Dungeon Annihilation 2 - 20 (Patreon)

Morning Everyone!

Regan/Earle

I stretched as I walked away from the judge’s booth. Honestly, I was glad that things unfolded the way they did. I got to run some tests with the countess, and I don’t have to sit through any more pointless battles. Shadow magic was just too hard to defend against if one had proper control over it.

Still, I was impressed. I had only offered to kill someone for her this morning and she already had someone for me. It looked like the countess might have a pretty dark side to her. I was excited to try and find how far she was willing to go.

Ivan had outlived his usefulness with my enlisting of Joseph anyway. I had stood up for the slaver only because I thought it was fun at the time, and due to the fact he was supposed to send plenty of slaves into the dungeon. I never expected the advice of guarding the teleport matrix that I gave him to make some gold to finance his business would become his main goal.

If he was diving deeper into the dungeon, thus allowing me to kill or otherwise take his slaves that he had outlived his usefulness. It would make Raven’s day when she got to run her sword through the man. I would need to try to get as many of his slaves in the process.

“I don’t see the point of these actions,” Set commented as we walked. I glanced at her, but she still had the same laidback face as always.

“Point?” I parroted putting my hands behind my back. “Well. There really isn’t one other than having fun and causing a bit of chaos in the process.”

“Is that wise?”

I shrugged with a laugh. “Generally causing chaos isn’t wise. But if my persona as Earle causes enough trouble then my persona as the host will be less noticeable. Now then, since the tournament is over for us. Perhaps we should get back to work with our other projects.”

I’d left the necromancers alone for almost more than a week because I was just busy with other things. You would think a being that doesn’t sleep would have plenty of time, but it turns out that’s not quite true.

I also have the broken messenger that I needed to pump for answers. I was still sour that he had broke like that. Such a useful pawn washed down the drain. It might be a good idea to adjust the collars a bit. Julie looked like she enjoyed causing pain as much as she liked being hurt, so maybe she could serve as a torturer to soften up the minds of people I wanted to bring under my control.

Once we got back to the dungeon, I added the coffee to the Garden. Then I instructed Lust to see if she could make any improvements to the plant. Botanists on Earth would die of envy if they found out how fast plants grew in dungeons on this planet. With just some rough calculations, I was sure I could have fed Earth’s twelve billion population with only ten floors producing crops.

Moving down to the cells that contained the necromancers, I switched to my shadow form. Julie was interrogating the messenger, Yoshida, but it was like talking to a machine. He answered her questions but didn’t otherwise do anything or say anything.

“How’s it going?” I asked.

Julie dropped to her knees when she heard me. “My lord! I’ve asked all that I could think to ask, but I’m not sure if I’ve covered everything.”

“Don’t worry. I plan to question him myself later.” It would help that they questioned him first though, as my knowledge of this world was still skewed. If I wasn’t careful, I could accidentally overlook an area and deeply regret it later.

“For now anything interesting?”

“Yes! Jezes and Helicilia are coming here,” she said with an excited face. I could tell she wanted me to praise her, but I didn’t know these people so I just motioned for her to continue. “Helicilia is one of the big guns of the necromancers. She can sort of be seen as the leader of our area. She was the one that gave Wrakras and me, our orders. Jezes is not technically a necromancer, but rather a shapeshifter that is incredibly hard to detect. He’s basically Helicilia’s hound dog.”

“Interesting. We have some bigwigs coming here then.” My disappointment at the failure that was Yoshida made me excited to get a chance to capture someone higher up the chain. My collection could always use more pieces. “Good job, Julie.”

“I believe the shapeshifter to be the most dangerous of the two,” Set commented. I nodded in agreement. Depending on how he achieved it, he could quite literally be anyone. That said, it would be impossible for him to affect me in any way. I had a link to my minions and I fundamentally didn’t trust anyone outside the dungeon.

“Well… We’ll deal with it as it comes. Anything else, Julie?”

“The messenger wasn’t completely sure, but he suspected the Lecazar was the target of the next operation. Many lower necromancers have been sent into the Empire recently.”

“That sounds about right. The Empire appears to be a bit divided internally.”

The south was largely controlled by the church, while the royal family held influence in the center areas. The outer reaches were a constant struggle for the commoners due to the nobles vying from more lands. That was an Empire for you.

Thonaca Kingdom was much more stable from the information I’d gleaned from the adventurers. It helped when the city of Jade Wind, the gnome territory had your back. Few people wanted to risk fighting the royals when the claimed to be supported by the more advanced race.

“How long until the two arrive?” Set asked.

“They sent a message to prepare for them over the next two weeks or so, Helicilia is the fiancé of marquis Valamar and will likely be staying with him,” Julie replied quickly.

“Interesting.” I tapped my chin as I thought about what else to ask of the moment. He wouldn’t die any time soon, so I would be able to interrogate the gnome later if needed. “Yoshida. How hard is it to get to Jade Wind?”

~~

Over the next few hours, I asked about the gnome city. Yoshida was a banished gnome due to some crimes he committed in his youth, but even with just the memories he had of the place, I grew fascinated by the technology he described. Of course, to him, it was basically black magic, but I could understand the electricity that ran the place. All in all, the discussion moved Jade Wind up on my list of places to visit.

