"Give me the report for today, Cyril.  I want to change the layout of the upper floors pretty soon.  Those fuckers have started to map it out again."

I said as I looked up at the domed ceiling of my throne room.  The ceiling was transparent crystal, showing the a school of fish zip by.  Surrounding me were columns of smooth granite, circling the periphery of the round room.  My massive chair, made of of sapphire marble, dwarfed my six foot frame.  I was currently reclining and taking a break from another stressful day of doing absolutely nothing.  My dashing good looks and witty charm are wasted just sitting around like this.  

I cannot remember the last time I had a good fight...Except for that one vacation I had to Siegfried's dungeon three centurys ago.  That old lich still had some spunk and walloped me good...But he is dead now.  He grew complacent and the humans eventually overran him.  They always do.  

"Of course my lord, just tallying up the final numbers.  "

Cyril said attentively while he was scratching down symbols on his scroll.  His reply brought me out of my reverie.  

"One of my subordinates informed me that a mana vein appearing in one of the hidden rooms on floor B has enchanted the adjacent equipment.  Should we give these to the quartermaster or put them in the trapped chests we have prepared?  Normally, a trifle such as this would not require your highness' attention, but I've been told that the mana vein which appeared was releasing primordial mana.  Other than that, we have taken a total of twenty souls and we have had eighty three casulties, mainly drones.  We'll see then reincarnated in three days time."

Primordial mana...?  That is the purest form of magical energy, so the enchantments are probably super cool!

With a great sigh, I heaved myself up from my surprisingly comfortable marble seat.  I already have tons of magic weapons, but if I grew any more bored, then I think I would turn to stone.  I looked at Cyril, who was pretty short for a Scallian and was a hybrid.  From his lower torso to the floor, he eight spiny crab legs, but from waist height he looked fairly Scallian, with only two feelers shooting off from his forehead.  Scallians are uncannily similar to humans except we are aquatic beings, so our skin is some sort of water color, we have hard to see gills on our cheeks, and we do not posses the innate greed and evil that humans are born with.  Some of my people are some type of hybrid with a sea creature.  Whenever the dungeon core reincarnates you, she always gives you a part of herself to go along with you.  

Cyril was around since the beginning, so he has died... 5 times I think.  Anyways, the gist of it is, each time you come back, you lose a part of yourself to the dungeon as payment.  Some hybrids become more powerful than others, but it all really depends on someone's innate affinity to mana.  Eventually, when you die one too many times, you become a drone.  An animal which can only respond to simple commands I give them through my mental link to the dungeon.  They mainly populate the upper floors because they see the most combat, so they in turn die the most.  

Most of my people live in the lower levels where they can flourish and live in relative peace.  I myself have never died.  Not once, because if I died, then the dungeon would die with me.  Me and her have a dependancy on each other.  She gives my people a home and a source of magic power, and I give her soldiers, management, and a near endless supply of human souls from which to draw power from.  She keeps me and my people immortal as long as we stay in her confines.  My people are like elves, so children are fairly rare, but in the past century we have been blessed with several children.

"Cyril, I'm gonna go check out these magic weapons.  I have been sitting on my ass all week and I need to do something.  While floormaking is fun and all, I think I will go for a teensy walk.  Hold down the fort for me 'kay?"  

I stood up and sauntered out of the throne room into the well lit corridor.  My dungeon is a sub-marine dungeon, meaning that its mostly underwater.  She stays mostly on the coast, near human cities, usually for around twenty years and then she moves.

"M-my lord.  At least take your retainers.  Wh-"

He called from the cavernous room, but I cut him off.

"No"

While I love my shrewd, mousy steward, he is somewhat annoying with the whole 'guards' thing.  My magic power alone was the strongest in the entire dungeon, save for one or two of my pets, and there is no danger whatsoever for someone like me to go walking around in my own house.  

I continued down the hall not waiting for a response.  The entrance hall to the throne room had glowing conch shells perched at regular intervals on the wall along with the occasinal fresco depicting my many not-so-heroic deeds, my personal touch.  I think that it truly comes down to the little things when building a proper home.  I would not want an imbalance in my Feng Shui.

