The muscular man stands on top of his carriage. Calling the vehicle a carriage might be somewhat disingenuous. It has no wheels, no animals pulling it. What it does have is large flat treads of interlocking plates, moved by smaller offset wheels. The body is made of metal, with a pane of glass at the front allowing the driver to sit inside. On the back end of the mechanical monstrosity is a massive soot-covered furnace. The thing burns angrily, sputtering and hissing at random. Everyone loading equipment into the almost building-sized vehicle makes sure to stay far from the rear.

Mr. Brist’s eyes scour the people working below him, watching their movement. A large smile breaks out on his face. In an effortless motion he jumps through a hatch in the roof of the vehicle, closing it as he passes through. He sits on a cushioned bench next to a small, furry man. The beastman’s ear flickers in annoyance as he registers the man’s presence.

“God damn, I’m glad I got to use some skills from back home here. I’d started to think I’d only be useful for killin!” Mr. Brist’s eyes flash menacingly.

The canine man looks unimpressed. “Sure, Brist. Just feel lucky that there were even suitable materials to make this thing.” His paw smacks the steering wheel. “The treads won’t last as long as they should either, that godsteel is amazing, but durable it is not.”

Mr. Brist loses his smile slowly as the furry man talks. By the end of the other man’s complaining, he’s fully frowning. “Y’know, Carl, you were a lot more fun at the facility.”

The canine snorts. “Sure, that was before I got sent to some nonsense fairy tale world.” He goes silent for a time, before eventually grunting. “I guess being a… dog, hyena, whatever I am — isn’t too bad.” His sharp teeth flash in the light as he smiles. “Are we ready to leave yet?”

Brist grunts in annoyance. “I’ll check, and if we aren’t, I’ll vaporize some people.” The pointy eared man clambers back through the roof hatch. Once he’s gone, Carl lets out a long sigh.

“And he thinks I’ve changed… right…”

────────────

I’m going to have to delegate. There’s no way around it. I’m an omnipresent being, and even I can’t keep up with everything. Between the human town, the kobolds expanding, and building up the dungeon, I can’t do it.

So, I need underlings! And in fantasy game tradition, I’m going to make… Demon Generals! How do I do that, though? I’d want them to be unique, not a larger or special version of a monster I already have. They’d also need the ability to manipulate the dungeon, at least to some degree. Being able to contact me would also be a plus. I can’t just level up my communication skill either, because I have to initiate that ability.

So I start to look through the research menu. Maybe I’ll get lucky, and find an ability labeled demon generals. That’d be nice… So it won’t happen.

Immortality, no. Soul Traps, no. Oh! Incinerator Trap Parts… nooo. There’s so many abilities! How am I going to possibly find anything related? I guess I just put my missing nose to the proverbial grindstone…

After several hours of panning through menus, I find what I think will work.

Permission Settings, Monster Investment, Random Monster, and Monster Status Screen.

With these abilities I should be able to make some strong, attractive, and dependable demons to help me manage this place. And by place I mean me.

Permission Settings allow me to give privileges to beings inside me. It includes terrain editing, monster creation, and direct communication abilities. There’s a bunch of other things in it too, but none are useful for my current purposes.

Random Monster is self explanatory, the one catch being I can pay lifeforce to reroll the monster. Each time I do that the price increases, though. Then using the Monster Status Screen I can see if the thing is any good or not, and how to improve it.

And to improve it, I’ll need Monster Investment. It allows me to pump lifeforce directly into a monster, and influence what parts of it are affected. Like the random monster reroll, this ability’s cost increases exponentially. So I can’t just make an unkillable god monster. I’m not looking forward to combing through monster stat screens, no matter how necessary it is. I hardly look at my own, gives me a headache.

My mind still swims with possibilities despite the looming workload. A handsome vampire lord, or maybe a devious naga? Or maybe something less… hmmm. Anyways, I can’t wait to find out what’ll be made, so I won’t! I glance at my lifeforce, just to see how much the abilities cost.

