Four days quickly passed and Kai was actually happy to see that his minions had evolved to wolves easily, and even he himself had leveled up twice because he was able to find some stronger monsters and easily beat them down with his bigger number of minions, which was steadily increasing as he got to summon more.
And after he bought the Bipedal-Four Legged Beast trait he did curse himself a few times as he felt his body’s constitution shift a bit making him able to stand and walk on his hind legs, a bit awkwardly but it was good enough as he and his minions, who still had a wolfish form, now had longer front legs that were placed a bit to the side than when they were only dogs, though that change only applied to the Wolves, not the Wild Dogs.
He was puzzled at first but soon he thought on a reason why that had happened.
It could be due to him, who used the Wild Dogs, which had grown in number and were now eight, to make odd jobs like digging and probably their body configuration would change too much, while the wolves were the hunter team, which now numbered 22, 16 wolves, though six of these wolves were still small and learning how to hunt, and 6 Grey Wolves.
He did make another room, and now with four rooms he was truly happy, his wolves could now move around and only go back to the den to eat.
Kai watched his minions and finally decided it was time for them to grow further and he himself to turn even stronger.
Using 150 DP he bought the next race and selected the two oldest Grey Wolves turning them into Black Wolves.
They grew in size and their grey fur turned black. Kai on other hand, only grew in size making him even taller than before. It was like he was a king while he looked at the small wild dogs now.
Kai was happy with his power but one thing he could see happening all around the dungeon, his minions were always only using their instinct to act, not really ‘thinking’ of what to do. They would only follow his orders without any way of thinking.
“That is not good…” He said and cried tears of blood as he used 175 DP to start to develop an intelligent mind on his minions.
Kai bought the upgrade, even if he acted as if he disliked how much it costs it was good enough as they started to have a better way of acting, no longer going on their instinct but using their developing mind to think what they could do.
“This is good.” He said as he looked at the eyes of his minions. Their eyes had a small clarity showing that they had a bit more on intelligence than when they were just following his orders as he gave them. A smile could be seen on his beastly lips.
‘Status.’ Kai said on his mind.
Name: Kai
Race: Canine Dungeon
Boss Level
08
Minion Level Range
01-08
Dungeon Points
76
Rooms
04
Minions Number
30-30
Deaths: 0
Kills: 0
Minions Races
Wild Dogs
Wolf
Grey Wolf
Black Wolf
Dungeon Skills (Hide/Show)
Boss Skills (Hide/Show)
With his dungeon now working towards the 5th room, and his slowly, but growing number of minions showed that soon he would be able to get a good grasp on how to get more food to grow the number of minions he could have. Even now they hunted only enough to sustain themselves, which made it hard for them to grow in numbers.
“I need to think on a better way to get food.” Kai said looking at his dungeon which had started to give birth to the bipedal lizards and horned rabbits, even though they were smaller than the outside’s they were more numerous. “The food inside here is still lacking.” He said as he stood up from the last room of the dungeon to walk outside.
***
Roran’s request had been selected two days ago, and he knew it because the color of the paper he had on his hand changed from yellow to green. He sat on his house, after a good hunting day, because a day without going to hunt he decided to fight his fear and grabbed his bow and arrow once more, but he couldn’t go too deep inside the forest, his heart would start to shout and he would run away if he did took a step further away from the village’s ‘secured hunting grounds’.
He waited anxiously the party of adventurers to come to the village. He knew they would soon arrive because the guild would always send a small message towards the owner once the paper changed colors.
The paper colors were, yellow, green, blue and red. Yellow meant that no one accepted the request while green showed that the request was accepted. Blue showed that the request was completed and the party was returning to get their reward while red showed that the party was wiped out and that the request will have to be done once more, this time the reward and difficulty of the quest would grow.
The request difficulty would change depending on what it was, and it was shown by the number of stars the quest had.
On Roran’s hand, three full stars and a half star could be seen. It was the subjugation of a small dungeon, though with the half star, it meant that the danger wasn’t normal, and it had a different power.
He waited and all the passing days, he had to get his daughter to stop going to the forest to go see the ‘Mister Wolf’. He even lied to her saying that he would give him the cookies she had made and had to eat it all while making sure to not be seen by anyone that could tell her what he had done.
