point of the labyrinth so they could continue to advance deeper into the dungeon.


    All this bustling stopped, as every head turned to the dungeon entrance. Everyone could hear screams and fighting, then all of a sudden, the sound was cut off. Some of the guards rushed in, yet anyone who entered didn¡¯t return, and none of them could be reached with communication devices or skills.


    People arrived quickly, trying to calm others down, but then the diamond ranks who were doing that felt their own die in the dungeon. The diamond ranks who were protecting and guiding the melters were dying one by one. The entrance hall was emptied, and an emergency meeting was called. Almost everyone was there, even Vivian and her grandfathers. They were not looked upon favorably.


    This development was not expected. Everyone thought that the dungeon would try to do something about the melters as they were getting close to the core, but the absolute finality of what happened still shook them. The Pixies looked quite worried as well, but they were almost done training their breach squad, and the diamond dungeons were getting closer with their territory expansion.


    ¡°Do you think the dungeon found out about what¡¯s going on in other fronts?¡± someone breached the silence, trying to stay as vague as possible. Yet even before someone could answer and this emergency meeting could properly start, a few guards rushed in and immediately started to report on what was happening in the dungeon hall.


    ¡°There are weird noises coming out from the dungeon, and from the sound of it, they¡¯re getting closer. We¡¯re already forming ranks, but what are our orders?¡±


    It only took a moment before almost everyone, including diamond ranks, rushed towards the dungeon entrance, looking for vengeance. When they got there, they saw what looked like a dead corpse slowly walking out of the dungeon entrance and into the dungeon hall.


    It moved unnaturally, like it had a broken body but someone was trying to control it as if it wasn¡¯t broken. It didn¡¯t stop but continued to slowly walk forward no matter what the guards yelled. Then a terrifying and broken voice came out of that walking corpse: ¡°This siege has gone on long enough.¡±


    A diamond rank from the back threw his spear through the walking corpse¡¯s head, silencing it. ¡°I could feel the dungeon¡¯s influence in it¡ªit was controlling it. How could it still think we would leave it alone?¡± That diamond rank almost said it in a joking manner, yet he went silent as another walking corpse came out of the entrance.


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    Before anything else could be done, another diamond rank yelled as loud as she could: ¡°Connor! Your strongest barrier shield¡ªactivate it now! Cut off the entrance hall entirely!¡±


    All of a sudden, the entrance hall was isolated from the rest of the world with a thick, transparent barrier that nothing could get through. The people still inside the entrance hall panicked as more corpses started to walk out.


    They started to kill them easily, but many were still hitting the barrier, trying to get out. Even the yells could be heard, but no one outside did anything. However, everyone looked at the woman who screamed and commanded that the barrier be put up.


    She didn¡¯t keep them in suspense. ¡°I could feel some power emanating from that corpse. That power was infecting the people close to it,¡± she said, swallowing nervously. ¡°I think the dungeon knows about small life.¡±


    That statement froze everyone who knew what it meant. There were no longer any corpses coming out, but there was a huge pile of them, nearly 300 that the forces inside the entrance hall had killed quite easily. In complete horror, the people outside watched as some of the people inside collapsed out of nowhere. They started to spasm. Healing magics were tried, but nothing happened. Then they died.


    Only about five seconds later, their bodies twitched again, and everyone, in complete horror, watched as those people stood up once again and started to move toward the living. They were, of course, killed once again, but the cycle continued, speeding up. In only five minutes, only walking corpses were left of the few hundred people there. Then one of the corpses started to move weirdly, like the first one they had seen.


    "You have 24 hours to leave my territory. Anyone left here afterward will die. Do not worry, I can see it in your faces. Your superiors would not allow you to leave without putting up a fight, but all of you need to know that you cannot win against this." The walking corpse jerked about, indicating the other walking corpses.


    "I believe a lot of you know what this is. You called them ''small life''; I call them ''small patterns,'' but in the end, it doesn¡¯t matter what it is called. You have some ways of fighting them, but be assured, I have fixed those issues. You also know that if I were to release this, in just a few hours they would be completely free and would start to do what small patterns always do: change and evolve into something even more dangerous."


    "I will not attack with this weapon. No, you will be flooded with monsters that will end this siege. But if anyone were to start a new siege or just attack me again or if any other dungeons¡¯ territory were to get too close, know that I have sent thousands of my creatures hidden across every corner of this world.¡± There was a pause before ETG continued.


    ¡°When I give the word, this small pattern will be released, and your world will die in months. You diamond ranks will most likely survive, but you would still be living in a dead world. And be assured, not even dungeons would be saved. This world would stagnate and forever be dead."


    "You lie! That would kill you just the same!" one of the diamond ranks yelled back. The walking corpse, controlled by ETG, simply started to laugh in the most horrific way possible.


    "Oh, I know I would need to protect against it as well, but I have my ways. I will survive, and everyone within me will as well. I hope this demonstration was enough, although I doubt it. Please don''t make me use this weapon¡ªI truly don¡¯t want to, but I will if necessary." The last word was said with such conviction that no one dared to doubt it.


    "You have 24 hours." were the last words before, from the entrance, a flood of incredibly hot fire turned everything not made of stone to ash. The barrier still held, but when the fire subsided, there was nothing left inside the entrance hall. Quickly, a few of the diamond ranks confirmed that none of the small life remained¡ªall of it was destroyed.


    A terrible weight and silence held everyone in place who had witnessed and heard the words of the dungeon. Many of the diamond ranks were shaken to their cores, while some others were already starting to deny what they had witnessed. The barrier disappeared, and everyone took an involuntary step back.


    The next moment, arguments started, and an emergency meeting was called¡ªnot just with everyone present, but with people around the world as well. It seemed that all of their worst nightmares had come to life, the reasons why they controlled dungeons now realized.


    All of them wanted to end this dungeon as quickly as they could, but wouldn¡¯t that bring about the end of the world? Wouldn¡¯t that just make their nightmares come to life? Was their only way forward to actually give up and let this monster of a dungeon continue to live?

 chapter 273

    Pov Vivian


    My mind was in turmoil. The fire cleansed everything, but I was still seeing visions of those horrible moving corpses. It was so hard not to imagine what would happen if that small life was let loose. My mind was so occupied that I only snapped out of my daze when I saw the barrier disappear, and I involuntarily stepped back.


    My grandfather was next to me, and I looked towards him to see him deep in thought. A meeting was called, and I started to head there, but my grandfather put his hand on my shoulder. ¡°Follow me.¡±


    Instead of going to the meeting, for some reason, he was leading us back to our home. My mind immediately went to the reason why. We were one of the only ones who basically had our entire clan here, and if the dungeon¡¯s threat about killing everyone who remained was true, we needed to get as many people out as possible.


    ¡°Tell everyone to follow the emergency plan A1C,¡± my grandfather told one of the guards as we made it back in record time. That once again confused me. That plan was for everyone to be ready to move at a moment¡¯s notice but to stay here until Grandfather gave the order to move. Were we not staying to fight?


    He led me to his study and activated the enchantments, basically sealing the room from the rest of the world. ¡°Vivian, how credible is that threat from those living corpses?¡± he said while sitting down and starting to go through his desk, looking for something.


    The question was difficult to answer. There was just so much unknown, but the speed and the fact that that small life could so easily kill even platinum ranks who were completely healthy was something none of us had seen before.


    Yet my mind was already making calculations, and it was horrifying. There have been really deadly small life outbreaks, but when they kill their hosts, their corpses stay in one location and eventually die out. This obviously wasn¡¯t the case with this one.


    ¡°Vivian?¡± my grandfather¡¯s voice brought me out of my thoughts.


    ¡°It¡¯s not good, Grandfather. From what I could tell, there was some sort of unifying shared field amongst all the corpses. That small pattern must have access to mana of some sort. I am certain there are ways to fight it, but the spread was so fast, and if it''s really in every corner of the world, we simply won¡¯t have the manpower to keep it at bay. What I¡¯m certain of is that there could be isolated communities that might survive, but I believe his timeline is more than accurate.¡±


    My voice got quieter by the end as I simply didn¡¯t have the strength to continue. I sat down heavily¡ªnot because of the threat of the small life, but because I didn¡¯t believe that those idiots would actually stop. They would think it was just another bluff, even with that demonstration. Although I¡¯m certain it affected at least some to the point that they would believe him, would that be enough?


    I looked up and no longer heard any sounds of rifling through stuff from Grandfather. He was now completely still, looking toward the entrance of the dungeon. Some time passed before he spoke.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe they will find the threat credible enough. They will end this world because they believe they are above it. Perhaps I can do something that will give this world a chance.¡±


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    He went quiet after that. There seemed to be no life in his eyes, like he was somewhere else. Then he blinked a couple of times.


    ¡°Those idiots actually think they can hold this place, but at least they¡¯re evacuating a lot of non-combatants.¡±


    He then stood up, and I saw the determination on his face. My mouth fell open as he stepped toward the command crystal that controlled all the enchantments and smashed it into bits. The world rushed back in as all the enchantments that kept us separate from the rest of the world failed, but so did all the other protections¡ªespecially against the dungeon.


    Grandfather turned toward one corner of the room, like he felt an enemy there.


    ¡°I have nothing else to offer you but this. I will make this choice as public as possible. I have so many vows that bind me, yet I can still make this decision, which will show them all that your threat is credible. Will you accept this? Can you do it quickly? And, of course, the more spectacle you can make of my choice to join you, the better.¡±


    I was completely confused as to what my grandfather was doing. There was nothing there¡ªwho was he speaking to? It was like I was looking at a broken man, but then his shoulders relaxed, and a small smile came to his face that immediately warped into a look of pain as I saw vow bands wrapping all around him appear out of nowhere.


    Those were vow bands that would kill anyone who breaks them. And while they did hurt him, I saw them crumbling before they could do any real damage. That meant that whatever vow my grandfather had made, the conditions to get out of them were met, at least to some degree.


    No one takes a vow if they don''t have to, but a clan leader does have to take quite a few¡ªones that bind all of our clans together. Did that just mean that we broke those bonds? That shouldn''t be possible.


    ¡°Grandfather, what''s happening?¡±


    He turned to me to answer, but then a communication crystal let out a terrible noise. My grandfather quickly picked it up, and I saw an image of our leader. He was basically the last beastkin alive¡ªnot the pale imitations we were. His bear-like face was hard to read, but he seemed incredibly furious. We could also hear the emergency meeting going on in the background through another communication crystal.


    ¡°Pup, what is the meaning of this? And how are you still alive? Whose side did you go on? Doesn¡¯t matter¡ªI will find you and end you.¡± He stopped speaking when he saw my grandfather¡¯s face. ¡°Explain. Now.¡±


    I did not expect that, but my grandfather took a deep breath and then spoke.


    ¡°This world is going to end if we don''t stop attacking this dungeon. I hope my sacrifice¡ªmy betrayal that will never be forgotten¡ªwill help you recognize the true threat. I do not know what you have been told, but the small life is the real threat. It will end this world and everyone in it. My clan now belongs to the dungeon, and I hope you understand what this means.¡±


    There was silence. We also realized that the emergency meeting had gone quiet. Then we heard the voice of one of the most annoying people I know.


    ¡°You see, they are working for the dungeon.¡±


    I looked down at the communication crystal and realized that it wasn¡¯t the secure one, it was meant for power and that nothing could interfere with its connection. We had been overheard.


    ¡°You have betrayed the beasts. I can offer you no protection. Goodbye,¡± our leader said. Then he destroyed the communication crystal to the emergency meeting instead of ours.


    ¡°You will be known for this betrayal, pup. Your line will be forever disgraced, at least to the public. You are a true beast kin, putting our lineage and our history above everything. I hope you are wrong, but if you¡¯re not, then keep our histories alive. I will try to do the same. Goodbye.¡±


    Then the communication crystal cut off.


    A moment later, guards rushed in. ¡°Sir, some sort of symbols are appearing on the ground outside the perimeter.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind those. Prepare for battle.¡±


    My grandfather was about to say something else, but he stopped and looked at the same corner. Then he let out a sigh of relief.


    All of a sudden, I felt twisting, like we were entering a gateway. Our building shook, and I could see cracks all over it, but then it stopped. Immediately, word spread, and we rushed outside to see the sun still in the same location, but our surroundings were different. We were no longer in the city but in someplace else with forests and rivers.


    Some of the buildings had trees coming out of them, like the entire section of the city we controlled was dropped into the middle of the wilderness. I took a deep breath and realized that we were inside the dungeon.


    ¡°Grandfather, what did you do?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°I made a deal with the dungeon. Hopefully, it will be enough to convince the others to stop attacking this dungeon. And of course, like our leader has always taught, we should never have all our eggs in the same basket.¡±


    ¡°If this dungeon succeeds in destroying the world, then we will keep our histories alive. If this dungeon shall fall, other clans will keep our histories alive. And of course, in the best-case scenario, both sides will survive, and we will just have a different kind of life than we had before.¡±

 chapter 274

    ***


    The emergency meeting went on after the disappearance of the traitors. While some tried to blame all of the Beasts, the words of the leader of the Beasts made it clear that they had no knowledge of this happening and did not approve of this move.


    Yet, over and over again, it was brought up. Eventually, the leader of the beasts got tired, and after a particular question, it allowed him to move the meeting along.


    ¡°Of course he did it with your permission, otherwise the vows would have killed him?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think I would have been dead if that was the case? We all have our own vows, do we not? We all do things differently, so let me tell you how we do things. We don¡¯t suffer blind loyalty, so we have ways to get out of vows amongst ourselves.¡±


    ¡°The only way he could have done what he did without dying and with me still alive was that he truly knew our entire history and lineage would be destroyed if he didn¡¯t do what he did. So, I don¡¯t know what you think you can get by continuing this line of bullshit, but I, on the other hand, want to talk about the literal threat to this entire world!¡±


    ¡°What threat? It¡¯s baseless. The dungeon doesn¡¯t have such capabilities. What it showed was simply a play to make us believe.¡±


    Yet the person who spoke those words didn¡¯t get the support he was hoping for. To the relief of the leader of the Beasts, the topic actually moved forward to the one he was worried about. A lot of arguing followed, but more and more evidence seemed to indicate at least some truth to the dungeon''s claims. There were many diamond ranks at the event, and their senses were excellent. The biggest evidence for this to be an actual threat was the breaking of vows.


    Outside, a frantic evacuation and preparation of defenses continued. Before anyone could properly realize, the 24 hours were up. The emergency meeting was interrupted, and almost everyone was surprised that it went by so fast without them ever coming to a decision on anything.


    None of them took the dungeon¡¯s threat about driving them away from this place seriously. They didn¡¯t believe it would be possible. So, the emergency meeting continued while some went out to help the platinum ranks with the defense, in case it was actually needed.


    Before the timer went to zero, all over the mountain and the entire area now claimed by the dungeon, rumblings and smaller earthquakes were felt. Then, holes opened up everywhere. A moment later, a quiet yet fast marching sound was felt, and from those thousands of holes, endless streams of human-sized ants poured out.


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    The defenders laughed. While the numbers were significant, everyone could sense that these were just monsters, and all of them were gold ranks. It didn¡¯t take long for the ants to reach the defensive lines. When the monsters got close to it, they simply disappeared, and the defenders laughed again. Their positions were protected by devices that disrupted dungeon territory, which meant that monsters couldn¡¯t survive there.


    A moment later, the monsters could move further. This confused and scared a lot of people. Then, a voice was heard above all: ¡°The dungeon is pushing our disrupting devices back. Begin the offensive!¡±


    Not a moment later, ranged attacks fell onto the ants, and soon the melee defenders had to get their blades dirty as the dungeon pushed back on the territory disruptors, using its vast reserves of mana to overwhelm almost all of those devices. Even then, the defenders were not pushed back¡ªthey weren¡¯t even strained, although they still had to defend from all angles.


    There was merriment in the defensive lines. Sometimes people switched out with others as those in the back got bored. The fighting continued, yet there didn¡¯t seem to be a stop to the stream of ants. They were killing them as fast as they were coming, but slowly, hours started to go by. The emergency meeting continued, with diamond ranks every so often rushing into the flood of ants and destroying huge swaths of them.


    Yet they never stopped coming¡ªnot for a second. On the second day, after continuous fighting, the defenders started to run into mana problems, and this time they actually needed to switch people out to give them rest. There were still smiles on their faces, but the joyous mood of the day before was gone.


    So it continued, the emergency meeting never stopping as there were many actually wanting to leave the dungeon alone, believing the threat it posed was credible. Most of their words fell on deaf ears, and the situation outside didn¡¯t help their case¡ªat least, not until the first few deaths happened.


    These were mainly accidents: people getting in each other¡¯s way, and then ants taking the opportunity to deliver proper, devastating attacks with their mandibles that could easily hurt the platinums if they simply got close enough.


    On the fourth day, deaths continued to mount up, yet the flood of ants never stopped. Many in the defensive lines didn¡¯t understand how there could be so many ants¡ªthey must have killed millions already. But they were underestimating the numbers. They hadn¡¯t just killed millions¡ªthey had killed tens of millions. Their leaders understood that, yet the flood never stopped.


    The generals in charge of the defenses were counting on the dungeon running out of mana, but when they consulted their dungeon experts, they were told it didn¡¯t seem that the dungeon was using any. It seemed to be operating like it always had. So, everyone came to the conclusion that it was somehow hiding its actions, and they just had to tough it out until it ran out of mana.


    The real reason why they couldn¡¯t feel the fluctuations was because ETG wasn¡¯t actually creating an endless number of monsters. He was simply using his gold-rank monsters, the ones he had made to help with his fortress project. He had made billions of them to complete that work, and now that he could make platinums, they were just taking up the number of monsters he could upkeep.


    So, while the defenders thought they were fighting and winning this fight, ETG was just using this opportunity to get rid of his no-longer-needed monsters, the ones he had made to help with his building efforts, in a way that wasn¡¯t too wasteful.


    When the fiftieth day passed, once again, earthquakes and rumblings were felt. Many more holes opened up, and the ones that were already there widened even further.


    ETG had gotten some good advice. Monster ants, like the ones he was using for this early assault, could actually climb over each other extremely easily, increasing the number that reached the front lines.


    This simple yet effective change, for the first time, properly challenged the defensive line. Not many had the reach to fight the incoming wave of ants that towered over them multiple times their height.


    Dozens of diamond ranks left the defenses and started to kill huge numbers of ants even before they could get close to the defenders. Yet anything they did didn¡¯t stop the flow completely. Orders were given for the line to move back. Conjured platforms were made so the defenders could climb and form multiple lines on top of each other so they could still fight the flood effectively.


    And so it continued, with days rolling by with endless fighting happening. Even the leaders, in the emergency meeting, finally started to pay attention.

 chapter 275

    ***


    One of the diamond ranks went high up in the sky and started to conjure huge lightning bolts that rained down in a large area away from the other fighters. Every time one of those lightning bolts hit the ground, it killed thousands of ants in a large area. Soon, those corpses started to disappear, but not before the entire place that was filled up with the endless wave of ants that never stopped moving toward the defensive lines.


    These attacks, along with other attacks by other diamond ranks, were still helping the defenders. It eased the pressure just enough that the generals could direct their fighters into more advantageous positions.


    Whenever they tried to use already existing fortifications for defense, everyone soon found out that for the ants, those fortifications meant nothing, as they were literally designed to move and destroy hard stone. This caused many breakthroughs of the line and the highest amount of casualties before things started to stabilize.


    Now all the defensive lines were made up of multiple levels of platinum-ranked fighters. The first level of defenders stood on the ground, the next on wooden structures behind the first line, and so on until they reached the height of the approaching ants.


    Almost everyone who had made it to platinum rank and used melee skills had a skill that allowed them to project their strikes, which was the only reason this configuration was able to hold against the wave of ants.


    Yet these lines were not perfectly held, as this was still not a good way to fight. Usually, what should have helped them was the huge amount of corpses left behind, but these were dungeon monsters, and soon after their death, they started to disappear.


    They didn¡¯t even leave any loot, as ETG never assigned any to these monsters. The amount of ants, however, even if still only gold rank, was helping the defenders increase their strength. They would need to kill tens of billions to actually reach diamond rank so in the end it did not matter.


    More and more diamond ranks joined the fight, which allowed the platinums enough rest to gather their mana for another shift on the defensive lines. When the tenth day went by, mana was no longer the only problem¡ªit was pure exhaustion.


    Platinum ranks just didn¡¯t have the endurance to keep fighting for so long, even if they got small breaks to recharge. Only about 1,000 had lost their lives, while they had killed about 150 million, yet the flood of ants never stopped.


    When the death toll started to climb more steadily, diamond ranks no longer just went out and killed as many as possible¡ªthey actually started to coordinate as well. The generals, however, knew that even with the help of their strongest, there were simply too many ants coming at the same time. They would eventually fall, but that was only if the ants never ran out, and that should not be possible.


    ETG disagreed with that notion, and if he wanted to, he could actually just keep making gold-rank ants to maintain the same amount of pressure literally forever. Days started to go by faster, and the lines of the defenders kept shrinking.


    So many were killed that eventually their lines were so short that even ETG could no longer push the territory disruption devices back. There were now multiple pockets of defenders completely safe from the ants, and everyone was taking a breather after having fought for so many days and killing a bit over a billion ants.


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    Even the diamond ranks were a bit exhausted. They had lost so many more than they expected, but most still didn¡¯t understand what the dungeon was trying to do. They knew it could never truly get rid of them even if the dungeon had basically destroyed all of their facilities, and so many platinums lost their lives that it would be hard to regain the strength they had lost during this battle.


    The fighting had stopped for about 10 minutes before everyone started to notice something weird. It was a sunny day with no clouds in sight, but all of a sudden, more and more shadows started to appear on the ground.


    Almost as one, everyone looked up to see a horrifying sight. Thousands upon thousands of large and small birds were being spawned, all of them holding sharpened sticks of stone in their talons. Almost as if this was the signal, they came to life and started to swoop downwards, aiming their payloads at the territory disruption devices.


    Commands were yelled out. Mages started to put barriers above the devices, while everyone who could use ranged attacks turned their attention upwards and started killing as many as they could.


    Some of the birds were truly massive and were carrying stones that must have weighed tonnes. The defense was frantic, yet confusion broke out when the first barriers failed. But the stones didn''t hit their targets; instead, they disappeared like the ants did, although they made it further in. They were never a threat to begin with.


    Of course, the diamond ranks were the first to realize that this must be a diversion, but it was already too late. The territory-disruptive devices almost all in unison shuddered as the ground underneath them cracked. Ants rushed to the devices to bite them to bits. The diamond ranks did what they could to save those devices, but their panicked attempts only helped the dungeon finish this mission.


    Many were still confused as to how anything could get so close to these devices, as their disruptive nature should have also extended downwards. The battle commenced again, as the monsters could now once again surge forward.


    The ones investigating the holes underneath the devices realized that these ants, while quite similar to the ones in the wave, looked different. More importantly, they weren¡¯t monsters but creatures that could live outside dungeon territory.


    The monsters surged forward, but this time, the defenders found their positions in the air no longer as safe as before. ETG never stopped spawning new airborne monsters that continued to deliver their payloads of rocks, which now did hit the defenders.


    The battle quickly devolved into small groups of resistance, while hundreds died in just minutes. The defenders were still making a good account of themselves in small pockets of defense that had enough different types of defenders to keep them safe from all threats.


    Their diamond ranks did all they could, but soon the only people they could keep safe were the ones around them. There were hundreds of diamond ranks, all protecting their own pockets of resistance.


    Only an hour had passed since the territory devices were destroyed, yet all of them now knew this battle was lost. Still, they wouldn''t stop fighting. They would show this dungeon why diamond ranks were so feared, and if needed, they would kill another ten billion ants.


    Five hours later, the situation changed once again as pillars started to rise all over in set distances from one another. They were quite thick, and all of them were perfect squares. They continued to extend upwards until their growth stopped at 100 meters.


    Everyone was confused as to what was happening until flashes that looked like gateway activations notified everyone that they were now going to be fighting truly dangerous opponents. From the gateways, smaller parties emerged, all diamond rank, striking against more isolated diamond ranks, either capturing or quickly killing them by overwhelming them.


    Other diamond ranks rushed to help, but before they could get there, the attackers had already disappeared into another gateway. The ones who rushed away from their pockets now had nowhere to return, as the flood of ants quickly overran the people they were protecting.


    It only took a few more of these types of attacks before all the diamond ranks started to move closer together. What followed next was truly monstrous. More and more diamond ranks appeared as the dungeon brought out more and more of its elite forces. They started with ranged attacks, and while the defenders could still fend those off, these types of attacks were tiring as they were coming from opponents near to their strength.


    At first, all of those diamond ranks were humanoid, but as time went on, more and more diamond ranks appeared that were truly monstrous, truly scaring the defenders. They were no longer certain if abandoning their people and rushing the diamond ranks would allow them to truly come out victorious. And even if they did, they would lose so much.


    A decision was made that no one expected to have to make. The ones who started this siege, the ones who had been defending their position now for nearly seventeen days, called for a retreat.


    Slowly, they started to make their way out of the dungeon territory, but they were never truly safe as they were constantly hounded. Before they got out, a few more diamond ranks, along with many more platinum ranks, lost their lives during the slow retreat from the dungeon territory.


    ETG had won his battle; he had driven his enemy, who had hounded him for years, away. But he didn¡¯t stop to celebrate. Instead, he went to work to turn the surface into a fortification that could defend against any attacks, especially from those beam attacks he had seen in Vix¡¯s premonition.

 chapter 276

    Pov Ant Combat Digger


    It was incredible to once again have this feeling. I had seen many battles, but it had been quite a while since I had to do such dangerous digging. I worked my mandibles, even if they weren¡¯t doing any of the work.


    No, everything was actually done by my skills, but the action of moving and working my mandibles as if they were digging through dirt helped me keep focus and even allowed me to keep my other necessary skills functioning as they should to keep me safe until I reached my target.


    I wasn¡¯t the only one who volunteered for this mission. Hundreds of my brothers and sisters were doing the same as me. Our father was giving us a distraction up above, so we just had to hope that none of them were paying too much attention to what was going on underneath them. Only the very best of them should feel anything, but that was only if they were paying attention.


    I do not know exactly how long it took, but at least our team was getting close to our target, which meant that others should be as well. Then we got a frantic message to hold all activities.


    Immediately, we stopped, not daring to move an inch. The next moment, I understood why¡ªthe fighting up above seemed to have ended. A moment later, we got the reason: the enemy had retreated into the protection of their devices.


    This was why we were here. Father could push those horrible devices back only so far, and now it was our job to make sure that those devices didn¡¯t stop Father from winning. There were other plans recommended, and everyone was certain we could swarm them with just numbers, but it would mean a lot of losses. I was more than willing to give up my life to save thousands of my brothers and sisters of all kinds.


    Plans seemed to have been changed, and we were given a wait time of a few more minutes before we needed to move and finish quickly. We were all ready to move at a moment''s notice. Then I heard it, and I moved, jumping towards the rock wall, crushing it while keeping noise so low that barely a vibration was noticeable a few meters away. There was so much noise outside that it was safe to push faster, and then we made it to the target area.


    All of us activated our skills to make the rock underneath our target disappear, and a moment later, it was in front of us. I disliked being under the influence of this device, so I enjoyed just biting it to pieces.


    Our father was yelling for us to retreat, and I saw a few go. I was old, and I was more than happy to give the next generation a chance to escape. It seems that I wasn¡¯t the only one, as a few of us stayed behind.


    We knew that we would not win against what was coming, and I could already feel destructive forces racing toward us. I used my own skills not to defend myself but to collapse the tunnels we came through. I could feel the pain from one of my legs as it was crushed utterly. Yet, I didn¡¯t mind. After turning around and trying to attack, blackness came swiftly.


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    Pov Carl


    We got word of the successful destruction of every territory-disruptive device. We heard about the casualties of this action, yet I couldn¡¯t be sad for the ones we lost. I had talked to a few of them, and they were true heroes in my book. Willing to sacrifice so more wouldn¡¯t lose their lives was truly noble. It was still weird to me that ants are so similar to us, even if they have some different priorities.


    Their memories will be honored, but this fight wasn¡¯t over yet. The second part was already planned; now it was just a waiting game until our enemy stabilized again so we could once again change the way we fought. If everything goes right, we shouldn¡¯t lose anyone, but this was war, and anything could happen.


    It took longer than we expected, but the dungeon eventually announced that it was now growing the pillars where all the gateways would be placed so we could do hit-and-run tactics. Unfortunately, Ziiipe hasn¡¯t yet finished my skill that would make it possible for me to fight in the air with enough finesse and speed to take part in the raids. What I could do was be ready to fight anyone who was dragged through the gateway.


    We were in a special room meant for receiving any raid party who came back with an enemy. The wait was excruciating, and we got word of a few successful kills before the gateway in front of us flashed. Five of our members rushed through, one of the enemies being pushed in front of them by a few skills.


    The enemy finally got wise and managed to break through the skills that were pushing him. We didn¡¯t give him a chance to recover properly, as ranged attacks were already landing. However, he was defending himself excellently. So what I did was rush him, ignoring the friendly attacks, as my defensive skills were good enough to take them without too much trouble.


    This allowed me to surprise him. He was wearing good enough equipment that I wouldn¡¯t be able to kill him, but my axe still got through his arm armor and was only stopped by his bone. His sword strike was something truly dangerous, so I had to back off, but he was down a functioning arm. He was a tough bastard and managed to keep fighting for another 30 seconds before someone else managed to put a spear through his head.


    We didn¡¯t have much time to recover, as we got informed that another one was coming soon. That ¡®soon¡¯ was literally just a moment later. This one seemed weaker, as ranged attacks were already pushing him. I took the same approach once again, but this time I got an entire arm. Others followed my example, and a spear went through his guts, with a mace blow to his head following, ending him quickly.


    We had to do this two more times before this stage was called to an end. I went through a gateway to the regroup point. ¡°What¡¯s happening out there?¡± I asked the first person who seemed like they knew what was going on outside.


    ¡°Things started to bunch up faster than we expected. We will probably move into the intimidation and ranged phase soon.¡±


    Immediately after he finished saying that, all of us got informed that we needed to find a gateway and move through it. Both of us gave a wry smile to each other as we literally moved just a few meters backward through the gate we had just come through and ended up on top of one of the pillars.


    Not too far away were the surviving enemies. They were already receiving ranged attacks, and it seemed like they were making a fighting retreat. Looking downwards made me shiver, as the entire ground was covered in rushing ants, always moving towards one position¡ªand that was the group of enemies not too far away.


    Every so often, I jumped onto the next pillar so we were constantly putting pressure on the enemy group. I was there in case they decided to come and attack us, but from the looks of it, I didn¡¯t think they would dare¡ªespecially when the more monstrous diamond ranks started to appear on pillars around me.


    I studied these creatures because I was certain that one day, when the dungeon got deep enough, I would need to fight monsters like these to keep progressing.


    It took longer for them to get out of the dungeon territory than I expected, and a few of them were brave enough to try to counterattack, which didn¡¯t end well for them.


    Once they reached outside, they no longer had to worry about the ants, so they made a rushing retreat after that, and we did not follow. Although I was certain we could¡¯ve gotten a few more kills if we did, we most likely would have also lost a few.


    We still managed to kill about 20% of their diamond ranks, which was most likely the biggest loss of strength this world had seen. While we didn¡¯t achieve a decisive victory¡ªtoo many of their strongest survived for that¡ªI would still call this a strong victory.


    Now ETG can start with his crazy plans of turning this entire area into a death zone. I knew that even I would need to man the defenses every so often, especially if an attack came. But if the claims were correct about how effective these fortifications could be, I certainly would never want to attack it.

 chapter 277

    Pov Dungeon Core


    We had won. Not the war, but at least a crucial battle. I would hope that they would never return, but that was a fool''s hope. A lot of my creatures were currently working on the designs to make us a proper fortress.


    I should have known that just being defensive wasn¡¯t good enough, but it seems like not just me, but all of us, overestimated our abilities and underestimated the breadth of attacks that could be launched upon us.


    While my physical defenses were excellent, and while we could still improve on them, trying to defend against magical attacks with physical defenses was unbelievably stupid, even if it did work somewhat.


    The problem still remained that I couldn¡¯t properly power magical defenses. I could make some dungeon rules that would help and perhaps a few runes, but otherwise, everything would need to be done by my creatures and powered by them almost entirely. That was a lot of commitment to protect me, as I was too large.


    I could shrink my outer sphere and make it smaller, but that would reduce my defensive size and also make it so that only 100 floors would fit inside me. No, rather than shrink, I would expand myself a little bit more to make myself a perfect circle onto which our defenses could be built, defenses that could be manned by my creatures. But I would also need to be able to power those defenses.


    This meant I needed a skill. While I wasn¡¯t completely done building the 56th floor, its size was expanded to its maximum, and a lot of it was already filled up with what I needed to make it into an aerial farm floor.


    So while I was making myself a perfect circle and already forming the mountain above me into the design we wanted, I was also working on visualizing the skill that I needed, so hopefully, I would be able to get something that would help with my defensive needs.


    A part of me also needed to focus on politics. With the siege lifted, many were asking to be allowed into the outside world, but I couldn¡¯t allow this. Everyone inside already knew too much, and right now, we were still in a vulnerable state. There was also the trouble of the Beast Clan. They were currently isolated in one of the larger areas that could only be accessed through the labyrinth.


    I did have to make a gateway there so that I could send in some of my creatures to get rid of some of their resources and materials that they could use to make melters, as I couldn¡¯t have that kind of manufacturing capability in the hands of people I didn¡¯t fully trust yet. Of course, not everyone liked it, but their leader was understanding, and I did tell them that the isolation was temporary¡ªwhich it was.


    When I reached diamond rank, I wouldn¡¯t care if they roamed my dungeon. I wouldn¡¯t care if people wanted to leave, because nothing they could tell about me could hurt me. While they could explain how I worked, and that might help the powers of this world change their own dungeons, they would simply need too much ramp-up time to catch up to how much mana I was producing.


    It took me three weeks before I was confident enough to trigger a breakthrough and certain enough that I would get a skill I wanted. One of the other problems was the floor guardians. I was no longer making huge numbers of dungeon rooms, so it was a bit more difficult to get the difficulty right. But I guess I could change it a little bit even after I finished making a floor guardian.


    For the floor guardians themselves, I just decided to pick a version of a creature that had most recently made it to diamond rank. So, this floor would have a frog-type guardian.


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    It took me a ridiculously small amount of time to gather enough mana, and with a few orders given, I triggered the breakthrough, still keeping it silent so that even if someone was trying to pick up on it, they wouldn¡¯t.


    Everything went as expected, but I was surprised that during skill selection, I could actually put the full 20% allocation into just making this one skill. I guess it would just make it a higher rank. Perhaps it might also give other benefits to fully focus on one skill during a breakthrough.


    I did everything quite fast, so it didn¡¯t take long before I was out and reconnecting with my dungeon. I looked inward to see the skill that I got: Enhancement Rank C. That made me a bit hesitant¡ªI didn¡¯t expect such a name, but I still hoped that it would work. As I started to test out this skill, I found it was more than I expected it to be, and I was thankful for it.


    Not only would this skill allow me to power enchantments with my own mana, but it also allowed me to strengthen materials beyond their normal properties. What was even more interesting was that adventurers had a similar skill, and it seemed to work in quite the same way. So, for the first time, I had a skill that I didn¡¯t have to figure everything out by myself but could actually use all the knowledge I had gathered.


    The funny thing was that I actually now needed to practice because I didn¡¯t actually know how to enchant stuff or how to make large-scale enchantment circuits. While I would be borrowing some knowledge from the adventurers in terms of large-scale fortifications using enchantments, the Ant nations were actually the leaders in that type of technology.


    Many adventurers and creatures received invitations to a new department of the Academy. At this department, the job was just to start creating the types of enchantments I would need to keep myself safe from all kinds of attacks.


    Once again, we needed to change our defensive plans, as this development changed a lot. Also, a lot of tests were needed, as some were thinking about whether the weakness of the dungeon stone could be fixed by these types of enchantments. There was a lot to do, and this department, like any other, would have the mana budget they needed to accomplish their goals.


    What I also started to do was expand the 57th floor. I also felt like the length and width of my floors had gotten a bit too big once again, so for this floor, I would be pushing the height instead of keeping it at 15,000 meters like I had been doing for quite a while now.


    These floors that I was now going to make were going to just be empty, with only a bit of work done to make a few dungeon rooms and the floor guardian room, and nothing else.


    While I would have liked to keep doing what I had been doing, I simply didn¡¯t have the time. While yes, I could destroy this world with that small pattern, it didn¡¯t mean that I could survive if they truly attacked me.


    I had a feeling that they had more stuff up their sleeves, but it would cost them too much to risk it unless they were certain I was bluffing. If they attacked me, then realized I wasn¡¯t, well¡­ if they were going down, why not take me down as well?


    So a lot of my focus was on my new skill so I could learn its intricacies. The more I learned about this and enhancing materials¡ªeven real materials¡ªa sort of understanding started to click inside of me, but I didn¡¯t truly understand what it meant. As time continued to go by, this realization started to become more. It was now getting so distracting that I decided to look inside to see what was happening.


    It had been a while since I thought about this, but almost immediately all of my focus was taken up by a single section¡ªone that had my first gold rank trait: Intelligent Leaning Evolution and Enhanced Pattern Combining.


    Underneath it was two words that were now a lot less blurry, like I could almost see them. As I continued to focus on it, I understood that traits, like talents, sometimes needed to be discovered by doing something that corresponded with them. So, what had I been doing?


    Lately, I had been focused on applying my enhancement skill to real materials that weren¡¯t made by me. And then it instantly clicked¡ªthe blurriness disappeared, revealing two words: Real Materials.


    Understanding flooded me. I had been able to make real materials in the form of loot thanks to my dungeon rules, but now I fully understood that function and could apply it without needing dungeon rules. Now I could make real materials, so I wouldn¡¯t have to go digging for them.


    Immediately, I started to test and was smacked with a dose of reality, as adventurers sometimes like to call it. The cost of doing this was unbelievable. Then I understood that this wasn¡¯t how dungeons were meant to work.


    Making a decent amount of real materials without using the loot workaround was so expensive because they weren¡¯t a part of my domain. Dungeons were creatures that made everything their own that was inside of them. I had to focus on not claiming the rock that was in a lot of my dungeon stone to keep the melters from working, so making so much that wasn¡¯t me was incredibly hard and incredibly expensive.


    There were ways around that. A perfect example was the water-making runes. They were quite different from enchantments¡ªthey were more a physical type of magic. But, as another dungeon demonstrated to me, making real water with them was simple enough. I just needed to let mana flow through them, and they would just make whatever, unlike enchantments that needed specific inputs.


    Now I could do both, and with the combination of the two and, of course, the help of my Academy, I think I could make a combination of runes and enchantments to help produce real stone and any other kind of real material.


    It would just, once again, take some time. It was also now a lot easier to keep real materials inside my territory without them turning into mine. No wonder it took me so long to figure this trait out, as I would have never expected it to be something like this.

 chapter 278

    Pov Dungeon Core


    It had been a really busy few weeks after our victory. I dove deep into the world of enchantment. Many expected it would take me a while to get competent enough to start working on our defenses, but I totally floored them when they realized that in a little over a week I had mastered all that I could.


    Now, the only thing holding me back was my skill rank. Without increasing it I couldn¡¯t make more powerful defenses with this skill simply because I couldn¡¯t use more or denser mana lines.


    Of course, then I had to explain why I couldn¡¯t. They did not understand what the problem was. Their skills were a lot more flexible than mine, so I started with that. After that, I explained to them that I still needed to learn everything from scratch, as my skills didn¡¯t come with little nudges like theirs as they continued to improve.


    My skills more so allowed me to use those kinds of methods without overexerting myself, and of course, they gave me flat bonuses whenever I leveled up that allowed me to perform those skills faster and more powerfully.


    I had tried to explain what followed next before, and this time I was able to come up with a good example. They thought that I was a genius at enchanting, but actually, it took me way longer than an average enchanter to get half as good.


    It¡¯s just that many parts of me worked on different problems. In fact, on average for the past week and a bit, around 1,000 parts of me worked, so I could understand and master everything I knew about enchanting.


    They didn¡¯t understand what it meant time-wise. To them it might have seemed like I had just spent a little over a week mastering something, but in fact, I spent way over 1,000 weeks. It¡¯s just that the different parts of me did their own thing, and then the greater me knew what they did and passed it on to the different parts of me, constantly getting better at a slow rate for me but incredibly fast for a single-minded person.


    They finally understood when I gave them the example of 10 people working for 10 hours at one job versus one person working for 10 hours at one job. While only 10 hours passed, the 10 people actually worked 100 hours in that 10 hours, which allowed them to do 10 times more work. Now, of course, in reality, things don¡¯t work so smoothly, but they understood what I was trying to say.


    While in some ways I am the same as the creatures and adventurers who live inside my dungeon and outside, the way I experience the world and time is a lot different. Whenever they lost someone, they would grieve for some time but would never truly forget, as sometimes those memories come back.


    I never forget, but I move on incredibly fast, as many parts of me grieve at the same time. I think that¡¯s why most dungeons seem so cold to single-minded people¡ªbecause our emotions for them are so short-lived, they don¡¯t really see them.


    Even then, they didn¡¯t understand it fully, and it was hard for me to continue explaining a life to them that was so foreign. What they also didn¡¯t understand was how I could not help them with the problems they were facing. If I had so much time, so much opportunity to figure out things, why would I ever need them? The answer to that was both complicated and simple¡ªit was really hard for me to think of new things.


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    As time went on, I have gotten better at this, and with enchanting, I have found that I do have the ability to innovate, at least a little bit. The best way to do this was if I thought about enchanting like I did my patterns¡ªI just needed to combine different parts to make the combination that came out of it better. Yet, trying to think of something completely new, something that needed a different kind of approach that I didn¡¯t know about, my mind just couldn''t make that leap.


    I think I¡¯m too rigid for that kind of thinking. But that¡¯s why I have my creatures and adventurers. We have always been in a symbiotic relationship, and I have accepted my shortcomings, which I could understand was, once again, a bit hard for them to understand.


    For them, it was important to strive to remove their weaknesses. It was important to them, and I could give them that. I could make them challenges, and I could use the knowledge I received from them to help others of their kind. Which I truly liked to do.


    After all of this, the work on the fortress defenses properly started. The current outer shell, which I was still working on making a perfect circle, was going to have another layer on top of it filled with fortifications meant to repel any attack and, of course, improve my defenses immensely against magic types of attacks. The first problem we ran into was gravity.


    At the bottom, you couldn¡¯t really make proper fortifications if you needed to stand on top of them upside down. So, for the first time, I was making a dungeon rule that was going to affect the outside of my dungeon.


    At the equator, the gravity would switch. The top half would remain the same, although I did still make a dungeon rule so that anyone who wanted to flip that gravity would need to overcome my dungeon rule before that could happen. The bottom half had its gravity flipped, so now I technically no longer had a top and a bottom but instead two tops.


    A lot of the mountain that used to dominate this area was already gone, as it was being cut apart by hundreds of millions of ants into large blocks that I would then enhance. A lot of it was also turned into fine gravel to be mixed in with my dungeon stone. All of this was going to be used to build the defensive outer layer. The designs were quite complex, and altogether they were about 10 stories tall, although there were peaks and valleys.


    Anyone wanting to reach my outer shell or the two main entrances would need to fight through all that. And of course, they would still need to punch a hole through that outer shell, which was once again going to be pressurized with an immense amount of water. The second layer of compressed water was going to be removed, and another layer of fortifications was going to be built, which was once again manned.


    In the end, the weakest points were going to be the two main entrances, and whoever reached that far would just need to contend with my inside defenses, like the labyrinth.


    I do not know how long it would take, but eventually, the plan was that all of those defenses were going to be run by creatures or volunteer adventurers. But in the near and probably long-term future, most of it was still going to be run by monsters, even if they were never going to be as good compared to properly thinking people.


    We had seen a few scouts near my territory, but no force was approaching, which was good news. Hopefully, they would never return. But when I was about two weeks away from finishing the expansion of the 56th floor, I felt something I had never felt before¡ªa dungeon, a platinum-rank dungeon, broke through to the diamond rank. It was halfway across the world, but I could feel the power it possessed. Before long the ripples of that breakthrough stopped.


    Emergency meetings followed. Everyone agreed that they will try to build a force so strong that they could overwhelm us. We didn¡¯t know much more, but it seemed like the Pixies were the most angry about what had happened and the most adamant that I needed to be destroyed.


    It didn¡¯t take long for me to finish expanding the 57th floor. The floor itself was a bit over 267,000 kilometers in length, almost 201,000 kilometers in width, and 46,200 meters in height. Then I triggered another breakthrough. During the breakthrough, I put all of my skill allocation into Enhancement, barely pushing it into the A rank.


    What followed was much of the same¡ªmy main focus was working on the defenses and continuing to advance by expanding my next floor. Then I felt another dungeon breakthrough into the diamond rank. Just a few days after that, another one followed.


    We learned that they were advancing dungeons that had been kept near the end of platinum rank. It was obvious that they were trying to push all of their dungeons so they could continue to boost new members and raise a proper army.


    Unlike what they did with Ace, I was certain they were going to give those recruits proper training and skills. They must have been putting a lot of resources behind what they were doing, which meant another confrontation was going to be inevitable. I felt bad for the regular people of this world, as it meant the end for them.

 chapter 279

    Pov Vivian


    I laid a piece of meat onto the pan and immediately knew I had messed up. There was way too much smoke. I quickly lifted the pan from the heat source and used a skill of mine to cool it down a bit. Unfortunately, it was no help. The meat was already stuck, so I cooled the pan down completely and made sure all the smoke went outside. Next, I sat down on one of the chairs and just sighed in defeat.


    Why should this be so hard? I literally couldn¡¯t remember the last time I had to cook for myself. I either ate rations or someone cooked for me. I couldn¡¯t even complain about the equipment, as it was decent. It didn¡¯t take us long to find some buried iron ore, and we had plenty of crafters who quickly turned that iron into more mundane stuff we needed.


    Most of our houses were built of logs, and so was mine¡ªI even helped build it. Most of the clan seemed quite content and happy to build their homes here, but I was, in all honesty, dissatisfied. It was too normal for my liking.


    Worst of all, I was inside a dungeon that was beyond my understanding, and yet all I could do was just sit back and live a normal life. Of course, I knew that someday we would be able to live here and explore this dungeon if it survived, but how many generations down the line would that happen?


    We had access to the dungeon¡¯s labyrinth. There were two labyrinth exits from this area, wherever this area actually was. Why had the dungeon even done something like this, I had no idea. It even had wildlife that weren¡¯t monsters like in its hub stations. But this certainly wasn¡¯t a hub station. It wasn¡¯t connected to the dungeon¡¯s main route; I could feel that. So, why did it do this? Was it helping itself somehow?


    I knew that dungeons could get mana from creatures or dungeon-born, as we called them. The trees and plants here were also real, but not all of them¡ªthe percentage was quite low. So this place must¡¯ve been quite old, like half a century at least. Was it getting mana from them as well?


    I was now regretting publishing that paper and sharing my knowledge with others, because I was certain they were testing things out. And from the breakthroughs I have felt of dungeons reaching diamond rank, I think my ideas have been proven right.


    ¡°Dungeon, ETG, I don¡¯t know if you can hear me, but the dungeon breaking through the diamond rank¡ªI think it¡¯s my fault. Please don¡¯t look at this as a failure of our clan, and don¡¯t punish them. I shared my ideas with others about the usefulness of dungeon-born¡ªor creatures, as dungeons call them.¡± There was no answer. I didn¡¯t even feel more focus from the dungeon on me.


    ¡°Most likely, they are using these methods to improve dungeons as fast as they have now been able to, and I think they¡¯re pushing diamond ranks even more than platinums. You must try to continue pushing forward. I know that defense is a priority, but you must try advancing as much as possible.¡±


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    ¡°They¡¯re most likely using this method with our deepest dungeons. I don¡¯t know if you know this, but there are a couple dozen dungeons in the 90s and some in the mid-90s. They have been stuck there for centuries as they are barely keeping a positive mana flow.¡±


    ¡°But with your threat, I am certain that not only would they allow those dungeons to make creatures¡ªperhaps even millions of them¡ªthey will also bring in millions of other people, like you have done with the adventurers. I do not know how much time you have, but you must really hurry if you want to surpass them and get past floor 100.¡±


    There was silence again, and I waited for quite a while, but nothing changed. I looked down at the pan that was still in my hand with the piece of meat stuck to it. ¡°I guess it¡¯s time to fix this. At least I can do that.¡±


    A noise outside the cabin shocked me, as it sounded and felt like a large piece of stone falling from a decent height. As I opened the door, I saw not too far away quite a big boulder blocking my pathway to the main village. The meaning was quite obvious as I saw a letter that was stuck to the rock. I was actually quite amazed that it could spawn something so close to my aura. This dungeon truly was quite powerful for its depth.


    I picked up the letter and went back inside before opening it. Time went by, and I just sat and looked at the letter. I was a bit afraid of what it would say, but in the end, I needed to read it. The wax seal broke apart enough, and then I started to read.


    Hello Vivian,


    I appreciate the information, and although it is not pleasant to hear that you passed on such information at the time when you did, we were enemies. So I do not hold it against you.


    It is a bit unfortunate to hear that they are using such methods to improve their dungeons instead of wasting more precious resources, as I was expecting.


    On your worries about dungeons having millions of adventurers and millions of creatures to advance themselves as fast as I had¡ªwell, you are missing a lot of information there.


    I am also aware of all those dungeons that are so deep, quite a few of them are now quite close to me. If it comes down to it, a battle of the dungeons will be seen.


    Those last words were chilling. There hadn¡¯t been a proper dungeon-versus-dungeon battle in this or the previous age. Fortunately, I think this time the battle won''t happen on the surface, but it would be devastating nonetheless. The biggest worry I had was: what was I missing that would change so much that this dungeon was so confident in winning? Whatever it was, it must be crucial.


    When I got the pan cleaned, I cooked myself a proper piece of meat, although I wished there was some salt. We could get some from a couple of plants, but since the dungeon is actually listening, perhaps my grandfather and I could propose to the dungeon that it adds some resources to make living here long-term more viable.


    With that thought in mind, I started to head towards Grandfather¡¯s lodge when my route was blocked by the boulder the dungeon used to deliver its letter. I delivered a simple punch to destroy it, as smaller rocks could be a bit useful, but a sharp pain went through my knuckles. Damn it. I looked at the rock that didn¡¯t have any damage on it.


    Then I remembered that the dungeon could have just made a letter without making such a big rock. So it was definitely a bit annoyed at me.


    After sensing, I realized that this was dungeon stone. I wasn¡¯t going to be able to break this without considerable effort and perhaps a few months of time. That was a bit annoying, but I decided just to lift it out of the way. When I tried, however, I could not budge it even a bit.


    It wasn¡¯t that big that it should have been that heavy. In fact, no metal or rock should be that heavy at this size that I couldn¡¯t move it. So, it used some dungeon fuckery to make it incredibly heavy.


    "Really?" I said out loud and then heard another loud noise further down the path. This time, I did feel a bit of mirth on the dungeon¡¯s part, and I felt my eye twitch. I looked around the boulder to see about 20 meters ahead of me a boulder twice the size of this one. My shoulders drooped. I simply walked around this rock and then the other one.


    My beautiful straight pathway was now ruined. Note to self: don¡¯t do stuff that would make the dungeon annoyed.

 chapter 280

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I was relentless in my work. It had been a while since I expanded floors without adding any materials to them. Well, technically I did add some, but the few rooms were so little in comparison to the volume of the floor that they shouldn¡¯t even count.


    It took me another breakthrough to get my Enhancement skill to S rank and to finish enchanting the outer layer. It was a lot of work, but now it was time to test it.


    We had a couple of melters we had been able to steal, and one of them was pointed at my outer shell. No matter how many times I¡¯ve experienced this, it still hurts. They still cause small microcracks, although they are healed in just minutes.


    ¡°Go ahead,¡± I gave the command, and the melter was activated.


    They usually burn for about 10 seconds, sometimes more, sometimes less. This time it managed 11 seconds. I could feel the mana draw, it actually took a significant amount of mana to protect against this attack, but it didn¡¯t get through.


    I felt like some of the tension I held in my crystal disappeared. While I was certain that those Pixies¡¯ beams were a lot stronger, this was just the first and most diffused protective layer, meant to handle things that got through the rest of the defenses.


    Our defensive plans also constantly changed, as we were actually building out some of the defensive structures with all the bells and whistles and then testing them out. And when you make things in real life instead of relying solely on theory, you found out that there were things that simply didn¡¯t work the same way as expected, and because of this, we needed to adjust.


    We had plenty of people with skills and minds that were good at simulating things, and even I could do that if I had the proper parameters. What we found was that we were currently too exposed on the top. The problem was that our enemies could concentrate their attack on a small area that was visible on the surface, and we could only defend properly from that small area.


    No matter what defenses you built, in the end, they¡¯re only delaying actions. You need to proactively attack if you wanted to stop the siege, as I¡¯ve come to learn and what I should have already known.


    So right now, my entire dungeon was out of place. After many discussions, everyone agreed that we should somehow¡ªthough no one actually knew how to do it¡ªraise my dungeon so the equator of my dungeon would be visible on the surface.


    Yet the problems it proved were so much worse. We would need support pillars to keep me from falling downwards, and those would become weak points. While I would survive the drop and could possibly dampen the impact forces that would follow, it would still do incredible damage to the whole dungeon structure, and I¡¯m guessing a lot would die.


    No one came up with a good solution, so while the plan was good to make us more defensible and allow us to better attack our attackers, this idea was tabled.


    It only took a week for someone to bring up an idea that might help fix our problem. It was one of the adventurers who was still in silver rank and had only joined the Academy recently.


    He was accepted because he was truly a brilliant thinker. His brand of thinking wasn¡¯t what we had in abundance¡ªthat of theory. He was more of a practical thinker, one that we didn¡¯t have too many of. Yet I don¡¯t think he would have come up with this kind of solution if he still wasn¡¯t silver-ranked.


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    Adventurers had many tools to deal with all kinds of situations, and some of them were magical. As a gold rank, you really didn¡¯t have to worry about climbing anymore. If you already didn¡¯t have some way of moving fast through difficult terrain, climbing as a gold rank was beyond easy if you trained just a little bit. So silver ranks had more tools that would help with more mundane challenges.


    The problem was, magical solutions cost a lot, but that didn''t mean artefacts didn¡¯t exist that had been resold multiple times that no one ever knew when they were originally made. New ones weren¡¯t being made because basically no one was rich enough in silver rank to use them.


    There were some surviving artefacts that wealthier teams used when they got their hands on them. So, while there were none in my dungeon, it was well documented that there were artefacts that, when activated, could hold their location in space against tremendous force.


    There were many names for them, and the objects were quite different, but the most common one was a simple rod that, when activated, simply couldn¡¯t be moved. It was often used to climb down when you didn''t have anywhere else to tie your rope to and, of course, for traps against larger beasts. With a creative enough mind, it was a truly welcomed addition to any adventuring party.


    He proposed that maybe we could build larger versions of those to hold the entire dungeon in place, but that had other problems. With the accumulated knowledge we had, in less than a week, we had multiple prototypes of these types of artefact.


    They were quite costly to make, but they were also quite useful, at least in my opinion. Using this artefact, I could see many of my trap designs, puzzle rooms, and other obstacles being overcome so much easier.


    That made me think about the effect of equipment. Should adventurers try to pursue and get these devices and artefacts, or should they try to do everything on their own? It was a difficult question, because if you didn¡¯t have those devices, you would be so much weaker and able to solve a lot fewer problems. Yet it was undeniable how much more survivable you would be if you had access to these kinds of devices.


    Perhaps I should look more into these kinds of artefacts, as I didn¡¯t even have any idea that such an artefact existed that could help you in such unique ways and who knows what else has been made. Perhaps I should make some of these available to be gained through quests. It was an interesting problem, but something I didn¡¯t really have time to deal with right now. So, it went on the list.


    Calculations were being run as they tested these artifacts. While they weren¡¯t completed yet, it was going towards a viable solution, although we would need a combination of artifacts that were truly huge and a newly developed enchantment that would work together with this artifact to make me unmovable from a relative spot in this world. A few other departments also found these artifacts quite fascinating and were already testing some of them on the satellite outpost.


    It would just take so much mana to make these artifacts, as the cost of their materials was ridiculous. Then, of course, there was the maintenance. It would take a large chunk from my mana generation, which was crazy as it was already so high.


    I was trying to think of a solution when I managed to expand the 59th floor to its limit. So it was time for another breakthrough. I still had many skills that weren¡¯t S-rank that I should work on, but perhaps that was the solution.


    I thought about it for quite a while, but the more I thought about it, the more I believed it might be possible. What if I made such an artifacts ability¡ªto keep things from moving from one spot¡ªinto a skill?


    That way, it would affect all of me, and I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about support that would need to hold up the immense mass that was me. For some reason, thinking about how much I weigh made me happy.


    So, I pushed my breakthrough back a bit so I could focus on learning how the artifact affected space and what parts of it I wanted in the skill. I was certain that this skill would be affected by My World skill. It seemed to go hand in hand because that would give me more control over the space I was in. I felt that I was ready six days after I began, so I triggered the breakthrough.


    When I came out of it, I immediately reconnected with my dungeon and then looked inside me to see what skill I got. It was named Hold Location, and it was rank E. That should work, but I did put the full 20% into this skill, and it was still only at rank E. In comparison, the last skill I made, Enhancement, was created at rank C. So this new skill should be quite powerful.


    As I activated it, I did feel like basically nothing could move me from my space. But interestingly enough, I think I could change which relative part of the space I was holding onto. If I wanted to, I think I could hold onto the space in a way that the world would simply continue to move forward without me.


    Of course, that would be devastating, as it would mean I would slow down way too fast and basically kill myself in the process. Yeah, I was not going to mess with this skill in such ways.


    The testing itself took a week, as lifting myself upwards was not easy. Still, when I was about a meter up from my last position, I activated the skill. It took about 1/20th of the mana to upkeep compared to if we had made the artifacts to keep me from falling.


    I didn¡¯t fall down even a little bit, which meant this skill worked exactly as we wanted it to work. We weren¡¯t going to lift me up just yet, as there was still too much work to be done on the outer defenses.

 chapter 281

    Pov Dungeon Core


    During the next breakthrough, I decided to increase my Ever-expanding Quantity skill, getting it to rank A. I had a lot of creatures and monsters, and while I was not starting to suffer from excess mana upkeep, it also wasn¡¯t too far away.


    I needed to be able to increase the number of creatures and monsters I could upkeep, and this was one of the best ways to do it. With an increase in rank, I could channel more mana into it every moment, which would hopefully allow me to keep ahead of the ever-expanding numbers I had to deal with.


    Another way to fix this would be to increase my capacity by improving my Creature Quantity skill beyond S rank into S-plus or even SS rank, but to make such a leap, I would need multiple breakthroughs. This kind of rank was meant more for when I got closer to diamond or even reached diamond rank.


    There was another rank above that, SSS, and even a plus version of that, but only a few dungeons have ever reached that¡ªat least to my knowledge¡ªand only because they were truly talented at that specific area and fully focused on it.


    This time, when I reconnected with my dungeon, I was met with a surprise. There was a new plan that had been thought up and properly explored. It was quite a simple plan to fix everything, although the application of it was questionable at best. Our plan was to eventually raise me up so half of me would be above the surface, but now came the question: why not lift me up completely, perhaps even put me into orbit?


    Orbit was a new term. Many new terms have come out from the satellite outpost as they continue to observe the space around them. They also needed to start naming certain things so they could be taught easier.


    Orbit was a term to describe the movement of celestial objects, as every object seemed to be moving around others, mostly in some sort of circular pattern. It was fascinating to learn about all of this.


    Also, the world we were currently in was not unique, except it had life while others didn¡¯t. Worlds like this were, for now, being called planets, while smaller celestial objects circling them that were big enough were being called moons.


    So the plan was to lift me up high enough that I would become like the satellite outpost, which would safeguard me from a lot of attackers and most definitely other dungeons. While I was not against the idea¡ªbasically no one was¡ªit was unfortunately not easy to accomplish. Not easy at all.


    Currently, how I was moving upwards was that I had taken a lot of the surrounding rock and dirt, made it my own, and then used it to slowly push me upward. It was an incredibly mana-consuming task that took a lot of concentration.


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    Another problem was that it wasn¡¯t that safe. Moving my weight caused the surrounding rock to often crumble. If I were to lift myself even higher up without supporting the bottom, it was more than likely that I would fall.


    That problem was largely fixed thanks to my newest skill. If I felt that I was going to start falling, I could just activate it, stabilize everything once again, and start moving upwards.


    Even if I wanted to, lifting myself up past my equator was going to be tough¡ªnot to speak of getting me into orbit. There wasn¡¯t really anything powerful enough to actually lift me, at least not yet, so another few projects were added to the Academy that now required filling new positions so such methods could be invented.


    There was talk about using my newest skill. Technically, if we waited for the correct time and if I could control this skill of mine to a fine degree, we could use it to basically anchor myself to space that wasn¡¯t bound by this planet, which would make me move away from this planet.


    If I did it at the wrong moment, instead of being lifted upwards, I would be dragged through the planet, killing me instantly. If I wasn¡¯t able to control the skill precisely enough, we would accelerate way too fast, basically liquefying everything inside, including my core.


    If that wasn¡¯t dangerous enough, there was also the problem of this world and how mana circulated. I needed that circulation; otherwise, I would suffocate. The mana got thinner and thinner the further out you went from this world. If I were to go outside the influence of the world core, I think I would actually suffocate. Also, I believe if I were too high up, my mana regeneration would fall drastically.


    So, while in the end it might be a good idea, there was simply too much that could go wrong and too much we didn¡¯t know. We just needed more time to find things out. There was also another thing I had noticed about mana¡ªI was generating more of it, and it wasn¡¯t accounted for by the increase of creatures and adventurers inside of me. So, it was time to dig a bit further into that to find out what was actually happening.


    I also started to expand the 60th floor. My instincts were now quite angry at me, and I also felt quite unsatisfied that I couldn¡¯t make proper floors. The emptiness inside of me was disgusting, but I needed to endure it so I would have a chance to survive. It didn¡¯t take me too long to figure out the mana generation issue. The ambient mana of the whole world had increased by just a little bit, and it turned out that could help quite a lot.


    After I revealed that discovery, a few more started to examine this and what could be the cause. Eventually, we all figured out that it was because so many dungeons were getting stronger. It turns out that the four powers weren¡¯t just focusing on a few dungeons. They were literally changing the way they ran dungeons¡ªfrom the newborn dungeons all the way up to diamond-ranked.


    The thing was that this wasn¡¯t good. While it would start to get them more and more strong people with more resources than ever, I might actually not have to release the small pattern for this world to be destroyed. If the ambient mana kept rising like this, more and more animals were going to start changing and getting stronger, and the current strongest wildlife was going to get even stronger.


    It was a dangerous game they were playing, trying to raise an army strong enough to quickly wipe me out. They would not fight me as an easy target, no matter what they did, and I didn¡¯t even need to give any signals.


    Even if I were to end with a snap at this current moment, the creatures I sent out were completely autonomous, and when they understood that I was gone, they would release the small pattern. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t really know how to make them truly fear this small pattern, because if I were to release a bit of it, it might already be too late.


    In the end, all I could hope was that this threat would be taken seriously. I focused back on expanding to the 60th floor and strengthening and enchanting a lot of materials so the building of the outer defenses could continue.


    The more time passed, the more the frantic situation inside calmed down, and people got more or less back to their lives. I really wanted more time to just observe everything that was happening, but there was only a finite amount of me, and unfortunately, survival trumped entertainment.

 chapter 282

    Pov Dungeon Core


    It has been nearly two and a half years since I broke the siege. Slowly, I have noticed more and more scouts. They are very careful, but my people are better. Also, what''s the point of making strong defenses and the capability of attacking back if you can¡¯t even detect your enemies? I¡¯ve also decided to allow some of our spies to return to the world once again.


    While I don¡¯t want them to be captured or killed, it¡¯s their choice to make, and the large purge is now over. The Big Four have started to relax a bit, so now spies have a better chance of getting in.


    Unfortunately, spreading information that¡¯s not approved by the Big Four is now too dangerous, as they have a handle on the entire world. Censorship is in full swing, and talking against it would get you found out way too fast for my creatures to take such a risk.


    They haven¡¯t been gone for long, but they were already providing excellent intelligence. They are building their arms up quite fast but not fast enough. While there might be a window of opportunity for them to actually take me by force, it will be a brief window.


    The good thing is that not all of the powers seem so driven to kill me like the Pixies are. I think they believe I¡¯ve made them look like fools with my very existence. I wish they would just get over it and stop being such bitches.


    We are also starting to get close to finishing the first layer of outer defenses. We have done a lot of modeling and extensive testing, so the kind of defenses we want should work as we expect. But in the end, the only way to find out for certain is to actually defend against a force that could have a chance of breaching them.


    It was also kind of hard to explain to the new people when they started working on this project how things should work. The thing is, regular city defenses are more of a 2D plane, but we are working more in a 3D plane.


    The ants had no problem understanding this. They have been doing combat like this for all their lives, and when their technology got good enough, they even had to contend with aerial combat on a scale unknown to this world.


    The best way we have found to explain our defenses was to think of a city fully enveloped by a dome-like wall. There were also normal cities that had multiple walls¡ªthey were actually quite famous¡ªso that made the next part of the explanation a bit easier.


    The first layer of the outer defenses was like an inner wall, and slowly we would build layer upon layer of walls so that every one of them would need to be knocked down for the attackers to get to the next one.


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    It was more difficult to explain the modular sections. Basically, every layer had sections like sideways walls that could also defend and allow attacks, which meant that if a part of a layer was broken into, it didn¡¯t mean the whole layer was lost.


    It was as complex as it sounded, and defending it¡ªmore specifically, positioning our forces correctly¡ªwas not as simple as just walking up to a wall and defending it. There was going to need to be a lot of training, and most likely defenders would just stick to their sections so they could learn them like the back of their hands.


    The ants had also done an excellent job making the fortresses down below, past my dungeon proper. Those were the fortresses built in pockets I have not claimed, to force attacking monsters coming from the other dungeons to go around them, while they could continue to attack the passing monsters.


    These were forts meant to slow down and weaken the attacks from other dungeons. Right now, the final trap was not yet done, but even now they would need to start fighting the outer layer before they could get in.


    Right now, I don¡¯t know how long we could defend before they would get through the defenses of the entrance¡ªprobably not that long¡ªbut with every passing month, they would find it harder and harder to get even close to the entrance.


    It has not been the most pleasant time, but it¡¯s still fun to work on a lot of this defensive stuff. Currently, we have not yet implemented any attacking structures, but there are already plans and enchantments being developed that would make me a quite dangerous opponent. While the aiming would still need to be done by others, I could supply a lot of the power.


    There were also talks about possibly making at least one extremely powerful version of these attack structures, but these were just talks, and no one actually knew if it was possible to do it.


    The ones talking about and taking this a bit seriously, for some reason, wanted me to have enough firepower with one attack to destroy an entire moon. I really think that¡¯s overkill. It would also be quite slow to aim and maneuver, as I would need to move my entire dungeon, but who knows what would be possible in the future.


    Time wasn¡¯t moving like it used to. Back in the day, I remember how fast months and years went by¡ªit was like a snap, and it was done. Now everything seemed to be crawling extremely slowly. Yet I was making progress.


    Another breakthrough came when I finished expanding the 60th floor. It was quite a large one, with 300,000 kilometers in length, 225,000 kilometers in width, and 46,200 meters in height. It was a monster, but they would just keep getting bigger and bigger.


    This time, I once again ranked up my Ever-expanding quantity skill, getting it to rank S. Eventually, I would need this skill quite a lot, so it¡¯s better to start early. I could just imagine how many creatures I would have when I was finally able to fill all of these floors. I had so many interesting plans, and I was quite certain that at least in a couple of them, I was going to make worlds that had no idea they were living inside a dungeon.


    It would be fun to see how they developed, and of course, with dungeon rules, I could make all kinds of different rules for those worlds. All of this just made me push harder. Many were also saying that I should probably make a skill that allowed me to create an avatar, as everyone found it quite creepy to talk to me while I was taking over creatures almost entirely to speak to them. I wasn¡¯t really that good at it, and they always moved quite jerkily.


    There were plenty of dungeons that had avatars, but honestly, I just wasn¡¯t feeling it, and it was actually a weakness. An avatar was directly connected to the core, but it had many weaknesses, like the single-minded creatures had, which meant I could be directly attacked, and even my core could be affected. I just don¡¯t think I would need something like this, and the weakness it created was a good enough reason to stop others from bothering me with this nonsense.


    I was also keeping ahead of problem fixes. Every now and then, adventurers found ways to circumvent certain things that shouldn¡¯t be circumvented, and that needed fixing. While I was focused on defenses, I still needed the civilizations and people who relied on me to function.


    That was why I also made a lot of resource nodes for the beast clan. That way, they could become self-sufficient, and when the time was right, they could join the greater dungeon community.

 chapter 283

    Pov Dungeon Core


    As I was finishing up the 60th floor, I realized that I had done this faster than the previous floor, even though it was bigger. I really didn¡¯t have more of me working on this floor than the previous one, which meant that the overall power I can command for changing things in my dungeon has grown more than I expected.


    Is this because I¡¯m getting ever closer to diamond rank? Perhaps that''s true. The breakthrough was easy¡ªin fact, not advancing has become harder. With more and more diamond ranks living here, my mana generation has started to spike.


    This time, I put nearly all of my skill improvement into Sub Dungeons, bringing it to S rank. The rest I put into Outer Vision, but it was too little to improve it this time around.


    I wanted to round out the current skills that I had, at least to S rank, although I¡¯m guessing a few of them I would not be able to get that far, as they are of a different quality¡ªlike the dungeon gateway skill.


    Perhaps it was a waste of a breakthrough, but currently, I had no certainty in what new skills to get, and waiting for a breakthrough to get an idea of what new skills I would need felt like it would delay me for too long.


    I hadn¡¯t done much with my sub dungeons as I simply didn¡¯t have time. After I reconnected with my dungeon, I did figure out that I could now make my core floor even larger, but when I thought things through, to my surprise, it turned out it wouldn¡¯t actually be necessary. It would be a waste of time to expand the core floor, and that was a weird realization. Basically, if someone already reaches my core floor, the last of my defenses, I feel like I have already failed.


    It took me three months and one day to expand the 61st floor. That was an incredibly short amount of time, but it wasn''t much shorter than the last one. I don¡¯t think that by the time I reach the 75th floor, I would be doing each floor in a few days¡ªthat just didn¡¯t seem feasible.


    What I needed to do was actually make use of the 60th floor. Like every other recent floor, it originally only had a couple of dungeon rooms to keep everything still connected, and of course, the floor guardian room¡ªor, for this particular floor, a boss room. Now, a bit of it was filled with high-density mana crystal.


    Owning this much of it in the outside world would make you the richest person by a factor of ten. It¡¯s just that I needed to channel all this mana away from me because if I didn¡¯t, not only would I fill up incredibly fast, but if I didn¡¯t trigger a breakthrough, I would simply break. I wonder if the Pixies knew that they could simply kill me by knocking me out for about 20 minutes or so.


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    I¡¯ve tried to fix this problem with dungeon rules and even thought about some skills that might help, but the only thing that seemed to actually help is getting to the next breakthrough so my capacity would increase. It would be nice if I could get more capacity using a skill, but every dungeon that has tried has shattered. I still have some of their memories with their explosive ends.


    No, there¡¯s no way of doing this. It¡¯s just not feasible, the same way as messing with time would not end well. You could certainly try, and you would succeed to a certain extent, but the consequences are just too dire.


    With me finishing the 61st floor, I increased my Outer Vision to S rank and a bit went into Extreme Environment bringing it to C rank. Testing the skill out was quite nice, as I could now see quite far away. Perhaps I should augment this skill with another one that would help my vision function like a telescope so I could see truly far.


    So during the expansion of the 62nd floor, I pursued this line of inquiry. Not only did I look at telescopes, but I studied spells that allowed you to see further away, as well as different kinds of eyes and other methods of seeing. Perhaps it was a bit wrong to put so much of me into looking into this skill, but I had a feeling it might be really important in the future.


    So this time, in exactly three months, I triggered another breakthrough. This time, during the skill phase, I thought about all that I had learned and about my desire to look extremely far away and understand what¡¯s there.


    It was quite a while before I came out of my breakthrough, I realized that it had been the longest advancement I have had. Quite a while ago, I figured out that if I did things quickly and already had planned things out, I could reduce the time I spent in whatever mind space the breakthrough happened in. This time, the skill I wanted to make took a lot of thinking through.


    Now came the moment of truth. I looked inside and quickly found the new skill¡ªExtended Sight: Rank E. I might have failed here, the name was quite simple, but the rank gave me hope. Of course, inside my dungeon, I could view everything, so the skill wouldn¡¯t do anything, but when I tried to look outside, I couldn¡¯t.


    That made me panic a bit, but then I realized I needed to use my Outer Vision skill to be able to see outside. However, the range hadn¡¯t extended. I was only confused for a moment, as it seemed like I needed to use Extended Sight while using Outer Vision.


    The effect was immediate, and all of a sudden, I could only see blackness. I needed to rein this skill in quite a bit to be able to still view this world. One thing was clear¡ªI could still only view from one point of view, which was a bit annoying, but it would have to do.


    For the first time, I could actually see what the moon¡¯s surface looked like. In fact, if I used the skill correctly, I could see it the same way as I could see grass on the surface around me.


    I looked over the information from the satellite outpost, then I did some calculations and used my skills to zoom in on a particular location in space. It didn¡¯t take long for me to see a planet that I hadn¡¯t seen before.


    It was more towards the edge of our solar system, as they were calling it now. This planet was a lot smaller than ours. In fact, they think that our planet is too big to be natural, but they were not yet completely certain about that.


    The planet that I could now see was grey in color. There was no life there, not even an atmosphere. Seeing that was awesome. I could view it almost like I was watching it while flying from high up.


    I was impressed by how far I could see. I tried to use the skill on a few stars I could see, but all that did was make them brighter. The skill was still too weak, but it was only at rank E. Perhaps if I got it to S rank, I could actually see another solar system.


    Waiting until daytime was excruciating, but seeing the sun close up was magnificent. The power it had, the way it moved, and whatever those large arches were¡ªthey were amazing. My current worlds had fake suns, but perhaps one day, I could actually make a real one. Wouldn¡¯t that be amazing?


    Also, I had a feeling that the power it could provide would help my mana generation quite a lot if I did it correctly. But when I looked at my current floor size, I knew that I was a long way off from that dream.

 chapter 284

    Pov Dungeon Core


    We were now officially done with the first defensive layer of the outer defenses. This also meant that I could now power it, and I was glad to do so. It took quite a lot of mana, and the way all of this worked meant that I barely had to do anything to use that mana.


    If I made crystals or other high-cost materials, I needed to actually make them. Here, I just needed to pass mana streams through the correct locations that would then gather the mana and power all the enchantments.


    Up to this point, we had only powered up some sections to test things out, but now everything was coming to life. Power ran through the enchantment lines as I fixed in place mana streams that all ran through me and then eventually made their way to the correct locations. It was fun to make all of this. It was like city lights coming on, but for an entire megacity.


    It seemed like the enchantments had a yellowish glow. Once the enchantments were properly powered up, that glow diminished quite a lot. Normally, you wouldn¡¯t see it at all, but there were so many enchantments that if you viewed it from far away, my entire surface glowed yellow. I kinda liked the color. It also didn¡¯t extend too far away, which was good news, as I didn¡¯t really want to become a beacon.


    I let everyone revel in the success for a week. While most of the work was done by my monsters, there were still millions and millions of creatures who helped finish all of this. When the week was up, it was time to get back to work. We still had so many layers to build that would probably take centuries to finish because all the previous layers would also be strengthened.


    We needed to do it this way, even though it would take a lot longer, simply because if we wanted to build the first layer the way we wanted it to be, it would have taken decades, and we simply didn¡¯t have that much time to go without proper protection.


    We tested three melters at the same time, aimed at the same spot, and not only did they do nothing¡ªI actually didn¡¯t feel anything, with my core suffering zero damage.


    This was an unexpected benefit. Some of the enchantments were meant to keep out negative influences, and I guess whatever was causing me damage was also blocked by those.


    That made me feel a lot better, and it also meant a part of my weakness was gone. I wasn¡¯t foolish enough to think that with enough attacks, I wouldn¡¯t still feel it and that my core wouldn¡¯t get cracks, but I was certainly a lot more resistant to this type of damage now.


    The image of the Pixie leader¡¯s beam still scared me, but even in that premonition, it still took time to reach anywhere near my core, and it could be interrupted. That¡¯s why our defenses had the capability of launching our own attacks, and in certain buildings, those attacks would be amplified. In fact, I think it was time for a mock battle.


    It had now been two weeks since the party ended. Everyone was back to work, and while most were focused on the next layer, many were also practicing and standing guard inside the fortifications, ready to defend.


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    With my current allocation of my mind, I¡¯ve only been able to man the portion of the exposed defenses. I would still need to begin with the lower half to secure that entrance as well, but I could push that back to simulate an attacking army without informing the defenders. Let¡¯s see how they would handle an attack.


    I still couldn¡¯t make diamond ranks, but there were some monstrous platinums that could do real damage. Also, I was going to make a lot of adventurer species, give them the best talents and skills I could, and make them as powerful as possible. Many of the templates I already had, as a lot of them were currently manning the defenses.


    I didn¡¯t want to put too much of myself into this, so it took me a whole week to get ready to attack. Then I made them appear at the edge of my territory and commanded them to attack. These were not your regular monsters¡ªtheir reasoning capabilities were a lot higher, and all of them knew what they needed to do.


    I was glad that it only took about 20 seconds to raise the alarm, and mostly that was because all of our sentries were confused, as the army that seemed to be attacking didn¡¯t feel hostile. That was because they were my monsters, but as one of the sentries said, perhaps it was a purposeful misdirection by the enemy.


    Pov Ant Sentry


    It was amazing to feel the power underneath my six feet. Ever since the first layer was activated, we ants could feel much farther with our vibration sense. It was a bit disorienting at first, but it would allow us to do our job better. While we had good detection and no one should get through, even if someone did, we should be able to feel their footsteps.


    I had a long shift ahead of me, then there would be a little bit of torpor, and then it was back to building, after which came another sentry shift. A lot of the adventurers felt that this was too much work, but those adventurers were weird creatures. A lot of their work seemed to be in the pursuit of entertainment, which is just strange. But I¡¯ve been around long enough to understand that other beings are strange.


    Alarms started to ring out. It took me a moment to realize that they signaled an attack. Was this a drill? But I didn¡¯t remember anything being scheduled. There had been quite a few in the past weeks. Fortunately, I was already in position, but I could feel a lot of movement as many stopped working on the second layer and rushed into defensive positions.


    There seemed to be a lot of confusion, and I could even feel some running into each other in their rush to get to their places. Yeah, that needed to be fixed. I could see one of the adventurers who was with me in this section wince, as he probably sensed some of the same things I did, only in a different way. Then we heard our commander¡¯s voice.


    ¡°It¡¯s confirmed that an army of nearly a million is approaching. All platinum. They have monstrosities that could cause damage to our defenses. Everyone assigned as long-range attackers, get to your positions, and when the command is given attack.¡±


    I saw the adventurer close to me swallow in nervousness, and I kind of wished I could do that as well. Instead, I cleaned my antennas¡ªa nervous tick almost all ants shared. How had we not heard anything about this army?


    A moment later, I felt a voice in my head. "How did our scouts miss the army approaching?" the adventurer close to me asked, using the communication necklace all of us had.


    I shook my antennas in a way that humans understood meant ¡®I have no idea.¡¯ I believe they called it a shrug. It was when they lifted both of their shoulders. It was funny that even with our communication necklaces, it was sometimes easier to just learn other creatures¡¯ body language, as every creature had some form of it, and it was really easy to learn.


    We were further back, and we would not see any combat, but we could feel some of what was happening outside. I could feel the mana moving as attacks started to land on the walls that protected the very dungeon itself. The attacks seemed to not be able to get through, and I didn¡¯t think that they would, but I could feel the mana moving in different ways than before¡ªmore active.


    Periodically, we got updates. Apparently, some attackers had been able to get inside, but none of the walls were actually breached. Everyone was still confused as to who was actually attacking us. The way the bodies disappeared, it must have been a dungeon that connected with Father¡¯s territory. But then why were there adventurers with them? And how could another dungeon make adventurers? It was just so confusing.


    It took four hours for the fighting to die down, and all of a sudden, all of our attackers disappeared at the same time. Then I heard the voice of Father.


    "Do not worry, this was a test. It was my army that attacked. We now have an idea of what our defenses can do and what we need to improve. I thank you for your diligence¡ªeveryone did excellent."


    It took me an embarrassingly long time to actually understand what that meant. It seems that the adventurer close to me also finally received word, as they couldn¡¯t hear Father like I could. He looked quite pale.


    "Did he just make one of the strongest armies in the world just a test for our defenses on a whim?"


    The mental waves had a quiver to them, and I think I felt the same way as he did as I slowly nodded, confirming to him that I felt the same¡ªa gesture both of our species shared.

 chapter 285

    Pov The Commander of the 5th Sector


    I had special stairs so I could look out of my command bunker. It was a bit unfortunate to be a dwarf, but other than our height problem, we were quite built for defensive battles. I watched as the surprise army rushed ever closer. I wanted to yell at our information department, but I could not do that at this current moment, as I had a job to do.


