On the sixth day, they proceeded to the sixth floor. The halls were different than the last area. The walls were solid, roughly carved stone, with wooden supports at regular intervals. There were no golems or ridge bugs on the floor. The new monsters were a razorback and a spindle treant.

The razorback was a large boar with tusks. Along its back were razor-sharp spines. It charged quickly, and if someone dodged to the side, it would throw its back toward them.

The spindle treant was a thin tree that would swipe or strangle its victims.

“We probably won’t have to worry about it on the next two floors, but by floor eight, we should expect some monsters to use magic,” Liara advised them.

Lily’s ears perked up. “Monster coming. Fast. A razorback.” She reported.

They readied themselves. Michael was now taking on the role of Forward. He was not to attack, just stop the charges and keep the attention of the monsters. The Lord of War didn’t give him any taunts, but he made up for it using the curse he did on the golem boss.

The razorback came into sight, and Michael hit it with his curse. The boar seemed to get angrier and slammed against Michael’s shield. Without Michael getting moved, the boar bounced backward off balance.

Lily took that opportunity and rammed her magic dagger up into its heart.

The razorback sputtered blood and quickly fell to the ground in defeat.

“Excellent. More meat.” Rana commented as Michael put it away.

“We should expect a spindle treant ahead,” Liara advised.

Lily used her active detect. “Yes. It’s still trying to catch up, but it is coming.” She reported.

Michael was excited. Thanks to Liara’s guidance, they were becoming a real mercenary party.

Rana had an idea she wanted to try later with the clay they had left from the boss. She was thinking of making Scout Golems she could use to help map out the areas and check for traps. Liara had advised that they may start seeing traps on the next floor, so Rana wanted to prepare before then.

The spindle treant came into sight, shuffling down the hall toward them.

Lily used stealth and moved to ambush the monster. Michael used his curse taunt and waited for it to arrive or their assassin to take it down.

The treant began whipping at Michael’s shield. Michael then got an idea he wanted to try.

“Enchant: Fire.” Michael focused his mana on Lily’s dagger.

“WAH!” Lily panicked at Michael’s poor choice.

“It’s okay, Lily! Attack!” Liara commanded.

Lily steadied herself and attacked the treant with Ambush and Assassinate.

The surprising thing that happened next what that the entire treant went up in flames, splintering and cracking as it burned. Lily retreated from the monster until it fell to the ground in defeat.

Michael looked at the burnt corpse with a tense face.

“Cael,” Liara said.

Michael turned to see a scary smile on her face.

“I’m sorry.” Michael’s big shoulders slumped.

“So long as you learn and Com-mu-ni-ca-te, we will be fine.” Liara left it at that.

Michael made sure to apologize to Lily as well.

“It’s fine, Daddy! Just, can you use wind next time?” Lily asked.

Anger and hesitation welled up in his chest.

“I’m sorry, Lily. But I will not use wind unless it absolutely calls for it.” Michael flatly stated.

Rana put a hand on his arm. “Lily, you know some about him, but not everything. Let me fill you in.”

“Yeah, let’s take a break.” Liara chimed in.

It did not take long before Lily was irate. “What a dumb goddess! How could she mistreat Daddy!? We should just break her idols so no one worships her!” She shouted.

“I have done it once,” Michael responded.

“Wait, you were the one that did it at Hallibrush?” Rana asked.

He nodded. “The priestess there knows the truth of me as well. But she took a Divine Oath to not say anything.”

“Well, that is good. Though I am surprised to hear that a priestess of the gods was so understanding.” Liara thought.

“We should just destroy all the idols of that goddess!” Lily was committed.

Michael smiled and laughed. “You make a good Demon-Lord’s daughter.” He joked.

Lily smiled and shifted in place bashfully.

“Rana, how much do we have mapped out?” Liara asked.

Rana showed the map on her Crys-Link.

“Hmm. We still haven’t found the stairs, and only one more way to go. Hopefully, that is where it is.” Liara concluded.

They finished their break, formed up once more, and delved deeper.

Their party was taking a break at the staircase they finally found. While Michael kept watch, Liara and Lily were working on making the mini golem bodies. Rana finished making her fifth mouse golem. It didn’t have a tail, and she used two Rank 1 cores for each, one for sight and the other for function. The mouse golems were much simpler for Rana to control and order than the combat one they made, which was currently being stored away.

“Backflip,” Rana ordered, and the mice did as she said. Nodding happily, she asked Michael to check her status.