“Master.”

I moved my attention to the sound and found Raven kneeling nearby. “Welcome back. How was the tournament?”

“Boring. Compared to the Hunters only a few of them were worth taking note of.”

“You’ll have to fill me in later. What brings you back to the dungeon so soon?”

“The countess has chosen a spot for you in the town.”

“Excellent! I…” I stopped when I felt something enter my aura in the north. “Be right back.” I moved to the north and looked at the edge of my aura. A small band of beastkin were inspecting the crystals that were slowly growing before their eyes. When one of them touched a rusted sword to the outcrop, the crystal ate it.

Other than being equipped in ruined gear and rusted weapons, I could barely detect intelligence from the group. They growled and hissed at each, most of the group consisting of cat-based beastkin. What I did find interesting was the amount of mana I was getting from the small band. It was comparable to a group three times their size of twenty.

“Dryad,” I called since I didn’t know her name.

The woman grew from the branch near my core. “Yes, master?”

“Is the north not an undead wasteland?”

“From my vague memories, the north was deadly to anyone that does not possess unholy mana. People that were here before the north became twisted had a good chance to become as equally twisted.”

“I see. So they were original inhabitants up here.” I had been worried about getting mana for this core once it leveled up using all the mana in the area. As what I liked to call background mana, it would lose its effectiveness after a few levels. The only exception to this rule was the mana produced by mortals. If there were mortals up here, that would make things easier.

I waved my mental hand and caused the crystals to recede from in front of the group. I also cleared a section inside the aura plenty large enough for them to set up camp. If they willing to come into the dungeon, I would be a decent host. If they left then I would think up some other means to pull them in.

They hesitated for a good hour before they finally decided to head deeper into the area. The green crystals grew larger the deeper they went and were soon the size of trees after only a kilometer or so. With my aura from the core covering close to fifty kilometers, I had plenty of space for them to work with. Hell, I could build a town or two without them even bothering each other.

Once they reached the end of the path I made for them, they began setting up a camp. These people were clearing nomads as they had the process down to an art. The women in the group began working on a meal with machine precision. It was pretty immersive all things considered.

The entire time I watched them, I never heard a true language. They appeared to be able to communicate well enough with just growls, gestures, and other guttural noises. I decided to leave them to their own devices for the time. They appeared to be attracted to the mana that was being put off by the dungeon and likely wouldn’t be leaving any time soon. Not that they could easily. The section of crystal they came through had already been sealed.

“Dryad…” I started then clicked my tongue. It would be good to get her name in case I needed it. “What was your name from before?”

She looked down at her feet which stood on her tree. While it was mostly crystal now, there were still sections that had bark and wood. “This one… doesn’t remember… anymore.”

“Is that so?” I looked her over. After her transformation, she had gained or regained a sort of beauty. “Nedali. I think that suits you,” I said finally.

She bowed her head. “Thank you for naming this one, master.”

I nodded then turned to take in the north. Since my aura had expanded a good deal, I could see much more of the area around me. With Nedali’s crystals dealing with the monsters that wandered too close, I hadn’t had much trouble up here yet. It helped that the crystals seemed to like unholy mana in particular.

After some thought, I cleared an area at the base of the tree and I summoned Zombie. She and her fellow undead were digging down gathering resources for the undead before, but now that I had moved up a decent amount. The ore barely budged my mana pool. More because I forgot about them, they had continued mining. It was time I gave them something a bit more productive to do.

“Mast…er,” she said slowly. I smiled when I found she’d hit tier two. It was interesting that her intelligence went up and she even could talk now. She had died via a stab to the heart so her body was mostly intact. With some make up she could even be considered cute. Taking in her appearance, I had to shake my head though. Whether it was part of being undead, or due to the constant mining she’d been doing, her clothes were ruined.

With a wave, I changed her outfit to a tight jacket that might be seen on an insane inmate. I left the sleeves undone, of course, and made it out of durable material. The clothes should be able to take a hit while she goes in for the kill, or in other words the bite. “Hey. Zombie. I have a job for you.”

Running my hand down her cheek, I checked to see if there were any other changes. She was cold, but I was made from shadow, so I really didn’t notice. “What… do… you want?”

“Hunt the other undead in the area and drag them here. If they are too powerful for you just force them onto the crystal, the dryad will help you.”

Zombie grinned her teeth having been transformed and thus looked more like a shark. It would appear that even the undead could feel excitement. I ordered the two hundred undead with her to do as she commanded. I doubted many would survive, but I wanted to see how far they could go. If they evolved that would be even better.

“What about… the others?” Zombie asked.

I raised an eyebrow not sure what she was talking about then remembered the undead I had captured during the attack on my dungeon. While they ‘belonged’ to me now due to having control over the necromancers via the collars, I would be stupid to let them out in the north. They might run off to their masters and report about me.

“You can make more if you need,” I said waving her off, “actually. If you find any mortals, bring them to the dungeon without changing them. I’ll create some undead for you in return.”

Zombie jerkily bent at the waist and bowed. “As master… wants it.”

Next:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/43571291

Previous:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/dungeon-2-19-43492320