    One of the reasons I was a commander was because I was able to use multiple spells at the same time¡ªnot for attacking, but to dictate the flow of battle. I had already activated many communications, all of them connecting me to the different lieutenants, who would then relay their commands to their subordinates. We had practiced this for quite a while, but this would be the very first real use of our command structure.


    ¡°It¡¯s confirmed that an army of nearly a million is approaching. All platinum. They have monstrosities that could cause damage to our defenses. Everyone assigned as long-range attackers, get to your positions, and when the command is given attack.¡±


    I watched the approaching army about to reach the first line. Time seemed to slow down as I waited for the right moment to order the long-ranged attacks. I waited a bit longer for more of them to cross that imaginary line before I yelled out loud and through all of my communication spells, "Attack!"


    There was a moment of pause before I felt the concentration of mana spike. Then spells and projectiles shot out at incredible speeds. Even before they reached their target, the second wave was also launched¡ªthousands upon thousands of attacks.


    Defensive spells sprang up in the attacking army, blocking the first few attacks that reached them with ease. The monstrosities among them¡ªmonsters I had never seen before¡ªprojected their own defensive skills, seemingly the most effective. Already with the first wave of attacks, some of the defenses wavered, except around those monsters.


    We didn''t stop attacking. Wave after wave of destruction rained down on the enemy, but they still kept coming. It was basically impossible to see what was happening, but every so often, I caught glimpses when an explosion blew away and cleared some areas of smoke and debris. There were dead do we were doing damage, but they seemed to disappear soon afterwards. So we were fighting dungeon monsters.


    I was expecting Father to comment or send his own monsters, but he hasn¡¯t communicated with us, so perhaps he means for us to take this attack on. No matter the case, I will do my best, although I will want answers afterwards. The lines of enemies continued to approach, and it was unfortunate that we couldn¡¯t use their dead as a way to stop them from moving forward.


    "Concentrate your attacks on the second line!" I yelled out once again and watched as the attacks shifted closer to our defensive walls.


    Even if the bodies weren¡¯t blocking their approach, the constant bombardment slowed them down. We didn¡¯t want the ones who survived the first line to rush forward and interrupt our attacks. We needed to move the attacking line closer. This seemed to be the best line to hold. We were basically constantly bombarding it, slowing the enemy¡¯s approach to a crawl. Yet they still continued to advance.


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    "Close range, switch to the third line! Long range, switch back to the first line!" I yelled once again.


    Unfortunately, we needed to switch focus, as the long-ranged attacks had too large of an area of attack damage and could actually interrupt our defenses if they went off near the third line. Immediately, the enemies started to move forward faster.


    "Defensive barriers!" I yelled, and immediately I felt mana barriers flare up and more mana being supplied to the walls. Attacks started to hit almost immediately after. That had been too close, but now I knew. Our defenses were magnificent, and while I could feel the vibrations in the wall from all the attacks, we were holding.


    They tried to approach a few times, but they hadn¡¯t cracked our defenses yet, as every attempt was pushed back. We had started to rotate our attackers as they were getting tired and running out of mana, even if they could pull from the mana lines, no one could do that forever. Fortunately, the other sectors were sending their reserves, but it was clear that we all needed more reserves for a more sustainable defense.


    It took quite a while. I looked at my clock to see that we had battled for nearly three hours now. The enemy had started to concentrate on one section, and I watched as one of the monstrosities¡ªit had six legs and looked like a mix between a rhino and a lizard¡ªcharged forward. On its back, many humanoids defended it against spells.


    Lieutenants took charge of local changes like that, and I was glad to see that they were acting correctly, even though this time it didn¡¯t seem to work. More and more of that area focused only on that one target, yet it continued to accelerate and rush forward. It activated some sort of charge skill, and I knew that a breach was inevitable.


    ¡°Area 776, prepare for a breach!¡± I sent out the command and watched as people started to act appropriately. I was still amazed at all these devices allowing me such good details about the battle. I couldn¡¯t even imagine how good our defenses would be in 100 years of constant development. It was going to be magnificent.


    As I suspected, the wall was breached. The attack crumbled around a 12-meter area, leaving an entrance. The monstrosity did die, but I would have liked for it to remain alive a bit longer to block the attacking army. Before we could cover that hole with defenders to keep anyone from getting in, some of our detectors reported hidden enemies rushing in, trying to advance deeper into our defensive structures.


    ¡°Keep the mana lines safe! Anti-stealth units to Area 776 and all surrounding areas¡ªfind and destroy all intruders!¡±


    If needed, we had the capability of restoring the wall, but it would never be as good as before, and the approaching army had used our distraction with the charging monstrosity to get closer. This meant we couldn¡¯t reinforce a quickly built wall, which meant we needed to use a wall of people.


    The attacking army rushed into the breach and met our defenders. This would be the last effort of the attacking army. Our ranged attacks had decimated their numbers. Yet, if this was an army made by a dungeon, there would be many more to follow.


    Then, all of a sudden, they all disappeared, and I heard Father¡¯s voice.


    "Do not worry, this was a test. It was my army that attacked. We now have an idea of what our defenses can do and what we need to improve. I thank you for your diligence¡ªeveryone did excellent."


    I was mad¡ªnot because what he did, but because this section wasn¡¯t fully run by monsters. We had so many others here. I looked around and saw others feeling the same way. I asked something I didn¡¯t want to ask.


    "How many did we lose?"


    There was a brief silence before I saw the surprise on the faces of those gathering the information.


    "None?" was their answer, and I was dumbfounded. How was that even possible? So I asked the exact question again.


    "A lot of monsters did die, but none of the others¡­ I don¡¯t know how to¡ª"


    He was about to continue, but he was cut off. I guessed Father was speaking to him as well as to me.


    "This was a test. I made sure no one who was not replaceable died. You would have held the breach, but I stopped the fighting before anyone could actually die."


    I let out a tired sigh. My anger washed away, leaving only exhaustion from the whole situation. We made many mistakes, and after a few days, I was certain I would be happy about this test, but right now, I just wanted to get our defenses back in order and then sleep for quite a while.

 chapter 286

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I purposely directed the main forces of my attacking army to concentrate on parts of the fortifications that only had monsters.


    There were two reasons for that¡ªone, so anyone truly real didn¡¯t die, and two, because those were actually the weakest points since there wasn¡¯t anyone real there. Their experience will help me make better monsters in the future, as there is no conceivable way to actually man all those fortifications without having most of them filled with monsters.


    Fortunately, as I get deeper, I feel I can give monsters more freedom, and they¡¯re slowly becoming more capable of critical thinking. Even if I am certain that they will never be like my creatures, I think I could get them close enough that it wouldn¡¯t matter for this situation.


    In the end, the fortifications were still breached, and while the defenders could easily defend against the current numbers, what if they were up against armies of tens of millions?


    Now, this world couldn¡¯t supply such numbers¡ªthey had restricted too many people from advancing. But monsters from dungeons could certainly boost those numbers if they were let loose. Yet, this world also heavily limited every dungeon. They could only send monsters at me that were based on animals, which¡ªwhile in some cases annoying¡ªmade fortified defense a lot easier.


    There were a lot of people upset at me, but I was certain they would calm down eventually. Days passed after this event quite quickly, and meetings were started to be held. I got a little bit of a talking to, like I was a senior and they were my children who had grown up and needed to educate their parent a bit. It was quite funny and also a little bit sweet.


    After that, things went back to semi-normal, as I couldn¡¯t get back to real normal in a long while. Many talks were had, and some shortcomings were brought up, but the most serious one was the lack of range on our ranged attacks. After a lot of discussion, two methods to increase the range were agreed upon.


    First, there would be more enchantments and enchanted rooms that would help anyone inside cast spells over a longer distance. We already had some of those, but they would get overhauled, more would be made, and newer enchantments would be thought up to help with that even more.


    The second solution wasn¡¯t only to fix the range problem; it was to fix many other issues, including the lack of firepower. While we were missing heavy hitters on the walls, that was on purpose, as there weren¡¯t any heavy hitters on the other side. That didn¡¯t mean we couldn¡¯t provide our defenders with those capabilities.


    To fix those problems, artificers, scientists, and many others would start developing stationary weaponry that individuals or groups could use to punch through particularly troublesome attackers, whatever siege equipment they might be bringing. And, of course, a way to deliver more soft attacks to take down a larger number of enemies and keep them pinned down.


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    Those would be more physical attacks, so we were not merging them with the other long-range and offensive structures already planned and currently being built.


    A lot of innovation was happening. It was mainly thanks to my creatures and the large pool of individuals I could pull from. While there were plenty of adventurers in the Academy, they still only made up perhaps a few percent of the personnel there.


    I have expanded the area of the Academy a couple of times. It was now the size of quite a decent island, with many different concentrations of population instead of what was previously just a large Academy town.


    The tensions in the Academy were minuscule between the different groups compared to the dungeon rooms. The dungeon rooms sort of acted like a hub where many different civilizations and creatures mixed together. There were obvious racial hostilities, but I managed to hold back anything violent simply by creating another quest that gave negative rewards if you did so.


    What I found even more interesting was how effective negative rewards became. Now that they couldn¡¯t leave my dungeon, those consequences became way too real. In fact, I actually had to ease up on some, as the punishments were simply too severe. Now that I didn¡¯t have to worry about new people coming in, purposely making a mess, and then getting out


    Slowly, there was also a level of acceptance being built up between adventurers and creature adventurers. It didn''t take long for problems to arise when that was discovered, but nowadays, while my creatures are still looked upon as not truly real, they¡¯re more thought of as dungeon-born rather than monsters made by me.


    That makes me happy, and I think as time goes on¡ªespecially because the adventurer world is the most open in terms of movement¡ªthings will slowly shift towards a situation where no one actually cares.


    Of course, if we¡¯re speaking of normal creature lifetimes, that might not happen, but I¡¯m talking about generations, which for me wouldn¡¯t take too long to see happen. Speaking of time moving fast, I had finished yet another floor, so it was time to advance and then start making another one. I was already at the end of floor 63, and I was able to get even closer to diamond.


    This time, I increased my Extreme Environments skill, raising it from C rank to B+. When I reconnected with my dungeon, I needed to remake a lot of dungeon rules since, thanks to the upgrade, I could now make a lot of them work more as I wanted them to.


    And of course, making basically all of them that required more extreme environments even more mana-efficient. This also helped stabilize the gravity dungeon rules I had for the outer layer of my dungeon, making it even harder for others to affect it.


    I already knew that the following years would be more of the same, but fortunately, my design team was ever-expanding, and they never stopped designing. While I couldn¡¯t make my worlds and especially dungeon rooms just yet, my design team¡ªand of course, me¡ªwere working on making every floor have its own world and dungeon rooms.


    While this was all subject to change, the general blueprints would be finished, which meant that if I finally reached the stage where I could fully dedicate myself to making my dungeon again instead of protecting it, I could do everything so much faster.


    Just thinking about it, I was sure that if I had an adventurer¡¯s body, I would be subtly smiling while still doing annoying work.


    It¡¯s just that I wanted to test out all the new room designs, the different combinations of monsters, and to challenge adventurers. That made me stop. Would creatures who start delving into my dungeon rooms¡ªshould I call them adventurers as well?


    They have their own sub-dungeons. They are, of course, small, more like regular dungeons from the outside world, but I never even contemplated calling them adventurers for delving into those dungeons. How could I not call them adventurers if they started to delve into the dungeon rooms, especially when I opened up the upper floors to basically every civilization?


    The fact was clear that the upper floors were getting sparser and sparser in population. Soon, there would be no recommended path, and the people who fought against those monsters would disappear.


    The current number of adventurer children who delved into the upper floors was small. I would need ten times the population to keep sustaining the upper floors, and I could only get those from my other worlds.


    This would cause a lot of conflict, and it was the main reason I hadn¡¯t done this. But eventually, I would have to, and that eventually was going to come much faster than I wanted it to.


    In the end, I think that yes, even my creatures should be called adventurers if they started to delve into my dungeon rooms properly.

 chapter 287

    Pov Brigita


    It was hard to keep standing, so I let myself slump down against the big backpack I wore. The ground was cold here, as it always was, but this was home¡ªa home I never expected to have.


    I tried to stop them, but my tears still fell. It had been a hard life, but even if sometimes in my heart I missed my parents, I still remembered the last time I saw their faces, and after that, it was hard to call them anything but monsters.


    My life before that moment was fun. We lived in many hub stations as I grew up, always going downwards. There were a bunch of us children that had lives like that. I even remember one of the dungeon treks we had to do to get to another hub station. It was beyond scary to see all those monsters, but fortunately, it was the only time I remembered it, as we didn¡¯t have to do that again.


    We still went downwards, floor after floor, when my parents made it deeper in. Now they could bring me with them, a change almost everyone liked. We were only allowed to use hub station gateways and nothing else. Otherwise, I was sure my parents would have brought me along to every way station.


    Of course, I didn¡¯t know that at the time, but that was awful parenting, and while I hated being left to be cared for by others like many other children, now I know that it was the best option.


    Things got even more fun when we started to receive the children¡¯s version of the quest necklace. Never had doing chores been so fun, and reading those boring books became enjoyable because if I finished them properly, I got rewards.


    Once again, this isn¡¯t the best way to get children to do stuff¡ªI¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m addicted to rewards now¡ªbut it did help me survive those looks on my parents¡¯ faces.


    That announcement that the dungeon was actually free changed everything. Many around us were so happy. We had known nothing else but the dungeon, but I was one of the few whose parents had only recently come to this dungeon, and I was the first child they had in the dungeon.


    So when they came home and started packing to leave, I was a bit sad that we were going. But as the minutes went by and I watched them pack, I started to notice that they weren¡¯t packing anything that belonged to me.


    When I asked my mother what I should bring, those words still make me shiver¡ªthey were so cold. ¡°We aren¡¯t bringing anything tainted by this monster of a dungeon.¡±


    No matter how much I begged, they wouldn¡¯t listen to me. After that, every time I tried to touch them, to grab hold of them, they would push me away¡ªharder every time. The last push I remember rocketed me against the wall so hard that I blacked out.


    I wish I had come to when they were already gone, but I managed to regain consciousness just before they left. I was crumbling, bloodied, barely conscious, having cried the entire time. That was the image of me when they looked at me for the last time before they left.


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    I still don¡¯t know exactly how to explain it, but I had never seen anyone look at anything with such disgust. It was like I was a piece of shit underneath their shoes, something so bad that the only way to get rid of it was to throw away the entire shoe.


    And just like that, I no longer had any parents¡ªonly tainted memories, ruined by the monsters they became. I wasn¡¯t the only one left like that, but I think the way my parents treated me was the worst.


    Others still received hugs, even though I could see¡ªthough they couldn¡¯t, because they were too young¡ªthat the affection was faked. The ones who had cared for us looked horrified. They had lived in this dungeon their entire lives, so it shocked them to see those who they once called friends act like this.


    There were a few fights, but nothing truly serious. For me, everything at that point felt so hollow. Then, that quest notification beeped, pulling me back from that horrifying space. Apparently, the ones who had cared for us decided to start an orphanage, and I had a quest to go and join.


    My legs wouldn¡¯t move. I still remember that at the time only being thirteen I had already gone to the first floor a few times as part of a few different parties, with members a few years older than me.


    Not many wanted to be physical ranged damage dealers, but I liked using my bow. I was good at it, and the one that I had at that time was a reward for getting ten bullseyes in a row at 30 meters.


    I enjoyed the fighting, and I contemplated perhaps just running to a nearby gateway, going to the first floor, and trying to clear it myself. I had a good chance of doing so, but I also had a good chance of dying¡ªand at that moment, I didn¡¯t care.


    Then came a peep that changed my life. Many of us thought that perhaps the dungeon could read our minds, but we had confirmed amongst ourselves that that wasn¡¯t possible, although it was really good at predicting our next decisions.


    My quest changed, and I received an option: I could either join the orphanage or go to the nearest gateway, enter the first floor, and clear two rooms, after which I would be rewarded with a backpack containing basic survival gear and enough food to last me a week.


    The quest also told me that it wasn¡¯t a permanent choice and that I could always just return to the orphanage. It was exactly what I needed¡ªbut I never ended up returning to the orphanage.


    The quests gave me enough supplies to keep surviving, and as time went on, I started to enjoy the fighting more and more. The first floor, and every other up until the silver floors, should have changed every time I entered them, but no matter how long I was away, whenever I entered the first floor, it always brought me back to the one I entered three years ago.


    This entrance room had become my home. It was like a small apartment just for me. Yet now, everything I could bring was packed up, and everything that had at least a little bit of worth that I couldn¡¯t bring was sold off.


    I had just reached silver rank and gotten to the first way station of the first silver floor. I would never be returning here, and it was so hard to let go. Now I also had a proper quest necklace and not the children¡¯s version. It was time to move on¡ªand go ever deeper.


    "Thank you, Father," I said to the empty air.


    For the longest time, I just called Father ¡®Dungeon,¡¯ but I have visited hub stations. Fortunately, the ones I had been to, I could still go to. There, I learned about the other worlds Father created and the creatures that came from them. I learned that all of them called the dungeon ¡®Father,¡¯ and as time passed, I started to call him that too. I do not know how healthy this is, but I honestly didn¡¯t care what others thought.


    It was time to start exploring this wonderful collection of worlds and challenges Father had crafted for us.


    My steps were still heavy as I headed towards the gateway. Before I knew what happened, there was a flash, and I was in the first way station of the silver floor. It was time to gather as much information as possible and join the explorers and the runner¡¯s guild.


    Then go and take coin from the old men who don''t know how to control dice when they roll them¡ªhopefully, getting me enough coin to purchase an expanded backpack, then jump ahead to the hub station to get away from the old men who would want their coin back.


    It was nice to have shortcuts, but I won¡¯t take any except for this one. I tried to force the smile off my face, but it was so hard to do. It was going to be a fun day.


    Fortunately, in every hub station, there was a skill orb bigger than me that anyone could use to get any skill in it. If I understood correctly, the ones deeper would have even stronger skills, and I couldn¡¯t wait to see what skills those had when I reached that far.


    I kind of wanted to hurry there, but then I would miss out on all the wonderful challenges along the way.

 chapter 288

    Pov Leader of the Beasts


    "Sir, we found another, but like the last one, it killed itself and the sample before we got anywhere near. This one wasn''t human; instead, it was a wolf."


    "Anything else?" I asked while cursing our luck.


    "The Delvers found three more Pixies one more and the Masters have found none since last year¡¯s meeting. Here are the locations," he said while placing a piece of paper on my table.


    He said nothing else, so I indicated that he should leave. I looked at the piece of paper he gave me and placed the appropriate locations on the world map that hung on my wall.


    The four factions have only found twelve of the dungeon¡¯s agents, all carrying a suspicious device that they destroy before they kill themselves. Supposedly, there are at least a thousand out there, and from the looks of it, they seem to be everywhere, as the ones we have currently found are spread all around.


    Many think that if we could only get a sample of those small life, we would be able to make countermeasures. Perhaps that is true, but I wasn¡¯t willing to bet the future of this world on that fact.


    The decade after the lifting of the siege has been both frustrating and amazing. All of our dungeons are advancing a lot faster thanks to us making them make living space, which we fill up with anyone we can.


    My dungeon experts said that we were still missing something. We are falling way short of the expected values of mana generation that the numbers from that dungeon were showing.


    I personally think it¡¯s the dungeon-born that makes the difference. It¡¯s most likely that the other powers are experimenting as well, but I do not know if they have the bravery to do what we¡¯re doing.


    Many of our dungeons now have guardians, and we¡¯re allowing them more freedom, especially the older ones. Is this a risk? Most definitely. But I still think that the newer dungeons need the strict control we have on them; otherwise, things could get dangerous.


    The older ones¡ªthe ones you can reason with¡ªI¡¯ve never actually agreed with the Pixies that they needed to be controlled so tightly.


    While all of this was helping us get a lot more platinum ranks and even more diamonds, this sort of boosting of our dungeons seemed to do basically nothing for our highest-ranked dungeons.


    Their mana requirements were astronomical, and to keep up with the other powers, we needed to burn those mana reserves¡ªmeant to increase the rank¡ªto instead make monsters to help our diamonds get more fighting experience and for them to increase their rank at a more reasonable speed.


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    Looking at the map, every dungeon in the world was marked. Now that the darkness was gone, no dungeon was able to be kept a secret. More of them were popping up every week, as absolutely everyone was planting all the shards they had stored up. At least this seemed to help figure out who ruled over what sections of the world.


    I know that we have taken control over every nation in our sphere of influence, and while we kept their current leadership so they could keep managing their areas, we simply didn¡¯t have the manpower or the time to deal with rebellions on such a scale.


    Still, the world was slowly being divided by the four of us. Even if we managed to destroy that dungeon, we would never stop fighting each other. Now that we had a solution for the dungeon ranking problem, the stalemate was over, and there would not be a peaceful time until the next making happened.


    In all honesty, I think we can push our dungeon to the next rank, after which that dungeon would be destroyed anyway. But the Pixies are pushing for us all to fight it. Most of us think that they¡¯re hiding something like they know something we don¡¯t. And perhaps they do¡ªbut I know their pride. I have seen that be their downfall many times. Yet from the reports we are getting, the dungeon is fortifying itself to fight this entire world, and that¡¯s truly scary.


    It would also mean that we would need to fight with our dungeons to have any chance. But the Pixies are idiots if they think we haven¡¯t noticed their plan. Currently, their second-highest-ranked dungeons territory hasn¡¯t even gotten close enough to joining the fight.


    Their excuse is that the dungeon is too far away, but it¡¯s just an empty excuse. All the dungeons that are ranked so high basically have their territories at the core of this world. So, it could easily extend its territory to join the others, who have all extended theirs close to that dungeon.


    They¡¯re using the excuse their dungeon can just send its monsters through other dungeons'' territories, and while I guess that¡¯s true, dungeons can''t control their monsters when they go into other dungeons'' territories. I can already see them using it not being able to control some of the wilder monsters as an excuse so they could keep them back in reserve.


    We also have reports of them moving a significant population into that dungeon along with a few others. That¡¯s not to say that we aren¡¯t doing the same, but I think our end goals are a bit different.


    I¡¯m pretty sure that they will try to get us all to assault that dungeon, weakening us significantly. While they will enjoy ending that dungeon their true goal is not its destruction, but what will follow.


    They want us to think that nothing will happen. In every meeting we have, they emphasize that such a small live, as the dungeon describes, is impossible¡ªbut I think that they do know exactly how devastating it will be. Instead of fearing it, they¡¯re counting on it.


    Like them, we¡¯re all moving parts of our population into dungeons that will be turned into living bunkers. While every dungeon would still need to be open to the world, there are ways to secure them even against small life. The world outside would be devastated, but we would survive in our deepest dungeons while trying to have them rank up to be the ones who will win this age.


    That sounds horrific and worst of all, what would the world be like after? If basically everyone became that living death, the small live would turn the entire world into. I would not want to see what becomes of us after the making, and I certainly don¡¯t want to win so badly as to see that outcome. What would be the point in ruling over a dead world?


    Yet what could I do? The Pixies have the most dungeons. If I were to declare war on them, they would crush us. If the other two joined us, currently going by the numbers we know, we would eventually win, but they have more dungeons, deeper dungeons.


    They would eventually grind us to death. And in all honesty, I think they¡¯re lying about their numbers. The only reason they don¡¯t try to attack us is that we would weaken them too much. As we are no longer the only power that can contest them.


    We had all been stupid. I know that now. The millennia of peace allowed the Pixies to slowly build up enough strength and influence that when the time came, they could wipe us off the map. They are secretive bastards.


    As my eyes fell upon the location of the dungeon that has caused so much trouble, I perhaps saw a way out. But I could not voice this to anyone nor make any inquiries. I could only hope that when the time comes, I would have been able to maneuver everyone into the correct positions so that perhaps this world could be saved from the madness that¡¯s about to come.


    The armies and the weaponry have been built up. It won¡¯t be too much longer before the Pixies make us march to once again siege that dungeon, but this time we will have the force to assault it fully. The dangerous dungeon will be dealt with, and hopefully, afterward, the Pixies will fall as well.

 chapter 289

    Pov Dungeon Core


    Reconnecting with my dungeon after a breakthrough was always exciting. This time, however, there was a bit of bad news. Over the course of a few months, the Big Four have started to properly mobilize, and while we''re only getting snippets of information, the situation has been clear from the beginning. They will soon march. Yet now, it¡¯s confirmed¡ªthey¡¯re on the move.


    As most of the soldiers coming over are platinum- and diamond-ranked, even the Delvers don¡¯t have a problem showing up with a massive army on land. In fact, they¡¯re one of the closest, as our scouts have confirmed that they are currently preparing a beachhead to handle logistics for them.


    Currently, there are discussions on whether we should start operations outside my territory to delay any approach, but I left them to it for now as I decided to look over all my skills and how much I have managed to improve them.


    Currently, the focus has been on reaching as deep as possible. I¡¯m amazed that I managed to get to floor 72 so fast. But I guess if you¡¯re really pushing yourself in one direction and not doing anything else, progress comes quickly.


    Unfortunately, I haven¡¯t thought of any new skills I could make, and while I would still want the skill that allows me to take talents from beings not created by me, I can feel that even if I tried to make something like that, it wouldn¡¯t work¡ªat least not until I make it to diamond.


    Pattern Strengthening: Rank S


    Creature Making: Rank S


    Creature Quantity: Rank S


    Dungeon Modification: Rank S


    Space Expansion: Rank S+


    Dungeon Rules¡¯: Rank S


    Sub Dungeons¡¯: Rank S


    Outer Vision: Rank S


    Creature Advancement: Rank S


    Ever-expanding mind matrix: Rank S


    Planned Evolution: Rank S


    Dungeon Gateway: Rank F


    Extreme Environment: Rank B+ --> S


    Aura Crystal: Rank E+


    My World: Rank S


    Ever-expanding quantity: Rank S


    Enhancement: Rank S


    Hold Location: Rank E --> A


    Extended Sight: Rank E --> B


    I have been able to improve quite a few of my skills and even got one to S rank, but some skills just aren¡¯t as important, like aura crystals. While eventually, they will become important¡ªat least, I hope so¡ªbecause I really don¡¯t want to become the will of the world. I like my current self and will try to do anything I can to not become something else.


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    Floor 72 was impressively big. It is almost 481,000 kilometers in length, close to 362,000 kilometers in width, and, of course, the height I pushed to be 48 kilometers. It¡¯s weird how much height feels different than distances, but that 48 kilometers feels so much.


    Most likely, when I reach diamond rank, it will be time to readjust the height once again to keep down the width and length so I won¡¯t have to make so much land in the future.


    We were still working on improving our defenses, and the second layer was close to being finished¡ªit was already completed at both poles. Those were the two most likely places to be attacked, so they were the priority.


    Of course, our enemy will have strong mages who could manipulate vast swathes of earth, but we had countermeasures for that in the form of our own mages. And, of course, my dungeon rules would help make the difference in that fight.


    As the days passed, we were getting more and more information. The armies raised against us were incredibly impressive. The Masters and the Beasts seemed to have been able to make armies estimated to be between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 platinum ranks, with about 1,000 to 1,200 diamonds. Of course, those diamonds were early-ranked, basically diamond ranks that had just broken through, but there were still quite a lot.


    It didn¡¯t surprise me that they had them, but it was still impressive to achieve such a level of strength in what amounted to a decade and a half. The Delvers were on another level. They had fewer diamond ranks¡ªwe were estimating about 600 to 800¡ªbut their platinum ranks were estimated at around 7 million, which surprised everyone. It was the largest number among all of the four great powers.


    We weren¡¯t worried about the platinum ranks, even if those numbers were incredibly high. The problem was the Pixies. They had around 2 to 3 million platinum ranks, but what was concerning was that we were estimating close to 4,000 diamond ranks.


    Now that number impressed me. Of course, I could see what focused training could do, as we had close to that number of diamond ranks. So, if we were to take on the Pixies alone, even though they would have some trump cards, I was sure we could succeed.


    The problem was the other three great powers. Their numbers, added to the Pixies, meant that we were going to have a difficult battle ahead of us, and we would need to use everything we had.


    But we had the defensive advantage, which counted for quite a lot, thanks to our fortifications being built to counter such strength. We would get more accurate numbers as the armies converged on this location, but I was pretty sure that they were accurate enough already.


    The reason the Pixies were able to get so many diamond ranks so fast was simply because they had the most number of diamond-rank dungeons. While before I broke the siege, there were about 15 diamond-rank dungeons in the world, now there were close to 200. Of course, almost all of them were basically just 76 floors deep, as all of them had been kept at the very end of platinum for who knows what reason.


    Still, the fact that I alone could compete with the output of about half of those diamond-rank dungeons in producing diamond-ranked combatants was... well, it made me feel really good.


    Of course, I could make more farm floors to make up the difference, but the ramp-up time for one and the time to build one were simply no longer viable. That¡¯s why I have put so much time into advancing as my best chance for survival was to make it to diamond rank.


    I could also speed up my advancement a little by making the floors smaller, but it was already hard to fight my instincts to just leave those floors so empty. I think if I were to try to make those floors smaller, I would actually start to struggle to control myself. So I was pushing as hard as possible against the limits of the floor, pushing its spatial expansion as much as I could so I could reach the limits of it.


    With the armies against us, especially considering how many diamond ranks they had, the only way to actually win this was for me to reach diamond rank. Everything else was just a delaying action, and hopefully, our defenses were capable enough to keep those bastards out for as long as possible.


    Fortunately, they still had to make it here, which gave me more time. So I interrupted the meeting everyone was having and ordered them to do as much as possible to delay any army from reaching here, as even a few days could make the difference between victory and loss.


    I also needed to prepare armies. A part of me was constantly making monsters. While most of them were meant for the fortifications, a small portion was to refill the dungeon rooms. Everything else went into making roaming armies, so I could send millions of platinum-ranked monsters against the approaching armies and, of course, fight against the inevitable flood of monsters from other dungeons that would come from below.


    It was a delicate act of how much of myself should I dedicate to each needed task. If I put too much into making monsters, I would be delaying my advancement too much, but if I put too much into advancing, our defenses could crumble too fast, leaving me without enough time to reach diamond.


    I wonder if I have gone a bit crazy because I was actually finding this all a bit exciting. I guess the time for building up was over, and it was time to go to war again.

 chapter 290

    Pov The Supreme General


    My shoulders were still a bit stiff, but that¡¯s always been a problem when changing into a human form from an ant one. It¡¯s just that I feel so much more comfortable in my own form.


    Yet the change is necessary, as I can¡¯t deny the advantages of a human form. Unfortunately, my position doesn¡¯t require any of the advantages my original form gives, so here I am¡ªelected as the leader of the entire armed forces of the dungeon, the Supreme General, as they call me.


    We were gathered around a table, waiting for word from our forward scouts. So many strong people were here, and Father was once again advancing, having pushed himself in record time to finish the 73rd floor.


    Everyone here could single-handedly beat me in combat¡ªsome quite easily¡ªbut my talents never lay in actual combat, even though I did it quite a lot when I was young. No, my talent gave me the opportunity to learn from my experiences and turn that into wisdom, simply by not dying when I should have.


    There are some powerful talents out there, but mine didn¡¯t grant me immortality¡ªat least not in the form I would have liked. It gave me time, and as it turned out, that was all I needed to succeed.


    Back then, the ant nations were young and in constant war. Slowly, I watched my race grow smarter. There were individuals capable of complete reasoning even before me, but I watched in fascination as everyone became as intelligent as the few of us who had already reached that stage.


    I was far from leadership back then. I was just a simple worker ant, but unlike my sisters, I did not perish from growing old as they did. Then the wars came, and even though I was not a soldier, all of us still received a bit of training back then so we could protect our colonies.


    The constant fighting allowed me to get stronger, but I was also captured, as my original colony didn¡¯t survive. It was back to working then for quite a while.


    Our Queens were gone, so it didn¡¯t take too long for all my sisters who survived that fight to be gone. Time passed like that, and more fighting followed. Then champions started to appear, but I was still just a lonely worker, even though I had grown quite powerful.


    Everyone had forgotten about me as I was not important, so when another floor opened up for colonization, I just left.


    Back then, I was already starting to feel my age, but as I grew stronger, advancing in the silver ranks, as I now know them, I was able to stave off old age as I continued to fight mostly alone.


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    When I finally reached gold rank a few floors down, after many more battles¡ªsince I couldn¡¯t escape the wars of nations entirely¡ªI realized why I had survived so long. I also understood that, through all of that, I had been working on instinct a bit too much. But gold rank brought many advantages, including the proper activation and reveal of my talent.


    Long-lived. Those were two simple words, but unknown to me in my early life, they allowed me to watch my entire civilization grow¡ªfrom a few colonies that had developed intelligence into mega nations whose technology even challenges the civilizations outside of Father.


    It didn¡¯t take long for others to see my wisdom, so I became a general, leading huge armies in what seemed like an almost never-ending war. Fortunately, that era came to an end, and while I did not enjoy the structured wars that followed, I think we could have done without it. Even so, it was good that I had the practice, as I can now help Father defend against those who pursued our end.


    I continue to go through my life so that I could remember it all, as with knowing history comes wisdom. While not every situation is the same, so much can be learned if you just look. Fortunately for me, I did not just have to read or be told stories about what happened to obtain some wisdom¡ªI had personal experience, surpassing almost everyone here, perhaps excluding Ismael. But while he can do some covert operations, he hasn¡¯t the mind for complex large-scale warfare.


    I wish Father would have used me before, but I was too focused on my own civilization, on the ant nations, to realize the dangers of the outside. I should have at least accepted the Academy¡¯s briefing on the outside world, as they often offered knowledge seminars for those of us who had reached the top of leadership in at least one area.


    Too sure of Father I was back then, and a little bit of bitterness was there too because of the endless wars we had to endure. I know now that, unfortunately, nothing could have changed that.


    If Father had interfered, it would have just made things worse. Many want to forget those histories¡ªthe brutality we could show¡ªbut it was just the way back then, and we shouldn¡¯t forget what we¡¯re capable of just because it¡¯s more convenient not to remember.


    The crystals on the table started to light up one by one. Our technology had advanced quite a bit; the Academy was doing miracle work. Gone were the days when we needed to listen to what the other side said.


    Now, these crystals¡ªbeyond my knowledge of how they worked¡ªtransferred the knowledge that came with the message to everyone holding the correct crystal. It was meant to cut back on the lag time of communications, and now we instantly knew of the approaching armies and what routes they were currently taking.


    ¡°The armies have been out of reach until now, too far from our home. But the Delvers are now close enough, and we know the routes of many of the other powers¡¯ armies. Usual defensive works like diverting rivers or even dropping entire mountains in front of those armies would be entirely useless. As we have agreed upon before, the only way to delay them without committing too much of our forces too early is to start making traps.¡±


    My words rang out with absolute authority, and so the discussions started. We were going to use everything we had¡ªrunic traps, bombs, spell-woven horrifying area-of-effect traps, and many more.


    The table quickly transformed from a simple table into something perfectly capable of showing the minute details of the terrain in every location we deemed important enough. And now, that work was showing itself, as we could plan truly devastating delaying attacks.


    Unfortunately, we all also knew that this could only buy us perhaps a few days. But there were also some truly clever and capable people amongst our ranks that I was certain would be able to come up with traps that could perhaps even get us a few diamond ranks.


    When the approaching armies got closer, it was time to start with a more active defense plan. And of course, when they reached Father¡¯s territory, they would come to learn why you should not march against a dungeon.


    Everyone here would be only focused on the surface, but as soon as this meeting ended, I went through a gateway to another operational headquarters. This time, I was at the South Pole instead of the North, close to the second entrance of Father.


    While there were some adventurers here, this defense was almost entirely of father''s children. On this front, we would be fighting other dungeons, and in all honesty, I think this would be more of a desperate fight than the one that would be at the surface.

 chapter 291

    Pov Dungeon Core


    It takes me nearly two weeks to complete a breakthrough. That is a long time. I would also need to expand the 74th floor, and I¡¯m currently doing it as fast as I can. Then, another breakthrough to get to floor 75. After that, I have to expand it until finally, I can enter a breakthrough that will take me to diamond rank, which will most likely take two weeks, if not a bit more. The timing of all this is not excellent.


    With the speed of the approaching armies, they will make it here around the time I should enter another breakthrough. That would be bad because, by then, when all of them have arrived, most likely waiting outside my territory, they will all attack at once, and I would need to send out my armies¡ªwhich I couldn¡¯t do if I was advancing.


    Fortunately, my guardian Rafe can handle some of the tasks, as he does have a bit of control, but he would be quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of monsters he would need to locate into different places and then command them. Our defense would suffer quite a lot. I brought up this problem with everyone, and they immediately started figuring out what we could do.


    ¡°How hard and how long would it take to put up some fortifications that the monster armies could use to defend?¡± was a question asked about an hour into the discussions.


    ¡°For basic ones, not too long, but the enemies would be able to see those fortifications easily enough and come up with countermeasures quickly. It could render those forces useless.¡± A statement I agreed with.


    There were positives and negatives, but with a little more refinement from people who understood warfare a lot better than me, they seemed to come up with a viable plan.


    So, quite a lot of my workforce that was working on adding the secondary defensive layer to the middle of my dungeon¡¯s outer layer was redirected to start building fortifications further away from my dungeon, about halfway towards the edge of my territory on the surface.


    This took heavy inspiration from the ant nation¡¯s way of defense, but against diamond ranks, normally, this would just be an annoyance. The plan was to use our own diamond ranks to counter the spells of the enemy diamond ranks so those fortifications wouldn¡¯t be erased instantly.


    That didn¡¯t change the fact that those fortifications would disappear quickly enough with the physical application of force from the enemy elites, and while we could counter that as well with our own, it was deemed too wasteful.


    Many counterplays were thought of, disregarded, and many more were changed to fit certain scenarios. I let them do their thing as I started to focus on other problems. My biggest was the small undead pattern. We could eliminate a large portion of the attacking forces simply by releasing it in high quantities into their midst. The problem was, then we would have to deal with the undead.


    The pattern I would be using was not the one from the undead world. That one, I was certain I could control to a degree even if I let it out. The one I made, just simply no. It was the one thing I was properly afraid of, and a lot of my defensive preparations were also meant to counter this small pattern when it was finally released.


    Yet, those defenses would not fare well against millions of undead trying to reach my core, which I was certain they would. I simply had too much life and mana radiating from me.


    Now, undead were usually quite stupid, but that unifying field¡ªit wasn¡¯t as simple as I first thought it was. In the undead world, the more high-ranked undead it had, the more direction it seemed to have. I think the intelligent undead affect it with their desires. While on its own, it couldn¡¯t take over diamond ranks, it would still have the bodies of millions of platinum ranks. And, of course, it could also use the bodies of my monsters.


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    Our defenses would crumble quite fast, even with the opposing force of that golden aura produced by a different small pattern that, even now, fought quite effectively against the undead pattern in the undead world. I have modified that as well. It could easily win against the original small pattern, but it would be a fight against the new one.


    All in all, this small pattern would only be used when the situation became truly desperate. That didn¡¯t mean that I wasn¡¯t going to release the other containers around the world. We had lost a few of them over the years as they had been discovered, but there were still almost 1,000 of those containers out there, ready to be released.


    We were also certain that the approaching armies had countermeasures against small patterns, and we really didn¡¯t want them to get a sample before the thousand other outbreaks had a chance to evolve into something unrecognizable.


    Small patterns had quite a liking for changing themselves quickly, as their lifetimes were usually short. This meant that any spell made to counter one wouldn¡¯t work on the others, and if you had 1,000 different ones constantly changing as they continued to spread and then started changing even more, it would make it impossible to eliminate them by force.


    While eventually, we would have to start defending against the small patterns that made their way across this world, our defenses against them would been strong enough. I would have spread the small pattern that can counter the undead one throughout my territory, making sure that whenever it came near, it would be discovered, making it even easier to destroy.


    I still hate that they¡¯re making me do this. Using this small pattern was something that I should never have to do. It was dangerous beyond all measures and should have been enough to keep anyone rational from doing stupid things. Unfortunately, no one seemed to be acting rationally, which was also kind of weird¡­ I decided to bring this up.


    In many of the meeting rooms, there was a monster sitting in a corner. I could take control of that monster to speak to anyone there, as sometimes it was just easier when there were many attending who weren¡¯t creatures.


    I made one of those monsters stand up, which slowly made that particular meeting room go silent. "What if they want me to release that small pattern? Could that be a possibility?"


    Immediately, I made the monster sit down as I let them discuss. I was surprised when more and more people were brought into the discussion.


    Of course, all of this was speculation, but after many hours, most of them agreed that it might be a possibility. Many of the powers were making dungeons like bunkers, expecting me to release the small pattern.


    Perhaps they thought that they could fight against it if they had a safe place to operate out of, and perhaps that¡¯s true, but the world would still be destroyed. Yet to them, this was something expected as the higher ups had gone through a world end once before, so perhaps my threat wasn¡¯t as good as I hoped it to be.


    Still, just the sheer suffering this decision will cause¡ªnot to mention the future implications. It would be like watching one of my worlds be destroyed in a way that would be utterly useless. Yet perhaps they think that it wouldn¡¯t be useless. In the end, this doesn¡¯t really matter, as I had given up on a chance at a peaceful resolution the moment those armies started to assemble.


    Speaking of the forces against me¡ªwhile it was hard for me to see through rock that wasn¡¯t in my territory, I knew that those dungeons were just a few kilometers away from my territory, just waiting to extend themselves to connect to me and send their monster armies forward. It would also be bad if they connected when I was going through a breakthrough. In fact, what if we changed that variable?


    In only a day, everything was prepared, so approximately three to four months before the surface armies even reached us, I started to extend my territory even further down. It only took me a few moments, and I was connected with about twenty diamond-ranked dungeons.


    To my surprise, as we connected, I could feel them. We didn¡¯t use words to communicate as others species did, but they were intelligent enough, and I guess we could have done that¡ªbut the feeling was enough.


    Our instincts wanted us to tear each other apart so that only one could survive. We could fight against it now that we were strong enough, but that didn¡¯t remove our desire. The real reason why they weren¡¯t fighting each other was because they weren¡¯t allowed to fight amongst themselves.


    That didn¡¯t mean their rational minds wanted to fight, they just wanted to build and advance their own dungeons. But I also understood that they were a bit afraid of me. That I would take their place and reach the limit of this world.


    There was also some indecision I could feel from them. They were so used to taking orders that when a situation unknown to them happened, they found themselves unable to make up their minds, as they suddenly had a bit more freedom than they usually had the opportunity to experience.


    I had learned about this phenomenon. Even if I were to set them free¡ªsomething I actually don¡¯t care to do, as we dungeons don¡¯t have the camaraderie most other species do with their own kind¡ªthey would just crave control once again, as freedom would scare them more.


    Perhaps there were some exceptions, but none of that mattered. In the end, every dungeon was an enemy to another dungeon¡ªthat was just how things were. So it didn¡¯t take them long to start sending their forces against me.


    It was not going to be an easy time for them as everyone was now at the southern defenses, ready to take on the vanguard of the dungeon forces. Their journey upwards was going to be truly difficult, and I was going to enjoy every moment of it.

 chapter 292

    ***


    There was no shockwave, no flash of light, no visible indication at all when ETG¡¯s territory connected to 21 other dungeons almost simultaneously. The moment after, it felt like the world held its breath. The moment continued to stretch, as if a single sound would break it apart. Slowly, the territories of all those dungeons that were now connected started to act more violently. The peace was broken, and a battle not yet seen in history began.


    The first thing the attacking dungeons did when they finally figured out what was going on and how to act with their freedom of choice. Hordes of monsters started to break apart the rock that separated them from ETG on the command of their dungeons.


    They pushed their way into another dungeon¡¯s territory by force, feeling themselves weakened by the opposing dungeon¡¯s will, but they stayed mighty and started to steal the environmental structure of the dungeon they were attacking so they could survive.


    Powerful diamond-ranked monsters destroyed rock as easily as a child would while playing with sand. They had only advanced about 500 meters when they felt their own dungeons starting to push ETG¡¯s territory back.


    Pushing the territory of another dungeon forcefully was incredibly difficult, but what helped was the presence of that dungeon¡¯s monsters inside the one they were trying to conquer. That shouldn¡¯t have mattered that much because the dungeons attacking ETG were diamond-ranked, and many of them were close to reaching floor 100. Yet they found their progress difficult.


    The reason they couldn¡¯t push ETG¡¯s territory as fast as they expected was due to multiple factors. Firstly, they were quite far away from their own dungeons. Even if diamond-ranked dungeons could extend their territory to extreme distances, they still had limitations, as the world they were on was truly vast.


    The other big reason was ETG¡¯s skill My World. It made everything that happened inside his territory much harder to influence by anyone else. Lastly, there was the amount of mana ETG was using.


    While the 21 other dungeons combined had about twice the mana generation of ETG, when those dungeons figured out that number, they felt true fear. What they also felt was jealousy. Before, they had prepared to destroy this dungeon because of their masters¡¯ orders. Now, they wanted to destroy ETG because they feared him¡ªand because they wanted to take his secrets.


    The monsters that were still rushing forward felt their maker¡¯s mood shift. They grew more bloodthirsty, and on occasion, even attacked other dungeon monsters, as dungeons working together wasn¡¯t really something that could work fully. As those monsters reached ever closer to their first obstacle, the battle for territory between the dungeons started to affect more than just the immediate area.


    So much mana was being used that the cycle of mana in the world started to be affected. Used-up mana, spent from its power, began to fall towards the planet¡¯s core after being cycled through it¡ªextremely similar to how a dungeon worked. It flowed upwards, reinvigorating the world as it passed by.


    Usually, those currents moved so slowly that you could barely tell they were there, but now, because one particular location was using so much mana, the flow toward the core continued to speed up.


    The otherwise gentle currents all around the world started to change their flows, all of them speeding up ever so slightly, and over time, slowly changing directions to flow toward one location. The planet¡¯s core was strong enough that it had no problem handling the influx and continued to do its main job of revitalizing mana itself.


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    ETG was struggling to hold those territories back, but he needed to. If he failed to hold them back, their entire defensive plan would fail, and there would be no way to stop the vanguard of the 21 dungeons.


    Every unessential expenditure of mana was stopped. He even stopped respawning monsters in his dungeon rooms, and even the quest necklaces went into emergency mode. Everything was used to keep those dungeons back.


    One thing ETG found himself not fully utilizing was his minds. The My World skill helped him a lot, and even if he were to get more mana, he was now holding them back, and if things didn¡¯t change, he could hold them off indefinitely.


    Yet, he needed to reach diamond rank as fast as possible. So, he started to use his mana-dense materials that he had been making to hold mana like a battery would. With that stored-up mana, he began expanding his 74th floor, getting ever closer to reaching diamond.


    The monsters of the enemy dungeons had finally reached stone they could not easily destroy. They had reached the first barrier. The dungeon stone here was not uniform. So, unknown to the attacking monsters who had just started to destroy the wall preventing them from moving forward, none of them knew that specific locations would break much easier than others.


    As some of those locations were broken through and monsters flooded in, others stopped attacking their walls and simply went with the flow of monsters moving forward, ever closer to the core of the dungeon they were attacking.


    They found themselves in a large cavern, and to their delight, at the end of that cavern, there was the enemy holding defensive positions. Spells started to be thrown out by the monsters who could, while they continued to race towards their enemies. The monsters were all combinations of other creatures, put together by dungeon minds so alien to other life.


    Towering monsters with multiple limbs that didn¡¯t seem quite natural. Horns in places you wouldn¡¯t expect. And of course, defensive features from truly powerful creatures that would make landing a killing blow nearly impossible.


    That¡¯s not to mention their inner power¡ªmonsters with skills designed specifically for their bodies, talents that were truly synergistic to the purpose of killing. And, of course, the power of diamond- and platinum-ranked souls coursed through their bodies, making them into titans of destruction.


    Even before the first spells reached the force of this dungeon they were attacking, spells and projectiles reached them. Some pierced their powerful bodies, even when they were reinforced with skills. Yet a large portion of those attacks did nothing more than mess with their senses and ability to see their enemy.


    They did not care. They felt a lot of strength from their opponents, but they had so much more, and they already knew where their enemies were. So, monsters did what monsters did best¡ªthey rushed forward like a flood of never-ending destruction.


    ETG¡¯s forces were ready, and even before their opponents broke through, ETG ordered everyone to start attacking. They sensed so much power that when the other dungeon¡¯s monsters broke through, some of them took a nervous step back.


    They were facing an army of a few thousand diamond ranks at the minimum¡ªand most likely many more to come. And, of course, every free spot was taken up by platinum ranks in numbers so high it was hard to fathom.


    Quickly, their sight was blocked by their own attacks, and the true diamond ranks amongst their midst were the only ones to truly do any damage. They could sense the horde getting closer and closer, their own end drawing near.


    Then, those monsters rushed over a certain line. The powerful diamond ranks that could tear anything apart stumbled out of nowhere. Only 10 to 20 meters after they had passed that line, they fell down dead, their bodies quickly disappearing.


    "Keep attacking! We need to keep them disoriented so they rush in!"


    All heard that command through their communication crystals. Most of them here were ants, but many others weren¡¯t. They all needed a common way to communicate, and of course, it helped keep their orders a secret from their enemies. Those enemies kept rushing in, not seeing what was happening to the front lines. This was the defense ETG was so proud of, something he had come up with by himself.


    The line these monsters were crossing¡ªand quickly dying afterward¡ªwas the end of dungeon territory. No monster, not even diamond ranks, could survive outside dungeon''s territory.


    Usually, dungeons don¡¯t leave empty spaces inside their own territory that they didn¡¯t control, but that¡¯s just what ETG had done. There were thousands of those empty pockets, ready to kill any dungeon monster that didn¡¯t belong to ETG, as they couldn¡¯t do anything to anyone inside those pockets. Even their attacking spells fizzled out almost immediately after leaving dungeon territory.


    While the monster horde continued to rush in, their dungeons did immediately learn what was happening. However, as they were taught, and as they were reminded again just moments ago, their masters told them what they needed to do.


    So now, since the masters knew what was going on, they asked once again what they should do. This, of course, took some time, which ended so many diamond ranks'' lives¡ªeach death increasing ETG¡¯s chances of survival.

 chapter 293

    ***


    As the monsters of the 21 dungeons continued to blindly rush to their deaths, something happened that no one expected. A humanoid rushed forward with every other monster, relishing the chance to finally have a proper fight. He easily passed the line that had stopped everyone else. He crashed into the defensive line, ripping apart anyone he could get his hands on.


    All of that took only a moment, but then he realized something was wrong. He was the only one here. The monsters he had joined in rushing forward were dying behind him. With that, he figured out he was no longer in a dungeon. There was a bit of respect he couldn¡¯t help but show his enemy.


    All of this he realized and thought through faster than a normal person would even register a change of scenery. Already, his body was moving to retreat, but it was too late.


    A fire spell exploded behind him, pushing him forward directly into the path of multiple arrows¡ªeach the thickness of an arm and three times as long. He was pierced in multiple places, and his death came quickly. Immediately after the body died, it started to shrink. With the arrows still in it, the body tore itself apart even more, and what was left was a Pixie whose body was completely destroyed.


    "That one was at the peak of diamond, was it not?" The one who had cast the fire spell behind the Pixie asked the person who had shot the arrows. He got a distracted nod as the arrow shooter looked at the carnage. Just one diamond rank got past the line for a moment and almost 30 dead¡ªall platinum.


    "Everyone capable of distinguishing between monsters and real people, focus not on attacking but on sensing if there¡¯s anyone else out there that can fight us here."


    Those who could started using their skills, but they didn¡¯t sense anyone else like that out there. During this time, the four great powers were panicking. They had not expected something like this, nor such a clever trap to eliminate so many of their most powerful monsters. Each one who was the direct master of a dungeon was yelling at those dungeons to stop their monsters from rushing in.


    The dungeons did just that, but it took some time for the momentum of those monsters to stop, so during this brief exchange, nearly 400 diamond ranks died, including a couple of thousand platinum ranks, and of course, one really peak diamond rank. All of this for almost 30 dead platinum ranks on the other side. As battles went, it was an incredible victory for one side. But the battle wasn¡¯t over, even if the other side¡¯s monsters stopped rushing in.


    "Switch to damaging attacks!" was the command given over the communication crystal. The time for deception was over. So every platinum rank and even some diamonds, who had not been attacking to kill but to distract, started attacking with their best attacks. Normally, platinum ranks would do little damage to diamonds, but there were still ways of killing diamonds even if you were just platinum¡ªyou just needed the proper combination of skills.


    The monster army that stood still could do nothing more than just take the damage, as they were ordered to stay still. Once again, the dungeons started to relay what was happening to their masters while ETG forces continued to fight. But perhaps that was the wrong word because at this time, it more felt like they were practicing their attacks against an enemy that didn¡¯t even defend. And with every kill, they were growing stronger.


    Platinum ranks who were doing area-of-effect damage, combining their spells with others for truly devastating results, had already gotten enough for a minor breakthrough, and if things continued, they could jump multiple minor breakthroughs, getting ever closer to diamond.


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    The four powers managed to get things figured out. They realized that these empty areas without territory could only be pockets and that there should still be a way to reach the dungeon proper. So they ordered their dungeons to continue to advance while staying clear of dungeon-free areas. Once the monster horde got their orders, they could finally move and defend against the attacks.


    Monsters, when they concentrated, could easily tell where there wasn¡¯t dungeon territory. So that was their guide. They headed sideways, reaching walls of regular rock. They could tear through it easily enough, but every delay meant that ETG forces had more time to attack and grind down the defenses of even the strongest monsters. It was going to be tough to advance in such conditions, but they had no other options.


    Like this, the horde of monsters continued to advance, always heading upwards while taking constant fire. It didn''t take them too long to reach another pocket, and they immediately started taking fire from that one.


    Their momentum ground to a near standstill, so other monsters started to branch off in different directions. The short reprieves from attacks, while they were digging from one section to another, lasted only a short while before they found another pocket that started attacking them.


    Some of the monsters started to fight back when they figured out that they could throw rocks at their enemies. Unfortunately for them, those rocks didn¡¯t do any real damage, as ETG forces were prepared for that. It did reduce the number of attacks against them, but not enough to truly matter.


    While platinum-ranked monsters died in droves, killing a diamond rank was not that easy, although with every passing minute, they were slowly being whittled down, and eventually, they would start dying.


    All of this was relayed back to the dungeon masters, who, over the course of a few hours, realized that attacking while the entire focus of that dungeon could be directed in one location was disastrous.


    They would need a large force of diamond ranks that weren¡¯t monsters to stop those pockets of dungeon-free territory from being so effective against monsters. None of them had even dreamed of a strategy like this, so their response to it was slow.


    Finally, they did something they didn¡¯t expect they would need to do¡ªthey sounded the retreat of the monsters. There was nothing else they could do. If things continued like this, all of their monsters would be slowly killed, as they couldn¡¯t do anything to their enemies. They would only be feeding them power, which would allow them to grow stronger.


    One way they could have solved this problem was if their dungeons could push ETG territory back. That way, they could eliminate those dungeon-free areas, yet those dungeons could no longer even push ETG back one inch.


    The monsters started to retreat, but that didn¡¯t mean the killing stopped. This time, spell, traps and any other means possible were used to stop those monsters from retreating. When the last of them managed to escape, six hours had passed since the connection of the dungeons. Less than 30 defenders were dead, while the attackers lost nearly 450 diamond ranks and tens of thousands of platinum-ranked monsters.


    This result was excellent but not what ETG would have wanted to see. Unfortunately, this was the most likely outcome, even though everyone had hoped they would continue to rush forward.


    Not everyone was distraught by this outcome. ETG had gathered quite the menagerie of diamond-ranked creatures who were eager and incredibly hard to kill. These creatures weren¡¯t really that good at long-range fighting, or they would have already been inside the pockets, or they simply couldn¡¯t work together with others because of their peculiarities.


    So, from one of the pockets¡ªwhere there were many gateways meant to resupply and, if needed, retreat¡ªa really small flying creature emerged. It was glowing bright yellow, and unlike many other creatures that continued to rank up, it did not increase in size from its original body that much. It should have never reached diamond rank, but when it did reach platinum, it got a talent that helped it survive its main skill combination.


    Now, it could use that skill combination forever, thanks to its diamond talent¡ªnot to mention that it made it even stronger. It was now as intelligent as any other diamond-ranked creature, fully capable of conversing with adventurers if it used communication stones.


    It did find it funny that almost every adventurer seemed to flinch when they saw it. It understood that it had something to do with their past and its own predecessors doing what they did best¡ªflying through anything in their path, leaving destruction before they died.


    So, this creature¡ªthis diamond-ranked being that should not be possible, that had originally been just a fruit fly¡ªslowly started to fly towards the retreating enemy. It was going to relish the opportunity to just continue flying through anything it wanted.


    With some tests, they knew that it could fly through diamond ranks like it could fly through anything. If this creature had a human face, it would be smiling ear to ear and thanking its Father for this opportunity.


    In other places, in pockets completely devoid of any other life, from large and small gateways, other creatures started to emerge. If anyone had been with them, they would have died almost instantly.


    All of them knew where their enemies were and relished the idea of being completely let loose and allowed to do anything they wanted to do. The 21 dungeons and the four powers were going to learn why they should have also focused on making proper defenses and not just haphazard tunnels leading from their dungeons to ETG territory.

 chapter 294

    ***


    The creatures that came out of those gateways ranged from a small fruit fly to creatures completely made of shadow. While some were more dangerous than others, and some, like the fruit fly that had reached diamond, were not particularly fast or efficient at killing, they all had one thing in common¡ªthey were incredibly hard to kill. Some more than others, but all of them required specific artifacts combined with a unique set of skills to fully put down.


    While they varied quite a lot, over half of them were elementals. They were of all different kinds, but the four elements were represented the most, especially wind. They also had marching orders, and the elementals were the vanguard of this force, while the more unique creatures would take the side tunnels to clear them out while the vanguard moved into the main tunnels.


    There were a few reasons for this, one being that elementals could attack in wide areas and do so constantly without a break. The main reason, however, was that the largest of them could combine with other elementals¡ªand that included monsters. So as the elementals moved forward, ETG continuously teleported appropriate monster elementals onto their path to be absorbed.


    Those elementals would still have their own consciousness and, later on, could split apart once again, but that was one of the reasons this tactic was used. Not only would this make the elementals even stronger, but it would also create the effect ETG needed¡ªweakening the other dungeons'' territories so he could go on the attack and push their territories back.


    In the territory of the 21 dungeons, the monsters were restless. There were also gateways made there, with real people now present to make plans so they could attack effectively when the surface armies reached ETG, allowing them to strike from both sides at the same time.


    The first sign of trouble for them was a breeze that was getting stronger as time went on. All of them looked around in confusion when they finally started to notice that the breeze had turned into what could be called a proper wind¡ªand how strange it was to have something like this in underground tunnels.


    There was an obvious direction for that wind, and it was coming from the dungeon they were trying to destroy. Immediately, scouts were sent out, and they returned soon after, horror on their faces.


    This world had never before seen diamond-ranked elementals¡ªonly ETG had been able to produce them. So all of them were unprepared for the wind to get so strong that not only did it start to damage the dungeon¡¯s reinforced walls, but small cuts also started to appear on the bodies of diamond ranks.


    Spells were cast and skills activated, reducing the incoming wind. They had not realized it yet, but the elemental attacking this particular tunnel was still miles away, and they would have to fight and kill off tens of thousands of platinum-ranked elementals before they could even reach the body of the diamond-ranked wind elemental.


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    Many of the other main tunnels were having similar experiences, as the majority of the elementals attacking were of the wind kind. They were cursing their luck, but they would soon come to learn that they were the lucky ones.


    The main tunnels that had the unfortunate luck were attacked by different kinds of elementals, like fire and sand, or worst of all¡ªwater. There was barely anything they could do against that, and soon, retreat orders were given.


    All of those dungeons and their masters soon learned why this was happening. As they were pushed back and tens of thousands of ETG monsters that entered their territory. They found their strength lacking, which ETG exploited ruthlessly, pushing back their territories and claiming them as his own. The more serious fighting was happening in the side tunnels¡ªthe smaller ones used to bring in more unique monsters.


    The monsters there found themselves unable to properly fight against their opponents, and their only options were to die or retreat. Yet, retreat did not come easily. A glowing fruit fly was quite slow in its pursuit, but it never stopped, and it particularly liked going through solid rock, which allowed it to get ahead of its prey thanks to the bendy nature of many of these tunnels.


    The magnitude of the attack crushed almost all resistance, and for days they continued to push forward, encountering almost zero resistance. Yet the 21-dungeons and their masters weren¡¯t stupid. Slowly, they learned what worked and what didn¡¯t against their opponents, and soon different types of monsters started to appear, purposely made to try to fight these new types of enemies.


    At first, they achieved little, these new types of monsters barely doing anything else but dying. The masters of this dungeon were growing restless. Time continued to march forward, and instead of being ready to attack the dungeon as soon as the surface armies reached it, they were being pushed back, day after day, ever further from their goal.


    The surface armies of the four great powers had enjoyed an easy advance and quite a quick one. Yet all of them started to reach the invisible line ETG forces had drawn up, indicating how far they could reach without overextending themselves. It started slowly, with a few buried bombs that managed to kill quite a lot of platinums, but it soon escalated into not just killing traps but delaying ones.


    Huge areas were filled with devices that were triggered by the marching armies, covering the vast swath of landscape they were currently marching through in spiderwebs that even diamond ranks found hard to get past. Others received the same treatment with vines or even slime that hardened over time. Each one was dealt with quite fast, but it still took a day or two to get the armies back to marching.


    The amount of rare materials used just to delay those armies a day at a time would have easily cost some of the largest kingdoms in this world their entire year''s income. Yet those tactics and traps were used liberally. Even when the armies deviated from their planned routes, they still found themselves delayed almost constantly.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the armies to choose another tactic. They started to send out their diamond ranks to clear the way. This was exactly what ETG forces had waited for. Even better, those diamond ranks went at it alone, as clearing the way didn¡¯t require multiple people. The first proper ambush happened two days after the tactic change.


    Diamond-ranked creatures and adventurers waited, hidden by skills and spells, while others were ready for a fast escape. Almost all of them received orders at the same time, and those who could do devastating damage attacked, killing many of their targets.


    Others, unfortunately, couldn''t, as they were not positioned correctly. No matter if they attacked or not, no matter if they succeeded or not, all of them escaped just moments after their attacks.


    Dozens of diamond ranks were killed, and while that might not sound like many, there weren¡¯t too many diamond ranks to begin with. Of course, the four great powers¡¯ diamond ranks started to pursue, but only the fastest could keep up, and none seemed able to catch the escaping ambushers. That''s when the second ambush happened.


    Another group, quite similar to the first one, had waited further away from the first ambush location. They had waited until the first ambushers passed by them, and when the pursuing diamond ranks rushed overhead, they attacked.


    They had a bit more time, allowing them to properly kill instead of just wound like in the first ambush. All pursuits stopped after that, and in just a short while, the attacking armies had lost nearly 100 diamond ranks.


    They continued after that more cautiously, but that also meant they advanced slower. All of those generals hated that fact, as that meant ETG had more time to build up. But if they rushed, they would lose more of their army, and they couldn¡¯t afford that.

 chapter 295

    ***


    The fighting continued. On the surface, the armies continued to approach no matter what ETG forces did to try to stop their advance. They were successful in slowing them down, but that was it.


    Below the ground, the fight of the dungeons was going in ETG¡¯s favor. He had pushed the 21 dungeons back so far that their somewhat unified tunnels and territories that were next to each other no longer were.


    That''s not to say that everything was going smoothly along that front. It didn¡¯t take long for the 21 dungeons and their masters to decide to collapse the side tunnels. This meant that a lot of the fighting force ETG was using to push the dungeon territories back could no longer be used, as none of these creatures could join the main tunnels because of the elementals and their wide-ranging constant attacks.


    Some of the dungeons even merged their main tunnels to slow down a few elementals'' advances, as different elemental types couldn¡¯t interact without fighting each other unintentionally. It took them some time, but they were constantly learning about their new enemies.


    On the surface of the world, there simply wasn¡¯t enough mana, especially of certain elemental types, for elementals to gather enough of it to reach anywhere near diamond rank. And when those elementals went on a killing spree, usually in gold or platinum rank, which could help them rank up faster, they were quickly put down.


    But fighting a platinum-rank elemental versus a diamond-rank elemental were two different things. While platinum-rank elementals still fought with what you would call natural spells¡ªwhich meant that they could be fought against with other spells, especially ones that disrupted the nature of spells¡ªdiamond-rank elementals were a force of nature. Their damage was no longer in spell form but instead a natural phenomenon, supercharged with mana.


    Over the weeks of constant retreat and fighting with new methods, the 21 dungeons slowly started to understand what type of skills and monsters would do best against this type of attack. Their approach was simple but something that would eventually work, as they were making new monsters constantly, trying out different combinations to see what worked and what didn¡¯t.


    The problem was that they were not just fighting diamond-ranked elementals. Those natural phenomena that they powered also contained platinum-ranked elementals that were using spells to power their own elemental attacks. So, to fight effectively against that, they would need to be able to create monsters that could handle both types of attacks, which was really hard to do.


    Eventually, the right skills were made, and combinations of monsters were found that were able to start fighting the elementals and finally slow their progress. Yet, time was short. Even though the surface armies were slowed, they were only about a month away. Meanwhile, the dungeons had lost ground for nearly two months, and getting back to ETG¡¯s proper territory was not going to be easy.


    During all this time, the four great powers had been keeping an eye on the world itself as best as they could. They had expected the small pattern to have been released and to already see the consequences. Yet, nothing was detected, because unknown to them, ETG had yet to release it.


    The fact that none of them had detected anything wrong with the population boosted the Pixies'' position that ETG had been lying. But even they didn¡¯t actually believe it and didn¡¯t truly understand what was going on.


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    Many of ETG¡¯s advisers were confused and didn¡¯t understand why the small pattern had not been released, but ETG had decided to change the plan a little bit. Their spies were now once again properly inside the four great powers, and just before ETG launched his offensive against the 21 dungeons, they learned of a particularly annoying fact.


    While even the Pixies actually didn¡¯t want the small pattern to be released, that was because even their population was against that scale of destruction, even if their leadership actually wanted it. If they were to state it out loud, it would fracture their society. They managed to convince the rest of the Pixies and the other great powers by simple facts that could be seen as true.


    The small pattern was a truly world-ending threat, but they assured everyone that they could fight against it. This was, once again, true¡ªthey could, but not on a large scale. They simply didn¡¯t have the manpower. What was also true was that this threat would always be hanging over them. They simply couldn¡¯t allow a dungeon capable of such destruction to be left alone.


    Once again, this was technically true, although ETG truly wouldn¡¯t care about the rest of the world if they would just leave him alone. In the end, however, everything came down to ETG just being too good, and none of the great powers¡ªespecially the Pixies¡ªcould take the risk of ETG triggering the Making.


    The great powers were going to let the small pattern do its thing while trying to fight it wherever they found it, just to satisfy their own population and the world, showing that they were the good guys.


    ETG didn¡¯t want the world destroyed¡ªhe wasn¡¯t that cruel¡ªbut just releasing it seemed to be playing into the hands of the four great powers, especially those bastard Pixies, as ETG had come to refer to them.


    During all of this, ETG had been cooking up a different version of the small pattern. If he were an adventurer, he would definitely resemble a mad alchemist right now, constantly cackling evilly. The original, undetectable version was still waiting to be released by 1,000 creatures, but now, finally, a new 10,000 creatures were in place¡ªand just in time.


    The world¡¯s weather had been in flux for quite a while now, with constant rainstorms and seemingly more creatures starting to show mana mutations. The constant fight for territory had already left its scars, but all over the world, at ETG¡¯s signal, almost 10,000 creatures opened up their packages and were happily consumed by the small pattern inside, giving it a solid base to spread from.


    This was the modified version of a modified version, but this one was extra special. To normal human eyes, they would see nothing. The small pattern was undetectable¡ªonly when it started to change life into undead would they realize what was happening.


    For those who had reached higher ranks, they saw something different. Silver ranks would need to be especially good at sensing to notice anything within a radius of about 100 meters. If they were really close, even they could tell where the small pattern was.


    Gold ranks were only slightly better but could sense it through rock or anything else for a few kilometers. Platinum ranks could easily detect it and could not not notice the small pattern hundreds of kilometers away. As for diamond ranks, all who had reached this rank started to notice things far away, like their own souls that shined like bright diamonds.


    This glow, however, was dark red and ominous, and with every passing second, more and more clusters seemed to appear all over the world.


    ETG had purposely made it so that this small pattern would be detectable¡ªand quite easily so. ETG wished that he could see the Pixies'' faces when they realized what had happened. They actually wanted the small pattern to be released, but the main reason they couldn¡¯t fight it properly, nor put enough manpower into eliminating it, was because it had been undetectable before it had spread enough to make stopping it easy.


    Now, however, they could all see the 10,000 starting points of this small pattern, which would rapidly begin to spread. Yet, even this small pattern would take some time to get going¡ªenough time that, if they were to send enough people out, they could stamp out every single instance of it. Many of the diamond ranks immediately went to ask if they could quickly rush to stamp out these fires before they spread too much.


    While the leadership didn¡¯t want this to happen, they would lose so much morale as they continued to march towards the dungeon because now basically everyone could see how the world would be destroyed if they didn¡¯t do anything to stop it.


    So the armies stopped marching, huge portions of the diamond ranks left, and all over the world, anyone who could track down the small patterns that was so easy to see started to fight against it¡ªmost of the time simply using fire to burn everything. Since they could all see where even the tiniest bit of the small pattern was, they could successfully eliminate all of it.


    ETG had gotten the time he needed while keeping the forces of the four great powers far enough away to finish the 74th-floor expansion and prepare for a breakthrough. With the surface armies depleted and enough ground made against the 21 dungeons, this breakthrough was going to be safe enough.


    ETG still worried about the next one, as there was no hiding what floor he was at then and the fact that he was going to reach diamond rank. But even for that, he had a plan, and he needed this skill he was going to make to work exactly how he needed it; otherwise, he would be in trouble during the next breakthrough.

 chapter 246

    Pov Carl


    Caspian was sitting beside me in a room that was a bit too dark. There was a murmur of low conversation, but this wasn¡¯t a normal situation. This sort of thing had never happened before. Currently, in this room, there were the clan leaders and some of their members from 12 different clans, including ours. Caspian seemed a bit worried, but I could understand why he would be.


    ¡°This room seems a bit dark; can someone please fix that?¡± I didn¡¯t shout this; I asked it in a conversational tone. After all, everyone here was platinum rank¡ªand not just platinum, but the very best in our home, in this dungeon.


    Just a moment later, a brilliant white light appeared near the center of the room and floated upwards, dimming as it moved. When it finally reached near the ceiling, it was illuminating the room, giving it almost a perfect amount of light for this historic meeting.


    ¡°I guess the time for waiting is over,¡± said the leader of the Black Boars clan. He waited for a moment, but none of us spoke up, so he continued.


    ¡°To our knowledge, our 12 clans are the only ones who have been given this opportunity. It is not an easy opportunity; it will bring with it much danger. We know little about how the outside world works, and that is the main reason for at least my clan¡¯s hesitation. Otherwise, we would have already taken up this opportunity.¡±


    ¡°I find your dedication lacking. My clan would have already taken the opportunity if it didn¡¯t have a timer before we could accept it. This is our home, this is where we will die, bury our own, and if needed, protect it to the last.¡±


    ¡°Yet even if your conviction leaves me disappointed, I understand and sympathize with your point of view of not having enough information about our soon-to-be enemy. Is there anyone here who knows more?¡± The leader of the Fire Fists spoke up¡ªone of the smaller clans but wholly consisting of incredibly tough fighters.


    I looked around to see if anyone had answered, but even Caspian didn¡¯t know much. The others started to speak up, sharing what they knew, but this was just a knowledge check¡ªI didn¡¯t expect to hear anything new.


    Basically, all we knew was what the rumors said, but who knows if they were true or not? If it weren¡¯t for those people constantly leaking secrets, we wouldn¡¯t have any idea whatsoever about the true rulers of this world.


    I looked inside and quickly pulled up the notification we all got from ETG. The quest necklace has never been used for such direct communication, but I guess there¡¯s always a first time. It was an opportunity that seemed like a fantasy: to be able to fight as many platinum-ranked monsters as we wished, to continue advancing as fast as possible to get to diamond rank. It just didn¡¯t feel real.


    What made it real was the next part¡ªthe warning that if we left this dungeon, the other diamond ranks would hunt us down and kill us. He did mention that they might possibly recruit us, but if they wanted such control, I didn¡¯t think they would want someone like us running around. The more significant part was the contract to protect ETG from the outside diamond ranks.


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    Underneath, at the very bottom of this notification, was a timer that still showed about 3 days. When that was over, apparently, we could go and sign the contract to get access to this new area where we could train and kill monsters until we collapsed from exhaustion, and then do it all over again when we recovered enough. Just before I focused back on the outside, all of our quest necklaces pinged with a kind of noise we hadn¡¯t heard before.


    Once again, I dived in and looked to see what notification we got. Instead, I saw a new section named ¡®History.¡¯ Quickly, I selected it to see that most of the options were grayed out, meaning that I couldn¡¯t open them. There was one that was not grayed out, named ¡®The Brief History of the World.¡¯ As I opened it up and started to read, I could feel my face go pale.


    The rumors never mentioned this sort of cycle that this world went through whenever a dungeon reached the limit of this world. This brief history that didn¡¯t seem so brief as I continued to read. It also explained the power structure that had developed over the millenniums.


    ¡°What idiots, their desire to keep power has made them weak. Yet they are still so divided. While it¡¯s not said specifically in this brief history of the world, ETG is obviously a fortress dungeon; most likely, he holds many more secrets.¡±


    Sentiments like that were shared by different people, and we quickly started to discuss the information we got. I wondered if it was bad that we trusted the quest necklace and ETG so fully that we never questioned: what if he was lying to us?


    Perhaps in the end, it didn¡¯t matter. We were already in this dungeon, already primed to become diamond ranks. Even if this dungeon was destroyed and we had to leave, that¡¯s assuming they would ever let us leave.


    If the rumors were true and the knowledge we just learned, I had no doubt in my mind that they would simply declare that ETG went mad and the entire population of this dungeon was lost¡ªjust so they wouldn¡¯t have rogue elements who could possibly become strong enough to fight back.


    What happened to my easy life? When I just got out of the orphanage and came here to get stronger. Now, I have so many children and grandchildren, an entire clan that depends on me and looks to me for strength and stability. There were no existential questions or having to possibly take sides in a conflict that could decide the future of this world. Yet, those times are over.


    ¡°ETG has given us all an opportunity to seek what we desire most. For some, it might be strength; for others, it might be the excitement of battles or the discovery of treasure. Maybe you¡¯ve always sought family and now not only found one but created it.¡±


    ¡°Perhaps only one of those describes you. I know that for me, all of those describe who I am right now. I think I would have taken up this opportunity even if I didn¡¯t know what I was up against. But even now that I know the strength we must oppose, for some reason, I feel more alive than ever. My clan will take this deal and bind our future to this dungeon, to ETG, even more than we already have.¡±


    My words brought silence to the room. I hadn¡¯t stood up before, but now I did. I had gotten used to such strong people looking at me; it was weird to see that they looked to me for strength, even if we were not on the best of terms before this notification appeared.


    "This dungeon is so much more than we see. It¡¯s one of my clan¡¯s biggest secrets," Caspian touched my side, and I looked back at him. He looked worried, but I just gave him a small smile.


    "There is more to discover in this dungeon than you would ever believe. If you accept that contract¡ªwhich I believe every one of us will, otherwise we would have never gotten it in the first place¡ªyou will find out the true magnificence and power of this dungeon. While it might be a hard fight, I am certain it will not be an impossible one."


    I looked back at Caspian once again. He wasn¡¯t that worried now and understood what I meant to do. He got up, and we started to walk out of the building towards the gateway that wasn¡¯t far off. Before we left the room, I looked back. "I¡¯ll see you all at the signing of the contract," and with that, we left.


    It was a brief trip to the gateway, which we took straight to our hideout. Immediately, we were hit with the noise of a busy market. This hideout, to our knowledge, was one of the biggest but it was our second one.


    It wasn¡¯t the size of a hub station¡ªnowhere close to it¡ªbut it also wasn¡¯t as small as the way stations. It was big enough to have farming and to support a small city of nearly 2,000 people, all of whom were clan members.


    We have come far, though still nothing compared to the guilds, where even a small-sized guild could easily have 5,000 members. Not to mention the bigger guilds or the three main ones that basically everyone was a part of, including me. It has been a while since I last tried to set a record, and I guess I never will again. At least a few of my children seem to have taken up the challenge, even if I wish they wouldn¡¯t put themselves in too much danger.


    "It is time to inform everyone. The council has been waiting; let¡¯s go and tell them what happened at the meeting and the information we learned, in case they haven¡¯t received the update to the quest necklace like we did. We can then announce everything to the rest of the clan." Caspian immediately nodded and resumed the walk towards the castle that served as our headquarters.

 chapter 247

    Pov Dungeon Core


    It seems like all the clans that I sent the contract offer to are going to accept. The time limit for contract signing was something my advisors recommended. We knew that there would be some who would jump on this opportunity immediately, but decisions like this needed to be thought out properly. So that¡¯s why we came up with the time limit before they could come and accept the contract.


    The contract itself was quite simple. It was still a magical contract that would bind the parties who signed it, but it wasn¡¯t a compelling contract like the ones dungeon cores were given. I find it kind of funny that these kinds of contracts are incredibly illegal in the entire world, except when it comes to binding dungeon cores.


    One by one, I watched as the representatives of the 12 clans walked through their gateways in their hideouts and appeared in the newly finished city that the Academy built inside the room I constructed, where people could continuously fight platinum-ranked monsters for as long as they wished. It was quite a big city and a busy city, currently with nearly 25,000 occupants from all over my dungeon.


    It was funny to see their reactions to creatures they hadn¡¯t seen before, communicating with each other in ways they didn¡¯t understand yet. The clans weren¡¯t the only ones to come through the gateways; I also offered this opportunity to many smaller groups and individuals. It was quite the colorful bunch of people that waited at the edge of the city.


    I wondered how they felt about the strange creatures and the city they saw. This room was also quite unique in many other ways. It was 10 kilometres across, with walls having doors at regular intervals. Above those doors were red and green lights¡ªred meaning that the room behind the door was in use and someone was currently fighting platinum-ranked monsters there, green meaning it was empty.


    Because of how many of these rooms I needed and how large they needed to be¡ªas most people would be fighting in groups and not solo¡ªthere was a need to make this room long. So while it was only 10 kilometers across, mainly to make room for a living space and different facilities. The room itself was incredibly long, so long that for the people who just got there, they would not be able to see the end of it.


    As more and more come to challenge this place, even if they eventually fail to reach diamond, I will most likely need to expand this room even further. In each direction, it currently stretches 700 kilometers, bringing the total length to 1400 kilometers.


    Each of the challenge rooms that the doors led to was 1 km squared, meaning that currently I had 2400 challenge rooms available to be used. There were many gateways that you could take to the different sections of the room, so you wouldn''t have to walk for too long if you got a time slot in a room at the very edge. There were already small outposts forming at almost every gateway.


    When everyone had arrived, they were surprised when Bug Guy walked out and started to address them. "I am pleased that you have all come. Please follow me inside, and we will get everything signed, and of course, I will answer your questions."


    They were taken aback that Bug Guy was here, as he was one of the leaders of one of the currently biggest guilds in the dungeon. They didn¡¯t expect someone like that to be here.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "I can already see the burning question in your eyes. I have been working for the dungeon for a long while now. As for the ability of my guild to keep the dungeon¡¯s secrets, well, you could see all kinds of beings here. Every member of my guild is not an adventurer but a creature of the dungeon. Yes, this place you call home is so much bigger than you ever imagined. You will learn it all, don¡¯t worry."


    I expected distrust in the eyes of the people who had come here. Instead, I saw curiosity and excitement. There was a good chance that all of them were a bit mad, as a normal reaction should not be like that. Well, whatever the case, I didn¡¯t have much time to concentrate on the proceedings. I¡¯m sure they will do fine enough, and I will keep a more active mind here just in case.


    My main focus was currently on the fact that I finished expanding the 51st floor. In length it was massive and just shy of 350,000 kilometers, with a width of a bit over 295,000 kilometers. The height I kept at 15 kilometers.


    Currently, it was almost entirely empty except for the bedrock that covered the bottom part of the floor. Normally, this means that I would start building out the terrain of this playroom and the basic structure of the dungeon rooms. But things changed even more than I expected them to change.


    The plan originally was to barely focus on the dungeon rooms, as they weren¡¯t the priority right now. I wasn¡¯t even going to start building out the terrain, as I didn¡¯t know exactly what I would need. I didn¡¯t have a pattern ready for a farming floor that would take that pattern to diamond rank in any reasonable amount of time, and without the worry that the pattern would gain proper consciousness before it reached diamond rank. That was the hardest part I was having trouble with.


    There were many times I observed when adventurers got lucky; in some cases, I have also been lucky, but not truly in the sense that adventurers mean it. But for the first time in my life, I felt properly lucky, and it was a wonderful feeling. This luck came in the form of the ooze that started to develop consciousness. Now, on its own, that would not be anything useful¡ªjust a curiosity. That all changed just a few days ago.