Rana

Class: Royal Golem Master (Rank 20) (+10)

Str: Rank 9 (+36) Dex: Rank 12 (+36) Int: Rank 18 (+40)

Status:

Physical: Normal Magic: Normal Mental State: Excited, Determined

Injuries:

Special: Spouse of the Demon-Lord, Demon-Lord Lover, Demon-Lord Companion, Demon-Lord Servant

Skills:

Management: Rank 20 (+40) Budgeting: Rank 17 (+30)

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Cooking: Rank 16 (+30) Cleaning: Rank 16 (+30)

Negotiation: Rank 13 (+30) Intuition: Rank 16 (+35)

Driving: Rank 10 (+30) Organization: Rank 14 (+40)

Leadership: Rank 12 (+40) Teaching: Rank 6 (+30)

Mana Mastery: Rank 6 (+30) Golem Mastery: Rank 5 (+30)

Melee: Rank 3 (+30) Instill Spirit: Rank 1 (+25)

Abilities:

Golem Control Convert Core Calculation

Stamina Boost (Passive) Form Core Form Golem

Enhanced Senses (Passive) Dark Vision (Minor) Drive

Planning Instill Spirit Command

Share Senses Remote Control Possess Golem

Upgrade Golem Detonate Golem Upgrade Core

Michael was still blown away at how powerful the Spouse of the Demon-Lord made Liara and Rana. He did find out from Liara that the boost to their skills only made it easier for them to use their skill. In Liara’s case, if she used Misty Veil, she would get exhausted quickly.

The way he understood it was that the bonuses compounded the base-level skill. The example Liara used to describe it was like using a set of brass knuckles. Punching someone with your fist would only hurt as much as how hard you hit. Adding in the brass knuckles would increase your basic damage only. If a person was to train and improve their strength and technique, or in this case, the skill rank, you could increase their overall damage.

After finishing the sixth mouse she requested, Michael noticed Rana began working on something else. She was holding her Crys-Link and doing something with a golem core.

“What are you doing, Rana?” He asked.

She smiled at him. “An experiment. If I’m right, I might be able to help us map out floors a lot faster. But I must test a couple of things.”

Rana ordered her mice to stand at the ready at the top of the stairs.

Placing the golem core on the back of her Crys-Link. “Install.”

The surface rippled, and the core installed itself halfway into the device.

Rana seemed nervous at first but let out a sigh of relief that the Crys-Link still worked fine.

“Okay. Shares Senses with the mouse golems.” She commanded her golem Crys-Link.

Six green dots appeared on her map. “It worked!” She cheered.

“What’d you do?” Lily hugged her mother from behind and rested her chin on Rana’s shoulder.

“Just watch the map,” Rana said. She commanded the mice to proceed down to the seventh floor and split up. They were to communicate the locations of traps to the golem Crys-Link, and the device was to mark them on the map.

The mice went on their way down.

As they watched the map, it began to fill out like Rana was walking the area herself.

“That’s amazing, Rana,” Michael commented excitedly.

Liara didn’t seem as excited. “But it takes away from the adventure of conquering a dungeon.”

Rana giggled. “But it will make avoiding traps and finding loot easier.”

Liara’s expression changed again. “Well, I guess I can live with it.”

After a couple of hours, the six mice mapped out the whole seventh floor and marked ten traps, two chests, six locations of mana stones, and a few rare plants. The map also displayed any monsters that were within sight of the mice.

“Alright, where shall we go first?” Rana asked triumphantly.

Liara relented and praised the idea.

They chose to go for the closet chest first and pick up some of the valuable items on their way.

Their party finished going through the floor and rested at the entrance to the eighth floor.

“Two more floors are done. We might be out of here in a month at the rate we are going.” Liara commented.

“So long as our food supplies last. Thanks to Cael, we don’t have to worry about water.” Rana commented as she finished recharging her six mouse golems and sent the now numbering ten down to the eighth floor to map it.

Lily was still enamored over the magic boots they got out of a chest. Their reinforcements were better than her old boots and had an auto-repair function.

The other chest held a few Rank 4 healing potions. Michael ensured the girls each had one, and he had Lily carry an extra since she was fighting the most.

“Alright, we should get some rest now. We used up a lot of time with preparations, but thanks to the mapping trick, we might be able to get to the boss by the end of tomorrow.” Liara announced.

They set up their sleeping bags, and Michael traveled around the area alone to get his ‘rested’ state. Returning, he took the watch while the girls went to sleep.

While they slept, he idly watched the Go-Link, Rana’s golem Crys-Link, populate the map. The number of traps nearly doubled, and the mice found seven points of interest. Even though her Golem Mastery skill was still low, she could set multiple parameters for the golems to follow because her management, organization, and leadership skills were high. Rana was getting better at controlling her combat golem. She felt she might be able to start helping when she gets her skill to Rank 10.

Michael placed the Go-Link down and kept watch of the only entrance to the staircase room. If he had been paying attention, he would have noticed one of the golem mice had disappeared.

On their seventh day, they were quickly moving through the eighth floor. Thanks to the mapping function, they looted a new sword for Liara, an amulet for Rana, a few more potions, and valuable items. Lily had gotten used to her class and could easily solo most of the monsters on the floor. Liara had also been helping Lily learn how to disarm traps. Since they had the locations mapped out, the young girl used her Detection skill to find and disarm the mechanism.