Lifeforce:

8224

I see even with extra training, people are still dying to my spider brood. I can’t fault them, they’re some tricky spiders. Back to what I was doing!

The ability fires, and a swirl of blue sparks appear in my laboratory. Each mote of light slowly drifts inwards, collecting at a single point. Once every speck joins in the center, the orb of light flashes. Once the glare dims, a creature sits in the orb’s place.

It’s… It’s a cat. Not a demon cat, not an elemental cat, not a spirit cat, just a cat. I even open up my monster status menu, just to make sure.

〘〜〜〜〜〜〜〙 Nameless Dungeon Cat Infant Male ...

〘〜〜〜〜〜〜〙

Yep, it’s a cat… Now what? I kind of want to keep it. I’ve always been a bit partial to cats. Hmm… Maybe I can make this work. I wanted one of the generals to keep track of the human town, and a cat would be perfect for that! Well, if there are cats in this world. I’d assume there are, but the rest of the monsters are based off of home, so who knows.

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Its stats are abysmal, low in everything with no affinities. Makes sense for a cat, but not for a dungeon monster. After checking my balance of lifeforce, which has dropped by a thousand, I start to pour energy into the little creature. The feline is frozen in place, like someone paused it, but it greedily absorbs my power anyways. The longer I push more into it, the faster I feel my energy drain from me.

After around a minute of pumping the cat full of my strength, I open up the status screen again.

〘〜〜〜〜〜〜〙 Nameless Cat Demon (General) Infant Male Dungeon General Darkness, Slashing, and Illusion Affinities. Unarmed Martial Affinity. Extreme Speed, High Intelligence, High Spirit, Low Vitality, Otherwise Average. 〘〜〜〜〜〜〜〙

Now that’s more like it! How’d it know that I wanted it to be a general? Whatever, don’t think about how the creepy video game system works too much or it might eat you. And definitely don’t think about the implication that it reads your mind.

I need to name him. The cat is still frozen in place, still looking like a totally normal black cat. I wonder how his stats match against the kobolds, or Blue. Name! He needs a name! Hmm… Evil demon cat… Kyubey? Nah, don’t wanna look like a weeb. Azrael? Yeah, let's go with that.

Now that the little guy has a name, let's unfreeze him. The furred critter drops a few inches to the ground before glancing around the room. Its eyes narrow as it scans for… whatever it’s looking for. My mind latches onto the cat and initiates a connection.

‘Yo!’ The cat jumps a good foot in the air at my greeting. Its deep red eyes scan the room for me. ‘I’m not in there with you, I’m the dungeon.’ He sits in place, wrapping his tail around him. He makes a few meowls, but I can’t understand them. ‘Little guy, I don’t speak cat. You know any languages?’ His brows furrow. Eventually he shakes his head.

I guess it’s time to give him some permissions, then. As I think about the ability, a small box pops up over Azrael’s head. There’s a good twenty options, but the only one I’m interested in is Direct Communication. I activate the privilege for the black kitty. ‘There, try speaking to me now.’

The cat’s teenage boy voice rings in my mind. “Who the hell are you!? Where am I?” He’s not happy. Mad actually, maybe even furious. I’m not super sure how I should respond to him, so I just use the still open connection between us.

“Uh, I’m the dungeon. You’re inside me, the dungeon.”

I feel the cat’s fury get hotter through the mental bridge.“Wow, thanks, lady. Now that you’ve cleared that up, mind telling me what you want from me?”

Lady? Me? Why’d he think I’m a lady? What the hell? “Uh, I’m not… not a lady.” I feel a strange pain as I say that.

The cat laughs in my mind. “Sure, anyways, can you explain what’s going on to me?” He’s still annoyed, how do I explain this? I didn’t have to explain it to the other monsters. Is it because he’s a random monster? Or because of his intelligence? I’m not sure how to best explain all this… Aww screw it, I’ll just beam him everything he needs to know. That’ll probably do it.

I force the ideas of a dungeon along with some memories of the last few months to the cat. All at once of course.