    The ooze continued to grow larger and slowly advance in rank as it continued to absorb the nutrients it was getting from the sunlight. What I couldn¡¯t have ever imagined was that when it got big enough, it split into two distinct consciousnesses that, by every measure I could test, were different creatures from that point forward.


    I expected the ooze to simply continue becoming bigger and bigger and just remain as a singular consciousness, even if this consciousness could be partly called that. It was all basic instinct, but it should still be impossible for the ooze to achieve, and I still had no idea how it even happened in the first place. That didn¡¯t matter much, as I immediately focused a huge portion of myself on this particular development.


    Immediately, I started to test this pattern even more. I made it in various ranks, and it did become more intelligent as its rank increased. At platinum and near diamond, I would call its intelligents close to a stupid hunting dog. It seems that it was just shy of being as intelligent as a good hunting dog.


    That was still incredibly impressive for this kind of creature that shouldn¡¯t have intelligence at all. I¡¯m still trying to figure that one out, but I think I will need to put that behind me, as I really don¡¯t need to focus on that right now.


    The funny thing was that the higher its rank, the larger it could get before splitting into two distinct consciousnesses. So, while a silver-ranked ooze was about the size of a small tavern''s main room, a platinum rank seemed to be able to become the size of a village.


    I still didn¡¯t know much about their behavior, as I currently only had about a dozen creatures with full autonomy. Everything else was still monsters, and from them, I couldn¡¯t observe proper behavior patterns.


    It seems that they did fight each other somewhat, trying to consume each other, but all of them were at the same rank, so they could only pull off small portions from others. The interesting thing was that when they split, some portion of the ooze became inert and reverted back to the original ooze. They did occasionally consume it, but it seems like they didn¡¯t much like the taste of that ooze. That was another interesting behavioral pattern I didn¡¯t fully understand.


    If I were to put them in the 51st playroom, crank up the heat of the playroom, and ramp up the intensity of the sun, they would breed incredibly fast, and from what I can tell, they should be able to achieve diamond rank. So that¡¯s why I was lucky. I managed to get a viable pattern for my diamond-ranked farm just by accident. I still can¡¯t believe that this has happened.


    What¡¯s even better is that I wouldn¡¯t have to do anything huge and time-consuming to the 51st playroom to make it a perfect place for this pattern. I think I will still add some spawners high up that would occasionally drop chunks of fat, as the ooze could consume anything to get more sustenance to continue to grow. I might be jumping a bit ahead; perhaps I should do some more testing. Yes, no matter how eager I am, I should take a bit of time to properly test out the viability of this pattern.

 chapter 248

    Pov Vivian¡¯s Grandfather


    I had given him seven days to find out what had happened to my granddaughter, yet he was here on the 6th day looking confident, even though I still had not heard from my granddaughter. He seemed to have climbed pretty high for the amount of time he¡¯s been in platinum. He seemed to want to serve and has done so distinguishably so far, but something is starting to feel off about him.


    ¡°I am sorry that it took so long. It was a bit more trouble to get the information to you than I expected. So I would like to start out by saying that your granddaughter is completely fine, but there are some extenuating circumstances why she has not been able to contact you, and she¡¯s actually working on solving the problem right now.¡±


    Well, this seemed a bit more curious than I expected. Still, this better be a good excuse. I indicated for him to continue, and he promptly did so.


    ¡°That dungeon seems to be a lot more aware, so to say than the reports seemed to indicate.¡±


    He wanted to continue, but I immediately stopped him. ¡°Explain that further.¡±


    He looked a bit taken aback and took a few moments to reorient himself. So he probably rehearsed that speech he was giving me multiple times to speak as confidently as possible. I should not take it easy on him, just in case something is wrong.


    ¡°Yes, Vivian didn¡¯t seem to realize this in the communication I had with her through her own agents, but it¡¯s quite clear to me that this dungeon is a lot smarter than normal. While it is chained, it¡¯s still fighting back. And because the control necklace is no longer there, they need to go by the contract, and it¡¯s smart enough to find loopholes to continue doing things as it likes to do.¡±


    I realized that I was smirking, but I quickly stopped. I¡¯ve always liked when dungeons fought back, and dealing with diamond-rank dungeons was so reminiscent of arguing some trade contract that I often got the two mixed up. ¡°So the dungeon is pushing back¡ªthat¡¯s to be expected. That still doesn¡¯t explain anything.¡±


    I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to say he hadn¡¯t gotten to the point yet, which I knew he hadn¡¯t, but he didn¡¯t say it. The struggle was fun to watch.


    ¡°So yes, the dungeon does things to the letter of the contract, which has allowed him to stop adventurers from abusing an item that allowed them to teleport out of a fight they were going to lose.¡±


    ¡°Apparently, the dungeon allows it up to a certain point, but the deeper you get, the fewer areas you can use it in. It doesn¡¯t do it actively, which Vivian first believed, but instead, it seems to have changed the dungeon stone composition, making it impossible for signals like that to travel too far.¡±


    ¡°If Vivian was further up than she currently is, she could get a signal through, but with so many layers of dungeon stone that help block signals, she can¡¯t get proper communication through. Another thing stopping her from coming out¡ªas I can already see you wanting to know why she just hasn¡¯t used a gateway¡ªis that otherwise, she would need to start from floor 20, as the dungeon doesn¡¯t allow anyone to just skip to the last floor, at least not yet.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying to me is that she hasn¡¯t done our usual confirmation whenever she gets out of a dangerous situation because it would be too inconvenient for her at this moment because it will take too long to get back to where this new type of dungeon stone is located?¡± He immediately nodded.


    I sit back in my chair to think about this. There was some logic to it; she does get quite fixated if she finds something truly interesting. The dungeon is big, and I could understand that if she had a tight time limit. She, however, didn¡¯t have a tight time limit she could stay as long as she wanted.


    I know the master¡¯s did not like it much when the city lord and the minder offered her that option. That was weird in of itself. She could have just gotten out, and while it would take her a while to get back because that dungeon is truly large, in the end, I don¡¯t think this makes enough sense to me.


    I looked back at him, and I think he could see the suspicion I had. I didn¡¯t understand what was going on exactly, but something just didn¡¯t add up. I kept looking at him, trying to understand what I was missing. Then, to my surprise, he actually spoke up.


    ¡°They warned me that there was no chance of this working. I truly hope that I am not the first domino to fall.¡±


    It was hard to hold back, but my chair cracked where my hands held tight to it. I watched as his posture changed¡ªit was like a completely new person, a sneaky person, a secretive one, and someone who was not on my side.


    I could feel my power gathering, but he was still only a platinum rank; he could do nothing to me, and it seemed he understood that. Yet, he didn¡¯t seem scared¡ªall that he did before was just an act.


    ¡°You know there are worse things than death, don¡¯t you?¡± I asked him as calmly as I could.


    ¡°Yeah, you don¡¯t have to tell me that twice. Fortunately, there¡¯s nothing you can do to stop me from killing myself, and yes, I would prefer not to die.¡± His words made me pause, and I watched as he reached inside his breast pocket and pulled out a letter. ¡°This is for your eyes only.¡±


    It had a curious design; unlike anything I had seen before. It was immaculate and a bit of an oval shape for some reason. The seal was unbroken, showing an orb surrounded by broken chains. Well, that wasn¡¯t ominous at all. I opened the letter and started to read.


    ¡°So my granddaughter is a hostage. Are you working for the Pixies or the Masters? Who do you serve? And this nonsense about her being unharmed no matter what¡ªdo you really think I would believe that? I know how everyone operates; those are just empty words.¡±


    ¡°Oh, believe me, I do not work for anyone you know, and if that letter says your granddaughter will be unharmed, then she will be unharmed. But did it really say ¡®no matter what,¡¯ like ¡®don¡¯t kill the messenger¡¯ wasn¡¯t mentioned, perhaps?¡±


    I blinked away my confusion and looked at the letter again, then at the seal I had broken. ¡°No, that was not mentioned.¡± I looked back at the man in front of me, who seemed to sigh in defeat.


    ¡°Yeah, I can see why they wouldn¡¯t include that. It¡¯s unfortunate. I would just like to say that I would never betray the one I serve. I accepted this mission long ago, knowing that I might die at any moment, but I am enjoying this job even if it¡¯s just a cover for me. So why don¡¯t we make a deal?¡±


    I kept my eyes on him as I didn¡¯t really get his angle. From what I can understand, they will not harm her. I still don¡¯t believe that. While I¡¯m starting to get an idea of who that might be, it was hard to imagine it being possible.


    ¡°What deal?¡±


    ¡°So, I will stay as your employee, I will get you a direct communication line with Vivian, and you won¡¯t say anything about what''s happening to anyone else?¡±


    No, why would I ever accept this deal? It¡¯s the stupidest thing I¡¯ve ever heard. In fact, why was I even keeping him alive? Because no matter what they said, they still had my granddaughter hostage, and if they can keep her subdued, that means they have diamond ranks.


    Oh, and he¡¯s just started smiling. I was letting my emotions control me too much if this young pup could actually read me so easily. Time to stop being an idiot.


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take that deal, but I want to talk to her today.¡±


    The deadline didn¡¯t seem to discourage him at all. Instead, he pulled out some sort of crystal, unwrapping it from a leather pouch that was keeping its power hidden.


    ¡°You can speak to her immediately.¡±


    As soon as he finished saying those words, I could hear my granddaughter¡¯s voice.


    ¡°It¡¯s the dungeon. It¡¯s completely free.¡±

 chapter 249

    Pov Vivian


    I¡¯ve never been a captive before, but I¡¯ve always imagined it being torturous, where you are in a place that¡¯s damp and cold, you barely get any food, all around a horrible experience. Well, I could say that I¡¯m mentally tortured by the simple fact that the biggest dragon I¡¯ve ever seen is just a few meters away, currently sleeping, and could kill me in an instant, but that¡¯s about it.


    This place is nice and warm. They bring me plenty of food, so actually, the biggest problem I have is boredom. That just doesn¡¯t seem right. I also wasn¡¯t always bored. Ismael, as the dragon called itself, actually spoke to me from time to time.


    At the start, he never slept, but nowadays he does. I don¡¯t know what this dungeon did, but now, even if they allowed me to, I can no longer get any message through to my grandfather.


    I¡¯m pretty sure I saw the dungeon stone that this cave-like place is made of change a bit, and well, now I don¡¯t even have the hope of waiting for the dragon to slip up so I could get help down here.


    They say that I will be let go when the time is right for them, but honestly, I don¡¯t know if I believe them or not. At the start, I didn¡¯t believe them at all, but they treated me nicely, so who knows what their plan is?


    I was startled a bit when Ismael started to move. The way he woke up kind of reminded me of a cat, which was strange to witness. His eyes were bigger than my entire body, and it was kind of weird whenever he looked towards me. Yet I was so bored, I think I will risk a question. "Good morning, Ismael?" He blinked his eyes slowly and nodded towards me. "Can I ask you a question?" After a bit of time, he slowly nodded.


    "I¡¯ve always wondered this: Dragons don¡¯t get their intellect before they reach platinum rank. So how could they be the rulers of the Age of Civilization if at that point gold rank was the highest? And even more so, how could they bring about the Age of Civilization when, in the Second Age, silver rank was the highest? No one has ever been able to answer that question for me."


    He blinked his eyes a bit faster this time, laid his head closer to me, and I did take a few steps back just in case, but I was already against the wall with nowhere to run. I expected a voice that would shake the world around me, but instead, I felt a spell connect to my mind.


    ¡°It''s too early to speak out loud, but this will do well enough.¡±


    ¡°You know, I had the same question in the Fourth Age, the Age of Heroes, and I guess I can tell you the same answer my mother gave me. Like you know, talents can change a lot. Remember when you were so shocked when you first woke up here, and you couldn¡¯t sense that I was a diamond rank?¡±


    ¡°Then you realized that you are not the only one who can hide their rank. Well, in the Second Age, the Age of Monsters, there were seven dragons that gained the same kind of intelligence that other sapient species had.¡±


    ¡°Now, normally, that wouldn''t have helped them win anything, but, well, the smarter of us can always control the unintelligent of my kind to a certain extent. That helped them win the Second Age. In the Third Age, there were more. Now, I don¡¯t know the exact number, but at the height of our power, we had something called the Council of 300, so there must have been at least 300 intelligent dragons back then.¡±


    He looked at me then, seeing if that was good enough, but I think he could see the hunger for knowledge I had. He huffed in amusement. The volume of air pushed me against the wall, simply from the size of his huge body.


    ¡°Just for reference, at the height, there were about 100,000 of us. So, I think there might have been a maximum of 1,000 intelligent dragons in the Age of Civilization. And as you know, any species capable of complex thought will have differing viewpoints. The end of our high point would come no matter what. It''s just that the people we were oppressing managed to wage war before we could wage war on ourselves.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    ¡°When we got to the age of heroes, when everyone could reach the platinum rank, well, there were too few of us left to mount a real resistance even if we could unite. So that¡¯s the story of my kind. We could have been great, proper leaders who didn¡¯t die of old age. We could have guided civilization, except we tried to control it. We tried to enslave, and, well, we got what we deserved. Any civilization built upon some sort of enslavement of others usually falls sooner or later.¡±


    He smiled at me. I could see it, even if his face didn¡¯t look like a smiling one I¡¯m used to seeing on other people. The implication was clear: we also enslaved an entire species. ¡°Is this dungeon seeking revenge? Will it end our civilization for what we have done to its kind?¡±


    I didn¡¯t get an answer for a long while. I think it must have been an hour, as I was already doing other things, trying to keep busy, when he finally spoke.


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t think he cares that much about his kind. Dungeons are like that; they never really got along. But who knows what will happen? But I do warn you: I recommend all of you leave him alone. I don¡¯t think any of you have experienced what the dungeon can do when it goes to war. Even I have only heard stories about it, but they were always scary stories.¡±


    He then broke the connection we had. I knew that he wouldn¡¯t speak to me again, at least not today. A few hours later, the gateway opened up, and a few people came through with the food. The food was always great, and they left immediately after they dropped it off. I tried to figure out how the gateway worked, but I wouldn¡¯t be able to break the lock that would allow me to use it, even if I didn¡¯t have a guardian constantly watching me.


    Time continued to pass, but I finally was able to get some art supplies at least, so I could once again start sketching different designs for dungeon floors. It was my hobby, and I know that at least a few of my designs have been used in diamond-ranked dungeons. Perhaps it was a bad idea to do so, but I was pretty sure that this dungeon didn¡¯t need my help to do anything.


    I was shocked out of my daydream when the gateway opened up¡ªnot at the regular time when they normally brought food. It was the first time I saw the person who had killed the master.


    He had grown so much stronger. He was now as strong as me, but that was only if I took into account our core strengths. His body felt so much stronger than mine. I didn¡¯t even think I could win if he was a newly advanced diamond rank.


    ¡°There''s a good chance that you¡¯ll get to speak to your grandfather today,¡± he spoke in a measured tone, and the other people with him set up a table with a really interesting-looking crystal on it that seemed to be designed for communications.


    How did they get that signal to go through whatever changes the dungeon made to the dungeon stone? I was supposed to ask questions, but he held up his hand. ¡°No questions, no speaking at all until that crystal lights up.¡±


    So we didn¡¯t and waited for hours and hours until the crystal lit up. Immediately, I could feel my grandfather¡¯s signature just beyond the crystal. I said as hastily and quickly as I could, ¡°It''s the dungeon! It¡¯s completely free!¡±


    My breath was rapid as my adrenaline shot up. I expecting the communication crystal to be turned off, but nothing happened. I looked up in confusion only to see a smirking face looking back at me.


    ¡°Make it brief. As you can hear, your granddaughter is just fine, and we aren¡¯t hurting her. You will get her back; you don¡¯t have to worry about that.¡±


    ¡°Have they hurt you, my dear?¡± I heard through my special communication skill. It seems like we can still secretly communicate as this device has allowed us to get close enough to each other to communicate without any problems.


    ¡°No, they have not hurt me,¡± I said and communicated through our skill at the same time.


    ¡°This dungeon is completely free, and it has multiple diamond ranks working for him, including a peak diamond rank dragon.¡± I do not know exactly how my grandfather reacted to it, but I should say something with my voice as well, as the person who brought the crystal was looking at me weirdly.


    ¡°Your senses are getting better. Yes, they are communicating through some kind of skill, but I warned you guys about that,¡± Ismael spoke with his loud voice. I looked at the person now turning towards Ismael, and he simply nodded.


    ¡°Yes, we expected that they would do that, but well, hopefully, that will help make our point even more so. Our main goal is that you stay quiet. In the end, it¡¯s up to you how you want to handle it. She will still stay down here until that certain time comes.¡± That person answered Ismael and then spoke to my grandfather.


    ¡°Vivian, tell me everything you know. If they have diamond ranks, this is more serious. We need to know everything about them as soon as possible. Are you sure that the dungeon isn¡¯t controlled by that dragon?¡±


    I sent an affirmative back to him, but I didn¡¯t bother pretending to speak, as they already knew what we were doing. ¡°I think I should stay here and gather as much information as possible. I don¡¯t think they will be an easy enemy to beat. Also, the dragon has warned me that going to war against this dungeon would not end well. I think I agree with him.¡±


    ¡°I do not like the idea of you staying there, but right now, I think you have the correct idea. Try to get as much information about them as you can, and I will do the same. At least I think I now know who the people are who are leaking all this information. It seems that we have been in conflict with that dungeon for a while now without even knowing.¡±


    ¡°I will accept your deal if I can speak to my granddaughter every week.¡± I could hear my grandfather¡¯s powerful voice coming through the device that was just in front of me. None of the people here seemed to be affected by that voice that I have seen make people quiver in fear.


    ¡°Once a month, and if you are caught speaking about our existence, well then, the time is up, and so is this conversation.¡± With that, the device was turned off, and I could no longer feel my grandfather.


    ¡°Ismael, don¡¯t speak too much with her.¡± The dragon just huffed at that, and then they left. Everything had happened so fast. Did I make the right decision?

 chapter 250

    Pov Adventurer Guild Master


    I looked upon the city I used to call home. It is still the most beautiful place I¡¯ve ever been to. I¡¯m glad that I was able to live here for almost a year. At least there are some good parts about bureaucracy. It also seems that the past can be forgiven when there is a looming war on the horizon.


    Currently, I am in a balcony cafe, enjoying the wonderful city. Each piece of architecture and every stone¡ªthey were all so perfect. It was not just called the City of the Masters because this was our capital, where we, as one of the four great powers of this world, resided. It was also because, as our title says, everything here was built by master craft.


    While it is not the biggest city¡ªthat record goes to the Delvers¡ªthat was mainly because they let everyone live there. Here, there were only masters and their children. Here, we also have our deepest dungeon, the second deepest in the world. Currently, we are on the 92nd floor, yet we have been on that floor for 300 years. The Pixies have reached floor 93, but they¡¯ve been stuck for nearly 500 years.


    I have always wondered if perhaps it¡¯s impossible to reach the end of the diamond rank and this is all that we are capable of. That would be funny in a sad way, because so many have died when we have fought each other with small skirmishes and assassinations for the entire length of this age. Things are a bit different now, as the possibility of a proper war looms on the horizon. I wonder if there will be anything left of the world then, and none of it might matter in the end.


    Everyone knew who I was, but still, every waiter looked at me weirdly because I never ordered any food. I still paid them so they wouldn¡¯t kick me out, and I drank coffee or tea or something of that kind to pass the time.


    The reason was quite simple why I didn¡¯t eat anything except for the rations I brought with me. I still remember the pain of eating food that wasn¡¯t cooked by any of the masters. It was almost like eating shit, and I don¡¯t want to experience that again when I¡¯m leaving so soon.


    I looked at the time and saw that there was about an hour left before the large meeting began. Many ships had arrived in the past week, and I was informed that one of them carried the minder of the Eternal City State. From my understanding, he didn¡¯t receive the warmest of welcomes because apparently, he hadn¡¯t brought City Lord Ace with him like he was supposed to.


    The rumor said that he missed the letter, which was impossible for him, so I wondered what was going on. That feeling of uneasiness never really left me ever since I left the city-state. Fortunately, my mind was distracted as I walked towards the central office. There were many different architectural styles, and while I wasn¡¯t a fan of every single one, some just caught my mind in just the right way.


    When I reached the plaza outside the central office, there were already many groups gathered, waiting for the bell to ring and start this historic meeting. Looking around, I noticed that many strangers were here, but it was odd to see that even the beasts weren¡¯t in one group, amongst those a few actual beast kin. They were the oldest and most likely the only remaining beast kin in the world.


    It was truly unlucky for them that whenever they had children with humans, dwarves, elves, or the half-folk, their children would never be a beast kin¡ªonly the species of the other parent. They were able to keep their legacy through a dungeon wish. I don¡¯t think anyone could have won that age besides them. The drive they must have had to try to save at least a little bit of their legacy must have been immense.


    I was still alone, like a lone island, but I didn¡¯t mind. I was actually looking forward to getting back to the city-state. While this place was amazing, that guild house in that city-state felt more like home to me right now than any other place in this world. Then the clear bell sounded. The clearest bell I¡¯ve ever heard in my life. It rang three times, and the large doors to the central office opened up.


    It was a huge building, fully circular, with huge columns made entirely of white stone with intricate black and gold patterns. It was not made of natural rock but was an old master¡¯s creation. It could even withstand attacks from peak diamond ranks, which was a true achievement. I wondered if I would ever reach the peak. I only had a bit to go, but I don¡¯t think they would ever let me into a diamond-ranked dungeon again.


    Everyone started to fill in and find their seats, including the grandmasters of the council. Usually, only the council¡¯s section was more grandiose than any other, but this time another section had been made to look just as important. It was no surprise to me that the beasts went and sat there. After about half an hour, the meeting started to discuss our alliance.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    It was a boring three hours. From the first 10 minutes, everyone already knew that we were going to form an alliance, so it was unfortunate that everything else after that seemed to be protocol to keeping up appearances and doing things the ¡®right¡¯ way. I perked up when the question of the free dungeons was raised.


    "Currently, the plan is to keep them as neutral grounds. We suspect that the delvers and pixies are making a similar alliance, although I think theirs would be a looser one than ours. That being said, between the two of us, we have the control necklaces for five of the free dungeons. So perhaps our majority might turn the free dungeons into more of a power struggle than we first expected, especially because of the latest free dungeon."


    I did not like to hear that. Hopefully, they will remain neutral grounds; I would hate to see the damage caused to the cities and the dungeons if we were to actually fight for their ownership. To my surprise, the proceedings were interrupted, and everyone was too stunned to act.


    "About the free dungeons, I do have something to announce," said the minder I thought I knew. That feeling at the back of my neck finally seemed to flare up. Oh no, this was something bad¡ªsomething serious. I watched as he walked from one of the back seats all the way to the front and then jumped down, breaking every procedure, and walked to the center to address everyone.


    The nervousness of the room seemed to ramp up as no one understood what was going on, including me.


    "What is the meaning of this? You are already on thin ice. What is it that you want to say before you are taken away?" one of the council members said, barely keeping his anger contained. Masters simply didn¡¯t break protocol; that was not who we were¡ªexcept I had once done that and paid the consequences.


    "Well, yes, I guess I should be more upfront. I apologize for all of this, but it is necessary. I am invoking the ancient laws of the Messengers. And because of this, I am obligated to reveal my true self, however hard it might be."


    Before I could start to puzzle out that meaning, I watched as the person I thought I knew placed a hand above his chest, and then it looked like he reached inside and started to pull out something. Everyone was on guard, but almost everyone here was diamond-ranked. We watched as he pulled out some sort of necklace that was shining exactly like the minder.


    I watched in fascination as something that looked like his core imprinted onto a necklace of sorts, and then the person, whoever he was, crushed it, extinguishing a diamond core like it was nothing.


    What remained was a platinum rank that was incredibly close to diamond. I watched as his face shifted, and so did his body, into the form of a dwarf, but it seemed like he had trouble keeping that form¡ªmost likely his talent giving him the ability to shift into almost any form.


    "I will start out by saying that the former occupant of my disguise was killed when he unlawfully tried to take possession of a dungeon core he did not own."


    That statement sent ripples throughout the entire assembled crowd. The council members were furious. An end of a diamond rank was a rare thing, even nowadays. But who was making this power play? Was our information wrong? Had the other two powers already formed an alliance and moved to claim the free dungeons?


    "You claimed the right of a Messenger. I demand you state who you serve," one of the council members, who seemed the most composed, demanded.


    ¡°I represent the free dungeon that the adventurers who delved it named Eternal Training Ground. I¡¯m also here to announce that Eternal Training Ground proclaims independence from any of the four powers. It asks to be left alone, but be certain that if provoked, it is not afraid to wage war on anyone who tries to kill or enslave it.¡±


    ¡°I see that many of you don¡¯t believe me and think that I am from the other powers, trying to somehow subvert your expectations. Fortunately, we have a person here who can verify my claims.¡± I watched as this messenger pointed towards one of the beasts. It took me a moment to remember that he was an old, strong one who liked to talk about dungeon fortresses.


    Before he stood up, he was handed a letter, and the person next to him whispered into his ear. From the looks of everyone, no one could hear what was said, which was impressive. I saw that every beast also looked at him, some in confusion and others in anger. He glanced at the letter for a moment, then burned it before anyone could stop him.


    He then stood up and spoke, ¡°The dungeon called Eternal Training Ground is indeed completely free and has been the entire time it has existed. I learned of this not too long ago and was forced to keep silent because they had my granddaughter hostage¡ªthe one that went to chain the core with the now confirmed dead minder of the Eternal City State.¡±


    He then sat down, and he didn¡¯t seem like he was going to elaborate on anything.


    ¡°Vixen, for the life of me, we must go,¡± the messenger said out loud. I watched as many servants¡ªat least 100 among the almost 4,000 here¡ªstraightened their backs, including the one next to the beast representative who had just spoken, and as one, they started to walk to the center where the messenger currently was. Once again, he shifted into someone else, although he seemed to be trying to keep his form steady.


    ¡°The Eternal Training Ground doesn¡¯t want the diplomatic relationships between our powers to start off even worse than they currently are. Because of this, all spies among your ranks will now stop their work. Here¡¯s the letter announcing our independence and our sovereignty over the territory known as the Eternal City State.¡±


    The letter then multiplied and flew to almost everyone, including the beast representative. I was numb at this point, not understanding what was happening. I was already getting shifty eyes looking at me, so I was probably going to be blamed for all of this.


    ¡°Screw the right of the messenger! We must question them all and get every piece of intelligence we can!¡± one of the council members yelled out loud.


    The traitors had assembled around the messenger. The guards were already acting, but it seems everyone was too late. In an instant, a huge symbol appeared underneath the traitors, and before anyone could act, they were gone, teleported away.


    ¡°They¡¯re only 500 kilometers towards the south,¡± one of the grandmasters immediately spoke up, and many were already rushing out to catch up to the traitors who had just escaped a fate worse than death. At least for now.


    I just sat down in complete shock as everyone started to yell over each other. Yet in my mind, everything seemed to be clicking into place. All the inconsistencies finally made sense.


    I looked towards the beast who had spoken, and our eyes met. It seems like we were both tired. The implications of it all were so large, and worst of all, I saw the panicking council. They had never had to contend with a new power. Especially the power of a dungeon that''s completely free.


    Still, the dungeon had only recently reached platinum rank, and many were pointing out correctly that we should have no problems subduing it properly this time. I once again had that feeling that it would be better to leave the dungeon alone, but I knew that wasn¡¯t going to happen. Eventually, I lifted my head when I felt more attention on me. It seems that it was time for me to start answering questions I knew no one was going to like.


    End of Book 5

 chapter 251

    Recap


    It has been a journey of nearly 200 years for a dungeon core named Eternal Training Ground, or ETG for short. During the course of its life, ETG grew from a small dungeon core that enjoyed watching how ants developed more than the adventurers who delved it. Into one of the largest dungeons in the world. With an adventurer population in the millions living in it and a population of its creatures it so enjoys observing well into the billions.


    While the rest of it''s brethren dungeon cores, had fallen prey to the other races of this world. It has managed to stay free, and keep it''s freedom a secret from most. ETG even repel multiple attempts to chain it to serve the will of others.


    ETG has gathered allies who have helped keep it safe¡ªone of the biggest supporters being Ace. Ace was a simple adventurer who inherited a large piece of land where the Eternal Training Ground would one day be discovered. Over the course of nearly 200 years, Ace turned a once worthless piece of land into one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Thanks to the resources of the dungeon and the discovery that there was a safe area to exit the trade winds of this world that facilitated most of its commerce.


    Many have made their home inside ETG''s many waystations and hubstations. Finding close friends, building families and cities. None of it was easy for the adventurers who delved into this dungeon. Many have fallen in the pursuit of their dreams, yet more have succeeded thanks to the challenges they faced.


    Now, however, a line has been met. The true powers of this world already know, or will soon learn, that this dungeon, ETG, is completely free and will not submit to their rule without a fight. Many will now have to choose which side they take in a war that will most likely decide the future of this world.


    Chapter 251


    As the creatures of ETG teleported away after declaring ETG''s independence, many of the powerful platinum and diamond ranks immediately started to follow. ETG creature¡¯s teleporter was not good enough to perform proper long-range teleportation, but what he was good at was transporting groups of people.


    He knew how much mana he had¡ªeverything was calculated¡ªso every five seconds, he teleported everyone once again, hoping they could get far enough away from the angry diamond ranks chasing them to escape back home.


    At the same time, thousands of people all over the world disappeared as they finally received orders to abandon their missions and return home. None of them especially liked that their missions were cut short, as they had built a spy network unlike any other in this world. Many arguments were heard back in the dungeon about whether to keep or dismantle this useful spy network, but at the end of the day, everyone could see the writing on the wall.


    ETG¡¯s influence, which he had spread through his creatures to every corner of the world, would be discovered sooner rather than later, and it would simply be better to bring everyone back while there was still a way for them to return. Even now, their orders were not to return to Eternal City but instead to go into the underwater world and come back home through the gateway there.


    The first to notice the missing people were the four great powers themselves. For the Beasts and the Masters, they learned immediately how deep the infiltration had gone, but for the Deliverers and the Pixies, they only slowly started to realize that something had gone wrong. Somehow, their servants went missing, yet even their diamond ranks, specialized in finding people, could not locate them.


    Ace had received his orders three hours before the declaration of independence happened. There was only one option available to him, and that was to retreat into the dungeon. When ETG showed him what he had created for him and his nation, Ace was speechless. Immediately, he started his work. An announcement rang out in the Eternal City-State that all could hear.


    "I have grave news for you all. You have all learned about who truly rules this world, but perhaps not all of you know that their strength comes from the fact that they subjugate every dungeon in this world. They hold back advancements and only allow those they deem fit¡ªand that they can control¡ªto achieve diamond rank. They did the same to me, not knowing that I was never their lapdog."


    ¡°The same goes for this dungeon that has been free from the very beginning, never under my control or anyone else¡¯s. This might scare you, but for 200 years, ETG has not done anything to us to make us believe it meant us harm. The same cannot be said for the so-called rulers of this world, who only recently revealed themselves because their secrets have been spread to everyone.¡±


    ¡°Yet I have just been informed that, in just a little while, they will learn about the truth of this dungeon, and they will come here in force. I do not know what they will do, but I can guess. As they cannot trust anyone here, they will most likely falsely claim that this dungeon went mad and killed everyone here.¡±


    ¡°I have seen how ruthless they can be and can easily see them doing this. They could of course go another way and just leave things as they have been.¡± Everyone could hear Ace¡¯s voice, it was like his voice perfectly conveyed a face of absolute disbelief as he uttered the last sentence.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°This dungeon, however, seeing the future, has offered us an alternative. ETG holds many secrets, one of the biggest being how big it actually is. You know about the hub stations¡ªwell, it has constructed us a perfect replica of this nation in a place safe from the monsters, where we could all reside so we could continue to live our lives and enjoy the freedom that this world can never offer us.¡±


    ¡°It will not be an easy transition. While I can guarantee that no one will die of starvation, we will, of course, lose access to the most profitable trade route in the world. What I do know is that we would have access to the rest of the dungeon, and ETG has guaranteed that no one will ever reach our home to take it from us again. I will not force anyone to join; I would never do that, but I implore you to take this opportunity.¡±


    ¡°You might doubt my sincerity because, without you, I would not be a leader of a nation. You might perhaps think it impossible for ETG to defend against the powers of this world. But let me assure you that, honestly, I would rather not be a leader, but I am so because you all deserve the best of me, and this is the best solution I have found to protect you.¡±


    ¡°This dungeon has also been preparing for this conflict for almost its entire life, so be assured that no force would take it easily. However, even ETG does not guarantee complete safety, as in war, anything could happen.¡±


    Ace continued his speech, giving a bit more information and then explaining how, in his entire nation and especially the main city, thousands upon thousands of dungeon entrances have now been opened and will take them directly to the same spot in the replica city inside the dungeon. There were people who immediately started to rush toward those entrances, but many were still in complete shock.


    Ace knew that would happen, so he had already sent out his entire army¡ªnot to force anyone to escape into the dungeon but instead to help anyone who needed it and to explain the situation to those who wanted answers.


    This situation was not going to be easily solved and would take time, but right now, there was no diamond rank close to the eternal city-state, and Ace stood vigilant, ready to fight any of the fast diamond ranks that could get here in a few hours if they truly pushed themselves.


    The group escaping from the Masters and the Beasts Conference had managed to get about 2,000 kilometers away, thanks to their teleporter. Yet every one of them could feel the couple of diamond ranks still on their tail. They had hoped to have escaped but had also made contingency plans, and the last teleport had taken them to an airship unlike any other this world had seen.


    The teleporter collapsed onto the deck, completely exhausted, but commands were already being yelled to get the ship moving. Far away, the diamond ranks, still following and continuing to accelerate faster, finally managed to see their prey.


    Yet they were shocked to see where their current targets were. It was not a huge airship, but it wasn¡¯t made out of wood; instead, it was fully made of metal. There were no sails on the airship, and none of the crystals that helped it levitate were visible outside the hull.


    They continued to push themselves to catch up to the traitors. While they were shocked about the ship''s appearance, they were also gleeful, as their prey was soon to be caught. Yet, all of them realized at this moment that they had celebrated a bit too soon.


    They watched as huge columns of fire shot out the back of the airship, which now started to accelerate faster and faster. They were still catching up at an incredible speed, but in less than 10 seconds, the airship was approaching the speed of sound, leaving them all shocked. They pushed themselves faster, as they were currently flying at multiple times the speed of sound, but they didn¡¯t know how fast this new type of ship could actually move.


    On the ship, the entire crew was preparing for what was to come. At the bow of the ship was a singular individual, currently weaving a spell, waiting for the moment the airship reached the speed of sound.


    This was far from the maximum acceleration this ship could achieve, yet if they pushed too far without proper preparations, the resistance of air itself would render the airship completely uncontrollable¡ªnot to mention the damage it would receive.


    A special spell had been developed to deal with this problem, yet it required the ship to reach the speed of sound and for the accompanying sonic boom to properly activate and work. Many others were ready for the activation of this spell.


    There were multiple other mages at the sides of the ship, who would also pour power into this spell and guide it along the airship. There were others prepared to dampen the G-forces everyone would feel, as even for platinum ranks, it would be hard to maintain their spells while dealing with the intense G-forces at the same time.


    At the center of the airship, there were currently two people on each side of the deck, focusing a specific fire spell into the intake of the skill engine, making the ship move forward at this incredible pace. Yet, they were only there temporarily until two others beside them took over. The true powerhouses who would truly push this incredible skill engine to its very limits.


    At the aft of the ship, people yelled out that they could see pursuers. Everyone¡¯s nervousness on the ship ratcheted up multiple degrees. All of a sudden, one of the diamond ranks teleported extremely close to the ship, almost getting close enough to latch onto the airship. Yet before he could, a torrent of fire flashed over him. At first, he simply laughed it off, but soon he felt something was wrong.


    The one that bathed this diamond rank in fire was a peak platinum rank with an extremely special talent. The diamond rank soon learned that his control of mana had been disrupted, and he fell towards the sea below. The platinum rank continued to let out bursts of this fire, forcing the other diamond ranks now following to avoid it, giving the ship just enough time to reach the speed of sound.


    Many things happened at once as the airship reached the speed of sound. The spell activated to help control the ship at high speeds and mitigate the damage the air resistance would cause. The diamond ranks felt the power when each individual truly pulled on everything they had.


    Blue flames entered the skill engine, and the ship started to accelerate at incredible speeds. Yet that wasn¡¯t all. Inside the ship, near the bow, there was another man and another intake for the skill engine. This time, however, the spell that entered wasn¡¯t a fire spell but instead a lightning spell.


    The effects were immediate. The bluish cones of fire shortened, yet their power multiplied as the airship accelerated faster and faster. The airship started to vibrate like it was about to break apart, yet the construction held, and with every second that passed, the diamond ranks¡¯ approach slowed down, even as they pushed themselves faster. Eventually, they stopped gaining on the airship and started to fall behind, even when they were pushing themselves to the absolute limit.


    In a last-ditch effort, one of the diamond ranks teleported as close as he could, and before the flames hit him, he launched a devastating lightning strike¡ªhis specialty¡ªonto the ship. He was aiming for one of the engines.


    If only he knew that simply any attack hitting the hull would have been sufficient to break apart the delicate balance keeping the airship afloat and moving at such a speed, he wouldn¡¯t have aimed at the one spot where his spell would have a minimum effect.


    The skill engine was incredibly large and complex, taking up nearly half of the ship¡¯s interior. Because its elements were fire and lightning, it was also incredibly resistant to those types of damage. So, while the spell did melt some of the housing of one of the engines, it wasn¡¯t enough to do any proper damage. The diamond ranks could only watch as the airship carrying the traitors managed to escape, flying directly toward the dungeon they now knew was free.

 chapter 252

    Pov Ace


    It was weird to have my senses open. Usually, I hide my power, but the time for secrecy was over. It took me a bit to get used to the sensory overload, but the skills I was using helped me interpret the things I wanted to know from the things I didn¡¯t.


    My talent also let me feel the amount of panic and worry my people were experiencing. At this moment, what I wished for the most was that things could just stay the same. It would be so nice if those in power would actually recognize our sovereignty, but that would be a fool¡¯s wish.


    My citizens were actually coming around. Most of them had already decided to go to our new home or had already left, bringing everything they could with them. The bigger problem was the adventurers.


    Many of them had come from far away, and they had families they wanted to return to. Even they heard my announcement in every corner of the dungeon, thanks to ETG. He even helped some of them get out faster from where they were if they wanted to leave the dungeon.


    Those who didn¡¯t want to stay were obviously incredibly worried about what would happen when diamond ranks reached this place. That¡¯s why a large portion of my Navy was currently helping load up everyone who wanted to leave onto airships so they could escape this place.


    My army was helping anyone else, and of course, I wasn¡¯t going to leave the wealth of my nation behind. So we were also transporting that to our new home, even if there wouldn¡¯t be much use for it there, at least at the start.


    My mind flashed back to when ETG opened up a gateway for me to see the home he built for my nation. I was floored when I saw the city, empty and just waiting for people to occupy it. Then I let my senses go and felt how large the place actually was. I couldn¡¯t feel the end of it, and then he told me that it was bigger than the real world, with continents and oceans and wildlife that was mostly safe, but there were more dangerous areas.


    I still don¡¯t know how to feel about him building us an entire world. How was that even possible? I know how big his dungeon was in the real world, and it was minuscule in comparison to the world he made for my nation. Then he told me the other secret: that this was just one of 50 such places.


    He did admit that the starting floors were minuscule in comparison, but that didn¡¯t matter to me. He had still hidden so much¡ªno wonder I felt such power when he allowed me to take strength from his realm.


    Now it makes more sense how I managed to get so strong in so short a time when I fixed my skills. I was able to pull on the power of multiple worlds. That means my talent wasn¡¯t as efficient as I first thought it was, but that didn¡¯t matter anymore.


    There were so many intelligent creatures and so many civilizations inside ETG, not to speak of the fact that he could make humans, dwarves, and the other races that were thought impossible for dungeons to copy.


    Not only that but apparently, when dungeon monsters have offspring, their offspring are no longer bound to the dungeon and can leave it. They were as real as me, except they still had a strong connection to the dungeon of their birth and would never betray it.


    Then there was the Academy, the Line, and the Labyrinth¡ªthings I would never have expected a dungeon to have. Well, perhaps the labyrinth, but not in the form that it¡¯s in.


    Everything was going smoothly for now, but I knew that it wouldn¡¯t last. News was already spreading about what was happening here, but everyone was still too far away to do anything to stop it. I wondered if they were going to let other people settle back here, using the fact that the trade winds weakened here so people could use it as a resupply spot. Perhaps the Masters and the Beasts will try to take full control over this place and only allow their own people to work here. I guess we will see in the future.


    I also didn¡¯t doubt that they would try to take the dungeon by force, but now that I knew the extent of his power, I understood that anyone who wanted to take this dungeon would need to use tremendous force. I was certain that they had the strength needed if they came together, but would the four powers that were on the brink of war act fast enough to stop the progress of this dungeon before nothing could stop it? I guess we will see if they succeed in that or not.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Time went by fast, and I was quite busy guiding my people to get to the problematic places. A lot of people started to loot, but I wasn¡¯t going to have it. My concentration was broken when I sensed something fast approaching. I looked north. It didn¡¯t take long for me to sense a massive object flying at incredible speeds. ¡°That is my creatures.¡± I heard a soft voice in my head that I immediately recognized as ETG.


    He seemed incredibly busy, and it didn¡¯t take long for me to have a visual of the airship that was closing in. It was entirely made of metal, something I hadn¡¯t seen before, and, of course, the speed at which it was moving was incredible. The front of it seemed quite damaged, perhaps it had gone through a battle, or maybe the speed itself had caused this.


    They did notify air control of their approach, but their last sentence was quite worrying. They said that three hours behind them, there was still one diamond rank following their escape from wherever they came from.


    What was worrying was that they weren¡¯t slowing down, but then I sensed a part of the mountain turning into a large gateway, and the pieces fell together. They were simply going to fly at this speed into the dungeon and probably slow down there. But that meant I would need to deal with the diamond rank that was following them.


    It took another hour before I felt his power closing in. ETG assured me that if I needed it, I could get help from the peak diamond rank. But now that I felt the power closing in, I knew I didn¡¯t need it.


    While he was more powerful than me, it was obvious he had focused on travel speed more than anything else. Also, the fact that he had been burning so much mana to continue flying here at such speed meant that he would be quite spent.


    I flew up and waited floating in the air for his approach. He noticed me and started to slow down, eventually stopping a few kilometers away, breathing heavily. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go back to where you came from? This is the sovereign ground of the Eternal City-State, and you have no permission to enter it.¡±


    ¡°You traitor! No one has recognized anything, and you can¡¯t just declare yourself a sovereign nation apart from us. You¡¯re our subordinate, nothing more. Why do you have the flying skill? I swear, it¡¯s the incompetence of the younger generations that has led to this idiotic incident. Do you really think you can stop me? Don¡¯t make me laugh. And you actually think that a newly ranked-up platinum dungeon can even defend against me? Let me show you true strength!¡±


    He teleported past me, but I managed to get one of my hooking skills on him. Damn, he was fast, and before I was able to properly activate the skill, he had flown past me and into the gateway where the airship had gone through.


    Of course, ETG didn¡¯t let him enter the dungeon, but that didn¡¯t stop him from flying through the mountain, causing a portion of it to crack and start tumbling down. He seemed quite pleased with himself and started flying toward the city itself, but he didn¡¯t get far before the skill snapped into place. I yanked him back like he was tethered by a rope.


    That must have hurt, but he didn¡¯t fall far before he managed to regain control of his body. Now, he looked mad but also confused. ¡°You think I would let you destroy this city and the people in it? I love how all of you underestimate anyone who isn¡¯t you.¡±


    He tried again, but he wasn¡¯t getting away from me. It took quite a lot of power, especially with him resisting, but I kept making the rope shorter and shorter.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Don¡¯t you want to fight me?¡± I said in a mocking voice. He immediately turned around and flew toward me at incredible speed. I had to give it to him¡ªhe really was fast in the air.


    What he didn¡¯t expect was for me to let him hit me. As soon as he did, I wrapped myself around him, increasing my weight while pounding him with my fists. The flying skill took quite a lot of concentration, and soon we found ourselves on the ground.


    He started to throw spells at me, and I needed to defend. He was still stronger than me, but obviously, he didn¡¯t actually know how to properly fight. Yes, he was doing damage to me, but he was spending so much power to do so. I just let him think that he was winning. It took him quite a while to understand what was happening, but by then it was already too late.


    When his eyes widened a bit with the realization that he was running on empty and hadn¡¯t done any real damage, I appeared in front of him and headbutted him hard. He tried to defend himself, but he was more of a spellcaster than a close-in fighter. I slipped past his every punch and delivered my own. He tried to escape a few times, but he was always pulled back by the rope.


    ¡°Stop! Please, don¡¯t! We can talk!¡± he tried to say with his broken jaw, but I just pretended not to hear. Just a moment ago, he was ready to kill innocent civilians just to show his superiority. I never understood how killing or hurting someone weaker than you made you stronger. It just made you a pathetic bully. It didn¡¯t take long for him to be on the ground while I continued to rain punches on his head.


    I stopped when he was properly unconscious and barely living. That took quite a lot¡ªdiamond-rank bodies were tough. When I looked around, I saw the devastation. A part of the mountain was completely destroyed, and the land was filled with scars for about 100 kilometers around us. The forest that we had fought in was on fire in multiple spots, but most of it was now black dirt or rock. In fact, I was currently in a hole about 100 meters deep just because of the punches I made.


    I kind of wanted to kill him, and I knew that I could, but there was still a chance that we could postpone hostilities. Every moment ETG got to continue advancing meant there was a better chance for all of us to survive.


    So I went and brought some special rope and handcuffs and tied him up so he wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything. What I didn¡¯t do was heal him. I could already see his body slowly healing itself, so it meant he wouldn¡¯t die, but I also wanted him to stay unconscious for as long as possible.


    I was still going to stay close to here, just in case he managed to do something, but I focused back on guiding my people to help my citizens relocate and anyone who wanted to escape this place board airships that would take them far away. I wondered if I was going to need to fight again, or if we would get the evacuations done before that.

 chapter 253

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I watched the fight between the fast diamond rank and Ace quite anxiously. Ismael was ready to interfere, but in the end, it wasn¡¯t needed. Ace was able to handle business. I enjoyed that turn of phrase. The adventurers were quite useful for me in getting used to the type of language they spoke. Watching the fight unfold, I was a little bit surprised by the devastation caused, but on the other hand, it was quite a good demonstration of what was to come.


    Ace¡¯s wife was also someone I was quite glad about. She did something that changed a lot of opinions for almost everyone in his nation. She was able to show the fight in its entirety in different places in the nation, but especially in the main city. I helped a bit, as I created large crystals that Ace¡¯s soldiers took into the city, allowing many to see the fight and, more importantly, the conversation before the fight.


    If anyone had doubts, they were erased by that fight, and while a large portion of the remaining people who still hadn¡¯t entered my dungeon didn¡¯t like the idea of leaving their homes behind, they also started to understand that staying here most likely meant their death.


    Many rushed into the dungeon during the fight, but most were now returning to get the stuff they had dropped to get to safety faster. Everything was still incredibly chaotic, and I was kind of sad to see so many adventurers deciding to leave my dungeon while they still could. Of course, I understood the reasoning, and I was glad that most seemed to be deciding that they wanted to stay.


    It was a bit overwhelming to hear so much conversation going on about this topic. Never have I heard so many people speaking about one thing, and it was kind of creepy how most of the conversations went exactly the same way.


    The most worried were the people who were closer to the surface, as they were the most threatened whenever an invasion happened. While the powers of this world might decide to spare those living on the surface, everyone was certain that staying in this dungeon would mean a death sentence if I ever failed and fell.


    I was able to alleviate those worries quite a lot as I assured everyone that no invader was going to use the normal pathway toward my core. There wasn¡¯t even a lot for me to do, as I was already prepared to make these changes at a moment¡¯s notice. The only reason I still hadn¡¯t was because many adventurers were still using the main entrance to escape or to enter the dungeon.


    My hope was that, before I needed to change my entrance, everyone would have already left or entered. But if needed, at a moment¡¯s notice, I could change things to protect myself against possible diamond-rank incursions.


    Of course, they might bring dungeon melters, but honestly, I was excited about it and hoped they actually did bring them. I kind of wanted to see what would happen when they tried to punch a hole in my defenses.


    Hopefully, I could see this, but at a later date when I was even more ready. In fact, I was even looking forward to them trying to invade me the normal way. They would get quite the surprise, and I would quite like to see the panic in their eyes when they realized conquering me would not be easy.


    We were also currently debating what our first response would be. Many were advocating for showing strength, but I wasn¡¯t so sure that it was a good move, at least at the start.


    During the short time it was open, the room where everyone who wanted could attempt to get to diamond rank was also named by the people using it. They called it ¡®The Line.¡¯ I wasn¡¯t so sure about the name, but I also wasn¡¯t going to force something else if the name came about naturally.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    A few of my strongest creatures had already reached diamond rank, thanks to the fact that they were so close to it to begin with. This was another reason why a lot of advisors were recommending a show of strength immediately. Many were certain that the most likely size of the delegation they were going to send here first, we were going to be able to match them diamond rank for diamond rank.


    Once again, I thought that they would take more time to come here and come with a bigger force, and quite a few agreed with me. In the end, I think that they will not be underestimating me too much. While most of the diamond ranks were quite arrogant, I was quite certain that the old monsters had a little bit more wisdom.


    There was also the problem of the girl that we had as a prisoner. Most didn¡¯t know what to do with her. The vocal minority brought up that we should keep her as a hostage, but I had already given my word, and I will not be breaking it. I will, however, wait until the evacuations are done. Hopefully, they are done before anyone else arrives, but then I would just be setting her free.


    My firm conviction made everyone stop arguing that point, but then someone brought up a more interesting idea. While she knew somewhat about me, they were all guests at best. Perhaps it would be a good idea to accidentally leak some information¡ªbe it correct or false, we currently didn¡¯t know¡ªbut the idea intrigued me and most others.


    Everyone also disliked the fact that our spy network basically ceased to exist in one day. While a lot of devices were left behind, they would be discovered eventually, and, of course, they could only gather passive information, unlike proper spies. Still, I didn¡¯t want any of my creatures to be caught and forced to kill themselves or subjected to horrible ways of information gathering.


    While all of this was going on, I was still focusing on my new floor and, more specifically, the creatures in it. The slimes were quite interesting, and I¡¯m starting to think that perhaps they are actually the key for me to figure out how proper consciousness is formed and how that consciousness becomes sapient. I¡¯m pretty sure that when one of them reaches diamond rank, I could actually have a conversation with it, but I would have to wait and see.


    If I do figure all of this out thanks to this pattern, not only would this pattern have given me a way to get diamond-ranked creatures so I could continue to advance quickly, it would also have given me a way to properly modify other patterns so I could make even more efficient farms without the worry of subjecting my creatures to horrible fates that they would actually remember.


    Because of all this, I have reduced my presence as much as possible in the dungeon rooms and basically every playroom to the level of just maintaining the current status quo and performing the most minimal passive observation I can get away with. It is not a situation that I enjoy, but it must be done.


    A large portion of me was focusing on the new floor and the creatures in it, and as soon as I had the opportunity, I would break through to the next floor. The biggest portion of me was focusing on defenses, mainly to detect any incursion and to continue shoring up my defenses. The third biggest part of me was actually focusing on the labyrinth.


    At first, the labyrinth was just a pet project of mine, something I found interesting to make. Who didn¡¯t like the idea of a practically endless labyrinth that was constantly shifting¡ªat least fake shifting?


    I was still quite proud of the way I figured out how to do that. The special gateways that didn¡¯t look like gateways constantly shifted their connecting points, giving the illusion that the labyrinth was in constant change and you never knew where you would end up if you started to traverse it.


    There were many creatures there that had lost their way and were now forever trapped in the labyrinth. Currently, I was focusing on making some truly dangerous areas in there, but mainly it was still quite desolate.


    There simply hasn¡¯t been enough time for it to properly fill up with lost creatures. For now, what I did was remove all the access points into the labyrinth from my playrooms and dungeon rooms and made sure that the labyrinth connected with this specific entrance I purposely made to my core floor. This entrance led into the deadly labyrinth I built for my core protection.


    The reason why I did this was so that I could connect the large labyrinth with all the entrances I had on the surface, making it impossible for invaders to delve into the regular dungeon rooms. They would need to move through a constantly shifting labyrinth that was ridiculously large. All of the walls were now reinforced with my platinum-ranked power, which meant that even diamond ranks couldn¡¯t simply break through them.


    Distance was a defense on its own, but I had no doubt that diamond ranks could find their way to my core floor eventually. Still, I think this should give us enough time for me to get strong enough that it wouldn¡¯t matter if every diamond rank in the world reached my core floor.


    We were also quite certain that groups of diamond ranks would be separated in the labyrinth, and thanks to my help and the control I have over every gateway, we could send strike teams to take care of the separated diamond ranks.


    Even I think this war, if they truly want to go through with it, will not be determined by big battles or strike forces that will end the fight quickly. No, this will be a war of attrition, and they are fighting a dungeon that could literally make anything from mana.


    I¡¯m starting to understand the reasons why they subjugated my kind better and better. That still didn¡¯t mean I wouldn¡¯t do everything in my power to stay free. They should honestly just make a deal with me, and if I actually have to become the world¡¯s will, I¡¯m sure we could make a deal on how the next iteration of this world should look.

 chapter 254

    Pov Vivian


    I woke up and noticed that I was alone in my prison. Where had Ismael gone? Immediately, I tried to send a message to my grandfather, but I still couldn¡¯t get through whatever the dungeon had done. Somehow, not having that huge dragon here made me feel even more insignificant. It was like I couldn¡¯t do anything to change my situation, even when I didn¡¯t have a guard watching over me.


    There was a way out of this cave, and without the huge dragon blocking it, I could easily see it. But I was still inside the dungeon, there was nothing I could do to escape. This dungeon had been quite busy. I have felt it strengthening the stone here after it reached platinum rank, which meant I couldn¡¯t even easily break through the stone here, not to speak of the dungeon stone probably surrounding every floor.


    Well, this place should still be connected to the pathways outside¡ªthe mana here isn¡¯t stale¡ªso there should be a way out for me. Yet I was under no illusion that Ismael would come after me and capture me easily enough, as I couldn¡¯t hide here; the dungeon would easily locate me. Yet my mind was trying to tell me something¡ªsomething I was missing.


    It finally clicked after the food delivery didn¡¯t come. Was the dungeon under attack right now? That would mean Ismael was probably fighting, and so were most of the dungeon¡¯s strongest allies. Without further delay, as I had already wasted way too much time figuring this out, I started to run towards the opening out of this cave¡ªor at least I hoped it would be.


    The tunnel seemed smaller than I expected, but I guess Ismael could change his size easily enough, so there was no need to make the tunnel leading out of this room too huge. I was about to reach it when I felt the gateway open up behind me.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to run. You couldn¡¯t get out even if you wanted to. There is no escape from these kinds of rooms¡ªit could even stop me from leaving,¡± I heard a human voice say. It sounded quite similar to whenever Ismael talked in my mind. I turned around to see a sophisticated human smirking at me. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out who that actually was.


    My running slowed down, and eventually, I stopped. There was one thing I didn¡¯t really understand: what did he mean by there was no escape and that even he couldn''t get out of this place without the dungeon¡¯s say-so? From what I can sense, the area around here is quite big. There¡¯s no way this could be an isolated pocket with mana this well-circulated.


    I watched as he turned back into the huge dragon he actually was. It was quite fascinating to see, but now I had to go the long way around to get back to my bed.


    ¡°So, where were you?¡± I asked while still walking. It was always annoying when he looked towards me with that huge head of his, as the wind generated by his movements was quite bothersome. At least this time, I didn¡¯t need to shift back my bed since I wasn¡¯t near it.


    ¡°I just had to observe a little fight. You know, the diamond ranks of this generation seem quite disappointing. If you¡¯re all like the one I saw, well, my job will be a lot easier,¡± he communicated. He spoke so casually, but the implication was frightening.


    ¡°Did the dungeon do something to the Guild Master,¡± I said. He¡¯s probably the only diamond rank nearby that I¡¯m pretty sure wouldn¡¯t be an ally of this dungeon. Ismael started to chuckle at that.


    ¡°No, you silly girl, he wouldn¡¯t be of the new generation. But perhaps you don¡¯t know much about him. I have no doubt in my mind that he could have done some real damage, but he isn¡¯t here and will probably never return. Well, perhaps, but I guess time will tell,¡± he communicated.


    After that, Ismael closed his eyes and found a comfortable position. Whenever he did that, there was no point in asking more questions, as he wouldn¡¯t answer me. And I don¡¯t think trying to announce anything would be a good idea. So, once again, all I had left to do was try not to be bored.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    A day passed, and I was waiting for lunch and an opportunity to talk to my grandfather. Lunch came, but not the communication crystal that allowed me to speak with him.


    ¡°Ismael, don¡¯t you have the deal with my grandfather? Or can I speak to him later?¡± I asked. He looked towards me, and after a little bit, finally spoke.


    ¡°No, little one, you won¡¯t be speaking to him through that crystal anymore. Just sit tight.¡±


    "Wait, what do you mean? What has happened?" I tried again and again, but he simply wouldn''t speak to me anymore. This was bad. Really bad. For a moment, I thought that maybe something had happened to my grandfather, but that was a ridiculous notion.


    A quick confirmation with my skill that allowed us to communicate confirmed that he was still alive. Even if I couldn¡¯t use it to communicate with him because of the interference, at least I could check if he was still alive.


    I tried to ask the people who brought me food, but they never spoke. I tried to grab one, but a transparent barrier stopped me from doing it. I looked towards Ismael, who had one eye open and looked quite displeased.


    After that, I stopped trying to get answers. I didn¡¯t understand exactly what had changed, but obviously, the dungeon''s secret had been discovered, and there had been some sort of conflict outside. What that really meant, I had no idea.


    I suddenly woke up during the night. It was the 4th night after they stopped letting me speak to my grandfather, but now the gateway was open during the night, and no one was coming in or out.


    Everything was so dark here at the moment. Usually, the cave was bright, but only during the day. I continued to look at the shimmering edge of the gateway that promised freedom, even if I knew it was a lie.


    "That¡¯s not a lie, little one. You should really go through that before you are trapped here forever."


    It took me a moment to register his words, but I didn¡¯t wait another moment and immediately rushed towards the gateway. Were they really keeping their promise of letting me go? It was so hard to believe, but what else was I going to believe in?


    So I jumped through the gateway and realized that I was in the entrance hall of the dungeon on the surface. I recognized the huge pillars and just walking past those meant that I was out of the dungeon.


    I started to run towards them, but even before I picked up proper speed, my steps faltered, and I slowed down. I had gotten so used to the quiet that I hadn¡¯t noticed it before, but now that I did and looked around, there was literally no one here.


    The place seemed abandoned, with no souls anywhere around here. It took me way too long to realize that. I should use my senses, and that actually made me cringe a little bit. How could I already be so rusty? My panic grew as I didn¡¯t sense any living beings for quite a while, but then I breathed out in relief because eventually, I did sense living people.


    There seemed to be quite a few up above where the airship port is, and further into the city, there were people. But currently, I can feel only about thirty thousand people when I should have been able to feel millions. I sensed another diamond ranked in the biggest plaza in the city, so I decided to walk towards it.


    That diamond rank felt weird, like he was unconscious. It was incredibly creepy to walk in this empty city, and I still thought that perhaps this was some kind of trick¡ªthat maybe I was still in the dungeon and this place was made to mess with my mind. But I knew that it wasn¡¯t.


    It was also time that I contacted my grandfather. It was harder to initiate the skill to speak to him than I thought, but not because of any actual problem. It was just because of me¡ªhe was forced to work with the enemy, and I felt ashamed because of it.


    ¡°Grandfather, are you there?¡± I asked in a shakier voice than I really meant to. There was a short pause, and my anxiety grew with every second, but eventually, I felt the connection solidify, and I finally heard my grandfather¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Vivian, is that you? What happened? I¡¯m on my way to you right now. Are you safe?¡±


    Those words were so nice to hear. I could once again communicate with him freely. ¡°They let me go. What has happened?¡± There was another moment of silence before he spoke.


    ¡°Almost a week ago, the dungeon revealed its true self and declared independence. We don''t know exactly what''s going on there, but we know that another diamond rank reached there before us. But we haven¡¯t heard from him.¡±


    The implications were staggering, but I had kind of expected something like this. ¡°I think he¡¯s still alive. I will reach his position soon. But grandfather, the city¡­ it¡¯s basically completely empty. There are so few people left here. I think they all went inside the dungeon.¡±


    ¡°Shit,¡± I heard him curse before he went silent for a bit. ¡°Sorry about that. It¡¯s just that now a few of our plans won¡¯t work, and the dungeon will have a lot more mana to work with.¡±


    We continued to speak as I gave him as much information as possible, and eventually, I reached the diamond-ranked person I had felt in this plaza.


    ¡°Well, he¡¯s alive, grandfather. He¡¯s still unconscious, seems to be slowly healing, but someone beat him close to death. I told you that Ismael was away a bit, but from the context, I don¡¯t think he fought personally. So they have one or multiple diamond ranks capable of taking out a pretty strong diamond rank, at least rank-wise. I don¡¯t know his combat capability.¡±


    Eventually, we stopped speaking, so I stopped channeling mana into the skill. I just sat down next to the unconscious diamond rank and decided to wait until the others reached here. It will still take them about five days, but they are coming with a decent amount of strength, and from what my grandfather told me, they were gathering even more.


    This certainly was a huge mess.

 chapter 255

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I watched as Vivian left and quickly changed the gateways so they would no longer work or be in any way connected to the rest of my network. It should be impossible for them to use them, but you couldn¡¯t be too careful.


    Basically, while it wasn¡¯t official yet, we were under siege now. What I also did was start to gather the last of the mana I needed to break through so I could start making the next floor but, more importantly, to improve the skill My World once again.


    The only reason I¡¯m doing this is because we found out through one of the listening devices that it will take them four to five days to reach here. I should be out of the breakthrough by then, especially if I go fast.


    I already had my floor guardian planned out. At first, I wanted to make something with slime, but balancing it seemed to be a nightmare. It was either too weak or way too powerful. Still, I wanted to do something different, so I decided on a swarm-type floor guardian.


    Gathering enough mana was stupidly easy, like always. What wasn¡¯t so nice was pushing myself to the absolute breaking limit, but when I once again triggered the breakthrough, it felt so good. I only enjoyed the moment for a short while before I got to work.


    The pattern I was using was one of the ancient creatures that a few of my Academy scientists specializing in that field managed to bring back to life. They classified them as dinosaurs, with only a few species of them still surviving to the modern day.


    The ones I was planning to use were small, didn¡¯t even reach the waist of a person, but they were vicious, especially one of their claws that had some sort of pivot mechanism to make it move incredibly fast up and down, tearing apart anything in its way. They seemed to have pack tactics, which I toned down a bit, as I wanted them to be swarmers and not intelligent hunters.


    I also needed to make sure that some of them were quite a lot stronger because the problem with swarms was that if you were strong enough, no matter how long, you could endlessly defend yourself. So, it was still quite tricky to balance this particular floor guardian, but it will also take a tremendous amount of time before anyone gets to test it, so I will have chances to make adjustments.


    The reason being is because this floor basically has no dungeon rooms. My instincts didn¡¯t like it at all, but I did make one big one that seemed to satisfy it at least a little bit. I simply didn¡¯t have time to make proper dungeon rooms. First, I needed to deal with whatever trouble the powers of this world were going to bring, and because of this, I was focusing on the playrooms.


    I needed more farm floors capable of producing diamond ranks, but after that, I was most likely going to rush to diamond rank. While doing the minimum possible to make sure I didn¡¯t mess up the floor size advantage I have built over my entire life.


    The skill selection for the breakthrough was easy. I just put everything into My World, bringing it to rank C. Damn, this skill was hard to rank up, but it needed to be done. I finished the breakthrough four days and 12 hours after I entered it.


    Immediately, I went through all the reports, finding that nothing bad had happened and that the diamond ranks hadn¡¯t yet arrived. Then I reconnected with my dungeon and went through everything to make sure that nothing had happened in my dungeon without me knowing about it.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    Nothing really special happened, but a few more of my creatures had reached diamond rank. More interestingly, some of the adventurers¡ªthe first to accept my deal¡ªwere starting to get close. Some of them were real monsters, especially Carl.


    His talent was seemingly quite simple, but it was so incredibly effective. I kind of wished there was some way for me to collect the talents of my adventurers. Perhaps I should see if it¡¯s possible to create a skill that would allow me to do so, but right now I simply didn¡¯t have time to put so much effort into something that wasn¡¯t important for survival.


    Then again, when I was able to make diamond-rank monster, being able to use the best of the best talents as I made their patterns would be an incredible advantage. Well, right now I need to focus on getting My World to at least S rank.


    That way, no one can mess with me. Pixies should already find it impossible to teleport to my core floor, but who knows? They might have some diamond ranks with really specific talents to make it possible.


    Immediately, I started to expand the new floor. It was, of course, going to be another farm floor and the only diamond-ranked farm floor for land-based creatures. The other farms had been working for quite a while now, and it seemed like the water-based one was pulling ahead in the department of producing mana and platinum-ranked creatures.


    So, for the first five floors after the platinum rank, the first one would be for the slimes, the second for land-based creatures, and the last three would all go to the water-type farm floors.


    That should be enough. Then the rest of the floors could basically just be empty, but I would still need to make some dungeon rooms. That would be relatively easy as those rooms would also basically just be empty.


    I didn¡¯t like this at all. At least in that part, I agreed with my instincts. But from what I¡¯ve learned, many adventurers also go against their instincts and do the opposite of what their body tells them to do. Some of them die because of this, but those who don¡¯t¡ªwell, they can become truly great.


    I had nearly finished going through all my floors, updating some dungeon rules, especially in the labyrinth, when I finally noticed the approaching presence of something incredibly powerful. When I looked toward it, there was a medium-sized airship that was just radiating with power. There weren¡¯t just diamond ranks aboard, because to my surprise, they also had a dungeon core.


    It took me a little while to realize why they had that. I also felt quite stupid when I realized how they were using it. I am capable of making dungeon cores, so my people could also use such technology.


    What they had done was use a dungeon core to expand the size of the ship¡¯s inner hull so they could fit more people without making the airship bigger. Now, how exactly they used the dungeon core to get that effect, I didn¡¯t know, but sometimes all you needed was to see that something was possible to be able to figure out how to do it.


    I added this discovery to the backlog the Academy was currently under, as new research into topics that didn¡¯t have to do with our survival had been left to the side. When they entered the eternal city-state''s territory, I could finally feel the individuals on the airship.


    They had six peak diamond ranks and about thirty others. That was a way bigger force than we ever expected to see so soon. They also had a lot of platinum ranks, but they wouldn¡¯t matter in this type of fight. I think they are more for logistical purposes than anything else.


    Vivian had gotten the other diamond rank conscious, but he was still a bit broken. The grandfather and granddaughter hugged each other warmly, and they didn¡¯t seem to care what everyone else thought. There were some Beast representatives, but the majority of the diamond ranks that came were from the Masters. I also figured out why they brought six peak ranks.


    One of them was Vivian''s grandfather. He probably demanded to be here and wouldn¡¯t take no for an answer. The other five I had expected to be the people who got the short end of the stick and had to come here without actually knowing each other too well, but that turned out to not be true. It seems like these five were a proper adventurer team that have been together not for centuries, but millenniums.


    In all honesty, they were intimidating. Just their presence alone radiated absolute confidence, and I had no problem believing that they not only complemented each other but that they could enhance each other''s powers exponentially. It was a scary thought, and I¡¯m pretty sure they could fight against my platinum ranks easily enough, probably even fight Ismael to at least a standstill, with Vivian''s grandfather making the difference.


    Perhaps I was underestimating Ismael''s power, especially when he would be in his dragon form, but there was a reason why his species was basically extinct. So now I understood why they waited so long to come here.


    If they wanted to, a few of them could have been here a day or two after they discovered what I truly am. They waited to bring enough strength that they could at least match mine and my allies, so they wouldn¡¯t have a weaker bargaining position¡ªif they were even going to bargain. Currently, I have no idea what their game plan is, and I just have to wait and see.

 chapter 256

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I watched as a group of platinum ranks tried to enter one of my gateways, but it simply didn¡¯t work. All of the gateways on the surface just above me were now deactivated and completely disconnected from the rest of my network.


    It seems that they had some sort of device they tried to use with my gateway. I didn¡¯t know what it was supposed to do, but whatever it was, it didn¡¯t work, which didn¡¯t leave a lot of happy faces.


    They usually just did one thing and then went to report back to the command center they set up in the Adventurers Guild. They had already set up a way to handle the new airships that were coming in and the people traveling over land. They were only letting them resupply and then sending them off again, and when the platinum ranks supported by diamond ranks said something, well, the airship captains wisely stopped complaining.


    So instead of going back, they actually tried to enter my first floor. To make it a little bit fun, I made the first area of the labyrinth that was connected to the outside world look like a few of my original first floors. The difference was that there weren¡¯t any monsters, and I made things look more run down¡ªat least as much as you can make regular caves look like they¡¯re run down.


    At first, they didn¡¯t think anything of it, but I could see in their body language how they slowly became more unnerved. They started to argue when they reached the place where the normal first-floor guardian should be. One of them wanted to return immediately, but it seemed like they were under orders to expedite things.


    The diamond and platinum ranks had already been here for about four days, but they hadn¡¯t accomplished much. Then have already interrogated a lot of the people who stayed behind and get a handle on the constant flow of airships that were coming in, but not much more.


    Eventually, the group delving me decided to descend onto the next floor, and this was the first test I was actually curious about. They were all accomplished platinum ranks, even though they were, at best, servants to the diamond ranks who had the real power. Still, they knew their stuff¡ªI was certain of that¡ªbut none of them could feel or identify the other type of gateway I had, which was basically a hidden gateway that only the very best could detect.


    Now, I could have switched the gateway destination when only half of them had walked through, but I wasn¡¯t going to mess with them just yet. In the grand scheme of things, the platinum ranks were not important enough to reveal such a powerful secret.


    They continued to descend until they reached the 5th floor, after which they didn¡¯t find a way down but instead six different corridors leading off in different directions, all of them with different ruin designs.


    Most of the ruins were empty, especially the ones that were really old-looking, where the brickwork and stones were barely holding on. But even in those ruins, I always liked to add a few traps. I will feel bad for anyone that stumbles onto the really dangerous trapped ruins.


    The kind of place where you step over one pressure plate only to find that the entire room was a pressure plate, and now you need to deal with flaming, flying, electrified balls of rock fired at you faster than the speed of sound.


    Those were deep in, and even if I did make the entire labyrinth constantly shift, there were places you could only get to if you were really unlucky.


    My design team, over the years, has expanded quite a lot, and while I have employed quite a few that adventurers would call madmen. If I let them do civil designs for too long¡ªthe ones that I can use in dungeon rooms¡ªthey would actually go crazy. So the labyrinth has also been a way to let them channel all their crazy ideas into a place that was meant to be madness itself.


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


    I¡¯m pretty sure some of the more elaborate magical traps have started to form consciousness, and honestly, that¡¯s a scary thought. I don¡¯t think I would have recognized that fact if I hadn¡¯t dealt so much lately with how consciousness develops and what makes it actually happen. Fortunately, none of them seem to be even remotely close to sapient, but I guess if any of them actually achieve it, I¡¯ll deal with that when the time comes.


    They were still arguing, but one of the braver ones decided to venture a bit deeper in. Once again, I kind of wanted to mess with them and make one of the gateways switch locations, but I held off.


    Then they became even stupider, with each one going individually into the different tunnels to search a bit further. Now it was an actual struggle not to mess with them. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t do it for long once they realized that the ruins seemed endless.


    I watched as they went back up, their faces showing a little bit of fear. I didn¡¯t know exactly what they needed to accomplish, but it was obvious they didn¡¯t accomplish it. They were headed to the command center, so I focused back on a particular wing of the Academy where a lot of people were furiously working on trying to understand and predict the secret language almost everyone upstairs was using to hide their communication from me.


    At first, I thought they knew that I could see above the ground, but I think they were just paranoid about spying. Not everyone could speak this secret language of theirs, so I still learned stuff.


    One of the things was that none of them actually believed that all of the spies had left, and that the pulling back of the personnel I did was just to throw everyone off. I guess I could have seen that coming, but I would have been happier if they actually believed that we weren¡¯t spying on them anymore, well at least with people.


    "They are going to go back and report the first delve into my dungeon. It would be nice to know what they are saying?" I communicated to the team in charge of deciphering everything. One of them looked up, and I saw a little bit of sweat running down his forehead.


    "Just give me a little bit more time. I think I¡¯ve got it," he answered, while not looking at anything. It was like he was focused more inside than outside. His body temperature was also rising at an alarming rate.


    Before I could say anything, a person laid their hands on his forehead and started to cast a magic that emanated a chilling aura.


    His talent was quite fascinating, allowing him to calculate things in his head even better than I could, and a lot more complex things that didn¡¯t have direct and predictable outcomes. The fact that, if he really pushed himself, he would actually die from overheating because his brain was working so fast was so fascinating. Unfortunately, this was one of the talents that I couldn¡¯t get, as he was actually a recruit from the outside world instead of one of my creatures.


    He almost slumped when I saw his body temperature starting to cool down. Quickly, he started to write something down, and when he filled the second page, I could understand the rest.


    ¡°I thank you for everything. You can take your well-deserved rest now,¡± I communicated to the team leader, who then said it to the person who actually finished deciphering the secret language they were using.


    Now, when I focused back on the surface world, everything changed. All the communications now made sense to me, so it was time to figure out what they were actually doing.


    I always had a little bit of presence in the main chamber where their most important business was discussed. The interesting thing was that two of the five diamond ranks knew my viewpoint and often glanced at it, so when I now focused more on that location, I saw both of their eyes going towards my viewpoint.


    They tried to figure out what was going on and even changed locations, but just to mess with them, I always went to the exact same place in whatever room they were having their discussions in. The best part was that, now that I knew the language, I just went back and rewatched everything that I had already observed.


    It seems like their higher-ups were pushing them a lot, especially because the Pixies and the Deliverers had started to understand what was going on and were putting pressure on the Masters and the Beasts to get this solved fast.


    The five who came here were from the Masters, and they were not ones to easily take orders. So that¡¯s why they hadn¡¯t stormed into me to try to break my core or take control of me. They were actually trying to do this properly and without crossing any bridges just yet.


    That was quite fascinating. Also, Vivian¡¯s grandfather didn¡¯t really care about what was going on anymore, and while he was still angry about what had happened, he got his granddaughter back and was no longer on a warpath.


    Now that everyone had seen his reactions play out, the ones advocating for her death were quite silent. I even had to stop a few of them from resigning. To me, it didn¡¯t matter that they were wrong¡ªwhat mattered was that they were willing to voice a different opinion. Sometimes that difference of opinion is the thing that might keep us alive. So who cared if this time it would have done the opposite? It¡¯s important to know all the options available to us.


    ¡°So what you¡¯re telling me is that this dungeon somehow changed the first few floors, and you think they are just cheap replicas that lead to a different part of the dungeon unknown to us?¡± The leader asked. One of the ones that delved into me answered immediately, and with an affirmative.


    ¡°Scour the mountainside and find if there are any other proper entrances, and test every gateway. If there aren¡¯t any, that means this dungeon can modify itself more than we thought possible.¡±


    I could now see the weight on the shoulders of that person. He was put in charge of this mission, but ever since he got here, I have seen him question things more and more. It¡¯s like he has believed in something all his life, and suddenly there are more and more facts that show his belief has been wrong.


    Perhaps it would be a better idea if I initiated contact. Perhaps a letter at the dungeon entrance asking for a talk would be a good idea. I started giving information to my people about everything that I had learned and about the idea I had. I should have a bit of time to discuss this with everyone. Our current game plan was to delay, delay, delay¡ªand what¡¯s more delaying than peace talks?

 chapter 257

    Pov Dungeon Core


    It was decided that we would wait to deliver the letter until they were quite close to trying to delve into me once again. It was quite humorous to watch as one of the lookouts noticed, from the corner of his eye, the letter gently floating down almost next to him.


    The way his eyes slowly started to widen as he realized what he was looking at was amusing, and then I could see a few beads of sweat running down his forehead when he understood what it actually meant.


    For about five seconds, he had no idea what to do, but he wasn¡¯t the only one on guard. One of the others grabbed the letter, looked at the writing on it, and took off running as fast as he could toward their command center. The letter went through a few people before reaching the table of the party leader and the current commander of this situation.


    He narrowed his eyes when he saw the letter, most likely because of the timing. There was a lot of debate on when to give the letter, but in the end, we decided we must stop showing that we are just some weak prey and prove that we also have some claws of our own. It was quite a long letter, giving out some terms, and I could see him contemplating everything, just like I thought he would.


    Then he reached the end, and for the first time, I was completely unable to read him. The last part said that I was willing to negotiate how this world would look and function when it reached its end.


    In all honesty, I actually was, because I really didn¡¯t care. And if I¡¯m being more honest, I really didn¡¯t want to be anything else but a dungeon core. Becoming something like the world¡¯s will¡ªhaving almost no way of doing things on your own and just having to watch¡ªwhile it did please a part of me, I didn¡¯t like that type of passiveness.


    What I wanted to do was make worlds and then see how everything acted inside and developed. I¡¯ve also guided some events and even helped some who were struggling unfairly. Giving up everything that I currently am didn¡¯t seem like the way to go. But like every child of the adventurers, all of them had to eventually grow up, and perhaps that would also be my future. Even if I would like to be a child, so to speak, forever, that¡¯s probably never going to be possible.


    I continued to observe, seeing how this letter would be received. It didn¡¯t take long for him to contact his superiors, and then a huge meeting room was set up with a couple of dozen communication crystals. I was glad to see their crystal technology was a few steps behind the communication crystals my Academy was producing.


    That¡¯s another thing I have noticed. When you reach the top, most stop struggling to get stronger, which is understandable, but that mentality makes them stop progressing in other parts. From what I understand, that particular communication crystal technology they currently have has been around for about 1,000 years with little change because they reached the point where it was all that they needed, so they didn¡¯t put any more resources into improving that technology.


    I could somewhat see the reasoning behind it. In some things, you are going to reach a wall, but that doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t branch off and see what other things you can accomplish with that technology as a base. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve constantly been increasing the size of my Academy with more and more departments that are getting more and more specialized.


    From all of my floors, there are plenty of people who have other pursuits besides just getting stronger. I don¡¯t see a reason why, if they want to, they couldn¡¯t push themselves as far as they can in other pursuits, and I¡¯m more than willing to give them the resources and time to do anything they want.


    Because of all of this, we are starting to actually get technologically ahead of the rest of the world, and it¡¯s just so fascinating to see everything that¡¯s possible, things that I could never dream about.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    But now that I¡¯ve seen what¡¯s possible, I could recreate them, and I can¡¯t wait to see what they¡¯re like when I start adding that kind of technology to different playrooms. But before that, this stupid war for my existence must be fought.


    Bureaucracy seems to take quite a while, but one by one, more and more individuals connected through the communication crystals. I was a bit surprised that almost half of the communication crystals were for the Beasts, so it seems like they properly formed an alliance.


    What followed was literally three days of straight discussions, sometimes full-blown arguments that I was certain would have come to actual fighting if they weren¡¯t on other sides of the world. As things went on, they were starting to lean more towards accepting my deal in exchange for resources and eventually training more diamond ranks.


    It took three more days for them to offer their terms. It was hilarious to watch the panicking platinum rank that was clearly confused. His orders were to step into my entrance hall and speak their terms out loud.


    The terms were quite long, and a few of them I certainly wouldn¡¯t agree to, but all the people currently working with me on this problem were excited. They wanted to see how far we could push them and, of course, how we could continue to delay them.


    The so-called peace talks lasted for a few months. We only communicated through letters, even though they wanted to see representatives and demanded them every time they came back to amend their terms.


    What was still keeping us at the talking table, so to speak, was the fact that I was willing to give ridiculous amounts of hard-to-find materials. What was stopping them from accepting was that they would need to protect me against the other two powers and the fact that I would never allow them to visit my core.


    I actually had no problem allowing them to delve on my diamond-ranked floors whenever I reached that far, but everyone also knew¡ªat least on our side¡ªthat the peace would never last. In fact, most of my analysts were certain that we could only stretch the non-hostilities for a few months at most. The reason being the other two powers and the opposition to the peace talks on both the Masters'' and Beasts'' sides.


    As a show of good faith, this time, not just a letter arrived but so many really expensive and dense mana crystals that it actually took them a week to get all of them out of the first few fake floors. This delay, however, was useful because I was only putting a small part of me into focusing on it, while everything else was focused on making me stronger and better able to defend myself.


    Those slimes were magnificent. And I was now calling them slimes, even though they started as just a nutrient ooze. A couple of them have now reached diamond rank¡ªsomething I didn¡¯t expect them to achieve so quickly¡ªbut I had made them a perfect environment. And, well, the platinum ranks are basically the size of huge capital cities. That allowed them not just to consume some of the other slimes around them but, more importantly, to absorb the incredibly strong solar power that their farm playroom was providing.


    There were currently about 50 million individual slimes, but they still had plenty of room. Eventually, even if they fully covered the entire floor, it would not stop their development cycle. The funny thing is that when they reach diamond rank, they don¡¯t get bigger; instead, they shrink to about the size of a human, and yes, they become proper sapiens then. Their ranking-up lifecycle finally helped crack the problem with my other patterns developing consciousness and sapience too soon.