“I hope they arrive soon.” He said looking at the small patch that lead towards his home from the village entrance.
He couldn't remember the last time he was so agitated like that. He wanted the beast to be killed so he could go hunting without fear of encountering that big wolf. Even the others hunters, started to talk about the beast as they, sometimes, got a glimpse of the beast inside the forest, though they weren't sure how strong it was, it would disappear before they could get a good view of its appearance, making the wolf be a bit more mystified than it should have been.
Roran sat there waiting for the sound of anything different than normal and he wasn’t let down when he heard a carriage coming the way to his house and he quickly walked outside just looking at the small street and soon he saw two horses pulling a carriage.
He watched the carriage stop before his house and from its back, four people walked down, they had weapons with themselves.
“Adventurers.” Roran murmured happily.
“We took the Quest from Roran from this village.” The one in the front, a man wearing heavy plate armor and a big shield and a small lance on his back while a short sword was strapped on his waist. “Can I talk with him?” He said looking at Roran.
“I’m Roran… come in, we will talk about the details inside.” He said as he quickly opened the door showing the house to the four people.
The knight nodded to the other three, one female wearing a long black robe while on her waist a cane with a round gem on one of its tips could be seen on one side and on the other a small wand was placed. The other two companions were men, one who wore a weird set of leather armor, while having a small bow on his back and many small sized pockets all around his body armor with small daggers, the last but not least was wearing a long white robe, while on his waist a mace could be seen and on his head a circled with two golden rings could be seen.
“We will take your offer.” The knight said as he walked in with the party just to be asked to sit on the table. “Care to explain the fine details?” He asked after the four were seated.
Roran didn’t wait anymore and talked how he first met the wolf and the feeling he got, than he talked about the second meeting, while avoiding talking that his daughter actually liked the wolf.
“... this beast has yet to attack, but he left it clear that the next time he will attack to kill…” He said at the end of his explanation. “It was then that the village decided to make sure that the beast wouldn’t attack so we prepared the quest.” He added.
“Mister… you said the beast called himself the boss of the dungeon and that he did not have a great number of helpers at that time… at least 10, right?” The woman asked as she tapped at the table.
“Yes. He said he was a boss, and the cave he lived in… he called it a dungeon, and I could feel the difference in air as I walked inside.” He said looking down.
“Then it’s clear… he might not be strong but with this we are sure that this dungeon will be more difficult than any other dungeon we have faced till far.” She said looking at the three men around her.
“We know, that is why we discussed before we came here.” The rogue said with a smile. “Even a three and half star request that has such a degree would cause any other adventurer to want take a look… but… did you go to the ‘dungeon’ after the request was made?” He asked with a smile planted on his lips.
“I did not… the wolf threatened me, he said he would kill me the next time I appeared before him and his nose is far better than normal ones.” Roran said.
“But it is still weird.” The knight said after listening to the talk. “He know where the village is but did not attack… and it can talk… a normal dungeon doesn’t have a boss and would attack as soon as it found prey.” He said and the people in the room nodded.
“This one is weird…” The monk said after thinking for a bit as well. “We might have chosen a dangerous quest…” He said looking at the other three.
“What are you talking about? You did agree when I picked this up.” The knight said looking at the monk’s eyes.
“I did agree… but after listening to the fine details… I don’t know if this will be a good choice.” The monk said looking at his party and Roran’s face paled.
‘If they drop out… that beast surely will grow stronger and attack this village…’ He thought as he watched the four discuss among themselves.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“You all… we’re five stars adventurers, this quest we only got because the clerk said it was weird…” The knight said and Roran finally started to breath easily.
“Then, you’re going to go and kill the dungeon?” He said looking at the party.
“We will part tomorrow early since it is already the middle of the day, and we need to finish our preparations.” The knight said with a smile on his face.
“Then I’ll meet you tomorrow morning and guide you to where the dungeon is.” Roran said as he stretched his hands just to be held by the knight’s one as they shook their hands.
“We will do our best to finish this beast and dungeon.” The knight said and the four walked out of Roran’s house.