I willed the dungeon to shift so there was a stair which lead up to floor B.  I can control the orientation of the structure thanks to my connection to the dungeon core.  Being bonded to it made me the dungeon master, so I could control many things in the dungeon by just thinking about it.  I was actually looking forward to adding some weapons to my personal collection because primordial mana veins which popped up in the dungeon always gave birth to one or two legendary class items.  

I headed up the stair, into the foreboding dark as a smell of bilge and filth filled my delicate nose.  The lower levels of the dungeon actually look more like palace halls, and the upper levels are like what many would think a traditional dungeon would look like.  Dirt floors, bones, traps, and fish-rats are around every corner, not to mention my 'minions' which dwell within.  This way, I can live in comfort while stupid humans die looking for treasure in rotting catacombs.

****

I had felt someone else's presence tailing me for some time now.  A pair of yellow eyes were boring into the back of my head.  

*sigh*

"Come out Fely.  I know you've been following me since the throne room.  Did Cyril send you to guard my back?"

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

An audible squeak was heard as one of my generals tumbled out of her hiding place in suprise.

As clumsy as ever...

"Mashter!  Umm.  Aah...  W-what are you doing here?"

She said as her green cheeks gained a tinge of red.

What kind of shitty acting is that?!

My jaw almost dropped with her attempt at playing cool.  From an objective standpoint, Felicia of clan Sirenia is the most beautiful woman I have ever known as well as being the third strongest being in the dungeon.  Her silky black hair, flawless green skin, her intelligent yellow eyes, her high cheek bones, her slender legs, her form-fitting glass oricalchum armor concealing an ample bust, her legendary class gladius, 'Starbreaker', which could create small voids to absorb incoming attacks...But I digress.

She expierienced her first death three centuries ago when a party of nearly fifty veteran adventurers nearly made it to the lower levels of the dungeon.  She died, but she took all of them with her.  The dungeon gave her the teeth and ferocity of shark.  Unfortunately for every male ever...Sharp teeth...Just thinking about 'it' made me wince.  She also had trouble talking with that mouth full of fangs.  Now, she is only docile around me.  The shark blood made her a nightmare to everyone else.  She has been known to punch holes through walls when she gets enraged.

"Well...A primordial mana vein opened up in a secret room on floor B, and I was gonna check it out." 

"...And mashter wash going alone?"

*sigh*

"Yes Fely, I was.  Is there a problem with that?"

She looked stricken.

"NO!  No problem.  No problem at all.  Mashter ish da mashter!"

She saluted.  Sometimes I think that reincarnation does something to someone's head.

"Oookay well see you at muster tomorrow morning."

Oh well.

I continued walking on my way only to hear a certain someone's bootheels clicking in time behind me.  I don't know why I even bothered.  She's always feigning ignorance to get her way.  After around an hour of navigating the twisting halls, we stopped to rest in an alcove.  I was seated across from Fely, enjoying a light snack of   I felt a tingling at the back of my head and realized that it was one of my subordinates using mind magic to contact me.  I activated the link:

"My liege, I regret to inform you that I have made a grave error.  There is still one party of adventurers in the dungeon.  I don't know why my surveillance familiars could not get a read on them, but they are near my lord's location.  I will accept any punishment for my transgressions, even death."

Cyril's usual nasal voice was now frantic.

"Woa, slow down Cyril.  How many did you say are left?"

"It is a party of eleven.  I can sense all of their mana signatures and they seem to be rather adept, but something is blocking my view.  Lets see... Ah!  They slew three koragor and seventy drones."

That was pretty impressive.  Koragor were created by my late Uncle Kiliad, and they were quite fearsome. Imagine if a pirhanha head were to be put on a slimy grizzly bear.  Then cover said grizzly with iron-hard scales.  They were magical beasts, so they also had a fast healing ability.  Drones are humanoids with fish heads and long claws.  They can spit acid and are difficult to deal with when they all group up.

"Well, just tell me where they are.  I'll deal with 'em."