    This meant that I could now fully make my farm floor work to produce diamond ranks in quantity. Now, it will take quite a while to get this working, but I just finished expanding the 52nd floor. All I have to do now is make a basic environment, modify the patterns for this floor with the new things I learned, and just let it start developing on its own. Then it would be time for another breakthrough and another farm floor.


    Of course, the other side also had time to prepare. They were trying to be sneaky, but they were bringing in dungeon melters and other devices. We were currently trying to figure out what they did. They were also bringing in more and more personnel, especially the Beasts, and it seems like Vivian''s grandfather was bringing in his entire clan. That was a weird move, and we weren¡¯t certain what it meant.


    Like this, another few months went by. With so much focus on only making the new floors and farm playrooms, I was getting things done fast. I had to make some basic dungeon rooms, but when that was done, I broke through and managed to get my ¡®My World¡¯ skill to rank B. But it was a close thing. Every time I upgraded that skill, I felt more solid, and I liked that feeling.


    Even with so many peak diamond ranks up above, I still managed to keep my breakthrough completely hidden. In fact, I was most likely going to keep all my breakthroughs hidden until I reached the final breakthrough before diamond rank, as I simply couldn¡¯t keep that one hidden no matter how much I wanted to. But by then, it would be too late for them. About a week after my breakthrough, things changed for the worse as a delegation from the Pixies and the Delvers came.


    The Delvers were also like the Beasts, and the Masters were a portion of them who wanted a long-term treaty, while another portion advocated for my end or total control over me. The Pixies were the ones wholly wanting my destruction. The peace talks were more difficult after that, and only about two weeks later did they finally fall through, and the flood of diamond ranks¡ªabout 100 of them¡ªrushed into the labyrinth.


    I looked back on everything that happened, and I was a little bit disappointed. We¡¯d missed the opportunity to show our strength, but in a way, it might have helped us in the long run because now they had no idea what strength we actually had.


    The diamond ranks will soon learn that it will not be easy to navigate my labyrinth, and with its constant changing, they could be lost there for a long time. Up until this point, I had kept the labyrinth from changing whenever they entered, but this time I let the dungeon rule I crafted take over. Let¡¯s see how long it will take them to figure out that it would not just be a few months'' work to reach the core.

 chapter 258

    Pov Dungeon Core


    ¡°We have lost contact with half of our forces. We still know that they are all alive, but the dungeon stone is signal-blocking, and it seems like it has already changed all of the dungeon stone to the new variant that¡¯s even strong enough to resist diamond-rank damage.¡±


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be here because we all expected that. Tell me what you suspect.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve had a few experts look at the first few floors that are mimicking its real original first floors. The experts say that there are strange energy signals every once in a while hidden in the walls and that there are a lot of dungeon rules layered upon each other. In fact, they seem to be taking up, if their predictions are to be believed, an amount of mana that should not be possible for this deep of a dungeon.¡±


    ¡°You have still not gotten to your point. You wanted to speak alone, and I gave you that chance. Don¡¯t make me regret it.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sorry. It¡¯s just that it¡¯s my belief, from what I¡¯ve learned from people reporting back, that it looks like a labyrinth. And, well, there have always been myths and legends told about labyrinths that change shape, trapping anyone who enters. I believe that this dungeon has a way of making that happen, and that¡¯s why we have lost contact with so many. It¡¯s not that they made it further in; it¡¯s because they are most likely in other parts of the labyrinth. And who knows how large it actually is.¡±


    That analyst is way too smart. He has been shunned most of the time that he has been here just because he¡¯s platinum rank, but he sure can come to some correct conclusions. And now he¡¯s talking to the old commander of the forces outside.


    The old commander refused to take his party into the dungeon, so people finally got the chance to replace his command. He still retains quite a lot of influence, and in the end, it seems like he¡¯s more focused on keeping the situation as calm as possible. But things aren¡¯t going well for them at the moment.


    There was another huge meeting going on with yelling and demanding answers. Everyone knew that they had lost contact with a lot of diamond ranks who had entered my labyrinth. We had yet to kill anyone, even though a few of them were alone now, but we were still waiting for the right moment. Everyone had also noticed how my presence was becoming more and more all-encompassing on the surface.


    They were trying to use some devices that were actually working to block me from spreading my influence upwards, but since we were now officially at war, I didn¡¯t see a reason why I shouldn¡¯t do what I wanted to do. So soon, they were operating out of a zone that was quite small as I spread my influence upwards and outwards.


    I was doing it slowly because I didn¡¯t want to frighten them with how fast I could actually claim territory. What I was also doing was making sure that my presence was even stronger, so if I were to do something on the surface, it wouldn¡¯t send up a flare announcing what I had done.


    Unfortunately, I have not been able to make one of my most dangerous creatures, the fruit flies, into proper platinum ranks as their bodies simply couldn''t handle it. I would need to make them bigger, but that would also make their effect that allows them to fly through objects not work as it does when they are at their small size. I think I just need to find a proper talent to make it work, but I have yet to find such a thing.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    I could already flood the surface with my monsters, not even needing a way to transport them to the surface. They know this, but they aren''t afraid because most of them up there are diamond ranks, and they think that they are untouchable. While for some, that''s true. I can¡¯t do anything against peak diamond ranks even if I send millions of the best platinum ranks I could make. But the weaker ones would still die.


    The reason we were hesitant was because there were still some citizens left who were basically under house arrest and left to their own devices, but they couldn''t leave either. Every once in a while, some of them were taken for interrogation.


    Fortunately, they had mind readers, so they actually didn''t need any torture to ensure that everyone spoke what they knew. Cooler heads seemed to have prevailed in that department, as some actually still wanted to start torturing.


    There was also the other problem of Vivian. She was one of the most listened-to experts, mainly because of her grandfather. She was getting things pretty correct, but I was still glad to see that even she hadn¡¯t figured out the new kind of gateway, even though she had sensed and figured out their locations. Another problem was her grandfather.


    He was a mystery to everyone, even to the spy who worked closely with him. From what we can understand, he''s basically bringing his entire clan here¡ªnot just the people, but everything including wealth and industry.


    He¡¯s the expert on dungeon fortresses, and while most still don¡¯t think I¡¯m a fortress, they do know about my surrounding dungeon stone sphere, which has helped him remain one of the most influential people up there.


    His moves were finally approved when he managed to convince everyone, after the first few diamond ranks went missing, that this wasn¡¯t going to be a war won in a few months but instead in decades.


    None of them liked what he said, but, well, to make it to diamond rank you couldn¡¯t be too stupid¡ªeven though I could see that a lot of the diamond ranks were just boosted up there, and, well, the difference between them and the ones who struggled to get there was immense.


    The Pixies have also been quite busy, and it seems like they have been producing dungeon melters in mass, as they have brought almost 50. There are multiple plans going on about how to use all of them, and I have no doubt that they will be bringing even more.


    Unfortunately for them, I¡¯m not stupid. They are waiting for me to advance so they can strike while I¡¯m unconscious, but if they only knew that those dungeon melters, while useful, won¡¯t help them as much as they expect.


    While we hadn¡¯t expected so many dungeon melters, we certainly planned for it¡ªand a lot more. Even in the labyrinth, their plans wouldn¡¯t be so simple. In the underground world, almost all of the ants have also retreated back to the dungeon, but there are still so many working on bringing in real stone so we can disrupt the melters¡¯ beams. This special mix of dungeon stone and real stone will take a while to get through, even with a melter.


    Their civilization had spread quite wide, and they really were so industrious. It was a bit sad to see them coming back like this, but I was glad that none of them were truly disconnected from me. Even now, dozens of billions of ants¡ªa lot of them dungeon monsters, but still a huge portion being real creatures¡ªwere helping not just to protect me but their own home as well.


    Sometimes, when I think about the dedication and fervor the ants had to protect their home, to protect me, I kind of felt bad for the diamond ranks. Just a tiny bit bad, as they were real arseholes right now. But if things ever got to the point where I needed to take the leash off of them, well, I didn¡¯t expect much to survive of our enemies. Yet the cost right now would be too high. There were too few of them at diamond rank at this moment.


    One thing was clear: there wouldn¡¯t be ant civilizations full of diamond ranks, and even the best of the best, their champions, only a few could reach that far. While the percentages I suspect could reach diamond rank were quite low for ants, they made up the difference thanks to their huge numbers.


    On the other point of the scale were the orcs. Their percentage of people I think could reach diamond rank was the highest amongst all other species, even adventurer species, but their birth rate was quite low. So I think in the end, they would have about the same amount of diamond ranks. Right now, both species only had two so far.


    Those four were quite strong, but like every other one of my creatures that has reached diamond rank, they were all newly advanced. From what I can tell, diamond ranks need quite a bit of time to get properly used to their power, and even then, they are just at the beginning of their rank. Also in diamond rank, every minor breakthrough meant quite a lot more power.


    I wonder how long they will wait before me not advancing makes them decide to use the dungeon melters. Hopefully, it will be a while, because every day that passes without them properly trying to get to my core is a day I grow stronger.

 chapter 259

    Pov Dungeon Core


    During the months when we have been under full siege, with no one getting in or out, the adventurers were starting to suffer. They didn¡¯t have any problems with food or staying alive; the problem was with the economy.


    There was no longer a place that would purchase almost all the drops that the adventurers didn¡¯t want, so they could make coin and purchase things they needed. And, of course, many of the industries that supported a civilization were now unavailable to them, which made some products quickly rise in price.


    If things continued like that, the entire adventurer population would suffer an economic crash along with many other problems. Already, a lot of adventurers were no longer going out to clear rooms to get loot because they couldn¡¯t do anything with it. I also think that¡¯s why the diamond ranks up above thought that I would eventually crack and fail¡ªbecause I would be attacked from within due to civil unrest. Fortunately, I had a way of fixing it.


    It would have brought problems before, but My World was a wonderful skill. There have always been devices that allowed better teleportation or even communications and now I could find them all. They were mainly used for longer communications and teleportations, but they could also be used to break through interference like the signal-blocking dungeon stone, and even my own dungeon rules that stop teleportations and communications from happening.


    Once again, the powers of this world have underestimated me, as I have now located the devices and spies that are still in the dungeon rooms. I gave my go-ahead, and all the teams waiting moved immediately to capture these spies and deactivate or destroy all those devices, so no diamond rank could use them to get into the dungeon rooms. Some of them were very well hidden, but I took care of those ones personally.


    It took about a day to complete this task. Some even managed to evade capture for a while, but you can¡¯t really hide inside the dungeon if the dungeon itself is hunting you. This caused a bit of panic, but the preparations were done, and it was finally time to properly address all the adventurers.


    It was a good thing that a few of the ant nations, especially those focused on technological advancement, figured out¡ªthanks to their cooperation with the Academy¡ªhow to make more complex compute cores.


    That was the name they gave them¡ªthey were technology mimicking my quest crystal. All of it started with the stealing of the Guild Master¡¯s skill crystal. It was mainly made of a crystal that combined a dungeon core and a few variants of mana crystals to allow for the enormous amount of saved skills that could be copied and not taken, unlike skill stones that were one-use items.


    Now I have three of them, and while I could make the large compute core myself, the inner workings were a lot more intricate to make and needed trial and error to properly make work. Fortunately, experts in the field have emerged over the course of the time they have tried to develop this technology for their own use.


    The quest crystal was already quite overworked, mainly because of the reward systems I¡¯ve added to it, but now I have a dedicated compute core for the rewards and one to handle citizenship.


    The biggest problem was that the adventurers didn¡¯t have a market to sell their more common drops. There were markets already in my dungeon, but the problem was that they weren¡¯t accessible to the adventurers. I also didn¡¯t want to make them freely accessible, which necessitated a solution from the outside world.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Travel was going to be restricted depending on the citizenship you had. There was already a bit of panic among the adventurers as the news spread about the arrests, and what didn¡¯t help was me now making huge dungeon gateways in every hub station.


    Those world gates, because that¡¯s what they were, they were connections between the different playrooms, or as I was now calling them, worlds, because it was voted overwhelmingly that calling them playrooms would cause even more panic.


    There would be special visas for merchants so they could more freely travel through the world gates, and of course, everyone would learn of my true size. There was no doubt in my mind that things were going to be tense for a while, but especially the ants would provide the necessary connection to civilization so the economy could work and so that the dungeon rooms would have access to established industries. These industries would support them in exchange for the huge supply of meat and valuable materials that could be obtained from the dungeon rooms.


    Of course, every world will also get passports and visas, but a large portion would not be able to delve the dungeon rooms. This was mainly because there were way too many creatures in the different worlds that I had, and they would simply overwhelm the current size of the dungeon rooms.


    I could easily see a future where, in the later floors, I would actually make more versions of upper floors the same way I have done with the first 15 floors, as they had multiple versions of them available to be used.


    I did the final checks, tested all the systems, then every quest crystal made a unique sound of a dungeon-wide alert. Not only did I make the information section of the quest interface available to everyone, but there was also a lot more information there now.


    Everyone also got an explanation of what has happened over the course of the last few days, a brief summary of the current siege situation, and, of course, the revelation of the different worlds and who inhabit those¡ªand, of course, about the world''s gates and the passport system.


    For the moment, I stopped almost all of my pressing works and focused solely on the dungeon rooms, as I wanted to experience and see all the reactions as they were happening instead of viewing them later.


    Their reactions were as varied as I expected them to be, but I was glad that I saw more acceptance than I originally thought would be possible. I only allowed myself one day of this break before I got back to work.


    It will take a bit of time, but already in the dungeon rooms and my other worlds, everyone was preparing to make first contact so they could start establishing trade relationships. That was also another reason why I didn¡¯t want a large portion of my creatures to be able to delve the dungeon rooms. It would cause conflict, and we really didn¡¯t have time for that because, during the siege, a conflict inside could be disastrous.


    At least that¡¯s what I¡¯ve been told, and I can understand their reasoning. I¡¯ve also been recommended to start hurting the economy of the outside world as well. I¡¯m still not completely sure that I want to do that, but Vivian''s grandfather had brought a lot here, and with his industries making high-end consumables and other items, the forces outside were getting stronger and stronger.


    From what we can tell, the other powers were also planning on bringing more supplies here, as it was becoming clearer and clearer that this siege of theirs would take a long while. While they had some very good airships. Most of them need the trade winds to get here in a reasonable amount of time. From what we can gather, a huge number of airships were currently on their way here to bring a lot of supplies.


    They would most likely be able to then build the structures and devices that limited my territory above much more easily, which would make our other plans harder. It would help so many ways if the trade winds no longer slowed above this mountain range, so they couldn''t build up their strength above so fast. They would eventually do it no matter what, but it would take them much longer.


    The problem was that by doing so, I would most likely crash the economy of the entire world. That would not really affect the four great powers, but it would affect ordinary people. Many would lose their jobs, and there would be a lot of suffering, as it would take time for markets to stabilize. There was already a huge shortage of rations around the world, which was causing a lot of problems, but this would cause even more.


    It took me a while, but on a wintry afternoon, I made almost all of the mana crystals in the mountains disappear that were causing the effect of slowing down the trade winds. To hide the fact that those were the cause, the sound of massive cracks and then falling rocks were heard for hundreds of kilometers as almost every mountaintop collapsed, causing massive rockslides.


    The diamond ranks easily defended their established compounds, but the entire terrain of the formerly known Eternal City-State was now changed. And, of course, the slowing-down effect of the trade winds slowly dissipated. I really didn¡¯t like waging war.

 chapter 260

    ***


    It was late at night while Merrick was walking home with his shoulders slumped. He wasn¡¯t the best-looking¡ªhe was too slim, too lanky, and he had even become a bit too old. He often wanted to change his life, and many times he tried to be more of what he needed to be to be allowed to become a diamond rank.


    Merrick wasn''t a fighter, and while that was one of the easier ways to get to diamond rank, his brilliant mind had long ago qualified him¡ªexcept for his bad habit of not respecting authority. It was especially hard for him to respect his superiors when he knew they were idiots.


    He was still creeped out that the city, which was once a center of commerce for the entire world, it was now so empty. He had been here for years already, trying to figure out what this dungeon actually was. Merrick was actually ahead of everyone else in his understanding of the Eternal Training Ground, what it could do, and the secrets it was hiding.


    The problem was, he didn''t have any real evidence yet. His talent and his mind let him make connections that no one else could see, but even he was afraid to voice them all because, over the course of his life, he¡¯d learned not to deliver bad news to his superiors. Yet Merrick remembered his last few conversations with the previous commander in charge of everything here, which made his back straighten a bit.


    It had been a while since he actually respected his superiors, and while the old commander was no longer directly his superior, he was the one who had listened to him the most. What surprised even Merrick was that there were no diamond-rank deaths just yet.


    The labyrinth was incredibly large and dangerous, but none of the truly important people had died, which Merrick thought was on purpose. He also shouldn¡¯t have said that out loud in one of the latest meetings. Yet he could see others thinking the same thing¡ªthey were, however, smart enough not to mention it.


    The death toll of the platinum ranks sent into the labyrinth to help map it out was climbing every day. Most of them were missing, but even without being able to contact them, the diamond ranks had their ways of knowing if someone had died. Everyone was quite pissed off, especially the great four powers, which brought a smile to Merrick¡¯s face¡ªone he quickly made disappear.


    He still couldn¡¯t believe their stupidity in telling that a dungeon got free and destroyed one of the newest yet most known and celebrated new countries. The city lord had spent his money wisely, supporting a lot of charities around the world.


    With all the news that came out before about the great four powers, most didn¡¯t believe the propaganda they were still trying to push. Yet, when the trade winds stopped slowing down in this location, no one really cared about what actually happened, as it didn¡¯t take long for the world economy to collapse.


    In Merrick¡¯s opinion, it was actually a good thing. Everyone had gotten a little bit too rich, and when people in power became rich, they wanted more, which led to a lot of wars. Now no one had the resources or the coin to fund war, which, in his opinion, in the long run, actually saved more lives¡ªeven though the last year had been tough for many regular citizens.


    Merrick and Vivian were the first ones to figure out how the labyrinth was able to switch and change. The fact that it was a new type of gateway and what that actually meant was dismissed by most. They were just pleased that they now knew the secret and could start working on unraveling the new kind of gate network so they could control it the same way they could with the old gateway system.


    Merrick didn¡¯t think it would be an easy task, but he had been constantly going into the labyrinth to try to figure out how the first new gateway, which appeared quite early on, worked. In the back of his head, there was an idea forming about how it worked; he just needed a little bit more time. Merrick hoped that it would be enough to get permission to be brought to diamond rank, and the old commander even promised him that he would do what he could to help.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    When Merrick stepped into an alley, he knew something was wrong. For some reason, he felt like he was inside the dungeon; he felt the mana spike from the walls. His mind went into overtime, and even before anything else happened, he figured out that he was currently in the horizon of the new type of gateway. Before he could do anything about it, his surroundings changed, and he was in darkness.


    ¡°Come, sit down,¡± a cultured voice said. In the darkness, he heard a snap, and light bathed the room. He immediately looked around to see that he was in quite a small room with no exits. There was a table with two chairs on either side, and a man sitting on the other side. Merrick knew exactly who that was, and it was hard for him not to shake in fear.


    The dragon pretending to be a man indicated for him to sit down, and Merrick did so. ¡°So, it seems like your mind is quite brilliant. It would be a shame for you to figure out how the new gateways work this early. You have two options in front of you: you can either stay here as a prisoner, or you can join our side, where you could actually make that brilliant mind of yours work with all the resources you could ever wish for at your disposal.¡±


    Merrick was stunned for a moment. He didn¡¯t understand how the dungeon could change the walls of that alley to be a gateway with the devices limiting dungeon territory expansion. ¡°You haven¡¯t just been waiting¡ªyou¡¯ve been running secret missions, most likely replacing some of our devices with fakes.¡±


    Those words made Ismael smile. ¡°See? You just need a single piece of information, and you simply come to the right conclusion, completely sure of it. You know the reason why you¡¯re not diamond rank isn¡¯t because you don¡¯t respect your leaders¡ªit¡¯s because they¡¯re afraid of that mind of yours. I bet you already see through all their bullshit.¡±


    ¡°Of course I do. I figured it all out in the first week, but that doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯re entirely wrong. Dungeons could destroy this world so easily, especially in this age. There are only two options if anyone else wanted to survive besides them: it¡¯s either to destroy them entirely or control them. Any other option would be way too dangerous.¡±


    Ismael¡¯s jovial mood disappeared. ¡°Do you not think that a peak diamond rank couldn¡¯t destroy this world just as easily?¡±


    ¡°Not as easily, no, but yes, I believe there are some who are capable of it.¡±


    ¡°And why do you think they don¡¯t do it?¡± Ismael interrupted before Mark could continue.


    "Because it wouldn¡¯t be beneficial¡ªonly madmen would do something like that. Quite a desperate madman." Mark answered back, his previous fears long forgotten as he felt he could finally speak his mind without any worries. As he believed he wouldn¡¯t survive past this meeting.


    "Perhaps you don¡¯t think it, but the Eternal Training Ground, this dungeon, is quite reasonable and definitely far from a madman. What¡¯s your decision, or would you like to speak more?"


    There was a pause where Merrick really let himself think. The way he was treated, the way some things started to make better sense to him¡ªhe sighed out loud. "Unfortunately, even if I wanted to accept that, which I kind of do, I am already too deep in." At this point, Merrick felt a burning sensation at the back of his head, which he didn¡¯t let show on his face.


    "Unfortunately, I am just a pawn, destined to be used so the bigger pieces would have an opportunity to take more valuable pieces. Yes, I do know that pawns can sometimes win, but unfortunately, this isn¡¯t that situation. And by bringing me here, you have doomed yourselves." Merrick barely got out the last word before he collapsed in pain, screaming out loud.


    The next moment, the screaming stopped, and five pops were heard just behind his chair. A while back, the old commander, with Merrick''s permission, had implanted a teleportation beacon into his neck. It was an extremely hidden one, made by one of his party members. Now, their entire party, who had been together for almost the entirety of this age, was deep inside the dungeon.


    "Good evening, Ismael. I recommend your master start bringing in its most powerful. It''s been a while since we have been able to truly exert ourselves in a proper battle, but I assure you, even if it takes days, you will lay defeated at our feet."


    Ismael didn¡¯t seem too surprised to see them. He slowly rose from his chair and snapped his fingers once again. All of a sudden, the roof of the small room disappeared, and the walls fell down, revealing a luscious grassland and two other people waiting outside.


    Everyone immediately recognized one of them, it was Ace, the city lord. But everyone could also feel his power; he had already reached the peak of diamond rank. The other person was unknown, but they had also reached the peak of diamond rank.


    "I¡¯m afraid that this isn¡¯t a trap for us but for you. You see, the six of you¡ªyes, I¡¯m including you, Merrick ¡ªare basically half of the competent people out there. Ever since we figured out this ambush of yours, well, it has been hard not to trigger it," Ismael said as his body started to swell and he began to change into his true form.


    Rafe did the same, growing and changing¡ªnot into a dragon, but into something more monstrous, a creature made up of many other creatures.


    Merrick was especially scared now, as he knew he would just be a simple rock that was going to be crushed during this battle. The party of five looked toward Ace, expecting him to start changing as well.


    "Yeah, I don¡¯t have fancy changing powers," Ace answered their unasked question with a sheepish look. "I¡¯m still going to beat your asses, though."


    There was a momentary pause before skills were activated, and mana started to hum with violence.

 chapter 261

    ***


    The hum of magic continued to intensify. On one side, you had an ancient dragon, and while his combat power could not be compared to the very strongest dragons back in the day, none of them had lived as long as this diamond-ranked dragon had. Because of this, Ismael is the largest dragon to have ever lived, his head easily the size of a castle. The world around him seemed to darken as the moments continued to pass, as he readied for a proper fight.


    Rafe was a lot smaller, yet he had purposely cultivated mass for this fight, so his final size was still almost 150 meters from the tip of his tail to the tip of his horns. He was a monster through and through when you looked at him. If anyone could see inside, they would think that he mirrored his outside appearance. There was no wasted space inside or out; everything was purposely chosen so he could fight and defend himself in the most efficient ways possible.


    A lot of his physiology was from dragons, but even they had weaknesses. Rafe, however, had managed to get body parts from creatures that had specialized in the way they survived, eventually leading to even better muscle groups and defensive scales than even the dragons. He combined all of those things and added more natural weapons so he would be ready for this exact fight in the manner they wanted to fight it.


    The last on this side was Ace, a person who started out as nobody, as most do. He was able to get the last gift from his father, and on this land, he discovered the dungeon that changed his world forever.


    Everything changed about a year ago; even then, everything had already changed. He still remembered the day when Rafe and ETG proposed trying to circumvent the Pixies¡¯ change to the dungeon core¡¯s physiology so they couldn¡¯t make proper bonds with anyone who wasn¡¯t from their dungeon.


    Turns out the dungeon that had to grant the Pixies their wish was a rebellious kind. A way still existed; it was just harder to reach and achieve than it should have been. Yet, when they were properly bonded, Ace finally understood the dungeon completely. Thanks to that, his talent started to give him even more power¡ªso much power that on some days it was hard for him to function properly


    Fortunately, the bond gave many benefits, and with a little bit of work, he was able to help Rafe improve as well. Rafe didn¡¯t have the same problems, as his body was meant to accept power, and if it wasn¡¯t enough, he just needed to change it. ETG helped in his ways as well, and because of that, most likely Ace and Rafe will be the first-ever diamond ranks to reach the peak as fast as they did.


    A lot of problems came with such rapid power growth, but with an endless supply of monsters to fight against and practice, they were the best that they could be, although they still were only able to fight mostly platinum ranks. Still, Ace had what he needed for this fight, and his main goal would be to distract only one of the enemies.


    On the other side, there was a group of five people, all human. They had been together for thousands of years, and while they had split apart to do their own thing periodically, they always came back together as they simply enjoyed each other¡¯s company. Their name had been forgotten by history, but they still called themselves in private the name they first wrote down when they weren¡¯t even bronze ranked.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    They were a group of five friends from a small village long ago disappeared. They were excited¡ªthey always liked fighting and getting stronger¡ªand all of them knew that they were damn good at it. So when it was time to sign up for the Adventurer Guild, which was still only a small thing and had different management and rules in every region¡ªnot the global-spanning super organization it is now¡ªthe name they came up with was silly and simple, as they were still so young back then.


    The Rowdy Bunch. That was the name their group started out with, but they changed it when they started to reach closer to gold rank. Their rise was fast, and many of the stronger people back then recommended they change it before too many people recognized them by that name.


    They took the advice and changed it, but they never truly liked the different names over the past millennia. At the heart of it, they were still the five eager friends looking toward the future while messing about constantly.


    They were rusty now, and they seemed glad that their opponents were willing to take things slowly at the start. Then there was the third, Merrick, who was constantly trying to back off without drawing attention. He didn¡¯t get far before he heard loud bangs of the sound barrier being broken.


    In front of him, he saw Ace and one of the five, both of them wielding spears. The explosion from their simple collision should have sent him flying, with blood leaking from his mouth and ears, but instead, he stood there unaffected. There was a momentary pause between the two as they looked at Merrick and then at each other.


    Even during their clash, it seemed that both of them spent enough time and mana to make sure that Merrick didn¡¯t get hurt, which surprised both of them. They were interrupted by the clashes and explosions of the fight between the other four party members and Ismael and Rafe.


    The fifth party member got ready to go back and be part of the party of five so they could take on this challenge together, yet she couldn¡¯t even take a singular step before Ace interjected himself between them.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you and I will be fighting on the sidelines,¡± Ace said in a relaxed tone, something that irked the fifth party member.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t last long, but so be it.¡±


    In a simple clash that lasted only seven seconds, it was clear that Ace was on the losing side¡ªand quite heavily. There were already multiple cuts on him, and he had spent much more mana than his opponent. Yet those cuts were healing at a visible rate, his mana was also returning faster than should be possible.


    The other fight was faring similarly. While the older four party members were clearly superior even while rusty, they could not end the fight immediately. Yet every wound their opponents started to heal, and the mana spent was slowly being recharged for Rafe. It didn¡¯t take long for the Rowdy Bunch to realize what was happening.


    Their ambush had been turned into a trap. Their opponents had the home-field advantage, as it seemed like the dungeon core was able to feed its own mana into its bonded. The only weakness the party saw was Ismael. He didn¡¯t seem to be able to recharge his mana so easily. Yet he was a gigantic dragon with enough mana and stamina to keep going for a long time.


    The dungeon knew, and so did his advisor, that the party of five was way too strong to be taken on directly. While they could spend all their diamond ranks now to take them down, it would be a horrendous loss. Even now, their strongest could only defend, so a plan to simply outlast the party of five was devised.


    Now Ace, Ismael, and Rafe had the job of fighting for days, possibly weeks, so they could eventually win by tiring out their opponents. The fifth member constantly tried to return to the other four, but Ace was constantly blocking her.


    While she was stronger than Ace, it wasn¡¯t to a degree that she could overwhelm him alone. One of the other four also couldn¡¯t come to help because only three of them were too weak to stand against Ismael and Rafe. Yet, with only four of them, they weren¡¯t strong enough to soundly defeat those two.


    It was a careful balance that was constantly challenged by new tricks being used, the rustiness being shaken off by everyone, and, of course, the occasional mistakes that led to more devastating wounds on both sides.


    As the minutes turned into hours, the landscape of the area transformed from a beautiful grassland into a scarred mess. All of this was witnessed by Merrick, who was still only alive because Ace and the fifth party member were being careful when they got near him.

 chapter 262

    ***


    Merrick was sitting on a distant hill while eating some foraged berries. Sometimes, when he closed his eyes, he could still see the shockwaves and area attacks that should have killed him but didn''t, thanks to the combatants actually trying to keep him alive. He had been watching this fight for almost two weeks now, and Merrick honestly couldn''t believe that they were still so destructive.


    From the dungeon side, Ismael was the most beat up. One of his wings was completely cut off, while the other one stopped functioning after the last combined attack of the four party members. Ismael was so tired, as he was the main focus of the four. While Rafe was doing an admirable job at protecting the largest dragon ever to be known, he was still trying to protect the largest dragon alive, which meant there was a lot that he needed to cover, and the four party members were extremely mobile.


    The six of them had been locked in furious combat almost from the very beginning, with skills being used liberally at the start, but now they were being used more conservatively. Over the course of this fight, a pattern had emerged. Rafe was incredibly defensive, but he was also smaller and could attack more rapidly, so the four never got a chance to combine their attacks for a more devastating outcome against him.


    They could, however, slow Rafe down for short periods of time. Most of the time, this gave them the opportunity to attack Ismael in force. Their window for a more devastating attack was always short, as they could never truly tie Rafe down.


    Over the course of the fight, when the party of five shook off the rust of not being in such a high-level battle for such a long time, they took the upper hand. But as time has gone on, the dungeon''s fighters have gotten better and better. Of course, Ace and Rafe have never dipped in their mana, so they could still throw out a nearly endless amount of skills. Although they were mentally incredibly tired, so was everyone else.


    The four party members were completely exhausted, most of them only functioning on instinct, but they were so well-honed in their fighting skills and their cooperation that they could still function on such a high level that they remained a credible threat. The fifth party member, who had been fighting against Ace, was faring the worst.


    Ace was relentless, and not only that, he was pouring all his anger¡ªof being treated like a dog, of his nation being forced to move from the surface, from his home¡ªhe was letting it all out in this fight.


    He should have lost 1000 times over, purposely taking cuts and wounds to deliver his own, as he simply didn¡¯t match the experience and skill of his opponent. Yet he knew he would never run out of mana, and if he never ran out of it, it meant that he could continue to heal himself without any problems while continuing to let out all his pent-up fury.


    The fifth party member was so incredibly tired. She had at first been on the offensive, but now her attacks landed less and less. Her focus was completely gone. She defended only at the last moment, not because she was trying to conserve what strength she had left, but because it was hard for her to follow the fight now. Only her instincts were keeping her in the fight.


    Every once in a while, she got off a lucky hit that gave her just a moment to breathe. She glanced at her party members, seeing that while they weren¡¯t winning, they also weren¡¯t losing¡ªat least not yet. That dragon, with its dead wing, was getting slower and slower. It took an hour before she finally got the opportunity she had been waiting for.


    The fifth party member had purposely waited and had not tried to join the other party members for so long, to purposely make Ace think that she had given up. She was almost in position to land the devastating attack on the dragon, but before she could, the fighting paused for a moment. Ismael did the unexpected and bit his own wing off so he could once again move more freely.


    The momentary distraction cost a lot, as Ace was able to land his best attack yet, leaving a proper wound on the abdomen of the fifth party member. It made her movement more sluggish, and while she continued to defend almost feverishly, she knew that if she fell, so would the other four. Yet no matter how much she tried, she simply couldn¡¯t keep up as her vision blurred even more.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    It had been almost a day of this struggle after Ismael bit off his own wing, and the four party members fighting Ismael and Rafe were getting more and more desperate. Occasionally, one of them tried to join the fight between the fifth party member and Ace, but Rafe always stopped whoever tried to go, even while taking more wounds. His defensive capabilities were simply too much, so he could easily take more devastating attacks.


    It was a simple rock that disintegrated while the fifth party member was dodging. The resistance wasn¡¯t much, but it was enough that it made her stumble. Ace capitalized immediately, driving the head of his spear into the thigh of the fifth party member, and he didn¡¯t stop, burying the spear deep into the earth, activating multiple skills to anchor the spear and make it impossible to be pulled out for just a little while.


    It would be enough. Quickly, Ace produced another weapon, this time a large knife. The fifth party member was still trying to fight, but she was badly out of position. While she was more skilled, Ace was actually stronger of the two. The four party members basically gave up the fight and tried to reach their fifth party member, but Ismael and Rafe were ready, blocking their every attempt.


    ¡°We surrender!!!¡± was heard loud and clear just before Ace¡¯s knife was about to reach the fifth party member¡¯s throat. Ace, however, couldn¡¯t stop the attack he was delivering, so the four party members saw him driving the knife deep. Two of them dropped to their knees, already tears in their eyes; one of them stood listlessly, her weapons forgotten at her side; and the last one, their leader, barely held back his tears.


    Ace stood up and looked back at the four party members. When he stood up, everyone could see that he had managed to redirect the knife just enough to miss. When they saw their party member still breathing, all the fight went out of them.


    ETG had been anxiously observing the fight the entire time and quickly conveyed his desires to Ace. At the distance he could still manipulate his dungeon with the invaders being present, creating five different gateways that grew up from the ground.


    ¡°ETG will accept your surrender. You will be imprisoned here until, well, even he isn¡¯t sure. Drop all your equipment, and each one of you will enter one of the gateways. You and you will go to the ones that are red in colour; the rest to the blue. You will not be tortured. You will be treated as prisoners of war. Is that understood?¡± Ace spoke in a clear voice, brooking no argument, as he was speaking the words of the dungeon.


    Ace, Rafe, and Ismael were all ready to get back into action as they watched the five party members remove all their gear and then start to move towards their different gateways. They said only a few words to each other as there was no need for more, as they knew each other so well.


    They never expected this outcome. They were bitter about their loss, but all of them still had small smiles on their faces, as they were still alive and had finally gotten an incredible fight they had missed for so long.


    As soon as they stepped through the gateways, the gateways themselves disappeared from the world of the dragons. All five party members found themselves in quite small rooms. The gateway they came through quickly turned into rubble, leaving them absolutely no way out. They were surrounded by multiple metres of dungeon stone from all sides, with two of the rooms being incredibly hot even for diamond ranks, while the other three were incredibly cold.


    All of them immediately knew that they couldn¡¯t survive here for long. They thought that the dungeon had lied to them to get rid of them easily, but then they felt the draw of the room they were in.


    It was sapping their mana incredibly fast. All of them managed to stop the room from taking their mana, but during the few moments it took, they noticed how the room returned to a more reasonable temperature, but only for a moment.


    They began to understand that they were in a proper prison meant for diamond ranks. They let go of their mana control and watched as the room transformed from a barren rock with temperatures that would kill them into a more hospitable one.


    As time went by and their mana was basically empty, they found themselves in a pleasant room with a fake but pleasant environment. There seemed to be a constant flow of clean drinking water, and there was even food available that simply appeared.


    Their choice was easier: let their mana be completely drained but have no way to fight their imprisonment, or try to keep the mana they were generating but have no food or water, be in a barren rock room with no light, and with a temperature that could actually hurt and kill a diamond ranks.


    They were still connected on a level that even dungeon stone couldn''t completely separate, and just the knowledge that the other party members were safe was enough for them to accept their imprisonment, at least for now.


    Back in the world of the dragons, Ismael immediately collapsed when the gateways disappeared. ¡°That took way too long,¡± he barely managed to get out before he slipped into unconsciousness. A few other gateways popped up, and the rush of people entered the battlefield.


    They all stopped for just a tiny moment as the shock of what they saw registered in their minds, but they quickly rushed to the three fighters who were all on the ground, all of them passed out from complete exhaustion.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the healers of the Academy to patch most of their wounds, and while it would take a while, they were certain that they could restore the wings of Ismael. The one that he bit off himself was already reattached and was slowly gaining function, but the other one was basically destroyed completely, so they would need to grow a new one, something ancient dragon physiology didn¡¯t really like.


    For the past two weeks, there has been panic on the surface. The disappearance of five peak diamond ranks sent shockwaves throughout the world. It didn¡¯t take them long to figure out that they were inside the dungeon but when the party entered the prison; even that signal was cut off from the outside world, so now the outside world thought that the dungeon managed to kill the party of five¡ªsomething thought to be impossible.


    Their reaction was immediate. There was no longer time to wait for the dungeon to enter a breakthrough as they were now properly scared. In just an hour, their forces were ready, with dungeon melters being brought out as everyone readied for a proper assault of the dungeon. Almost everyone believed that they would succeed and finally end this threat to their existence. ETG''s only thought was, bring it on.

 chapter 263

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I didn¡¯t actually expect them to surrender. For some reason, I thought they would fight to the very end. I often forgot that creatures who can live for a long time and are fully sapient will not usually fight to the very end like more bestial creatures do. But even they, if they can, will choose to escape. Fortunately, the prison was ready.


    It was a hotly disputed topic. Most advocated for killing our enemies, which made sense because diamond ranks were truly scary, and platinum ranks were too weak and too few in number to be anything else but a drain on our resources. Fortunately, I had nearly an endless amount of resources, so killing someone just because they did something wrong that wasn¡¯t too bad felt wasteful in my opinion.


    Up above, there were certainly some people who were heinous enough that I wouldn¡¯t mind if something truly horrible happened to them. But the party of five weren¡¯t actually terrible people, they were just misguided. And eventually, their strength would be so meaningless against me that even if they tried to end me again, they could never amount to anything more than they did in their first attempt.


    The prison was an interesting project, and in all honesty, I just needed a place to put two of my strongest elementals. I had so many different elementals that it was starting to become ridiculous. In the many worlds that I have, there are certain areas dominated by different kinds of elemental forces, so to say. So while in the beginning, elementals were from the environment that dominated their area, like sand, there were now actually elementals of poison and all kinds of other aspects.


    In the air world, it was still kind of weird not to call them playrooms, but it was a good habit to call them worlds in my own mind as well, so I wouldn¡¯t accidentally call them that while communicating with others. Well, in that world, two incredibly powerful elementals had formed that were now the closest to diamond rank, and I was certain they would reach it quite soon.


    At first, I thought that they were simply elementals of ice and fire, but no, they were elementals of cold and hot. That meant their dominion covered so much more, and they certainly had a love-hate relationship with each other. If I had left them in the air world, they would have caused an actual world war as they were gaining allies to take full control over that world.


    So I offered them another option: to become wardens of my prison. I set up two sides of the prison¡ªone that would make the room incredibly cold inside if the occupants didn¡¯t give their mana and another that would make it incredibly hot. Mostly, no one was close to immune to both hot and cold, so I could stick them in a prison room more in line with their weakness.


    Most of the things inside a prison room were governed by dungeon rules, like making a waterway that appeared and disappeared, bringing in fresh water and taking out anything unwanted. The dungeon rules also gave them food and a nice environment that they would enjoy if they gave every bit of their mana generation away. The temperature, the real punishment, was handled by the wardens themselves.


    I could have made it a dungeon rule, but, well, dungeon rules, I have come to learn, can be manipulated by outside forces. On the surface, there was an annoying faction of people trying to figure out and change the dungeon rules covering the labyrinth. Even if they only had the power to change them in a limited area, it was still annoying. So wardens were needed that were not me and not tied to dungeon rules.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Ace, Rafe, and Ismael were currently being treated. They were incredibly damaged, but the two weeks of fighting had been worth it in the end. Still, they would be out of commission for quite a while as they barely had functioning mana pathways. They were so overused, especially by Ace and Rafe, that the current medical staff recommended they not use any skills for at least two months while their bodies worked on repairing the damage.


    That was a bit unfortunate but something that was to be expected. We also anticipated the fight to come with the forces outside. With our three strongest fighters out of commission, we would not be doing any head-on attacks, but that¡¯s why we were a fortress. Our defenses would do the delaying for us.


    But that didn¡¯t mean we couldn¡¯t be proactive. So I gave the order to the waiting teams to go into the labyrinth and start hunting down the platinum and diamond ranks that were lost, but not so lost that they couldn¡¯t make it back.


    There were some who had gotten so deep into the labyrinth and were so lost that I actually thought they would never get out unless I helped them¡ªand why would I help them?


    It had been a long while since I felt pain, so the feeling of it shocked me a little bit. They used their dungeon melters. They attacked in three spots at once, inside the labyrinth and in two different places on the outside wall.


    In the labyrinth, the team was confused. Their dungeon melter worked like it should have, cutting through the floors and walls¡ªthat was until it didn¡¯t work. Since I knew the labyrinth was a weak point, I made sure the entrance that connected to the outside world would be the most heavily defended. So they were surprised when a wall didn¡¯t melt. Instead, there was a shallow indentation where the melter¡¯s beam hit, leaving behind a little bit of dust and rubble.


    I watched as one of the diamond ranks walked up to the wall and touched it and the rubble left behind. "That¡¯s real rock, not dungeon-made. It has somehow combined real rock with dungeon stone?" he said, and his revelation sent shockwaves through the crowd behind the dungeon melter.


    They understood the implications. The same person stood up, gathered his strength, and hit the wall as strongly as possible. "A bit weaker, but not by much. This will take so much time to get through."


    Well, that was the point, I wanted to say to him, but there was no way to actually communicate. The two other attacks were going a lot better. I was actually glad that they attacked literally at the same time. Well, all three attacks happened at the same time, but their melters were still burrowing through my outer shell. It was incredibly thick, but it was just made out of dungeon stone and nothing else.


    When they reached the 20-metre mark, I saw the first crack happen. They still had about 7 metres to go, and I was, like the adventurer said, at the edge of my seat with anticipation. It was theorized about what was going to happen, but no one actually knew for certain. When they burrowed another metre, the water pressure actually started to push and cracked dungeon stone that was 6 metres thick. The amount of power was incredible.


    The first defensive layer was just dungeon stone; after that, there was a pressurized layer of water, and after that, another wall of dungeon stone. The water was under such high pressure that sometimes it started to form ice. Then it happened almost simultaneously from two locations¡ªthe dungeon stone broke apart at the weakest spot, and the pressure escaped in the most magnificent manner.


    The dungeon stone wall turned into a shrapnel cannon, destroying the two prepared assault points outside, absolutely vaporizing and obliterating anything in its path. The pressure released was so immense that it tore apart anything in front of it. The landscape was simply pushed back as easily as you push back sand with your breath.


    It also didn¡¯t stop. The rest of the dungeon stone was incredibly resilient, but the openings slowly increased in size. The pressure was so strong that I was actually being shifted in one direction. The fact that it was even able to push me a little bit in a direction was incredible. It crushed rock and compressed dirt on that side, so immense was the relies of water pressure.


    It ended sooner than I expected, but the results were beyond my wildest expectations. In the end, it only shifted my location by 7 millimetres, but that was still incredible and something I would like to further understand and research.


    The devastation, however, was something I didn¡¯t expect, at least not to this scale. There were now two scars from the two exit points. For about 400 kilometres to either side, there was now a canyon filled entirely with water.


    I went through my memories to realize that 27 diamond ranks died, and so many more platinums. The landscape around here has now changed. Much of the Eternal city was in ruins from the shockwaves and debris flying at immense speeds. I would not be surprised if debris wasn¡¯t still falling thousands of kilometres away.


    Well, that¡¯s going to have some consequences.

 chapter 264

    Pov Vivian


    I watched as my grandfather continued to read the report I gave him. Each time he was done with a page, he tossed it behind him, and as that paper slowly fell to the ground, it disintegrated into dust.


    ¡°So they¡¯re planning another breach. Took them long enough to stop being cowards. Tell me, what do you know about their plans? And have you managed to keep our people away from it?¡±


    ¡°I believe they would have kept pushing it back if things were going faster in the labyrinth and if the water pressure wasn¡¯t increasing. They plan to do the same thing as before when they tested what¡¯s on the other side of the next wall. Multiple ice mages will block the entrance and freeze the water on the other side, then melt their way through so they¡¯ll have a path to set up another breach.¡±


    My grandfather nodded at that. ¡°I assume they¡¯re planning on offsetting the next breach?¡±


    ¡°Yes, they hope the pressure will blow back, hurting the dungeon as much as it would the outside world.¡±


    ¡°And will it?¡±


    I took a moment to think about that. ¡°To a certain degree, but I believe not as much as they hope. They¡¯ve been running the calculations for quite a while, but ever since the first breach two years ago, water mages have been calculating and planning how to deal with so much pressure.¡±


    ¡°Some of them are starting to believe that because of their work, the dungeon started to fill the first layer with water again, as pressure is quite hard to work against. And, well, as you know, there¡¯s a lot of water coming out of the two breach holes right now.¡±


    ¡°So who are they going to sacrifice?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re not sacrificing anyone. They¡¯ll do remote triggering of the melter.¡±


    My grandfather started to laugh at that. ¡°Well, that¡¯s stupid. You know I had to stop going to those meetings because it was literally making me stupider. But I guess they don¡¯t have any other options if they aren¡¯t willing to think outside the box. It¡¯s like no one ever listened to me when I talked about fortress dungeons and how to deal with them. Tell me, have they considered sealing off the entrances?¡±


    ¡°More and more are advocating for it, but even I have voiced against it because it must have other entrances as well. It wouldn''t be so stupid. I believe there are entrances on the outer shell, but its outer shell surface area is incredibly large, and finding a gateway that could be incredibly well hidden would be incredibly hard¡ªespecially because it has increased its territory quite beyond its first defensive layer.¡±


    ¡°Yes, my granddaughter it¡¯s doing some annoying things that is making gathering information harder. Whoever is advising it is incredibly intelligent. But you said that, that dragon Ismael didn¡¯t seem to be in charge of anything. I still find that hard to believe. A dragon so powerful being able to hide so long would be quite tricky.¡±


    ¡°I can never be 100% certain, but grandfather, I honestly believe that it¡¯s just an ally. I believe their deal was that the dungeon would take care of its species and make a place for them to live in exchange for the protection of that dragon.¡±


    ¡°If you say so, I will take it as a fact. So, I see you believe that in the labyrinth we will make it to the core eventually, but this time scale of 50 years¡ªdo you believe it¡¯ll really take that long?¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    He once again threw the paper behind him, and I watched it disappear into dust before I spoke. ¡°The problem is with the melters. They¡¯re slow to get through the dungeon stone and real stone mix. They are working on solutions, but it will take time.¡±


    ¡°I also believe they¡¯re working on some sort of dungeon-damaging bomb only meant to hurt and crack the core from far away. The dungeon¡¯s agents often target those facilities, so I think it¡¯s actually afraid of that technology. More resources are being put into it.¡±


    ¡°It could be purposely diverting resources. It¡¯s a clever one¡ªso many forget that so often.¡±


    My grandfather finally reached the final page, and when it disintegrated into dust, he properly looked at me for the first time during this meeting. He looked at me for quite a while before he asked me another question. ¡°Tell me, my granddaughter, with everything you know about this dungeon and the way we are doing things, how long do you think it will take for us to, so to say, win?¡±


    ¡°Like I said before, I think we will reach the core in about 50 years?¡±


    Immediately, my grandfather started to slowly shake his head.


    ¡°You¡¯re smarter than that. Think. Will it let us easily continue to work in the labyrinth? No, it¡¯s constantly, even with our best efforts, shifting the labyrinth, stranding many of our people in who knows what part of it.¡±


    ¡°If anyone thinks that remote control activation will actually work, well, they¡¯re mad. And then there are the raids on all our facilities to stop the making of dungeon-fighting weapons. And, of course, will it ever stop advancing while all of us are working here? No, it will just get stronger. So, I ask you again¡ªhow long do you think it will take us to win?¡±


    This time I didn¡¯t answer immediately. I could see in his eyes that he wanted a proper answer, an answer I had actually thought through.


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know, because we still don¡¯t know its mana generation capabilities. Everyone says that they know, but no one actually knows. Just the amount of water it can produce to fill up that first layer of defenses so fast¡ªit just doesn¡¯t add up. It also hasn¡¯t advanced since its breakthrough to platinum. Everyone thinks that it¡¯s because it¡¯s spending so much mana. It makes sense in that way, but it still feels off to me.¡±


    I went silent after that, trying to think things through. It was doing so many things that should be impossible. One of the things was that the water coming out of the breach holes seemed to be real water, and the fact that real stone was mixed in with dungeon stone¡ªthat should not be possible, yet it is.


    ¡°One thing that¡¯s always been off about this dungeon is the mana. It¡¯s making way too much of it, but somehow its breakthroughs are not triggering before its floors are done. It¡¯s just so off¡ªeverything is so off.¡± My last words there got a little bit heated, so I sat back against the backrest.


    ¡°It has taken me a while to go through our records¡ªyes, I even brought those with me. But I could only bring out a few from the storage crystals I have. Do you know why I always want this meeting here, and why I want you to not write your reports anywhere but here?¡±


    ¡°Grandfather I know, no one believes me once again, and the only person who thought the same disappeared two years ago. The dungeon can see outside itself¡ªanother thing that should be impossible.¡±


    ¡°Actually, not. The old texts from the ages long past are broken down and incredibly hard to read anything on them, but I¡¯ve researched dungeon fortresses for a really long time and can infer context.¡±


    ¡°Back in the day, it seems dungeons often picked skills that allowed them to see the outside world. Many things we know about dungeons are just rules we¡¯ve made up for them. Most of the reasons for those rules have been lost to time, but I believe I¡¯ve found something important.¡±


    He then started to explain the rule about no bugs allowed in the dungeon. I was really confused until he reached the end of his explanation. ¡°You see, insects have a habit of reproducing incredibly fast. As you know, if dungeon monsters have children, they can leave the dungeon. But it appears they can even generate mana like any other adventurer when they¡¯re inside the dungeon.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure there are limitations, but skills can often get rid of pesky limitations, now can¡¯t they? So, what do you think? Could that explain things? What if it had millions of that kind of creature? I believe that¡¯s how they¡¯re referred to in the old texts.¡±


    My mind immediately started to click the puzzle pieces together. The reports of bugs, small critters, the number of monsters that were in the dungeon not mixed together but with different types and different evolutions of the base form. The number was so huge. My hands started to shake, and I felt a panic attack coming. ¡°There¡¯s no way we can win!¡±


    Then I felt his large hands on mine. ¡°Relax, my child. Do you really believe it? You said it yourself¡ªthat dungeon isn¡¯t advancing. Is there any chance that we might win?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no way it¡¯s not. It must have found a way to hide them, it¡¯s the only explanation. I refuse to believe anything else. That¡¯s where it got all its agents that caused so much chaos. They weren¡¯t adventurers. That¡¯s why we couldn¡¯t find any trace of them¡ªthey just sort of appeared out of nowhere. They were all from the dungeons. And to have so many geniuses, so good at such specific things, the numbers of them... Grandfather, what should we do?¡±


    I looked into his eyes, which seemed so kind.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. Leave that to me. I will send you away from here for a while. You have some things back at our previous home. Gather all of them and every last member of our clan. We have tough choices ahead, but we have to make them together.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Grandfather, I understand. I will get my mind in order before I return. Even if we told anyone about our discovery, I don¡¯t believe they would actually take us seriously. In fact, I think they would lash out in fear.¡±


    He just nodded at that and sat back down. For the first time in my life, I saw so much weight on his shoulders that they were actually being pushed down a bit.

 chapter 265

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I had expected a more extreme response to the disaster that was their first attempt at forcefully getting to my core. Instead, it¡¯s been over two years of proclamations about how evil I am. While, yes, they have brought in a lot more people here to work around the clock in destroying me, and they have doubled¡ªperhaps even quadrupled¡ªtheir efforts in the labyrinth, all in all, I¡¯m quite disappointed in their efforts.


    The world was made aware of that incident, and this time the sentiment was actually against me because quite a lot of the landscape was destroyed, and the debris from the incident that fell far away actually did kill people, which was truly unfortunate. Nevertheless, the outside world meant less and less with every day that went by. There are, however, some more worrying developments.


    We have lost a few people when we tried to take out the separated groups in the labyrinth. You don¡¯t get to platinum or diamond rank without having trump cards and a strong will. When you think the only other option is death, you use everything you have. The raids on the surface have been a lot more successful, as there everyone has the opportunity to escape when they feel like they¡¯ve been pushed against the wall.


    My main targets are currently the research and development centers for weapons meant to fight against me. One of the most worrying new types of weapons is a modified design of the melter that¡¯s just meant to hurt and destroy my domain.


    Fortunately, for right now, those weapons do nothing to me, but that¡¯s because My World skill is at such a high rank. It¡¯s unfortunate that during the last breakthrough, I couldn¡¯t bring it to rank A just yet, as it needed so much mana.


    Working on the 53rd floor was more pleasant than the last one, as I had the water crystals to fill up the world with water, so I didn¡¯t have directly do anything. I have yet to get any diamond ranks from the previous farm floor, but that was to be expected, as it will take quite a while to get it properly running.


    I¡¯ve also been using a lot of water crystals to refill the first layer of defense I have. This has made trying to attack the next layer a lot harder, as currently water is rushing out of the holes at quite high pressure.


    There is a danger that if things go on for too long like this, I would actually start to raise the sea level of the entire world, but it would take centuries at this rate, and by that time, I would have either won or lost.


    During all of this, I¡¯ve also opened up a new project. I haven¡¯t yet put many resources into it, but the idea is simple enough. It¡¯s to tackle two problems at once. One is to get a skill that would allow me to copy adventurers'' talents. The fact that I have to watch and see some truly wonderful talents disappear when their adventurers finally die is one of the saddest things. So if I can at least copy them, their memory would never truly die.


    The second part is so that I could use talents myself. Perhaps at the start, only one, but I hope if I increase the rank, I could have multiple ones working at the same time. There are some truly wonderful talents¡ªsome that I already have, and some that I would like to get from a few adventurers.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Now, I don¡¯t want talents that would help my combat power. I don¡¯t even actually know if I could do any proper combat. Magic maybe, but I definitely can¡¯t wield weapons. But there are some mental talents that would truly boost my capabilities.


    Just a month ago, I also revealed the satellite project to all of the Acadamy as I did with every project that was entering its last phases. Its location is going to be quite far away; in fact, it¡¯s will be at the edge of the world¡¯s will¡¯s influence.


    It was quite difficult to get so far away, but my Dungeon Gateway skill is quite special. It¡¯s hard to judge exact distances, but the satellite colony should be about 350,000 kilometers above this world¡¯s polar north.


    They have had a lot of problems making an environment that will be suitable for life up there, but they¡¯re slowly getting the hang of it. Help from the rest of the Academy should help speed this up.


    The main purpose of building it so far away was to get away from this world¡¯s influence in every sense of the word, so they could more freely and without interference start to learn more about this place we inhabit.


    Already, they have built multitudes of devices that allowed them to view faraway objects like stars, but this worlds atmosphere was in the way and doing anything on the surface has become really dangerous.


    They aren''t entirely certain yet, but it''s only a matter of time before they confirm it when they get out there. They believe the stars are similar to our sun and that there are similar worlds around those stars, like ours has. The implications, if it turned out to be true, were reality-changing.


    Already, many were questioning whether other worlds with life existed and what kind of life that would be. The first thought I had was more patterns, which was exciting. But one thing that isn¡¯t in question is the distances between stars, and those are truly vast. Even I have a bit of trouble understanding how large space actually is. Yet, I think if I ranked up my dungeon gateway skill, perhaps I could reach some of those distant worlds¡ªbut that''s for the future.


    We also have a lot more people in the Academy, as even that was revealed to the rest of the dungeon inhabitants. Many adventurers applied, and while a lot were rejected, some brilliant minds were accepted. In fact, the entire ecosystem of the dungeon was changing at a rapid pace, and I just wished I had more time to observe everything.


    One of the first great deals to be struck was between one of the more successful merchant guilds and the queendom of the bees. In exchange for more sturdy materials for building hives, the bees supplied the merchant guild with many different sorts of honey. Some even helped recover injuries, like health potions did. The most expensive type of honey was the one that helped extend one''s life.


    This trade deal overall helped ease the tense environment after the revelations of the true nature of my dungeon. Now, there were many trade deals. Adventurers were back to clearing rooms and collecting loot that would, in turn, be sold and transported to the different worlds of my dungeon. I was truly happy to see it all.


    I had never seen such interactions before, and I always enjoyed seeing something new. Of course, the mistrust was there, especially when large ants, some the size of large dogs, walked the streets of hub stations as delegates to forge different trade deals. The technology of the ants was actually better than the outside world¡¯s, so the novelty and usefulness of it meant that it was one of the most lucrative trade opportunities currently available.


    It was also wonderful to see how everyone reacted when they truly started to understand how big I actually was. The biggest shock to the adventurers was the world where their own species lived.


    The fact that there were so many, and that they were technically completely real and not monsters, was still hard for most adventurous to understand. But travel there was less restricted, so there was much more interaction, which slowly helped ease tensions.


    Of course, a lot of adventurers started to make their homes in the eternal world that Ace inherited. They had a rough beginning, but now there were fields of grain surrounding the city and many new villages being built. There were also groups of people who decided to go further away, starting outposts and villages of their own. It will be wonderful to watch as they slowly settle the entire world.


    In fact, so many interesting and wonderful things were happening inside my dungeon that I was now really pissed off that I needed to focus on defense. I would have easily liked to take a few years off to properly observe all the interactions going on.


    Perhaps I should also start annoying people on the surface. I wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything too serious to them, but keeping them annoyed and raising their stress levels should help me in the long run.

 chapter 266

    Pov Dungeon Core


    The constant activation of dungeon melters was annoying. The only reason they weren¡¯t actually hurting me was because of my size. Now, I don¡¯t know exactly why I was so big; I guess I¡¯ve always been bigger than I meant to be.


    From my understanding, most other dungeon cores are made of more special gems. Mine isn''t anything special¡ªin fact, it''s one of the cheapest gem-like materials out there. It actually makes me feel more special to just be a common variety. Perhaps because of this, it has given me unique opportunities and allowed my core to get so big.


    On this day, if all goes right, I will not have to feel another dungeon melter going off. I watched as the annoying pests outside froze one of the breaches they had punched into my outer layer. In preparation for this operation, they attacked me a few more times. I now had seven breaches, all of them constantly gushing water. However, they managed to achieve their goal of lowering the pressure of water coming through all of the breaches.


    I watched as they froze the original breach, then manipulated ice to allow them entry. It was fascinating and impressive to watch them do so, allowing them to walk inside the inner layer of the first defensive layer.


    They moved sideways, then finally started to set up one of the most impressive dungeon melters. It was incredibly large and not only designed to do its main purpose of melting my dungeon but also to make that process as devastating to my territory as possible.


    They have come to the conclusion that their melters aren¡¯t hurting me like they expected. We are constantly raiding their research and development facilities, but they¡¯re under heavy protection. It shouldn¡¯t be too long now until I start to have some more diamond ranks so I can truly turn up the pressure on them.


    They installed the remote triggering device and left quickly, hurrying out. With them gone, it was easy enough to change a part of the dungeon stone into a gateway. After the activation, and a moment later, Rafe walked through. He immediately rushed to the dungeon melter, disabled the remote activator, and started to mess with it. He had a crude smile on his face as he installed inside the device an artificed bomb.


    They would start to panic as soon as the remote trigger didn¡¯t work, and when they came back to mess with it, well, they wouldn¡¯t have a good time. Before Rafe walked back into the gateway, another person came through. A mage that made sure that no one was going to notice that there had been a gateway there. With the plan completed, all we needed to do was wait.


    It took them longer to return than I thought, constantly messing with the activation device and trying to figure out what went wrong. Eventually, a group did come. There were even two diamond ranks with them.


    When they tried to open up the remote-triggering device, the bomb went off. It managed to kill everyone except for one diamond rank, and of course, all their work to freeze the entrance was undone as the explosion shattered the ice, allowing the water to once again flow out.


    Of course, the idiots outside immediately started to blame each other, and then there were the meetings. I wanted to tune all of that out, but I couldn¡¯t. I needed to continue to observe everything. It took them about two years to finally figure out what was going on with their remote triggers as every time they tried, they failed. This time they had to sacrifice a few diamond ranks to finally punch a hole into the second layer.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    The second layer wasn¡¯t as massive as the first, so while the water jet still destroyed diamond ranks, it didn¡¯t do as much damage as they expected. After that, they ran into the same problem as the attack teams in the labyrinth. The dungeon melters barely did anything to the next defensive layer as the wall there was a mix of real stone and dungeon stone. They also didn¡¯t have an easy environment like the labyrinth to work in.


    They were also making steady headway in the labyrinth, so eventually, they stopped their attacks on my outer layers and focused almost everything on the labyrinth. It was the correct call on their part because they were making steady progress and would eventually reach my core floor.


    It was a good thing that I was being so careful with the dungeon gateways inside the labyrinth, because if they used a dungeon melter in certain areas, they could actually punch through into dungeon rooms, and I really didn¡¯t need to deal with that mess.


    The siege had now been going on for years and years. I had just finished advancing and finally got my ¡®My World¡¯ skill to S rank. It took me so many breakthroughs to actually get this skill so high. As always, after a breakthrough, I reconnected my dungeon and started expanding the 56th floor. Originally, this should have been the end of my 5-farm-floor plan, but plans change. So this one was also going to be a farm floor.


    The reasons were simple. I needed more diamond ranks, and with some of the farms already working but not yet at full capacity, the number of diamond ranks I had was low. In fact, currently, my other creatures and a few adventurers numbered higher than the diamond ranks I had gotten from my farm floors. But I didn¡¯t expect the adventurers and other creatures to be able to keep up with the speed of my farm floors in producing diamond ranks as time went on.


    Even with so many new diamond ranks, we were still heavily behind in the power department. We still only had one peak rank, while the forces outside had dozens. It also seems like they have been boosting their platinum ranks to diamond rank quite fast, although their methods were still so much slower than mine.


    What was incredible was the amount of mana I was generating. With more and more diamond ranks living inside my dungeon, my generation was really picking up. While it was annoying in some ways, I certainly had a lot of projects that needed a lot of mana. The reason I decided to go with a sixth farm floor was simple: I needed more creatures who were great at flying.


    Land was covered, water was abundantly covered, but now it was time to make an air-centric farm floor. I was now quite experienced in making the kind of patterns I wanted for my farm floors. I was also fixing the problems on the other farm floors of creatures gaining sapience too soon.


    Yet I could already predict that no matter how much I tried, there would still be a few that would break the mold. Fortunately, I had dungeon rules to notify me, so I could always pull those creatures out, ensuring they wouldn¡¯t have to remember and suffer the horrors of these floors.


    It was also finally time to execute the satellite project. I concentrated on my dungeon gateway skill and then started to tunnel through space. It was hard to do this without a specific location and without a specific target, but I didn¡¯t need to be pinpoint accurate. In fact, accuracy didn¡¯t matter at all.


    The small, minuscule tunnel that the dungeon gateways outside my territory use snaked underneath the ground until it reached the North Pole. Then it shot up directly away from the world, climbing higher and higher.


    It didn¡¯t take long until I reached out of the atmosphere, but I kept pushing. I do not know exactly how long I pushed, but I held on until the even the worlds will began to diminish. I think I was about 300,000 or 400,000 kilometers outside the atmosphere when I finally felt that I couldn¡¯t push any further. I then started to solidify the pathway and grow my dungeon gateway so far away from this world.


    The gateway wasn¡¯t going to be a big one, but when it was finished, it triggered the solidification of my connection to it. This made the worlds will truly turn its attention to me. This time, it took quite a bit longer to decide what to do, but eventually, it gave permission so the connection fully solidified, and the gateway could be opened at this remote location.


    A bunch of my creatures were ready to step through, but before, they started to form air shields around every member. I could see a bit of what went on, on the other side of the gateway. It was so interesting to see my creatures floating in emptiness.


    After they confirmed that everything was as they expected, they went to work building an outpost there, so they didn¡¯t have to burn so much mana keeping themselves alive in the vacuum. I will be quite interested in continuing to observe this outpost and, of course, receiving the information they get when they start to gather the knowledge they were seeking out there.

 chapter 267

    Pov Carl


    My momentum was stopped by a tree. I could feel it crack, but it seemed like I didn¡¯t have to worry about it falling on top of me. My shield arm hurt; that impact probably cracked my bone. The shield was also bent inwards a little bit. Yet through all of this, I never took my eyes off the monster I was fighting. I did not know what it was, but that seemed to be the case with every monster as I was now fighting with monsters that were just one step away from diamond rank, as I was.


    It kind of resembled a gorilla but also some sort of rodent. It had scales, and its front legs¡ªor arms, whatever they were¡ªwere so thick, but they could move so fast. I had lost another weapon of mine, so I pulled out another spear from my storage ring. The monster immediately started charging toward me again, but this time I threw the spear, surprising it.


    It tried to dodge, and in doing so, disrupted its own charge. That attack itself was ineffective. The scales of the thing were simply too hard. I rushed the thing this time, pulling out a large warhammer. Let¡¯s see if this thing can take blunt damage. It was already on me before I could reach it and deliver an attack. I dodged as fast as I could, but it always got so close to hitting me.


    I stopped wearing heavy armor long ago as it was simply too restrictive for these types of fights. Now I could understand why most diamond ranks never wore anything past medium armor. Speed and flexibility were simply more important. It took me precious seconds and dodging several attacks before I finally got a chance to deliver a proper attack.


    The monster screamed out in pain as I hit its back leg. Some of the scales crumbled to dust, but the bastard was still able to put weight on the leg. It had incredible intelligence and immediately started to focus on my weapon again, trying to destroy it or get it away from me.


    Its intelligence still wasn¡¯t perfect, as I saw its focus on my weapon as a mistake. I now knew that these monsters were cheap imitations of real creatures that lived in this dungeon, and anyone this strong, I was certain, was as intelligent as me. I was certain I couldn¡¯t survive against the creature this monster was trying to mimic.


    It took me nearly a minute to get another opening by baiting it to attack my weapons. This time, my attack crippled one of its back legs. I sighed in frustration, as this only slowed it down but didn¡¯t stop it.


    It now had to rely more on its front legs to keep balance, but I had hoped this fight would be over. It took another three minutes for me to cripple one of its front legs, and only a few heartbeats after that to finish it.


    It has been a hard road so far, and all of my party members had already reached diamond rank. I was the last one. One of the reasons I was the last was because I was the leader of our clan and actually had to do some leading, which included a lot of diplomacy because of the situation inside the dungeon. As the dungeon opened up to us, there were a lot of opportunities to strengthen my clan¡¯s position that we needed to consider; otherwise, we might fall behind.


    The strength of the monster empowered me as it died. No loot would be left behind, as these rooms were meant for us to gain combat experience and, of course, the strengthening of our power.


    My talent was a simple one, yet it was already causing me to fall behind as I needed more and more to reach my next breakthrough. I wondered if I needed to fight another one, but then I felt the crunch. Power flooded through me as I felt the breakthrough happening that would take me from a platinum rank to a diamond.


    Unfortunately, I needed to leave this place, so I quickly hurried out. There were two groups of people waiting for me: one that would take this room after me, and my clan members. I gave them a short nod, and smiles broke on their faces. Immediately we made for one of the gateways in the middle of The Line and we were soon looking at my clan hideout. I rushed to my own home and entered the breakthrough room.


    It wasn''t anything special, just an empty room where you would not be disturbed and could let the breakthrough happen without any worry. I do not know exactly how long I was out, but even before I opened my eyes, I could feel that I was now diamond rank.


    I went and looked inside myself to see my inner space expanded, now having a shine to it. There were many skills here, and I saw another two empty skill slots. They were huge¡ªbigger than any I had seen before.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    I looked toward one corner where my talent lay, hoping to see another one. When I reached gold rank, I received a talent simply called More. When I reached platinum, it simply got stronger, and as I looked at it now, it seemed like it once again just got stronger. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little disappointed, as some of my party members got quite interesting new talents, but I couldn¡¯t argue against the power of mine.


    When I first got it, it felt like I yelled out More, and an entire village went silent, listening to its power. When I reached platinum, yelling More felt like it would silence an entire forest. Yet now, when I touched and felt this talent, a scream tore out of me, ¡°More!¡±


    It was said with such power and conviction that, in my mind, I saw a mountain being destroyed by it, nothing interrupting its path. My contemplation was interrupted when I heard cracking sounds outside my mind.


    Even before I opened my eyes, I could feel what was happening. A wave of power, in a perfect circle, was radiating from me. It had reached the walls and was now pushing them outward, destroying them. I could now see it happening in slow motion.


    I was confused as to how this was possible, but I could do nothing more than simply watch as the room I was in was destroyed. The ceiling and the walls were pushed outward. At nearly their center, the beams split, and the boards cracked under the pressure of this wave.


    I could feel and see it all happening in every minute detail. I started to truly understand what my talent meant. At first, ¡®more¡¯ simply meant more mana capacity, it was stronger, and so was my body.


    At platinum rank, my talent started to affect more things, like my skill slots¡ªthey became bigger than they should have been; they were simply more. Now, I didn¡¯t exactly know what had changed, but I felt the ¡®more¡¯ encompass so much. I felt so powerful.


    The wave didn¡¯t extend much further than the room, but I think the reason it didn¡¯t was because I became aware of it and wanted it to stop spreading outward. Slowly, I started to get used to time being so slow, but I needed another 10 minutes to properly communicate with the people constantly trying to talk to me and asking if everything was alright.


    ¡°Yes, I am fine, just taking a bit to get used to all the new things I¡¯m sensing and experiencing. Could you please give me some time?¡±


    It was weird to speak like this. I was speaking so slowly, yet I could see that some of them were still having trouble understanding me, as I was still going too fast. If I understood this correctly, every diamond rank experienced this to some extent, but I think mine was more exaggerated.


    None of my party members could be here¡ªthey were all at the meeting of diamond ranks. Slowly, I was getting a handle on everything. Moving was truly annoying, but what was even weirder was that I could now feel and sense the dungeon around me, and not just the physical dungeon¡ªI could sense it looking at me.


    I guess I could always do this, but now I could see its attention was constantly varying, like a part of it was doing something else, and when it had time, it focused a bit more on me. What a different way of living it must be.


    In the end, it took me nearly an hour to get myself to a point where I felt I would no longer be dangerous to others. It will still take me a while to properly get used to my diamond rank power and for that power to spread throughout me. But now, I could go to that meeting. The gateway wasn¡¯t far away, but it was so simple to just walk a bit faster and cover as much ground as I did when rushing at platinum rank.


    As I touched the gateway, a new option was available to me, and I quickly selected a gateway named Diamond Meeting. As I stepped through, I could already see the dungeon''s puppet looking in my direction. The flash of the gateway must have alerted others, as most turned to see who had come through. My party members smiled at me.


    "Took you long enough. We are currently discussing ways to delay the enemies¡¯ advance in the labyrinth." Ziiipe said in a happy voice.


    The other adventurers here made way for me so I could get close to the planning table. They were still a bit too proud of the fact that they had made it to diamond rank before me. As I observed all that was on the table, I was surprised at how fast I could comprehend everything. So even my mental capabilities have been enhanced.


    The current plan seemed to be quite good. We were planning to add as many gateways as possible into the labyrinth where the enemy operated. They could stop the functioning of some of the gateways, when they influenced the space there and took control away from ETG, but it took a lot out of them. If there were a lot more gateways, even if only for a split second their concentration lapsed, ETG could activate some gateways, cutting some people off. After that, we could take care of them.


    "You know, when I was still quite young, a circus group came through our town. They had an interesting curiosity. I never entered it, but it was the talk of the town for quite a while. It was a room of mirrors. Does anyone else know of it?" I asked, and a few adventurers nodded their heads. I explained more about how it functioned, especially how they somehow made one person appear in all of the mirrors to scare the people inside.


    "Our enemies already know how to locate the gateways, and when you add them everywhere, it will be even easier. Would it be possible to make them behave like mirrors? We can also make terrible monsters appear like they are attacking. We might even scare them into moving through other gateways¡±


    ¡°So, turn it into a puzzle room, the scary kind." One adventure asked and I nodded.


    I could see some of the adventurers shiver. Puzzle rooms could be annoying but also fun, but the scary ones were disturbing. It was simple to understand why they were needed, as training your will was as important as training your body.


    After a bit more discussion ETG wasn¡¯t certain if that was possible, but he promised to look into it. The meeting continued for quite a while as I was brought up to speed along with a few other new diamond ranks.


    There were quite a few non-adventurers here. Some looked quite monstrous, but their eyes were so intelligent that there was no doubt in my mind they were as smart as any adventurer. When the meeting finally ended, my party members showed me the city outside, filled with monsters, mostly platinum ranks, but other Diamond ranks as well.


    ETG told us that it will take a bit of time, but he will be making a world just for us Diamond ranks¡ªsomething about not wanting the power structure of this world to be challenged? Ziiipe explained in her exuberant way. She was like a tour guide as we continued to walk the city. It brought a smile to my face, even if we needed to go into battle against other Diamond ranks in short order.

 chapter 268

    Pov Anna


    Every so often, I simply couldn¡¯t resist looking toward my husband. Fortunately, I no longer had to pay attention to how my hands worked while preparing food, as I had done this so many times before. Carl was currently playing with our grandkids¡ªwell, technically great-grandkids, but we long ago decided there was no need to make those kinds of distinctions.


    He was once again a rank higher than me, but our clan has a fix for that problem. While he will always outlive me, I¡¯ve come to accept that. I will also eventually reach diamond as well¡ªor at least, that¡¯s what the council is certain of.


    They believe they can provide the tools to achieve it thanks to Ziiipe and her ability to make skills perfectly suited for every individual, and, of course, our combat specialists will help us non-combatants reach our breakthroughs.


    Not everyone could be here, but even during our quarterly birthdays, not everyone could come, as there were simply so many of us. I didn¡¯t like the idea of not having more children, but even my children were begging me to take a long break. And I do understand their arguments¡ª44 children is a lot. And, of course, the number of grandchildren I have... well, I just enjoy thinking about it every time it comes up.


    Still, I would argue that if you have the resources, time, and strength, you should never stop having children. I¡¯m kind of alone in that thinking, but I feel some of my children think the same, though not to the same extent as me.


    We actually have so many birthdays that we needed a system, so everyone came up with the quarterly birthday system. Every three months, we had a weekend where we celebrated all the birthdays that happened a month prior, a month after, and during that one month. Of course, their own families had their birthdays on the right days, but our entire family couldn¡¯t come to every single one¡ªit was just not feasible.


    There were two exceptions to this rule. Even then, some couldn¡¯t make it, but well, there was a war going on, and it was expected. One was when someone reached gold rank. It was a huge celebration and usually happened around the age of 16 to 18.


    The second exception was at the age of six. This birthday was important because we would be giving the child version of the quest necklace when our young turned six. Technically, you could do it when they turned 5th, that was the youngest, but we felt that another year of being just a child was important.


    I looked towards my husband again. He was still playing with the grandkids, even though I saw a few adults waiting so they could speak to him about some, I suspect, important topics. His job hasn¡¯t allowed him as much time with his children and grandchildren as he wants, but he always makes time for them, which I appreciate. I was distracted once again when I saw Tristan coming towards me.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    It brought a small smile to my face when I saw that he actually seemed happy. When the siege began, well, his world crumbled. There were so many other scholars like him in this dungeon. Everyone knew that the secrets hidden here weren¡¯t real, but they were excellent practice for archaeologists and many other disciplines. Yet when the announcement of the siege was given out, almost everyone left.


    Tristan was one of the few who remained, and with their organizations and contacts disappearing almost overnight, Tristan had felt lost for a long time. He had been quite sad ever since, so it was nice to see him happy again. I wondered if he had finally found a girl.


    ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you, Tristan. I didn¡¯t expect you to make it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I needed to get out of those empty halls. But I have some exciting news too. We finally found what we could do with all those empty buildings we still have. By the way, I still wanted to thank you for lending me the capital so we could keep all the buildings and land the archaeologist organization used to own.¡±


    I practically had to force him to take the coin. But every hub station and way station had taxes nowadays, and I didn¡¯t want to see all his work destroyed.


    ¡°Don¡¯t keep me in suspense¡ªwhat did you guys figure out?¡± I asked, hoping that they would actually have a viable solution. If they didn¡¯t, Tristan knew that I would not keep it to myself and would tell him how it was.


    He seemed a bit nervous, but finally, he answered. ¡°We plan to turn all of them and our entire organization into a schooling system for the young.¡± He looked at me, quite proud of his idea but also nervous about my opinion on it. Honestly, I didn¡¯t know what to think.


    ¡°Well, that sounds exciting, but what do you mean exactly when you say a schooling system for the young?¡±


    ¡°Well, most teach their own children, and while that''s good, every parent has knowledge holes that would be passed on to their children. For clans like ours, it wouldn¡¯t be such a problem, as we kind of have our own schooling system, but the rest of the dungeon certainly doesn¡¯t. We also don''t want it to be like in the outer world. We have the quest necklaces as well, and we are hoping we can incorporate those into the schooling system too.¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s important for children to get a more traditional education but also to learn how this dungeon works and how to improve themselves. We currently have an excellent opportunity, as no one is trying to stop the general improvement of the populace¡ªin fact, quite the opposite. Think of how much we can help our children and the future generations. When we have such an encompassing schooling system that constantly learns how to do things the best way.¡±


    Well, his speech just worked on me. ¡°Whenever you''re trying to convince someone, use that speech¡ªit¡¯s really effective.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know exactly how our clan would benefit from it, at least at the start, but I could see a future where even our clan members would leave to visit such hallowed establishments.


    ¡°I am certain that I can convince at least our clan to support this effort. And if you would take orphans into this schooling system of yours, I am quite certain that Carl will get you more funding than you would know what to do with. He will rope in the other clans and possibly even other organizations like the big three.¡±


    He looked quite contemplative at Carl. "That was actually my intention, trying to do it so every single child could attend. We would need a lot of funding, but it should be possible. Yet, I also think that I¡¯m a bit selfish for wanting this.¡±


    ¡°I know that it would help so many, but in the end, it would still help me rebuild a proper academic community, which would also allow me to once again go and find ruins and have people actually be interested in not just the treasure found but the history as well."


    "Everyone''s allowed to be selfish. The key to it is that your selfishness helps others as well, and in that department, I think you are doing just fine with that idea of yours. Speaking of children, I still don¡¯t see any of yours running around. Why is that?" I said it with a teasing smirk, and I loved the eye roll I got back from him.


    It was nice that he didn''t leave immediately to talk to Carl but instead asked about my life and what¡¯s going on. I bet I sounded like a broken record to him, always talking about my children, but I never saw annoyance or any other emotion except happiness from him whenever I spoke about my children. It was a nice day, and I was so glad that we could have so many of these.

 chapter 269

    Pov Vix


    I felt sharp claws digging into my skin. It was so painful. I tried to pull my tail back. It wasn¡¯t working, so I started to move it up and down and sideways as fast as I could. Then I felt the ripping¡ªit was so painful.


    My eyes opened, my heart was beating fast, and it took me a moment to remember where I actually was. It was a serene lake, or for me, a pond, as I was simply too big. I saw at the edge a familiar face, which calmed me quite a bit as I started to lumber my big body towards her.


    She was the one who greeted me first when I was pulled out of that world where I was born and had to survive. Father got quite worried, and so did she, when they first learned that when I now slept, I could remember scenes from that world as I tried to survive in it. It was unfortunate, but Father couldn''t do anything about it. My diamond rank talent seems to be reminding me of things I should not be able to remember.


    I understand the need for not remembering, and most likely there would not be another one like me coming out from that place. Most of my siblings from that world looked nothing like regular creatures from the outside world, but I managed to stay quite faithful to turtles. In fact, the only difference between them and me was my size, at least on the outside. My insides and my shell were made of even stronger stuff that helped me survive the onslaught of my brothers and sisters.


    From the world I came, Father made it for two purposes: to get more mana generation, which I can offer, and for battle, in which I will never be truly useful. The only reason I survived in this form was because I was defensive enough that the others who attacked me couldn''t kill me fast enough to prevent others from finding them.


    I still can''t believe that the unthinking me managed to survive just because it had a small damage aura skill. The fighting happening around me back then helped me grow stronger. The cycle was quite interesting: someone would find me, try to eat me, others would come hearing the noise, and then they would start to battle each other to see who could claim this morsel. Every time, at least as much as I could remember, the battles turned into slaughters, and I was buried under countless corpses.