“With this… the village will be safe.” He said as he happily walked back inside.
***
Kai stared at the entrance of his dungeon. He was rather curious because he had picked a weird sound and when he got closer to the entrance he saw a carriage being pulled by two horses and from inside he could smell the smell of sweat, iron and blood.
‘So the humans are finally coming…’ He thought with a smile on his face as he slowly backed up, he had a few more minutes before the humans arrived at the entrance.
***
“So this is the entrance.” The knight said as he walked down the carriage. “It does look like an ordinary cave.” He said looking at the cave from some distance.
“It does look like it… but aren’t you guys feeling cold?” The female magician said as she hugged her clothes closer to her body. “I feel an icy wind wrapping around me.” She said looking around.
“I feel it too… but it is not the wind… it looks like we’re being observed.” The rogue said as he walked to the cave entrance. “I can’t see well from this side, but there are some light inside the cave.” He said as he squeezed his eyes.
“Then we should be on guard as we move.” The monk said as he held his mace on his hands.
“You can go back to town… we will easily return once we finish this fight.” The knight said towards Roran, who guided them all the way to the dungeon. “Trevor, you tie our horses on that tree. Yate, you give them some water… and Dawn, make a small protection around them so they will not be attacked while we’re inside.” He gave the order to his party members and soon they all moved.
“Oi, Walter, pay attention to the dungeon’s entrance, it wouldn’t be funny to see any of the wolves getting out to kill us as we protect what we have.” The rogue, Yate, said as he placed some water in two buckets.
“I know.” Walter said as he watched the cave entrance. “This entrance looks like a mouth.” He said as he strapped his shield on his arm before he took the small lance that was on his back.
“Done.” The magician said with a smile on her face. “Now they will be protected for a few hours.” She nodded as she walked towards the group.
“And the horses are tied.” Trevor, the Monk, said as he too held his mace.
Walter walked in the front with his shield raise and as he passed through the door he felt a change in the air.
The air inside the cave was heavier and the mana concentration clearly was higher than outside, meaning that this place surely was a dungeon.
“The air… it is heavy.” Dawn said as she held her cane. “And this place clearly isn’t a normal dungeon, there are too many herbs and plants here.” She added as she stared at the plants inside the first room. “Kyaaa!” She shouted and the three men turned to look at her.
“What was it?” Yate asked holding his short bow on his hands.
“I don’t know… I saw a pair of yellow eyes in the dark.” She said a bit embarrassed. “That is probably one of the beasts we listened from the villager.” She added as she continued to hold her cane with her hands.
“Men… do you remember how many did the villager say we had to fight?” Trevor asked.
“The man said that it should be around ten or so… why?” Walter asked.
“Because I think we did not get the right intel.” He said gesturing to the front, where some yellow pairs of eyes could be seen shining under the bushes, but the worst part, the number wasn’t ten, it was more than it. “The number is more than it.” Trevor said with a shaking voice.
“Fear not, they’re only Grey Wolves at most, they aren’t strong enough to kill us!” Walter said as he tightened his hand that was holding the spear. “They’re not intelligent enough to overcome us.” He said with confidence.
“Oh, so it looks like that someone is sure that they can win.” A low, guttural and powerful voice came from the deepest part of the dungeon. “Come and try your luck.” The voice continued saying and a chill ran all the way to the back of the said adventurers.
“What is this voice?” Dawn said as she held her cane tighter making her finger joints turn white.
“Mostly… the reason we came here.” Yate said gulping loudly. “And from the looks of it we can’t run away…” He said and once the other three looked back they saw something that made them freeze. Two black, as the night, wolves stood before the dungeon’s entrance. They were sitting but their long fangs were being shown.
“How did we not notice them?” Trevor asked with trembling hands. “They weren’t there when we entered.” He said as he pointed his mace towards them.
“Stupid… don’t point it at them.” Walter said as he looked at the black wolves. “They’re stronger than what we got too…” He said as he looked around just to find that they were surrounded.
“So what do we do now?” Yate asked.
“What we came to do.” Dawn said with fire burning in her eyes. “We shall burn everything inside this place!” She said as a wild smile floated on her face.