They finished the eighth floor in a couple of hours and arrived at the entrance to the ninth floor.

“Huh? One of the mice is missing.” Rana saw that she only had nine golem mice waiting for them at the staircase.

“Did you see anything last night, Cael?” Liara asked.

Michael admitted that he didn’t watch the mapping the whole night since he experimented with some elements while he stood watch.

“Could it have been a monster?” Lily asked.

“Hmm… Maybe? I made them small because the monsters typically ignore them. Bad luck, I guess.” Rana stood and ordered the mice to map out the next floor.

They took a thirty-minute break while creating a few more golem mice and sending them to help the others.

“How much clay do we have left, Cael?” Rana asked.

Checking in his Void Space. “We have about half an arm left. We used up a lot for the combat golem.” He answered.

“Let’s save that for now. Could you bring out Giiwo for me?” Rana asked for the golem she had named.

Michael snorted and brought out the golem. He thought the name was cute.

Rana then tried out the Possess Golem ability. Giiwo tense for a moment as Rana fell unconscious. Michael gently held her body.

“How does it feel, Mom?” Lily asked the moving Giiwo.

Giiwo began moving and bobbing her head like she was speaking, but no sound occurred.

“Um, we can’t hear you,” Lily said, feeling slightly let down.

Giiwo continued to try to speak but still nothing.

Michael then remembered how the golem boss could make noise by vibrating mana in the air.

“Hang on, Rana. I might have an idea.” Michael said.

He attempted to vibrate the mana around him using his high skill in Mana Mastery. He was successful in doing it, as both Liara and Lily felt it. Unable to synthesize sound yet, he tried humming while focusing the mana vibrations on the sound he made. It took several attempts, but he had a small success.

“Seems like I might have figured it out,” Michael said, his voice echoing oddly.

He explained what he did and what it felt like to the Giiwo-Rana.

After a bit of practice, Giiwo was now making basic tones but no words.

Michael guessed that if Rana got her Mana Mastery higher, she could speak as Giiwo in no time.

They then proceeded down to the ninth floor.

The party was now Giiwo-Rana as the defensive Forward with Michael’s shield, Lily as the attacker Operation, Liara as the Support, and Michael stayed at the back carrying Rana’s body. If needed, he would act as Artillery.

They tested Giiwo’s strength to take a hit before trying the new formation by having them hit the shield individually. Both Liara and Lily couldn’t budge Giiwo. Michael mimicked a little higher than a razorback impact. It pushed Giiwo back a few feet, but she stood firm.

The weapon that Giiwo was holding was a single-handed axe Michael had from a while ago.

“Enchant: Absorption Barrier.” Michael cast the Savior spell on the shield.

With the floor they were on, Liara expected monsters to start using magic.

A group of three spindle treats made their way toward them.

Giiwo made her way forward with her shield and axe at the ready.

Two of the treants began whipping at the shield. Giiwo tried to hit the branches, but her attacks were clumsy.

“Keep trying, Rana! Thanks to our hubby here, you should be able to unlock the Axe skill!” Liara encouraged.

The third treant in the back prepared a water spell and fired it at Giiwo.

It struck the shield with decent force, but Giiwo stood firm.

The third treant began charging up another spell but got ambushed and eliminated by Lily.

Giiwo-Rana wanted to do something more charged forward to strike at the treant’s bodies.

“Ahh… She got impatient.” Liara commented as she watched the Giiwo-Rana panic as she was wrapped up by the monster’s branches.

Liara and Lily jumped in and defeated the two remaining treants.

Giiwo-Rana bowed in apology while making desperate mana tones.

“It’s okay, Rana. It will take some time to learn how to fight yourself.” Liara patted Giiwo’s shoulder.

“Yeah, Mom! You will improve just as fast as me!” Lily commented. She wanted to hug her Giiwo-Mom, but the sharply ridged plating kept her from doing so. So, she went and hugged her mother’s body instead.

Giiwo then held up a hand and then sat down. A moment later, Rana inhaled.

“Okay, I’m back,” Rana said.

Michael placed her down.

“What was it like, Mom?” Lily asked excitedly.

“It was interesting,” Rana commanded Giiwo to stand, which it did. “I will try remote control and command this time.”

Liara smiled teasingly. “Getting bound up by monsters not do it for you?”

“Thankfully, I did not feel that. I could perceive it to an extent, though….” Rana blushed and looked away from them.

Liara had a laugh at Rana’s expense but made sure to comfort her friend.

Rana pulled out her Go-Link and checked the status of the map. “Looks like they mapped out the whole floor, but… strange.”

“What is it, Mom?” Lily curiously looked at the map.

“The traps are mapped out, but… no loot. Empty chests.” Rana commented.

Liara became serious. “Not empty. Emptied.”

They realized that they were not alone in the Dungeon.