    It wasn¡¯t the best of times when that happened, but I could eat in peace, and yet the battles going on constantly brought me closer to my next breakthrough. The only true danger to me was if someone could kill me in one shot or swallow me whole. So, the unthinking me strengthened myself, mostly in physical ways, and of course, made me bigger so I couldn¡¯t be swallowed whole.


    It took me a while, but I finally made it to the edge of the lake to see the smiling face of my greeter. ¡°What has brought you here today?¡± I asked her.


    I enjoyed talking with her; we talked quite a bit when I was still at the welcoming village. I believe she¡¯s my friend. I didn¡¯t really like to speak with others as I mostly just slept. It was nice to sleep in peace, although the nightmares ruined some of the enjoyment.


    She was bubbly, I believe it¡¯s called, talking so fast. Well, she wasn¡¯t actually talking fast¡ªI was just slow. I would need to push myself if I wanted to not be slow, but I couldn¡¯t be bothered right now. It was good enough.


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    She continued to talk about the excitement she had experienced, especially with the war with the outsiders. Apparently, we are planning on doing some things with Father¡¯s gateways. I wished her luck when she finally stopped talking and then started to slowly turn around to get to the good spot where it was the most comfortable to lay in.


    Most of the time, it was difficult to keep my eyes open¡ªsleep called me constantly. Once again, I think it¡¯s because of my talent, which I still don¡¯t actually know what it is. From my understanding, most diamond ranks understand their talent quite quickly; for me, it was taking time to understand what the word in my mind for my talent meant. I was not that worried, as eventually, I would figure it out.


    Sleep came quite fast, the way I liked it, but before too long, I opened my eyes again, happy to notice no nightmares this time. She was back at the edge of the lake, and I once again walked towards her.


    She was less bubbly this time. I guess she had seen battle, I could tell from her talking about the results of the gateway strategy she mentioned last time. Apparently, it was working really well, as they were stopping 50% of the melters from reaching the farthest point the enemies had pushed in the labyrinth.


    I sped myself up a bit to ask her a proper question. ¡°Why 50%? That seems a bit exact.¡± She took a little bit to answer that question.


    ¡°Others are worried about that too, but it was actually a complete accident. Things just happened to turn out like that. Father did say there were some weird movements outside, but I guess we¡¯ll see what will happen.¡±


    I always liked the way her voice sounded, but I was once again sleepy. I walked back to the best spot and made myself comfortable. Sleep came quickly, and once again, I woke up feeling pain. I expected to remember a nightmare, but I didn¡¯t, which was weird. I had never had two sleeps without a nightmare, and when did I start feeling pain out of nowhere?


    As I stretched myself up to not be slow, it didn¡¯t take a genius to realize where the pain was coming from. It was Father¡ªhe was hurting so badly. Immediately, my heart started pounding, and I properly used my strength to be as aware as possible.


    My head snapped to a certain location in the sky as I felt something bad there. Immediately, I started rushing towards that spot, and although I was slow compared to other diamond ranks, I could still move faster than a platinum if needed.


    It didn¡¯t take long for me to realize what I felt, and soon I saw the horror. A dungeon melter¡¯s beam was piercing through the roof of this world. This yellow destructiveness hit the land soon after it broke through, and to my horror, I saw it melting even through the vegetation. That should not be possible. Those were not dungeon-made; those were like me. A dungeon melter shouldn¡¯t have any effect, but it was having an effect.


    I knew that underneath this world were others. Before the beam could cut through the vegetation, I made it there and used my shell to block it. It hurt so much, but my shell seemed to be strong enough that it would not have any effect. Father seemed slow, as he was in pain, but he still appeared to be working. Information was given to us on what was attacking.


    Apparently, almost every diamond rank was outside the dungeon right now, alongside a lot of Pixies who were actually casting the melting beam instead of using devices. They had pierced Father in so many places and continued to pierce ever deeper. All of a sudden, the beam stopped, and I looked upwards to see a Pixie far above with a cruel smile on its face.


    Its smile disappeared as I saw a dragon breathing fire on it, and I saw its wings go up in flames. They were so far away, but my senses were good. A truly monstrous battle started outside the dungeon, yet some of the beams still pierced Father. Father actually informed me that one of them had nearly gotten through the entirety of the dungeon.


    Apparently, it was the leader, the oldest Pixie and it just ordered everyone to assault the dungeon. The beams started to cut off as they couldn¡¯t maintain them because most of the dungeon forces went outside to attack.


    I quite anxiously waited, as I wouldn¡¯t be any good in that sort of battle. It seems that slowly we were gaining the upper hand, although we were also taking heavy losses. Then Father informed us that the leader of the Pixies was weaving the melting spell again, aimed directly at the core. It would take some time for that beam to reach him, but the defences around that Pixie were strong, so they didn¡¯t know if we could disrupt it in time.


    ¡°Father, make a gateway and take me to your core. I will buy you some more time.¡±


    I could feel Father not liking the idea, but a stone wall quickly rose in front of me, and a large gateway melted out of it. Immediately, I went through to find myself in the core room. For the first time, I gazed upon the magnificence of Father.


    ¡°Do not worry. I will hold the beam off long enough for our forces to disrupt that Pixie.¡±

 chapter 270

    Pov Vix


    I was still mesmerized by the core that was Father, but I was snapped out of it when I noticed the small cracks all around its surface and even inside. He was struggling so much, yet he was still doing everything necessary¡ªeverything he could¡ªto protect not just himself but us as well.


    Slowly, I started to rise as the floor grew underneath me. I got a brief image of where I should be. It didn¡¯t take me long to reach the correct position, and all I had to do was wait for the floor to rise until I was in the perfect position to stop that beam from hitting Father.


    It had been only a few minutes after I got into position when I started to feel the beam getting closer. Its power seemed terrifying. Then I heard Father¡¯s voice, not just speaking to me but to everyone, especially the invaders.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t stop that destructive beam, it¡¯s going to reach a world so dangerous that you could do nothing to stop the destruction that would follow. There would be nothing left of the outside world if that happens. I urge you to stop now.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know Father could do that, but what danger could he be speaking about?


    ¡°You foolish dungeon. There¡¯s nothing that will stop me from ending you. You think you¡¯re the first dungeon to try these tricks?¡± The voice was quite sweet, but there was so much malice underneath. I shouldn¡¯t have known who was speaking, but somehow they made sure I knew it was the leader of the Pixies who spoke.


    My father seemed sad about that. I wondered what could be so dangerous. Whatever it was, I had my own job to do. I prepared to do my best, but I was interrupted with a brief vision.


    I saw the beam cutting through a world like many others, but it seemed so dead. Yet somehow that deadness started to stir as the beam cut through it. It was like death was living there, and I had never felt such fear. Was this the world Father was speaking about? Why was he showing me this?


    When I looked towards Father to understand what was going on, I came to an understanding. Father didn¡¯t want me to see this¡ªhis life force, his memories, were spilling out from the cracks, and I was unwittingly seeing some of the things he was seeing. There wasn¡¯t much time to contemplate that as the beam continued to approach.


    I saw another scene¡ªthat of the fight going on outside. The mountain was half destroyed, the city completely gone. So many of my brothers and sisters were fighting fiercely, killing but also getting killed. A mighty dragon was fighting, being supported by our side. It was being tied down and not allowed to approach the leader of the Pixies.


    I also saw adventurers fighting. A particular group of five was doing quite well against the Pixies. I saw memories of them when they were so much younger, so much weaker¡ªa brief snippet of their journey inside Father¡¯s dungeon. They had made a life here, and I envied that. I would probably never get to have the same.


    Then the beam hit, and I felt pain so encompassing I couldn¡¯t keep myself on my feet. Yet I had anticipated this. The beam tried to cut through my shell, but for the first time, it met something it couldn¡¯t destroy in an instant. This spell seemed to be quite tied to the caster, so I could actually feel the disbelief the Pixie was experiencing¡ªthe fact that there was something that could actually halt this beam¡¯s progress.


    Unfortunately, I knew that I couldn¡¯t hold this for too long. There was a flash of magic, and I quickly looked towards the core to see two familiar faces coming out of a portal. The mage who cast the portal stumbled through it, but he was hit badly and staggered. Even before he hit the floor, I could see the life leave him.


    The one who came before, I believe her name was Ziiipe, quickly helped the mage. ¡°No, Vinny, don¡¯t leave me! Please don¡¯t!¡±


    There were so many tears streaming down her face. A moment later, Father made some sort of crystal appear. She gave him a last kiss and then quickly moved to the crystal. A few more different kinds of crystals appeared, and she quickly started to use some sort of skills to form them into something.


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    It took her about a minute to finish. "It is done," she said in a broken voice. A moment later, another person walked through the portal that was somehow still active. What an incredible mage he must have been for his magic to be so stable that it even persisted after his death. Perhaps Father was also helping to keep it active.


    ¡°Ziiipe, I heard that the skill is done¡ªwhere?¡± But his voice cut off when he saw the dead mage. I could see his resolve harden at that, but I still noticed the singular tear that fell from his eye. ¡°Did you make the skill as I said you should?¡±


    This seemed to snap Ziiipe out of whatever state she was in. ¡°You cannot use it, Carl. Something like this should not exist.¡± There was a short pause before she continued. ¡°You cannot survive this skill. I cannot lose you too. Think about your family¡ªthere would be nothing left of you!¡±


    ¡°Because of my family, I must do it. We don¡¯t have the time.¡± All of this took only moments as they communicated so fast. Carl took the skill and pulled it inside himself. It would most likely take him a bit longer to properly integrate the skill, but I hoped he would be fast, as I could feel the first layer of my shell finally starting to give.


    New images assaulted my mind. I saw the dungeon rooms filled with adventurers who were fighting for their lives. It seemed that before the diamond-ranked battle started on the surface, tens of thousands of platinum ranks had rushed into the dungeon rooms and worlds opened up by the first beam attacks. I did not know how the different worlds were doing, but many of the adventurers were being slaughtered.


    I guessed the order to leave no one alive was being followed religiously. There was heavy resistance from the lower floors of the dungeon rooms, but it was horrifying to see what was happening in the upper levels. Father simply didn¡¯t have the presence to help keep the gateways from being used. The attackers seemed quite prepared and knew exactly where they needed to go.


    I was brought out of these memories forcefully when I heard that terrifying scream. It was a bellow of rage and a promise of vengeance. Yet somehow, I also constantly heard the word ¡®more¡¯. I focused on the person causing this. It was Carl, doing something I did not know was possible.


    I could sense the skill burning his soul for him to gain more power¡ªthat I knew was possible¡ªbut he was somehow also burning his very talent so he could get even more power. It was radiating off him, even making the portal a bit unstable.


    Immediately, he rushed through it and started to fight to reach the leader of the Pixies. He was a bit too slow to save me, but I was glad that he was going to be able to save Father at least. I felt the last of my shell giving up and the beam piercing inside of me. Even my insides were giving it a bit of trouble, but not much. A large portion of my insides was being burned away, yet I still persisted.


    I felt the beam hit the other side of my shell, being stopped once again. It was so hard to keep conscious, but I knew that I needed to keep circulating mana so my shell would be strong enough to keep the beam occupied for just a bit longer.


    Then I felt it¡ªthe beam stopped. I looked up, barely conscious, but I could still see a person, someone who should not even be able to contest a peak diamond rank, delivering a strike that the peak diamond rank the leader of the Pixies actually had to defend against, otherwise, it might have actually died.


    My life was fading now, but I was glad that the others were at least going to survive. We were winning the fight up above, although we were taking a lot of casualties. ¡°Victory will be ours in the end.¡±


    Then I heard Father¡¯s voice. ¡°I am sorry, my child, but victory will not be ours. I have failed you all.¡±


    I was confused. Why would he say something like that? Then I saw images of what was happening down below. Even through all of this, there was one question in the back of my mind: why weren¡¯t the other worlds helping defend the dungeon rooms or fighting the threat up above? Where were the ants and their technology? Now I knew¡ªthey were fighting a desperate fight that they had now lost.


    While they were still holding on, the enemy had broken through the only place that meant doom for us all. When the assault started from above, apparently a multitude of diamond-rank dungeons had extended their territory to connect with Father¡¯s. A flood of diamond-ranked monsters soon followed. While Father was able to keep them from pushing their territories further in, the slightly weakened diamond-rank monsters ravaged the defenses down below.


    Especially devastating for our defenses was the first beam attack by the leader of the Pixies. It had gotten through the entire dungeon, and it seems like that was done on purpose. My life was about to end, and I was so incredibly sad. So was Father.


    He still continued to fight as much as he could, but from down below, I sensed attacks coming. Whatever was launched from down below looked like quills. They punched through Father¡¯s core, cracking it completely.


    He was dying now¡ªI could feel it. Then those quills exploded, and I was bathed in the most horrifying fire I had ever witnessed. My eyes snapped open. I no longer felt the pain; I felt the soft mud and the water underneath me. My heart was beating so fast, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the lake and so many people around it. I could feel Father¡¯s voice touching me, but I was so tired.


    ¡°Vix, you need to sleep. You have been burning your soul for so long that there¡¯s barely anything left. You need to recover.¡±


    I was confused by those words, but I looked inside to see a world filled with darkness instead of the blue light I was so accustomed to. I was so tired I couldn¡¯t even speak. I couldn¡¯t even find the strength to convey any meaning through my mind. What I did see was a word representing my talent: Premonition.


    Instantly, everything clicked into place. I had seen a possible future¡ªthe most likely events that would happen. I needed to warn them.


    I tried to pull my strength, but I couldn¡¯t do anything to warn them. I was falling asleep. I could feel it would take decades before I could awaken again. No, that would be too long, but there was one source of strength I still had. I had just a bit of soul left. Yet, if I used it, I would not awaken from my slumber¡ªI would be gone forever. Yet I didn¡¯t even question, didn¡¯t even think, before I started to use the last that I had.


    Father screamed at me, ¡°Stop it at once! Go to sleep, you need to recover!¡± But I didn¡¯t listen. It was so hard, but I gathered all that I saw and prepared to send it to Father.


    He didn¡¯t want it, but I think he understood that something was truly wrong. He took it and even helped me give him my memories. ¡°I thank you for the life you gave me. Goodbye.¡± And then darkness claimed me.

 chapter 271

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I think this is what shock feels like. His last words still echoed in my mind. There are many trying to understand what happened, asking me questions. Many had gathered around the lake to see if they could help Vix, but none of them could bring him out of his sleep that was consuming his soul. At least now I know it was because of his talent that it was happening.


    I tried to help him, so he could give me the memories he wanted as quickly as possible hoping there would still be something left of him, but I failed him in every way. If I was a diamond rank, I think I could''ve helped him, but I wasn¡¯t. I did get his pattern, but it wasn''t him any longer. It was an empty shell that used to be Vix.


    I announced to everyone that he was gone and slowly started to absorb him. I didn¡¯t have any traditions like adventurers had for sending off their family and loved ones, and I actually don¡¯t think I want one.


    There was a part of me that perhaps thought that maybe I should keep at least his shell intact, but without him actively working and using his skills, that shell would not be able to stop the terrifying beam I saw in his memories.


    When he was gone completely, I didn¡¯t like the emptiness left behind in the lake, so I started to make the most exact replica of him sleeping I could out of dungeon stone. My minds worked in unison to do this, halting nearly every other task I had. Even then, this statue of Vix took a while to complete as I was making the most faithful recreation of him that I could.


    When it was finally finished, I didn¡¯t start working on the things I left unfinished. It was time to take some time to reflect. One of the projects I was basically finished with was making the gateways appear as mirrors. That seemed to be one of the last pieces that would cause my downfall, along with everyone else reliant on me.


    I have not yet told anyone what had happened exactly, only that we got crucial information without which we would have certainly fallen. The problem was what to do with this information. From what I could tell, we were winning the fight up above, and while I didn¡¯t get a lot of information about what was happening down below, it was clear that diamond-ranked dungeons controlled by this world¡¯s powers coordinated their attacks, crushed the defenses I had, and ended up delivering the killing blow.


    There aren¡¯t many creatures who even indirectly have experienced their death, but the memories I got seemed so real. What horrors would I feel right now if I had my own memories of that event instead of a single mind being¡¯s? It seems that I have been too indecisive, but I should have known better. There are plenty of examples I¡¯ve witnessed myself of what happens when you try to hold back.


    Back in the day, I remember when I was disappointed because there were already so many adventurers that their uniqueness disappeared¡ªthe same with creatures. When you simply have enough of something, even people start to act the same and have the same reactions to the same stimulus. It was what pushed me in the beginning to make new worlds and different kinds of dungeon rooms, but the bigger I got, the less uniqueness I saw.


    All of that changed when I saw an event happen almost exactly the same way once again, with so many variables so unbelievably the same. After that, I didn¡¯t mind losing that uniqueness, and while I still chase it almost constantly, I have come to learn the amazingness of witnessing almost the exact same events in different places and at different times. In some ways, it¡¯s even better than witnessing something new.


    So many times, I have seen a person who should have won a fight lose it just because they were holding back, even just a little. Was it because they truly didn¡¯t want to kill the opposing party? Perhaps they saw that one of their opponents looked awfully similar to one of their siblings, and they held back just a bit. In the end, it doesn¡¯t matter what the cause was. The result was the same¡ªthey lost because they didn¡¯t go all out. They weren¡¯t aggressive enough, and I have made the same mistake.


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    If it wasn¡¯t for Vix, I would have ended. And while, from his own understanding, his talent didn¡¯t give an exact premonition of what was going to happen in the future¡ªit was just a possible future that could happen¡ªthe result was still the same in the end. It showed me my weakness. It¡¯s not only my life at stake but everyone who relies on me, and I can¡¯t do this if I don¡¯t go all out.


    It took me some time to finally come to a proper decision, but the days I spent going over the memories I got, my own memories of past events and the results of their choices, made it clear in what direction I must go.


    No longer will I try to hold back anything. We must go all out. No more half-measures. No more holding back my strongest weapons. If I must come to an end, they won¡¯t even understand the meaning of despair. They will come to learn why they should have never tried to control me or end me. They will understand what it means to be afraid.


    Most of my projects lay forgotten as I started to work on truly awful things. I did not want to do this. It disgusted me; it horrified me. Yet all of me was focused on it so I wouldn¡¯t make any mistakes, so I would think about every scenario, and so that I would eliminate any possibility of this not working.


    Perhaps a younger me would have made a mistake, interpreted aggression as going to war immediately, and pumped out as many monsters as I could to destroy any trace of the forces outside. But no, I was now wise enough to understand that aggression didn¡¯t always mean doing everything immediately. No, in this context, aggression meant doing everything you can to make sure that you win, no matter what.


    Slowly, I started to expand my territory downwards. If those dungeons were going to send their monsters toward me, they were not going to find an easy path. I made a maze out of my territory.


    The monsters that would come could not leave dungeon territory. They would weaken when they entered mine, but they would survive. So, because of that, I left large areas unclaimed, which would cause them to need to go around. My creatures, however, could survive there. That meant it was time to start designing forts that could attack any monsters that would have to go around them.


    For the first time in a while, I communicated with my creatures, more specifically the ants. They now understood the danger that could come from down below and the advantages we had. There was no doubt in my mind that they would be better at designing the fortresses that would be responsible for damaging anything that tried to invade me and reach my core.


    Slowly, I also started to expand my territory on the surface. It was time we turned that into a fortress as well. There were enchantments and possible artifacts that could be made to disrupt those dungeon-melting spells before they even got to me, but it would mean those defenses needed to be manned. That meant we needed dominion over the surface.


    It would take a lot, but I had so much mana stored up. We would take no real losses to take the surface¡ªI will just flood it with endless amounts of platinum-ranked monsters, so many that even the diamond ranks would grow tired. And of course, when they¡¯re tired, they would be easy pickings for our true elites.


    Now I communicated with everyone else about the plans that I had so they could also start inputting their ideas. There was no doubt in my mind, and soon everyone else reached the same conclusion: if we took the surface, we would be in a constant battle. There was one chance that we could stop it from happening, but from what I saw in the memories, perhaps even that would be too much to hope for.


    Still, I didn¡¯t think they would know they were wrong before the end. For the first time, I started to tinker with the undead small pattern. It was terrifying enough as it was now, but it was too slow and too weak. If I was going to announce its existence, I was sure they could find a way to counter it. No, it was time to make it truly terrifying. I hesitated just a bit, but I now know what it meant if I didn¡¯t act, so I started to change it.


    When this small pattern started to multiply in the outside world, in just a few days it would be completely unbound to me. It would need quicker multiplication, it would need to spread further, and it would need to be a lot stronger. Now, I wasn¡¯t certain it could ever affect diamond ranks, but I was certain I could make it so that no platinum rank would ever keep their memories and would just be turned into unthinking undead.


    It took me nearly a month, almost concentrating everything I had on this horrifying pattern, but it was finally done. It will end, I was certain of it¡ªthe outside world in just months, perhaps at maximum a year. The current small pattern in the undead world had, a while ago, figured out how to survive underwater and propagate there, so not even the underwater world was safe from this small yet terrifying existence.


    It occurs to me now that this was the first planet killer I made. Of course, I would hope that it would be the only one, that I would never make another, but I think that would be a fool¡¯s hope. As I continued to grow stronger, eventually my creatures would do that for me.


    It was time to give them the last offer of peace, but even that would just be to show my true strength, to show what would happen to them all if they didn¡¯t leave me alone. They would witness what would happen to their world, and hopefully, I would make it clear to them that if I were to release this, they would be forever stuck in this undead world until even their long lives ran out.

 chapter 272

    ***


    There were a multitude of guards and other people in the entrance hall of ETG. Just a few minutes ago, another team with the melter went in, and already they were preparing another.


    Over the course of years, they had gotten their manufacturing facilities working, allowing them to make melters at incredible speeds. There were teams continuously going in and out, bringing the melters to the furthest point of the labyrinth so they could continue to advance deeper into the dungeon.


    All this bustling stopped, as every head turned to the dungeon entrance. Everyone could hear screams and fighting, then all of a sudden, the sound was cut off. Some of the guards rushed in, yet anyone who entered didn¡¯t return, and none of them could be reached with communication devices or skills.


    People arrived quickly, trying to calm others down, but then the diamond ranks who were doing that felt their own die in the dungeon. The diamond ranks who were protecting and guiding the melters were dying one by one. The entrance hall was emptied, and an emergency meeting was called. Almost everyone was there, even Vivian and her grandfathers. They were not looked upon favorably.


    This development was not expected. Everyone thought that the dungeon would try to do something about the melters as they were getting close to the core, but the absolute finality of what happened still shook them. The Pixies looked quite worried as well, but they were almost done training their breach squad, and the diamond dungeons were getting closer with their territory expansion.


    ¡°Do you think the dungeon found out about what¡¯s going on in other fronts?¡± someone breached the silence, trying to stay as vague as possible. Yet even before someone could answer and this emergency meeting could properly start, a few guards rushed in and immediately started to report on what was happening in the dungeon hall.


    ¡°There are weird noises coming out from the dungeon, and from the sound of it, they¡¯re getting closer. We¡¯re already forming ranks, but what are our orders?¡±


    It only took a moment before almost everyone, including diamond ranks, rushed towards the dungeon entrance, looking for vengeance. When they got there, they saw what looked like a dead corpse slowly walking out of the dungeon entrance and into the dungeon hall.


    It moved unnaturally, like it had a broken body but someone was trying to control it as if it wasn¡¯t broken. It didn¡¯t stop but continued to slowly walk forward no matter what the guards yelled. Then a terrifying and broken voice came out of that walking corpse: ¡°This siege has gone on long enough.¡±


    A diamond rank from the back threw his spear through the walking corpse¡¯s head, silencing it. ¡°I could feel the dungeon¡¯s influence in it¡ªit was controlling it. How could it still think we would leave it alone?¡± That diamond rank almost said it in a joking manner, yet he went silent as another walking corpse came out of the entrance.


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    Before anything else could be done, another diamond rank yelled as loud as she could: ¡°Connor! Your strongest barrier shield¡ªactivate it now! Cut off the entrance hall entirely!¡±


    All of a sudden, the entrance hall was isolated from the rest of the world with a thick, transparent barrier that nothing could get through. The people still inside the entrance hall panicked as more corpses started to walk out.


    They started to kill them easily, but many were still hitting the barrier, trying to get out. Even the yells could be heard, but no one outside did anything. However, everyone looked at the woman who screamed and commanded that the barrier be put up.


    She didn¡¯t keep them in suspense. ¡°I could feel some power emanating from that corpse. That power was infecting the people close to it,¡± she said, swallowing nervously. ¡°I think the dungeon knows about small life.¡±


    That statement froze everyone who knew what it meant. There were no longer any corpses coming out, but there was a huge pile of them, nearly 300 that the forces inside the entrance hall had killed quite easily. In complete horror, the people outside watched as some of the people inside collapsed out of nowhere. They started to spasm. Healing magics were tried, but nothing happened. Then they died.


    Only about five seconds later, their bodies twitched again, and everyone, in complete horror, watched as those people stood up once again and started to move toward the living. They were, of course, killed once again, but the cycle continued, speeding up. In only five minutes, only walking corpses were left of the few hundred people there. Then one of the corpses started to move weirdly, like the first one they had seen.


    "You have 24 hours to leave my territory. Anyone left here afterward will die. Do not worry, I can see it in your faces. Your superiors would not allow you to leave without putting up a fight, but all of you need to know that you cannot win against this." The walking corpse jerked about, indicating the other walking corpses.


    "I believe a lot of you know what this is. You called them ''small life''; I call them ''small patterns,'' but in the end, it doesn¡¯t matter what it is called. You have some ways of fighting them, but be assured, I have fixed those issues. You also know that if I were to release this, in just a few hours they would be completely free and would start to do what small patterns always do: change and evolve into something even more dangerous."


    "I will not attack with this weapon. No, you will be flooded with monsters that will end this siege. But if anyone were to start a new siege or just attack me again or if any other dungeons¡¯ territory were to get too close, know that I have sent thousands of my creatures hidden across every corner of this world.¡± There was a pause before ETG continued.


    ¡°When I give the word, this small pattern will be released, and your world will die in months. You diamond ranks will most likely survive, but you would still be living in a dead world. And be assured, not even dungeons would be saved. This world would stagnate and forever be dead."


    "You lie! That would kill you just the same!" one of the diamond ranks yelled back. The walking corpse, controlled by ETG, simply started to laugh in the most horrific way possible.


    "Oh, I know I would need to protect against it as well, but I have my ways. I will survive, and everyone within me will as well. I hope this demonstration was enough, although I doubt it. Please don''t make me use this weapon¡ªI truly don¡¯t want to, but I will if necessary." The last word was said with such conviction that no one dared to doubt it.


    "You have 24 hours." were the last words before, from the entrance, a flood of incredibly hot fire turned everything not made of stone to ash. The barrier still held, but when the fire subsided, there was nothing left inside the entrance hall. Quickly, a few of the diamond ranks confirmed that none of the small life remained¡ªall of it was destroyed.


    A terrible weight and silence held everyone in place who had witnessed and heard the words of the dungeon. Many of the diamond ranks were shaken to their cores, while some others were already starting to deny what they had witnessed. The barrier disappeared, and everyone took an involuntary step back.


    The next moment, arguments started, and an emergency meeting was called¡ªnot just with everyone present, but with people around the world as well. It seemed that all of their worst nightmares had come to life, the reasons why they controlled dungeons now realized.


    All of them wanted to end this dungeon as quickly as they could, but wouldn¡¯t that bring about the end of the world? Wouldn¡¯t that just make their nightmares come to life? Was their only way forward to actually give up and let this monster of a dungeon continue to live?

 chapter 273

    Pov Vivian


    My mind was in turmoil. The fire cleansed everything, but I was still seeing visions of those horrible moving corpses. It was so hard not to imagine what would happen if that small life was let loose. My mind was so occupied that I only snapped out of my daze when I saw the barrier disappear, and I involuntarily stepped back.


    My grandfather was next to me, and I looked towards him to see him deep in thought. A meeting was called, and I started to head there, but my grandfather put his hand on my shoulder. ¡°Follow me.¡±


    Instead of going to the meeting, for some reason, he was leading us back to our home. My mind immediately went to the reason why. We were one of the only ones who basically had our entire clan here, and if the dungeon¡¯s threat about killing everyone who remained was true, we needed to get as many people out as possible.


    ¡°Tell everyone to follow the emergency plan A1C,¡± my grandfather told one of the guards as we made it back in record time. That once again confused me. That plan was for everyone to be ready to move at a moment¡¯s notice but to stay here until Grandfather gave the order to move. Were we not staying to fight?


    He led me to his study and activated the enchantments, basically sealing the room from the rest of the world. ¡°Vivian, how credible is that threat from those living corpses?¡± he said while sitting down and starting to go through his desk, looking for something.


    The question was difficult to answer. There was just so much unknown, but the speed and the fact that that small life could so easily kill even platinum ranks who were completely healthy was something none of us had seen before.


    Yet my mind was already making calculations, and it was horrifying. There have been really deadly small life outbreaks, but when they kill their hosts, their corpses stay in one location and eventually die out. This obviously wasn¡¯t the case with this one.


    ¡°Vivian?¡± my grandfather¡¯s voice brought me out of my thoughts.


    ¡°It¡¯s not good, Grandfather. From what I could tell, there was some sort of unifying shared field amongst all the corpses. That small pattern must have access to mana of some sort. I am certain there are ways to fight it, but the spread was so fast, and if it''s really in every corner of the world, we simply won¡¯t have the manpower to keep it at bay. What I¡¯m certain of is that there could be isolated communities that might survive, but I believe his timeline is more than accurate.¡±


    My voice got quieter by the end as I simply didn¡¯t have the strength to continue. I sat down heavily¡ªnot because of the threat of the small life, but because I didn¡¯t believe that those idiots would actually stop. They would think it was just another bluff, even with that demonstration. Although I¡¯m certain it affected at least some to the point that they would believe him, would that be enough?


    I looked up and no longer heard any sounds of rifling through stuff from Grandfather. He was now completely still, looking toward the entrance of the dungeon. Some time passed before he spoke.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe they will find the threat credible enough. They will end this world because they believe they are above it. Perhaps I can do something that will give this world a chance.¡±


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    He went quiet after that. There seemed to be no life in his eyes, like he was somewhere else. Then he blinked a couple of times.


    ¡°Those idiots actually think they can hold this place, but at least they¡¯re evacuating a lot of non-combatants.¡±


    He then stood up, and I saw the determination on his face. My mouth fell open as he stepped toward the command crystal that controlled all the enchantments and smashed it into bits. The world rushed back in as all the enchantments that kept us separate from the rest of the world failed, but so did all the other protections¡ªespecially against the dungeon.


    Grandfather turned toward one corner of the room, like he felt an enemy there.


    ¡°I have nothing else to offer you but this. I will make this choice as public as possible. I have so many vows that bind me, yet I can still make this decision, which will show them all that your threat is credible. Will you accept this? Can you do it quickly? And, of course, the more spectacle you can make of my choice to join you, the better.¡±


    I was completely confused as to what my grandfather was doing. There was nothing there¡ªwho was he speaking to? It was like I was looking at a broken man, but then his shoulders relaxed, and a small smile came to his face that immediately warped into a look of pain as I saw vow bands wrapping all around him appear out of nowhere.


    Those were vow bands that would kill anyone who breaks them. And while they did hurt him, I saw them crumbling before they could do any real damage. That meant that whatever vow my grandfather had made, the conditions to get out of them were met, at least to some degree.


    No one takes a vow if they don''t have to, but a clan leader does have to take quite a few¡ªones that bind all of our clans together. Did that just mean that we broke those bonds? That shouldn''t be possible.


    ¡°Grandfather, what''s happening?¡±


    He turned to me to answer, but then a communication crystal let out a terrible noise. My grandfather quickly picked it up, and I saw an image of our leader. He was basically the last beastkin alive¡ªnot the pale imitations we were. His bear-like face was hard to read, but he seemed incredibly furious. We could also hear the emergency meeting going on in the background through another communication crystal.


    ¡°Pup, what is the meaning of this? And how are you still alive? Whose side did you go on? Doesn¡¯t matter¡ªI will find you and end you.¡± He stopped speaking when he saw my grandfather¡¯s face. ¡°Explain. Now.¡±


    I did not expect that, but my grandfather took a deep breath and then spoke.


    ¡°This world is going to end if we don''t stop attacking this dungeon. I hope my sacrifice¡ªmy betrayal that will never be forgotten¡ªwill help you recognize the true threat. I do not know what you have been told, but the small life is the real threat. It will end this world and everyone in it. My clan now belongs to the dungeon, and I hope you understand what this means.¡±


    There was silence. We also realized that the emergency meeting had gone quiet. Then we heard the voice of one of the most annoying people I know.


    ¡°You see, they are working for the dungeon.¡±


    I looked down at the communication crystal and realized that it wasn¡¯t the secure one, it was meant for power and that nothing could interfere with its connection. We had been overheard.


    ¡°You have betrayed the beasts. I can offer you no protection. Goodbye,¡± our leader said. Then he destroyed the communication crystal to the emergency meeting instead of ours.


    ¡°You will be known for this betrayal, pup. Your line will be forever disgraced, at least to the public. You are a true beast kin, putting our lineage and our history above everything. I hope you are wrong, but if you¡¯re not, then keep our histories alive. I will try to do the same. Goodbye.¡±


    Then the communication crystal cut off.


    A moment later, guards rushed in. ¡°Sir, some sort of symbols are appearing on the ground outside the perimeter.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind those. Prepare for battle.¡±


    My grandfather was about to say something else, but he stopped and looked at the same corner. Then he let out a sigh of relief.


    All of a sudden, I felt twisting, like we were entering a gateway. Our building shook, and I could see cracks all over it, but then it stopped. Immediately, word spread, and we rushed outside to see the sun still in the same location, but our surroundings were different. We were no longer in the city but in someplace else with forests and rivers.


    Some of the buildings had trees coming out of them, like the entire section of the city we controlled was dropped into the middle of the wilderness. I took a deep breath and realized that we were inside the dungeon.


    ¡°Grandfather, what did you do?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°I made a deal with the dungeon. Hopefully, it will be enough to convince the others to stop attacking this dungeon. And of course, like our leader has always taught, we should never have all our eggs in the same basket.¡±


    ¡°If this dungeon succeeds in destroying the world, then we will keep our histories alive. If this dungeon shall fall, other clans will keep our histories alive. And of course, in the best-case scenario, both sides will survive, and we will just have a different kind of life than we had before.¡±

 chapter 274

    ***


    The emergency meeting went on after the disappearance of the traitors. While some tried to blame all of the Beasts, the words of the leader of the Beasts made it clear that they had no knowledge of this happening and did not approve of this move.


    Yet, over and over again, it was brought up. Eventually, the leader of the beasts got tired, and after a particular question, it allowed him to move the meeting along.


    ¡°Of course he did it with your permission, otherwise the vows would have killed him?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you think I would have been dead if that was the case? We all have our own vows, do we not? We all do things differently, so let me tell you how we do things. We don¡¯t suffer blind loyalty, so we have ways to get out of vows amongst ourselves.¡±


    ¡°The only way he could have done what he did without dying and with me still alive was that he truly knew our entire history and lineage would be destroyed if he didn¡¯t do what he did. So, I don¡¯t know what you think you can get by continuing this line of bullshit, but I, on the other hand, want to talk about the literal threat to this entire world!¡±


    ¡°What threat? It¡¯s baseless. The dungeon doesn¡¯t have such capabilities. What it showed was simply a play to make us believe.¡±


    Yet the person who spoke those words didn¡¯t get the support he was hoping for. To the relief of the leader of the Beasts, the topic actually moved forward to the one he was worried about. A lot of arguing followed, but more and more evidence seemed to indicate at least some truth to the dungeon''s claims. There were many diamond ranks at the event, and their senses were excellent. The biggest evidence for this to be an actual threat was the breaking of vows.


    Outside, a frantic evacuation and preparation of defenses continued. Before anyone could properly realize, the 24 hours were up. The emergency meeting was interrupted, and almost everyone was surprised that it went by so fast without them ever coming to a decision on anything.


    None of them took the dungeon¡¯s threat about driving them away from this place seriously. They didn¡¯t believe it would be possible. So, the emergency meeting continued while some went out to help the platinum ranks with the defense, in case it was actually needed.


    Before the timer went to zero, all over the mountain and the entire area now claimed by the dungeon, rumblings and smaller earthquakes were felt. Then, holes opened up everywhere. A moment later, a quiet yet fast marching sound was felt, and from those thousands of holes, endless streams of human-sized ants poured out.


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    The defenders laughed. While the numbers were significant, everyone could sense that these were just monsters, and all of them were gold ranks. It didn¡¯t take long for the ants to reach the defensive lines. When the monsters got close to it, they simply disappeared, and the defenders laughed again. Their positions were protected by devices that disrupted dungeon territory, which meant that monsters couldn¡¯t survive there.


    A moment later, the monsters could move further. This confused and scared a lot of people. Then, a voice was heard above all: ¡°The dungeon is pushing our disrupting devices back. Begin the offensive!¡±


    Not a moment later, ranged attacks fell onto the ants, and soon the melee defenders had to get their blades dirty as the dungeon pushed back on the territory disruptors, using its vast reserves of mana to overwhelm almost all of those devices. Even then, the defenders were not pushed back¡ªthey weren¡¯t even strained, although they still had to defend from all angles.


    There was merriment in the defensive lines. Sometimes people switched out with others as those in the back got bored. The fighting continued, yet there didn¡¯t seem to be a stop to the stream of ants. They were killing them as fast as they were coming, but slowly, hours started to go by. The emergency meeting continued, with diamond ranks every so often rushing into the flood of ants and destroying huge swaths of them.


    Yet they never stopped coming¡ªnot for a second. On the second day, after continuous fighting, the defenders started to run into mana problems, and this time they actually needed to switch people out to give them rest. There were still smiles on their faces, but the joyous mood of the day before was gone.


    So it continued, the emergency meeting never stopping as there were many actually wanting to leave the dungeon alone, believing the threat it posed was credible. Most of their words fell on deaf ears, and the situation outside didn¡¯t help their case¡ªat least, not until the first few deaths happened.


    These were mainly accidents: people getting in each other¡¯s way, and then ants taking the opportunity to deliver proper, devastating attacks with their mandibles that could easily hurt the platinums if they simply got close enough.


    On the fourth day, deaths continued to mount up, yet the flood of ants never stopped. Many in the defensive lines didn¡¯t understand how there could be so many ants¡ªthey must have killed millions already. But they were underestimating the numbers. They hadn¡¯t just killed millions¡ªthey had killed tens of millions. Their leaders understood that, yet the flood never stopped.


    The generals in charge of the defenses were counting on the dungeon running out of mana, but when they consulted their dungeon experts, they were told it didn¡¯t seem that the dungeon was using any. It seemed to be operating like it always had. So, everyone came to the conclusion that it was somehow hiding its actions, and they just had to tough it out until it ran out of mana.


    The real reason why they couldn¡¯t feel the fluctuations was because ETG wasn¡¯t actually creating an endless number of monsters. He was simply using his gold-rank monsters, the ones he had made to help with his fortress project. He had made billions of them to complete that work, and now that he could make platinums, they were just taking up the number of monsters he could upkeep.


    So, while the defenders thought they were fighting and winning this fight, ETG was just using this opportunity to get rid of his no-longer-needed monsters, the ones he had made to help with his building efforts, in a way that wasn¡¯t too wasteful.


    When the fiftieth day passed, once again, earthquakes and rumblings were felt. Many more holes opened up, and the ones that were already there widened even further.


    ETG had gotten some good advice. Monster ants, like the ones he was using for this early assault, could actually climb over each other extremely easily, increasing the number that reached the front lines.


    This simple yet effective change, for the first time, properly challenged the defensive line. Not many had the reach to fight the incoming wave of ants that towered over them multiple times their height.


    Dozens of diamond ranks left the defenses and started to kill huge numbers of ants even before they could get close to the defenders. Yet anything they did didn¡¯t stop the flow completely. Orders were given for the line to move back. Conjured platforms were made so the defenders could climb and form multiple lines on top of each other so they could still fight the flood effectively.


    And so it continued, with days rolling by with endless fighting happening. Even the leaders, in the emergency meeting, finally started to pay attention.

 chapter 275

    ***


    One of the diamond ranks went high up in the sky and started to conjure huge lightning bolts that rained down in a large area away from the other fighters. Every time one of those lightning bolts hit the ground, it killed thousands of ants in a large area. Soon, those corpses started to disappear, but not before the entire place that was filled up with the endless wave of ants that never stopped moving toward the defensive lines.


    These attacks, along with other attacks by other diamond ranks, were still helping the defenders. It eased the pressure just enough that the generals could direct their fighters into more advantageous positions.


    Whenever they tried to use already existing fortifications for defense, everyone soon found out that for the ants, those fortifications meant nothing, as they were literally designed to move and destroy hard stone. This caused many breakthroughs of the line and the highest amount of casualties before things started to stabilize.


    Now all the defensive lines were made up of multiple levels of platinum-ranked fighters. The first level of defenders stood on the ground, the next on wooden structures behind the first line, and so on until they reached the height of the approaching ants.


    Almost everyone who had made it to platinum rank and used melee skills had a skill that allowed them to project their strikes, which was the only reason this configuration was able to hold against the wave of ants.


    Yet these lines were not perfectly held, as this was still not a good way to fight. Usually, what should have helped them was the huge amount of corpses left behind, but these were dungeon monsters, and soon after their death, they started to disappear.


    They didn¡¯t even leave any loot, as ETG never assigned any to these monsters. The amount of ants, however, even if still only gold rank, was helping the defenders increase their strength. They would need to kill tens of billions to actually reach diamond rank so in the end it did not matter.


    More and more diamond ranks joined the fight, which allowed the platinums enough rest to gather their mana for another shift on the defensive lines. When the tenth day went by, mana was no longer the only problem¡ªit was pure exhaustion.


    Platinum ranks just didn¡¯t have the endurance to keep fighting for so long, even if they got small breaks to recharge. Only about 1,000 had lost their lives, while they had killed about 150 million, yet the flood of ants never stopped.


    When the death toll started to climb more steadily, diamond ranks no longer just went out and killed as many as possible¡ªthey actually started to coordinate as well. The generals, however, knew that even with the help of their strongest, there were simply too many ants coming at the same time. They would eventually fall, but that was only if the ants never ran out, and that should not be possible.


    ETG disagreed with that notion, and if he wanted to, he could actually just keep making gold-rank ants to maintain the same amount of pressure literally forever. Days started to go by faster, and the lines of the defenders kept shrinking.


    So many were killed that eventually their lines were so short that even ETG could no longer push the territory disruption devices back. There were now multiple pockets of defenders completely safe from the ants, and everyone was taking a breather after having fought for so many days and killing a bit over a billion ants.


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    Even the diamond ranks were a bit exhausted. They had lost so many more than they expected, but most still didn¡¯t understand what the dungeon was trying to do. They knew it could never truly get rid of them even if the dungeon had basically destroyed all of their facilities, and so many platinums lost their lives that it would be hard to regain the strength they had lost during this battle.


    The fighting had stopped for about 10 minutes before everyone started to notice something weird. It was a sunny day with no clouds in sight, but all of a sudden, more and more shadows started to appear on the ground.


    Almost as one, everyone looked up to see a horrifying sight. Thousands upon thousands of large and small birds were being spawned, all of them holding sharpened sticks of stone in their talons. Almost as if this was the signal, they came to life and started to swoop downwards, aiming their payloads at the territory disruption devices.


    Commands were yelled out. Mages started to put barriers above the devices, while everyone who could use ranged attacks turned their attention upwards and started killing as many as they could.


    Some of the birds were truly massive and were carrying stones that must have weighed tonnes. The defense was frantic, yet confusion broke out when the first barriers failed. But the stones didn''t hit their targets; instead, they disappeared like the ants did, although they made it further in. They were never a threat to begin with.


    Of course, the diamond ranks were the first to realize that this must be a diversion, but it was already too late. The territory-disruptive devices almost all in unison shuddered as the ground underneath them cracked. Ants rushed to the devices to bite them to bits. The diamond ranks did what they could to save those devices, but their panicked attempts only helped the dungeon finish this mission.


    Many were still confused as to how anything could get so close to these devices, as their disruptive nature should have also extended downwards. The battle commenced again, as the monsters could now once again surge forward.


    The ones investigating the holes underneath the devices realized that these ants, while quite similar to the ones in the wave, looked different. More importantly, they weren¡¯t monsters but creatures that could live outside dungeon territory.


    The monsters surged forward, but this time, the defenders found their positions in the air no longer as safe as before. ETG never stopped spawning new airborne monsters that continued to deliver their payloads of rocks, which now did hit the defenders.


    The battle quickly devolved into small groups of resistance, while hundreds died in just minutes. The defenders were still making a good account of themselves in small pockets of defense that had enough different types of defenders to keep them safe from all threats.


    Their diamond ranks did all they could, but soon the only people they could keep safe were the ones around them. There were hundreds of diamond ranks, all protecting their own pockets of resistance.


    Only an hour had passed since the territory devices were destroyed, yet all of them now knew this battle was lost. Still, they wouldn''t stop fighting. They would show this dungeon why diamond ranks were so feared, and if needed, they would kill another ten billion ants.


    Five hours later, the situation changed once again as pillars started to rise all over in set distances from one another. They were quite thick, and all of them were perfect squares. They continued to extend upwards until their growth stopped at 100 meters.


    Everyone was confused as to what was happening until flashes that looked like gateway activations notified everyone that they were now going to be fighting truly dangerous opponents. From the gateways, smaller parties emerged, all diamond rank, striking against more isolated diamond ranks, either capturing or quickly killing them by overwhelming them.


    Other diamond ranks rushed to help, but before they could get there, the attackers had already disappeared into another gateway. The ones who rushed away from their pockets now had nowhere to return, as the flood of ants quickly overran the people they were protecting.


    It only took a few more of these types of attacks before all the diamond ranks started to move closer together. What followed next was truly monstrous. More and more diamond ranks appeared as the dungeon brought out more and more of its elite forces. They started with ranged attacks, and while the defenders could still fend those off, these types of attacks were tiring as they were coming from opponents near to their strength.


    At first, all of those diamond ranks were humanoid, but as time went on, more and more diamond ranks appeared that were truly monstrous, truly scaring the defenders. They were no longer certain if abandoning their people and rushing the diamond ranks would allow them to truly come out victorious. And even if they did, they would lose so much.


    A decision was made that no one expected to have to make. The ones who started this siege, the ones who had been defending their position now for nearly seventeen days, called for a retreat.


    Slowly, they started to make their way out of the dungeon territory, but they were never truly safe as they were constantly hounded. Before they got out, a few more diamond ranks, along with many more platinum ranks, lost their lives during the slow retreat from the dungeon territory.


    ETG had won his battle; he had driven his enemy, who had hounded him for years, away. But he didn¡¯t stop to celebrate. Instead, he went to work to turn the surface into a fortification that could defend against any attacks, especially from those beam attacks he had seen in Vix¡¯s premonition.

 chapter 276

    Pov Ant Combat Digger


    It was incredible to once again have this feeling. I had seen many battles, but it had been quite a while since I had to do such dangerous digging. I worked my mandibles, even if they weren¡¯t doing any of the work.


    No, everything was actually done by my skills, but the action of moving and working my mandibles as if they were digging through dirt helped me keep focus and even allowed me to keep my other necessary skills functioning as they should to keep me safe until I reached my target.


    I wasn¡¯t the only one who volunteered for this mission. Hundreds of my brothers and sisters were doing the same as me. Our father was giving us a distraction up above, so we just had to hope that none of them were paying too much attention to what was going on underneath them. Only the very best of them should feel anything, but that was only if they were paying attention.


    I do not know exactly how long it took, but at least our team was getting close to our target, which meant that others should be as well. Then we got a frantic message to hold all activities.


    Immediately, we stopped, not daring to move an inch. The next moment, I understood why¡ªthe fighting up above seemed to have ended. A moment later, we got the reason: the enemy had retreated into the protection of their devices.


    This was why we were here. Father could push those horrible devices back only so far, and now it was our job to make sure that those devices didn¡¯t stop Father from winning. There were other plans recommended, and everyone was certain we could swarm them with just numbers, but it would mean a lot of losses. I was more than willing to give up my life to save thousands of my brothers and sisters of all kinds.


    Plans seemed to have been changed, and we were given a wait time of a few more minutes before we needed to move and finish quickly. We were all ready to move at a moment''s notice. Then I heard it, and I moved, jumping towards the rock wall, crushing it while keeping noise so low that barely a vibration was noticeable a few meters away. There was so much noise outside that it was safe to push faster, and then we made it to the target area.


    All of us activated our skills to make the rock underneath our target disappear, and a moment later, it was in front of us. I disliked being under the influence of this device, so I enjoyed just biting it to pieces.


    Our father was yelling for us to retreat, and I saw a few go. I was old, and I was more than happy to give the next generation a chance to escape. It seems that I wasn¡¯t the only one, as a few of us stayed behind.


    We knew that we would not win against what was coming, and I could already feel destructive forces racing toward us. I used my own skills not to defend myself but to collapse the tunnels we came through. I could feel the pain from one of my legs as it was crushed utterly. Yet, I didn¡¯t mind. After turning around and trying to attack, blackness came swiftly.


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    Pov Carl


    We got word of the successful destruction of every territory-disruptive device. We heard about the casualties of this action, yet I couldn¡¯t be sad for the ones we lost. I had talked to a few of them, and they were true heroes in my book. Willing to sacrifice so more wouldn¡¯t lose their lives was truly noble. It was still weird to me that ants are so similar to us, even if they have some different priorities.


    Their memories will be honored, but this fight wasn¡¯t over yet. The second part was already planned; now it was just a waiting game until our enemy stabilized again so we could once again change the way we fought. If everything goes right, we shouldn¡¯t lose anyone, but this was war, and anything could happen.


    It took longer than we expected, but the dungeon eventually announced that it was now growing the pillars where all the gateways would be placed so we could do hit-and-run tactics. Unfortunately, Ziiipe hasn¡¯t yet finished my skill that would make it possible for me to fight in the air with enough finesse and speed to take part in the raids. What I could do was be ready to fight anyone who was dragged through the gateway.


    We were in a special room meant for receiving any raid party who came back with an enemy. The wait was excruciating, and we got word of a few successful kills before the gateway in front of us flashed. Five of our members rushed through, one of the enemies being pushed in front of them by a few skills.


    The enemy finally got wise and managed to break through the skills that were pushing him. We didn¡¯t give him a chance to recover properly, as ranged attacks were already landing. However, he was defending himself excellently. So what I did was rush him, ignoring the friendly attacks, as my defensive skills were good enough to take them without too much trouble.


    This allowed me to surprise him. He was wearing good enough equipment that I wouldn¡¯t be able to kill him, but my axe still got through his arm armor and was only stopped by his bone. His sword strike was something truly dangerous, so I had to back off, but he was down a functioning arm. He was a tough bastard and managed to keep fighting for another 30 seconds before someone else managed to put a spear through his head.


    We didn¡¯t have much time to recover, as we got informed that another one was coming soon. That ¡®soon¡¯ was literally just a moment later. This one seemed weaker, as ranged attacks were already pushing him. I took the same approach once again, but this time I got an entire arm. Others followed my example, and a spear went through his guts, with a mace blow to his head following, ending him quickly.


    We had to do this two more times before this stage was called to an end. I went through a gateway to the regroup point. ¡°What¡¯s happening out there?¡± I asked the first person who seemed like they knew what was going on outside.


    ¡°Things started to bunch up faster than we expected. We will probably move into the intimidation and ranged phase soon.¡±


    Immediately after he finished saying that, all of us got informed that we needed to find a gateway and move through it. Both of us gave a wry smile to each other as we literally moved just a few meters backward through the gate we had just come through and ended up on top of one of the pillars.


    Not too far away were the surviving enemies. They were already receiving ranged attacks, and it seemed like they were making a fighting retreat. Looking downwards made me shiver, as the entire ground was covered in rushing ants, always moving towards one position¡ªand that was the group of enemies not too far away.


    Every so often, I jumped onto the next pillar so we were constantly putting pressure on the enemy group. I was there in case they decided to come and attack us, but from the looks of it, I didn¡¯t think they would dare¡ªespecially when the more monstrous diamond ranks started to appear on pillars around me.


    I studied these creatures because I was certain that one day, when the dungeon got deep enough, I would need to fight monsters like these to keep progressing.


    It took longer for them to get out of the dungeon territory than I expected, and a few of them were brave enough to try to counterattack, which didn¡¯t end well for them.


    Once they reached outside, they no longer had to worry about the ants, so they made a rushing retreat after that, and we did not follow. Although I was certain we could¡¯ve gotten a few more kills if we did, we most likely would have also lost a few.


    We still managed to kill about 20% of their diamond ranks, which was most likely the biggest loss of strength this world had seen. While we didn¡¯t achieve a decisive victory¡ªtoo many of their strongest survived for that¡ªI would still call this a strong victory.


    Now ETG can start with his crazy plans of turning this entire area into a death zone. I knew that even I would need to man the defenses every so often, especially if an attack came. But if the claims were correct about how effective these fortifications could be, I certainly would never want to attack it.

 chapter 277

    Pov Dungeon Core


    We had won. Not the war, but at least a crucial battle. I would hope that they would never return, but that was a fool''s hope. A lot of my creatures were currently working on the designs to make us a proper fortress.


    I should have known that just being defensive wasn¡¯t good enough, but it seems like not just me, but all of us, overestimated our abilities and underestimated the breadth of attacks that could be launched upon us.


    While my physical defenses were excellent, and while we could still improve on them, trying to defend against magical attacks with physical defenses was unbelievably stupid, even if it did work somewhat.


    The problem still remained that I couldn¡¯t properly power magical defenses. I could make some dungeon rules that would help and perhaps a few runes, but otherwise, everything would need to be done by my creatures and powered by them almost entirely. That was a lot of commitment to protect me, as I was too large.


    I could shrink my outer sphere and make it smaller, but that would reduce my defensive size and also make it so that only 100 floors would fit inside me. No, rather than shrink, I would expand myself a little bit more to make myself a perfect circle onto which our defenses could be built, defenses that could be manned by my creatures. But I would also need to be able to power those defenses.


    This meant I needed a skill. While I wasn¡¯t completely done building the 56th floor, its size was expanded to its maximum, and a lot of it was already filled up with what I needed to make it into an aerial farm floor.


    So while I was making myself a perfect circle and already forming the mountain above me into the design we wanted, I was also working on visualizing the skill that I needed, so hopefully, I would be able to get something that would help with my defensive needs.


    A part of me also needed to focus on politics. With the siege lifted, many were asking to be allowed into the outside world, but I couldn¡¯t allow this. Everyone inside already knew too much, and right now, we were still in a vulnerable state. There was also the trouble of the Beast Clan. They were currently isolated in one of the larger areas that could only be accessed through the labyrinth.


    I did have to make a gateway there so that I could send in some of my creatures to get rid of some of their resources and materials that they could use to make melters, as I couldn¡¯t have that kind of manufacturing capability in the hands of people I didn¡¯t fully trust yet. Of course, not everyone liked it, but their leader was understanding, and I did tell them that the isolation was temporary¡ªwhich it was.


    When I reached diamond rank, I wouldn¡¯t care if they roamed my dungeon. I wouldn¡¯t care if people wanted to leave, because nothing they could tell about me could hurt me. While they could explain how I worked, and that might help the powers of this world change their own dungeons, they would simply need too much ramp-up time to catch up to how much mana I was producing.


    It took me three weeks before I was confident enough to trigger a breakthrough and certain enough that I would get a skill I wanted. One of the other problems was the floor guardians. I was no longer making huge numbers of dungeon rooms, so it was a bit more difficult to get the difficulty right. But I guess I could change it a little bit even after I finished making a floor guardian.


    For the floor guardians themselves, I just decided to pick a version of a creature that had most recently made it to diamond rank. So, this floor would have a frog-type guardian.


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    It took me a ridiculously small amount of time to gather enough mana, and with a few orders given, I triggered the breakthrough, still keeping it silent so that even if someone was trying to pick up on it, they wouldn¡¯t.


    Everything went as expected, but I was surprised that during skill selection, I could actually put the full 20% allocation into just making this one skill. I guess it would just make it a higher rank. Perhaps it might also give other benefits to fully focus on one skill during a breakthrough.


    I did everything quite fast, so it didn¡¯t take long before I was out and reconnecting with my dungeon. I looked inward to see the skill that I got: Enhancement Rank C. That made me a bit hesitant¡ªI didn¡¯t expect such a name, but I still hoped that it would work. As I started to test out this skill, I found it was more than I expected it to be, and I was thankful for it.


    Not only would this skill allow me to power enchantments with my own mana, but it also allowed me to strengthen materials beyond their normal properties. What was even more interesting was that adventurers had a similar skill, and it seemed to work in quite the same way. So, for the first time, I had a skill that I didn¡¯t have to figure everything out by myself but could actually use all the knowledge I had gathered.


    The funny thing was that I actually now needed to practice because I didn¡¯t actually know how to enchant stuff or how to make large-scale enchantment circuits. While I would be borrowing some knowledge from the adventurers in terms of large-scale fortifications using enchantments, the Ant nations were actually the leaders in that type of technology.


    Many adventurers and creatures received invitations to a new department of the Academy. At this department, the job was just to start creating the types of enchantments I would need to keep myself safe from all kinds of attacks.


    Once again, we needed to change our defensive plans, as this development changed a lot. Also, a lot of tests were needed, as some were thinking about whether the weakness of the dungeon stone could be fixed by these types of enchantments. There was a lot to do, and this department, like any other, would have the mana budget they needed to accomplish their goals.


    What I also started to do was expand the 57th floor. I also felt like the length and width of my floors had gotten a bit too big once again, so for this floor, I would be pushing the height instead of keeping it at 15,000 meters like I had been doing for quite a while now.


    These floors that I was now going to make were going to just be empty, with only a bit of work done to make a few dungeon rooms and the floor guardian room, and nothing else.


    While I would have liked to keep doing what I had been doing, I simply didn¡¯t have the time. While yes, I could destroy this world with that small pattern, it didn¡¯t mean that I could survive if they truly attacked me.


    I had a feeling that they had more stuff up their sleeves, but it would cost them too much to risk it unless they were certain I was bluffing. If they attacked me, then realized I wasn¡¯t, well¡­ if they were going down, why not take me down as well?


    So a lot of my focus was on my new skill so I could learn its intricacies. The more I learned about this and enhancing materials¡ªeven real materials¡ªa sort of understanding started to click inside of me, but I didn¡¯t truly understand what it meant. As time continued to go by, this realization started to become more. It was now getting so distracting that I decided to look inside to see what was happening.


    It had been a while since I thought about this, but almost immediately all of my focus was taken up by a single section¡ªone that had my first gold rank trait: Intelligent Leaning Evolution and Enhanced Pattern Combining.


    Underneath it was two words that were now a lot less blurry, like I could almost see them. As I continued to focus on it, I understood that traits, like talents, sometimes needed to be discovered by doing something that corresponded with them. So, what had I been doing?


    Lately, I had been focused on applying my enhancement skill to real materials that weren¡¯t made by me. And then it instantly clicked¡ªthe blurriness disappeared, revealing two words: Real Materials.


    Understanding flooded me. I had been able to make real materials in the form of loot thanks to my dungeon rules, but now I fully understood that function and could apply it without needing dungeon rules. Now I could make real materials, so I wouldn¡¯t have to go digging for them.


    Immediately, I started to test and was smacked with a dose of reality, as adventurers sometimes like to call it. The cost of doing this was unbelievable. Then I understood that this wasn¡¯t how dungeons were meant to work.


    Making a decent amount of real materials without using the loot workaround was so expensive because they weren¡¯t a part of my domain. Dungeons were creatures that made everything their own that was inside of them. I had to focus on not claiming the rock that was in a lot of my dungeon stone to keep the melters from working, so making so much that wasn¡¯t me was incredibly hard and incredibly expensive.


    There were ways around that. A perfect example was the water-making runes. They were quite different from enchantments¡ªthey were more a physical type of magic. But, as another dungeon demonstrated to me, making real water with them was simple enough. I just needed to let mana flow through them, and they would just make whatever, unlike enchantments that needed specific inputs.


    Now I could do both, and with the combination of the two and, of course, the help of my Academy, I think I could make a combination of runes and enchantments to help produce real stone and any other kind of real material.


    It would just, once again, take some time. It was also now a lot easier to keep real materials inside my territory without them turning into mine. No wonder it took me so long to figure this trait out, as I would have never expected it to be something like this.

 chapter 278

    Pov Dungeon Core


    It had been a really busy few weeks after our victory. I dove deep into the world of enchantment. Many expected it would take me a while to get competent enough to start working on our defenses, but I totally floored them when they realized that in a little over a week I had mastered all that I could.


    Now, the only thing holding me back was my skill rank. Without increasing it I couldn¡¯t make more powerful defenses with this skill simply because I couldn¡¯t use more or denser mana lines.


    Of course, then I had to explain why I couldn¡¯t. They did not understand what the problem was. Their skills were a lot more flexible than mine, so I started with that. After that, I explained to them that I still needed to learn everything from scratch, as my skills didn¡¯t come with little nudges like theirs as they continued to improve.


    My skills more so allowed me to use those kinds of methods without overexerting myself, and of course, they gave me flat bonuses whenever I leveled up that allowed me to perform those skills faster and more powerfully.


    I had tried to explain what followed next before, and this time I was able to come up with a good example. They thought that I was a genius at enchanting, but actually, it took me way longer than an average enchanter to get half as good.


    It¡¯s just that many parts of me worked on different problems. In fact, on average for the past week and a bit, around 1,000 parts of me worked, so I could understand and master everything I knew about enchanting.


    They didn¡¯t understand what it meant time-wise. To them it might have seemed like I had just spent a little over a week mastering something, but in fact, I spent way over 1,000 weeks. It¡¯s just that the different parts of me did their own thing, and then the greater me knew what they did and passed it on to the different parts of me, constantly getting better at a slow rate for me but incredibly fast for a single-minded person.


    They finally understood when I gave them the example of 10 people working for 10 hours at one job versus one person working for 10 hours at one job. While only 10 hours passed, the 10 people actually worked 100 hours in that 10 hours, which allowed them to do 10 times more work. Now, of course, in reality, things don¡¯t work so smoothly, but they understood what I was trying to say.


    While in some ways I am the same as the creatures and adventurers who live inside my dungeon and outside, the way I experience the world and time is a lot different. Whenever they lost someone, they would grieve for some time but would never truly forget, as sometimes those memories come back.


    I never forget, but I move on incredibly fast, as many parts of me grieve at the same time. I think that¡¯s why most dungeons seem so cold to single-minded people¡ªbecause our emotions for them are so short-lived, they don¡¯t really see them.


    Even then, they didn¡¯t understand it fully, and it was hard for me to continue explaining a life to them that was so foreign. What they also didn¡¯t understand was how I could not help them with the problems they were facing. If I had so much time, so much opportunity to figure out things, why would I ever need them? The answer to that was both complicated and simple¡ªit was really hard for me to think of new things.


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    As time went on, I have gotten better at this, and with enchanting, I have found that I do have the ability to innovate, at least a little bit. The best way to do this was if I thought about enchanting like I did my patterns¡ªI just needed to combine different parts to make the combination that came out of it better. Yet, trying to think of something completely new, something that needed a different kind of approach that I didn¡¯t know about, my mind just couldn''t make that leap.


    I think I¡¯m too rigid for that kind of thinking. But that¡¯s why I have my creatures and adventurers. We have always been in a symbiotic relationship, and I have accepted my shortcomings, which I could understand was, once again, a bit hard for them to understand.


    For them, it was important to strive to remove their weaknesses. It was important to them, and I could give them that. I could make them challenges, and I could use the knowledge I received from them to help others of their kind. Which I truly liked to do.


    After all of this, the work on the fortress defenses properly started. The current outer shell, which I was still working on making a perfect circle, was going to have another layer on top of it filled with fortifications meant to repel any attack and, of course, improve my defenses immensely against magic types of attacks. The first problem we ran into was gravity.


    At the bottom, you couldn¡¯t really make proper fortifications if you needed to stand on top of them upside down. So, for the first time, I was making a dungeon rule that was going to affect the outside of my dungeon.


    At the equator, the gravity would switch. The top half would remain the same, although I did still make a dungeon rule so that anyone who wanted to flip that gravity would need to overcome my dungeon rule before that could happen. The bottom half had its gravity flipped, so now I technically no longer had a top and a bottom but instead two tops.


    A lot of the mountain that used to dominate this area was already gone, as it was being cut apart by hundreds of millions of ants into large blocks that I would then enhance. A lot of it was also turned into fine gravel to be mixed in with my dungeon stone. All of this was going to be used to build the defensive outer layer. The designs were quite complex, and altogether they were about 10 stories tall, although there were peaks and valleys.


    Anyone wanting to reach my outer shell or the two main entrances would need to fight through all that. And of course, they would still need to punch a hole through that outer shell, which was once again going to be pressurized with an immense amount of water. The second layer of compressed water was going to be removed, and another layer of fortifications was going to be built, which was once again manned.


    In the end, the weakest points were going to be the two main entrances, and whoever reached that far would just need to contend with my inside defenses, like the labyrinth.


    I do not know how long it would take, but eventually, the plan was that all of those defenses were going to be run by creatures or volunteer adventurers. But in the near and probably long-term future, most of it was still going to be run by monsters, even if they were never going to be as good compared to properly thinking people.


    We had seen a few scouts near my territory, but no force was approaching, which was good news. Hopefully, they would never return. But when I was about two weeks away from finishing the expansion of the 56th floor, I felt something I had never felt before¡ªa dungeon, a platinum-rank dungeon, broke through to the diamond rank. It was halfway across the world, but I could feel the power it possessed. Before long the ripples of that breakthrough stopped.


    Emergency meetings followed. Everyone agreed that they will try to build a force so strong that they could overwhelm us. We didn¡¯t know much more, but it seemed like the Pixies were the most angry about what had happened and the most adamant that I needed to be destroyed.


    It didn¡¯t take long for me to finish expanding the 57th floor. The floor itself was a bit over 267,000 kilometers in length, almost 201,000 kilometers in width, and 46,200 meters in height. Then I triggered another breakthrough. During the breakthrough, I put all of my skill allocation into Enhancement, barely pushing it into the A rank.


    What followed was much of the same¡ªmy main focus was working on the defenses and continuing to advance by expanding my next floor. Then I felt another dungeon breakthrough into the diamond rank. Just a few days after that, another one followed.


    We learned that they were advancing dungeons that had been kept near the end of platinum rank. It was obvious that they were trying to push all of their dungeons so they could continue to boost new members and raise a proper army.


    Unlike what they did with Ace, I was certain they were going to give those recruits proper training and skills. They must have been putting a lot of resources behind what they were doing, which meant another confrontation was going to be inevitable. I felt bad for the regular people of this world, as it meant the end for them.

 chapter 279

    Pov Vivian


    I laid a piece of meat onto the pan and immediately knew I had messed up. There was way too much smoke. I quickly lifted the pan from the heat source and used a skill of mine to cool it down a bit. Unfortunately, it was no help. The meat was already stuck, so I cooled the pan down completely and made sure all the smoke went outside. Next, I sat down on one of the chairs and just sighed in defeat.


    Why should this be so hard? I literally couldn¡¯t remember the last time I had to cook for myself. I either ate rations or someone cooked for me. I couldn¡¯t even complain about the equipment, as it was decent. It didn¡¯t take us long to find some buried iron ore, and we had plenty of crafters who quickly turned that iron into more mundane stuff we needed.


    Most of our houses were built of logs, and so was mine¡ªI even helped build it. Most of the clan seemed quite content and happy to build their homes here, but I was, in all honesty, dissatisfied. It was too normal for my liking.


    Worst of all, I was inside a dungeon that was beyond my understanding, and yet all I could do was just sit back and live a normal life. Of course, I knew that someday we would be able to live here and explore this dungeon if it survived, but how many generations down the line would that happen?


    We had access to the dungeon¡¯s labyrinth. There were two labyrinth exits from this area, wherever this area actually was. Why had the dungeon even done something like this, I had no idea. It even had wildlife that weren¡¯t monsters like in its hub stations. But this certainly wasn¡¯t a hub station. It wasn¡¯t connected to the dungeon¡¯s main route; I could feel that. So, why did it do this? Was it helping itself somehow?


    I knew that dungeons could get mana from creatures or dungeon-born, as we called them. The trees and plants here were also real, but not all of them¡ªthe percentage was quite low. So this place must¡¯ve been quite old, like half a century at least. Was it getting mana from them as well?


    I was now regretting publishing that paper and sharing my knowledge with others, because I was certain they were testing things out. And from the breakthroughs I have felt of dungeons reaching diamond rank, I think my ideas have been proven right.


    ¡°Dungeon, ETG, I don¡¯t know if you can hear me, but the dungeon breaking through the diamond rank¡ªI think it¡¯s my fault. Please don¡¯t look at this as a failure of our clan, and don¡¯t punish them. I shared my ideas with others about the usefulness of dungeon-born¡ªor creatures, as dungeons call them.¡± There was no answer. I didn¡¯t even feel more focus from the dungeon on me.


    ¡°Most likely, they are using these methods to improve dungeons as fast as they have now been able to, and I think they¡¯re pushing diamond ranks even more than platinums. You must try to continue pushing forward. I know that defense is a priority, but you must try advancing as much as possible.¡±


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    ¡°They¡¯re most likely using this method with our deepest dungeons. I don¡¯t know if you know this, but there are a couple dozen dungeons in the 90s and some in the mid-90s. They have been stuck there for centuries as they are barely keeping a positive mana flow.¡±


    ¡°But with your threat, I am certain that not only would they allow those dungeons to make creatures¡ªperhaps even millions of them¡ªthey will also bring in millions of other people, like you have done with the adventurers. I do not know how much time you have, but you must really hurry if you want to surpass them and get past floor 100.¡±


    There was silence again, and I waited for quite a while, but nothing changed. I looked down at the pan that was still in my hand with the piece of meat stuck to it. ¡°I guess it¡¯s time to fix this. At least I can do that.¡±


    A noise outside the cabin shocked me, as it sounded and felt like a large piece of stone falling from a decent height. As I opened the door, I saw not too far away quite a big boulder blocking my pathway to the main village. The meaning was quite obvious as I saw a letter that was stuck to the rock. I was actually quite amazed that it could spawn something so close to my aura. This dungeon truly was quite powerful for its depth.


    I picked up the letter and went back inside before opening it. Time went by, and I just sat and looked at the letter. I was a bit afraid of what it would say, but in the end, I needed to read it. The wax seal broke apart enough, and then I started to read.


    Hello Vivian,


    I appreciate the information, and although it is not pleasant to hear that you passed on such information at the time when you did, we were enemies. So I do not hold it against you.


    It is a bit unfortunate to hear that they are using such methods to improve their dungeons instead of wasting more precious resources, as I was expecting.


    On your worries about dungeons having millions of adventurers and millions of creatures to advance themselves as fast as I had¡ªwell, you are missing a lot of information there.


    I am also aware of all those dungeons that are so deep, quite a few of them are now quite close to me. If it comes down to it, a battle of the dungeons will be seen.


    Those last words were chilling. There hadn¡¯t been a proper dungeon-versus-dungeon battle in this or the previous age. Fortunately, I think this time the battle won''t happen on the surface, but it would be devastating nonetheless. The biggest worry I had was: what was I missing that would change so much that this dungeon was so confident in winning? Whatever it was, it must be crucial.


    When I got the pan cleaned, I cooked myself a proper piece of meat, although I wished there was some salt. We could get some from a couple of plants, but since the dungeon is actually listening, perhaps my grandfather and I could propose to the dungeon that it adds some resources to make living here long-term more viable.


    With that thought in mind, I started to head towards Grandfather¡¯s lodge when my route was blocked by the boulder the dungeon used to deliver its letter. I delivered a simple punch to destroy it, as smaller rocks could be a bit useful, but a sharp pain went through my knuckles. Damn it. I looked at the rock that didn¡¯t have any damage on it.


    Then I remembered that the dungeon could have just made a letter without making such a big rock. So it was definitely a bit annoyed at me.


    After sensing, I realized that this was dungeon stone. I wasn¡¯t going to be able to break this without considerable effort and perhaps a few months of time. That was a bit annoying, but I decided just to lift it out of the way. When I tried, however, I could not budge it even a bit.


    It wasn¡¯t that big that it should have been that heavy. In fact, no metal or rock should be that heavy at this size that I couldn¡¯t move it. So, it used some dungeon fuckery to make it incredibly heavy.


    "Really?" I said out loud and then heard another loud noise further down the path. This time, I did feel a bit of mirth on the dungeon¡¯s part, and I felt my eye twitch. I looked around the boulder to see about 20 meters ahead of me a boulder twice the size of this one. My shoulders drooped. I simply walked around this rock and then the other one.


    My beautiful straight pathway was now ruined. Note to self: don¡¯t do stuff that would make the dungeon annoyed.

 chapter 280

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I was relentless in my work. It had been a while since I expanded floors without adding any materials to them. Well, technically I did add some, but the few rooms were so little in comparison to the volume of the floor that they shouldn¡¯t even count.


    It took me another breakthrough to get my Enhancement skill to S rank and to finish enchanting the outer layer. It was a lot of work, but now it was time to test it.


    We had a couple of melters we had been able to steal, and one of them was pointed at my outer shell. No matter how many times I¡¯ve experienced this, it still hurts. They still cause small microcracks, although they are healed in just minutes.


    ¡°Go ahead,¡± I gave the command, and the melter was activated.


    They usually burn for about 10 seconds, sometimes more, sometimes less. This time it managed 11 seconds. I could feel the mana draw, it actually took a significant amount of mana to protect against this attack, but it didn¡¯t get through.


    I felt like some of the tension I held in my crystal disappeared. While I was certain that those Pixies¡¯ beams were a lot stronger, this was just the first and most diffused protective layer, meant to handle things that got through the rest of the defenses.


    Our defensive plans also constantly changed, as we were actually building out some of the defensive structures with all the bells and whistles and then testing them out. And when you make things in real life instead of relying solely on theory, you found out that there were things that simply didn¡¯t work the same way as expected, and because of this, we needed to adjust.


    We had plenty of people with skills and minds that were good at simulating things, and even I could do that if I had the proper parameters. What we found was that we were currently too exposed on the top. The problem was that our enemies could concentrate their attack on a small area that was visible on the surface, and we could only defend properly from that small area.


    No matter what defenses you built, in the end, they¡¯re only delaying actions. You need to proactively attack if you wanted to stop the siege, as I¡¯ve come to learn and what I should have already known.


    So right now, my entire dungeon was out of place. After many discussions, everyone agreed that we should somehow¡ªthough no one actually knew how to do it¡ªraise my dungeon so the equator of my dungeon would be visible on the surface.


    Yet the problems it proved were so much worse. We would need support pillars to keep me from falling downwards, and those would become weak points. While I would survive the drop and could possibly dampen the impact forces that would follow, it would still do incredible damage to the whole dungeon structure, and I¡¯m guessing a lot would die.


    No one came up with a good solution, so while the plan was good to make us more defensible and allow us to better attack our attackers, this idea was tabled.


    It only took a week for someone to bring up an idea that might help fix our problem. It was one of the adventurers who was still in silver rank and had only joined the Academy recently.


    He was accepted because he was truly a brilliant thinker. His brand of thinking wasn¡¯t what we had in abundance¡ªthat of theory. He was more of a practical thinker, one that we didn¡¯t have too many of. Yet I don¡¯t think he would have come up with this kind of solution if he still wasn¡¯t silver-ranked.


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    Adventurers had many tools to deal with all kinds of situations, and some of them were magical. As a gold rank, you really didn¡¯t have to worry about climbing anymore. If you already didn¡¯t have some way of moving fast through difficult terrain, climbing as a gold rank was beyond easy if you trained just a little bit. So silver ranks had more tools that would help with more mundane challenges.


    The problem was, magical solutions cost a lot, but that didn''t mean artefacts didn¡¯t exist that had been resold multiple times that no one ever knew when they were originally made. New ones weren¡¯t being made because basically no one was rich enough in silver rank to use them.


    There were some surviving artefacts that wealthier teams used when they got their hands on them. So, while there were none in my dungeon, it was well documented that there were artefacts that, when activated, could hold their location in space against tremendous force.


    There were many names for them, and the objects were quite different, but the most common one was a simple rod that, when activated, simply couldn¡¯t be moved. It was often used to climb down when you didn''t have anywhere else to tie your rope to and, of course, for traps against larger beasts. With a creative enough mind, it was a truly welcomed addition to any adventuring party.


    He proposed that maybe we could build larger versions of those to hold the entire dungeon in place, but that had other problems. With the accumulated knowledge we had, in less than a week, we had multiple prototypes of these types of artefact.


    They were quite costly to make, but they were also quite useful, at least in my opinion. Using this artefact, I could see many of my trap designs, puzzle rooms, and other obstacles being overcome so much easier.


    That made me think about the effect of equipment. Should adventurers try to pursue and get these devices and artefacts, or should they try to do everything on their own? It was a difficult question, because if you didn¡¯t have those devices, you would be so much weaker and able to solve a lot fewer problems. Yet it was undeniable how much more survivable you would be if you had access to these kinds of devices.


    Perhaps I should look more into these kinds of artefacts, as I didn¡¯t even have any idea that such an artefact existed that could help you in such unique ways and who knows what else has been made. Perhaps I should make some of these available to be gained through quests. It was an interesting problem, but something I didn¡¯t really have time to deal with right now. So, it went on the list.


    Calculations were being run as they tested these artifacts. While they weren¡¯t completed yet, it was going towards a viable solution, although we would need a combination of artifacts that were truly huge and a newly developed enchantment that would work together with this artifact to make me unmovable from a relative spot in this world. A few other departments also found these artifacts quite fascinating and were already testing some of them on the satellite outpost.


    It would just take so much mana to make these artifacts, as the cost of their materials was ridiculous. Then, of course, there was the maintenance. It would take a large chunk from my mana generation, which was crazy as it was already so high.


    I was trying to think of a solution when I managed to expand the 59th floor to its limit. So it was time for another breakthrough. I still had many skills that weren¡¯t S-rank that I should work on, but perhaps that was the solution.


    I thought about it for quite a while, but the more I thought about it, the more I believed it might be possible. What if I made such an artifacts ability¡ªto keep things from moving from one spot¡ªinto a skill?


    That way, it would affect all of me, and I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about support that would need to hold up the immense mass that was me. For some reason, thinking about how much I weigh made me happy.


    So, I pushed my breakthrough back a bit so I could focus on learning how the artifact affected space and what parts of it I wanted in the skill. I was certain that this skill would be affected by My World skill. It seemed to go hand in hand because that would give me more control over the space I was in. I felt that I was ready six days after I began, so I triggered the breakthrough.


    When I came out of it, I immediately reconnected with my dungeon and then looked inside me to see what skill I got. It was named Hold Location, and it was rank E. That should work, but I did put the full 20% into this skill, and it was still only at rank E. In comparison, the last skill I made, Enhancement, was created at rank C. So this new skill should be quite powerful.


    As I activated it, I did feel like basically nothing could move me from my space. But interestingly enough, I think I could change which relative part of the space I was holding onto. If I wanted to, I think I could hold onto the space in a way that the world would simply continue to move forward without me.


    Of course, that would be devastating, as it would mean I would slow down way too fast and basically kill myself in the process. Yeah, I was not going to mess with this skill in such ways.


    The testing itself took a week, as lifting myself upwards was not easy. Still, when I was about a meter up from my last position, I activated the skill. It took about 1/20th of the mana to upkeep compared to if we had made the artifacts to keep me from falling.


    I didn¡¯t fall down even a little bit, which meant this skill worked exactly as we wanted it to work. We weren¡¯t going to lift me up just yet, as there was still too much work to be done on the outer defenses.

 chapter 281

    Pov Dungeon Core


    During the next breakthrough, I decided to increase my Ever-expanding Quantity skill, getting it to rank A. I had a lot of creatures and monsters, and while I was not starting to suffer from excess mana upkeep, it also wasn¡¯t too far away.


    I needed to be able to increase the number of creatures and monsters I could upkeep, and this was one of the best ways to do it. With an increase in rank, I could channel more mana into it every moment, which would hopefully allow me to keep ahead of the ever-expanding numbers I had to deal with.


    Another way to fix this would be to increase my capacity by improving my Creature Quantity skill beyond S rank into S-plus or even SS rank, but to make such a leap, I would need multiple breakthroughs. This kind of rank was meant more for when I got closer to diamond or even reached diamond rank.


    There was another rank above that, SSS, and even a plus version of that, but only a few dungeons have ever reached that¡ªat least to my knowledge¡ªand only because they were truly talented at that specific area and fully focused on it.


    This time, when I reconnected with my dungeon, I was met with a surprise. There was a new plan that had been thought up and properly explored. It was quite a simple plan to fix everything, although the application of it was questionable at best. Our plan was to eventually raise me up so half of me would be above the surface, but now came the question: why not lift me up completely, perhaps even put me into orbit?


    Orbit was a new term. Many new terms have come out from the satellite outpost as they continue to observe the space around them. They also needed to start naming certain things so they could be taught easier.


    Orbit was a term to describe the movement of celestial objects, as every object seemed to be moving around others, mostly in some sort of circular pattern. It was fascinating to learn about all of this.


    Also, the world we were currently in was not unique, except it had life while others didn¡¯t. Worlds like this were, for now, being called planets, while smaller celestial objects circling them that were big enough were being called moons.


    So the plan was to lift me up high enough that I would become like the satellite outpost, which would safeguard me from a lot of attackers and most definitely other dungeons. While I was not against the idea¡ªbasically no one was¡ªit was unfortunately not easy to accomplish. Not easy at all.