***
“What we came to do. We shall burn everything inside this place!” Kai listened the woman say and couldn’t stop tilting his head at her words.
‘What is she going to do?’ He thought as he watched the woman from the leftmost room. It was a skill he had discovered he could do. While inside his dungeon he could ‘see’ everything but he had to have his eyes closed while doing it and his voice could only be manifested in one direction.
Kai watched and decided to make the wolves run away from where they were hiding so he called for them to move back and as he did he saw lights starting to dance around the woman.
“Come! Let’s fight now!” She shouted as she swung her cane around and the fire spread but none of his wolves were hurt because they had already run away from her.
“Dawn! Calm down!” The man wearing a knight armor said as he placed his shield before the woman. “Don’t go around trying to kill everything with a big spell! What will you do if you don’t have enough mana to fight the boss?” He said as he looked around but he saw that almost none of the things inside the dungeon was on fire.
“Sorry…” The woman said and Kai release his breath. He had been scared that the fire would be caught on his plants but he was lucky and nothing did caught fire. “I was trying to see if I could get some of the things that were surrounding us.” She said looking a bit down.
“Then just wait… they walked away before your spell activated.” The man wearing leather armor said.
‘He has a better night vision than the rest… and from his equipment he is a rogue or an archer…’ Kai thought before he ordered some of his wolves to attack and harass the enemies, but to make them run away if they were to be attacked and to guide them towards his room.
Soon the wolves started their attack, some would run and hit the shield of the knight and before he or the rogue/archer could attack another would jump from the back and target the priest or mage with their claws or fangs.
“Damn, their coordination is good.” The rogue/archer said as he released an arrow but missed because one wolf stepped on his foot.
“And they come from all directions.” The knight said holding his shield up. “And what with that speed and power? I felt as if I would lose my shield.” He said and Kai could only laugh at the bad choice of actions the humans had chosen.
“I want to kill them… but I can’t get to hit them… it feels as if they can see where I am to release my spell.” The mage said as she held her cane before her.
“You’re still good… do you know how hard is to heal when they appear before me and try to bite my hands…? I can’t deal with this…” The priest said and Kai laughed loudly making the four people jump at the sound.
The group looked around and soon they entered the second room and there they saw two ways, one to the left and another to the right.
“Which one should we choose?” The rogue/archer asked.
“I don’t know… probably to the right.” The priest said.
“Maybe the left.” The mage said pointing her cane towards that place.
“What do you guys think about getting back and ask for backup?” The knight said as they arrived at the center of the room.
“That would be troubling.” Kai said as he walked to the second room as well some wolves that were only harassing them started growling at them as the light finally showed the truth about the beast.
2.5 meters tall, a big wolf with longer front legs. Black fur covering his body while the white underbelly fur could be seen on its tail and neck and three ruby red eyes that looked at the four people party.
“I would not want for you to go around asking for help to kill me.” Kai said as he looked at the four people, who gulped loudly after he entered the room. “And my minions wouldn’t like it either.” He said and the 24 animals started circling the group.
“A-ATTACK!” The Knight shouted and Kai couldn’t help but praise the guy for having guts.
AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
A loud earth shaking howl soon was released and the four people, who were already seeing the beast before them couldn’t help but take a step back because the howl was too loud. Seeing it the small wolves started howling as well, making the already loud noise even louder.
Kai saw this and a smile appeared on his lips.
“Kill them.” He said as he pounced at the closest enemy, which was the heavily guarded knight.
His claws forward before his body, he meet the shield of the knight just for him to release a painful moan.
“Heavy…” He said and using Kai’s own attack he took put some space between them, but that was what Kai wanted.
With the wall out of the way, the wolves soon attacked the defenseless trio while the knight looked at Kai with round eyes.
“You!” It shouted as it took his lance and started to run towards Kai.
“Me…” Kai said as he jumped away from the charging knight just to follow behind and using his claws he attacked at the man’s head but the shield was up because the knight, seeing he had missed turned around. “Tsk.” He clicked his tongue as he kicked the ground as the lance was stabbing his way.