Finally, I would be able to crack some heads.  I had been itching to fight something for a while.  This was perfect.  A predatory grin slid its way onto my face.  That was when I realized my mistake.  Fely had been staring at me for the past minute during my mental conversation and now that I was smiling at her, she seemed to have gotten the wrong idea.  She was looking down and rubbing her hands together along with bright red cheeks.  The presence of faint gills on our faces make it much easier for Scallians to blush.  

"I-if mashter wantsh... Then I will obey..."

Sweet Calypso

"I'm walking away now"

I turned to walk away from the very confused lady who then got up to follow me.  It's not like I am not attracted to anyone, especially a beauty like Fely, its just that I have a policy.  I dont enter in relations with my underlings.  

"Hmph.  Mashter ish a meanie."

And there she goes acting like a brat, even though she is several centuries old.  The way my top general acts around me is a direct contradiction to the way she acts towards everyone else.  

We finally arrived at the mana vein.  It was a bright golden scar on the rough stone wall which was leaking energy.  I had only seen one other primordial mana vein in my life and it gave me the legendary set of armor which I still use today.  Opposite from the scar was a secret door which was now standing ajar.  Mana veins happened whenever there was an excess of energy in the dungeon, so it leaks out of the dungeon core to somewhere in the dungeon.  Fely and I walked into the secret room to see several shortswords and a shield hanging on the wall.  They were faintly glowing from the enchantments they just recieved.  I was about to identify the items which were affected by the ambient primordial mana when I felt something approaching.  My connection to the dungeon let me know that there were mana signatures inbound.  The humans.  I wanted this battle to be fun, but I can't remember the last time any number of humans was ever a match for me.  I was unarmed, wearing only a luxurious black silk tunic and grey matching pants and scaled boots.  I turned to Fely.

"Fely, take these and go back to your floor.  I need to check something out about this room."

She looked slightly sad, but did not argue.  With an armful of goods, she left me standing in the middle of the hall.  I couldn't help but admire her sumptuous backside as she turned around the corner.  As she turned the corner, the mana vein started to pulsate, which I thought was weird.  Whatever.  I cracked my knuckles in anticipation. 

Huh?  I wonder why it started making that 'thrumm' noi-

My thoughts were cut off by an earsplitting *CRACK*.  I felt my body lift off the floor.

And then.

Nothing.

****

"Beatrice!  Slow down!  I can't *Huff* keep up.  What's gotten into you?"

I called out after my foolish sister who was running through the dungeon like a madwoman.  What about traps?  Sooner or later, she will trigger something and get us all injured.  Or killed, like Davy.  Our group of twelve set out into this 'S' class dungeon thinking the only thing we would have to deal with were stronger monsters, but the traps here are vicious.  They already took the life of our scout who stepped on a pressure plate and ended up as a pincushion of crossbow bolts.  I'm sure the other party members were thinking the same thing I was from their nervous faces.  We finally stopped running and caught our breath.

"Galad, keep up dammit!  I can feel something...Powerful.  Can you hear that thrumming noise?  We are getting closer, I just know it."  

My sister, who was only a year older than me started raving on and on about some noise.  I think the dungeon stench of rotted fish was getting to her.  

"Oi, Bea, you're fuckin' insane!  There ain't no noise, and now we furthur away from the exit."

One of the vanguards chose to speak up, and several others were nodding.  The only reason they chose to chase down my sister and I instead of abandon us was because she was the one with the map and she was our only mage.  They weren't bad people, they just wouldn't risk their life for a party member they met only yesterday.

"It's just around that corner!  Why can't anyone feel it?  It's...Beckoning to me.  "

My sister started to plead and her green eyes had a faraway look.  Her auburn hair fell down her head in cascades and covered up most of her above-average face.   

Wow, she's getting really worked up over this.

I was about to grab her arm so we could leave when we heard a loud explosion.  It shook the walls of the dungeon and dust fell down from the ceiling.  Our party braced ourselves for a fight.  The only reason we had made it this far is because everyone besides my sister and I were well trained.

We looked down the corridor to see a cloud of dust heading our way.