    Currently, how I was moving upwards was that I had taken a lot of the surrounding rock and dirt, made it my own, and then used it to slowly push me upward. It was an incredibly mana-consuming task that took a lot of concentration.


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    Another problem was that it wasn¡¯t that safe. Moving my weight caused the surrounding rock to often crumble. If I were to lift myself even higher up without supporting the bottom, it was more than likely that I would fall.


    That problem was largely fixed thanks to my newest skill. If I felt that I was going to start falling, I could just activate it, stabilize everything once again, and start moving upwards.


    Even if I wanted to, lifting myself up past my equator was going to be tough¡ªnot to speak of getting me into orbit. There wasn¡¯t really anything powerful enough to actually lift me, at least not yet, so another few projects were added to the Academy that now required filling new positions so such methods could be invented.


    There was talk about using my newest skill. Technically, if we waited for the correct time and if I could control this skill of mine to a fine degree, we could use it to basically anchor myself to space that wasn¡¯t bound by this planet, which would make me move away from this planet.


    If I did it at the wrong moment, instead of being lifted upwards, I would be dragged through the planet, killing me instantly. If I wasn¡¯t able to control the skill precisely enough, we would accelerate way too fast, basically liquefying everything inside, including my core.


    If that wasn¡¯t dangerous enough, there was also the problem of this world and how mana circulated. I needed that circulation; otherwise, I would suffocate. The mana got thinner and thinner the further out you went from this world. If I were to go outside the influence of the world core, I think I would actually suffocate. Also, I believe if I were too high up, my mana regeneration would fall drastically.


    So, while in the end it might be a good idea, there was simply too much that could go wrong and too much we didn¡¯t know. We just needed more time to find things out. There was also another thing I had noticed about mana¡ªI was generating more of it, and it wasn¡¯t accounted for by the increase of creatures and adventurers inside of me. So, it was time to dig a bit further into that to find out what was actually happening.


    I also started to expand the 60th floor. My instincts were now quite angry at me, and I also felt quite unsatisfied that I couldn¡¯t make proper floors. The emptiness inside of me was disgusting, but I needed to endure it so I would have a chance to survive. It didn¡¯t take me too long to figure out the mana generation issue. The ambient mana of the whole world had increased by just a little bit, and it turned out that could help quite a lot.


    After I revealed that discovery, a few more started to examine this and what could be the cause. Eventually, we all figured out that it was because so many dungeons were getting stronger. It turns out that the four powers weren¡¯t just focusing on a few dungeons. They were literally changing the way they ran dungeons¡ªfrom the newborn dungeons all the way up to diamond-ranked.


    The thing was that this wasn¡¯t good. While it would start to get them more and more strong people with more resources than ever, I might actually not have to release the small pattern for this world to be destroyed. If the ambient mana kept rising like this, more and more animals were going to start changing and getting stronger, and the current strongest wildlife was going to get even stronger.


    It was a dangerous game they were playing, trying to raise an army strong enough to quickly wipe me out. They would not fight me as an easy target, no matter what they did, and I didn¡¯t even need to give any signals.


    Even if I were to end with a snap at this current moment, the creatures I sent out were completely autonomous, and when they understood that I was gone, they would release the small pattern. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t really know how to make them truly fear this small pattern, because if I were to release a bit of it, it might already be too late.


    In the end, all I could hope was that this threat would be taken seriously. I focused back on expanding to the 60th floor and strengthening and enchanting a lot of materials so the building of the outer defenses could continue.


    The more time passed, the more the frantic situation inside calmed down, and people got more or less back to their lives. I really wanted more time to just observe everything that was happening, but there was only a finite amount of me, and unfortunately, survival trumped entertainment.

 chapter 239

    Pov Ace


    Ever since I learned that the dragons have disappeared, things have just gone downhill. It only took four days after I found out for the rest of the world to learn that the dragons disappeared. No one still knows who is capable of spreading this kind of information without being found out, but I¡¯m starting to not care. Whoever they are, they are obviously motivated to make sure that there are no secrets the public doesn¡¯t know.


    There wasn¡¯t a big fallout from that knowledge being leaked. For most people, dragons were just scary stories, as they haven¡¯t been a problem for the people of this age, so no one really cared much.


    That was, until a few weeks ago. Many, even in the great powers, advocated for the eradication of the dragons, yet the populace didn¡¯t really understand that stance, so those responsible for the leaks decided to educate the populace once again.


    Now, most of the world knows that dragons used to tyrannically rule over civilization. On its own, I don¡¯t think this knowledge meant much, but even now, I¡¯m getting so many questions asked about when did that exactly happen.


    Normally, we could just say that it¡¯s a fabrication of facts, except these leakers haven¡¯t gotten a single fact wrong yet in the past decade or so they¡¯ve been operating, so people have come to trust them.


    These are questions every diamond rank knows the answers to, but even if I wanted to, I literally couldn¡¯t say anything because of the restrictions in my mind about speaking of such things. I don¡¯t know exactly why the secret of the ages has yet to be revealed, but I¡¯m guessing that will come in time¡ªwhich I don¡¯t have much left of. Perhaps the world doesn¡¯t have much left of it as well.


    I don¡¯t understand how these leakers could be my best source of information, but they are. There have been several clashes of diamond ranks in the Black Ocean. Entire islands have been wiped out of existence. No one should have been able to report what happened, but somehow those people are still capable of doing so. Many, including me, are starting to think there might be some secret diamond ranks out there, but I guess only time will tell.


    Most of the fights were to destroy dungeons that had been secretly cultivated by all four great powers, but mainly the Pixies. They had agreements in place to protect all the known dungeons they had, but apparently, every single one of them decided that having a few secret ones was important for some reason.


    None of that has actually been too big of a concern for me¡ªat least not right now. The biggest problem was the economy. With every nation taking sides, trade has become difficult. It has been a convenient excuse to stock up on resources we normally wouldn¡¯t and focus more on developing self-sufficient solutions for resource shortages.


    My mind was also in turmoil because of what was about to happen. Currently, I was sitting alone in my throne room, with only narrow beams of moonlight lighting up the room. It set the mood quite well. ETG has assured me that it could protect me and mine from the fallout of our decision, but I¡¯m having a hard time seeing how he could protect my entire nation.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    I think I¡¯ve grown too attached to the people I need to protect, who expect me to protect them and who have given so much to me in return. Yet I do not see a future where I can save them. There is only one future that I can see where I could live on with my wife and my close friends. It would still be a selfish decision to abandon everything else, and perhaps I could protect them. You never truly know.


    It¡¯s expected that there will no longer be any free dungeons soon and that every great power will claim each and every one of them. While some might have fights to see who will have dominion over them, I suspect that the Masters, especially with what¡¯s about to happen during the breakthrough to platinum rank, will take control of this dungeon.


    The problem is, even shackled, I am confident that ETG will reach the end¡ªwhich means diamond ranks fighting over it, which in turn could mean my entire nation being wiped out because of it.


    I hated having so much power coursing through me, which has gotten so much more powerful ever since I got my skills fixed, but I still couldn¡¯t protect the people I promised to protect. Currently, the plan is to get as many people into the dungeon as possible after we are discovered, which I think will happen as soon as the breakthrough occurs, and we go down there with my minder.


    But once again, ETG has assured me that if everything goes correctly, my minder and I will go down to his core, complete our mission, and walk out of there with ETG still free and the Masters none the wiser. I¡¯ve tried to puzzle out how that¡¯s possible for months, but I have literally no idea how it could even be possible.


    Then I felt it¡ªit was so much more powerful than the other breakthroughs I¡¯ve felt. So, it was time. It was now or never. I stood up and started to walk towards the meeting point, which we had set up deep in my manor. I could feel my minder already waiting. When I got there, it was hard to miss the huge device sitting beside him.


    ¡°That looks bigger than I expected.¡±


    He looked towards the device with a smile on his face. ¡°With everything that¡¯s going on, the higher-ups decided to go all out. These are the highest-grade diamond-rank dungeon chains we have access to. This will make sure this dungeon doesn''t get free ever again. You¡¯re certain that this gateway leads directly to the core, right? You should have at least that much control over it?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have enough control over it, and you know exactly what I can and can¡¯t control. It has a strong will when it comes to training adventures. I have barely managed to slow down how many platinum ranks are being produced. You¡¯ve gone over all of this, so why do you ask? Let¡¯s just go.¡± I expected him to follow me, but he didn¡¯t.


    ¡°We¡¯re still waiting for someone.¡±


    My steps stopped, and it was hard to keep my panic down. What did he mean, we¡¯re still waiting for someone? Immediately, I tried to sense if there were any other diamond ranks, but I didn¡¯t sense any, and he started to chuckle.


    "Trying to find another diamond rank, are you? You¡¯re getting better at sensing. You won¡¯t have to search long because she¡¯s coming right now." I looked where he was pointing and saw someone descending the stairs¡ªa short-looking woman who wasn¡¯t a diamond rank. That¡¯s some really good news.


    "I¡¯d like you to meet Vivian. She¡¯s from the beast faction, a brilliant dungeon scientist, and one of the only diamond ranks capable of completely hiding her presence¡ªand ours¡ªso we won¡¯t hurt the dungeon with our brief presence there. The higher-ups have high expectations for this dungeon, and the beasts agree with that assessment. So, your concerns over our presence hurting the dungeon¡¯s definition are no longer a factor."


    During the explanation, Vivian revealed her diamond rank and then just as easily made it completely disappear. I didn¡¯t even know that was possible. It was so hard not to react in a way that wasn¡¯t expected of me. Why was she even here, weren¡¯t they enemies right now?


    "That¡¯s great news, but why did you keep that until the last moment? You could have saved me a lot of headaches."


    "It wasn¡¯t certain if she could make it here or not, so I didn¡¯t want to get your hopes up," he said in a nice way, almost like a friend, but I could see through his facade. He enjoyed it when I felt uncomfortable, but I didn¡¯t care about him at the moment. I didn¡¯t even know what the plan was, but I had a feeling it was no longer going to work.


    Without a word, because I wasn¡¯t certain I could keep my voice steady, I turned around and started to walk toward the gateway that would take us directly to the core. In just a few steps, I was through the gateway, staring up at a huge dungeon core, perfectly round and glowing with brilliant white light, that must have been more than 500 meters across¡ªand I could see it steadily growing larger.

 chapter 241

    Pov Ace


    I was completely confused as to what was going on, but I held Vivian as strongly as I could. She was quite strong, but fortunately, it seemed I was stronger. A few of my skills also helped sap her power with every moment.


    The dungeon core in front of me was dying fast, but I still felt my connection being strong, so obviously, this wasn¡¯t ETG. Other than that, I had no clue what was going on or even who all these people were.


    ¡°Is she finally out?¡± the person who had killed my minder said. I sensed Vivian and felt that she wasn¡¯t completely out yet, but pretty close.


    ¡°Just a few moments more,¡± I replied. As I finished saying that, I noticed more gateways hidden in the walls open up and more people rushing in. Some were of races I had never seen before, but they all resembled animals like rats or mountain lions.


    ¡°She will complicate things quite a bit, but since we haven¡¯t met, my name is Rafe,¡± said the person who had killed my minder and just reached diamond rank. He walked close to me and offered me his hand after I placed Vivian on the ground, now properly passed out. ¡°I¡¯m also ETG guardian.¡±


    I took his hand and shook it, but I felt an electric shock as soon as we touched. ¡°My name is Ace. I¡¯m the ruler of Eternal City-State¡ªor I guess I used to be. I should order the evacuation, should I not?¡±


    ¡°I know who you are. Your talent seems quite amazing, to be able to get so strong just by the territory you own¡ªeven if you don¡¯t understand that territory fully. Unfortunately, it¡¯s not time to reveal too many secrets to you just yet, and no, it will not be time for evacuations¡ªhopefully for quite some time,¡± Rafe said, then pointed toward the body of my minder.


    I focused on it to see that there were a few people around it, but one, who looked like a small humanoid rat, was placing a necklace onto the body, and it started to do something. What it was doing, I had no idea. Then I looked toward the peak-stage diamond rank. There were more people where he pierced the core, mounting some kind of device into the hole.


    ¡°You will learn about him later but be assured he¡¯s an ally. I hope you understand that we can¡¯t tell you much, we don¡¯t want to tell you anything, in fact, but we must. This is a fake core, only in the sense that it¡¯s not Father; otherwise, it¡¯s completely real, and if it wasn¡¯t killed, there¡¯s a good chance it would have taken control of a large portion of the dungeon. But it was a necessary gamble even if we almost lost. We were fortunate you were quick enough to come down here.¡±


    ¡°She, on the other hand, is a problem, as we didn¡¯t expect her to be allowed to join you two down here. It¡¯s a good thing we had an extra diamond rank.¡± Rafe said, then gave me a nod of thanks. I really wanted to know exactly what was going on, but I had been in the dark for so long that I didn¡¯t know if I wanted to be in the light.


    Whatever device they were mounting on the fake core finally activated, growing in size and burrowing deeper into the fake core. It soon stopped expanding, leaving a large opening outside the fake core.


    To my complete surprise, a lot of people started to come out of the gateways with wheelbarrows full of mana crystals. They dumped those wheelbarrows into the device¡¯s opening, which seemed to greedily devour them.


    I was a bit confused about what was happening, but then the light that was almost gone from the core ignited once again.Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°The device will keep the core from fading even if it¡¯s already dead, which will give a signal to that chain device that it¡¯s still fully controlling the dungeon. The control necklace will go where it was meant to, and everyone there will be able to confirm that the control necklace is still connected to the dungeon. That should hopefully give us some extra time for Father to prepare for what¡¯s to come.¡±


    It seemed like a good plan but. ¡°Don¡¯t you think they¡¯ll get suspicious when my minder doesn¡¯t return alive?¡± Rafe started to chuckle at that.


    ¡°Yeah, I guess he¡¯s pretty hard to notice. Look next to your minder, the empty place where no one is standing. You should be able to see.¡±


    I did what he told me, and after a moment, I sort of saw a person¡¯s outline and looked at Rafe questioningly.


    "Yeah, it¡¯s not his choice to do that; he¡¯s just way too good at blending in, and right now he¡¯s not trying to pretend to be anyone, so it¡¯s kind of hard to see him. Anyways, they are close to being done. Just observe."


    He didn¡¯t need to tell me twice, as I noticed the necklace on the body of my minder start to glow, kind of like a diamond-rank core. Then everyone stopped for a moment as the necklace pulsed with power, and I felt my minder¡¯s diamond core once again. The rat person then picked up the necklace very carefully, and I watched as the nearly invisible person bent down to let the necklace be put on his neck.


    He screamed out in pain and fell to his knees, but I could now see him. The necklace seemed to be sinking into him, and as it did, he transformed from his hidden form into an exact replica of my minder.


    The screaming stopped when the necklace disappeared from view, and when he stood up, he was no longer anyone else but my minder, down to the glowing diamond core that was exactly like it was supposed to be.


    "Scary." I realized I had said that out loud and looked towards Rafe. "Are we going to do the same with Vivian?" He looked down at her and shook his head.


    "That necklace is one-of-a-kind and took over ten years to make. Also, killing her would not be a good idea, as her grandfather is one of the strongest diamond ranks on the planet, and making an enemy of him would be a bad idea, especially because he¡¯s already got an eye on this place.¡±


    ¡°Most likely, she will have to be our prisoner for the time being. Fortunately, she can hide her core and already has plans of staying in this dungeon for a while, so we won¡¯t have to worry about her for a bit, but how to contain her¡ªthat will be a problem."


    "I will take care of that. She will just have to stay close to me. She almost got a signal out even this close to the real core, but I managed to squash it in time," said the person who pierced the core and had those claws that, I think, looked kind of similar to dragon claws, though I didn¡¯t want to think about that.


    "We do not know how long this deception will last. We have tried to find out as much about your minder as possible, but there will always be missing links that will lead to the discovery that he is no longer who he used to be.¡±


    ¡°Your job, Ace, will be to continue running your nation, but now you won¡¯t have to worry about your minder. Start getting ready to evacuate your nation into the dungeon, and don¡¯t worry¡ªFather has something special in store for you that you will like; I can guarantee that."


    I wanted to ask questions, so many questions, but all of this had been way too nerve-wracking. So I just nodded my head and started to walk towards the gateway back to my mansion. My minder, who wasn¡¯t actually himself anymore, started to follow me as well.


    I didn¡¯t get far before I was stopped by the rat-looking person. ¡°Here, take this; it should help hide you better when you get even stronger, as yours was broken.¡± I took the necklace to see that it looked like the one that helped hide my strength, but this one felt even stronger. He then shooed me away, and I continued my walk towards the gateway.


    It was so hard not to turn around to look at what was going on. So hard not to ask any questions, but I simply kept walking. As I stepped out of the gateway and out of the dungeon, I felt myself recenter.


    There was still a job to do, and if ETG said so, then I believed he had a place for my nation in his dungeon. There would be a lot to do, but I would no longer have shackles around my hands, so I should be able to do a lot more in a short period of time.


    I felt the presence of my minder and looked back to see him smiling at me. ¡°Yeah, he would never smile,¡± I said to the person, who I had no idea who he actually was. He still smiled, but I could see his mannerisms changing from whoever this person was into the minder I was so used to. Behind him, the gateway disappeared, leaving the room in complete darkness.


    ¡°The adventurer guild master will be the one to take the control necklace to its destination. You will have a lot more freedom, even if he is constantly busy and has barely any time to do anything else but handle the adventurer guild here. Just a warning¡ªyou don¡¯t need to do anything with the skill crystal; Father has that covered, the person who looked like my minder said while walking away.


    In just a few moments, I was alone in complete darkness. Everything had happened so fast; it was still hard for me to process exactly what had happened, but it seems like I had extra time and a more solid plan, as apparently my nation had a special place inside the dungeon.


    I still need to be careful. It was also, unfortunately, a secret I needed to keep hidden from everyone. I was feeling frustrated, as I kind of wanted all of this to be over, but at the same time, the longer this took, the more time I would have to prepare everything properly.

 chapter 243

    Pov Adventurer Guild Master


    I needed to concentrate on my paperwork, but it had been nine days since the dungeon entered its breakthrough, and I was starting to get worried that something had gone wrong. "I need a break," I said to myself, leaning back in my chair and taking out my pipe. "Look at you, you old fool¡ªyour hand is even shaking from nervousness."


    If things don¡¯t go correctly, we will lose the most promising dungeon in this world, and I hope that the test of trust between us and the Beasts goes well. If they don¡¯t try to steal the control necklace, then it will be a two-way war instead of a four-way, and that would save so many innocent lives. Well, there¡¯s still a chance that there won¡¯t be a war, but with so many secrets being revealed, I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s possible.


    The deep drag I took from the pipe helped me focus and keep my mind from wandering. If a normal person were to breathe in this smoke, they would die quite horribly. Fortunately, I didn¡¯t have any meetings today.


    What also bothers me is that I don¡¯t know what changes they¡¯re planning to make to cut down on how many platinum ranks are made in this dungeon. I have some ideas, but who knows what they¡¯ll choose to do.


    Speaking of one of the most unpleasant people I¡¯ve come across, I sensed Ace¡¯s minder coming. He was still far off, but like always, he liked to make a spectacle, even though he, Ace and I were the only diamond ranks currently in the city. That was also concerning, as I hadn¡¯t sensed the Beast''s representative, but I guess she knew how to hide herself.


    I finished smoking the pipe before he got here and made myself a little more presentable. His coming here means that the dungeon is awake and that the chains made to contain it have worked.


    "Enter," I said before he could just barge in, and I liked the flash of displeasure that crossed his face for an instant. He did look a bit strange, but then he started to speak, and I was reminded of how unpleasant his voice really was.


    "I see you still like to smoke that filth. As I can¡¯t leave Ace alone here, I will task you with the delivery of the command necklace. The ship to pick it up should be here in a few hours."


    It was hard not to lash out. I hated it whenever weaker people had more political power; they became really unpleasant to be around. "I believe what you meant to say was that you were given instructions to send me to deliver the command necklace?"


    He simply waved that off. "Yes, yes, whatever makes you feel better. You can also report that everything is taken care of, and that Vivian will stay in the dungeon to monitor the situation and to conduct her own inquiries."Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    I didn¡¯t remember that being the plan. She was only supposed to witness the chaining, but I wasn¡¯t privy to everything, especially in politics, as I usually messed those up. It was the main reason I was sent to this place so long ago. Yet now, I had even more political power than before, I did what I needed to do back then. But why did something feel off?


    "And what are the changes made to the dungeon? As the guild master here, it¡¯s information that¡¯s necessary for me to know." He didn¡¯t look pleased with my question, but in the end, he spoke, and it seemed like I would get my answer.


    "The answer is actually quite simple, and yes, you would have found it out soon enough anyway. The death rate of platinum ranks and gold ranks will start to steadily rise. After I went through everything, it was simply the best solution for our problems. As a benefit, it also means that the dungeon will continue to grow faster. A win-win in my books."


    It was so hard not to kill him right there. There were so many other things they could have done. And what about those who didn¡¯t come to the surface anymore and whose guild marks had most likely faded long ago? I still considered them members. So, I was to just watch them die because they were too successful. This made me feel more anger than I expected. Perhaps this old heart of mine isn¡¯t as cold as I thought it would be.


    "Give me the necklace, and is there anything else I should report? If not, leave." He gave me that stupid smirk of his, left the box on the table, and then left.


    I leaned over and pulled the box toward me; it was heavier than I expected. There was power in this box, concentrated and heavy. Opening the box revealed the necklace¡ªit didn¡¯t look too special, but the amulet was big and felt like a small star of power. It would be so easy to touch the necklace, take control of the dungeon, and undo the changes they made.


    It would take some time before they realized what had happened, but by then I would be dead, and most likely the dungeon as well. No, I will not go against my own, even though I don¡¯t agree with their choices.


    But I was still tempted to touch the necklace. It would allow me to communicate with the dungeon; the signal would be weak, being so far from the core, but I could still communicate. I¡¯ve always wondered what this dungeon sounded like.


    No one would need to know¡ªI could just make it so he won¡¯t tell anyone. With a snap, I closed the box. It wasn¡¯t my place to do such things, and the dungeon must be hurting and panicking right now. Another person speaking wouldn¡¯t make things better. Hopefully, he will be busy working on his next floor. I wonder how Ace is taking the changes made; I don¡¯t think he would be pleased.


    Well, I only have a few hours left here before I return to that place. Perhaps some other power will try to attack the ship on our way there. A good fight right now where I could unleash myself fully would be nice.


    Then I remembered what this all meant. I would be leaving here in a few hours, which meant I needed to leave someone else in charge and when I got back there would be so much to do. Well, I guess I¡¯ve learned that I could hate someone more than I originally thought. Hopefully, I will get the chance to break his neck in the future; I would so love that.


    As I was rushing to prepare everything for my leaving, every once in a while, I felt someone watching me. Yet whenever I turned my head toward that location, the presence disappeared. Was I being watched? But I didn¡¯t sense anyone. Do they really distrust me so much that they would send some of the shadows here, at a time when every shadow should be working on infiltrating the other powers?


    Once again, I had a feeling that something was off, yet I couldn¡¯t figure it out. Also, why wasn¡¯t that minder here? He would have loved to watch me suffer like this. The more time I spent here, the more eerie it felt. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have time to figure things out just yet, as I could sense three diamond ranks coming closer at high speed, most likely using one of our faster personnel transport ships.


    Whatever was off didn¡¯t feel too bad¡ªnot just yet. Perhaps I will figure it out on my trip to that place. Never thought I would be returning there. The box was always with me. Perhaps that¡¯s why I was feeling off; maybe I could feel the displeasure of the dungeon.


    ¡°I will be leaving now as something urgent has come up.¡± I continued to give the speech to my staff, and who would have guessed that I could use this speech once again? Fortunately, I could add that I would be returning this time.

 chapter 244

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I was quite busy with everything, but every once in a while, I looked outside to see what the Guild Master was doing. As we expected he was more observant than the Minder ever was. But what was weird was that he seemed to be able to sense when I looked, which he wasn¡¯t able to do before. That was a bit concerning.


    Just in case, I watched the other diamond ranks from far away as they arrived on their ship. My creature, who was pretending to be the Minder, seemed to be able to fool everyone, which was good news.


    This should at minimum give us a few months to a year before the Guild Master returns. Of course, we might have a problem with Vivian, the diamond rank we are holding hostage, but hopefully nothing bad comes from it.


    Usually, I liked to concentrate my mind more whenever I viewed things that seemed interesting, but right now I didn¡¯t have much to spare. Just changing the outer layer of my fortress defense to the stronger version of the dungeon stone I can now make was a huge undertaking, but something that needed to be done. The same with my 51st floor¡ªthat was a huge priority.


    What wasn¡¯t a priority was to make dungeon rooms on the 51st floor. Unfortunately, the adventurers needed to wait, and they would need to wait quite a while. Most likely, I will need to open up a small area of dungeon rooms to make it look like I¡¯m still advancing, but I wasn¡¯t liking this need to choose what I do and don¡¯t do. It would be nice if I could just do everything, and it would just take a bit longer.


    As I watched the diamond ranks leave on their ship and soon speed out of my vision range, it was time to do some more experimentation. For the first time, I would be able to use platinum-ranked patterns to make platinum-ranked monsters. I had so many stored up that I didn¡¯t know where to begin, so I decided to start small with the first monsters I ever made¡ªants.


    I was pleasantly surprised at how intelligently these monsters acted. While at gold rank, they didn¡¯t pass the test where they would sit down with a normal adventurer and try to act like they weren¡¯t a monster. I¡¯m pretty sure that platinum-ranked monsters could actually pass that test, but I wasn¡¯t certain if they could do it every time. It was still a huge improvement.


    I continued to experiment, finding that they still had the hard limit of not being able to grow stronger from the moment I made them, although they should be able to learn to use their strength a lot better than gold ranks ever could. Fortunately, this meant that the higher percentage of adventurers killed mandate I was supposed to follow was now a lot easier to accomplish.


    One thing that I was never going to do, even if it compromised my own safety, was to purposely kill off people just because they tried to get stronger in my dungeon. Ever since this plan was proposed to fix the problem of me producing too many high-ranked individuals, I¡¯ve never felt good about even the idea of it. To purposely make someone lose their life because you stacked the odds against them so much that they could never win seemed to go against my very being.


    Now, I had no problem making things incredibly hard¡ªso hard that it was almost impossible to complete¡ªbut I would also make sure that anyone who tried to do such a thing would know what they were stepping into.


    That¡¯s why I¡¯ve always found it hard to teach proper caution. You need to make sure that a person knows to be on guard, but if they start to rely on you for that information, they could easily get surprised in a situation that¡¯s not controlled.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    That¡¯s why I make large areas where such danger lies. Most of the time, you won¡¯t be in danger, but you could easily run into it. It¡¯s a difficult balance and one of the harder things in dungeon room design I must strive for, as in the end, my dungeon is meant to teach and train, not to be as chaotic as the outside world can be. So even if some recommended it, I have spent a lot of time finding a solution to this problem rather than actually starting to kill off adventurers like that.


    What I was really pleased about was that it seemed like I could make my monsters quite close to diamond rank, although they did take a stupid amount of mana, but that¡¯s the cost of reaching so far above my current strength.


    Fortunately, the farms I have made have been paying off quite well. So right now, I have enough to actually make a proper platinum-ranked floor, the one I envisioned. Unfortunately, it will take a while before I can actually make it.


    First, I needed to work on a series of rooms with gateways, mainly to my Academy but also a few that would be connected to the rest of the gateway network so even adventurers could come. This would not be a quest reward for them in the sense that they could stumble onto this quest¡ªno, this service I would only offer if they signed a contract to protect me from any outside force.


    The idea of these rooms was simple: they were fighting arenas, all of them, even if they looked simplistic. I would make dungeon rules that would spawn as many platinum ranks as the challenger wanted so they could do what the adventurers were calling ¡®power leveling.¡¯


    It wouldn''t have worked with gold-ranked monsters, as a platinum rank didn¡¯t get much from killing gold ranks. Now things were different, and more importantly, my creatures could advance to diamond rank, and many were eager to do so.


    It would be a huge facility that would function basically like a city. The Academy had been preparing for it for quite a while, gathering the necessary resources needed to build all the support facilities and make them function properly.


    I, of course, would have made it all myself, but they convinced me that it would be good practice for them, and as I was so busy, it would be good if they could help me with things they could accomplish themselves.


    I was still a bit hesitant to give adventurers access to this place, and I would need to wait until everything was in working order. Well, I didn¡¯t need to wait, but it just didn¡¯t feel proper. The bigger question was which adventurers I would offer the deal to. I did have some ideas¡ªmainly, it was the clans. They have put everything into making a life for themselves in my dungeon, raising families, and preparing for generations to live in my dungeon.


    Giving them a chance to get diamond ranks that would protect me and, of course, be able to protect themselves was just a good idea. Yet I wasn¡¯t certain I could trust every clan just yet. There were also other individuals, a large portion of them in the runners'' guild, and of course, I needed to take into consideration that most would never be able to reach diamond rank, even if you give them every resource possible.


    In the end, like everything else seemed to be, it came down to the numbers game. The simple fact was, if you had more people and more resources, even if the percentage didn¡¯t change of who would make it to diamond rank, and even if it lowered by quite a lot, you would still, in the end, have a lot more diamond ranks.


    With so many of my creatures outside gathering information, I¡¯m pretty confident to say that in this whole world there are only a few thousand diamond ranks and only a couple of dozen peak diamonds. The good thing is that they are split into four different camps, which all have their own splits as well, so all of them uniting against me is not just unlikely¡ªit¡¯s near impossible.


    And if a large portion of them were to come here, I was certain that they would first fight amongst themselves to get ownership over me before they would attempt to subdue me. Perhaps we were wrong about this, but I had many creatures, and I could make patterns that would produce creatures almost certainly capable of reaching diamond rank.


    It would only be a matter of time before I could contend with this world¡¯s power. The key here was that I needed to make it to that point before anything happened, and that was less than likely.


    Still, I worked as much as possible, pushing myself as hard as possible. Platinum rank gave me a lot. I was now so much stronger, but I also had so much more to do at any given time. I also felt clearer, like my mind was able to expand more than I even thought a platinum rank would give. It was nice to be so much more than I was just a few weeks ago.


    The first few platinum-rank floors will be dedicated to farms where I could hopefully start producing diamond ranks, but that wish wasn¡¯t as simple as just doing the same thing I did for the platinum-ranked farms. Fortunately, I had a few prospects that could work, but this meant a lot of experimentation and changing patterns.


    It sounded like a lot of fun to me; unfortunately, once again, I couldn¡¯t focus too much on just this problem¡ªnot to mention the fact that I could barely observe all the interesting things going on in the dungeon rooms and playrooms. Too busy of a time was not my favorite, but what can you do.

 chapter 245

    Pov Dungeon Core


    Everything had been going excellently, and I was making swift progress on all fronts. So, of course, something had to happen that pulled my attention away. One of the more interesting playrooms I have is the one on the 39th floor, currently named the Undead Playroom. Long ago, the small pattern that turns creatures into undead proved victorious in taking over the entire playroom.


    This small pattern didn¡¯t have any conscious thought like regular creatures do, but because some of the creatures it infected were able to keep their minds, at least to some degree, a sort of civilization has started to emerge there. It¡¯s a really static one, as they would need new creatures that weren¡¯t infected to continue to procreate.


    I haven¡¯t had a clear idea on how to fix that problem, and I still don¡¯t, unless I just wanted to put in spawners that would create monsters, which would then get infected by the small pattern inside this playroom.


    It¡¯s a problem that I simply don¡¯t have time to think about, but small patterns are interesting, and this is basically the only floor where I don¡¯t have my usual rules in place that would kill off any small pattern that deviated too much from the norm.


    Still, the undead small pattern was dominant, and only the vicious kind of small patterns¡ªthe ones that cause disease and desolation¡ªwere the ones that spread the most. So it was hard for me to understand what I was currently looking at. It was a small patch of area where the plants were no longer of the undead variety; instead, they had been restored to their previous living state.


    I really didn¡¯t have time to figure this out, but how could I not? I started to dig into the records of this playroom to find flare-ups of this kind of thing before, only that those small patterns died so fast that they were deemed not important enough.


    I would have to agree with myself on that part, as those small patterns weren¡¯t strong enough or developed enough to do what they needed to do to survive in this place and to go against the undead small pattern.


    Fortunately, I still had the patterns in storage of the different versions of the small patterns that failed, and now that I compare them to the one here, it is obvious why this one succeeded while the others failed.


    Almost everything was the same¡ªthey seemed to consume the undead energy to fuel their own expansion, exactly the opposite of what the undead small pattern did. This one, however, did have the same function as the undead small pattern of having a collective energy pool that they could use when they were near enough to each other.


    Another reason why this relife small pattern, I guess I¡¯d call it, worked this time was time. The undead small pattern survived and expanded by consuming life, yet it had run out of it a long time ago. Most of it has died off, and the rest went into a hibernation state, making it weak enough, especially in areas where there weren¡¯t any smart undead, giving an opportunity for others to start preying on it.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    What I was certain of was that when the smart undead discovered this plague, they would destroy it. Fortunately, I had the pattern now, so I could spread the relife small pattern all over this playroom in the less populated areas and see what would happen. I think it will turn this playroom into an eternal battleground of life and death. What I was certain of was that this was going to be so interesting to watch develop.


    Its unfortunate that this happened at such a time, but I couldn¡¯t properly concentrate on this playroom. I guess checking in on it every once in a while should be good enough for now. It should also take quite a while before anything truly great starts to happen.


    I wonder if I could make a skill so there would be more of me, but that sounded hard to do. However, I knew that the adventurers have been capable of making some skills that could truly enhance mental capabilities. I should perhaps look into that a bit more.


    This wasn¡¯t the only case of things not going the way I expected them to go. Fortunately, I plan for that. On the farming floor, two things that shouldn¡¯t be possible have happened, and it¡¯s great that I plan even for the unlikely things to happen.


    One of those events was that one of the patterns that fight mindlessly to reach platinum rank achieved a form of consciousness before reaching platinum. It has happened 17 times now, and every time I am properly notified, I pull that creature out of those playrooms.


    The other thing has only happened once, and I still have no clue how. The ooze, which should have no possibility of gaining any form of consciousness, somehow still achieved it¡ªat least a small part of it. I also took it out; it¡¯s currently in one of my testing areas in the experimentation playroom. It¡¯s slowly continuing to develop its mental capabilities, and I still haven¡¯t figured out why that¡¯s the case.


    While I make my playrooms, I don¡¯t know everything about them, especially as time continues to move forward. They are open grounds for experimentation, and things happen in them all the time that I could never have imagined. At this point, even if I don¡¯t get any new patterns from the outside world, I am certain that I would never run out of new creatures.


    It should take me about another month to finish the first layer of the fortress dungeon stone upgrade, and about two weeks after that, I should be finished expanding the 51st floor. It seems like my advancement to platinum rank brought with it a large expansion of how big I could make a floor.


    In all honesty, I¡¯m starting to run out of ideas on how to fill so much space, and many terrain features are starting to look like I¡¯ve already made them, because in most cases, I already have made something similar.


    Is it possible to make a whole world have a different kind of rock? Could life develop in an atmosphere that didn¡¯t have oxygen? Perhaps after the farming floors, I¡¯m going to make an experimentation playroom and start testing out some more extreme environments, completely different from our world. I should also work on the project named using an old language of the Academy professor who came up with the idea.


    It was called the Satellite Project, and I was supposed to make a gateway well above the planet so our Academy scientists could go and build facilities there, including telescopes to look further away than they could from the planet''s surface. There were so many interesting projects that I wanted to get to, but right now, defenses were the number one priority. Still, I couldn¡¯t wait for all that is to come.


    Pov Vivian''s Grandfather


    ¡°We also got another report from Vivian about the dungeon. She¡¯s really excited about the discoveries she¡¯s making, and it seems almost every dungeon will be changed after her latest findings are published.¡±


    I looked at the idiot giving me the report. What is wrong with this person? How could they not put things together? ¡°Do you not find it even a little bit suspicious that she hasn¡¯t sent any direct messages, only reports? It¡¯s obvious that something went wrong¡ªcan you not see it?¡± I watched as the person took a step back, and I could smell the fear on them. At least they were sensible.


    ¡°So, I want you to stop being stupid and start thinking. Now get the fuck out of my office and find out what has happened to my granddaughter, so I can personally squeeze the life out of anyone responsible if someone even damaged one of her hairs. At least I know that she¡¯s still alive, and that¡¯s the only reason why I¡¯m still restraining myself and following the orders of the council. But if you don¡¯t have any information for me in at least one week, you get to explain to the council why I¡¯ve left my position here.¡±

 chapter 248

    Pov Vivian¡¯s Grandfather


    I had given him seven days to find out what had happened to my granddaughter, yet he was here on the 6th day looking confident, even though I still had not heard from my granddaughter. He seemed to have climbed pretty high for the amount of time he¡¯s been in platinum. He seemed to want to serve and has done so distinguishably so far, but something is starting to feel off about him.


    ¡°I am sorry that it took so long. It was a bit more trouble to get the information to you than I expected. So I would like to start out by saying that your granddaughter is completely fine, but there are some extenuating circumstances why she has not been able to contact you, and she¡¯s actually working on solving the problem right now.¡±


    Well, this seemed a bit more curious than I expected. Still, this better be a good excuse. I indicated for him to continue, and he promptly did so.


    ¡°That dungeon seems to be a lot more aware, so to say than the reports seemed to indicate.¡±


    He wanted to continue, but I immediately stopped him. ¡°Explain that further.¡±


    He looked a bit taken aback and took a few moments to reorient himself. So he probably rehearsed that speech he was giving me multiple times to speak as confidently as possible. I should not take it easy on him, just in case something is wrong.


    ¡°Yes, Vivian didn¡¯t seem to realize this in the communication I had with her through her own agents, but it¡¯s quite clear to me that this dungeon is a lot smarter than normal. While it is chained, it¡¯s still fighting back. And because the control necklace is no longer there, they need to go by the contract, and it¡¯s smart enough to find loopholes to continue doing things as it likes to do.¡±


    I realized that I was smirking, but I quickly stopped. I¡¯ve always liked when dungeons fought back, and dealing with diamond-rank dungeons was so reminiscent of arguing some trade contract that I often got the two mixed up. ¡°So the dungeon is pushing back¡ªthat¡¯s to be expected. That still doesn¡¯t explain anything.¡±


    I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to say he hadn¡¯t gotten to the point yet, which I knew he hadn¡¯t, but he didn¡¯t say it. The struggle was fun to watch.


    ¡°So yes, the dungeon does things to the letter of the contract, which has allowed him to stop adventurers from abusing an item that allowed them to teleport out of a fight they were going to lose.¡±


    ¡°Apparently, the dungeon allows it up to a certain point, but the deeper you get, the fewer areas you can use it in. It doesn¡¯t do it actively, which Vivian first believed, but instead, it seems to have changed the dungeon stone composition, making it impossible for signals like that to travel too far.¡±


    ¡°If Vivian was further up than she currently is, she could get a signal through, but with so many layers of dungeon stone that help block signals, she can¡¯t get proper communication through. Another thing stopping her from coming out¡ªas I can already see you wanting to know why she just hasn¡¯t used a gateway¡ªis that otherwise, she would need to start from floor 20, as the dungeon doesn¡¯t allow anyone to just skip to the last floor, at least not yet.¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying to me is that she hasn¡¯t done our usual confirmation whenever she gets out of a dangerous situation because it would be too inconvenient for her at this moment because it will take too long to get back to where this new type of dungeon stone is located?¡± He immediately nodded.


    I sit back in my chair to think about this. There was some logic to it; she does get quite fixated if she finds something truly interesting. The dungeon is big, and I could understand that if she had a tight time limit. She, however, didn¡¯t have a tight time limit she could stay as long as she wanted.


    I know the master¡¯s did not like it much when the city lord and the minder offered her that option. That was weird in of itself. She could have just gotten out, and while it would take her a while to get back because that dungeon is truly large, in the end, I don¡¯t think this makes enough sense to me.


    I looked back at him, and I think he could see the suspicion I had. I didn¡¯t understand what was going on exactly, but something just didn¡¯t add up. I kept looking at him, trying to understand what I was missing. Then, to my surprise, he actually spoke up.


    ¡°They warned me that there was no chance of this working. I truly hope that I am not the first domino to fall.¡±


    It was hard to hold back, but my chair cracked where my hands held tight to it. I watched as his posture changed¡ªit was like a completely new person, a sneaky person, a secretive one, and someone who was not on my side.


    I could feel my power gathering, but he was still only a platinum rank; he could do nothing to me, and it seemed he understood that. Yet, he didn¡¯t seem scared¡ªall that he did before was just an act.


    ¡°You know there are worse things than death, don¡¯t you?¡± I asked him as calmly as I could.


    ¡°Yeah, you don¡¯t have to tell me that twice. Fortunately, there¡¯s nothing you can do to stop me from killing myself, and yes, I would prefer not to die.¡± His words made me pause, and I watched as he reached inside his breast pocket and pulled out a letter. ¡°This is for your eyes only.¡±


    It had a curious design; unlike anything I had seen before. It was immaculate and a bit of an oval shape for some reason. The seal was unbroken, showing an orb surrounded by broken chains. Well, that wasn¡¯t ominous at all. I opened the letter and started to read.


    ¡°So my granddaughter is a hostage. Are you working for the Pixies or the Masters? Who do you serve? And this nonsense about her being unharmed no matter what¡ªdo you really think I would believe that? I know how everyone operates; those are just empty words.¡±


    ¡°Oh, believe me, I do not work for anyone you know, and if that letter says your granddaughter will be unharmed, then she will be unharmed. But did it really say ¡®no matter what,¡¯ like ¡®don¡¯t kill the messenger¡¯ wasn¡¯t mentioned, perhaps?¡±


    I blinked away my confusion and looked at the letter again, then at the seal I had broken. ¡°No, that was not mentioned.¡± I looked back at the man in front of me, who seemed to sigh in defeat.


    ¡°Yeah, I can see why they wouldn¡¯t include that. It¡¯s unfortunate. I would just like to say that I would never betray the one I serve. I accepted this mission long ago, knowing that I might die at any moment, but I am enjoying this job even if it¡¯s just a cover for me. So why don¡¯t we make a deal?¡±


    I kept my eyes on him as I didn¡¯t really get his angle. From what I can understand, they will not harm her. I still don¡¯t believe that. While I¡¯m starting to get an idea of who that might be, it was hard to imagine it being possible.


    ¡°What deal?¡±


    ¡°So, I will stay as your employee, I will get you a direct communication line with Vivian, and you won¡¯t say anything about what''s happening to anyone else?¡±


    No, why would I ever accept this deal? It¡¯s the stupidest thing I¡¯ve ever heard. In fact, why was I even keeping him alive? Because no matter what they said, they still had my granddaughter hostage, and if they can keep her subdued, that means they have diamond ranks.


    Oh, and he¡¯s just started smiling. I was letting my emotions control me too much if this young pup could actually read me so easily. Time to stop being an idiot.


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take that deal, but I want to talk to her today.¡±


    The deadline didn¡¯t seem to discourage him at all. Instead, he pulled out some sort of crystal, unwrapping it from a leather pouch that was keeping its power hidden.


    ¡°You can speak to her immediately.¡±


    As soon as he finished saying those words, I could hear my granddaughter¡¯s voice.


    ¡°It¡¯s the dungeon. It¡¯s completely free.¡±

 chapter 249

    Pov Vivian


    I¡¯ve never been a captive before, but I¡¯ve always imagined it being torturous, where you are in a place that¡¯s damp and cold, you barely get any food, all around a horrible experience. Well, I could say that I¡¯m mentally tortured by the simple fact that the biggest dragon I¡¯ve ever seen is just a few meters away, currently sleeping, and could kill me in an instant, but that¡¯s about it.


    This place is nice and warm. They bring me plenty of food, so actually, the biggest problem I have is boredom. That just doesn¡¯t seem right. I also wasn¡¯t always bored. Ismael, as the dragon called itself, actually spoke to me from time to time.


    At the start, he never slept, but nowadays he does. I don¡¯t know what this dungeon did, but now, even if they allowed me to, I can no longer get any message through to my grandfather.


    I¡¯m pretty sure I saw the dungeon stone that this cave-like place is made of change a bit, and well, now I don¡¯t even have the hope of waiting for the dragon to slip up so I could get help down here.


    They say that I will be let go when the time is right for them, but honestly, I don¡¯t know if I believe them or not. At the start, I didn¡¯t believe them at all, but they treated me nicely, so who knows what their plan is?


    I was startled a bit when Ismael started to move. The way he woke up kind of reminded me of a cat, which was strange to witness. His eyes were bigger than my entire body, and it was kind of weird whenever he looked towards me. Yet I was so bored, I think I will risk a question. "Good morning, Ismael?" He blinked his eyes slowly and nodded towards me. "Can I ask you a question?" After a bit of time, he slowly nodded.


    "I¡¯ve always wondered this: Dragons don¡¯t get their intellect before they reach platinum rank. So how could they be the rulers of the Age of Civilization if at that point gold rank was the highest? And even more so, how could they bring about the Age of Civilization when, in the Second Age, silver rank was the highest? No one has ever been able to answer that question for me."


    He blinked his eyes a bit faster this time, laid his head closer to me, and I did take a few steps back just in case, but I was already against the wall with nowhere to run. I expected a voice that would shake the world around me, but instead, I felt a spell connect to my mind.


    ¡°It''s too early to speak out loud, but this will do well enough.¡±


    ¡°You know, I had the same question in the Fourth Age, the Age of Heroes, and I guess I can tell you the same answer my mother gave me. Like you know, talents can change a lot. Remember when you were so shocked when you first woke up here, and you couldn¡¯t sense that I was a diamond rank?¡±


    ¡°Then you realized that you are not the only one who can hide their rank. Well, in the Second Age, the Age of Monsters, there were seven dragons that gained the same kind of intelligence that other sapient species had.¡±


    ¡°Now, normally, that wouldn''t have helped them win anything, but, well, the smarter of us can always control the unintelligent of my kind to a certain extent. That helped them win the Second Age. In the Third Age, there were more. Now, I don¡¯t know the exact number, but at the height of our power, we had something called the Council of 300, so there must have been at least 300 intelligent dragons back then.¡±


    He looked at me then, seeing if that was good enough, but I think he could see the hunger for knowledge I had. He huffed in amusement. The volume of air pushed me against the wall, simply from the size of his huge body.


    ¡°Just for reference, at the height, there were about 100,000 of us. So, I think there might have been a maximum of 1,000 intelligent dragons in the Age of Civilization. And as you know, any species capable of complex thought will have differing viewpoints. The end of our high point would come no matter what. It''s just that the people we were oppressing managed to wage war before we could wage war on ourselves.¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°When we got to the age of heroes, when everyone could reach the platinum rank, well, there were too few of us left to mount a real resistance even if we could unite. So that¡¯s the story of my kind. We could have been great, proper leaders who didn¡¯t die of old age. We could have guided civilization, except we tried to control it. We tried to enslave, and, well, we got what we deserved. Any civilization built upon some sort of enslavement of others usually falls sooner or later.¡±


    He smiled at me. I could see it, even if his face didn¡¯t look like a smiling one I¡¯m used to seeing on other people. The implication was clear: we also enslaved an entire species. ¡°Is this dungeon seeking revenge? Will it end our civilization for what we have done to its kind?¡±


    I didn¡¯t get an answer for a long while. I think it must have been an hour, as I was already doing other things, trying to keep busy, when he finally spoke.


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t think he cares that much about his kind. Dungeons are like that; they never really got along. But who knows what will happen? But I do warn you: I recommend all of you leave him alone. I don¡¯t think any of you have experienced what the dungeon can do when it goes to war. Even I have only heard stories about it, but they were always scary stories.¡±


    He then broke the connection we had. I knew that he wouldn¡¯t speak to me again, at least not today. A few hours later, the gateway opened up, and a few people came through with the food. The food was always great, and they left immediately after they dropped it off. I tried to figure out how the gateway worked, but I wouldn¡¯t be able to break the lock that would allow me to use it, even if I didn¡¯t have a guardian constantly watching me.


    Time continued to pass, but I finally was able to get some art supplies at least, so I could once again start sketching different designs for dungeon floors. It was my hobby, and I know that at least a few of my designs have been used in diamond-ranked dungeons. Perhaps it was a bad idea to do so, but I was pretty sure that this dungeon didn¡¯t need my help to do anything.


    I was shocked out of my daydream when the gateway opened up¡ªnot at the regular time when they normally brought food. It was the first time I saw the person who had killed the master.


    He had grown so much stronger. He was now as strong as me, but that was only if I took into account our core strengths. His body felt so much stronger than mine. I didn¡¯t even think I could win if he was a newly advanced diamond rank.


    ¡°There''s a good chance that you¡¯ll get to speak to your grandfather today,¡± he spoke in a measured tone, and the other people with him set up a table with a really interesting-looking crystal on it that seemed to be designed for communications.


    How did they get that signal to go through whatever changes the dungeon made to the dungeon stone? I was supposed to ask questions, but he held up his hand. ¡°No questions, no speaking at all until that crystal lights up.¡±


    So we didn¡¯t and waited for hours and hours until the crystal lit up. Immediately, I could feel my grandfather¡¯s signature just beyond the crystal. I said as hastily and quickly as I could, ¡°It''s the dungeon! It¡¯s completely free!¡±


    My breath was rapid as my adrenaline shot up. I expecting the communication crystal to be turned off, but nothing happened. I looked up in confusion only to see a smirking face looking back at me.


    ¡°Make it brief. As you can hear, your granddaughter is just fine, and we aren¡¯t hurting her. You will get her back; you don¡¯t have to worry about that.¡±


    ¡°Have they hurt you, my dear?¡± I heard through my special communication skill. It seems like we can still secretly communicate as this device has allowed us to get close enough to each other to communicate without any problems.


    ¡°No, they have not hurt me,¡± I said and communicated through our skill at the same time.


    ¡°This dungeon is completely free, and it has multiple diamond ranks working for him, including a peak diamond rank dragon.¡± I do not know exactly how my grandfather reacted to it, but I should say something with my voice as well, as the person who brought the crystal was looking at me weirdly.


    ¡°Your senses are getting better. Yes, they are communicating through some kind of skill, but I warned you guys about that,¡± Ismael spoke with his loud voice. I looked at the person now turning towards Ismael, and he simply nodded.


    ¡°Yes, we expected that they would do that, but well, hopefully, that will help make our point even more so. Our main goal is that you stay quiet. In the end, it¡¯s up to you how you want to handle it. She will still stay down here until that certain time comes.¡± That person answered Ismael and then spoke to my grandfather.


    ¡°Vivian, tell me everything you know. If they have diamond ranks, this is more serious. We need to know everything about them as soon as possible. Are you sure that the dungeon isn¡¯t controlled by that dragon?¡±


    I sent an affirmative back to him, but I didn¡¯t bother pretending to speak, as they already knew what we were doing. ¡°I think I should stay here and gather as much information as possible. I don¡¯t think they will be an easy enemy to beat. Also, the dragon has warned me that going to war against this dungeon would not end well. I think I agree with him.¡±


    ¡°I do not like the idea of you staying there, but right now, I think you have the correct idea. Try to get as much information about them as you can, and I will do the same. At least I think I now know who the people are who are leaking all this information. It seems that we have been in conflict with that dungeon for a while now without even knowing.¡±


    ¡°I will accept your deal if I can speak to my granddaughter every week.¡± I could hear my grandfather¡¯s powerful voice coming through the device that was just in front of me. None of the people here seemed to be affected by that voice that I have seen make people quiver in fear.


    ¡°Once a month, and if you are caught speaking about our existence, well then, the time is up, and so is this conversation.¡± With that, the device was turned off, and I could no longer feel my grandfather.


    ¡°Ismael, don¡¯t speak too much with her.¡± The dragon just huffed at that, and then they left. Everything had happened so fast. Did I make the right decision?

 chapter 250

    Pov Adventurer Guild Master


    I looked upon the city I used to call home. It is still the most beautiful place I¡¯ve ever been to. I¡¯m glad that I was able to live here for almost a year. At least there are some good parts about bureaucracy. It also seems that the past can be forgiven when there is a looming war on the horizon.


    Currently, I am in a balcony cafe, enjoying the wonderful city. Each piece of architecture and every stone¡ªthey were all so perfect. It was not just called the City of the Masters because this was our capital, where we, as one of the four great powers of this world, resided. It was also because, as our title says, everything here was built by master craft.


    While it is not the biggest city¡ªthat record goes to the Delvers¡ªthat was mainly because they let everyone live there. Here, there were only masters and their children. Here, we also have our deepest dungeon, the second deepest in the world. Currently, we are on the 92nd floor, yet we have been on that floor for 300 years. The Pixies have reached floor 93, but they¡¯ve been stuck for nearly 500 years.


    I have always wondered if perhaps it¡¯s impossible to reach the end of the diamond rank and this is all that we are capable of. That would be funny in a sad way, because so many have died when we have fought each other with small skirmishes and assassinations for the entire length of this age. Things are a bit different now, as the possibility of a proper war looms on the horizon. I wonder if there will be anything left of the world then, and none of it might matter in the end.


    Everyone knew who I was, but still, every waiter looked at me weirdly because I never ordered any food. I still paid them so they wouldn¡¯t kick me out, and I drank coffee or tea or something of that kind to pass the time.


    The reason was quite simple why I didn¡¯t eat anything except for the rations I brought with me. I still remember the pain of eating food that wasn¡¯t cooked by any of the masters. It was almost like eating shit, and I don¡¯t want to experience that again when I¡¯m leaving so soon.


    I looked at the time and saw that there was about an hour left before the large meeting began. Many ships had arrived in the past week, and I was informed that one of them carried the minder of the Eternal City State. From my understanding, he didn¡¯t receive the warmest of welcomes because apparently, he hadn¡¯t brought City Lord Ace with him like he was supposed to.


    The rumor said that he missed the letter, which was impossible for him, so I wondered what was going on. That feeling of uneasiness never really left me ever since I left the city-state. Fortunately, my mind was distracted as I walked towards the central office. There were many different architectural styles, and while I wasn¡¯t a fan of every single one, some just caught my mind in just the right way.


    When I reached the plaza outside the central office, there were already many groups gathered, waiting for the bell to ring and start this historic meeting. Looking around, I noticed that many strangers were here, but it was odd to see that even the beasts weren¡¯t in one group, amongst those a few actual beast kin. They were the oldest and most likely the only remaining beast kin in the world.


    It was truly unlucky for them that whenever they had children with humans, dwarves, elves, or the half-folk, their children would never be a beast kin¡ªonly the species of the other parent. They were able to keep their legacy through a dungeon wish. I don¡¯t think anyone could have won that age besides them. The drive they must have had to try to save at least a little bit of their legacy must have been immense.


    I was still alone, like a lone island, but I didn¡¯t mind. I was actually looking forward to getting back to the city-state. While this place was amazing, that guild house in that city-state felt more like home to me right now than any other place in this world. Then the clear bell sounded. The clearest bell I¡¯ve ever heard in my life. It rang three times, and the large doors to the central office opened up.


    It was a huge building, fully circular, with huge columns made entirely of white stone with intricate black and gold patterns. It was not made of natural rock but was an old master¡¯s creation. It could even withstand attacks from peak diamond ranks, which was a true achievement. I wondered if I would ever reach the peak. I only had a bit to go, but I don¡¯t think they would ever let me into a diamond-ranked dungeon again.


    Everyone started to fill in and find their seats, including the grandmasters of the council. Usually, only the council¡¯s section was more grandiose than any other, but this time another section had been made to look just as important. It was no surprise to me that the beasts went and sat there. After about half an hour, the meeting started to discuss our alliance.


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    It was a boring three hours. From the first 10 minutes, everyone already knew that we were going to form an alliance, so it was unfortunate that everything else after that seemed to be protocol to keeping up appearances and doing things the ¡®right¡¯ way. I perked up when the question of the free dungeons was raised.


    "Currently, the plan is to keep them as neutral grounds. We suspect that the delvers and pixies are making a similar alliance, although I think theirs would be a looser one than ours. That being said, between the two of us, we have the control necklaces for five of the free dungeons. So perhaps our majority might turn the free dungeons into more of a power struggle than we first expected, especially because of the latest free dungeon."


    I did not like to hear that. Hopefully, they will remain neutral grounds; I would hate to see the damage caused to the cities and the dungeons if we were to actually fight for their ownership. To my surprise, the proceedings were interrupted, and everyone was too stunned to act.


    "About the free dungeons, I do have something to announce," said the minder I thought I knew. That feeling at the back of my neck finally seemed to flare up. Oh no, this was something bad¡ªsomething serious. I watched as he walked from one of the back seats all the way to the front and then jumped down, breaking every procedure, and walked to the center to address everyone.


    The nervousness of the room seemed to ramp up as no one understood what was going on, including me.


    "What is the meaning of this? You are already on thin ice. What is it that you want to say before you are taken away?" one of the council members said, barely keeping his anger contained. Masters simply didn¡¯t break protocol; that was not who we were¡ªexcept I had once done that and paid the consequences.


    "Well, yes, I guess I should be more upfront. I apologize for all of this, but it is necessary. I am invoking the ancient laws of the Messengers. And because of this, I am obligated to reveal my true self, however hard it might be."


    Before I could start to puzzle out that meaning, I watched as the person I thought I knew placed a hand above his chest, and then it looked like he reached inside and started to pull out something. Everyone was on guard, but almost everyone here was diamond-ranked. We watched as he pulled out some sort of necklace that was shining exactly like the minder.


    I watched in fascination as something that looked like his core imprinted onto a necklace of sorts, and then the person, whoever he was, crushed it, extinguishing a diamond core like it was nothing.


    What remained was a platinum rank that was incredibly close to diamond. I watched as his face shifted, and so did his body, into the form of a dwarf, but it seemed like he had trouble keeping that form¡ªmost likely his talent giving him the ability to shift into almost any form.


    "I will start out by saying that the former occupant of my disguise was killed when he unlawfully tried to take possession of a dungeon core he did not own."


    That statement sent ripples throughout the entire assembled crowd. The council members were furious. An end of a diamond rank was a rare thing, even nowadays. But who was making this power play? Was our information wrong? Had the other two powers already formed an alliance and moved to claim the free dungeons?


    "You claimed the right of a Messenger. I demand you state who you serve," one of the council members, who seemed the most composed, demanded.


    ¡°I represent the free dungeon that the adventurers who delved it named Eternal Training Ground. I¡¯m also here to announce that Eternal Training Ground proclaims independence from any of the four powers. It asks to be left alone, but be certain that if provoked, it is not afraid to wage war on anyone who tries to kill or enslave it.¡±


    ¡°I see that many of you don¡¯t believe me and think that I am from the other powers, trying to somehow subvert your expectations. Fortunately, we have a person here who can verify my claims.¡± I watched as this messenger pointed towards one of the beasts. It took me a moment to remember that he was an old, strong one who liked to talk about dungeon fortresses.


    Before he stood up, he was handed a letter, and the person next to him whispered into his ear. From the looks of everyone, no one could hear what was said, which was impressive. I saw that every beast also looked at him, some in confusion and others in anger. He glanced at the letter for a moment, then burned it before anyone could stop him.


    He then stood up and spoke, ¡°The dungeon called Eternal Training Ground is indeed completely free and has been the entire time it has existed. I learned of this not too long ago and was forced to keep silent because they had my granddaughter hostage¡ªthe one that went to chain the core with the now confirmed dead minder of the Eternal City State.¡±


    He then sat down, and he didn¡¯t seem like he was going to elaborate on anything.


    ¡°Vixen, for the life of me, we must go,¡± the messenger said out loud. I watched as many servants¡ªat least 100 among the almost 4,000 here¡ªstraightened their backs, including the one next to the beast representative who had just spoken, and as one, they started to walk to the center where the messenger currently was. Once again, he shifted into someone else, although he seemed to be trying to keep his form steady.


    ¡°The Eternal Training Ground doesn¡¯t want the diplomatic relationships between our powers to start off even worse than they currently are. Because of this, all spies among your ranks will now stop their work. Here¡¯s the letter announcing our independence and our sovereignty over the territory known as the Eternal City State.¡±


    The letter then multiplied and flew to almost everyone, including the beast representative. I was numb at this point, not understanding what was happening. I was already getting shifty eyes looking at me, so I was probably going to be blamed for all of this.


    ¡°Screw the right of the messenger! We must question them all and get every piece of intelligence we can!¡± one of the council members yelled out loud.


    The traitors had assembled around the messenger. The guards were already acting, but it seems everyone was too late. In an instant, a huge symbol appeared underneath the traitors, and before anyone could act, they were gone, teleported away.


    ¡°They¡¯re only 500 kilometers towards the south,¡± one of the grandmasters immediately spoke up, and many were already rushing out to catch up to the traitors who had just escaped a fate worse than death. At least for now.


    I just sat down in complete shock as everyone started to yell over each other. Yet in my mind, everything seemed to be clicking into place. All the inconsistencies finally made sense.


    I looked towards the beast who had spoken, and our eyes met. It seems like we were both tired. The implications of it all were so large, and worst of all, I saw the panicking council. They had never had to contend with a new power. Especially the power of a dungeon that''s completely free.


    Still, the dungeon had only recently reached platinum rank, and many were pointing out correctly that we should have no problems subduing it properly this time. I once again had that feeling that it would be better to leave the dungeon alone, but I knew that wasn¡¯t going to happen. Eventually, I lifted my head when I felt more attention on me. It seems that it was time for me to start answering questions I knew no one was going to like.


    End of Book 5

 chapter 251

    Recap


    It has been a journey of nearly 200 years for a dungeon core named Eternal Training Ground, or ETG for short. During the course of its life, ETG grew from a small dungeon core that enjoyed watching how ants developed more than the adventurers who delved it. Into one of the largest dungeons in the world. With an adventurer population in the millions living in it and a population of its creatures it so enjoys observing well into the billions.


    While the rest of it''s brethren dungeon cores, had fallen prey to the other races of this world. It has managed to stay free, and keep it''s freedom a secret from most. ETG even repel multiple attempts to chain it to serve the will of others.


    ETG has gathered allies who have helped keep it safe¡ªone of the biggest supporters being Ace. Ace was a simple adventurer who inherited a large piece of land where the Eternal Training Ground would one day be discovered. Over the course of nearly 200 years, Ace turned a once worthless piece of land into one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Thanks to the resources of the dungeon and the discovery that there was a safe area to exit the trade winds of this world that facilitated most of its commerce.


    Many have made their home inside ETG''s many waystations and hubstations. Finding close friends, building families and cities. None of it was easy for the adventurers who delved into this dungeon. Many have fallen in the pursuit of their dreams, yet more have succeeded thanks to the challenges they faced.


    Now, however, a line has been met. The true powers of this world already know, or will soon learn, that this dungeon, ETG, is completely free and will not submit to their rule without a fight. Many will now have to choose which side they take in a war that will most likely decide the future of this world.


    Chapter 251


    As the creatures of ETG teleported away after declaring ETG''s independence, many of the powerful platinum and diamond ranks immediately started to follow. ETG creature¡¯s teleporter was not good enough to perform proper long-range teleportation, but what he was good at was transporting groups of people.


    He knew how much mana he had¡ªeverything was calculated¡ªso every five seconds, he teleported everyone once again, hoping they could get far enough away from the angry diamond ranks chasing them to escape back home.


    At the same time, thousands of people all over the world disappeared as they finally received orders to abandon their missions and return home. None of them especially liked that their missions were cut short, as they had built a spy network unlike any other in this world. Many arguments were heard back in the dungeon about whether to keep or dismantle this useful spy network, but at the end of the day, everyone could see the writing on the wall.


    ETG¡¯s influence, which he had spread through his creatures to every corner of the world, would be discovered sooner rather than later, and it would simply be better to bring everyone back while there was still a way for them to return. Even now, their orders were not to return to Eternal City but instead to go into the underwater world and come back home through the gateway there.


    The first to notice the missing people were the four great powers themselves. For the Beasts and the Masters, they learned immediately how deep the infiltration had gone, but for the Deliverers and the Pixies, they only slowly started to realize that something had gone wrong. Somehow, their servants went missing, yet even their diamond ranks, specialized in finding people, could not locate them.


    Ace had received his orders three hours before the declaration of independence happened. There was only one option available to him, and that was to retreat into the dungeon. When ETG showed him what he had created for him and his nation, Ace was speechless. Immediately, he started his work. An announcement rang out in the Eternal City-State that all could hear.


    "I have grave news for you all. You have all learned about who truly rules this world, but perhaps not all of you know that their strength comes from the fact that they subjugate every dungeon in this world. They hold back advancements and only allow those they deem fit¡ªand that they can control¡ªto achieve diamond rank. They did the same to me, not knowing that I was never their lapdog."


    ¡°The same goes for this dungeon that has been free from the very beginning, never under my control or anyone else¡¯s. This might scare you, but for 200 years, ETG has not done anything to us to make us believe it meant us harm. The same cannot be said for the so-called rulers of this world, who only recently revealed themselves because their secrets have been spread to everyone.¡±


    ¡°Yet I have just been informed that, in just a little while, they will learn about the truth of this dungeon, and they will come here in force. I do not know what they will do, but I can guess. As they cannot trust anyone here, they will most likely falsely claim that this dungeon went mad and killed everyone here.¡±


    ¡°I have seen how ruthless they can be and can easily see them doing this. They could of course go another way and just leave things as they have been.¡± Everyone could hear Ace¡¯s voice, it was like his voice perfectly conveyed a face of absolute disbelief as he uttered the last sentence.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°This dungeon, however, seeing the future, has offered us an alternative. ETG holds many secrets, one of the biggest being how big it actually is. You know about the hub stations¡ªwell, it has constructed us a perfect replica of this nation in a place safe from the monsters, where we could all reside so we could continue to live our lives and enjoy the freedom that this world can never offer us.¡±


    ¡°It will not be an easy transition. While I can guarantee that no one will die of starvation, we will, of course, lose access to the most profitable trade route in the world. What I do know is that we would have access to the rest of the dungeon, and ETG has guaranteed that no one will ever reach our home to take it from us again. I will not force anyone to join; I would never do that, but I implore you to take this opportunity.¡±


    ¡°You might doubt my sincerity because, without you, I would not be a leader of a nation. You might perhaps think it impossible for ETG to defend against the powers of this world. But let me assure you that, honestly, I would rather not be a leader, but I am so because you all deserve the best of me, and this is the best solution I have found to protect you.¡±


    ¡°This dungeon has also been preparing for this conflict for almost its entire life, so be assured that no force would take it easily. However, even ETG does not guarantee complete safety, as in war, anything could happen.¡±


    Ace continued his speech, giving a bit more information and then explaining how, in his entire nation and especially the main city, thousands upon thousands of dungeon entrances have now been opened and will take them directly to the same spot in the replica city inside the dungeon. There were people who immediately started to rush toward those entrances, but many were still in complete shock.


    Ace knew that would happen, so he had already sent out his entire army¡ªnot to force anyone to escape into the dungeon but instead to help anyone who needed it and to explain the situation to those who wanted answers.


    This situation was not going to be easily solved and would take time, but right now, there was no diamond rank close to the eternal city-state, and Ace stood vigilant, ready to fight any of the fast diamond ranks that could get here in a few hours if they truly pushed themselves.


    The group escaping from the Masters and the Beasts Conference had managed to get about 2,000 kilometers away, thanks to their teleporter. Yet every one of them could feel the couple of diamond ranks still on their tail. They had hoped to have escaped but had also made contingency plans, and the last teleport had taken them to an airship unlike any other this world had seen.


    The teleporter collapsed onto the deck, completely exhausted, but commands were already being yelled to get the ship moving. Far away, the diamond ranks, still following and continuing to accelerate faster, finally managed to see their prey.


    Yet they were shocked to see where their current targets were. It was not a huge airship, but it wasn¡¯t made out of wood; instead, it was fully made of metal. There were no sails on the airship, and none of the crystals that helped it levitate were visible outside the hull.


    They continued to push themselves to catch up to the traitors. While they were shocked about the ship''s appearance, they were also gleeful, as their prey was soon to be caught. Yet, all of them realized at this moment that they had celebrated a bit too soon.


    They watched as huge columns of fire shot out the back of the airship, which now started to accelerate faster and faster. They were still catching up at an incredible speed, but in less than 10 seconds, the airship was approaching the speed of sound, leaving them all shocked. They pushed themselves faster, as they were currently flying at multiple times the speed of sound, but they didn¡¯t know how fast this new type of ship could actually move.


    On the ship, the entire crew was preparing for what was to come. At the bow of the ship was a singular individual, currently weaving a spell, waiting for the moment the airship reached the speed of sound.


    This was far from the maximum acceleration this ship could achieve, yet if they pushed too far without proper preparations, the resistance of air itself would render the airship completely uncontrollable¡ªnot to mention the damage it would receive.


    A special spell had been developed to deal with this problem, yet it required the ship to reach the speed of sound and for the accompanying sonic boom to properly activate and work. Many others were ready for the activation of this spell.


    There were multiple other mages at the sides of the ship, who would also pour power into this spell and guide it along the airship. There were others prepared to dampen the G-forces everyone would feel, as even for platinum ranks, it would be hard to maintain their spells while dealing with the intense G-forces at the same time.


    At the center of the airship, there were currently two people on each side of the deck, focusing a specific fire spell into the intake of the skill engine, making the ship move forward at this incredible pace. Yet, they were only there temporarily until two others beside them took over. The true powerhouses who would truly push this incredible skill engine to its very limits.


    At the aft of the ship, people yelled out that they could see pursuers. Everyone¡¯s nervousness on the ship ratcheted up multiple degrees. All of a sudden, one of the diamond ranks teleported extremely close to the ship, almost getting close enough to latch onto the airship. Yet before he could, a torrent of fire flashed over him. At first, he simply laughed it off, but soon he felt something was wrong.


    The one that bathed this diamond rank in fire was a peak platinum rank with an extremely special talent. The diamond rank soon learned that his control of mana had been disrupted, and he fell towards the sea below. The platinum rank continued to let out bursts of this fire, forcing the other diamond ranks now following to avoid it, giving the ship just enough time to reach the speed of sound.


    Many things happened at once as the airship reached the speed of sound. The spell activated to help control the ship at high speeds and mitigate the damage the air resistance would cause. The diamond ranks felt the power when each individual truly pulled on everything they had.


    Blue flames entered the skill engine, and the ship started to accelerate at incredible speeds. Yet that wasn¡¯t all. Inside the ship, near the bow, there was another man and another intake for the skill engine. This time, however, the spell that entered wasn¡¯t a fire spell but instead a lightning spell.


    The effects were immediate. The bluish cones of fire shortened, yet their power multiplied as the airship accelerated faster and faster. The airship started to vibrate like it was about to break apart, yet the construction held, and with every second that passed, the diamond ranks¡¯ approach slowed down, even as they pushed themselves faster. Eventually, they stopped gaining on the airship and started to fall behind, even when they were pushing themselves to the absolute limit.


    In a last-ditch effort, one of the diamond ranks teleported as close as he could, and before the flames hit him, he launched a devastating lightning strike¡ªhis specialty¡ªonto the ship. He was aiming for one of the engines.


    If only he knew that simply any attack hitting the hull would have been sufficient to break apart the delicate balance keeping the airship afloat and moving at such a speed, he wouldn¡¯t have aimed at the one spot where his spell would have a minimum effect.


    The skill engine was incredibly large and complex, taking up nearly half of the ship¡¯s interior. Because its elements were fire and lightning, it was also incredibly resistant to those types of damage. So, while the spell did melt some of the housing of one of the engines, it wasn¡¯t enough to do any proper damage. The diamond ranks could only watch as the airship carrying the traitors managed to escape, flying directly toward the dungeon they now knew was free.

 chapter 252

    Pov Ace


    It was weird to have my senses open. Usually, I hide my power, but the time for secrecy was over. It took me a bit to get used to the sensory overload, but the skills I was using helped me interpret the things I wanted to know from the things I didn¡¯t.


    My talent also let me feel the amount of panic and worry my people were experiencing. At this moment, what I wished for the most was that things could just stay the same. It would be so nice if those in power would actually recognize our sovereignty, but that would be a fool¡¯s wish.


    My citizens were actually coming around. Most of them had already decided to go to our new home or had already left, bringing everything they could with them. The bigger problem was the adventurers.


    Many of them had come from far away, and they had families they wanted to return to. Even they heard my announcement in every corner of the dungeon, thanks to ETG. He even helped some of them get out faster from where they were if they wanted to leave the dungeon.


    Those who didn¡¯t want to stay were obviously incredibly worried about what would happen when diamond ranks reached this place. That¡¯s why a large portion of my Navy was currently helping load up everyone who wanted to leave onto airships so they could escape this place.


    My army was helping anyone else, and of course, I wasn¡¯t going to leave the wealth of my nation behind. So we were also transporting that to our new home, even if there wouldn¡¯t be much use for it there, at least at the start.


    My mind flashed back to when ETG opened up a gateway for me to see the home he built for my nation. I was floored when I saw the city, empty and just waiting for people to occupy it. Then I let my senses go and felt how large the place actually was. I couldn¡¯t feel the end of it, and then he told me that it was bigger than the real world, with continents and oceans and wildlife that was mostly safe, but there were more dangerous areas.


    I still don¡¯t know how to feel about him building us an entire world. How was that even possible? I know how big his dungeon was in the real world, and it was minuscule in comparison to the world he made for my nation. Then he told me the other secret: that this was just one of 50 such places.


    He did admit that the starting floors were minuscule in comparison, but that didn¡¯t matter to me. He had still hidden so much¡ªno wonder I felt such power when he allowed me to take strength from his realm.


    Now it makes more sense how I managed to get so strong in so short a time when I fixed my skills. I was able to pull on the power of multiple worlds. That means my talent wasn¡¯t as efficient as I first thought it was, but that didn¡¯t matter anymore.


    There were so many intelligent creatures and so many civilizations inside ETG, not to speak of the fact that he could make humans, dwarves, and the other races that were thought impossible for dungeons to copy.


    Not only that but apparently, when dungeon monsters have offspring, their offspring are no longer bound to the dungeon and can leave it. They were as real as me, except they still had a strong connection to the dungeon of their birth and would never betray it.


    Then there was the Academy, the Line, and the Labyrinth¡ªthings I would never have expected a dungeon to have. Well, perhaps the labyrinth, but not in the form that it¡¯s in.


    Everything was going smoothly for now, but I knew that it wouldn¡¯t last. News was already spreading about what was happening here, but everyone was still too far away to do anything to stop it. I wondered if they were going to let other people settle back here, using the fact that the trade winds weakened here so people could use it as a resupply spot. Perhaps the Masters and the Beasts will try to take full control over this place and only allow their own people to work here. I guess we will see in the future.


    I also didn¡¯t doubt that they would try to take the dungeon by force, but now that I knew the extent of his power, I understood that anyone who wanted to take this dungeon would need to use tremendous force. I was certain that they had the strength needed if they came together, but would the four powers that were on the brink of war act fast enough to stop the progress of this dungeon before nothing could stop it? I guess we will see if they succeed in that or not.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Time went by fast, and I was quite busy guiding my people to get to the problematic places. A lot of people started to loot, but I wasn¡¯t going to have it. My concentration was broken when I sensed something fast approaching. I looked north. It didn¡¯t take long for me to sense a massive object flying at incredible speeds. ¡°That is my creatures.¡± I heard a soft voice in my head that I immediately recognized as ETG.


    He seemed incredibly busy, and it didn¡¯t take long for me to have a visual of the airship that was closing in. It was entirely made of metal, something I hadn¡¯t seen before, and, of course, the speed at which it was moving was incredible. The front of it seemed quite damaged, perhaps it had gone through a battle, or maybe the speed itself had caused this.


    They did notify air control of their approach, but their last sentence was quite worrying. They said that three hours behind them, there was still one diamond rank following their escape from wherever they came from.


    What was worrying was that they weren¡¯t slowing down, but then I sensed a part of the mountain turning into a large gateway, and the pieces fell together. They were simply going to fly at this speed into the dungeon and probably slow down there. But that meant I would need to deal with the diamond rank that was following them.


    It took another hour before I felt his power closing in. ETG assured me that if I needed it, I could get help from the peak diamond rank. But now that I felt the power closing in, I knew I didn¡¯t need it.


    While he was more powerful than me, it was obvious he had focused on travel speed more than anything else. Also, the fact that he had been burning so much mana to continue flying here at such speed meant that he would be quite spent.


    I flew up and waited floating in the air for his approach. He noticed me and started to slow down, eventually stopping a few kilometers away, breathing heavily. ¡°Why don¡¯t you go back to where you came from? This is the sovereign ground of the Eternal City-State, and you have no permission to enter it.¡±


    ¡°You traitor! No one has recognized anything, and you can¡¯t just declare yourself a sovereign nation apart from us. You¡¯re our subordinate, nothing more. Why do you have the flying skill? I swear, it¡¯s the incompetence of the younger generations that has led to this idiotic incident. Do you really think you can stop me? Don¡¯t make me laugh. And you actually think that a newly ranked-up platinum dungeon can even defend against me? Let me show you true strength!¡±


    He teleported past me, but I managed to get one of my hooking skills on him. Damn, he was fast, and before I was able to properly activate the skill, he had flown past me and into the gateway where the airship had gone through.


    Of course, ETG didn¡¯t let him enter the dungeon, but that didn¡¯t stop him from flying through the mountain, causing a portion of it to crack and start tumbling down. He seemed quite pleased with himself and started flying toward the city itself, but he didn¡¯t get far before the skill snapped into place. I yanked him back like he was tethered by a rope.


    That must have hurt, but he didn¡¯t fall far before he managed to regain control of his body. Now, he looked mad but also confused. ¡°You think I would let you destroy this city and the people in it? I love how all of you underestimate anyone who isn¡¯t you.¡±


    He tried again, but he wasn¡¯t getting away from me. It took quite a lot of power, especially with him resisting, but I kept making the rope shorter and shorter.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Don¡¯t you want to fight me?¡± I said in a mocking voice. He immediately turned around and flew toward me at incredible speed. I had to give it to him¡ªhe really was fast in the air.


    What he didn¡¯t expect was for me to let him hit me. As soon as he did, I wrapped myself around him, increasing my weight while pounding him with my fists. The flying skill took quite a lot of concentration, and soon we found ourselves on the ground.


    He started to throw spells at me, and I needed to defend. He was still stronger than me, but obviously, he didn¡¯t actually know how to properly fight. Yes, he was doing damage to me, but he was spending so much power to do so. I just let him think that he was winning. It took him quite a while to understand what was happening, but by then it was already too late.


    When his eyes widened a bit with the realization that he was running on empty and hadn¡¯t done any real damage, I appeared in front of him and headbutted him hard. He tried to defend himself, but he was more of a spellcaster than a close-in fighter. I slipped past his every punch and delivered my own. He tried to escape a few times, but he was always pulled back by the rope.


    ¡°Stop! Please, don¡¯t! We can talk!¡± he tried to say with his broken jaw, but I just pretended not to hear. Just a moment ago, he was ready to kill innocent civilians just to show his superiority. I never understood how killing or hurting someone weaker than you made you stronger. It just made you a pathetic bully. It didn¡¯t take long for him to be on the ground while I continued to rain punches on his head.


    I stopped when he was properly unconscious and barely living. That took quite a lot¡ªdiamond-rank bodies were tough. When I looked around, I saw the devastation. A part of the mountain was completely destroyed, and the land was filled with scars for about 100 kilometers around us. The forest that we had fought in was on fire in multiple spots, but most of it was now black dirt or rock. In fact, I was currently in a hole about 100 meters deep just because of the punches I made.


    I kind of wanted to kill him, and I knew that I could, but there was still a chance that we could postpone hostilities. Every moment ETG got to continue advancing meant there was a better chance for all of us to survive.


    So I went and brought some special rope and handcuffs and tied him up so he wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything. What I didn¡¯t do was heal him. I could already see his body slowly healing itself, so it meant he wouldn¡¯t die, but I also wanted him to stay unconscious for as long as possible.


    I was still going to stay close to here, just in case he managed to do something, but I focused back on guiding my people to help my citizens relocate and anyone who wanted to escape this place board airships that would take them far away. I wondered if I was going to need to fight again, or if we would get the evacuations done before that.

 chapter 254

    Pov Vivian


    I woke up and noticed that I was alone in my prison. Where had Ismael gone? Immediately, I tried to send a message to my grandfather, but I still couldn¡¯t get through whatever the dungeon had done. Somehow, not having that huge dragon here made me feel even more insignificant. It was like I couldn¡¯t do anything to change my situation, even when I didn¡¯t have a guard watching over me.


    There was a way out of this cave, and without the huge dragon blocking it, I could easily see it. But I was still inside the dungeon, there was nothing I could do to escape. This dungeon had been quite busy. I have felt it strengthening the stone here after it reached platinum rank, which meant I couldn¡¯t even easily break through the stone here, not to speak of the dungeon stone probably surrounding every floor.


    Well, this place should still be connected to the pathways outside¡ªthe mana here isn¡¯t stale¡ªso there should be a way out for me. Yet I was under no illusion that Ismael would come after me and capture me easily enough, as I couldn¡¯t hide here; the dungeon would easily locate me. Yet my mind was trying to tell me something¡ªsomething I was missing.


    It finally clicked after the food delivery didn¡¯t come. Was the dungeon under attack right now? That would mean Ismael was probably fighting, and so were most of the dungeon¡¯s strongest allies. Without further delay, as I had already wasted way too much time figuring this out, I started to run towards the opening out of this cave¡ªor at least I hoped it would be.