“You’re a sneaky beast…” The knight said as he looked at Kai. “You devised a plan to separate me from my party members, but you’re not so lucky. Trevor might look like that, but his defensive power is stronger than mine.” He said as he charged once more.
Not knowing who Trevor was Kai decided to try to finish the knight off before something went wrong.
He did not run away, instead Kai started running towards the knight, who had his short lance pointed at him.
He had no weapons he could hold, but one thing he had that was better than the human before him. He was stronger and faster. He had tried the man before and he would use it against the charging knight.
Kai was smiling and right before the two met, he kicked the ground sending him into a forward jump, but he missed the man, but his aim wasn’t the man, but the wall.
He turned his body in the air and using his legs he kicked it sending his body towards the human, who had just started turning his body to face Kai, but he wouldn’t make it in time and he knew it.
Kai’s weight, which was under a powerful leap was enough to crash the armor the knight was using together with his chest. The man had no time to shout as the big wolf body sank his knightly armor on the ground.
Seeing it he couldn’t help but laugh. A weird laugh that would creep anyone that heard it.
“Kukukuku… to think I was having weird feelings about killing humans…” He said with a smile as he looked down at the vibrant red color the game blood had. “It is weird… I felt nothing wrong.” He said turning his head to the other three.
Four wolves lied on the ground, burned and with some arrows placed on their hide, some others had broken limbs and were having a hard time keeping with the attacking humans.
“HUMANS!” Kai shouted as he started running towards the trio. His paws still covered with the human blood of the knight he had just finished off.
The woman was the first to notice Kai and a strange thing appeared before her. A small icicle was created and she was aiming it at him.
Kai knew that she was trying to kill him but he would not let her. He sped up at the same time the woman released her magic. The icicle didn’t hit him, but grazed the top of his black fur.
Without stopping, Kai run and with his large body he hit the priest, who was dragged with him towards a wall.
It was at this time that Kai felt the strongest pain he had ever felt on the game.
Something pierced his side and he could feel a burning sensation coming from the wound.
‘Cursed be you…’ Kai thought as he slammed on the wall, as the second human was crushed under his weight.
AWOOOOOOO
He once more howled, this time in pain as two more things pierced his hide.
But it soon died out because the two, now defenseless, archer/rogue and mage couldn’t defend against the attacks of the wolves.
“I’ll not die alone!” The woman shouted as she looked at Kai. “Blazing Inferno!” She shouted and with a swing of her cane, burning flames covered the ground around her.
It licked the ground leaving deep red marks on it.
“GET AWAY FROM HER!” Kai shouted to his minions but three were too close and were burned to death before they could even see what happened to them.
He too got the distance from the woman as the ground around her melted.
“Come doggy, let’s fight!” She said with a weird look on her face and Kai knew that look she was exhausted and that magic would probably be her last one.
“You’re going to die here.” Kai said as he opened his mouth showing his fangs to the woman as he circled around her.
The two of them did not know how long it was, but the woman was running out of mana and before she collapsed a small stone was thrown by Kai.
It hit her on her head making her fall backward, and for her luck… she fell on the dead body of her comrade.
Kai circled the area and he could see the ground healing in an outstanding speed, it was clear that no mark would be left.
He walked towards the woman and opened his mouth and placed it on her head.
“Are you sure you’re going to do that?” Isis’ voice came from his side and he looked at the doll.
“What do you want?” He asked startled by her.
“I asked if you’re sure that you want to kill her… she would be a good thing for you to have under your control.” Isis said landing on the ground and placing her hand on the woman’s head. “She is still alive, she is only tired, out of mana and with a small concussion.” She said before looking at Kai.
“Why would I protect her?” Kai asked placing his paw over the woman’s body. “I could easily crush her…” He said before he shook his head.
“You know… if you do that… wouldn’t you be losing your humanity?” Isis asked sitting on Kai’s back. “She fainted, and can’t fight back… would you still kill her if she is like that?” She asked once more.
“…” Kai didn’t answer and looked around. “You have a point.” Kai said as he took his paw out of the woman’s body. “But she will be my prisoner.” He said taking the woman away from the room they had just fought.