The small black form falls over.

────────────

Shit. I killed it. I flooded its poor mind with my unfathomable knowledge. Its feeble being couldn’t handle my magni— Oh wait, he’s getting up now.

“Fuck! That hurt like hell! Why’d you just dump all that in my head like that?” The cat’s annoyed voice has matured compared to earlier, now clearly a teen instead of an older child. Shit, he asked me something, I wasn’t paying attention.

“Yes!” I try to make my mental state confident. Small screeching sounds emanate from the cat’s body. Is it hurt?

“Whatever, you ditzy dungeon. What do you want from me?”

I blink my metaphorical eyes. “Uh… I told you that, didn't I? You just complained about how I did it.” This cat is so odd.

He sighs loudly. “I get what you want on the most basic level, watch over the humans. But what is the goal of that?” he huffs.

“Well… you’d basically just be in charge of them. I’d set some basic rules for you to follow and then you could have free reign.” I’d rub my head if I could. “Is that a better explanation?”

The cat rubs his paws against his face. “Yes, better explanation. But still no why.” Its red eyes flash with annoyance.

I cough. “Well, it’s to make sure they’re okay, and that they don’t need anything.”

Azrael flops to the ground. “Alright, but why!? Why do you want me to babysit humans? Why do you care if they’re alright? They’re our food!” His eyes pierce my being. How’s he know where my viewpoint is?

What do I say? His questions are all valid, there’s a reason to keep humans around, but not more than that. …I’ll just tell the truth.

“I’m lonely.” My voice feels small as the words slip through the connection.

Azrael’s eyes go wide in surprise. After a moment he sits back up, his tail flicking back and forth. “Ah… I’m not really sure what to say to that…” he grumbles. “I understand, what are your guidelines?” His combative nature vanishes, replaced by a soldier-like demeanor. I don’t think my reason was that convincing? Whatever, he’s going to work with me, that’s what matters.

I start my directives with an unsure voice, somewhat meekly. They’re rules, but they’re also just what I want. But as I go, my voice becomes more and more authoritative. A foreign confidence fills me, and is reflected in my voice. “Allow them autonomy when possible. Keep things amicable when possible. Don’t interfere with interpersonal issues, so let them hurt each other. If you’re ever unsure of something, talk to the tree woman Bella, or the Ave named Taven. If you’re still unsure, contact me. Otherwise you can do as you please. Keep in mind my goal is to have people who will welcome me, and for delvers to have a safe place. If they feel safe, then more will come. Understood?”

The cat nods at me. “Understood, ma’am.”

My mental eye twitches. Why does he keep calling me stuff like that? Does he know it makes my chest all weird and fluttery? How could he possibly know that? Whatever, I won’t ruin the moment by asking about unimportant things.

“What should I call you, ma’am?” His eyes stare me down.

This is the second time someone has asked me that since I came here. I still don’t have an answer. I haven’t gotten a chance to think about it, at least that’s what I tell myself. I probably could’ve done it instead of messing around with Blue. Anyways, he’s still looking at me expectantly. I need to tell him something or he won’t stop. Probably.

“Uh… Ma’am is fine for now.” What? No, why did I sa—

“Understood, ma’am.” The cat tilts his head. “Do you think a humanoid form would make them less wary?”

What a good and conveniently distracting question! I can see the logic behind it, but if people here are anything like how they were at home, a person of an unknown race would raise red flags. If intimidation was desired, that could be useful though.

“It’s a good idea, however I think that humans will be afraid of an unrecognized type of humanoid. Instead of using it to lower their defenses, use your normal form. And when you want to be intimidating, use the humanoid body.” My voice takes on that bossy confidence again. I’m really unsure where that’s coming from.

Azrael nods slowly. “I think I understand. My real form is disarming to them. Something unknown would scare them.” His face stretches into a, dare I say it, cheshire smile. “Thank you for the advice, ma’am. I think I’ll head to the town now.”

Without waiting for me to respond, the cat breaks our connection and vanishes.

One down, three to go!