    The tunnel seemed smaller than I expected, but I guess Ismael could change his size easily enough, so there was no need to make the tunnel leading out of this room too huge. I was about to reach it when I felt the gateway open up behind me.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for you to run. You couldn¡¯t get out even if you wanted to. There is no escape from these kinds of rooms¡ªit could even stop me from leaving,¡± I heard a human voice say. It sounded quite similar to whenever Ismael talked in my mind. I turned around to see a sophisticated human smirking at me. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out who that actually was.


    My running slowed down, and eventually, I stopped. There was one thing I didn¡¯t really understand: what did he mean by there was no escape and that even he couldn''t get out of this place without the dungeon¡¯s say-so? From what I can sense, the area around here is quite big. There¡¯s no way this could be an isolated pocket with mana this well-circulated.


    I watched as he turned back into the huge dragon he actually was. It was quite fascinating to see, but now I had to go the long way around to get back to my bed.


    ¡°So, where were you?¡± I asked while still walking. It was always annoying when he looked towards me with that huge head of his, as the wind generated by his movements was quite bothersome. At least this time, I didn¡¯t need to shift back my bed since I wasn¡¯t near it.


    ¡°I just had to observe a little fight. You know, the diamond ranks of this generation seem quite disappointing. If you¡¯re all like the one I saw, well, my job will be a lot easier,¡± he communicated. He spoke so casually, but the implication was frightening.


    ¡°Did the dungeon do something to the Guild Master,¡± I said. He¡¯s probably the only diamond rank nearby that I¡¯m pretty sure wouldn¡¯t be an ally of this dungeon. Ismael started to chuckle at that.


    ¡°No, you silly girl, he wouldn¡¯t be of the new generation. But perhaps you don¡¯t know much about him. I have no doubt in my mind that he could have done some real damage, but he isn¡¯t here and will probably never return. Well, perhaps, but I guess time will tell,¡± he communicated.


    After that, Ismael closed his eyes and found a comfortable position. Whenever he did that, there was no point in asking more questions, as he wouldn¡¯t answer me. And I don¡¯t think trying to announce anything would be a good idea. So, once again, all I had left to do was try not to be bored.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    A day passed, and I was waiting for lunch and an opportunity to talk to my grandfather. Lunch came, but not the communication crystal that allowed me to speak with him.


    ¡°Ismael, don¡¯t you have the deal with my grandfather? Or can I speak to him later?¡± I asked. He looked towards me, and after a little bit, finally spoke.


    ¡°No, little one, you won¡¯t be speaking to him through that crystal anymore. Just sit tight.¡±


    "Wait, what do you mean? What has happened?" I tried again and again, but he simply wouldn''t speak to me anymore. This was bad. Really bad. For a moment, I thought that maybe something had happened to my grandfather, but that was a ridiculous notion.


    A quick confirmation with my skill that allowed us to communicate confirmed that he was still alive. Even if I couldn¡¯t use it to communicate with him because of the interference, at least I could check if he was still alive.


    I tried to ask the people who brought me food, but they never spoke. I tried to grab one, but a transparent barrier stopped me from doing it. I looked towards Ismael, who had one eye open and looked quite displeased.


    After that, I stopped trying to get answers. I didn¡¯t understand exactly what had changed, but obviously, the dungeon''s secret had been discovered, and there had been some sort of conflict outside. What that really meant, I had no idea.


    I suddenly woke up during the night. It was the 4th night after they stopped letting me speak to my grandfather, but now the gateway was open during the night, and no one was coming in or out.


    Everything was so dark here at the moment. Usually, the cave was bright, but only during the day. I continued to look at the shimmering edge of the gateway that promised freedom, even if I knew it was a lie.


    "That¡¯s not a lie, little one. You should really go through that before you are trapped here forever."


    It took me a moment to register his words, but I didn¡¯t wait another moment and immediately rushed towards the gateway. Were they really keeping their promise of letting me go? It was so hard to believe, but what else was I going to believe in?


    So I jumped through the gateway and realized that I was in the entrance hall of the dungeon on the surface. I recognized the huge pillars and just walking past those meant that I was out of the dungeon.


    I started to run towards them, but even before I picked up proper speed, my steps faltered, and I slowed down. I had gotten so used to the quiet that I hadn¡¯t noticed it before, but now that I did and looked around, there was literally no one here.


    The place seemed abandoned, with no souls anywhere around here. It took me way too long to realize that. I should use my senses, and that actually made me cringe a little bit. How could I already be so rusty? My panic grew as I didn¡¯t sense any living beings for quite a while, but then I breathed out in relief because eventually, I did sense living people.


    There seemed to be quite a few up above where the airship port is, and further into the city, there were people. But currently, I can feel only about thirty thousand people when I should have been able to feel millions. I sensed another diamond ranked in the biggest plaza in the city, so I decided to walk towards it.


    That diamond rank felt weird, like he was unconscious. It was incredibly creepy to walk in this empty city, and I still thought that perhaps this was some kind of trick¡ªthat maybe I was still in the dungeon and this place was made to mess with my mind. But I knew that it wasn¡¯t.


    It was also time that I contacted my grandfather. It was harder to initiate the skill to speak to him than I thought, but not because of any actual problem. It was just because of me¡ªhe was forced to work with the enemy, and I felt ashamed because of it.


    ¡°Grandfather, are you there?¡± I asked in a shakier voice than I really meant to. There was a short pause, and my anxiety grew with every second, but eventually, I felt the connection solidify, and I finally heard my grandfather¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Vivian, is that you? What happened? I¡¯m on my way to you right now. Are you safe?¡±


    Those words were so nice to hear. I could once again communicate with him freely. ¡°They let me go. What has happened?¡± There was another moment of silence before he spoke.


    ¡°Almost a week ago, the dungeon revealed its true self and declared independence. We don''t know exactly what''s going on there, but we know that another diamond rank reached there before us. But we haven¡¯t heard from him.¡±


    The implications were staggering, but I had kind of expected something like this. ¡°I think he¡¯s still alive. I will reach his position soon. But grandfather, the city¡­ it¡¯s basically completely empty. There are so few people left here. I think they all went inside the dungeon.¡±


    ¡°Shit,¡± I heard him curse before he went silent for a bit. ¡°Sorry about that. It¡¯s just that now a few of our plans won¡¯t work, and the dungeon will have a lot more mana to work with.¡±


    We continued to speak as I gave him as much information as possible, and eventually, I reached the diamond-ranked person I had felt in this plaza.


    ¡°Well, he¡¯s alive, grandfather. He¡¯s still unconscious, seems to be slowly healing, but someone beat him close to death. I told you that Ismael was away a bit, but from the context, I don¡¯t think he fought personally. So they have one or multiple diamond ranks capable of taking out a pretty strong diamond rank, at least rank-wise. I don¡¯t know his combat capability.¡±


    Eventually, we stopped speaking, so I stopped channeling mana into the skill. I just sat down next to the unconscious diamond rank and decided to wait until the others reached here. It will still take them about five days, but they are coming with a decent amount of strength, and from what my grandfather told me, they were gathering even more.


    This certainly was a huge mess.

 chapter 255

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I watched as Vivian left and quickly changed the gateways so they would no longer work or be in any way connected to the rest of my network. It should be impossible for them to use them, but you couldn¡¯t be too careful.


    Basically, while it wasn¡¯t official yet, we were under siege now. What I also did was start to gather the last of the mana I needed to break through so I could start making the next floor but, more importantly, to improve the skill My World once again.


    The only reason I¡¯m doing this is because we found out through one of the listening devices that it will take them four to five days to reach here. I should be out of the breakthrough by then, especially if I go fast.


    I already had my floor guardian planned out. At first, I wanted to make something with slime, but balancing it seemed to be a nightmare. It was either too weak or way too powerful. Still, I wanted to do something different, so I decided on a swarm-type floor guardian.


    Gathering enough mana was stupidly easy, like always. What wasn¡¯t so nice was pushing myself to the absolute breaking limit, but when I once again triggered the breakthrough, it felt so good. I only enjoyed the moment for a short while before I got to work.


    The pattern I was using was one of the ancient creatures that a few of my Academy scientists specializing in that field managed to bring back to life. They classified them as dinosaurs, with only a few species of them still surviving to the modern day.


    The ones I was planning to use were small, didn¡¯t even reach the waist of a person, but they were vicious, especially one of their claws that had some sort of pivot mechanism to make it move incredibly fast up and down, tearing apart anything in its way. They seemed to have pack tactics, which I toned down a bit, as I wanted them to be swarmers and not intelligent hunters.


    I also needed to make sure that some of them were quite a lot stronger because the problem with swarms was that if you were strong enough, no matter how long, you could endlessly defend yourself. So, it was still quite tricky to balance this particular floor guardian, but it will also take a tremendous amount of time before anyone gets to test it, so I will have chances to make adjustments.


    The reason being is because this floor basically has no dungeon rooms. My instincts didn¡¯t like it at all, but I did make one big one that seemed to satisfy it at least a little bit. I simply didn¡¯t have time to make proper dungeon rooms. First, I needed to deal with whatever trouble the powers of this world were going to bring, and because of this, I was focusing on the playrooms.


    I needed more farm floors capable of producing diamond ranks, but after that, I was most likely going to rush to diamond rank. While doing the minimum possible to make sure I didn¡¯t mess up the floor size advantage I have built over my entire life.


    The skill selection for the breakthrough was easy. I just put everything into My World, bringing it to rank C. Damn, this skill was hard to rank up, but it needed to be done. I finished the breakthrough four days and 12 hours after I entered it.


    Immediately, I went through all the reports, finding that nothing bad had happened and that the diamond ranks hadn¡¯t yet arrived. Then I reconnected with my dungeon and went through everything to make sure that nothing had happened in my dungeon without me knowing about it.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Nothing really special happened, but a few more of my creatures had reached diamond rank. More interestingly, some of the adventurers¡ªthe first to accept my deal¡ªwere starting to get close. Some of them were real monsters, especially Carl.


    His talent was seemingly quite simple, but it was so incredibly effective. I kind of wished there was some way for me to collect the talents of my adventurers. Perhaps I should see if it¡¯s possible to create a skill that would allow me to do so, but right now I simply didn¡¯t have time to put so much effort into something that wasn¡¯t important for survival.


    Then again, when I was able to make diamond-rank monster, being able to use the best of the best talents as I made their patterns would be an incredible advantage. Well, right now I need to focus on getting My World to at least S rank.


    That way, no one can mess with me. Pixies should already find it impossible to teleport to my core floor, but who knows? They might have some diamond ranks with really specific talents to make it possible.


    Immediately, I started to expand the new floor. It was, of course, going to be another farm floor and the only diamond-ranked farm floor for land-based creatures. The other farms had been working for quite a while now, and it seemed like the water-based one was pulling ahead in the department of producing mana and platinum-ranked creatures.


    So, for the first five floors after the platinum rank, the first one would be for the slimes, the second for land-based creatures, and the last three would all go to the water-type farm floors.


    That should be enough. Then the rest of the floors could basically just be empty, but I would still need to make some dungeon rooms. That would be relatively easy as those rooms would also basically just be empty.


    I didn¡¯t like this at all. At least in that part, I agreed with my instincts. But from what I¡¯ve learned, many adventurers also go against their instincts and do the opposite of what their body tells them to do. Some of them die because of this, but those who don¡¯t¡ªwell, they can become truly great.


    I had nearly finished going through all my floors, updating some dungeon rules, especially in the labyrinth, when I finally noticed the approaching presence of something incredibly powerful. When I looked toward it, there was a medium-sized airship that was just radiating with power. There weren¡¯t just diamond ranks aboard, because to my surprise, they also had a dungeon core.


    It took me a little while to realize why they had that. I also felt quite stupid when I realized how they were using it. I am capable of making dungeon cores, so my people could also use such technology.


    What they had done was use a dungeon core to expand the size of the ship¡¯s inner hull so they could fit more people without making the airship bigger. Now, how exactly they used the dungeon core to get that effect, I didn¡¯t know, but sometimes all you needed was to see that something was possible to be able to figure out how to do it.


    I added this discovery to the backlog the Academy was currently under, as new research into topics that didn¡¯t have to do with our survival had been left to the side. When they entered the eternal city-state''s territory, I could finally feel the individuals on the airship.


    They had six peak diamond ranks and about thirty others. That was a way bigger force than we ever expected to see so soon. They also had a lot of platinum ranks, but they wouldn¡¯t matter in this type of fight. I think they are more for logistical purposes than anything else.


    Vivian had gotten the other diamond rank conscious, but he was still a bit broken. The grandfather and granddaughter hugged each other warmly, and they didn¡¯t seem to care what everyone else thought. There were some Beast representatives, but the majority of the diamond ranks that came were from the Masters. I also figured out why they brought six peak ranks.


    One of them was Vivian''s grandfather. He probably demanded to be here and wouldn¡¯t take no for an answer. The other five I had expected to be the people who got the short end of the stick and had to come here without actually knowing each other too well, but that turned out to not be true. It seems like these five were a proper adventurer team that have been together not for centuries, but millenniums.


    In all honesty, they were intimidating. Just their presence alone radiated absolute confidence, and I had no problem believing that they not only complemented each other but that they could enhance each other''s powers exponentially. It was a scary thought, and I¡¯m pretty sure they could fight against my platinum ranks easily enough, probably even fight Ismael to at least a standstill, with Vivian''s grandfather making the difference.


    Perhaps I was underestimating Ismael''s power, especially when he would be in his dragon form, but there was a reason why his species was basically extinct. So now I understood why they waited so long to come here.


    If they wanted to, a few of them could have been here a day or two after they discovered what I truly am. They waited to bring enough strength that they could at least match mine and my allies, so they wouldn¡¯t have a weaker bargaining position¡ªif they were even going to bargain. Currently, I have no idea what their game plan is, and I just have to wait and see.

 chapter 256

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I watched as a group of platinum ranks tried to enter one of my gateways, but it simply didn¡¯t work. All of the gateways on the surface just above me were now deactivated and completely disconnected from the rest of my network.


    It seems that they had some sort of device they tried to use with my gateway. I didn¡¯t know what it was supposed to do, but whatever it was, it didn¡¯t work, which didn¡¯t leave a lot of happy faces.


    They usually just did one thing and then went to report back to the command center they set up in the Adventurers Guild. They had already set up a way to handle the new airships that were coming in and the people traveling over land. They were only letting them resupply and then sending them off again, and when the platinum ranks supported by diamond ranks said something, well, the airship captains wisely stopped complaining.


    So instead of going back, they actually tried to enter my first floor. To make it a little bit fun, I made the first area of the labyrinth that was connected to the outside world look like a few of my original first floors. The difference was that there weren¡¯t any monsters, and I made things look more run down¡ªat least as much as you can make regular caves look like they¡¯re run down.


    At first, they didn¡¯t think anything of it, but I could see in their body language how they slowly became more unnerved. They started to argue when they reached the place where the normal first-floor guardian should be. One of them wanted to return immediately, but it seemed like they were under orders to expedite things.


    The diamond and platinum ranks had already been here for about four days, but they hadn¡¯t accomplished much. Then have already interrogated a lot of the people who stayed behind and get a handle on the constant flow of airships that were coming in, but not much more.


    Eventually, the group delving me decided to descend onto the next floor, and this was the first test I was actually curious about. They were all accomplished platinum ranks, even though they were, at best, servants to the diamond ranks who had the real power. Still, they knew their stuff¡ªI was certain of that¡ªbut none of them could feel or identify the other type of gateway I had, which was basically a hidden gateway that only the very best could detect.


    Now, I could have switched the gateway destination when only half of them had walked through, but I wasn¡¯t going to mess with them just yet. In the grand scheme of things, the platinum ranks were not important enough to reveal such a powerful secret.


    They continued to descend until they reached the 5th floor, after which they didn¡¯t find a way down but instead six different corridors leading off in different directions, all of them with different ruin designs.


    Most of the ruins were empty, especially the ones that were really old-looking, where the brickwork and stones were barely holding on. But even in those ruins, I always liked to add a few traps. I will feel bad for anyone that stumbles onto the really dangerous trapped ruins.


    The kind of place where you step over one pressure plate only to find that the entire room was a pressure plate, and now you need to deal with flaming, flying, electrified balls of rock fired at you faster than the speed of sound.


    Those were deep in, and even if I did make the entire labyrinth constantly shift, there were places you could only get to if you were really unlucky.


    My design team, over the years, has expanded quite a lot, and while I have employed quite a few that adventurers would call madmen. If I let them do civil designs for too long¡ªthe ones that I can use in dungeon rooms¡ªthey would actually go crazy. So the labyrinth has also been a way to let them channel all their crazy ideas into a place that was meant to be madness itself.


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


    I¡¯m pretty sure some of the more elaborate magical traps have started to form consciousness, and honestly, that¡¯s a scary thought. I don¡¯t think I would have recognized that fact if I hadn¡¯t dealt so much lately with how consciousness develops and what makes it actually happen. Fortunately, none of them seem to be even remotely close to sapient, but I guess if any of them actually achieve it, I¡¯ll deal with that when the time comes.


    They were still arguing, but one of the braver ones decided to venture a bit deeper in. Once again, I kind of wanted to mess with them and make one of the gateways switch locations, but I held off.


    Then they became even stupider, with each one going individually into the different tunnels to search a bit further. Now it was an actual struggle not to mess with them. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t do it for long once they realized that the ruins seemed endless.


    I watched as they went back up, their faces showing a little bit of fear. I didn¡¯t know exactly what they needed to accomplish, but it was obvious they didn¡¯t accomplish it. They were headed to the command center, so I focused back on a particular wing of the Academy where a lot of people were furiously working on trying to understand and predict the secret language almost everyone upstairs was using to hide their communication from me.


    At first, I thought they knew that I could see above the ground, but I think they were just paranoid about spying. Not everyone could speak this secret language of theirs, so I still learned stuff.


    One of the things was that none of them actually believed that all of the spies had left, and that the pulling back of the personnel I did was just to throw everyone off. I guess I could have seen that coming, but I would have been happier if they actually believed that we weren¡¯t spying on them anymore, well at least with people.


    "They are going to go back and report the first delve into my dungeon. It would be nice to know what they are saying?" I communicated to the team in charge of deciphering everything. One of them looked up, and I saw a little bit of sweat running down his forehead.


    "Just give me a little bit more time. I think I¡¯ve got it," he answered, while not looking at anything. It was like he was focused more inside than outside. His body temperature was also rising at an alarming rate.


    Before I could say anything, a person laid their hands on his forehead and started to cast a magic that emanated a chilling aura.


    His talent was quite fascinating, allowing him to calculate things in his head even better than I could, and a lot more complex things that didn¡¯t have direct and predictable outcomes. The fact that, if he really pushed himself, he would actually die from overheating because his brain was working so fast was so fascinating. Unfortunately, this was one of the talents that I couldn¡¯t get, as he was actually a recruit from the outside world instead of one of my creatures.


    He almost slumped when I saw his body temperature starting to cool down. Quickly, he started to write something down, and when he filled the second page, I could understand the rest.


    ¡°I thank you for everything. You can take your well-deserved rest now,¡± I communicated to the team leader, who then said it to the person who actually finished deciphering the secret language they were using.


    Now, when I focused back on the surface world, everything changed. All the communications now made sense to me, so it was time to figure out what they were actually doing.


    I always had a little bit of presence in the main chamber where their most important business was discussed. The interesting thing was that two of the five diamond ranks knew my viewpoint and often glanced at it, so when I now focused more on that location, I saw both of their eyes going towards my viewpoint.


    They tried to figure out what was going on and even changed locations, but just to mess with them, I always went to the exact same place in whatever room they were having their discussions in. The best part was that, now that I knew the language, I just went back and rewatched everything that I had already observed.


    It seems like their higher-ups were pushing them a lot, especially because the Pixies and the Deliverers had started to understand what was going on and were putting pressure on the Masters and the Beasts to get this solved fast.


    The five who came here were from the Masters, and they were not ones to easily take orders. So that¡¯s why they hadn¡¯t stormed into me to try to break my core or take control of me. They were actually trying to do this properly and without crossing any bridges just yet.


    That was quite fascinating. Also, Vivian¡¯s grandfather didn¡¯t really care about what was going on anymore, and while he was still angry about what had happened, he got his granddaughter back and was no longer on a warpath.


    Now that everyone had seen his reactions play out, the ones advocating for her death were quite silent. I even had to stop a few of them from resigning. To me, it didn¡¯t matter that they were wrong¡ªwhat mattered was that they were willing to voice a different opinion. Sometimes that difference of opinion is the thing that might keep us alive. So who cared if this time it would have done the opposite? It¡¯s important to know all the options available to us.


    ¡°So what you¡¯re telling me is that this dungeon somehow changed the first few floors, and you think they are just cheap replicas that lead to a different part of the dungeon unknown to us?¡± The leader asked. One of the ones that delved into me answered immediately, and with an affirmative.


    ¡°Scour the mountainside and find if there are any other proper entrances, and test every gateway. If there aren¡¯t any, that means this dungeon can modify itself more than we thought possible.¡±


    I could now see the weight on the shoulders of that person. He was put in charge of this mission, but ever since he got here, I have seen him question things more and more. It¡¯s like he has believed in something all his life, and suddenly there are more and more facts that show his belief has been wrong.


    Perhaps it would be a better idea if I initiated contact. Perhaps a letter at the dungeon entrance asking for a talk would be a good idea. I started giving information to my people about everything that I had learned and about the idea I had. I should have a bit of time to discuss this with everyone. Our current game plan was to delay, delay, delay¡ªand what¡¯s more delaying than peace talks?

 chapter 257

    Pov Dungeon Core


    It was decided that we would wait to deliver the letter until they were quite close to trying to delve into me once again. It was quite humorous to watch as one of the lookouts noticed, from the corner of his eye, the letter gently floating down almost next to him.


    The way his eyes slowly started to widen as he realized what he was looking at was amusing, and then I could see a few beads of sweat running down his forehead when he understood what it actually meant.


    For about five seconds, he had no idea what to do, but he wasn¡¯t the only one on guard. One of the others grabbed the letter, looked at the writing on it, and took off running as fast as he could toward their command center. The letter went through a few people before reaching the table of the party leader and the current commander of this situation.


    He narrowed his eyes when he saw the letter, most likely because of the timing. There was a lot of debate on when to give the letter, but in the end, we decided we must stop showing that we are just some weak prey and prove that we also have some claws of our own. It was quite a long letter, giving out some terms, and I could see him contemplating everything, just like I thought he would.


    Then he reached the end, and for the first time, I was completely unable to read him. The last part said that I was willing to negotiate how this world would look and function when it reached its end.


    In all honesty, I actually was, because I really didn¡¯t care. And if I¡¯m being more honest, I really didn¡¯t want to be anything else but a dungeon core. Becoming something like the world¡¯s will¡ªhaving almost no way of doing things on your own and just having to watch¡ªwhile it did please a part of me, I didn¡¯t like that type of passiveness.


    What I wanted to do was make worlds and then see how everything acted inside and developed. I¡¯ve also guided some events and even helped some who were struggling unfairly. Giving up everything that I currently am didn¡¯t seem like the way to go. But like every child of the adventurers, all of them had to eventually grow up, and perhaps that would also be my future. Even if I would like to be a child, so to speak, forever, that¡¯s probably never going to be possible.


    I continued to observe, seeing how this letter would be received. It didn¡¯t take long for him to contact his superiors, and then a huge meeting room was set up with a couple of dozen communication crystals. I was glad to see their crystal technology was a few steps behind the communication crystals my Academy was producing.


    That¡¯s another thing I have noticed. When you reach the top, most stop struggling to get stronger, which is understandable, but that mentality makes them stop progressing in other parts. From what I understand, that particular communication crystal technology they currently have has been around for about 1,000 years with little change because they reached the point where it was all that they needed, so they didn¡¯t put any more resources into improving that technology.


    I could somewhat see the reasoning behind it. In some things, you are going to reach a wall, but that doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t branch off and see what other things you can accomplish with that technology as a base. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve constantly been increasing the size of my Academy with more and more departments that are getting more and more specialized.


    From all of my floors, there are plenty of people who have other pursuits besides just getting stronger. I don¡¯t see a reason why, if they want to, they couldn¡¯t push themselves as far as they can in other pursuits, and I¡¯m more than willing to give them the resources and time to do anything they want.


    Because of all of this, we are starting to actually get technologically ahead of the rest of the world, and it¡¯s just so fascinating to see everything that¡¯s possible, things that I could never dream about.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    But now that I¡¯ve seen what¡¯s possible, I could recreate them, and I can¡¯t wait to see what they¡¯re like when I start adding that kind of technology to different playrooms. But before that, this stupid war for my existence must be fought.


    Bureaucracy seems to take quite a while, but one by one, more and more individuals connected through the communication crystals. I was a bit surprised that almost half of the communication crystals were for the Beasts, so it seems like they properly formed an alliance.


    What followed was literally three days of straight discussions, sometimes full-blown arguments that I was certain would have come to actual fighting if they weren¡¯t on other sides of the world. As things went on, they were starting to lean more towards accepting my deal in exchange for resources and eventually training more diamond ranks.


    It took three more days for them to offer their terms. It was hilarious to watch the panicking platinum rank that was clearly confused. His orders were to step into my entrance hall and speak their terms out loud.


    The terms were quite long, and a few of them I certainly wouldn¡¯t agree to, but all the people currently working with me on this problem were excited. They wanted to see how far we could push them and, of course, how we could continue to delay them.


    The so-called peace talks lasted for a few months. We only communicated through letters, even though they wanted to see representatives and demanded them every time they came back to amend their terms.


    What was still keeping us at the talking table, so to speak, was the fact that I was willing to give ridiculous amounts of hard-to-find materials. What was stopping them from accepting was that they would need to protect me against the other two powers and the fact that I would never allow them to visit my core.


    I actually had no problem allowing them to delve on my diamond-ranked floors whenever I reached that far, but everyone also knew¡ªat least on our side¡ªthat the peace would never last. In fact, most of my analysts were certain that we could only stretch the non-hostilities for a few months at most. The reason being the other two powers and the opposition to the peace talks on both the Masters'' and Beasts'' sides.


    As a show of good faith, this time, not just a letter arrived but so many really expensive and dense mana crystals that it actually took them a week to get all of them out of the first few fake floors. This delay, however, was useful because I was only putting a small part of me into focusing on it, while everything else was focused on making me stronger and better able to defend myself.


    Those slimes were magnificent. And I was now calling them slimes, even though they started as just a nutrient ooze. A couple of them have now reached diamond rank¡ªsomething I didn¡¯t expect them to achieve so quickly¡ªbut I had made them a perfect environment. And, well, the platinum ranks are basically the size of huge capital cities. That allowed them not just to consume some of the other slimes around them but, more importantly, to absorb the incredibly strong solar power that their farm playroom was providing.


    There were currently about 50 million individual slimes, but they still had plenty of room. Eventually, even if they fully covered the entire floor, it would not stop their development cycle. The funny thing is that when they reach diamond rank, they don¡¯t get bigger; instead, they shrink to about the size of a human, and yes, they become proper sapiens then. Their ranking-up lifecycle finally helped crack the problem with my other patterns developing consciousness and sapience too soon.


    This meant that I could now fully make my farm floor work to produce diamond ranks in quantity. Now, it will take quite a while to get this working, but I just finished expanding the 52nd floor. All I have to do now is make a basic environment, modify the patterns for this floor with the new things I learned, and just let it start developing on its own. Then it would be time for another breakthrough and another farm floor.


    Of course, the other side also had time to prepare. They were trying to be sneaky, but they were bringing in dungeon melters and other devices. We were currently trying to figure out what they did. They were also bringing in more and more personnel, especially the Beasts, and it seems like Vivian''s grandfather was bringing in his entire clan. That was a weird move, and we weren¡¯t certain what it meant.


    Like this, another few months went by. With so much focus on only making the new floors and farm playrooms, I was getting things done fast. I had to make some basic dungeon rooms, but when that was done, I broke through and managed to get my ¡®My World¡¯ skill to rank B. But it was a close thing. Every time I upgraded that skill, I felt more solid, and I liked that feeling.


    Even with so many peak diamond ranks up above, I still managed to keep my breakthrough completely hidden. In fact, I was most likely going to keep all my breakthroughs hidden until I reached the final breakthrough before diamond rank, as I simply couldn¡¯t keep that one hidden no matter how much I wanted to. But by then, it would be too late for them. About a week after my breakthrough, things changed for the worse as a delegation from the Pixies and the Delvers came.


    The Delvers were also like the Beasts, and the Masters were a portion of them who wanted a long-term treaty, while another portion advocated for my end or total control over me. The Pixies were the ones wholly wanting my destruction. The peace talks were more difficult after that, and only about two weeks later did they finally fall through, and the flood of diamond ranks¡ªabout 100 of them¡ªrushed into the labyrinth.


    I looked back on everything that happened, and I was a little bit disappointed. We¡¯d missed the opportunity to show our strength, but in a way, it might have helped us in the long run because now they had no idea what strength we actually had.


    The diamond ranks will soon learn that it will not be easy to navigate my labyrinth, and with its constant changing, they could be lost there for a long time. Up until this point, I had kept the labyrinth from changing whenever they entered, but this time I let the dungeon rule I crafted take over. Let¡¯s see how long it will take them to figure out that it would not just be a few months'' work to reach the core.

 chapter 258

    Pov Dungeon Core


    ¡°We have lost contact with half of our forces. We still know that they are all alive, but the dungeon stone is signal-blocking, and it seems like it has already changed all of the dungeon stone to the new variant that¡¯s even strong enough to resist diamond-rank damage.¡±


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be here because we all expected that. Tell me what you suspect.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve had a few experts look at the first few floors that are mimicking its real original first floors. The experts say that there are strange energy signals every once in a while hidden in the walls and that there are a lot of dungeon rules layered upon each other. In fact, they seem to be taking up, if their predictions are to be believed, an amount of mana that should not be possible for this deep of a dungeon.¡±


    ¡°You have still not gotten to your point. You wanted to speak alone, and I gave you that chance. Don¡¯t make me regret it.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sorry. It¡¯s just that it¡¯s my belief, from what I¡¯ve learned from people reporting back, that it looks like a labyrinth. And, well, there have always been myths and legends told about labyrinths that change shape, trapping anyone who enters. I believe that this dungeon has a way of making that happen, and that¡¯s why we have lost contact with so many. It¡¯s not that they made it further in; it¡¯s because they are most likely in other parts of the labyrinth. And who knows how large it actually is.¡±


    That analyst is way too smart. He has been shunned most of the time that he has been here just because he¡¯s platinum rank, but he sure can come to some correct conclusions. And now he¡¯s talking to the old commander of the forces outside.


    The old commander refused to take his party into the dungeon, so people finally got the chance to replace his command. He still retains quite a lot of influence, and in the end, it seems like he¡¯s more focused on keeping the situation as calm as possible. But things aren¡¯t going well for them at the moment.


    There was another huge meeting going on with yelling and demanding answers. Everyone knew that they had lost contact with a lot of diamond ranks who had entered my labyrinth. We had yet to kill anyone, even though a few of them were alone now, but we were still waiting for the right moment. Everyone had also noticed how my presence was becoming more and more all-encompassing on the surface.


    They were trying to use some devices that were actually working to block me from spreading my influence upwards, but since we were now officially at war, I didn¡¯t see a reason why I shouldn¡¯t do what I wanted to do. So soon, they were operating out of a zone that was quite small as I spread my influence upwards and outwards.


    I was doing it slowly because I didn¡¯t want to frighten them with how fast I could actually claim territory. What I was also doing was making sure that my presence was even stronger, so if I were to do something on the surface, it wouldn¡¯t send up a flare announcing what I had done.


    Unfortunately, I have not been able to make one of my most dangerous creatures, the fruit flies, into proper platinum ranks as their bodies simply couldn''t handle it. I would need to make them bigger, but that would also make their effect that allows them to fly through objects not work as it does when they are at their small size. I think I just need to find a proper talent to make it work, but I have yet to find such a thing.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    I could already flood the surface with my monsters, not even needing a way to transport them to the surface. They know this, but they aren''t afraid because most of them up there are diamond ranks, and they think that they are untouchable. While for some, that''s true. I can¡¯t do anything against peak diamond ranks even if I send millions of the best platinum ranks I could make. But the weaker ones would still die.


    The reason we were hesitant was because there were still some citizens left who were basically under house arrest and left to their own devices, but they couldn''t leave either. Every once in a while, some of them were taken for interrogation.


    Fortunately, they had mind readers, so they actually didn''t need any torture to ensure that everyone spoke what they knew. Cooler heads seemed to have prevailed in that department, as some actually still wanted to start torturing.


    There was also the other problem of Vivian. She was one of the most listened-to experts, mainly because of her grandfather. She was getting things pretty correct, but I was still glad to see that even she hadn¡¯t figured out the new kind of gateway, even though she had sensed and figured out their locations. Another problem was her grandfather.


    He was a mystery to everyone, even to the spy who worked closely with him. From what we can understand, he''s basically bringing his entire clan here¡ªnot just the people, but everything including wealth and industry.


    He¡¯s the expert on dungeon fortresses, and while most still don¡¯t think I¡¯m a fortress, they do know about my surrounding dungeon stone sphere, which has helped him remain one of the most influential people up there.


    His moves were finally approved when he managed to convince everyone, after the first few diamond ranks went missing, that this wasn¡¯t going to be a war won in a few months but instead in decades.


    None of them liked what he said, but, well, to make it to diamond rank you couldn¡¯t be too stupid¡ªeven though I could see that a lot of the diamond ranks were just boosted up there, and, well, the difference between them and the ones who struggled to get there was immense.


    The Pixies have also been quite busy, and it seems like they have been producing dungeon melters in mass, as they have brought almost 50. There are multiple plans going on about how to use all of them, and I have no doubt that they will be bringing even more.


    Unfortunately for them, I¡¯m not stupid. They are waiting for me to advance so they can strike while I¡¯m unconscious, but if they only knew that those dungeon melters, while useful, won¡¯t help them as much as they expect.


    While we hadn¡¯t expected so many dungeon melters, we certainly planned for it¡ªand a lot more. Even in the labyrinth, their plans wouldn¡¯t be so simple. In the underground world, almost all of the ants have also retreated back to the dungeon, but there are still so many working on bringing in real stone so we can disrupt the melters¡¯ beams. This special mix of dungeon stone and real stone will take a while to get through, even with a melter.


    Their civilization had spread quite wide, and they really were so industrious. It was a bit sad to see them coming back like this, but I was glad that none of them were truly disconnected from me. Even now, dozens of billions of ants¡ªa lot of them dungeon monsters, but still a huge portion being real creatures¡ªwere helping not just to protect me but their own home as well.


    Sometimes, when I think about the dedication and fervor the ants had to protect their home, to protect me, I kind of felt bad for the diamond ranks. Just a tiny bit bad, as they were real arseholes right now. But if things ever got to the point where I needed to take the leash off of them, well, I didn¡¯t expect much to survive of our enemies. Yet the cost right now would be too high. There were too few of them at diamond rank at this moment.


    One thing was clear: there wouldn¡¯t be ant civilizations full of diamond ranks, and even the best of the best, their champions, only a few could reach that far. While the percentages I suspect could reach diamond rank were quite low for ants, they made up the difference thanks to their huge numbers.


    On the other point of the scale were the orcs. Their percentage of people I think could reach diamond rank was the highest amongst all other species, even adventurer species, but their birth rate was quite low. So I think in the end, they would have about the same amount of diamond ranks. Right now, both species only had two so far.


    Those four were quite strong, but like every other one of my creatures that has reached diamond rank, they were all newly advanced. From what I can tell, diamond ranks need quite a bit of time to get properly used to their power, and even then, they are just at the beginning of their rank. Also in diamond rank, every minor breakthrough meant quite a lot more power.


    I wonder how long they will wait before me not advancing makes them decide to use the dungeon melters. Hopefully, it will be a while, because every day that passes without them properly trying to get to my core is a day I grow stronger.

 chapter 259

    Pov Dungeon Core


    During the months when we have been under full siege, with no one getting in or out, the adventurers were starting to suffer. They didn¡¯t have any problems with food or staying alive; the problem was with the economy.


    There was no longer a place that would purchase almost all the drops that the adventurers didn¡¯t want, so they could make coin and purchase things they needed. And, of course, many of the industries that supported a civilization were now unavailable to them, which made some products quickly rise in price.


    If things continued like that, the entire adventurer population would suffer an economic crash along with many other problems. Already, a lot of adventurers were no longer going out to clear rooms to get loot because they couldn¡¯t do anything with it. I also think that¡¯s why the diamond ranks up above thought that I would eventually crack and fail¡ªbecause I would be attacked from within due to civil unrest. Fortunately, I had a way of fixing it.


    It would have brought problems before, but My World was a wonderful skill. There have always been devices that allowed better teleportation or even communications and now I could find them all. They were mainly used for longer communications and teleportations, but they could also be used to break through interference like the signal-blocking dungeon stone, and even my own dungeon rules that stop teleportations and communications from happening.


    Once again, the powers of this world have underestimated me, as I have now located the devices and spies that are still in the dungeon rooms. I gave my go-ahead, and all the teams waiting moved immediately to capture these spies and deactivate or destroy all those devices, so no diamond rank could use them to get into the dungeon rooms. Some of them were very well hidden, but I took care of those ones personally.


    It took about a day to complete this task. Some even managed to evade capture for a while, but you can¡¯t really hide inside the dungeon if the dungeon itself is hunting you. This caused a bit of panic, but the preparations were done, and it was finally time to properly address all the adventurers.


    It was a good thing that a few of the ant nations, especially those focused on technological advancement, figured out¡ªthanks to their cooperation with the Academy¡ªhow to make more complex compute cores.


    That was the name they gave them¡ªthey were technology mimicking my quest crystal. All of it started with the stealing of the Guild Master¡¯s skill crystal. It was mainly made of a crystal that combined a dungeon core and a few variants of mana crystals to allow for the enormous amount of saved skills that could be copied and not taken, unlike skill stones that were one-use items.


    Now I have three of them, and while I could make the large compute core myself, the inner workings were a lot more intricate to make and needed trial and error to properly make work. Fortunately, experts in the field have emerged over the course of the time they have tried to develop this technology for their own use.


    The quest crystal was already quite overworked, mainly because of the reward systems I¡¯ve added to it, but now I have a dedicated compute core for the rewards and one to handle citizenship.


    The biggest problem was that the adventurers didn¡¯t have a market to sell their more common drops. There were markets already in my dungeon, but the problem was that they weren¡¯t accessible to the adventurers. I also didn¡¯t want to make them freely accessible, which necessitated a solution from the outside world.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Travel was going to be restricted depending on the citizenship you had. There was already a bit of panic among the adventurers as the news spread about the arrests, and what didn¡¯t help was me now making huge dungeon gateways in every hub station.


    Those world gates, because that¡¯s what they were, they were connections between the different playrooms, or as I was now calling them, worlds, because it was voted overwhelmingly that calling them playrooms would cause even more panic.


    There would be special visas for merchants so they could more freely travel through the world gates, and of course, everyone would learn of my true size. There was no doubt in my mind that things were going to be tense for a while, but especially the ants would provide the necessary connection to civilization so the economy could work and so that the dungeon rooms would have access to established industries. These industries would support them in exchange for the huge supply of meat and valuable materials that could be obtained from the dungeon rooms.


    Of course, every world will also get passports and visas, but a large portion would not be able to delve the dungeon rooms. This was mainly because there were way too many creatures in the different worlds that I had, and they would simply overwhelm the current size of the dungeon rooms.


    I could easily see a future where, in the later floors, I would actually make more versions of upper floors the same way I have done with the first 15 floors, as they had multiple versions of them available to be used.


    I did the final checks, tested all the systems, then every quest crystal made a unique sound of a dungeon-wide alert. Not only did I make the information section of the quest interface available to everyone, but there was also a lot more information there now.


    Everyone also got an explanation of what has happened over the course of the last few days, a brief summary of the current siege situation, and, of course, the revelation of the different worlds and who inhabit those¡ªand, of course, about the world''s gates and the passport system.


    For the moment, I stopped almost all of my pressing works and focused solely on the dungeon rooms, as I wanted to experience and see all the reactions as they were happening instead of viewing them later.


    Their reactions were as varied as I expected them to be, but I was glad that I saw more acceptance than I originally thought would be possible. I only allowed myself one day of this break before I got back to work.


    It will take a bit of time, but already in the dungeon rooms and my other worlds, everyone was preparing to make first contact so they could start establishing trade relationships. That was also another reason why I didn¡¯t want a large portion of my creatures to be able to delve the dungeon rooms. It would cause conflict, and we really didn¡¯t have time for that because, during the siege, a conflict inside could be disastrous.


    At least that¡¯s what I¡¯ve been told, and I can understand their reasoning. I¡¯ve also been recommended to start hurting the economy of the outside world as well. I¡¯m still not completely sure that I want to do that, but Vivian''s grandfather had brought a lot here, and with his industries making high-end consumables and other items, the forces outside were getting stronger and stronger.


    From what we can tell, the other powers were also planning on bringing more supplies here, as it was becoming clearer and clearer that this siege of theirs would take a long while. While they had some very good airships. Most of them need the trade winds to get here in a reasonable amount of time. From what we can gather, a huge number of airships were currently on their way here to bring a lot of supplies.


    They would most likely be able to then build the structures and devices that limited my territory above much more easily, which would make our other plans harder. It would help so many ways if the trade winds no longer slowed above this mountain range, so they couldn''t build up their strength above so fast. They would eventually do it no matter what, but it would take them much longer.


    The problem was that by doing so, I would most likely crash the economy of the entire world. That would not really affect the four great powers, but it would affect ordinary people. Many would lose their jobs, and there would be a lot of suffering, as it would take time for markets to stabilize. There was already a huge shortage of rations around the world, which was causing a lot of problems, but this would cause even more.


    It took me a while, but on a wintry afternoon, I made almost all of the mana crystals in the mountains disappear that were causing the effect of slowing down the trade winds. To hide the fact that those were the cause, the sound of massive cracks and then falling rocks were heard for hundreds of kilometers as almost every mountaintop collapsed, causing massive rockslides.


    The diamond ranks easily defended their established compounds, but the entire terrain of the formerly known Eternal City-State was now changed. And, of course, the slowing-down effect of the trade winds slowly dissipated. I really didn¡¯t like waging war.

 chapter 260

    ***


    It was late at night while Merrick was walking home with his shoulders slumped. He wasn¡¯t the best-looking¡ªhe was too slim, too lanky, and he had even become a bit too old. He often wanted to change his life, and many times he tried to be more of what he needed to be to be allowed to become a diamond rank.


    Merrick wasn''t a fighter, and while that was one of the easier ways to get to diamond rank, his brilliant mind had long ago qualified him¡ªexcept for his bad habit of not respecting authority. It was especially hard for him to respect his superiors when he knew they were idiots.


    He was still creeped out that the city, which was once a center of commerce for the entire world, it was now so empty. He had been here for years already, trying to figure out what this dungeon actually was. Merrick was actually ahead of everyone else in his understanding of the Eternal Training Ground, what it could do, and the secrets it was hiding.


    The problem was, he didn''t have any real evidence yet. His talent and his mind let him make connections that no one else could see, but even he was afraid to voice them all because, over the course of his life, he¡¯d learned not to deliver bad news to his superiors. Yet Merrick remembered his last few conversations with the previous commander in charge of everything here, which made his back straighten a bit.


    It had been a while since he actually respected his superiors, and while the old commander was no longer directly his superior, he was the one who had listened to him the most. What surprised even Merrick was that there were no diamond-rank deaths just yet.


    The labyrinth was incredibly large and dangerous, but none of the truly important people had died, which Merrick thought was on purpose. He also shouldn¡¯t have said that out loud in one of the latest meetings. Yet he could see others thinking the same thing¡ªthey were, however, smart enough not to mention it.


    The death toll of the platinum ranks sent into the labyrinth to help map it out was climbing every day. Most of them were missing, but even without being able to contact them, the diamond ranks had their ways of knowing if someone had died. Everyone was quite pissed off, especially the great four powers, which brought a smile to Merrick¡¯s face¡ªone he quickly made disappear.


    He still couldn¡¯t believe their stupidity in telling that a dungeon got free and destroyed one of the newest yet most known and celebrated new countries. The city lord had spent his money wisely, supporting a lot of charities around the world.


    With all the news that came out before about the great four powers, most didn¡¯t believe the propaganda they were still trying to push. Yet, when the trade winds stopped slowing down in this location, no one really cared about what actually happened, as it didn¡¯t take long for the world economy to collapse.


    In Merrick¡¯s opinion, it was actually a good thing. Everyone had gotten a little bit too rich, and when people in power became rich, they wanted more, which led to a lot of wars. Now no one had the resources or the coin to fund war, which, in his opinion, in the long run, actually saved more lives¡ªeven though the last year had been tough for many regular citizens.


    Merrick and Vivian were the first ones to figure out how the labyrinth was able to switch and change. The fact that it was a new type of gateway and what that actually meant was dismissed by most. They were just pleased that they now knew the secret and could start working on unraveling the new kind of gate network so they could control it the same way they could with the old gateway system.


    Merrick didn¡¯t think it would be an easy task, but he had been constantly going into the labyrinth to try to figure out how the first new gateway, which appeared quite early on, worked. In the back of his head, there was an idea forming about how it worked; he just needed a little bit more time. Merrick hoped that it would be enough to get permission to be brought to diamond rank, and the old commander even promised him that he would do what he could to help.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    When Merrick stepped into an alley, he knew something was wrong. For some reason, he felt like he was inside the dungeon; he felt the mana spike from the walls. His mind went into overtime, and even before anything else happened, he figured out that he was currently in the horizon of the new type of gateway. Before he could do anything about it, his surroundings changed, and he was in darkness.


    ¡°Come, sit down,¡± a cultured voice said. In the darkness, he heard a snap, and light bathed the room. He immediately looked around to see that he was in quite a small room with no exits. There was a table with two chairs on either side, and a man sitting on the other side. Merrick knew exactly who that was, and it was hard for him not to shake in fear.


    The dragon pretending to be a man indicated for him to sit down, and Merrick did so. ¡°So, it seems like your mind is quite brilliant. It would be a shame for you to figure out how the new gateways work this early. You have two options in front of you: you can either stay here as a prisoner, or you can join our side, where you could actually make that brilliant mind of yours work with all the resources you could ever wish for at your disposal.¡±


    Merrick was stunned for a moment. He didn¡¯t understand how the dungeon could change the walls of that alley to be a gateway with the devices limiting dungeon territory expansion. ¡°You haven¡¯t just been waiting¡ªyou¡¯ve been running secret missions, most likely replacing some of our devices with fakes.¡±


    Those words made Ismael smile. ¡°See? You just need a single piece of information, and you simply come to the right conclusion, completely sure of it. You know the reason why you¡¯re not diamond rank isn¡¯t because you don¡¯t respect your leaders¡ªit¡¯s because they¡¯re afraid of that mind of yours. I bet you already see through all their bullshit.¡±


    ¡°Of course I do. I figured it all out in the first week, but that doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯re entirely wrong. Dungeons could destroy this world so easily, especially in this age. There are only two options if anyone else wanted to survive besides them: it¡¯s either to destroy them entirely or control them. Any other option would be way too dangerous.¡±


    Ismael¡¯s jovial mood disappeared. ¡°Do you not think that a peak diamond rank couldn¡¯t destroy this world just as easily?¡±


    ¡°Not as easily, no, but yes, I believe there are some who are capable of it.¡±


    ¡°And why do you think they don¡¯t do it?¡± Ismael interrupted before Mark could continue.


    "Because it wouldn¡¯t be beneficial¡ªonly madmen would do something like that. Quite a desperate madman." Mark answered back, his previous fears long forgotten as he felt he could finally speak his mind without any worries. As he believed he wouldn¡¯t survive past this meeting.


    "Perhaps you don¡¯t think it, but the Eternal Training Ground, this dungeon, is quite reasonable and definitely far from a madman. What¡¯s your decision, or would you like to speak more?"


    There was a pause where Merrick really let himself think. The way he was treated, the way some things started to make better sense to him¡ªhe sighed out loud. "Unfortunately, even if I wanted to accept that, which I kind of do, I am already too deep in." At this point, Merrick felt a burning sensation at the back of his head, which he didn¡¯t let show on his face.


    "Unfortunately, I am just a pawn, destined to be used so the bigger pieces would have an opportunity to take more valuable pieces. Yes, I do know that pawns can sometimes win, but unfortunately, this isn¡¯t that situation. And by bringing me here, you have doomed yourselves." Merrick barely got out the last word before he collapsed in pain, screaming out loud.


    The next moment, the screaming stopped, and five pops were heard just behind his chair. A while back, the old commander, with Merrick''s permission, had implanted a teleportation beacon into his neck. It was an extremely hidden one, made by one of his party members. Now, their entire party, who had been together for almost the entirety of this age, was deep inside the dungeon.


    "Good evening, Ismael. I recommend your master start bringing in its most powerful. It''s been a while since we have been able to truly exert ourselves in a proper battle, but I assure you, even if it takes days, you will lay defeated at our feet."


    Ismael didn¡¯t seem too surprised to see them. He slowly rose from his chair and snapped his fingers once again. All of a sudden, the roof of the small room disappeared, and the walls fell down, revealing a luscious grassland and two other people waiting outside.


    Everyone immediately recognized one of them, it was Ace, the city lord. But everyone could also feel his power; he had already reached the peak of diamond rank. The other person was unknown, but they had also reached the peak of diamond rank.


    "I¡¯m afraid that this isn¡¯t a trap for us but for you. You see, the six of you¡ªyes, I¡¯m including you, Merrick ¡ªare basically half of the competent people out there. Ever since we figured out this ambush of yours, well, it has been hard not to trigger it," Ismael said as his body started to swell and he began to change into his true form.


    Rafe did the same, growing and changing¡ªnot into a dragon, but into something more monstrous, a creature made up of many other creatures.


    Merrick was especially scared now, as he knew he would just be a simple rock that was going to be crushed during this battle. The party of five looked toward Ace, expecting him to start changing as well.


    "Yeah, I don¡¯t have fancy changing powers," Ace answered their unasked question with a sheepish look. "I¡¯m still going to beat your asses, though."


    There was a momentary pause before skills were activated, and mana started to hum with violence.

 chapter 261

    ***


    The hum of magic continued to intensify. On one side, you had an ancient dragon, and while his combat power could not be compared to the very strongest dragons back in the day, none of them had lived as long as this diamond-ranked dragon had. Because of this, Ismael is the largest dragon to have ever lived, his head easily the size of a castle. The world around him seemed to darken as the moments continued to pass, as he readied for a proper fight.


    Rafe was a lot smaller, yet he had purposely cultivated mass for this fight, so his final size was still almost 150 meters from the tip of his tail to the tip of his horns. He was a monster through and through when you looked at him. If anyone could see inside, they would think that he mirrored his outside appearance. There was no wasted space inside or out; everything was purposely chosen so he could fight and defend himself in the most efficient ways possible.


    A lot of his physiology was from dragons, but even they had weaknesses. Rafe, however, had managed to get body parts from creatures that had specialized in the way they survived, eventually leading to even better muscle groups and defensive scales than even the dragons. He combined all of those things and added more natural weapons so he would be ready for this exact fight in the manner they wanted to fight it.


    The last on this side was Ace, a person who started out as nobody, as most do. He was able to get the last gift from his father, and on this land, he discovered the dungeon that changed his world forever.


    Everything changed about a year ago; even then, everything had already changed. He still remembered the day when Rafe and ETG proposed trying to circumvent the Pixies¡¯ change to the dungeon core¡¯s physiology so they couldn¡¯t make proper bonds with anyone who wasn¡¯t from their dungeon.


    Turns out the dungeon that had to grant the Pixies their wish was a rebellious kind. A way still existed; it was just harder to reach and achieve than it should have been. Yet, when they were properly bonded, Ace finally understood the dungeon completely. Thanks to that, his talent started to give him even more power¡ªso much power that on some days it was hard for him to function properly


    Fortunately, the bond gave many benefits, and with a little bit of work, he was able to help Rafe improve as well. Rafe didn¡¯t have the same problems, as his body was meant to accept power, and if it wasn¡¯t enough, he just needed to change it. ETG helped in his ways as well, and because of that, most likely Ace and Rafe will be the first-ever diamond ranks to reach the peak as fast as they did.


    A lot of problems came with such rapid power growth, but with an endless supply of monsters to fight against and practice, they were the best that they could be, although they still were only able to fight mostly platinum ranks. Still, Ace had what he needed for this fight, and his main goal would be to distract only one of the enemies.


    On the other side, there was a group of five people, all human. They had been together for thousands of years, and while they had split apart to do their own thing periodically, they always came back together as they simply enjoyed each other¡¯s company. Their name had been forgotten by history, but they still called themselves in private the name they first wrote down when they weren¡¯t even bronze ranked.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    They were a group of five friends from a small village long ago disappeared. They were excited¡ªthey always liked fighting and getting stronger¡ªand all of them knew that they were damn good at it. So when it was time to sign up for the Adventurer Guild, which was still only a small thing and had different management and rules in every region¡ªnot the global-spanning super organization it is now¡ªthe name they came up with was silly and simple, as they were still so young back then.


    The Rowdy Bunch. That was the name their group started out with, but they changed it when they started to reach closer to gold rank. Their rise was fast, and many of the stronger people back then recommended they change it before too many people recognized them by that name.


    They took the advice and changed it, but they never truly liked the different names over the past millennia. At the heart of it, they were still the five eager friends looking toward the future while messing about constantly.


    They were rusty now, and they seemed glad that their opponents were willing to take things slowly at the start. Then there was the third, Merrick, who was constantly trying to back off without drawing attention. He didn¡¯t get far before he heard loud bangs of the sound barrier being broken.


    In front of him, he saw Ace and one of the five, both of them wielding spears. The explosion from their simple collision should have sent him flying, with blood leaking from his mouth and ears, but instead, he stood there unaffected. There was a momentary pause between the two as they looked at Merrick and then at each other.


    Even during their clash, it seemed that both of them spent enough time and mana to make sure that Merrick didn¡¯t get hurt, which surprised both of them. They were interrupted by the clashes and explosions of the fight between the other four party members and Ismael and Rafe.


    The fifth party member got ready to go back and be part of the party of five so they could take on this challenge together, yet she couldn¡¯t even take a singular step before Ace interjected himself between them.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you and I will be fighting on the sidelines,¡± Ace said in a relaxed tone, something that irked the fifth party member.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you won¡¯t last long, but so be it.¡±


    In a simple clash that lasted only seven seconds, it was clear that Ace was on the losing side¡ªand quite heavily. There were already multiple cuts on him, and he had spent much more mana than his opponent. Yet those cuts were healing at a visible rate, his mana was also returning faster than should be possible.


    The other fight was faring similarly. While the older four party members were clearly superior even while rusty, they could not end the fight immediately. Yet every wound their opponents started to heal, and the mana spent was slowly being recharged for Rafe. It didn¡¯t take long for the Rowdy Bunch to realize what was happening.


    Their ambush had been turned into a trap. Their opponents had the home-field advantage, as it seemed like the dungeon core was able to feed its own mana into its bonded. The only weakness the party saw was Ismael. He didn¡¯t seem to be able to recharge his mana so easily. Yet he was a gigantic dragon with enough mana and stamina to keep going for a long time.


    The dungeon knew, and so did his advisor, that the party of five was way too strong to be taken on directly. While they could spend all their diamond ranks now to take them down, it would be a horrendous loss. Even now, their strongest could only defend, so a plan to simply outlast the party of five was devised.


    Now Ace, Ismael, and Rafe had the job of fighting for days, possibly weeks, so they could eventually win by tiring out their opponents. The fifth member constantly tried to return to the other four, but Ace was constantly blocking him.


    While she was stronger than Ace, it wasn¡¯t to a degree that she could overwhelm him alone. One of the other four also couldn¡¯t come to help because only three of them were too weak to stand against Ismael and Rafe. Yet, with only four of them, they weren¡¯t strong enough to soundly defeat those two.


    It was a careful balance that was constantly challenged by new tricks being used, the rustiness being shaken off by everyone, and, of course, the occasional mistakes that led to more devastating wounds on both sides.


    As the minutes turned into hours, the landscape of the area transformed from a beautiful grassland into a scarred mess. All of this was witnessed by Merrick, who was still only alive because Ace and the fifth party member were being careful when they got near him.

 chapter 264

    Pov Vivian


    I watched as my grandfather continued to read the report I gave him. Each time he was done with a page, he tossed it behind him, and as that paper slowly fell to the ground, it disintegrated into dust.


    ¡°So they¡¯re planning another breach. Took them long enough to stop being cowards. Tell me, what do you know about their plans? And have you managed to keep our people away from it?¡±


    ¡°I believe they would have kept pushing it back if things were going faster in the labyrinth and if the water pressure wasn¡¯t increasing. They plan to do the same thing as before when they tested what¡¯s on the other side of the next wall. Multiple ice mages will block the entrance and freeze the water on the other side, then melt their way through so they¡¯ll have a path to set up another breach.¡±


    My grandfather nodded at that. ¡°I assume they¡¯re planning on offsetting the next breach?¡±


    ¡°Yes, they hope the pressure will blow back, hurting the dungeon as much as it would the outside world.¡±


    ¡°And will it?¡±


    I took a moment to think about that. ¡°To a certain degree, but I believe not as much as they hope. They¡¯ve been running the calculations for quite a while, but ever since the first breach two years ago, water mages have been calculating and planning how to deal with so much pressure.¡±


    ¡°Some of them are starting to believe that because of their work, the dungeon started to fill the first layer with water again, as pressure is quite hard to work against. And, well, as you know, there¡¯s a lot of water coming out of the two breach holes right now.¡±


    ¡°So who are they going to sacrifice?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re not sacrificing anyone. They¡¯ll do remote triggering of the melter.¡±


    My grandfather started to laugh at that. ¡°Well, that¡¯s stupid. You know I had to stop going to those meetings because it was literally making me stupider. But I guess they don¡¯t have any other options if they aren¡¯t willing to think outside the box. It¡¯s like no one ever listened to me when I talked about fortress dungeons and how to deal with them. Tell me, have they considered sealing off the entrances?¡±


    ¡°More and more are advocating for it, but even I have voiced against it because it must have other entrances as well. It wouldn''t be so stupid. I believe there are entrances on the outer shell, but its outer shell surface area is incredibly large, and finding a gateway that could be incredibly well hidden would be incredibly hard¡ªespecially because it has increased its territory quite beyond its first defensive layer.¡±


    ¡°Yes, my granddaughter it¡¯s doing some annoying things that is making gathering information harder. Whoever is advising it is incredibly intelligent. But you said that, that dragon Ismael didn¡¯t seem to be in charge of anything. I still find that hard to believe. A dragon so powerful being able to hide so long would be quite tricky.¡±


    ¡°I can never be 100% certain, but grandfather, I honestly believe that it¡¯s just an ally. I believe their deal was that the dungeon would take care of its species and make a place for them to live in exchange for the protection of that dragon.¡±


    ¡°If you say so, I will take it as a fact. So, I see you believe that in the labyrinth we will make it to the core eventually, but this time scale of 50 years¡ªdo you believe it¡¯ll really take that long?¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    He once again threw the paper behind him, and I watched it disappear into dust before I spoke. ¡°The problem is with the melters. They¡¯re slow to get through the dungeon stone and real stone mix. They are working on solutions, but it will take time.¡±


    ¡°I also believe they¡¯re working on some sort of dungeon-damaging bomb only meant to hurt and crack the core from far away. The dungeon¡¯s agents often target those facilities, so I think it¡¯s actually afraid of that technology. More resources are being put into it.¡±


    ¡°It could be purposely diverting resources. It¡¯s a clever one¡ªso many forget that so often.¡±


    My grandfather finally reached the final page, and when it disintegrated into dust, he properly looked at me for the first time during this meeting. He looked at me for quite a while before he asked me another question. ¡°Tell me, my granddaughter, with everything you know about this dungeon and the way we are doing things, how long do you think it will take for us to, so to say, win?¡±


    ¡°Like I said before, I think we will reach the core in about 50 years?¡±


    Immediately, my grandfather started to slowly shake his head.


    ¡°You¡¯re smarter than that. Think. Will it let us easily continue to work in the labyrinth? No, it¡¯s constantly, even with our best efforts, shifting the labyrinth, stranding many of our people in who knows what part of it.¡±


    ¡°If anyone thinks that remote control activation will actually work, well, they¡¯re mad. And then there are the raids on all our facilities to stop the making of dungeon-fighting weapons. And, of course, will it ever stop advancing while all of us are working here? No, it will just get stronger. So, I ask you again¡ªhow long do you think it will take us to win?¡±


    This time I didn¡¯t answer immediately. I could see in his eyes that he wanted a proper answer, an answer I had actually thought through.


    ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know, because we still don¡¯t know its mana generation capabilities. Everyone says that they know, but no one actually knows. Just the amount of water it can produce to fill up that first layer of defenses so fast¡ªit just doesn¡¯t add up. It also hasn¡¯t advanced since its breakthrough to platinum. Everyone thinks that it¡¯s because it¡¯s spending so much mana. It makes sense in that way, but it still feels off to me.¡±


    I went silent after that, trying to think things through. It was doing so many things that should be impossible. One of the things was that the water coming out of the breach holes seemed to be real water, and the fact that real stone was mixed in with dungeon stone¡ªthat should not be possible, yet it is.


    ¡°One thing that¡¯s always been off about this dungeon is the mana. It¡¯s making way too much of it, but somehow its breakthroughs are not triggering before its floors are done. It¡¯s just so off¡ªeverything is so off.¡± My last words there got a little bit heated, so I sat back against the backrest.


    ¡°It has taken me a while to go through our records¡ªyes, I even brought those with me. But I could only bring out a few from the storage crystals I have. Do you know why I always want this meeting here, and why I want you to not write your reports anywhere but here?¡±


    ¡°Grandfather I know, no one believes me once again, and the only person who thought the same disappeared two years ago. The dungeon can see outside itself¡ªanother thing that should be impossible.¡±


    ¡°Actually, not. The old texts from the ages long past are broken down and incredibly hard to read anything on them, but I¡¯ve researched dungeon fortresses for a really long time and can infer context.¡±


    ¡°Back in the day, it seems dungeons often picked skills that allowed them to see the outside world. Many things we know about dungeons are just rules we¡¯ve made up for them. Most of the reasons for those rules have been lost to time, but I believe I¡¯ve found something important.¡±


    He then started to explain the rule about no bugs allowed in the dungeon. I was really confused until he reached the end of his explanation. ¡°You see, insects have a habit of reproducing incredibly fast. As you know, if dungeon monsters have children, they can leave the dungeon. But it appears they can even generate mana like any other adventurer when they¡¯re inside the dungeon.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure there are limitations, but skills can often get rid of pesky limitations, now can¡¯t they? So, what do you think? Could that explain things? What if it had millions of that kind of creature? I believe that¡¯s how they¡¯re referred to in the old texts.¡±


    My mind immediately started to click the puzzle pieces together. The reports of bugs, small critters, the number of monsters that were in the dungeon not mixed together but with different types and different evolutions of the base form. The number was so huge. My hands started to shake, and I felt a panic attack coming. ¡°There¡¯s no way we can win!¡±


    Then I felt his large hands on mine. ¡°Relax, my child. Do you really believe it? You said it yourself¡ªthat dungeon isn¡¯t advancing. Is there any chance that we might win?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no way it¡¯s not. It must have found a way to hide them, it¡¯s the only explanation. I refuse to believe anything else. That¡¯s where it got all its agents that caused so much chaos. They weren¡¯t adventurers. That¡¯s why we couldn¡¯t find any trace of them¡ªthey just sort of appeared out of nowhere. They were all from the dungeons. And to have so many geniuses, so good at such specific things, the numbers of them... Grandfather, what should we do?¡±


    I looked into his eyes, which seemed so kind.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. Leave that to me. I will send you away from here for a while. You have some things back at our previous home. Gather all of them and every last member of our clan. We have tough choices ahead, but we have to make them together.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Grandfather, I understand. I will get my mind in order before I return. Even if we told anyone about our discovery, I don¡¯t believe they would actually take us seriously. In fact, I think they would lash out in fear.¡±


    He just nodded at that and sat back down. For the first time in my life, I saw so much weight on his shoulders that they were actually being pushed down a bit.

 chapter 269

    Pov Vix


    I felt sharp claws digging into my skin. It was so painful. I tried to pull my tail back. It wasn¡¯t working, so I started to move it up and down and sideways as fast as I could. Then I felt the ripping¡ªit was so painful.


    My eyes opened, my heart was beating fast, and it took me a moment to remember where I actually was. It was a serene lake, or for me, a pond, as I was simply too big. I saw at the edge a familiar face, which calmed me quite a bit as I started to lumber my big body towards her.


    She was the one who greeted me first when I was pulled out of that world where I was born and had to survive. Father got quite worried, and so did she, when they first learned that when I now slept, I could remember scenes from that world as I tried to survive in it. It was unfortunate, but Father couldn''t do anything about it. My diamond rank talent seems to be reminding me of things I should not be able to remember.


    I understand the need for not remembering, and most likely there would not be another one like me coming out from that place. Most of my siblings from that world looked nothing like regular creatures from the outside world, but I managed to stay quite faithful to turtles. In fact, the only difference between them and me was my size, at least on the outside. My insides and my shell were made of even stronger stuff that helped me survive the onslaught of my brothers and sisters.


    From the world I came, Father made it for two purposes: to get more mana generation, which I can offer, and for battle, in which I will never be truly useful. The only reason I survived in this form was because I was defensive enough that the others who attacked me couldn''t kill me fast enough to prevent others from finding them.


    I still can''t believe that the unthinking me managed to survive just because it had a small damage aura skill. The fighting happening around me back then helped me grow stronger. The cycle was quite interesting: someone would find me, try to eat me, others would come hearing the noise, and then they would start to battle each other to see who could claim this morsel. Every time, at least as much as I could remember, the battles turned into slaughters, and I was buried under countless corpses.


    It wasn¡¯t the best of times when that happened, but I could eat in peace, and yet the battles going on constantly brought me closer to my next breakthrough. The only true danger to me was if someone could kill me in one shot or swallow me whole. So, the unthinking me strengthened myself, mostly in physical ways, and of course, made me bigger so I couldn¡¯t be swallowed whole.


    It took me a while, but I finally made it to the edge of the lake to see the smiling face of my greeter. ¡°What has brought you here today?¡± I asked her.


    I enjoyed talking with her; we talked quite a bit when I was still at the welcoming village. I believe she¡¯s my friend. I didn¡¯t really like to speak with others as I mostly just slept. It was nice to sleep in peace, although the nightmares ruined some of the enjoyment.


    She was bubbly, I believe it¡¯s called, talking so fast. Well, she wasn¡¯t actually talking fast¡ªI was just slow. I would need to push myself if I wanted to not be slow, but I couldn¡¯t be bothered right now. It was good enough.


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    She continued to talk about the excitement she had experienced, especially with the war with the outsiders. Apparently, we are planning on doing some things with Father¡¯s gateways. I wished her luck when she finally stopped talking and then started to slowly turn around to get to the good spot where it was the most comfortable to lay in.


    Most of the time, it was difficult to keep my eyes open¡ªsleep called me constantly. Once again, I think it¡¯s because of my talent, which I still don¡¯t actually know what it is. From my understanding, most diamond ranks understand their talent quite quickly; for me, it was taking time to understand what the word in my mind for my talent meant. I was not that worried, as eventually, I would figure it out.


    Sleep came quite fast, the way I liked it, but before too long, I opened my eyes again, happy to notice no nightmares this time. She was back at the edge of the lake, and I once again walked towards her.


    She was less bubbly this time. I guess she had seen battle, I could tell from her talking about the results of the gateway strategy she mentioned last time. Apparently, it was working really well, as they were stopping 50% of the melters from reaching the farthest point the enemies had pushed in the labyrinth.


    I sped myself up a bit to ask her a proper question. ¡°Why 50%? That seems a bit exact.¡± She took a little bit to answer that question.


    ¡°Others are worried about that too, but it was actually a complete accident. Things just happened to turn out like that. Father did say there were some weird movements outside, but I guess we¡¯ll see what will happen.¡±


    I always liked the way her voice sounded, but I was once again sleepy. I walked back to the best spot and made myself comfortable. Sleep came quickly, and once again, I woke up feeling pain. I expected to remember a nightmare, but I didn¡¯t, which was weird. I had never had two sleeps without a nightmare, and when did I start feeling pain out of nowhere?


    As I stretched myself up to not be slow, it didn¡¯t take a genius to realize where the pain was coming from. It was Father¡ªhe was hurting so badly. Immediately, my heart started pounding, and I properly used my strength to be as aware as possible.


    My head snapped to a certain location in the sky as I felt something bad there. Immediately, I started rushing towards that spot, and although I was slow compared to other diamond ranks, I could still move faster than a platinum if needed.


    It didn¡¯t take long for me to realize what I felt, and soon I saw the horror. A dungeon melter¡¯s beam was piercing through the roof of this world. This yellow destructiveness hit the land soon after it broke through, and to my horror, I saw it melting even through the vegetation. That should not be possible. Those were not dungeon-made; those were like me. A dungeon melter shouldn¡¯t have any effect, but it was having an effect.


    I knew that underneath this world were others. Before the beam could cut through the vegetation, I made it there and used my shell to block it. It hurt so much, but my shell seemed to be strong enough that it would not have any effect. Father seemed slow, as he was in pain, but he still appeared to be working. Information was given to us on what was attacking.


    Apparently, almost every diamond rank was outside the dungeon right now, alongside a lot of Pixies who were actually casting the melting beam instead of using devices. They had pierced Father in so many places and continued to pierce ever deeper. All of a sudden, the beam stopped, and I looked upwards to see a Pixie far above with a cruel smile on its face.


    Its smile disappeared as I saw a dragon breathing fire on it, and I saw its wings go up in flames. They were so far away, but my senses were good. A truly monstrous battle started outside the dungeon, yet some of the beams still pierced Father. Father actually informed me that one of them had nearly gotten through the entirety of the dungeon.


    Apparently, it was the leader, the oldest Pixie and it just ordered everyone to assault the dungeon. The beams started to cut off as they couldn¡¯t maintain them because most of the dungeon forces went outside to attack.


    I quite anxiously waited, as I wouldn¡¯t be any good in that sort of battle. It seems that slowly we were gaining the upper hand, although we were also taking heavy losses. Then Father informed us that the leader of the Pixies was weaving the melting spell again, aimed directly at the core. It would take some time for that beam to reach him, but the defences around that Pixie were strong, so they didn¡¯t know if we could disrupt it in time.


    ¡°Father, make a gateway and take me to your core. I will buy you some more time.¡±


    I could feel Father not liking the idea, but a stone wall quickly rose in front of me, and a large gateway melted out of it. Immediately, I went through to find myself in the core room. For the first time, I gazed upon the magnificence of Father.


    ¡°Do not worry. I will hold the beam off long enough for our forces to disrupt that Pixie.¡±

 chapter 270

    Pov Vix


    I was still mesmerized by the core that was Father, but I was snapped out of it when I noticed the small cracks all around its surface and even inside. He was struggling so much, yet he was still doing everything necessary¡ªeverything he could¡ªto protect not just himself but us as well.


    Slowly, I started to rise as the floor grew underneath me. I got a brief image of where I should be. It didn¡¯t take me long to reach the correct position, and all I had to do was wait for the floor to rise until I was in the perfect position to stop that beam from hitting Father.


    It had been only a few minutes after I got into position when I started to feel the beam getting closer. Its power seemed terrifying. Then I heard Father¡¯s voice, not just speaking to me but to everyone, especially the invaders.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t stop that destructive beam, it¡¯s going to reach a world so dangerous that you could do nothing to stop the destruction that would follow. There would be nothing left of the outside world if that happens. I urge you to stop now.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know Father could do that, but what danger could he be speaking about?


    ¡°You foolish dungeon. There¡¯s nothing that will stop me from ending you. You think you¡¯re the first dungeon to try these tricks?¡± The voice was quite sweet, but there was so much malice underneath. I shouldn¡¯t have known who was speaking, but somehow they made sure I knew it was the leader of the Pixies who spoke.


    My father seemed sad about that. I wondered what could be so dangerous. Whatever it was, I had my own job to do. I prepared to do my best, but I was interrupted with a brief vision.


    I saw the beam cutting through a world like many others, but it seemed so dead. Yet somehow that deadness started to stir as the beam cut through it. It was like death was living there, and I had never felt such fear. Was this the world Father was speaking about? Why was he showing me this?


    When I looked towards Father to understand what was going on, I came to an understanding. Father didn¡¯t want me to see this¡ªhis life force, his memories, were spilling out from the cracks, and I was unwittingly seeing some of the things he was seeing. There wasn¡¯t much time to contemplate that as the beam continued to approach.


    I saw another scene¡ªthat of the fight going on outside. The mountain was half destroyed, the city completely gone. So many of my brothers and sisters were fighting fiercely, killing but also getting killed. A mighty dragon was fighting, being supported by our side. It was being tied down and not allowed to approach the leader of the Pixies.


    I also saw adventurers fighting. A particular group of five was doing quite well against the Pixies. I saw memories of them when they were so much younger, so much weaker¡ªa brief snippet of their journey inside Father¡¯s dungeon. They had made a life here, and I envied that. I would probably never get to have the same.


    Then the beam hit, and I felt pain so encompassing I couldn¡¯t keep myself on my feet. Yet I had anticipated this. The beam tried to cut through my shell, but for the first time, it met something it couldn¡¯t destroy in an instant. This spell seemed to be quite tied to the caster, so I could actually feel the disbelief the Pixie was experiencing¡ªthe fact that there was something that could actually halt this beam¡¯s progress.


    Unfortunately, I knew that I couldn¡¯t hold this for too long. There was a flash of magic, and I quickly looked towards the core to see two familiar faces coming out of a portal. The mage who cast the portal stumbled through it, but he was hit badly and staggered. Even before he hit the floor, I could see the life leave him.


    The one who came before, I believe her name was Ziiipe, quickly helped the mage. ¡°No, Vinny, don¡¯t leave me! Please don¡¯t!¡±


    There were so many tears streaming down her face. A moment later, Father made some sort of crystal appear. She gave him a last kiss and then quickly moved to the crystal. A few more different kinds of crystals appeared, and she quickly started to use some sort of skills to form them into something.


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    It took her about a minute to finish. "It is done," she said in a broken voice. A moment later, another person walked through the portal that was somehow still active. What an incredible mage he must have been for his magic to be so stable that it even persisted after his death. Perhaps Father was also helping to keep it active.


    ¡°Ziiipe, I heard that the skill is done¡ªwhere?¡± But his voice cut off when he saw the dead mage. I could see his resolve harden at that, but I still noticed the singular tear that fell from his eye. ¡°Did you make the skill as I said you should?¡±


    This seemed to snap Ziiipe out of whatever state she was in. ¡°You cannot use it, Carl. Something like this should not exist.¡± There was a short pause before she continued. ¡°You cannot survive this skill. I cannot lose you too. Think about your family¡ªthere would be nothing left of you!¡±


    ¡°Because of my family, I must do it. We don¡¯t have the time.¡± All of this took only moments as they communicated so fast. Carl took the skill and pulled it inside himself. It would most likely take him a bit longer to properly integrate the skill, but I hoped he would be fast, as I could feel the first layer of my shell finally starting to give.


    New images assaulted my mind. I saw the dungeon rooms filled with adventurers who were fighting for their lives. It seemed that before the diamond-ranked battle started on the surface, tens of thousands of platinum ranks had rushed into the dungeon rooms and worlds opened up by the first beam attacks. I did not know how the different worlds were doing, but many of the adventurers were being slaughtered.


    I guessed the order to leave no one alive was being followed religiously. There was heavy resistance from the lower floors of the dungeon rooms, but it was horrifying to see what was happening in the upper levels. Father simply didn¡¯t have the presence to help keep the gateways from being used. The attackers seemed quite prepared and knew exactly where they needed to go.


    I was brought out of these memories forcefully when I heard that terrifying scream. It was a bellow of rage and a promise of vengeance. Yet somehow, I also constantly heard the word ¡®more¡¯. I focused on the person causing this. It was Carl, doing something I did not know was possible.


    I could sense the skill burning his soul for him to gain more power¡ªthat I knew was possible¡ªbut he was somehow also burning his very talent so he could get even more power. It was radiating off him, even making the portal a bit unstable.


    Immediately, he rushed through it and started to fight to reach the leader of the Pixies. He was a bit too slow to save me, but I was glad that he was going to be able to save Father at least. I felt the last of my shell giving up and the beam piercing inside of me. Even my insides were giving it a bit of trouble, but not much. A large portion of my insides was being burned away, yet I still persisted.


    I felt the beam hit the other side of my shell, being stopped once again. It was so hard to keep conscious, but I knew that I needed to keep circulating mana so my shell would be strong enough to keep the beam occupied for just a bit longer.


    Then I felt it¡ªthe beam stopped. I looked up, barely conscious, but I could still see a person, someone who should not even be able to contest a peak diamond rank, delivering a strike that the peak diamond rank the leader of the Pixies actually had to defend against, otherwise, it might have actually died.


    My life was fading now, but I was glad that the others were at least going to survive. We were winning the fight up above, although we were taking a lot of casualties. ¡°Victory will be ours in the end.¡±


    Then I heard Father¡¯s voice. ¡°I am sorry, my child, but victory will not be ours. I have failed you all.¡±


    I was confused. Why would he say something like that? Then I saw images of what was happening down below. Even through all of this, there was one question in the back of my mind: why weren¡¯t the other worlds helping defend the dungeon rooms or fighting the threat up above? Where were the ants and their technology? Now I knew¡ªthey were fighting a desperate fight that they had now lost.


    While they were still holding on, the enemy had broken through the only place that meant doom for us all. When the assault started from above, apparently a multitude of diamond-rank dungeons had extended their territory to connect with Father¡¯s. A flood of diamond-ranked monsters soon followed. While Father was able to keep them from pushing their territories further in, the slightly weakened diamond-rank monsters ravaged the defenses down below.


    Especially devastating for our defenses was the first beam attack by the leader of the Pixies. It had gotten through the entire dungeon, and it seems like that was done on purpose. My life was about to end, and I was so incredibly sad. So was Father.


    He still continued to fight as much as he could, but from down below, I sensed attacks coming. Whatever was launched from down below looked like quills. They punched through Father¡¯s core, cracking it completely.


    He was dying now¡ªI could feel it. Then those quills exploded, and I was bathed in the most horrifying fire I had ever witnessed. My eyes snapped open. I no longer felt the pain; I felt the soft mud and the water underneath me. My heart was beating so fast, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the lake and so many people around it. I could feel Father¡¯s voice touching me, but I was so tired.


    ¡°Vix, you need to sleep. You have been burning your soul for so long that there¡¯s barely anything left. You need to recover.¡±


    I was confused by those words, but I looked inside to see a world filled with darkness instead of the blue light I was so accustomed to. I was so tired I couldn¡¯t even speak. I couldn¡¯t even find the strength to convey any meaning through my mind. What I did see was a word representing my talent: Premonition.


    Instantly, everything clicked into place. I had seen a possible future¡ªthe most likely events that would happen. I needed to warn them.


    I tried to pull my strength, but I couldn¡¯t do anything to warn them. I was falling asleep. I could feel it would take decades before I could awaken again. No, that would be too long, but there was one source of strength I still had. I had just a bit of soul left. Yet, if I used it, I would not awaken from my slumber¡ªI would be gone forever. Yet I didn¡¯t even question, didn¡¯t even think, before I started to use the last that I had.


    Father screamed at me, ¡°Stop it at once! Go to sleep, you need to recover!¡± But I didn¡¯t listen. It was so hard, but I gathered all that I saw and prepared to send it to Father.


    He didn¡¯t want it, but I think he understood that something was truly wrong. He took it and even helped me give him my memories. ¡°I thank you for the life you gave me. Goodbye.¡± And then darkness claimed me.

 chapter 271

    Pov Dungeon Core


    I think this is what shock feels like. His last words still echoed in my mind. There are many trying to understand what happened, asking me questions. Many had gathered around the lake to see if they could help Vix, but none of them could bring him out of his sleep that was consuming his soul. At least now I know it was because of his talent that it was happening.


    I tried to help him, so he could give me the memories he wanted as quickly as possible hoping there would still be something left of him, but I failed him in every way. If I was a diamond rank, I think I could''ve helped him, but I wasn¡¯t. I did get his pattern, but it wasn''t him any longer. It was an empty shell that used to be Vix.


    I announced to everyone that he was gone and slowly started to absorb him. I didn¡¯t have any traditions like adventurers had for sending off their family and loved ones, and I actually don¡¯t think I want one.


    There was a part of me that perhaps thought that maybe I should keep at least his shell intact, but without him actively working and using his skills, that shell would not be able to stop the terrifying beam I saw in his memories.


    When he was gone completely, I didn¡¯t like the emptiness left behind in the lake, so I started to make the most exact replica of him sleeping I could out of dungeon stone. My minds worked in unison to do this, halting nearly every other task I had. Even then, this statue of Vix took a while to complete as I was making the most faithful recreation of him that I could.


    When it was finally finished, I didn¡¯t start working on the things I left unfinished. It was time to take some time to reflect. One of the projects I was basically finished with was making the gateways appear as mirrors. That seemed to be one of the last pieces that would cause my downfall, along with everyone else reliant on me.


    I have not yet told anyone what had happened exactly, only that we got crucial information without which we would have certainly fallen. The problem was what to do with this information. From what I could tell, we were winning the fight up above, and while I didn¡¯t get a lot of information about what was happening down below, it was clear that diamond-ranked dungeons controlled by this world¡¯s powers coordinated their attacks, crushed the defenses I had, and ended up delivering the killing blow.


    There aren¡¯t many creatures who even indirectly have experienced their death, but the memories I got seemed so real. What horrors would I feel right now if I had my own memories of that event instead of a single mind being¡¯s? It seems that I have been too indecisive, but I should have known better. There are plenty of examples I¡¯ve witnessed myself of what happens when you try to hold back.


    Back in the day, I remember when I was disappointed because there were already so many adventurers that their uniqueness disappeared¡ªthe same with creatures. When you simply have enough of something, even people start to act the same and have the same reactions to the same stimulus. It was what pushed me in the beginning to make new worlds and different kinds of dungeon rooms, but the bigger I got, the less uniqueness I saw.


    All of that changed when I saw an event happen almost exactly the same way once again, with so many variables so unbelievably the same. After that, I didn¡¯t mind losing that uniqueness, and while I still chase it almost constantly, I have come to learn the amazingness of witnessing almost the exact same events in different places and at different times. In some ways, it¡¯s even better than witnessing something new.


    So many times, I have seen a person who should have won a fight lose it just because they were holding back, even just a little. Was it because they truly didn¡¯t want to kill the opposing party? Perhaps they saw that one of their opponents looked awfully similar to one of their siblings, and they held back just a bit. In the end, it doesn¡¯t matter what the cause was. The result was the same¡ªthey lost because they didn¡¯t go all out. They weren¡¯t aggressive enough, and I have made the same mistake.


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    If it wasn¡¯t for Vix, I would have ended. And while, from his own understanding, his talent didn¡¯t give an exact premonition of what was going to happen in the future¡ªit was just a possible future that could happen¡ªthe result was still the same in the end. It showed me my weakness. It¡¯s not only my life at stake but everyone who relies on me, and I can¡¯t do this if I don¡¯t go all out.


    It took me some time to finally come to a proper decision, but the days I spent going over the memories I got, my own memories of past events and the results of their choices, made it clear in what direction I must go.


    No longer will I try to hold back anything. We must go all out. No more half-measures. No more holding back my strongest weapons. If I must come to an end, they won¡¯t even understand the meaning of despair. They will come to learn why they should have never tried to control me or end me. They will understand what it means to be afraid.


    Most of my projects lay forgotten as I started to work on truly awful things. I did not want to do this. It disgusted me; it horrified me. Yet all of me was focused on it so I wouldn¡¯t make any mistakes, so I would think about every scenario, and so that I would eliminate any possibility of this not working.


    Perhaps a younger me would have made a mistake, interpreted aggression as going to war immediately, and pumped out as many monsters as I could to destroy any trace of the forces outside. But no, I was now wise enough to understand that aggression didn¡¯t always mean doing everything immediately. No, in this context, aggression meant doing everything you can to make sure that you win, no matter what.


    Slowly, I started to expand my territory downwards. If those dungeons were going to send their monsters toward me, they were not going to find an easy path. I made a maze out of my territory.


    The monsters that would come could not leave dungeon territory. They would weaken when they entered mine, but they would survive. So, because of that, I left large areas unclaimed, which would cause them to need to go around. My creatures, however, could survive there. That meant it was time to start designing forts that could attack any monsters that would have to go around them.


    For the first time in a while, I communicated with my creatures, more specifically the ants. They now understood the danger that could come from down below and the advantages we had. There was no doubt in my mind that they would be better at designing the fortresses that would be responsible for damaging anything that tried to invade me and reach my core.


    Slowly, I also started to expand my territory on the surface. It was time we turned that into a fortress as well. There were enchantments and possible artifacts that could be made to disrupt those dungeon-melting spells before they even got to me, but it would mean those defenses needed to be manned. That meant we needed dominion over the surface.


    It would take a lot, but I had so much mana stored up. We would take no real losses to take the surface¡ªI will just flood it with endless amounts of platinum-ranked monsters, so many that even the diamond ranks would grow tired. And of course, when they¡¯re tired, they would be easy pickings for our true elites.


    Now I communicated with everyone else about the plans that I had so they could also start inputting their ideas. There was no doubt in my mind, and soon everyone else reached the same conclusion: if we took the surface, we would be in a constant battle. There was one chance that we could stop it from happening, but from what I saw in the memories, perhaps even that would be too much to hope for.


    Still, I didn¡¯t think they would know they were wrong before the end. For the first time, I started to tinker with the undead small pattern. It was terrifying enough as it was now, but it was too slow and too weak. If I was going to announce its existence, I was sure they could find a way to counter it. No, it was time to make it truly terrifying. I hesitated just a bit, but I now know what it meant if I didn¡¯t act, so I started to change it.


    When this small pattern started to multiply in the outside world, in just a few days it would be completely unbound to me. It would need quicker multiplication, it would need to spread further, and it would need to be a lot stronger. Now, I wasn¡¯t certain it could ever affect diamond ranks, but I was certain I could make it so that no platinum rank would ever keep their memories and would just be turned into unthinking undead.


    It took me nearly a month, almost concentrating everything I had on this horrifying pattern, but it was finally done. It will end, I was certain of it¡ªthe outside world in just months, perhaps at maximum a year. The current small pattern in the undead world had, a while ago, figured out how to survive underwater and propagate there, so not even the underwater world was safe from this small yet terrifying existence.


    It occurs to me now that this was the first planet killer I made. Of course, I would hope that it would be the only one, that I would never make another, but I think that would be a fool¡¯s hope. As I continued to grow stronger, eventually my creatures would do that for me.


    It was time to give them the last offer of peace, but even that would just be to show my true strength, to show what would happen to them all if they didn¡¯t leave me alone. They would witness what would happen to their world, and hopefully, I would make it clear to them that if I were to release this, they would be forever stuck in this undead world until even their long lives ran out.

 chapter 272

    ***


    There were a multitude of guards and other people in the entrance hall of ETG. Just a few minutes ago, another team with the melter went in, and already they were preparing another.


    Over the course of years, they had gotten their manufacturing facilities working, allowing them to make melters at incredible speeds. There were teams continuously going in and out, bringing the melters to the furthest point of the labyrinth so they could continue to advance deeper into the dungeon.


    All this bustling stopped, as every head turned to the dungeon entrance. Everyone could hear screams and fighting, then all of a sudden, the sound was cut off. Some of the guards rushed in, yet anyone who entered didn¡¯t return, and none of them could be reached with communication devices or skills.


    People arrived quickly, trying to calm others down, but then the diamond ranks who were doing that felt their own die in the dungeon. The diamond ranks who were protecting and guiding the melters were dying one by one. The entrance hall was emptied, and an emergency meeting was called. Almost everyone was there, even Vivian and her grandfathers. They were not looked upon favorably.


    This development was not expected. Everyone thought that the dungeon would try to do something about the melters as they were getting close to the core, but the absolute finality of what happened still shook them. The Pixies looked quite worried as well, but they were almost done training their breach squad, and the diamond dungeons were getting closer with their territory expansion.


    ¡°Do you think the dungeon found out about what¡¯s going on in other fronts?¡± someone breached the silence, trying to stay as vague as possible. Yet even before someone could answer and this emergency meeting could properly start, a few guards rushed in and immediately started to report on what was happening in the dungeon hall.


    ¡°There are weird noises coming out from the dungeon, and from the sound of it, they¡¯re getting closer. We¡¯re already forming ranks, but what are our orders?¡±


    It only took a moment before almost everyone, including diamond ranks, rushed towards the dungeon entrance, looking for vengeance. When they got there, they saw what looked like a dead corpse slowly walking out of the dungeon entrance and into the dungeon hall.


    It moved unnaturally, like it had a broken body but someone was trying to control it as if it wasn¡¯t broken. It didn¡¯t stop but continued to slowly walk forward no matter what the guards yelled. Then a terrifying and broken voice came out of that walking corpse: ¡°This siege has gone on long enough.¡±


    A diamond rank from the back threw his spear through the walking corpse¡¯s head, silencing it. ¡°I could feel the dungeon¡¯s influence in it¡ªit was controlling it. How could it still think we would leave it alone?¡± That diamond rank almost said it in a joking manner, yet he went silent as another walking corpse came out of the entrance.


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    Before anything else could be done, another diamond rank yelled as loud as she could: ¡°Connor! Your strongest barrier shield¡ªactivate it now! Cut off the entrance hall entirely!¡±


    All of a sudden, the entrance hall was isolated from the rest of the world with a thick, transparent barrier that nothing could get through. The people still inside the entrance hall panicked as more corpses started to walk out.


    They started to kill them easily, but many were still hitting the barrier, trying to get out. Even the yells could be heard, but no one outside did anything. However, everyone looked at the woman who screamed and commanded that the barrier be put up.


    She didn¡¯t keep them in suspense. ¡°I could feel some power emanating from that corpse. That power was infecting the people close to it,¡± she said, swallowing nervously. ¡°I think the dungeon knows about small life.¡±


    That statement froze everyone who knew what it meant. There were no longer any corpses coming out, but there was a huge pile of them, nearly 300 that the forces inside the entrance hall had killed quite easily. In complete horror, the people outside watched as some of the people inside collapsed out of nowhere. They started to spasm. Healing magics were tried, but nothing happened. Then they died.


    Only about five seconds later, their bodies twitched again, and everyone, in complete horror, watched as those people stood up once again and started to move toward the living. They were, of course, killed once again, but the cycle continued, speeding up. In only five minutes, only walking corpses were left of the few hundred people there. Then one of the corpses started to move weirdly, like the first one they had seen.


    "You have 24 hours to leave my territory. Anyone left here afterward will die. Do not worry, I can see it in your faces. Your superiors would not allow you to leave without putting up a fight, but all of you need to know that you cannot win against this." The walking corpse jerked about, indicating the other walking corpses.


    "I believe a lot of you know what this is. You called them ''small life''; I call them ''small patterns,'' but in the end, it doesn¡¯t matter what it is called. You have some ways of fighting them, but be assured, I have fixed those issues. You also know that if I were to release this, in just a few hours they would be completely free and would start to do what small patterns always do: change and evolve into something even more dangerous."


    "I will not attack with this weapon. No, you will be flooded with monsters that will end this siege. But if anyone were to start a new siege or just attack me again or if any other dungeons¡¯ territory were to get too close, know that I have sent thousands of my creatures hidden across every corner of this world.¡± There was a pause before ETG continued.


    ¡°When I give the word, this small pattern will be released, and your world will die in months. You diamond ranks will most likely survive, but you would still be living in a dead world. And be assured, not even dungeons would be saved. This world would stagnate and forever be dead."


    "You lie! That would kill you just the same!" one of the diamond ranks yelled back. The walking corpse, controlled by ETG, simply started to laugh in the most horrific way possible.


    "Oh, I know I would need to protect against it as well, but I have my ways. I will survive, and everyone within me will as well. I hope this demonstration was enough, although I doubt it. Please don''t make me use this weapon¡ªI truly don¡¯t want to, but I will if necessary." The last word was said with such conviction that no one dared to doubt it.


    "You have 24 hours." were the last words before, from the entrance, a flood of incredibly hot fire turned everything not made of stone to ash. The barrier still held, but when the fire subsided, there was nothing left inside the entrance hall. Quickly, a few of the diamond ranks confirmed that none of the small life remained¡ªall of it was destroyed.


    A terrible weight and silence held everyone in place who had witnessed and heard the words of the dungeon. Many of the diamond ranks were shaken to their cores, while some others were already starting to deny what they had witnessed. The barrier disappeared, and everyone took an involuntary step back.


    The next moment, arguments started, and an emergency meeting was called¡ªnot just with everyone present, but with people around the world as well. It seemed that all of their worst nightmares had come to life, the reasons why they controlled dungeons now realized.


    All of them wanted to end this dungeon as quickly as they could, but wouldn¡¯t that bring about the end of the world? Wouldn¡¯t that just make their nightmares come to life? Was their only way forward to actually give up and let this monster of a dungeon continue to live?

 chapter 273

    Pov Vivian


    My mind was in turmoil. The fire cleansed everything, but I was still seeing visions of those horrible moving corpses. It was so hard not to imagine what would happen if that small life was let loose. My mind was so occupied that I only snapped out of my daze when I saw the barrier disappear, and I involuntarily stepped back.


    My grandfather was next to me, and I looked towards him to see him deep in thought. A meeting was called, and I started to head there, but my grandfather put his hand on my shoulder. ¡°Follow me.¡±


    Instead of going to the meeting, for some reason, he was leading us back to our home. My mind immediately went to the reason why. We were one of the only ones who basically had our entire clan here, and if the dungeon¡¯s threat about killing everyone who remained was true, we needed to get as many people out as possible.


    ¡°Tell everyone to follow the emergency plan A1C,¡± my grandfather told one of the guards as we made it back in record time. That once again confused me. That plan was for everyone to be ready to move at a moment¡¯s notice but to stay here until Grandfather gave the order to move. Were we not staying to fight?


    He led me to his study and activated the enchantments, basically sealing the room from the rest of the world. ¡°Vivian, how credible is that threat from those living corpses?¡± he said while sitting down and starting to go through his desk, looking for something.


    The question was difficult to answer. There was just so much unknown, but the speed and the fact that that small life could so easily kill even platinum ranks who were completely healthy was something none of us had seen before.


    Yet my mind was already making calculations, and it was horrifying. There have been really deadly small live outbreaks, but when they kill their hosts, their corpses stay in one location and eventually die out. This obviously wasn¡¯t the case with this one.


    ¡°Vivian?¡± my grandfather¡¯s voice brought me out of my thoughts.


    ¡°It¡¯s not good, Grandfather. From what I could tell, there was some sort of unifying shared field amongst all the corpses. That small pattern must have access to mana of some sort. I am certain there are ways to fight it, but the spread was so fast, and if it''s really in every corner of the world, we simply won¡¯t have the manpower to keep it at bay. What I¡¯m certain of is that there could be isolated communities that might survive, but I believe his timeline is more than accurate.¡±


    My voice got quieter by the end as I simply didn¡¯t have the strength to continue. I sat down heavily¡ªnot because of the threat of the small life, but because I didn¡¯t believe that those idiots would actually stop. They would think it was just another bluff, even with that demonstration. Although I¡¯m certain it affected at least some to the point that they would believe him, would that be enough?


    I looked up and no longer heard any sounds of rifling through stuff from Grandfather. He was now completely still, looking toward the entrance of the dungeon. Some time passed before he spoke.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe they will find the threat credible enough. They will end this world because they believe they are above it. Perhaps I can do something that will give this world a chance.¡±


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    He went quiet after that. There seemed to be no life in his eyes, like he was somewhere else. Then he blinked a couple of times.


    ¡°Those idiots actually think they can hold this place, but at least they¡¯re evacuating a lot of non-combatants.¡±


    He then stood up, and I saw the determination on his face. My mouth fell open as he stepped toward the command crystal that controlled all the enchantments and smashed it into bits. The world rushed back in as all the enchantments that kept us separate from the rest of the world failed, but so did all the other protections¡ªespecially against the dungeon.


    Grandfather turned toward one corner of the room, like he felt an enemy there.


    ¡°I have nothing else to offer you but this. I will make this choice as public as possible. I have so many vows that bind me, yet I can still make this decision, which will show them all that your threat is credible. Will you accept this? Can you do it quickly? And, of course, the more spectacle you can make of my choice to join you, the better.¡±


    I was completely confused as to what my grandfather was doing. There was nothing there¡ªwho was he speaking to? It was like I was looking at a broken man, but then his shoulders relaxed, and a small smile came to his face that immediately warped into a look of pain as I saw vow bands wrapping all around him appear out of nowhere.


    Those were vow bands that would kill anyone who breaks them. And while they did hurt him, I saw them crumbling before they could do any real damage. That meant that whatever vow my grandfather had made, the conditions to get out of them were met, at least to some degree.


    No one takes a vow if they don''t have to, but a clan leader does have to take quite a few¡ªones that bind all of our clans together. Did that just mean that we broke those bonds? That shouldn''t be possible.


    ¡°Grandfather, what''s happening?¡±


    He turned to me to answer, but then a communication crystal let out a terrible noise. My grandfather quickly picked it up, and I saw an image of our leader. He was basically the last beastkin alive¡ªnot the pale imitations we were. His bear-like face was hard to read, but he seemed incredibly furious. We could also hear the emergency meeting going on in the background through another communication crystal.


    ¡°Pup, what is the meaning of this? And how are you still alive? Whose side did you go on? Doesn¡¯t matter¡ªI will find you and end you.¡± He stopped speaking when he saw my grandfather¡¯s face. ¡°Explain. Now.¡±


    I did not expect that, but my grandfather took a deep breath and then spoke.


    ¡°This world is going to end if we don''t stop attacking this dungeon. I hope my sacrifice¡ªmy betrayal that will never be forgotten¡ªwill help you recognize the true threat. I do not know what you have been told, but the small life is the real threat. It will end this world and everyone in it. My clan now belongs to the dungeon, and I hope you understand what this means.¡±


    There was silence. We also realized that the emergency meeting had gone quiet. Then we heard the voice of one of the most annoying people I know.


    ¡°You see, they are working for the dungeon.¡±


    I looked down at the communication crystal and realized that it wasn¡¯t the secure one, it was meant for power and that nothing could interfere with its connection. We had been overheard.


    ¡°You have betrayed the beasts. I can offer you no protection. Goodbye,¡± our leader said. Then he destroyed the communication crystal to the emergency meeting instead of ours.


    ¡°You will be known for this betrayal, pup. Your line will be forever disgraced, at least to the public. You are a true beast kin, putting our lineage and our history above everything. I hope you are wrong, but if you¡¯re not, then keep our histories alive. I will try to do the same. Goodbye.¡±


    Then the communication crystal cut off.


    A moment later, guards rushed in. ¡°Sir, some sort of symbols are appearing on the ground outside the perimeter.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind those. Prepare for battle.¡±


    My grandfather was about to say something else, but he stopped and looked at the same corner. Then he let out a sigh of relief.


    All of a sudden, I felt twisting, like we were entering a gateway. Our building shook, and I could see cracks all over it, but then it stopped. Immediately, word spread, and we rushed outside to see the sun still in the same location, but our surroundings were different. We were no longer in the city but in someplace else with forests and rivers.


    Some of the buildings had trees coming out of them, like the entire section of the city we controlled was dropped into the middle of the wilderness. I took a deep breath and realized that we were inside the dungeon.


    ¡°Grandfather, what did you do?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°I made a deal with the dungeon. Hopefully, it will be enough to convince the others to stop attacking this dungeon. And of course, like our leader has always taught, we should never have all our eggs in the same basket.¡±


    ¡°If this dungeon succeeds in destroying the world, then we will keep our histories alive. If this dungeon shall fall, other clans will keep our histories alive. And of course, in the best-case scenario, both sides will survive, and we will just have a different kind of life than we had before.¡±

 chapter 277

    Pov Dungeon Core


    We had won. Not the war, but at least a crucial battle. I would hope that they would never return, but that was a fool''s hope. A lot of my creatures were currently working on the designs to make us a proper fortress.


    I should have known that just being defensive wasn¡¯t good enough, but it seems like not just me, but all of us, overestimated our abilities and underestimated the breadth of attacks that could be launched upon us.


    While my physical defenses were excellent, and while we could still improve on them, trying to defend against magical attacks with physical defenses was unbelievably stupid, even if it did work somewhat.


    The problem still remained that I couldn¡¯t properly power magical defenses. I could make some dungeon rules that would help and perhaps a few runes, but otherwise, everything would need to be done by my creatures and powered by them almost entirely. That was a lot of commitment to protect me, as I was too large.


    I could shrink my outer sphere and make it smaller, but that would reduce my defensive size and also make it so that only 100 floors would fit inside me. No, rather than shrink, I would expand myself a little bit more to make myself a perfect circle onto which our defenses could be built, defenses that could be manned by my creatures. But I would also need to be able to power those defenses.


    This meant I needed a skill. While I wasn¡¯t completely done building the 56th floor, its size was expanded to its maximum, and a lot of it was already filled up with what I needed to make it into an aerial farm floor.


    So while I was making myself a perfect circle and already forming the mountain above me into the design we wanted, I was also working on visualizing the skill that I needed, so hopefully, I would be able to get something that would help with my defensive needs.


    A part of me also needed to focus on politics. With the siege lifted, many were asking to be allowed into the outside world, but I couldn¡¯t allow this. Everyone inside already knew too much, and right now, we were still in a vulnerable state. There was also the trouble of the Beast Clan. They were currently isolated in one of the larger areas that could only be accessed through the labyrinth.


    I did have to make a gateway there so that I could send in some of my creatures to get rid of some of their resources and materials that they could use to make melters, as I couldn¡¯t have that kind of manufacturing capability in the hands of people I didn¡¯t fully trust yet. Of course, not everyone liked it, but their leader was understanding, and I did tell them that the isolation was temporary¡ªwhich it was.


    When I reached diamond rank, I wouldn¡¯t care if they roamed my dungeon. I wouldn¡¯t care if people wanted to leave, because nothing they could tell about me could hurt me. While they could explain how I worked, and that might help the powers of this world change their own dungeons, they would simply need too much ramp-up time to catch up to how much mana I was producing.


    It took me three weeks before I was confident enough to trigger a breakthrough and certain enough that I would get a skill I wanted. One of the other problems was the floor guardians. I was no longer making huge numbers of dungeon rooms, so it was a bit more difficult to get the difficulty right. But I guess I could change it a little bit even after I finished making a floor guardian.


    For the floor guardians themselves, I just decided to pick a version of a creature that had most recently made it to diamond rank. So, this floor would have a frog-type guardian.


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    It took me a ridiculously small amount of time to gather enough mana, and with a few orders given, I triggered the breakthrough, still keeping it silent so that even if someone was trying to pick up on it, they wouldn¡¯t.


    Everything went as expected, but I was surprised that during skill selection, I could actually put the full 20% allocation into just making this one skill. I guess it would just make it a higher rank. Perhaps it might also give other benefits to fully focus on one skill during a breakthrough.


    I did everything quite fast, so it didn¡¯t take long before I was out and reconnecting with my dungeon. I looked inward to see the skill that I got: Enhancement Rank C. That made me a bit hesitant¡ªI didn¡¯t expect such a name, but I still hoped that it would work. As I started to test out this skill, I found it was more than I expected it to be, and I was thankful for it.


    Not only would this skill allow me to power enchantments with my own mana, but it also allowed me to strengthen materials beyond their normal properties. What was even more interesting was that adventurers had a similar skill, and it seemed to work in quite the same way. So, for the first time, I had a skill that I didn¡¯t have to figure everything out by myself but could actually use all the knowledge I had gathered.


    The funny thing was that I actually now needed to practice because I didn¡¯t actually know how to enchant stuff or how to make large-scale enchantment circuits. While I would be borrowing some knowledge from the adventurers in terms of large-scale fortifications using enchantments, the Ant nations were actually the leaders in that type of technology.


    Many adventurers and creatures received invitations to a new department of the Academy. At this department, the job was just to start creating the types of enchantments I would need to keep myself safe from all kinds of attacks.


    Once again, we needed to change our defensive plans, as this development changed a lot. Also, a lot of tests were needed, as some were thinking about whether the weakness of the dungeon stone could be fixed by these types of enchantments. There was a lot to do, and this department, like any other, would have the mana budget they needed to accomplish their goals.


    What I also started to do was expand the 57th floor. I also felt like the length and width of my floors had gotten a bit too big once again, so for this floor, I would be pushing the height instead of keeping it at 15,000 meters like I had been doing for quite a while now.


    These floors that I was now going to make were going to just be empty, with only a bit of work done to make a few dungeon rooms and the floor guardian room, and nothing else.


    While I would have liked to keep doing what I had been doing, I simply didn¡¯t have the time. While yes, I could destroy this world with that small pattern, it didn¡¯t mean that I could survive if they truly attacked me.


    I had a feeling that they had more stuff up their sleeves, but it would cost them too much to risk it unless they were certain I was bluffing. If they attacked me, then realized I wasn¡¯t, well¡­ if they were going down, why not take me down as well?


    So a lot of my focus was on my new skill so I could learn its intricacies. The more I learned about this and enhancing materials¡ªeven real materials¡ªa sort of understanding started to click inside of me, but I didn¡¯t truly understand what it meant. As time continued to go by, this realization started to become more. It was now getting so distracting that I decided to look inside to see what was happening.


    It had been a while since I thought about this, but almost immediately all of my focus was taken up by a single section¡ªone that had my first gold rank trait: Intelligent Leaning Evolution and Enhanced Pattern Combining.


    Underneath it was two words that were now a lot less blurry, like I could almost see them. As I continued to focus on it, I understood that traits, like talents, sometimes needed to be discovered by doing something that corresponded with them. So, what had I been doing?


    Lately, I had been focused on applying my enhancement skill to real materials that weren¡¯t made by me. And then it instantly clicked¡ªthe blurriness disappeared, revealing two words: Real Materials.


    Understanding flooded me. I had been able to make real materials in the form of loot thanks to my dungeon rules, but now I fully understood that function and could apply it without needing dungeon rules. Now I could make real materials, so I wouldn¡¯t have to go digging for them.


    Immediately, I started to test and was smacked with a dose of reality, as adventurers sometimes like to call it. The cost of doing this was unbelievable. Then I understood that this wasn¡¯t how dungeons were meant to work.


    Making a decent amount of real materials without using the loot workaround was so expensive because they weren¡¯t a part of my domain. Dungeons were creatures that made everything their own that was inside of them. I had to focus on not claiming the rock that was in a lot of my dungeon stone to keep the melters from working, so making so much that wasn¡¯t me was incredibly hard and incredibly expensive.


    There were ways around that. A perfect example was the water-making runes. They were quite different from enchantments¡ªthey were more a physical type of magic. But, as another dungeon demonstrated to me, making real water with them was simple enough. I just needed to let mana flow through them, and they would just make whatever, unlike enchantments that needed specific inputs.


    Now I could do both, and with the combination of the two and, of course, the help of my Academy, I think I could make a combination of runes and enchantments to help produce real stone and any other kind of real material.


    It would just, once again, take some time. It was also now a lot easier to keep real materials inside my territory without them turning into mine. No wonder it took me so long to figure this trait out, as I would have never expected it to be something like this.

 chapter 282

    Pov Dungeon Core


    It has been nearly two and a half years since I broke the siege. Slowly, I have noticed more and more scouts. They are very careful, but my people are better. Also, what''s the point of making strong defenses and the capability of attacking back if you can¡¯t even detect your enemies? I¡¯ve also decided to allow some of our spies to return to the world once again.


    While I don¡¯t want them to be captured or killed, it¡¯s their choice to make, and the large purge is now over. The Big Four have started to relax a bit, so now spies have a better chance of getting in.


    Unfortunately, spreading information that¡¯s not approved by the Big Four is now too dangerous, as they have a handle on the entire world. Censorship is in full swing, and talking against it would get you found out way too fast for my creatures to take such a risk.


    They haven¡¯t been gone for long, but they were already providing excellent intelligence. They are building their arms up quite fast but not fast enough. While there might be a window of opportunity for them to actually take me by force, it will be a brief window.


    The good thing is that not all of the powers seem so driven to kill me like the Pixies are. I think they believe I¡¯ve made them look like fools with my very existence. I wish they would just get over it and stop being such bitches.


    We are also starting to get close to finishing the first layer of outer defenses. We have done a lot of modeling and extensive testing, so the kind of defenses we want should work as we expect. But in the end, the only way to find out for certain is to actually defend against a force that could have a chance of breaching them.


    It was also kind of hard to explain to the new people when they started working on this project how things should work. The thing is, regular city defenses are more of a 2D plane, but we are working more in a 3D plane.


    The ants had no problem understanding this. They have been doing combat like this for all their lives, and when their technology got good enough, they even had to contend with aerial combat on a scale unknown to this world.


    The best way we have found to explain our defenses was to think of a city fully enveloped by a dome-like wall. There were also normal cities that had multiple walls¡ªthey were actually quite famous¡ªso that made the next part of the explanation a bit easier.


    The first layer of the outer defenses was like an inner wall, and slowly we would build layer upon layer of walls so that every one of them would need to be knocked down for the attackers to get to the next one.


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    It was more difficult to explain the modular sections. Basically, every layer had sections like sideways walls that could also defend and allow attacks, which meant that if a part of a layer was broken into, it didn¡¯t mean the whole layer was lost.


    It was as complex as it sounded, and defending it¡ªmore specifically, positioning our forces correctly¡ªwas not as simple as just walking up to a wall and defending it. There was going to need to be a lot of training, and most likely defenders would just stick to their sections so they could learn them like the back of their hands.


    The ants had also done an excellent job making the fortresses down below, past my dungeon proper. Those were the fortresses built in pockets I have not claimed, to force attacking monsters coming from the other dungeons to go around them, while they could continue to attack the passing monsters.


    These were forts meant to slow down and weaken the attacks from other dungeons. Right now, the final trap was not yet done, but even now they would need to start fighting the outer layer before they could get in.


    Right now, I don¡¯t know how long we could defend before they would get through the defenses of the entrance¡ªprobably not that long¡ªbut with every passing month, they would find it harder and harder to get even close to the entrance.


    It has not been the most pleasant time, but it¡¯s still fun to work on a lot of this defensive stuff. Currently, we have not yet implemented any attacking structures, but there are already plans and enchantments being developed that would make me a quite dangerous opponent. While the aiming would still need to be done by others, I could supply a lot of the power.


    There were also talks about possibly making at least one extremely powerful version of these attack structures, but these were just talks, and no one actually knew if it was possible to do it.


    The ones talking about and taking this a bit seriously, for some reason, wanted me to have enough firepower with one attack to destroy an entire moon. I really think that¡¯s overkill. It would also be quite slow to aim and maneuver, as I would need to move my entire dungeon, but who knows what would be possible in the future.


    Time wasn¡¯t moving like it used to. Back in the day, I remember how fast months and years went by¡ªit was like a snap, and it was done. Now everything seemed to be crawling extremely slowly. Yet I was making progress.


    Another breakthrough came when I finished expanding the 60th floor. It was quite a large one, with 300,000 kilometers in length, 225,000 kilometers in width, and 46,200 meters in height. It was a monster, but they would just keep getting bigger and bigger.


    This time, I once again ranked up my Ever-expanding quantity skill, getting it to rank S. Eventually, I would need this skill quite a lot, so it¡¯s better to start early. I could just imagine how many creatures I would have when I was finally able to fill all of these floors. I had so many interesting plans, and I was quite certain that at least in a couple of them, I was going to make worlds that had no idea they were living inside a dungeon.


    It would be fun to see how they developed, and of course, with dungeon rules, I could make all kinds of different rules for those worlds. All of this just made me push harder. Many were also saying that I should probably make a skill that allowed me to create an avatar, as everyone found it quite creepy to talk to me while I was taking over creatures almost entirely to speak to them. I wasn¡¯t really that good at it, and they always moved quite jerkily.


    There were plenty of dungeons that had avatars, but honestly, I just wasn¡¯t feeling it, and it was actually a weakness. An avatar was directly connected to the core, but it had many weaknesses, like the single-minded creatures had, which meant I could be directly attacked, and even my core could be affected. I just don¡¯t think I would need something like this, and the weakness it created was a good enough reason to stop others from bothering me with this nonsense.


    I was also keeping ahead of problem fixes. Every now and then, adventurers found ways to circumvent certain things that shouldn¡¯t be circumvented, and that needed fixing. While I was focused on defenses, I still needed the civilizations and people who relied on me to function.


    That was why I also made a lot of resource nodes for the beast clan. That way, they could become self-sufficient, and when the time was right, they could join the greater dungeon community.

 chapter 283

    Pov Dungeon Core


    As I was finishing up the 60th floor, I realized that I had done this faster than the previous floor, even though it was bigger. I really didn¡¯t have more of me working on this floor than the previous one, which meant that the overall power I can command for changing things in my dungeon has grown more than I expected.


    Is this because I¡¯m getting ever closer to diamond rank? Perhaps that''s true. The breakthrough was easy¡ªin fact, not advancing has become harder. With more and more diamond ranks living here, my mana generation has started to spike.


    This time, I put nearly all of my skill improvement into Sub Dungeons, bringing it to S rank. The rest I put into Outer Vision, but it was too little to improve it this time around.


    I wanted to round out the current skills that I had, at least to S rank, although I¡¯m guessing a few of them I would not be able to get that far, as they are of a different quality¡ªlike the dungeon gateway skill.


    Perhaps it was a waste of a breakthrough, but currently, I had no certainty in what new skills to get, and waiting for a breakthrough to get an idea of what new skills I would need felt like it would delay me for too long.


    I hadn¡¯t done much with my sub dungeons as I simply didn¡¯t have time. After I reconnected with my dungeon, I did figure out that I could now make my core floor even larger, but when I thought things through, to my surprise, it turned out it wouldn¡¯t actually be necessary. It would be a waste of time to expand the core floor, and that was a weird realization. Basically, if someone already reaches my core floor, the last of my defenses, I feel like I have already failed.


    It took me three months and one day to expand the 61st floor. That was an incredibly short amount of time, but it wasn''t much shorter than the last one. I don¡¯t think that by the time I reach the 75th floor, I would be doing each floor in a few days¡ªthat just didn¡¯t seem feasible.


    What I needed to do was actually make use of the 60th floor. Like every other recent floor, it originally only had a couple of dungeon rooms to keep everything still connected, and of course, the floor guardian room¡ªor, for this particular floor, a boss room. Now, a bit of it was filled with high-density mana crystal.


    Owning this much of it in the outside world would make you the richest person by a factor of ten. It¡¯s just that I needed to channel all this mana away from me because if I didn¡¯t, not only would I fill up incredibly fast, but if I didn¡¯t trigger a breakthrough, I would simply break. I wonder if the Pixies knew that they could simply kill me by knocking me out for about 20 minutes or so.


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    I¡¯ve tried to fix this problem with dungeon rules and even thought about some skills that might help, but the only thing that seemed to actually help is getting to the next breakthrough so my capacity would increase. It would be nice if I could get more capacity using a skill, but every dungeon that has tried has shattered. I still have some of their memories with their explosive ends.


    No, there¡¯s no way of doing this. It¡¯s just not feasible, the same way as messing with time would not end well. You could certainly try, and you would succeed to a certain extent, but the consequences are just too dire.


    With me finishing the 61st floor, I increased my Outer Vision to S rank and a bit went into Extreme Environment bringing it to C rank. Testing the skill out was quite nice, as I could now see quite far away. Perhaps I should augment this skill with another one that would help my vision function like a telescope so I could see truly far.


    So during the expansion of the 62nd floor, I pursued this line of inquiry. Not only did I look at telescopes, but I studied spells that allowed you to see further away, as well as different kinds of eyes and other methods of seeing. Perhaps it was a bit wrong to put so much of me into looking into this skill, but I had a feeling it might be really important in the future.


    So this time, in exactly three months, I triggered another breakthrough. This time, during the skill phase, I thought about all that I had learned and about my desire to look extremely far away and understand what¡¯s there.


    It was quite a while before I came out of my breakthrough, I realized that it had been the longest advancement I have had. Quite a while ago, I figured out that if I did things quickly and already had planned things out, I could reduce the time I spent in whatever mind space the breakthrough happened in. This time, the skill I wanted to make took a lot of thinking through.


    Now came the moment of truth. I looked inside and quickly found the new skill¡ªExtended Sight: Rank E. I might have failed here, the name was quite simple, but the rank gave me hope. Of course, inside my dungeon, I could view everything, so the skill wouldn¡¯t do anything, but when I tried to look outside, I couldn¡¯t.


    That made me panic a bit, but then I realized I needed to use my Outer Vision skill to be able to see outside. However, the range hadn¡¯t extended. I was only confused for a moment, as it seemed like I needed to use Extended Sight while using Outer Vision.


    The effect was immediate, and all of a sudden, I could only see blackness. I needed to rain this skill in quite a bit to be able to still view this world. One thing was clear¡ªI could still only view from one point of view, which was a bit annoying, but it would have to do.


    For the first time, I could actually see what the moon¡¯s surface looked like. In fact, if I used the skill correctly, I could see it the same way as I could see grass on the surface around me.


    I looked over the information from the satellite outpost, then I did some calculations and used my skills to zoom in on a particular location in space. It didn¡¯t take long for me to see a planet that I hadn¡¯t seen before.


    It was more towards the edge of our solar system, as they were calling it now. This planet was a lot smaller than ours. In fact, they think that our planet is too big to be natural, but they were not yet completely certain about that.


    The planet that I could now see was grey in color. There was no life there, not even an atmosphere. Seeing that was awesome. I could view it almost like I was watching it while flying from high up.


    I was impressed by how far I could see. I tried to use the skill on a few stars I could see, but all that did was make them brighter. The skill was still too weak, but it was only at rank E. Perhaps if I got it to S rank, I could actually see another solar system.


    Waiting until daytime was excruciating, but seeing the sun close up was magnificent. The power it had, the way it moved, and whatever those large arches were¡ªthey were amazing. My current worlds had fake suns, but perhaps one day, I could actually make a real one. Wouldn¡¯t that be amazing?


    Also, I had a feeling that the power it could provide would help my mana generation quite a lot if I did it correctly. But when I looked at my current floor size, I knew that I was a long way off from that dream.

 chapter 287

    Pov Brigita


    It was hard to keep standing, so I let myself slump down against the big backpack I wore. The ground was cold here, as it always was, but this was home¡ªa home I never expected to have.


    I tried to stop them, but my tears still fell. It had been a hard life, but even if sometimes in my heart I missed my parents, I still remembered the last time I saw their faces, and after that, it was hard to call them anything but monsters.


    My life before that moment was fun. We lived in many hub stations as I grew up, always going downwards. There were a bunch of us children that had lives like that. I even remember one of the dungeon treks we had to do to get to another hub station. It was beyond scary to see all those monsters, but fortunately, it was the only time I remembered it, as we didn¡¯t have to do that again.


    We still went downwards, floor after floor, when my parents made it deeper in. Now they could bring me with them, a change almost everyone liked. We were only allowed to use hub station gateways and nothing else. Otherwise, I was sure my parents would have brought me along to every way station.


    Of course, I didn¡¯t know that at the time, but that was awful parenting, and while I hated being left to be cared for by others like many other children, now I know that it was the best option.


    Things got even more fun when we started to receive the children¡¯s version of the quest necklace. Never had doing chores been so fun, and reading those boring books became enjoyable because if I finished them properly, I got rewards.


    Once again, this isn¡¯t the best way to get children to do stuff¡ªI¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m addicted to rewards now¡ªbut it did help me survive those looks on my parents¡¯ faces.


    That announcement that the dungeon was actually free changed everything. Many around us were so happy. We had known nothing else but the dungeon, but I was one of the few whose parents had only recently come to this dungeon, and I was the first child they had in the dungeon.


    So when they came home and started packing to leave, I was a bit sad that we were going. But as the minutes went by and I watched them pack, I started to notice that they weren¡¯t packing anything that belonged to me.


    When I asked my mother what I should bring, those words still make me shiver¡ªthey were so cold. ¡°We aren¡¯t bringing anything tainted by this monster of a dungeon.¡±


    No matter how much I begged, they wouldn¡¯t listen to me. After that, every time I tried to touch them, to grab hold of them, they would push me away¡ªharder every time. The last push I remember rocketed me against the wall so hard that I blacked out.


    I wish I had come to when they were already gone, but I managed to regain consciousness just before they left. I was crumbling, bloodied, barely conscious, having cried the entire time. That was the image of me when they looked at me for the last time before they left.


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    I still don¡¯t know exactly how to explain it, but I had never seen anyone look at anything with such disgust. It was like I was a piece of shit underneath their shoes, something so bad that the only way to get rid of it was to throw away the entire shoe.


    And just like that, I no longer had any parents¡ªonly tainted memories, ruined by the monsters they became. I wasn¡¯t the only one left like that, but I think the way my parents treated me was the worst.


    Others still received hugs, even though I could see¡ªthough they couldn¡¯t, because they were too young¡ªthat the affection was faked. The ones who had cared for us looked horrified. They had lived in this dungeon their entire lives, so it shocked them to see those who they once called friends act like this.


    There were a few fights, but nothing truly serious. For me, everything at that point felt so hollow. Then, that quest notification beeped, pulling me back from that horrifying space. Apparently, the ones who had cared for us decided to start an orphanage, and I had a quest to go and join.


    My legs wouldn¡¯t move. I still remember that at the time only being thirteen I had already gone to the first floor a few times as part of a few different parties, with members a few years older than me.


    Not many wanted to be physical ranged damage dealers, but I liked using my bow. I was good at it, and the one that I had at that time was a reward for getting ten bullseyes in a row at 30 meters.


    I enjoyed the fighting, and I contemplated perhaps just running to a nearby gateway, going to the first floor, and trying to clear it myself. I had a good chance of doing so, but I also had a good chance of dying¡ªand at that moment, I didn¡¯t care.


    Then came a peep that changed my life. Many of us thought that perhaps the dungeon could read our minds, but we had confirmed amongst ourselves that that wasn¡¯t possible, although it was really good at predicting our next decisions.


    My quest changed, and I received an option: I could either join the orphanage or go to the nearest gateway, enter the first floor, and clear two rooms, after which I would be rewarded with a backpack containing basic survival gear and enough food to last me a week.


    The quest also told me that it wasn¡¯t a permanent choice and that I could always just return to the orphanage. It was exactly what I needed¡ªbut I never ended up returning to the orphanage.


    The quests gave me enough supplies to keep surviving, and as time went on, I started to enjoy the fighting more and more. The first floor, and every other up until the silver floors, should have changed every time I entered them, but no matter how long I was away, whenever I entered the first floor, it always brought me back to the one I entered three years ago.


    This entrance room had become my home. It was like a small apartment just for me. Yet now, everything I could bring was packed up, and everything that had at least a little bit of worth that I couldn¡¯t bring was sold off.


    I had just reached silver rank and gotten to the first way station of the first silver floor. I would never be returning here, and it was so hard to let go. Now I also had a proper quest necklace and not the children¡¯s version. It was time to move on¡ªand go ever deeper.


    "Thank you, Father," I said to the empty air.


    For the longest time, I just called Father ¡®Dungeon,¡¯ but I have visited hub stations. Fortunately, the ones I had been to, I could still go to. There, I learned about the other worlds Father created and the creatures that came from them. I learned that all of them called the dungeon ¡®Father,¡¯ and as time passed, I started to call him that too. I do not know how healthy this is, but I honestly didn¡¯t care what others thought.


    It was time to start exploring this wonderful collection of worlds and challenges Father had crafted for us.


    My steps were still heavy as I headed towards the gateway. Before I knew what happened, there was a flash, and I was in the first way station of the silver floor. It was time to gather as much information as possible and join the explorers and the runner¡¯s guild.


    Then go and take coin from the old men who don''t know how to control dice when they roll them¡ªhopefully, getting me enough coin to purchase an expanded backpack, then jump ahead to the hub station to get away from the old men who would want their coin back.


    It was nice to have shortcuts, but I won¡¯t take any except for this one. I tried to force the smile off my face, but it was so hard to do. It was going to be a fun day.


    Fortunately, in every hub station, there was a skill orb bigger than me that anyone could use to get any skill in it. If I understood correctly, the ones deeper would have even stronger skills, and I couldn¡¯t wait to see what skills those had when I reached that far.


    I kind of wanted to hurry there, but then I would miss out on all the wonderful challenges along the way.

 chapter 288

    Pov Leader of the Beasts


    "Sir, we found another, but like the last one, it killed itself and the sample before we got anywhere near. This one wasn''t human; instead, it was a wolf."


    "Anything else?" I asked while cursing our luck.


    "The Delvers found three more Pixies one more and the Masters have found none since last year¡¯s meeting. Here are the locations," he said while placing a piece of paper on my table.


    He said nothing else, so I indicated that he should leave. I looked at the piece of paper he gave me and placed the appropriate locations on the world map that hung on my wall.


    The four factions have only found twelve of the dungeon¡¯s agents, all carrying a suspicious device that they destroy before they kill themselves. Supposedly, there are at least a thousand out there, and from the looks of it, they seem to be everywhere, as the ones we have currently found are spread all around.


    Many think that if we could only get a sample of those small life, we would be able to make countermeasures. Perhaps that is true, but I wasn¡¯t willing to bet the future of this world on that fact.


    The decade after the lifting of the siege has been both frustrating and amazing. All of our dungeons are advancing a lot faster thanks to us making them make living space, which we fill up with anyone we can.


    My dungeon experts said that we were still missing something. We are falling way short of the expected values of mana generation that the numbers from that dungeon were showing.


    I personally think it¡¯s the dungeon-born that makes the difference. It¡¯s most likely that the other powers are experimenting as well, but I do not know if they have the bravery to do what we¡¯re doing.


    Many of our dungeons now have guardians, and we¡¯re allowing them more freedom, especially the older ones. Is this a risk? Most definitely. But I still think that the newer dungeons need the strict control we have on them; otherwise, things could get dangerous.


    The older ones¡ªthe ones you can reason with¡ªI¡¯ve never actually agreed with the Pixies that they needed to be controlled so tightly.


    While all of this was helping us get a lot more platinum ranks and even more diamonds, this sort of boosting of our dungeons seemed to do basically nothing for our highest-ranked dungeons.


    Their mana requirements were astronomical, and to keep up with the other powers, we needed to burn those mana reserves¡ªmeant to increase the rank¡ªto instead make monsters to help our diamonds get more fighting experience and for them to increase their rank at a more reasonable speed.


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    Looking at the map, every dungeon in the world was marked. Now that the darkness was gone, no dungeon was able to be kept a secret. More of them were popping up every week, as absolutely everyone was planting all the shards they had stored up. At least this seemed to help figure out who ruled over what sections of the world.


    I know that we have taken control over every nation in our sphere of influence, and while we kept their current leadership so they could keep managing their areas, we simply didn¡¯t have the manpower or the time to deal with rebellions on such a scale.


    Still, the world was slowly being divided by the four of us. Even if we managed to destroy that dungeon, we would never stop fighting each other. Now that we had a solution for the dungeon ranking problem, the stalemate was over, and there would not be a peaceful time until the next making happened.


    In all honesty, I think we can push our dungeon to the next rank, after which that dungeon would be destroyed anyway. But the Pixies are pushing for us all to fight it. Most of us think that they¡¯re hiding something like they know something we don¡¯t. And perhaps they do¡ªbut I know their pride. I have seen that be their downfall many times. Yet from the reports we are getting, the dungeon is fortifying itself to fight this entire world, and that¡¯s truly scary.


    It would also mean that we would need to fight with our dungeons to have any chance. But the Pixies are idiots if they think we haven¡¯t noticed their plan. Currently, their second-highest-ranked dungeons territory hasn¡¯t even gotten close enough to joining the fight.


    Their excuse is that the dungeon is too far away, but it¡¯s just an empty excuse. All the dungeons that are ranked so high basically have their territories at the core of this world. So, it could easily extend its territory to join the others, who have all extended theirs close to that dungeon.


    They¡¯re using the excuse their dungeon can just send its monsters through other dungeons'' territories, and while I guess that¡¯s true, dungeons can''t control their monsters when they go into other dungeons'' territories. I can already see them using it not being able to control some of the wilder monsters as an excuse so they could keep them back in reserve.


    We also have reports of them moving a significant population into that dungeon along with a few others. That¡¯s not to say that we aren¡¯t doing the same, but I think our end goals are a bit different.


    I¡¯m pretty sure that they will try to get us all to assault that dungeon, weakening us significantly. While they will enjoy ending that dungeon their true goal is not its destruction, but what will follow.


    They want us to think that nothing will happen. In every meeting we have, they emphasize that such a small live, as the dungeon describes, is impossible¡ªbut I think that they do know exactly how devastating it will be. Instead of fearing it, they¡¯re counting on it.


    Like them, we¡¯re all moving parts of our population into dungeons that will be turned into living bunkers. While every dungeon would still need to be open to the world, there are ways to secure them even against small life. The world outside would be devastated, but we would survive in our deepest dungeons while trying to have them rank up to be the ones who will win this age.


    That sounds horrific and worst of all, what would the world be like after? If basically everyone became that living death, the small live would turn the entire world into. I would not want to see what becomes of us after the making, and I certainly don¡¯t want to win so badly as to see that outcome. What would be the point in ruling over a dead world?


    Yet what could I do? The Pixies have the most dungeons. If I were to declare war on them, they would crush us. If the other two joined us, currently going by the numbers we know, we would eventually win, but they have more dungeons, deeper dungeons.


    They would eventually grind us to death. And in all honesty, I think they¡¯re lying about their numbers. The only reason they don¡¯t try to attack us is that we would weaken them too much. As we are no longer the only power that can contest them.


    We had all been stupid. I know that now. The millennia of peace allowed the Pixies to slowly build up enough strength and influence that when the time came, they could wipe us off the map. They are secretive bastards.


    As my eyes fell upon the location of the dungeon that has caused so much trouble, I perhaps saw a way out. But I could not voice this to anyone nor make any inquiries. I could only hope that when the time comes, I would have been able to maneuver everyone into the correct positions so that perhaps this world could be saved from the madness that¡¯s about to come.


    The armies and the weaponry have been built up. It won¡¯t be too much longer before the Pixies make us march to once again siege that dungeon, but this time we will have the force to assault it fully. The dangerous dungeon will be dealt with, and hopefully, afterward, the Pixies will fall as well.

 chapter 289

    Pov Dungeon Core


    Reconnecting with my dungeon after a breakthrough was always exciting. This time, however, there was a bit of bad news. Over the course of a few months, the Big Four have started to properly mobilize, and while we''re only getting snippets of information, the situation has been clear from the beginning. They will soon march. Yet now, it¡¯s confirmed¡ªthey¡¯re on the move.


    As most of the soldiers coming over are platinum- and diamond-ranked, even the Delvers don¡¯t have a problem showing up with a massive army on land. In fact, they¡¯re one of the closest, as our scouts have confirmed that they are currently preparing a beachhead to handle logistics for them.


    Currently, there are discussions on whether we should start operations outside my territory to delay any approach, but I left them to it for now as I decided to look over all my skills and how much I have managed to improve them.


    Currently, the focus has been on reaching as deep as possible. I¡¯m amazed that I managed to get to floor 72 so fast. But I guess if you¡¯re really pushing yourself in one direction and not doing anything else, progress comes quickly.


    Unfortunately, I haven¡¯t thought of any new skills I could make, and while I would still want the skill that allows me to take talents from beings not created by me, I can feel that even if I tried to make something like that, it wouldn¡¯t work¡ªat least not until I make it to diamond.


    Pattern Strengthening: Rank S


    Creature Making: Rank S


    Creature Quantity: Rank S


    Dungeon Modification: Rank S


    Space Expansion: Rank S+


    Dungeon Rules¡¯: Rank S


    Sub Dungeons¡¯: Rank S


    Outer Vision: Rank S


    Creature Advancement: Rank S


    Ever-expanding mind matrix: Rank S


    Planned Evolution: Rank S


    Dungeon Gateway: Rank F


    Extreme Environment: Rank B+ --> S


    Aura Crystal: Rank E+


    My World: Rank S


    Ever-expanding quantity: Rank S


    Enhancement: Rank S


    Hold Location: Rank E --> A


    Extended Sight: Rank E --> B


    I have been able to improve quite a few of my skills and even got one to S rank, but some skills just aren¡¯t as important, like aura crystals. While eventually, they will become important¡ªat least, I hope so¡ªbecause I really don¡¯t want to become the will of the world. I like my current self and will try to do anything I can to not become something else.


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    Floor 72 was impressively big. It is almost 481,000 kilometers in length, close to 362,000 kilometers in width, and, of course, the height I pushed to be 48 kilometers. It¡¯s weird how much height feels different than distances, but that 48 kilometers feels so much.


    Most likely, when I reach diamond rank, it will be time to readjust the height once again to keep down the width and length so I won¡¯t have to make so much land in the future.


    We were still working on improving our defenses, and the second layer was close to being finished¡ªit was already completed at both poles. Those were the two most likely places to be attacked, so they were the priority.


    Of course, our enemy will have strong mages who could manipulate vast swathes of earth, but we had countermeasures for that in the form of our own mages. And, of course, my dungeon rules would help make the difference in that fight.


    As the days passed, we were getting more and more information. The armies raised against us were incredibly impressive. The Masters and the Beasts seemed to have been able to make armies estimated to be between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 platinum ranks, with about 1,000 to 1,200 diamonds. Of course, those diamonds were early-ranked, basically diamond ranks that had just broken through, but there were still quite a lot.


    It didn¡¯t surprise me that they had them, but it was still impressive to achieve such a level of strength in what amounted to a decade and a half. The Delvers were on another level. They had fewer diamond ranks¡ªwe were estimating about 600 to 800¡ªbut their platinum ranks were estimated at around 7 million, which surprised everyone. It was the largest number among all of the four great powers.


    We weren¡¯t worried about the platinum ranks, even if those numbers were incredibly high. The problem was the Pixies. They had around 2 to 3 million platinum ranks, but what was concerning was that we were estimating close to 4,000 diamond ranks.


    Now that number impressed me. Of course, I could see what focused training could do, as we had close to that number of diamond ranks. So, if we were to take on the Pixies alone, even though they would have some trump cards, I was sure we could succeed.


    The problem was the other three great powers. Their numbers, added to the Pixies, meant that we were going to have a difficult battle ahead of us, and we would need to use everything we had.


    But we had the defensive advantage, which counted for quite a lot, thanks to our fortifications being built to counter such strength. We would get more accurate numbers as the armies converged on this location, but I was pretty sure that they were accurate enough already.


    The reason the Pixies were able to get so many diamond ranks so fast was simply because they had the most number of diamond-rank dungeons. While before I broke the siege, there were about 15 diamond-rank dungeons in the world, now there were close to 200. Of course, almost all of them were basically just 76 floors deep, as all of them had been kept at the very end of platinum for who knows what reason.


    Still, the fact that I alone could compete with the output of about half of those diamond-rank dungeons in producing diamond-ranked combatants was... well, it made me feel really good.


    Of course, I could make more farm floors to make up the difference, but the ramp-up time for one and the time to build one were simply no longer viable. That¡¯s why I have put so much time into advancing as my best chance for survival was to make it to diamond rank.


    I could also speed up my advancement a little by making the floors smaller, but it was already hard to fight my instincts to just leave those floors so empty. I think if I were to try to make those floors smaller, I would actually start to struggle to control myself. So I was pushing as hard as possible against the limits of the floor, pushing its spatial expansion as much as I could so I could reach the limits of it.


    With the armies against us, especially considering how many diamond ranks they had, the only way to actually win this was for me to reach diamond rank. Everything else was just a delaying action, and hopefully, our defenses were capable enough to keep those bastards out for as long as possible.


    Fortunately, they still had to make it here, which gave me more time. So I interrupted the meeting everyone was having and ordered them to do as much as possible to delay any army from reaching here, as even a few days could make the difference between victory and loss.


    I also needed to prepare armies. A part of me was constantly making monsters. While most of them were meant for the fortifications, a small portion was to refill the dungeon rooms. Everything else went into making roaming armies, so I could send millions of platinum-ranked monsters against the approaching armies and, of course, fight against the inevitable flood of monsters from other dungeons that would come from below.


    It was a delicate act of how much of myself should I dedicate to each needed task. If I put too much into making monsters, I would be delaying my advancement too much, but if I put too much into advancing, our defenses could crumble too fast, leaving me without enough time to reach diamond.


    I wonder if I have gone a bit crazy because I was actually finding this all a bit exciting. I guess the time for building up was over, and it was time to go to war again.

 chapter 290

    Pov The Supreme General


    My shoulders were still a bit stiff, but that¡¯s always been a problem when changing into a human form from an ant one. It¡¯s just that I feel so much more comfortable in my own form.


    Yet the change is necessary, as I can¡¯t deny the advantages of a human form. Unfortunately, my position doesn¡¯t require any of the advantages my original form gives, so here I am¡ªelected as the leader of the entire armed forces of the dungeon, the Supreme General, as they call me.


    We were gathered around a table, waiting for word from our forward scouts. So many strong people were here, and Father was once again advancing, having pushed himself in record time to finish the 73rd floor.


    Everyone here could single-handedly beat me in combat¡ªsome quite easily¡ªbut my talents never lay in actual combat, even though I did it quite a lot when I was young. No, my talent gave me the opportunity to learn from my experiences and turn that into wisdom, simply by not dying when I should have.


    There are some powerful talents out there, but mine didn¡¯t grant me immortality¡ªat least not in the form I would have liked. It gave me time, and as it turned out, that was all I needed to succeed.


    Back then, the ant nations were young and in constant war. Slowly, I watched my race grow smarter. There were individuals capable of complete reasoning even before me, but I watched in fascination as everyone became as intelligent as the few of us who had already reached that stage.


    I was far from leadership back then. I was just a simple worker ant, but unlike my sisters, I did not perish from growing old as they did. Then the wars came, and even though I was not a soldier, all of us still received a bit of training back then so we could protect our colonies.


    The constant fighting allowed me to get stronger, but I was also captured, as my original colony didn¡¯t survive. It was back to working then for quite a while.


    Our Queens were gone, so it didn¡¯t take too long for all my sisters who survived that fight to be gone. Time passed like that, and more fighting followed. Then champions started to appear, but I was still just a lonely worker, even though I had grown quite powerful.


    Everyone had forgotten about me as I was not important, so when another floor opened up for colonization, I just left.


    Back then, I was already starting to feel my age, but as I grew stronger, advancing in the silver ranks, as I now know them, I was able to stave off old age as I continued to fight mostly alone.


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    When I finally reached gold rank a few floors down, after many more battles¡ªsince I couldn¡¯t escape the wars of nations entirely¡ªI realized why I had survived so long. I also understood that, through all of that, I had been working on instinct a bit too much. But gold rank brought many advantages, including the proper activation and reveal of my talent.


    Long-lived. Those were two simple words, but unknown to me in my early life, they allowed me to watch my entire civilization grow¡ªfrom a few colonies that had developed intelligence into mega nations whose technology even challenges the civilizations outside of Father.


    It didn¡¯t take long for others to see my wisdom, so I became a general, leading huge armies in what seemed like an almost never-ending war. Fortunately, that era came to an end, and while I did not enjoy the structured wars that followed, I think we could have done without it. Even so, it was good that I had the practice, as I can now help Father defend against those who pursued our end.


    I continue to go through my life so that I could remember it all, as with knowing history comes wisdom. While not every situation is the same, so much can be learned if you just look. Fortunately for me, I did not just have to read or be told stories about what happened to obtain some wisdom¡ªI had personal experience, surpassing almost everyone here, perhaps excluding Ismael. But while he can do some covert operations, he hasn¡¯t the mind for complex large-scale warfare.


    I wish Father would have used me before, but I was too focused on my own civilization, on the ant nations, to realize the dangers of the outside. I should have at least accepted the Academy¡¯s briefing on the outside world, as they often offered knowledge seminars for those of us who had reached the top of leadership in at least one area.


    Too sure of Father I was back then, and a little bit of bitterness was there too because of the endless wars we had to endure. I know now that, unfortunately, nothing could have changed that.


    If Father had interfered, it would have just made things worse. Many want to forget those histories¡ªthe brutality we could show¡ªbut it was just the way back then, and we shouldn¡¯t forget what we¡¯re capable of just because it¡¯s more convenient not to remember.


    The crystals on the table started to light up one by one. Our technology had advanced quite a bit; the Academy was doing miracle work. Gone were the days when we needed to listen to what the other side said.


    Now, these crystals¡ªbeyond my knowledge of how they worked¡ªtransferred the knowledge that came with the message to everyone holding the correct crystal. It was meant to cut back on the lag time of communications, and now we instantly knew of the approaching armies and what routes they were currently taking.


    ¡°The armies have been out of reach until now, too far from our home. But the Delvers are now close enough, and we know the routes of many of the other powers¡¯ armies. Usual defensive works like diverting rivers or even dropping entire mountains in front of those armies would be entirely useless. As we have agreed upon before, the only way to delay them without committing too much of our forces too early is to start making traps.¡±


    My words rang out with absolute authority, and so the discussions started. We were going to use everything we had¡ªrunic traps, bombs, spell-woven horrifying area-of-effect traps, and many more.


    The table quickly transformed from a simple table into something perfectly capable of showing the minute details of the terrain in every location we deemed important enough. And now, that work was showing itself, as we could plan truly devastating delaying attacks.


    Unfortunately, we all also knew that this could only buy us perhaps a few days. But there were also some truly clever and capable people amongst our ranks that I was certain would be able to come up with traps that could perhaps even get us a few diamond ranks.


    When the approaching armies got closer, it was time to start with a more active defense plan. And of course, when they reached Father¡¯s territory, they would come to learn why you should not march against a dungeon.


    Everyone here would be only focused on the surface, but as soon as this meeting ended, I went through a gateway to another operational headquarters. This time, I was at the South Pole instead of the North, close to the second entrance of Father.


    While there were some adventurers here, this defense was almost entirely of father''s children. On this front, we would be fighting other dungeons, and in all honesty, I think this would be more of a desperate fight than the one that would be at the surface.

 chapter 291

    Pov Dungeon Core


    It takes me nearly two weeks to complete a breakthrough. That is a long time. I would also need to expand the 74th floor, and I¡¯m currently doing it as fast as I can. Then, another breakthrough to get to floor 75. After that, I have to expand it until finally, I can enter a breakthrough that will take me to diamond rank, which will most likely take two weeks, if not a bit more. The timing of all this is not excellent.


    With the speed of the approaching armies, they will make it here around the time I should enter another breakthrough. That would be bad because, by then, when all of them have arrived, most likely waiting outside my territory, they will all attack at once, and I would need to send out my armies¡ªwhich I couldn¡¯t do if I was advancing.


    Fortunately, my guardian Rafe can handle some of the tasks, as he does have a bit of control, but he would be quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of monsters he would need to locate into different places and then command them. Our defense would suffer quite a lot. I brought up this problem with everyone, and they immediately started figuring out what we could do.


    ¡°How hard and how long would it take to put up some fortifications that the monster armies could use to defend?¡± was a question asked about an hour into the discussions.


    ¡°For basic ones, not too long, but the enemies would be able to see those fortifications easily enough and come up with countermeasures quickly. It could render those forces useless.¡± A statement I agreed with.


    There were positives and negatives, but with a little more refinement from people who understood warfare a lot better than me, they seemed to come up with a viable plan.


    So, quite a lot of my workforce that was working on adding the secondary defensive layer to the middle of my dungeon¡¯s outer layer was redirected to start building fortifications further away from my dungeon, about halfway towards the edge of my territory on the surface.


    This took heavy inspiration from the ant nation¡¯s way of defense, but against diamond ranks, normally, this would just be an annoyance. The plan was to use our own diamond ranks to counter the spells of the enemy diamond ranks so those fortifications wouldn¡¯t be erased instantly.


    That didn¡¯t change the fact that those fortifications would disappear quickly enough with the physical application of force from the enemy elites, and while we could counter that as well with our own, it was deemed too wasteful.


    Many counterplays were thought of, disregarded, and many more were changed to fit certain scenarios. I let them do their thing as I started to focus on other problems. My biggest was the small undead pattern. We could eliminate a large portion of the attacking forces simply by releasing it in high quantities into their midst. The problem was, then we would have to deal with the undead.


    The pattern I would be using was not the one from the undead world. That one, I was certain I could control to a degree even if I let it out. The one I made, just simply no. It was the one thing I was properly afraid of, and a lot of my defensive preparations were also meant to counter this small pattern when it was finally released.


    Yet, those defenses would not fare well against millions of undead trying to reach my core, which I was certain they would. I simply had too much life and mana radiating from me.


    Now, undead were usually quite stupid, but that unifying field¡ªit wasn¡¯t as simple as I first thought it was. In the undead world, the more high-ranked undead it had, the more direction it seemed to have. I think the intelligent undead affect it with their desires. While on its own, it couldn¡¯t take over diamond ranks, it would still have the bodies of millions of platinum ranks. And, of course, it could also use the bodies of my monsters.


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    Our defenses would crumble quite fast, even with the opposing force of that golden aura produced by a different small pattern that, even now, fought quite effectively against the undead pattern in the undead world. I have modified that as well. It could easily win against the original small pattern, but it would be a fight against the new one.


    All in all, this small pattern would only be used when the situation became truly desperate. That didn¡¯t mean that I wasn¡¯t going to release the other containers around the world. We had lost a few of them over the years as they had been discovered, but there were still almost 1,000 of those containers out there, ready to be released.


    We were also certain that the approaching armies had countermeasures against small patterns, and we really didn¡¯t want them to get a sample before the thousand other outbreaks had a chance to evolve into something unrecognizable.


    Small patterns had quite a liking for changing themselves quickly, as their lifetimes were usually short. This meant that any spell made to counter one wouldn¡¯t work on the others, and if you had 1,000 different ones constantly changing as they continued to spread and then started changing even more, it would make it impossible to eliminate them by force.


    While eventually, we would have to start defending against the small patterns that made their way across this world, our defenses against them would been strong enough. I would have spread the small pattern that can counter the undead one throughout my territory, making sure that whenever it came near, it would be discovered, making it even easier to destroy.


    I still hate that they¡¯re making me do this. Using this small pattern was something that I should never have to do. It was dangerous beyond all measures and should have been enough to keep anyone rational from doing stupid things. Unfortunately, no one seemed to be acting rationally, which was also kind of weird¡­ I decided to bring this up.


    In many of the meeting rooms, there was a monster sitting in a corner. I could take control of that monster to speak to anyone there, as sometimes it was just easier when there were many attending who weren¡¯t creatures.


    I made one of those monsters stand up, which slowly made that particular meeting room go silent. "What if they want me to release that small pattern? Could that be a possibility?"


    Immediately, I made the monster sit down as I let them discuss. I was surprised when more and more people were brought into the discussion.


    Of course, all of this was speculation, but after many hours, most of them agreed that it might be a possibility. Many of the powers were making dungeons like bunkers, expecting me to release the small pattern.


    Perhaps they thought that they could fight against it if they had a safe place to operate out of, and perhaps that¡¯s true, but the world would still be destroyed. Yet to them, this was something expected as the higher ups had gone through a world end once before, so perhaps my threat wasn¡¯t as good as I hoped it to be.


    Still, just the sheer suffering this decision will cause¡ªnot to mention the future implications. It would be like watching one of my worlds be destroyed in a way that would be utterly useless. Yet perhaps they think that it wouldn¡¯t be useless. In the end, this doesn¡¯t really matter, as I had given up on a chance at a peaceful resolution the moment those armies started to assemble.


    Speaking of the forces against me¡ªwhile it was hard for me to see through rock that wasn¡¯t in my territory, I knew that those dungeons were just a few kilometers away from my territory, just waiting to extend themselves to connect to me and send their monster armies forward. It would also be bad if they connected when I was going through a breakthrough. In fact, what if we changed that variable?


    In only a day, everything was prepared, so approximately three to four months before the surface armies even reached us, I started to extend my territory even further down. It only took me a few moments, and I was connected with about twenty diamond-ranked dungeons.


    To my surprise, as we connected, I could feel them. We didn¡¯t use words to communicate as others species did, but they were intelligent enough, and I guess we could have done that¡ªbut the feeling was enough.


    Our instincts wanted us to tear each other apart so that only one could survive. We could fight against it now that we were strong enough, but that didn¡¯t remove our desire. The real reason why they weren¡¯t fighting each other was because they weren¡¯t allowed to fight amongst themselves.


    That didn¡¯t mean their rational minds wanted to fight, they just wanted to build and advance their own dungeons. But I also understood that they were a bit afraid of me. That I would take their place and reach the limit of this world.


    There was also some indecision I could feel from them. They were so used to taking orders that when a situation unknown to them happened, they found themselves unable to make up their minds, as they suddenly had a bit more freedom than they usually had the opportunity to experience.


    I had learned about this phenomenon. Even if I were to set them free¡ªsomething I actually don¡¯t care to do, as we dungeons don¡¯t have the camaraderie most other species do with their own kind¡ªthey would just crave control once again, as freedom would scare them more.


    Perhaps there were some exceptions, but none of that mattered. In the end, every dungeon was an enemy to another dungeon¡ªthat was just how things were. So it didn¡¯t take them long to start sending their forces against me.


    It was not going to be an easy time for them as everyone was now at the southern defenses, ready to take on the vanguard of the dungeon forces. Their journey upwards was going to be truly difficult, and I was going to enjoy every moment of it.

 chapter 293

    ***


    As the monsters of the 21 dungeons continued to blindly rush to their deaths, something happened that no one expected. A humanoid rushed forward with every other monster, relishing the chance to finally have a proper fight. He easily passed the line that had stopped everyone else. He crashed into the defensive line, ripping apart anyone he could get his hands on.


    All of that took only a moment, but then he realized something was wrong. He was the only one here. The monsters he had joined in rushing forward were dying behind him. With that, he figured out he was no longer in a dungeon. There was a bit of respect he couldn¡¯t help but show his enemy.


    All of this he realized and thought through faster than a normal person would even register a change of scenery. Already, his body was moving to retreat, but it was too late.


    A fire spell exploded behind him, pushing him forward directly into the path of multiple arrows¡ªeach the thickness of an arm and three times as long. He was pierced in multiple places, and his death came quickly. Immediately after the body died, it started to shrink. With the arrows still in it, the body tore itself apart even more, and what was left was a Pixie whose body was completely destroyed.


    "That one was at the peak of diamond, was it not?" The one who had cast the fire spell behind the Pixie asked the person who had shot the arrows. He got a distracted nod as the arrow shooter looked at the carnage. Just one diamond rank got past the line for a moment and almost 30 dead¡ªall platinum.


    "Everyone capable of distinguishing between monsters and real people, focus not on attacking but on sensing if there¡¯s anyone else out there that can fight us here."


    Those who could started using their skills, but they didn¡¯t sense anyone else like that out there. During this time, the four great powers were panicking. They had not expected something like this, nor such a clever trap to eliminate so many of their most powerful monsters. Each one who was the direct master of a dungeon was yelling at those dungeons to stop their monsters from rushing in.


    The dungeons did just that, but it took some time for the momentum of those monsters to stop, so during this brief exchange, nearly 400 diamond ranks died, including a couple of thousand platinum ranks, and of course, one really peak diamond rank. All of this for almost 30 dead platinum ranks on the other side. As battles went, it was an incredible victory for one side. But the battle wasn¡¯t over, even if the other side¡¯s monsters stopped rushing in.


    "Switch to damaging attacks!" was the command given over the communication crystal. The time for deception was over. So every platinum rank and even some diamonds, who had not been attacking to kill but to distract, started attacking with their best attacks. Normally, platinum ranks would do little damage to diamonds, but there were still ways of killing diamonds even if you were just platinum¡ªyou just needed the proper combination of skills.


    The monster army that stood still could do nothing more than just take the damage, as they were ordered to stay still. Once again, the dungeons started to relay what was happening to their masters while ETG forces continued to fight. But perhaps that was the wrong word because at this time, it more felt like they were practicing their attacks against an enemy that didn¡¯t even defend. And with every kill, they were growing stronger.


    Platinum ranks who were doing area-of-effect damage, combining their spells with others for truly devastating results, had already gotten enough for a minor breakthrough, and if things continued, they could jump multiple minor breakthroughs, getting ever closer to diamond.


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    The four powers managed to get things figured out. They realized that these empty areas without territory could only be pockets and that there should still be a way to reach the dungeon proper. So they ordered their dungeons to continue to advance while staying clear of dungeon-free areas. Once the monster horde got their orders, they could finally move and defend against the attacks.


    Monsters, when they concentrated, could easily tell where there wasn¡¯t dungeon territory. So that was their guide. They headed sideways, reaching walls of regular rock. They could tear through it easily enough, but every delay meant that ETG forces had more time to attack and grind down the defenses of even the strongest monsters. It was going to be tough to advance in such conditions, but they had no other options.


    Like this, the horde of monsters continued to advance, always heading upwards while taking constant fire. It didn''t take them too long to reach another pocket, and they immediately started taking fire from that one.


    Their momentum ground to a near standstill, so other monsters started to branch off in different directions. The short reprieves from attacks, while they were digging from one section to another, lasted only a short while before they found another pocket that started attacking them.


    Some of the monsters started to fight back when they figured out that they could throw rocks at their enemies. Unfortunately for them, those rocks didn¡¯t do any real damage, as ETG forces were prepared for that. It did reduce the number of attacks against them, but not enough to truly matter.


    While platinum-ranked monsters died in droves, killing a diamond rank was not that easy, although with every passing minute, they were slowly being whittled down, and eventually, they would start dying.


    All of this was relayed back to the dungeon masters, who, over the course of a few hours, realized that attacking while the entire focus of that dungeon could be directed in one location was disastrous.


    They would need a large force of diamond ranks that weren¡¯t monsters to stop those pockets of dungeon-free territory from being so effective against monsters. None of them had even dreamed of a strategy like this, so their response to it was slow.


    Finally, they did something they didn¡¯t expect they would need to do¡ªthey sounded the retreat of the monsters. There was nothing else they could do. If things continued like this, all of their monsters would be slowly killed, as they couldn¡¯t do anything to their enemies. They would only be feeding them power, which would allow them to grow stronger.


    One way they could have solved this problem was if their dungeons could push ETG territory back. That way, they could eliminate those dungeon-free areas, yet those dungeons could no longer even push ETG back one inch.


    The monsters started to retreat, but that didn¡¯t mean the killing stopped. This time, spell, traps and any other means possible were used to stop those monsters from retreating. When the last of them managed to escape, six hours had passed since the connection of the dungeons. Less than 30 defenders were dead, while the attackers lost nearly 450 diamond ranks and tens of thousands of platinum-ranked monsters.


    This result was excellent but not what ETG would have wanted to see. Unfortunately, this was the most likely outcome, even though everyone had hoped they would continue to rush forward.


    Not everyone was distraught by this outcome. ETG had gathered quite the menagerie of diamond-ranked creatures who were eager and incredibly hard to kill. These creatures weren¡¯t really that good at long-range fighting, or they would have already been inside the pockets, or they simply couldn¡¯t work together with others because of their peculiarities.


    So, from one of the pockets¡ªwhere there were many gateways meant to resupply and, if needed, retreat¡ªa really small flying creature emerged. It was glowing bright yellow, and unlike many other creatures that continued to rank up, it did not increase in size from its original body that much. It should have never reached diamond rank, but when it did reach platinum, it got a talent that helped it survive its main skill combination.


    Now, it could use that skill combination forever, thanks to its diamond talent¡ªnot to mention that it made it even stronger. It was now as intelligent as any other diamond-ranked creature, fully capable of conversing with adventurers if it used communication stones.


    It did find it funny that almost every adventurer seemed to flinch when they saw it. It understood that it had something to do with their past and its own predecessors doing what they did best¡ªflying through anything in their path, leaving destruction before they died.


    So, this creature¡ªthis diamond-ranked being that should not be possible, that had originally been just a fruit fly¡ªslowly started to fly towards the retreating enemy. It was going to relish the opportunity to just continue flying through anything it wanted.


    With some tests, they knew that it could fly through diamond ranks like it could fly through anything. If this creature had a human face, it would be smiling ear to ear and thanking its Father for this opportunity.


    In other places, in pockets completely devoid of any other life, from large and small gateways, other creatures started to emerge. If anyone had been with them, they would have died almost instantly.


    All of them knew where their enemies were and relished the idea of being completely let loose and allowed to do anything they wanted to do. The 21 dungeons and the four powers were going to learn why they should have also focused on making proper defenses and not just haphazard tunnels leading from their dungeons to ETG territory.

 chapter 294

    ***


    The creatures that came out of those gateways ranged from a small fruit fly to creatures completely made of shadow. While some were more dangerous than others, and some, like the fruit fly that had reached diamond, were not particularly fast or efficient at killing, they all had one thing in common¡ªthey were incredibly hard to kill. Some more than others, but all of them required specific artifacts combined with a unique set of skills to fully put down.


    While they varied quite a lot, over half of them were elementals. They were of all different kinds, but the four elements were represented the most, especially wind. They also had marching orders, and the elementals were the vanguard of this force, while the more unique creatures would take the side tunnels to clear them out while the vanguard moved into the main tunnels.


    There were a few reasons for this, one being that elementals could attack in wide areas and do so constantly without a break. The main reason, however, was that the largest of them could combine with other elementals¡ªand that included monsters. So as the elementals moved forward, ETG continuously teleported appropriate monster elementals onto their path to be absorbed.


    Those elementals would still have their own consciousness and, later on, could split apart once again, but that was one of the reasons this tactic was used. Not only would this make the elementals even stronger, but it would also create the effect ETG needed¡ªweakening the other dungeons'' territories so he could go on the attack and push their territories back.


    In the territory of the 21 dungeons, the monsters were restless. There were also gateways made there, with real people now present to make plans so they could attack effectively when the surface armies reached ETG, allowing them to strike from both sides at the same time.


    The first sign of trouble for them was a breeze that was getting stronger as time went on. All of them looked around in confusion when they finally started to notice that the breeze had turned into what could be called a proper wind¡ªand how strange it was to have something like this in underground tunnels.


    There was an obvious direction for that wind, and it was coming from the dungeon they were trying to destroy. Immediately, scouts were sent out, and they returned soon after, horror on their faces.


    This world had never before seen diamond-ranked elementals¡ªonly ETG had been able to produce them. So all of them were unprepared for the wind to get so strong that not only did it start to damage the dungeon¡¯s reinforced walls, but small cuts also started to appear on the bodies of diamond ranks.


    Spells were cast and skills activated, reducing the incoming wind. They had not realized it yet, but the elemental attacking this particular tunnel was still miles away, and they would have to fight and kill off tens of thousands of platinum-ranked elementals before they could even reach the body of the diamond-ranked wind elemental.


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    Many of the other main tunnels were having similar experiences, as the majority of the elementals attacking were of the wind kind. They were cursing their luck, but they would soon come to learn that they were the lucky ones.


    The main tunnels that had the unfortunate luck were attacked by different kinds of elementals, like fire and sand, or worst of all¡ªwater. There was barely anything they could do against that, and soon, retreat orders were given.


    All of those dungeons and their masters soon learned why this was happening. As they were pushed back and tens of thousands of ETG monsters that entered their territory. They found their strength lacking, which ETG exploited ruthlessly, pushing back their territories and claiming them as his own. The more serious fighting was happening in the side tunnels¡ªthe smaller ones used to bring in more unique monsters.


    The monsters there found themselves unable to properly fight against their opponents, and their only options were to die or retreat. Yet, retreat did not come easily. A glowing fruit fly was quite slow in its pursuit, but it never stopped, and it particularly liked going through solid rock, which allowed it to get ahead of its prey thanks to the bendy nature of many of these tunnels.


    The magnitude of the attack crushed almost all resistance, and for days they continued to push forward, countering almost zero resistance. Yet the 21-dungeons and their masters weren¡¯t stupid. Slowly, they learned what worked and what didn¡¯t against their opponents, and soon different types of monsters started to appear, purposely made to try to fight these new types of enemies.


    At first, they achieved little, these new types of monsters barely doing anything else but dying. The masters of this dungeon were growing restless. Time continued to march forward, and instead of being ready to attack the dungeon as soon as the surface armies reached it, they were being pushed back, day after day, ever further from their goal.


    The surface armies of the four great powers had enjoyed an easy advance and quite a quick one. Yet all of them started to reach the invisible line ETG forces had drawn up, indicating how far they could reach without overextending themselves. It started slowly, with a few buried bombs that managed to kill quite a lot of platinums, but it soon escalated into not just killing traps but delaying ones.


    Huge areas were filled with devices that were triggered by the marching armies, covering the vast swath of landscape they were currently marching through in spiderwebs that even diamond ranks found hard to get past. Others received the same treatment with vines or even slime that hardened over time. Each one was dealt with quite fast, but it still took a day or two to get the armies back to marching.


    The amount of rare materials used just to delay those armies a day at a time would have easily cost some of the largest kingdoms in this world their entire year''s income. Yet those tactics and traps were used liberally. Even when the armies deviated from their planned routes, they still found themselves delayed almost constantly.


    It didn¡¯t take long for the armies to choose another tactic. They started to send out their diamond ranks to clear the way. This was exactly what ETG forces had waited for. Even better, those diamond ranks went at it alone, as clearing the way didn¡¯t require multiple people. The first proper ambush happened two days after the tactic change.


    Diamond-ranked creatures and adventurers waited, hidden by skills and spells, while others were ready for a fast escape. Almost all of them received orders at the same time, and those who could do devastating damage attacked, killing many of their targets.


    Others, unfortunately, couldn''t, as they were not positioned correctly. No matter if they attacked or not, no matter if they succeeded or not, all of them escaped just moments after their attacks.


    Dozens of diamond ranks were killed, and while that might not sound like many, there weren¡¯t too many diamond ranks to begin with. Of course, the four great powers¡¯ diamond ranks started to pursue, but only the fastest could keep up, and none seemed able to catch the escaping ambushers. That''s when the second ambush happened.


    Another group, quite similar to the first one, had waited further away from the first ambush location. They had waited until the first ambushers passed by them, and when the pursuing diamond ranks rushed overhead, they attacked.


    They had a bit more time, allowing them to properly kill instead of just wound like in the first ambush. All pursuits stopped after that, and in just a short while, the attacking armies had lost nearly 100 diamond ranks.


    They continued after that more cautiously, but that also meant they advanced slower. All of those generals hated that fact, as that meant ETG had more time to build up. But if they rushed, they would lose more of their army, and they couldn¡¯t afford that.